Every once in a while, something will happen that causes me to really miss America. I find myself yearning for the land of the free and home of the brave any time I must use a “squatty potty” or on the days when I get poked in the face and have my hair snagged in the perpetual sea of umbrellas. Whenever I crave the elusive salad or see someone playing with a dog, or when the LA Lakers won the championship or when I had to frantically search Google news for updates about the Metro line crash in DC. Even when people shout at Dominic – “Obama! We love you!”
And yes, most recently and somewhat strangely, the news of Michael Jackson’s death made me feel isolated here and I wished for the comfort of family and friends and American pop culture. I found out at 6:00am on Friday morning when I woke up for class and checked twitter, specifically my friend Janai’s tweet, which lead to subsequent maniacal scrolling and clicking through CNN and LA Times tweets. (Somewhere Jillian is giving me the “I told you twitter is useful!” look; sorry I doubted its power for so long)
It seemed unfathomable that this all happened in America while I was sleeping, a world away. I did nothing short of blurt out the news to my classmates as soon as we met for class an hour later – and the shock that set in was quickly replaced by annoyance at being “stuck” in Asia to hear this news, while no doubt this was an earth-shattering event back home. We wanted to talk about it, know all the details, watch the news and read the headlines, listen to his music and hear his name being said on the street. I walked into my office and no one mentioned it, no one was in shock or was speculating what happened, no one was humming Billy Jean.
To say we’re disconnected from America is absurd, but when I emailed my family and friends to get more information and had to wait almost 12 hours because of the time difference to get a response, I felt completely cut off from American civilization. Feeling ever more marooned at the office – I couldn’t check news sites or go on YouTube or Facebook or twitter until I got home from work that evening.
I missed America. I was jealous of the sensational job the American media would do to inundate with pictures and music and stories of MJ. I wanted to hear it from Ryan Seacrest and watch it on CNN and MTV. I wanted to see the chopper feed over the hospital. I wanted to listen to the broadcast of the 911 phone call. I wanted to hold the front page of the LA Times and collect the issue of People Magazine. I wanted to be in LA when it happened – I wanted to see the people in their old school Michael Jackson concert t-shirts and hand-made posters carrying teddy-bears and flowers to the hospital. I wanted to watch the countless TV specials and photo montages and tributes to MJ, that would tastefully gloss over certain indiscretions and help us remember him as the King of Pop and the original American Idol. I wanted to laugh and cry and reminisce about Free Willy and dance to Thriller. I wanted an excuse to eat Yogurtland.
After a full day of itching to be somewhere else, my classmates and I came back together after work on Friday evening and decided to go out for a night on the town in memorial to MJ. The theme was, appropriately, “flashy and dancing.” We started on the Kowloon waterfront to watch the Symphony of Lights – the world’s largest permanent light and sound show (according to Guinness World Records/The Hong Kong Tourism Board) that involves 44 buildings along the Hong Kong Island skyline facing Victoria Harbour and Kowloon. Colored lights and laser beams on the buildings dance along to music and narration every night at 8:00pm in Hong Kong.
As the saying goes, “when it rains, it pours” (this is especially so in Hong Kong) – Michael Jackson’s death also coincided with the raising of the Typhoon Warning Signal to Level Three, serious enough to suspend the show for that night. For a show that plays every night in Hong Kong, we managed to choose the one night it was canceled. Although it was a bit of a disappointment, we still have many more nights to see the show before we leave HK, and the view of the Hong Kong Island skyline was awesome, even without all the added choreographed pyrotechnics and music.
No wonder they call it the “million dollar skyline” ...
