Two for you!

So, I'm back on the homefront (Norwich). My time here draws to a close but the schoolwork continues. My journalism assignment for tomorrow was to write 2 250-word opinion pieces on a topical issue, one for and one against. So, of course, me being the fluffer-nutter I am, I chose Justin Timberlake's ascension (or the speculation therein) to the throne of the King of Pop now occupied very unstably by Michael Jackson. (That was a horrible sentence, so just read the articles -- they're short -- and hopefully you'll get the idea).

Also, I am back from Venice. It was lovely and a half times seven. I'll write extensively about it later, but for now it is late, and this is the only bone I can throw you. Bless...

All Hail King Justin

Critics and fans alike have touted Justin Timberlake’s solo debut (Justified) as the Off the Wall of Generation Y.

Timberlake – modest Memphan that he is – downplays such lofty aspirations: “I don’t think you can compare it [with Off the Wall]. … I wouldn’t do that to myself.”

But he recognizes an undeniable commonality between his debut and Jackson’s: “That was a moment in time when Michael was willing to show the world exactly what he could do by himself. He was no longer just a part of the Jackson 5.”

It’s about time to deflect attention from Jacko’s shenanigans. When he wears surgical masks in public, sequesters himself to his Neverland Ranch and dangles his children over German balconies, the star paint himself as a mentally unstable curmudgeon, not a world-class pop star.

A generation removed, Timberlake’s has a fresh-faced, straight-off-the-boy-bandwagon enthusiasm (normalcy, even). He anticipates the support of his fans and gives back to them through charity and performance.

What’s more, Timberlake does not have Jackson’s dicey history, making him more appealing, less alienated. Timberlake doesn’t need to announce to the world that he is “Bad” or Invincible, he simply wants to “justify” himself as an artist after his pre-fab days at the helm of *NSync.

He is what Michael Jackson used to be.

While the future of the England’s throne may be questionable, the lineage of pop royalty in America is undeniable: the entertainment media is polishing Justin Timberlake’s scepter right now.

Timberlake’s Treasonous Mediocrity

Are Justin Timberlake’s hopes to equal Michael Jackson’s legacy Justified? Decidedly not.

Many have touted Timberlakes’s solo debut as the Off the Wall of Generation Y. Timberlake feigns modesty in British magazine Attitude, saying: “I don’t think you can compare [Justified with Off the Wall]. … I wouldn’t do that to myself.”

Yet he continues without skipping a beat: “That was a moment in time when Michael was willing to show the world exactly what he could do by himself. He was no longer just a part of the Jackson 5.”

The flagrant set-up is lost on the sycophantic, drooling reporter who responds with stars in his eyes: “But isn’t this the moment you show the world what you can do without *NSync?”

Note to Timberlake: You are not Michael Jackson, even if you have dreamed about this since you “was a little boy.”

Memphis, Tennessee, is not Gary, Indiana, and the painful losses suffered on Star Search will never compare to the pain of physical and emotional abuse from Joe Jackson.

*NSync was never the Jackson 5 – the pre-fab fiscal ventures of Lou Perlman will never compare to a family overcoming racial and cultural prohibitions to dominate the American subconscious for decades.

We do not need a new Michael Jackson. He is, was and forever will be The King; in comparison, Justin Timberlake barely pulls off the title of Lady in Waiting.