While the world is re-appreciating his music, let’s take a second to forget about the tunes and enjoy the sheer brilliance of the professional weirdo.

The undecipherable scribble above is actually a patent that Michael Jackson filed in 1993. A little more decipherable might be the memory of this patent performed on “Smooth Criminal” in 1992.

I remember that very well because as a child, still unaware of the complexities of gravity, I tried so hard to balance my body well enough to do that. Obviously, it didn’t work. There wasn’t no internet then though and there was no way for me to find out that it had more to it than balance.

Jackson actually did it with specially designed shoes that quickly slid into pegs that rise out of the floor. The rigid anklets that worked like ski boots also helped, supporting Jackson and the dancers at that magic angle. Notice the guy on the right having a bit of trouble dealing with the shoes:

(video spliched to the last few seconds)

Brilliant, eh?

If you want to enjoy the whole video, and wonder how such a socially inept man could have been such a great stage performer, here’s the whole length of the video above:

[via dvice]