SOURCE: AFP

Erin Jacobs knows dediation, and she has it for MJ bad.

Since then, the singer’s notoriously loyal followers have traded vigils at the hospital and family home for pilgrimages to his tomb and protests at the courthouse where the doctor charged with killing Jackson will be tried.

“It’s absolutely humbling that he has so much support from fans,” Jacobs said in a recent interview.

A travel agent who lives in Yorba Linda, Calif., Jacobs made her first 50-mile trip to the Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, Calif., shortly after Jackson was buried there last September. It was a personal trip.

These days, Jacobs has gone on to coordinate monthly pilgrimages to the cemetery by the Official Michael Jackson Fans of Southern California.

Hundreds are expected at Forest Lawn on Friday to commemorate Jackson’s death. The singer’s tomb inside the cemetery’s gothic Great Mausoleum remains closed to the public, and Friday’s memorial won’t change that.

But through the efforts of Jacobs and others, it’s become a place where Jackson’s international fan base comes to grieve. Many who can’t make it in person send letters, poems, artwork and other gifts so that Jacobs and others can deliver them to the cemetery, where they are placed at the singer’s tomb until new items arrive.

“A year later, it feels like it was yesterday,” Jacobs said.

Another focal point for Jackson fans has become the downtown Los Angeles courthouse where Dr. Conrad Murray will be tried on an involuntary manslaughter charge for Jackson’s death.

On hearing days, fans wearing sequined gloves and T-shirts calling for justice wait for hours clutching signs denouncing Murray and shout at him for the brief moments it takes him to walk from the curb to the front door.

Johnell Johnson, 19, an actress from Fontana, Calif., woke up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the courthouse in time for a recent midday hearing in Murray’s case. Wearing a vintage pin from Jackson’s “Bad” era, Johnson said it was important for her to be there to support Jackson’s family.

It’s a sentiment echoed by many others who try to attend the proceedings. Only a handful are allowed into the courtroom, but others are content to shout their support to Jackson’s parents and siblings, who occasionally stop to hug or speak to fans. At the hearing earlier this month, the singer’s mother, Katherine, carried roses that fans handed her.

Fans at the cemetery Friday hope to bring more than 3,000 roses, Jacobs said, although officials don’t want the memorial to include the release of doves or balloons, as was originally planned.

None of this fan passion is really new. Jackson’s supporters have long been among the most devoted and vocal of any entertainer’s in recent memory. More than 1,200 people were outside the Santa Maria, Calif., courthouse in 2005 when the singer was acquitted of all counts in a child-molestation trial. Last year thousands flocked to the hospital where Jackson was pronounced dead, and throngs remained outside the family’s home for weeks.

Friday’s anniversary is ostensibly a fan affair — the singer’s estate, which controls Jackson’s music and likeness — has not sanctioned any events, and while some family members have thrown support behind a paid gala in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Saturday night, there hasn’t been a formal family announcement of tribute.

No word from whether not the medial supply companies or other businesses in the area will participate.

Several of those who protested outside the courthouse June 14 were planning a variety of events, from the staging of a massive “Thriller” tribute to a rally seeking justice planned for downtown Los Angeles on June 26.

Taaj Malik, who is organizing the rally and maintains several fan groups on Facebook, was among the first fans to arrive outside the singer’s rented mansion when news of his hospitalization broke. She recalled recently that she had tears in her eyes as she traveled the 50 miles from neighboring Orange County.

A Jackson fan since her childhood 30 years ago in the United Kingdom, Malik said she prefers to focus on gaining justice for Jackson than on her grief. “I’ve ignored it,” said Malik, who along with Jacobs is a member of the group Justice 4 MJ. “I’ve blocked it. I refuse to let it come in to me.”

Jacobs, 43, who traded a brand-new Beach Cruiser her mother scrimped to buy her for tickets for the Jackson’s Victory Tour in 1984, said she expects fans from around the world to fly in for the Forest Lawn memorial on Friday. Some will board party buses the next day for a trip to Neverland Ranch, which is now shuttered but still owned by the estate.

“The fans who are on the Internet are the fans that are the die-hards,” Jacobs said. “They are the fans who related to Michael on a different level.”

That’s certainly true for Johnson, 19, who summed up the fan family as an extension of Jackson’s eccentric life.

“Michael Jackson has always been misunderstand and I think we as his fans are as well,” she said. “People don’t understand our love for Michael Jackson, so to be around people who are just like us, it humbles us.”