And yes, most recently and somewhat strangely, the news of Michael Jackson’s death made me feel isolated here and I wished for the comfort of family and friends and American pop culture. I found out at 6:00am on Friday morning when I woke up for class and checked twitter, specifically my friend Janai’s tweet, which lead to subsequent maniacal scrolling and clicking through CNN and LA Times tweets. (Somewhere Jillian is giving me the “I told you twitter is useful!” look; sorry I doubted its power for so long)
It seemed unfathomable that this all happened in America while I was sleeping, a world away. I did nothing short of blurt out the news to my classmates as soon as we met for class an hour later – and the shock that set in was quickly replaced by annoyance at being “stuck” in Asia to hear this news, while no doubt this was an earth-shattering event back home. We wanted to talk about it, know all the details, watch the news and read the headlines, listen to his music and hear his name being said on the street. I walked into my office and no one mentioned it, no one was in shock or was speculating what happened, no one was humming Billy Jean.
To say we’re disconnected from America is absurd, but when I emailed my family and friends to get more information and had to wait almost 12 hours because of the time difference to get a response, I felt completely cut off from American civilization. Feeling ever more marooned at the office – I couldn’t check news sites or go on YouTube or Facebook or twitter until I got home from work that evening.
I missed America. I was jealous of the sensational job the American media would do to inundate with pictures and music and stories of MJ. I wanted to hear it from Ryan Seacrest and watch it on CNN and MTV. I wanted to see the chopper feed over the hospital. I wanted to listen to the broadcast of the 911 phone call. I wanted to hold the front page of the LA Times and collect the issue of People Magazine. I wanted to be in LA when it happened – I wanted to see the people in their old school Michael Jackson concert t-shirts and hand-made posters carrying teddy-bears and flowers to the hospital. I wanted to watch the countless TV specials and photo montages and tributes to MJ, that would tastefully gloss over certain indiscretions and help us remember him as the King of Pop and the original American Idol. I wanted to laugh and cry and reminisce about Free Willy and dance to Thriller. I wanted an excuse to eat Yogurtland.
After a full day of itching to be somewhere else, my classmates and I came back together after work on Friday evening and decided to go out for a night on the town in memorial to MJ. The theme was, appropriately, “flashy and dancing.” We started on the Kowloon waterfront to watch the Symphony of Lights – the world’s largest permanent light and sound show (according to Guinness World Records/The Hong Kong Tourism Board) that involves 44 buildings along the Hong Kong Island skyline facing Victoria Harbour and Kowloon. Colored lights and laser beams on the buildings dance along to music and narration every night at 8:00pm in Hong Kong.
As the saying goes, “when it rains, it pours” (this is especially so in Hong Kong) – Michael Jackson’s death also coincided with the raising of the Typhoon Warning Signal to Level Three, serious enough to suspend the show for that night. For a show that plays every night in Hong Kong, we managed to choose the one night it was canceled. Although it was a bit of a disappointment, we still have many more nights to see the show before we leave HK, and the view of the Hong Kong Island skyline was awesome, even without all the added choreographed pyrotechnics and music.
No wonder they call it the “million dollar skyline” ...
So we found a bar in Lan Kwai Fong with a jukebox and MJ’s greatest hits. We danced for hours – much to the delight and horror of some bar patrons – in our tribute to the King. We made toasts and made memories and made fools of ourselves living up to our American reputation. We even perused the selection of DVDs for sale from an old woman’s backpack in a dark corner of the bar.
That night I realized that Michael Jackson and Hong Kong actually have a lot in common. Both are totally over the top, completely commercialized, extraordinarily entertaining and driven to push the envelope on what’s normal in pop culture. Both have the ability to dazzle, inspire and totally boggle all at once. MJ has his Neverland Ranch and I have HK, my own little fantasy world. At the end of the day, it’s been special to be here…maybe there was no better or more unique place to celebrate his life.
If you were in America you might be pissed that for multiple days MJ dominated the news cycle and you couldn't learn about anything else. Also, I never heard anyone mention why this terribly odd man liked to sleep with children, sometimes fondle them, and keep a playground in his backyard which was aptly named for never growing old. The kids he assualted forever stayed the same age. Ah what a king.
ReplyDeleteI love these new posts sister!!! Swine flu, smoking, and MJ-it doesn't get better than that!!! xoxoxoxo
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