Christiaan’s Blog

This is how I remember Michael Jackson and how I choose to honor him in my memory  with this small tribute to a real legend in the world of entertainment!

Michael truly was the “king of pop” and an icon in the area of music, dance and video. I grew up in the MTV generation in the late 70′s and 80′s where Michael Jackson topped the charts, won numerous Grammys and broke all kinds of records and crossed all kinds of barriers in the industry. He was a revolutionary and I, like millions of others the world over, loved him. Not only for his musical genius and unending talent but for his kindness and generosity.

I am so saddened that this society’s obsession with celebrity and the media’s reckless handling of information that placates that obsession had such a profound impact on the many “faces” of Michael Jackson. He was a child star that was treated in too many ways as an adult and forced to behave as one at too tender an age. He was ”worshipped” in a manner that should only be exclusive to God alone and that is what had the most major impact on what became of Michael in his personal life – which by the way, should be no ones business except his family and close personal friends! This society and the public should feel personally responsible and mourn not only this very talented and beautiful man’s death but also people and the media collectively should admit, with shame, our hand in the problems and troubles that this man suffered. We should realize this and make a point to turn away from these types of idolization!

But all of that aside, I truly loved Michael Jackson for his amazing talent, drive, kindness, gentleness and beauty. Even though I am not a singer I was a dancer since the age of 3 and Michael sure had a positive impact on my life. Also, as a writer and a creative artist I can truly say that MJ’s many gifts have inspired me in tremendous ways as they have countless other artists the world over! I believe he had a lovely heart and did care deeply for others, social justice and the serious problems of this world. I pray that he is resting in peace!

I love you Michael Jackson and feel very blessed to have experienced the many talents that God gave you to share with us for the brief time you spent on this earth. Thank you. R.I.P.

You can listen to my song tributes to Michael Jackson over at Kissaki Beat on blip.fm – click here!

 But, Ilaria Graziano is cool!

This is one of my favorite artists! (great lyrics) *but the song is sung in Italian – even more beautiful

I can’t be cool between the chains,
I can’t be cool at eyes shut(?)
I can’t be cool under the change of a profound slumber,
a deed of war in the name of God.

You think of possessing it, your life,
Under the control of greedy men?
The voice that desires to find peace
is obscured by a powerful sovereign of darkness.

I can’t be cool without words,
I can’t be cool without reacting,
I can’t be cool because I know already that indifference
Closes the gateway of humanity.

I can’t be cool between the chains,
I can’t be cool at eyes shut,
I can’t be cool under the change of a world submerged
in the violence of mankind.

If you want another truth,
a greater gift,
it will be your liberty.
Listen!

There are well over 100 verses in the Bible that speak about justice. For some reason God has placed His Justice in my heart and burdened me 4 it BIG TIME! Perhaps it’s because I had to live 4 many years as a widow and my children as orphans in a society that is ruled by selfish greed and calls it “the pursuit of happiness” even in, or should I say, especially in, its churches. I don’t understand how people can claim to know and love God and ignore all the unbelievable injustices that plague our world today – poverty, hunger, genocide, trafficking, child soldiering, HIV/AIDS epidemics, all forms of racism and prejudice, sexual violence against women and / or children, child slavery, and third world sweatshops and prostitution. These are just to name a few!

My very soul is injured from what is happening in Sri Lanka, but what’s even more sad is that I wouldn’t have known about it if it weren’t for M.I.A. shout outs on Twitter! My book is nearly completed and I haven’t even started getting down to business 4 the cause of Justice. But it has become my mission in life and I promise that I will continue to fight on her behalf 4 all of my life and do whatever I can. The poor and oppressed do not have a voice and if you claim to love God and others than it is your duty to be their voice! Why else do you think that Jesus came to earth poor and lived homeless throughout His ministry?

Anyway, I love you all and hope you will also take up Justice’s fight. It is the only one worth fighting for!

