MJ: the good news thread

New FIA president has already taken Michael Jackson to a rally party

Mohammed Ben Sulayem met the essence of the real Michael Jackson

With the departure of Jean Todt as president of the International Federation of Autombilism (FIA), the entity elected on Friday its new head: the Emirade Mohammed Ben Sulayem, 60 years old. Former rally driver Ben Sulayem was born in Dubai, and will be the first non-European in 117 years to command the governing body that regulates the world's major motor sports championships.

In November 2005, Michael Jackson was first in Dubai in the company of Mohammed Ben Sulayem and Shaikh Abdullah Ben Hamed Al Khalifa, son of the then King of Bahrain. The King of Pop toured the city's main sights, visited the Hard Rock Café, the famous Burj Al Arab hotel, and was the guest of honor at a gala dinner that marked the end of the rally in the Middle East.

Ben Sulayem told Gulf News about his meeting with Jackson:

''Everyone knew who he was and he was so kind to all of them. He gave his time to talk, take pictures and greet them. I'd say, 'Please, Michael, we have to go!' But he kept giving everyone his time. He was incredibly polite. We know all about his music and his amazing career, but many people don't know the genuinely good person he was.

It was very nice to be with him. A gentleman. I met men who didn't even reach 10% of their fame and they were much harder to deal with.''

I've got another MJ vinyl video coming to my channel on Thursday. This one covers Blood On The Dance Floor and Invincible. I'll make a thread for it once it's out, but thought I'd mention it now

Numbers so big they scare. They could take a walk on Earth, fill hundreds of football stadiums and so on. So are ten of the best-selling products in the world in different categories, champions of preference and consumption. Ruby Media Corporation has created a small study that shows ten products that are absolute sales champions.

1. Coca-Cola

8 billion cocas sold daily. That means that every day, 2 out of every 8 people in the world drink Coke.

2. Lay's
633 million packets of Lay's potatoes per year, in the U.S. alone. These packages together weigh more than an aircraft carrier.

3. PlayStation

344 million consoles sold since its inception in 1995. If you put all these devices together, you'll give twice the weight of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco's famous bridge.

4. Toyota Corolla

Since 1966, were 40.7 million models sold. If you queue all these cars, it gives 48 times the distance between New York and Los Angeles (each at one end of the USA).

5. iPad

211 million tablets sold since 2010. If you put everyone side by side, take a walk on Earth.

6. Angry Birds

2 billion downloads of the game since its inception. Practically 29% of the world's population has already dropped the game.

7. Michael Jackson's 110 million copies Thriller album has been sold since its release in 1982.

8. Harry Potter 450 million books from the saga sold since 1997. That would be 93% of the total books sold in the world in a year.

9. iPhone

516 million handsets sold since 2007. It's more cellular than people if you count the population of the European Union.

10. Magic

Cube 350 million official cubes (from Rubik's Cube) since 1980. 35 times more than the total population of Hungary (the toy's country of origin).

This was something I meant to ask out loud actually - I keep seeing references to an Mtv journalist in the MJ musical, someone who seems to be rather important to the plot. Was wondering if it was implied that it was Mtv, or did Mtv approve the use of their name/logo?

I hope she also has nice things to say about him in it, because the quotes the tabloid sites have decided to use aren't very uplifting lol.