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MY TAKE: Tried to watch the MJ movie the other night and found myself bored so I switched over to play blackjack online. There are some great casinos online by the way where you can play for real money or just for fun. I frankly play for fun. I don’t want to end up like others who have had to put their Phoenix homes for sale on the market because they gambled away their mortgage payments. By the way: if you need a good list of Phoenix Arizona (AZ) realtors, check Realtor.com, the country’s leading association for Realtors.

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OTHER RESOURCES

Creating Items in Minecraft

There are some great options for obtaining different items in Minecraft and if a person decides to play Survival Mode, there are some neat resources that are available such as weapons, armor and food. Much of the space on a Minecraft hosting server will be filled up with the space it takes to store such digital information. One of the neat things about playing a game where items are acquired is that they can eventually be transformed into new items that are better. These better items are things like mining picks that get the job done faster.

Air Moving

Source: Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles investigators say a machete-wielding porn performer went on a rampage at a Van Nuys production facility, killing one of his former co-stars and badly wounding two other men.

Police said the assailant, porn actor Stephen Clancy Hill, was last seen driving a blue Toyota RAV4.

The attack was reported around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday at Ultima DVD Inc., a video distribution business where Hill did production work and apparently lived, police said.

Police said they are investigating whether Hill was angry with his colleagues after learning that he was being fired and evicted.

Homicide Det. Joel Price said Hill attacked one man in a back room of the business with a machete-style weapon. Two colleagues heard loud screams and rushed to the man’s aid.

Hill turned on them and swung the weapon repeatedly, cutting and gashing both men, police said. All three victims were rushed to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where one was pronounced dead. The other two were treated.

The man slashed to death was described as a 30-year-old Canoga Park resident. Authorities have not released his name, but the victim appears to have performed in numerous adult films, including at least two with the suspect.

A Glendale-based production firm issued a statement on Twitter saying the victim had starred in its movies. An employee at the office confirmed the Twitter post to The Times.

Late Wednesday, police were searching for Hill, who fled in the Toyota RAV4 with license plate 5YTC423. Hill performed in adult films under the name Steve Driver.

Sources familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak publicly said Hill had a history of violence that included a 1999 assault-with-a-firearm conviction for threatening to kill one of his college instructors for not giving him an A.

Hill, of Riverdale, Md., allegedly told the University of Maryland instructor that he was “a mobster and would dismember the instructor’s body if he didn’t get the grade,” according to a 1999 story in the Washington Post.

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My Take: Who needs to download horror movies when you have this kind of horror happening in real life? These are the kinds of things you think only happen in the movies, right? You envision a bad Halloween costume and a lot of fake blood. I imagine this news, however, will not hurt the number of movies download stats for the porn company this guy worked for. Speaking of costumes, you can purchase lays, grass skirts and coconut drink cups for your special backyard luau on line, as well as other things that make great luau costumes.

By the way, did you know that if you hire a wrongful death attorney, you can get legal aid?  The Lone Star state offers low-income residents legal assistance for all kinds of representation, incluidng a personal injury attorney.

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Good catch

Looking to book a Fishing Key West boat trip online? There are lots of companies online offering Key West Florida deep sea fishing charters. Be careful about paying deposits to companies that don’t offer a proof of payment because it’s not unheard of for online charter companies to take payments for charter trips that don’t exist.

Cited: Daily News

On January 19, a singer who until very recently would have prompted a “Who’s that?”, started a sold-out, 4-night run at Radio City Music Hall. And this triumphant gig is just one of many trophies in Lady Gaga’s sprint to global fame.

The wildly outfitted performer also tied Beyoncé’s record for the most nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards last September. And in December, she grabbed Grammy nods in three of the top four categories, the awards were be given out Jan. 31.

So, exactly why did the world go gaga over Gaga just now?

Like all “sudden” phenomenon’s, various factors were brewing in the culture that allowed her to seemingly explode overnight.

For one thing, the kind of music La Gaga (born Stefani Germanotta in NYC in 1986) makes — slick dance pop, honed for the mainstream — was out of fashion long enough to make it seem new.

As hip hop ruled the charts from the late ’90s through much of the last decade, it greatly slowed the beat of pop, taking the focus off the brisk and exciting club styles that Gaga would revive.

At the same time, hip-hop stars of the last 15 years usually dressed in street styles, not anything wild or ­theatrical. That created a pent-up desire to see something splashier.

Meanwhile, the other dominant force in music of the past decade — bland American “Idol”-ized pop — began to lose its novelty. That left a void for something with more edge.

Earlier in 2009, the charts started to move back in the direction of classic dance music with the humongous hits of Pitbull (”I Know You Want Me” and “Hotel Room Service”).

