on the perhaps untimely demise of Michael Jackson

Here's the thing, and I don't mean to sound callous. Michael Jackson is better off wherever, however I can believe he would be now than he was in life. Particularly in the last fifteen years of his life. His icon status will canonize well and we are all adjusting nicely to his transition into legend. I am not particularly mournful. I'm just sorry the mercy couldn't have come a little sooner.

He was an incredibly talented, incredibly messed-up man. No one can claim to know the full scope of his problems with his life, his physical self or his identity. I doubt anyone can claim to know the real truth of his complicity in any of the situations in which he stood accused. The man did not live on this planet in any healthy sense, and so it's difficult to make sense of the life he lived off-stage.

But of course, what he brought to the world of entertainment was nothing less than a seismic shift, over the short span of his career, and a rising tide floats all ships -- he brought a million other very talented people with him on the journey. We can be thankful for his art.

But I was oddly relieved when I heard the news. Because he always seemed so very unhappy, a man in pain. So we'll remember what he gave us, and get on with the show.