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Media Credit: Photo courtesy of MCT Direct Michael Jackson performs during his last show rehearsal at Staples Center on June 23, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Kevin Mazur/AEG/Getty Images via image.net/MCT) [Click to enlarge]

Michael Jackson transformed the pop music genre, sold millions upon millions of records and made headlines, both good and bad, throughout his life. After Jackson's untimely passing, it was made known to the public and his adoring fans that Jackson was in the process of releasing a movie about his musical comeback and his rehearsals for the massive global tour that was going to put him back on the map. This movie, titled "This Is It," was released Oct. 28th. According to TwinCities.com, "This Is It" grossed about $101 million within five days of its release, climbing the movie charts rapidly after its release and dominating the horror flick "Paranormal Activity." I guess Jackson was never really afraid of demons - be they personal or not.

The movie's $101 million revenue, which is still climbing, is truly astonishing, and it points to Jackson's penchant for making money, even after his death. Posthumously, Jackson is still amassing millions of dollars with record sales. He is also conquering the movie charts, something most movie makers take whole lifetimes to do, often failing to achieve what "This Is It" did in a mere five days after its release. The fact that Jackson did this with one movie about his music released soon after his unexpected death only furthers his immense talents of showmanship and uncanny musical ability.

Granted, Jackson definitely had a rough and confusing life after his total domination of the 1980s and early 1990s. But one cannot dismiss his greatness and transformation of music, especially the pop genre. This musical upheaval that happened was so great that Jackson's music is still influencing musicians decades after his musical peak.

It would seem that in order for people to achieve greatness in life and in death they should channel the likes of Jackson by watching the "Thriller" and "Beat It," videos to name but a couple of Jackson's incredibly popular songs. If one could attain greatness just by watching Jackson's videos, I would be a rock star and multimillionaire by now. Unfortunately, neither of these are even remotely attainable for me. But I can always dream and hope that one day I will make millions of dollars and cause women of all ages to go ballistic when I sing and moonwalk effortlessly across stages all over the globe.

Danny Peters is a junior psychology major from Fort Worth.

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