Mourning Michael Jackson in SL

Heading into SL last night, Michael Jackson was actually the last person on my mind. In fact, it was nice to get away from all of the media coverage and begin my search for a new home. However, as I entered "home rent" in the classified search box, the very first entry was a Michael Jackson In Memoriam sim. No, it was not for rent, which is odd that it popped up in this search, but it was at the top based on the number of people visiting this new sim. By last night, over 36,000 avatars had visited this memorial. Upon further searching it was later discovered that this sim is for sale with no neighbors for the bargain price of L$9900.

I will admit I was a bit shocked to see this Michael Jackson devoted sim.....but maybe only for a few seconds....because I quickly remembered that what happens in the world is mirrored in SL. This is a cultural extension of what we are experiencing in RL. As a result, my curiosity was piqued. A second search in the "All" category brought up a pretty decent showing for Michael Jackson related sims, products and music events. It was amazing to see how many music venues had switched their music over to all Michael Jackson and in Terra Bordeaux a "3D" concert was being held - well almost. Upon visiting said concert, I was unsure whether to categorize this as a sick joke or a legitimate caricature. The 3D Michael Jackson was one you could buy for yourself for a little over L$600, but the actual form of this avatar was so skeletal that is looked as if Michael had been dead for several weeks already. The addition of giant angel wings on the back did not help matters.....it really creeped me out and I was not surprised that there was no one else around to enjoy the "show". Besides, the caricature MJ was silent as the grave and the sim music was general pop with no MJ music around.
Ironically, there were some really nice memorials that allowed people to light candles or leave flowers and balloons. What was extremely interesting was the variety of international representation. Each memorial was inundated with mourners or curiosity seekers from around the world. I loved the little memorial outside of the Old Stone Church at Some Enchanted Evening. Visitors could read allowed their favorite quotes from the singer, or a devotional segment that comforted them. The only weird element I noticed here was a camping kiosk at a rate of L$2 per 10 minutes....not exactly memorial worthy.

One note as you travel around viewing the memorials.....many are as eccentric as MJ was in RL. Case in point: The memorial on the PassPort sim. The church-like setting with roses, candles, free t-shirts and loads of MJ pictures is great as you wander around listening to his music......but yes, that is a bald MJ in a glass coffin, just like Snow White, in front of the cross in the chapel. And be sure to watch as you walk around....try not to step on the dismembered bodies strewn around. You gotta love these fans.....memorializing him in a way only possible in SL!












Now back to house hunting!
Sif