His hits provided a bridge between old rap and newly resurfacing house music. At the same time, Gaga’s songs were quietly building a following in clubs, supporters who would soon seduce early-adopter pop fans, then spread from there.

Clearly, Americans were getting ready to dance again — and Gaga was there to help them.

It didn’t hurt that she practically wrote her own headlines, telegraphed by the outrage of her fashion sense and the flip charm of her persona.

She was David Bowie, Grace Jones and Madonna rolled into one — a freak you could both snicker at and take to your heart.

The new focus on faster dance ­music as well as an outrageous persona has already found a new convert in Ke$ha, a 22-year-old who revives the kick of ’90s Euro-synth-dance music for a new generation. Since October, Ke$ha has racked up the most downloaded single ever by a female singer (”Tik Tok”), a record she took, tellingly, from Gaga herself.

But if Ke$ha has the hit of the moment, only Gaga has the sight-gag star appeal that suits the gawking age of reality TV and moves it forward with a knowing wink.

With a giggle and a beat, Gaga rates one of the few across-the-board stars, in an age when the Internet has fractured pop into a million little pieces, that can make us whole again.

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My Take: Well, I am one of those that will go “Gaga who?” Except for this article, I have never heard of Lady Gaga. That is not to say that I probably have heard a CD copy of her music. But I could not tell you what she sings. I am more into the 50s and 60s music than anything else.

I do know someone that has a DVD collection that is out of this world and he may have a copy DVD California with her on it. But I have never seen it. And I really do not see any reason to see it. I am sure that she is a good singer; otherwise she would not be so popular. She is so popular she is on funny tees everywhere. I saw some really cool t shirts with her on them just the other day.

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Cited: Associated Press

Nevada is calling him a “prostidude” as he starts work at a Nevada brothel. You got it right, the country’s first legal gigolo starts controversy in a mid-market for female clientele. A Nevada desert town brothel has hired him, the state’s first male prostitute. He is a muscular young man who dropped out of college. Briefly in Los Angeles, he was a porn actor who gave up acting to become the only legal gigolo in the United States.

The Shady Lady Ranch successfully won state and county approval to clear the way for the “prostidude,” as Nevada’s newest sex worker is already being called. After a slow first week on the job, his first appointments are already scheduled.

The male prostitute — known as “Markus” — has quickly become the center of attention in Nevada’s brothel industry.

He has been criticized by female counterparts for not being willing to have sex with men. And he created a dustup after telling Details Magazine that his pioneering role in the sex business was “just the same” as civil rights icon Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus. Not surprisingly, he has been forbidden from doing interviews after the remarks.

Competing brothel owners also fret that hiring gigolos in Nevada will bring unwanted scrutiny from state officials and potentially tempting them to make prostitution illegal. The competitors have also expressed concerns about sexually transmitted diseases, and worry that female customers can’t be inspected as carefully as men are before sex.

Markus, 25, described himself as a well-read college dropout and former U.S. Marine from Alabama. He said he drove to Los Angeles to become a porn actor and left after filming two scenes, the first about a month ago. He said he ended up in a homeless shelter near Santa Monica, Calif., after being unable to find another job.

What about the no smoking laws? With the new electronic cigarette, smokers across the globe now have the opportunity to continue smoking everywhere with greater freedom, lower cost and more social acceptance. With the NJoy NPRO, you can smoke anywhere that smoking is not allowed. NJoy looks, feels and tastes like a regular cigarette because it gives off no second-hand smoke and emits no significant odor. It is the best electronic cigarette you can purchase.

‘Empowered’

Shady Lady madam Bobbi Davis picked him from about 10 potential hires culled from hundreds of applications, many featuring crude inquiries, according to her husband and co-owner Jim. Part of Markus’ appeal was that he was not afraid to deal with heavy publicity.

“Whichever woman may walk through that door, she’s appreciated,” Markus said in his Details interview. “A surrogate lover will love that woman for a whole hour, or however much we charge here, and she’ll leave feeling much more empowered and much more confident in herself.”

Jim Davis told The Associated Press that after reading the article, he and his wife decided that Markus doing interviews was bad for business. Bobbi Davis declined an interview with the AP. The Davis’ declined to give Markus’ real name, which is customary for sex workers in Nevada.

Davis said the Shady Lady had received dozens of e-mails expressing interest in the gigolo. He said it took years to establish steady business from truckers, salesmen and other travelers after the brothel opened 17 years ago, and getting paying women customers could take at least a month.

“This is a business — if (Bobbi Davis) didn’t think she could make more money she wouldn’t have done it,” Davis said. “Why else would she start something like this? And if she knew what she was getting into, she probably wouldn’t have,” he said.