 I had a nice mother’s day. Michael made me delicious strawberry crepes for breakfast and gave me a terrific massage. The kids cleaned the house with me the day before and gave me some nice gifts they made in school – including two videos proclaiming their love for me! Then we drove to Port Canaveral to see our best friends off on the largest cruise ship in the world. (Read about that below)

After that they took me to Olive Garden for dinner and it was very nice. When we got home, we all passed out! But it was a fun weekend all in all. Now I’m back to some serious writing!

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, May 10, Mother’s Day, we drove to Port Canaveral to see our friends off on a cruise aboard the largest cruise ship in the world, The Freedom of the Seas! This thing is huge and amazing! It is 1,100 feet long and holds up to 4,375 passengers! It has spectacular features as well, such as the Flowride surfing simulator, and ice-skating rink, a rock climbing wall, sports pool and H2O Zone and much more.

We stood on the floating docks next to Grills restaurant and waved off our friends, Regina and Richard Gaydos as they sailed off for their 6-day caribbean cruise. You can check out this magnificent ship at RoyalCaribbean.com Bon Voyage guys! I know you’ll have a great time and take a lot of pictures, they’re professional photographers!

 Okay, two of my first most anticipated films of the 2009 summer film season have released and I did love them both – neither one disappointed. I’m still weighing in to deside which one I liked better, but basically I think it’s a tie – here’s why.

They were both full of action – and I don’t pay to see movies that don’t have action. They both had memorable characters and decent acting. They both had interesting story lines that kept me into them throughout the film and both had excellent special effects – and somehow most importantly, both stayed true to the original material – that’s a big one for me. The other most important element to a great film for me, however, is the soundtrack – and in this department, both films were sadly lacking. But, I really did enjoy them both a lot!

So, here are my thoughts.

STAR TREK:  If you crossed Transformers with the newer Star Wars flicks then you get an idea of how this film felt. It was the perfect mix of nostalgia and newness. The characters had great comic timing and did a very good job of emulating the originals. It had that large scope feel to it – you know what I mean? All in all, it was great summer movie fun; I highly recommend it! Bones and Spock were my favorite characters – all the others were great too, but they were my favs.

X-MEN ORIGINS, WOLVERINE:  Now, I’m a huge Hugh Jackman fan! There could be no other to play Wolverine in my opinion. And the history part of the film was fantastic. So was the opening – loved it! Again, all the actors portrayed their characters on point, except for the GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT of Emma Frost! Now, Emma is my all-time favorite of the X-Men and she is supposed to be gorgeous as shown in this picture!

The Emma Frost in this movie looked like a big eared tom-boy which was upsetting to me. It would have been nice to have Megan Fox with her hair dyed blonde! And all the geeks cried, “Amen to that!” Also, Deadpool could have been way better – another of my favorite characters! Hopefully they’ll get him right when his ORIGINS film comes out. But again, I loved this movie and recommend it to everyone – especially all you comic geeks, like me!

Love you all!

 Going through a bit of writer’s block – ugggh! I haven’t really experienced this before and I’m so close to the end of my book! It feels like false labor!!! I’ve been bombarded with so much lately that I just don’t know how to sort out my thoughts to make them work to my advantage. And I’ve tried everything – music, staying up late at night when everyone else sleeps, prayer, reading, connecting with nature, etc…the list goes on and on but my writing has ceased!

I think I’ll hang out at the ocean this weekend and meditate on the power and majesty of the waves as God’s tender yet treacherous caress of a fallen world. Love you all – cck

A global pandemic is upon us; or is it? Regardless, I thought I would be prepared but still live my life. Keep informed with up-to-date info on cnn.com. I have family in Mexico and all are doing fine- praise God! We haven’t had any cases here in Florida as yet but they have sent some suspected samples out to the CDC for testing.

Still going to see X-Men Origins, Wolverine today. I’ll give a full-review later on.

Still writing, nearing completion. It’s like labor pains – yuk! Love you all!