First of all, let me just say that Jon Stewart continues to be a genius and The Daily Show is the second best thing about my lunch break after the food.

That being said, I figured whatever he had to say regarding Michael Jackson’s death would be right on. I don’t really have much to say about it myself. I think MJ was pretty great, especially in his earlier, less freaked out years. I regularly rock out the the Jackson 5 and I can’t detach much of his solo stuff from greatness. Sure, he got a little weird, but you would too if you were a worldwide superstar with the pushiest parent on the planet and a media storm that never really let up. Look at Madonna, the closest thing to Michael Jackson in terms of star power, she’s a little freakin’ crazy too. And I guarantee there are much stranger people in the world, they just aren’t famous.

It’s sad that it happened so suddenly and that it’s kicking up so much vitriol about the guy all over again, but it’s also nice to see that a lot of people are just remembering the awesome music.

The whole thing makes me think about the perception of celebrities in general. I’ve never really been into famous people. I had some musical obsessions when I was younger, but I think that was more a product of my age than what I really thought about people. There are plenty of famous people I admire, but I can’t really get over the fact that they’re just other people I don’t know who happen to have done something cool. Approaching a celebrity for me equates with approaching some random person on the street.

Every time I walk into Waitrose for my bi-monthly peanut butter buying mission, I have the same mental conversation with myself. “What would I do if I ran into JK Rowling?*  A. Faint, B. Burst into tears, C. Timidly say, ‘Hello, thank you for being awesome, I hope you enjoy those apples’, D. Not even notice.” A and B aren’t really in my character, and I would hope the answer would be C, but knowing me, it would be D (I rarely notice people more than enough to avoid bumping into them, which is more than I can say for most people walking around this city). That or I’d notice her but be too worried about bothering her while she’s picking out the weekly veg. It just seems intrusive and weird, you know?

A week or so ago we went to see the premiere of Away We Go at the opening of the film festival, and John Krasinski was there. I was initially excited about it because I’m sort of in love with Jim Halpert (who isn’t?), but when I saw him it was kind of just like, oh, ok, here’s this guy, and I don’t know him any better than the dude sitting behind me, so what’s the big deal? (He did throw some Halpert looks for good measure though, which was at least amusing.)

I guess I just fail to catch the bug. And that’s kind of how I feel about the whole thing in general. Michael Jackson, in the end, is just a man I didn’t know. I can appreciate all the awesome stuff he’s done, but aside from pumping up the Jackson 5 and thinking good thoughts for his family at such a crappy time, I can’t see any reason not to leave him alone, and I guess I don’t get why other people want to pick on him even after he’s gone. It’s just bad taste.

*Rumour is she shops at this particular branch. For US readers, Waitrose is kind of an upscale grocery store that happens to carry a lot of tempting, wonderful things, plus Skippy peanut butter, a rarity in these parts.