 | |
| | Publisher: OPUS Media Group
Salesrank: 261121
|
|
|
|
| Media: Leather Bound |
|
Editorial Review:
The Official Michael Jackson OPUS is the only new publication approved and endorsed by the Estate of Michael Joseph Jackson. With over 400 pages of stunning and never-before-seen photographs plus personal, heartfelt essays written exclusively for this OPUS by those who knew Michael best and respected him most. This one-of-a-kind tribute book will help fans treasure the memory of an extraordinary person and performer.
The Official Michael Jackson Opus (Leather Bound) Reviews:
Almost Great 
2009-12-16 - NEGATIVES:
1. Incorrect dates. I've noticed a few of them. 1979 is very different from 1984, right? This makes me think that either this was a very hurried effort - i.e. "Get it out there while people are still interested in his death!" or that it just wasn't proofread properly. Either way - not good. Not for hundreds of dollars - and not for what should be the most accurate, sort of encyclopedic text on the man in existence.
2. Some of the choices for testimonials are a little questionable - like they couldn't find anyone better to comment on his fashion sense than Kimora Lee Simmons?
3. Photo Quality. Most of these photos look fuzzy. You would think they would be really crisp and high resolution on this beautiful glossy paper. Some of the photos of the paintings are much too blurry to see details. In the description it says something like "There's Janet Jackson, as a fairy in the foreground" - but then you look where this fairy is, and she's pretty much just a blur.
4. The Art Lover section. I personally enjoy these paintings, and I think some of them are funny and cute, but honestly these paintings, and the testimonials from the artists don't really do much in the way of making him look anything close to sane. I guess it doesn't really matter at this point.
5. Fan Art? Yeah... don't care. Sorry. Would rather have more pictures, or writing from Michael, quotes from him, more scanned documents or notes, some kind of timeline - any pertinent information would be more appreciated than that.
POSITIVES:
1. It's seriously HUGE. It really is impressive, and heavy. It feels like something grand that you would spend a lot of money on. The red cloth-covered box it comes in looks great, as well as the brush-stroke-style illustration on it.
2. There are many photos in it I hadn't seen before, and I've seen a lot of them.
3. The organization. I feel they covered all the main aspects of Michael Jackson as an artist and public figure. Childhood Stardom, Composing, Dancing, Singing, Humanitarianism, Videos, Fashion, Lover of Art... each one is accompanied by a spread of all red with another custom brush illustration as well to go with the section.
4. Some of the testimonials from and friends/associates are a little insightful if you read between the lines.
5. Michael would LOVE this book if he could see it (I think).
6. A real tribute to Michael is always nice to see. People think he's getting all these tributes left and right, maybe they think it's too many - but for long-time fans, he's been reviled and humiliated for the past 15 years in his own country, and it's nice for us to see fitting and loving public tributes to him - even if they are too late.
The only one I would trust (except for Moonwalk, Dancing The Dream, & the Visual Documentary) 
2009-12-02 - Who do you think knows you best? Your family, close friends, the ones you always work with, right? Same thing even when it comes to MJ. I would trust it when the information comes from the ones who really knew him. People seem to tend to believe anything that comes from a source that is not so close to him, but tend to ignore anything from real close source, and I ask why?
This book has the real information coming from real source.
And I feel happy for MJ that this book made it because I know he was an admirer of this kind of classical coffee table book since early 80s(Read "Michael Jackson, Before He Was King"), and he once even suggested the editor of "Moonwalk" to make it coffee table book sytle.
Plus I heard that this comes with an Augmented Reality Card image & sound system ([...]), which allows you to see MJ's footage 3D when you place it near your PC, and that the footage would be regularly updated. I guess MJ meant to use this sometimes to contact his fans... Now we will never be able to see his new messages on this vertual imaging card system, but I think it won't hurt to exect a new footage coming every week...(Since this book is endorsed by MJ himself and the Estate, and since MJ was thrilled by the high tech feature of the card as the pioneer that he was, he might have offered some new footage for it...who knows?)
Good job, opus media, I feel that this augmented reality device is quite symbolic of MJ as a pioneer, innovator. This hith-tech card coming with a leather bound, classical-looking book, it's OLD BUT NEW, which is exactlly MJ, who loved old, who loved new, and who loved everything that was amazing.
Previewed on the Today Show
2009-11-26 - This book was previewed on the Today show. I can't wait to purchase it since it is the book authorized by MJ's estate and it was something he was working on before he died.
This is the only real item I want since his passing. Everything else is just people grabbing for dollars. The good thing about this book is that the profits go to his mother and kids. They should be the only ones to benefit.
Someone made a comment to my preview (please read it for yourself) that the book is over $200 and Blah, Blah, Blah.....
As I said to them in my reply,"We live in a country of choice. If you don't want it, don't buy it. Welcome to America."
There are people out there scamming MJ stuff that won't be worth the price of a postage stamp in a few years. I would rather have something "OFFICIAL" as opposed to fraudulent. This price is cheap compared to some of the stuff (fake & real) people are forking over.
