April 16, 2007

The 50-foot Michael Jackson robot...

It roams around the desert and shoots laser beams. Shouldn't there be a Colossus of Las Vegas? We need more wonders of the modern world. The eastern United States has its Statue of Liberty. Why not something to express the spirit of the West?

For a depiction of a colossal Michael Jackson, go to 3:54 in this old video. Perhaps the Las Vegas project will have our robo-Michael busting out of a roller coaster cage. I love the way that video represents Jackson as the victim of our crazy ideas about him, with the poor man breaking free of the amusement park we made out of him.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Uh, The Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam, etc? It's not like there is a dearth of structures that are unique and impressive out West.

TMink said...

In trying to be sympathetic toward Michael, I honestly cannot imagine what it would be like to have som many people want a piece of you. And it was just him, it is not like he has John, Paul, and George to help keep him sane. So that kind of pressure and insanity must be really difficult to deal with.

And then there is the whole thing about him allegedly perpetrating children. And the sympathy I worked so hard to construct and find vanishes.

Trey

Ann Althouse said...

Oigonicella: A colossus is a large statue. Dams and bridges may be large, but they aren't in the form of a person.

Unknown said...

Crazy Horse

Ann Althouse said...

Mount Rushmore too.... just heads but still....

David53 said...

That would be fine but only if we had an equally large robotic Tiger Woods slamming basketball-sized golfballs into Michael's head from 10,000 yards out. Each golfball would be labeled "publicity" and Michael could try to shoot them down with his laser beams.

I would pay to see that.

bill said...

Ah, the Crazy Horse monument. It's slowly coming along, no idea when it will be finished.

The first time I came across the Crazy Horse monument was in the Logan's Run novel. Shame that portion of the book never made it to the movie.

Maxine Weiss said...

When I was in Law School, as a first year, I saw all kinds of aggression. ---And these were third years who were obnoxious and combative, and there were several incidents of fisticuffs. That's part of why I dropped out. I didn't want to become that. Maybe things are different when you are on the teaching side. But, law school, always seemed like a ticking time bomb.

It's really the end-of-the line. By third-year, if you don't rank, and no potential......your life is over.

I wouldn't be surprised if, next, we see some major violence coming from a law school, but I'm praying it doesn't happen.

I'm just glad I got out of there when I did. I've never regretted it.

Peace, Maxine

Ron said...

When they make the 50-foot Prince robot is when you hide your daughters...and your better-looking sons!

Unknown said...

Ann, you mentioned we need wonders of the modern world, not just a colossus, in your post. I believe the Colossus was the only wonder of the ancient world in the shape of a person.

What we really need out West is a great new tomb or a really flashy lighthouse. Course, Las Vegas as a whole nowadays can probably be considered a bit of a wonder. A celebration of consumerism at its flashiest.

Who really wants a big new statue of someone? Who should the statue be? Think of the arguing over that.

Maybe, though, since most immigration comes from the East and South we should just pack up the Statue of Liberty and move it off the coast of San Diego.

Smilin' Jack said...

Wonder if this was inspired by the 50-ft Emily Dickenson puppet in Being John Malkovich...it would be so cool to motorize that and set it to roaming New England.

Radish said...

If it's capable of walking, what's to stop it from stepping on people or small desert creatures?

For monuments out west, don't forget the monument to pioneers across I-80 at Kearney, Nebraska.

Philodikos said...

For video of what MJ would look like as a 50-foot tall killer robot, click here. With evil Joe Pesci to boot! (Although why a drug dealer would have laser-gun-armed storm troopers still escapes me.)

Starts at around 3:15.