Rooms with a theme

The yellow-painted Shady Lady compound is more than 30 miles north of Beatty — an unincorporated township of less than 1,200 people between Las Vegas and Reno.

The small, fenced-in brothel includes a French-themed foyer that displays a pricing menu — $200 for 40 minutes, $300 per hour. It sits on 40 acres of mostly empty land the Davis’ originally bought for $11,000, Davis said.

Three connected bedrooms are distinctly decorated. One has a heart-shaped hot tub in its bathroom, another has an Asian theme. The brothel’s newest space is a disconnected cottage that looks like a roomy studio, with a kitchenette, a wooden bathtub in the bedroom and armrests on the toilet. The cottage cost $50,000 to build, Davis said.

Markus plans to use the cottage.

‘Viable effort’

“It won’t be successful,” said Arie Mack Moore, owner of the Angel’s Ladies Brothel, about two miles north of Beatty. “You can’t have both (male and female prostitutes) in the same building or adjacent to each other, in my opinion.”

Moore claims his business has picked up since Markus was hired, with customers saying they wanted to avoid the Shady Lady because of Markus.

A 22-year-old prostitute at Angel’s Ladies named “Cuddles” said Markus’ unwillingness to see gay males makes the Shady Lady seem sexist and discriminatory. Her brothel services women.

“How can you just turn down services because of what someone’s preference is? It comes with the territory. It comes with the business,” she said.

Davis said that he and his wife aren’t interested in establishing a gay male clientele, but it will be up to Markus to decide whether to accept men as customers. Davis said Markus told him that he wouldn’t perform for male customers.

“All this gay homophobia in this country is horrible,” Davis said. “Everybody’s so damn scared two men might have sex — it’s happening every day in Las Vegas. Not going to happen here, but that’s all the big fear, is gay people.”

‘In the catbird seat’

George Flint, a longtime lobbyist for the Nevada Brothel Owners Association, said allowing a male prostitute creates legitimate health concerns. Male customers are thoroughly cleaned and inspected for signs of disease before sex at Nevada’s brothels, and he doesn’t believe the same “fanaticism” is possible when checking female customers.

He also worries about the ramifications for the six other brothels in Nye County and the 24 total in Nevada.

“We got an industry in this state right now that’s got an investment of somewhere between $50 million and $75 million,” Flint said. “And yet Bobbi’s in the catbird seat right now where her antics and her procedures and her demands and her goals could potentially bruise an entire multimillion-dollar-a-year industry.”

“I think she truly believes that it’s a viable effort, and I’m wondering after four or five days and there haven’t been any takers, if she’s beginning to wonder if maybe she was wrong,” Flint said. “You and I and the rest of the world can sit and debate this damn thing until hell freezes over, but if nobody shows up at her front door, what’s it proved?”

Although the Shady Lane Ranch is not part of his Association, Flint believes it could see a temporary rise in female customers because of curiosity, but he does believe that this experiment will eventually fail.

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My Take: I thought they had male prostitutes in Nevada already, don’t they? I really wouldn’t know. I do think that the rest of the country should legalize prostitution. The reason that I believe this is because there are too many perverts roaming around and if they have access to legal sex, they wouldn’t try taking it.

With the amount of photography that is available in the form of pictures, magazines, books, videos and various sexual paraphernalia, I see no difference in legalizing prostitution. One of the things that legalize prostitution could provide is more taxes for government and less for the average citizen. I think in the rough economy that this would be a very good idea.

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Other Resources

Sports Padding

Gym wall padding serves a protective purpose as well as an impressively aesthetic focal point. You can do more with those gym wall mats and gym wall pads! You can get cutting edge designs rock kinds of graphics, mascots or sponsorship logos.

Schools across the country are preparing for graduation day. May and June are the big months for graduations in high school and college. It is a day that marks the passage from one stage to another in a person’s life. It should be one that is remembered! Many graduations today are done in outside settings that require portable stages. That means that a rolling stage with risers will need to be set up.

The rolling stage has a retractable caster assembly so that it can be rolled across a flat surface when it is assembled. The stage consists of a support structure and three platforms, creating an 8′x12′ area. Multiple rolling stages can bridge platforms to create a larger area, which may require a bridge support for safety.

The bridge support system “bridges” platforms from right to left and front to back. The bridge support system consists of two end frames that lock together with both horizontal and diagonal snap bracing. This also includes four top plates in single, dual or quad node design. This type is available in fixed or adjustable heights and in two versions, arena style and all-terrain style. When not in use, the support frames can be used as a deck storage cart. Just like bridge support, the collapsible support system is great for easy setup and take down. It has all the same features, but there is no loose bracing.

