For those of us of a certain age, the almost simultaneous deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson remind us of our childhoods and our own mortality.  

What young boy did not have or want to have that sexy poster of Farrah Fawcett on his wall?  What person my age doesn’t remember Thriller! or know how to do the moonwalk (not well in most cases)?

These two individuals aged very differently.  Farrah Fawcett, the ultimate sex symbol, went from “Charlie’s Angels” sexpot to “Extremities” victim-turned-victor to drugged-out David Letterman guest before ultimately becoming the very vulnerable face of anal cancer.  Michael Jackson, on the other hand, went from being the ultimate pop icon to a very creepy, almost-white pedophile.

Of the two, Michael Jackson certainly was the most gifted.  But Farrah, for all her flaws, acquired in our consciousnesses an all-too-human face as she approached death, while Michael did not.