Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson, i really don’t think that this man needs any introduction. He is the “King of the Pop”. The most successful singer, performer and entertainer, that this world has ever known. Unfortunately he died few months back, but his magical music and dance still beholds millions of MJ fans across the world.

I still remember that as a kid, i used to follow Michael Jackson religiously. I used to imitate his style of singing,  although i was a terrible singer. But i wasn’t a bad dancer and i soon started following his footsteps. I learned the famous “Moon Walk” and i still enjoy doing it after so many years. I have been a crazy fan of his dance and singing, since last 15 years. I guess i have all his songs including the ones from Jackson 5. And i was really looking forward to his last tour “This Is It” which unfortunately could not be commenced.

Anyways, MJ’s unique contribution to the music industry and dance is unforgettable. He had been ruling the world for almost four decades. 13 Grammy Awards and 17 number one singles speaks all about his talent and popularity. “Billie Jean”, “Beat It” and “Thriller” are probably the most popular songs ever. He truly was a genius.

Anyways, Michael Jackson was born on 29th August 1958. Today, it would have been his 51st birthday. So i guess it’s a good time to remember Michael Jackson and cherish each enjoyable moment that he has brought into our lives whether by singing or dancing.

Happy Birthday Michael Joseph Jackson!!!

I though for a while as to what MJ song should i embed in with this post. It wasn’t a difficult choice as this song titled “You Are Not Alone” is one of my favorite song. The one particular song that i like to hear when i am feeling low, depressed, upset or sad. This song always seemed to cheer me up somehow. If you haven’t heard it before, then i hope you love the song as much as i do.

Sorry, i couldn’t post the original video because it is not allowed to embed it. Some copyrights issues and stuff. You can watch it on YouTube though.
By the way, if you really want to see a crazy fan, checkout this video “You Are Not Alone Live In Munich“. The girl actually turned out to be very lucky. She even made Michael Jackson cry because of her love for him. Must watch i guess!

I am a big fan of music. It’s what i do most of the time. I listen to music like 10-12 hours a day. Although i have my favorites with the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Def Leppard, Creed, Michael Jackson and many more but that doesn’t stop me to constantly look forward to hear new artists who are making their presence felt in music industry. Few months back, Susan Boyle came to the big arena of “Britain Got Talent” and she created a sensation world over with her voice. Unfortunately she bagged second position in the grand finale of the show, but her voice still beats in many hearts. There was another guy whose singing talent was much appreciated. His name is Shaun Smith and he sang “Ain’t No Sunshine” by “Bill Withers“. I am mentioning him here, as “Ain’t No Sunshine” is my one of the favorite songs and has already been re-sung by 100 plus known artists including Akon, Michael Jackson and Lenny Kravitz. Shaun Smith too created a little sensation on the web.

But Oh My God! Susan Boyle’s craze was still all around the web when this young fellow named “Danyl Johnson” came to the music arena in auditions of The X Factor. Danyl not only sang but performed on the song titled “With a Little Help from My Friends” which is written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and was “The Beatles” song. It was the auditions and his first attempt ever. It was such an impressive performance, i literally felt goosebumps all over my body. He truly performed like a rockstar out there and everyone is crazy about his performance.

Danyl Johnson is being compared to Susan Boyle already. All for the obvious singing talent reasons. I am already a fan of his voice. All judges really appreciated his voice and performance. In particular, Simon Cowell said that “It’s the best first audition he’s ever heard in almost nine years of doing judging“. Wow!!! That’s a pretty huge comment for someone who has just stepped into auditions of X Factor.

Here is an online video of Danyl Johnson performing and rocking the X Factor auditions. Do leave your comments on the performance

I don’t think i need to introduce the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” to you. Few Oscars awards to it’s name, this movie has been super hit across the globe. I personally believe that’s not entirely true. People here in India do not find the movie too great that it could win an Oscar. A slumdog guy making into riches is not a unique concept. There are hundreds of movies in Bollywood that goes on the same concept and many of them actually are better and much more popular than Slumdog Millionaire. However, I do agree that the innovative idea wherein a guy becomes a millionaire via an actual reality TV show was a new concept, but that does not make it a great movie. I think the Americans and Britishers were overwhelmed with the slums and poverty shown in the movie, which is not a rare sight in India, so that bring in the differences between my opinion and those who think it was worthy of an Oscar. Still, i do not want to take any credits from it. It was a good movie and am proud of it that it won Oscars making it the first Indian movie to get such prestigious award.

This however is not the reason i wrote this post. The title of this post, most probably gave you a different picture in mind and that’s what this post is about. If i mention the name, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, that probably won’t ring in your minds. He was one of the child actors that acted in the movie. Probably the picture beside this post will give you a clear indication of who he really is.