Now that the stage is set, the graduation can proceed. Ironically, not many students put much importance on graduation day except that it is another day to party or that they are finally out of school. Many do realize that it marks a change in their lives, but many do not understand the significance of the diploma or what it represents.

In the 1990s, a new form of gambling started to become popular across the globe, online casino gaming. Online gaming is also called Internet gambling or cyberspace gambling. Online casino games have become more and more popular each year. There are several online casinos and there will be more in the future.

Casinos online allow people to enjoy gambling for money or fun from the comfort of their own home. Players can usually enjoy all the popular casino games online. In fact, most gaming software has high quality graphics and may even be in 3-D or use super sound.

Some online casinos may even have what is now being called “Live Dealer Casinos”. These games are done by people via Web cam and they can chat with the dealer and other players within a multiplayer chat room. This usually makes for a more interesting poker game. In fact, the WSOP Poker Tournament is played via the Internet. This gives new players around the world the opportunity to play against the world’s elite poker players.

Depending on the online casino, you may need to download free software to participate in their games. There are online casinos that you can be play instantly through your web browser. In fact, most online casinos offer free money to play when you sign up as a real player. The amount will vary from one casino to another. You are usually required to make a deposit upon sign-up and once you have spent your deposit the free money is then available for your use.

Are you in a fraternity or sorority? Then you probably have greek letters attached to your organizational name. Wouldn’t you love to see that name on a t-shirt, sweatshirt, or bags? You should consider having these products made especially for your fraternity or sorority. It could even be used as a great fundraising idea, order t-shirts and then sell them to others. Not only will you make some money for the house, but you will also raise awareness for any causes you may be fighting for by using the back or front of the shirt to showcase that cause.

Greek t-shirts are fun, flirty, and inexpensive to produce. They can be a great alternative to some really expensive marketing methods and can be very beneficial. You can get custom designed greek t shirts at many online retailers, but make sure you use a good one with a solid reputation. Pricing can be based on colors used, number of words, and other design choices. Ask your seller questions and make the best of the number of words allowed for the base price to keep the cost down. The more personalized the easier it will be to sell or if you just want enough for your house consider using the house members individual names on the greek tees.

However you choose to customize these shirts one thing will always be true – they will be original and custom made for you by you.

Are you or your company planning a large public event? The staging is the most important portion, if no one can see what you are trying to present then there is no purpose in having the event. Your school could be having a play, carnival, or fund-raising event, your business could be having a large meeting or event, in any case the staging is the key.

Risers can benefit you by providing lift to the areas being showcased, there are companies available on the net and locally that can help you to rent and set up these risers. The stage will be lifted, visitors will be able to see the primary focal point of the event easily while enjoying the event comfortably. You will not need someone to go around pointing out the key points of the event since visitors will be able to see for themselves.

Guardrails can provide crowd control, if you are having any guest speakers, famous people, or any item needing protection, it is important to maintain a clear border. People respect a solid stage guardrail and they come in different sizes and widths to meet all of your needs.

In the event that you must set up your own stage there are products available for rent that will make this far easier for everyone involved. These stages are easily built and removed, making events simpler to organize. If you hire the right company you can get these at a great price and have someone else set up and take down, leaving you a lot more time for supervising the event.

Finally, skirting may seem like a frivolous spending, however the skirting is an important safety feature. There are so many cables and clips involved in a professional set up, protect your staff, guests, and photographers by covering the areas that contain safety hazards.

With proper planning, research, and the right help, your event can be as successful as any professionally planned affair.

In this day and age it is so important to save for the future and be responsible, but does this mean that we have to give up all of life’s joys? Do you have to stay at home and do nothing in order to save money? The answer is a big fat ‘NO’.

If you enjoy a good sporting event then why not go for Masters tickets or better yet, Superbowl tickets? Take your son or dad; introduce your daughter to baseball, football, or even hockey. Some of my favorite memories are of going to hockey games with my uncle, we would cheer and yell, and I was around seven and loved every minute of it. While other girls had pictures and stickers of the New Kids on the Block, I had the NJ Devils all over my notebooks, walls, and books.

Every New Year brings exciting new events; maybe you would enjoy Masters tickets, Superbowl tickets or even World Series tickets. It is never too early to start the hunt for quality tickets at an inexpensive price and it is important to keep living our lives without missing the fun despite the economic pressures surrounding our country. Of course, as with all internet transactions you should take care to use a reputable dealer who can guarantee their sales ensuring that you are never left out in the cold or having overpaid greatly. There are some great deals to be had out there and with it, some of the most exciting and memorable moments of your life.

Get your tickets today and have an exciting sports season.