Mohammed Ismail And Rest Of Crew of Slumdog Millionaire

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail’s life never took a drastic change after the megahit Slumdog Millionaire made million bucks at box office. There is a reason why i am saying this and i will explain it a bit later. Anyways, the little guy lives in a city called “Garibnagar” (City of poor) in Mumbai, India. Yesterday, May14th 2009, a terrible thing happened. Azharuddin Ismail lost his home as it was demolished and turned into pile of debris by the Indian municipal authorities. According to the authorities, his home, among 20 other homes were illegally built, so they had to demolish it anyhow. I was just reading this news at CNN.com and a senior inspector of the authority named Rahim Sheikh, who is also in charge of the locality, told the CNN, that “The shanties were brought down as part of a municipal drive to clear encroachments on public land. Bulldozers leveled the slum built on a municipal garden”. So we now have a reason why this step was taken. I am not sure what to say here. It can be said that “Indian rules stand equal for everyone” whether poor man or celebrity which we all know is not true. We all know that Indian rules although laid strictly, but are flexible and corrupted in reality.

Anyways, what may bring tear to your eyes is when you see Azharuddin Ismail sitting between the debris and twisted metal, surrounded by filth on all sides and tears running down his cheeks. It’s little hard to believe specially for a buy who achieved such a success so very recently. According to Ismail, they got no notice for the demolition in advance and they weren’t even allowed anytime to remove their belongings from the house. It’s sad how things go around in India specially with the poor. Ismail family however were strong enough and said that they will return back and they do plan to rebuild the house. I would suggest that you do rebuild your house but take care of the encroachment laws this time around.

I managed to get hold of the video where in Ismail talks about how he feels on the same issue. He cried a lot and of course he expects little respects for his celebrity status which he was denied by the Mumbai authorities. Here is the video courtesy the Associated Press!

I did mentioned before about how his life never took a drastic turn. Ismail’s father is a bit cruel, so to speak. He was photographed beating his son after Ismail begged to rest his jet lagged body after reaching home from Oscars ceremonies in Los Angeles. His father has been trying repeatedly to fish out more money from Danny Boyle (Director of Slumdog Millionaire). It is believed that Ismail was paid $1000 USD (Rs. 50,000 INR approx.) during the filming of the movie. Danny was smart enough to put an amount near about $25,000 USD ( Rs. 12.5 Lacs INR approx.) in a trust which will be accessible by Ismail when he turns 18. Apart from that he pays $30 (Rs 1500) a week to 10 year old Ismail as allowance. Now imagine how this could change the life of a real slumdog kid. But thanks to his father, Ismail will only get money when he turns 18. So no drastic change as on now!

Anyways, i heard Danny Boyle initially offered them a house out of slums worth $30,000 USD. I hope this is the right time for that commitment to come into action. We surely hope the slumdog kid strike some peace in real life too.

I have never been much satisfied with Adsense for celebrity sites anyways. Since last 5-6 months Google Adsense has been paying a cent or two for every click i get on my celebrity sites network. Believe me, i have lot of traffic on those sites and i really do get lot of clicks there. An average 100 clicks give me $2.00 only. I mean, this really is insane. Isn’t it? Is that what the advertisers at adwords are really paying for celebrity sites? I feel totally looted here!

Anyways, recently i was browsing my Adsense account and there in those green highlighted pointers it was written that verifying your website via Google Webmaster Tools will help us serve you better. Well, i thought this is it. Much targeted ads, much more money and much better revenue for the celebrity sites. So i readily added and verified all my celebrity websites. So what do you think? Problem solved? Am i earning more now?

Lol Not really. It’s even worse! Now an average 100 clicks give me $0.50 to $0.75. There you are Google Adsense. You really are brilliant with getting much more targeted ads.

My Dear God. Who in the world pays less than 1 cent per click to any advertiser program in the whole wide world?

I checked the ads running on my sites. Just reading the url and opening them in new windows. Each and every site is Made for Adsense (MFA). And they look worse. With absolutely no content. For God sake even blogspot blogs are being advertised by Adsense! Where is the Google TOS of “good landing page” being applied? I just want to ask, why is Google so dumb with their advertisers? And yet they come out brave and merciless when it comes to paid advertising on other sites which we have, by deindexing and banning and PR ripping things. What is it with you Google? Why don’t you get a life? Why can’t you live your own life and let live others their own?

Fact is, Google won’t let you sell advertising on your sites and blah blah blah, because they want people to use Adsense instead. But hey, they will not let you earn with Adsense either. Because they can’t filter MFA’s from their advertiser program.

So there you have it. Google Adsense vs. Celebrity Sites. You clearly know who the winner is! Don’t ruin your life. Get some better publisher advertisement programs on your celebrity sites.