If I was part of the Jackson family, I would most certainly not be happy when I heard this headline.

Gustav Turner with the LA Weekly covered this outlandish breaking story. Apparently the psychic asked to do the interview wasn’t too creative when it came to putting words in the dead singer’s mouth. Apparently:

* Michael Jackson loved his children

* he really loved to sing “We Are The World”

* he did not want to die tragically

* he’s tormented about the tabloid pictures of his corpse (which the helpful folks at KTLA will repeatedly rebroadcast so that you know what MJ is so tormented about)

* he feels “emotional pain” and is “absolutely mortified” about the molestation allegations

* he absolutely does not want his children to be raised by their biological mother, who, according to the spectral singer, has “a lot of addictive personality problems.” (Ed’s note: neither West Coast Sound nor world-renowned psychic Vox wish to defame any person living or astral.)

* he does not like This Is It (too rehearsey) and does not wish you to go see it

Once again, if I was family I’d be pretty upset hearing this garbage. And when it comes to psychically speaking with the deceased, this woman is on the same level as pet psychics.

Actually, now that I think about it, pet psychics B.S. better than her. Any fan could have thrown that “information” on the table.

Overall, this “interview” is disgusting and insulting to Michael Jackson and his family, and shame on KTLA for even contemplating (even more for actually) airing it.

Here is the news segment in full. Get out your raincoat, because there’s a downpour of B.S.

VF will publish two covers for the issue (one of Farrah, one of Michael), so subscribers will have to wait and see which issue gets mailed to them. We think it’s an appropriate way to honor these Hollywood legends, whose unfortunate deaths have been linked together this summer.

Jackson’s “Fallen King” cover is shown here:

Source: Vanity Fair

Check out the results of a survey by researchers Peter Dodds and Chris Danforth, who monitored a mass of blogs to gauge the feelings of the world wide web’s users. They found that a huge wave of sadness hit on June 25th, following news of the shocking Michael Jackson death. Not too surprising, given how much influence the King of Pop had on our culture.

From Reuters:

Is it possible to tell how happy we all are?Yes, according to U.S. scientists who have devised a way to measure the happiness of millions of bloggers — and found Michael Jackson’s death was one of the saddest days while the U.S. election was the happiest in four years.

Peter Dodds and Chris Danforth, a mathematician and computer scientist from the Advanced Computing Center at the University of Vermont, have created a “sensor” to mine 2.3 million blogs and gather sentences beginning with “I feel” or “I am feeling.” Each sentence is then given a happiness score from 1 to 9 depending on a point system allocated to 1,034 words. For example, “triumphant” averages 8.87 points, “paradise” 8.72, “pancakes” 6.08, and “suicide” 1.25.

They said this “hedonometer” showed that the U.S. election day last November was the happiest day in four years with a spike in the word “proud” while the day of the “King of Pop’s” death was one of the unhappiest.

But the media giant that’s made the biggest bet is Sony Pictures, which reportedly has shelled out close to $60 million for the rights to 80 or so hours of rehearsal footage from the singer’s “This Is It” tour concert. The footage is being edited into a concert film, also tentatively titled “This Is It,” which will hit theaters on Oct. 30. No one from Sony is talking, since the final details of the deal are still in negotiation. But insiders say the lion’s share of the profits from the film will go to Jackson’s estate.

Sony gets its cut from the studio’s distribution fee on the film, though the studio also has to foot the bill for the marketing costs of the release. On the other hand, Sony has worldwide rights for the film, which extend through the movie’s ancillary life, from its theatrical release into what are normally lucrative home video and pay and free TV windows. According to insiders, Sony’s distribution fee is slightly above 10%, with escalator clauses in the deal providing the studio with a bigger cut if the film performs better at the box office.

Is it a good deal for Sony? The simple answer is: Nobody knows. There’s really no precedent for the Jackson death mania, so its impossible to say whether it will spur millions of fans to pay $11 to see footage of his tour rehearsals a full four months after he’s died…

Shortly after Michael Jackson’s death, the Iowa State Fair announced it would pay homage to the King of Pop by sculpting his likeness in butter.

But once the plans were unveiled, many Iowans did not think Jackson was deserving of the trans-fat tribute — a cherished tradition dating to 1911.

Usually, such honors go to a native of the Hawkeye State (Olympic gold-medalist Shawn Johnson, for example) or to a monumental event (such as “The Last Supper”), displayed alongside a life-size butter cow — which, this year, is a Jersey.

The Jackson decision generated so much heat that the fair folks issued a subsequent statement, reassuring citizens that the buttery bovine would still occupy center stage.

The entertainer — who appeared at the fair with the Jackson 5 in 1971 — would be featured only in a “small side portion” of the display.

“We are not honoring him for his character, but recognizing his place in Iowa state history,” explained Lori Chapell, spokeswoman for the fair, which opens Aug. 13 in Des Moines.

Still, critics were not mollified. Organizers decided to let voters decide and so far, more than 75,000 people have weighed in on the butter brouhaha (iowastatefair.org ). Voting closes at 3 p.m. Thursday.

At the time of this posting, they should be finishing the polls. What will the verdict be?

Approximately 17,000 people will be able to watch the service at 10 a.m. Tuesday in theaters equipped with digital projection systems and satellite dishes that are part of New Jersey-based Cinedigm’s network. The company will be using the same feed going out to from the Staples Center to television networks and displaying it in high definition on big screens.

“This gives Michael Jackson’s fans a chance to view the memorial in a communal setting with other like-minded folks and celebrate his life together,” said Jonathan Dern, president of Cinedigm’s entertainment group.

The digital events company Cinedigm will be offering free tickets to the event on a first come, first serve basis. Jonathan Dern says that the company is considering offering a second viewing of the service at a later date for those who can’t make it live.

To see if your city will be offering live theater coverage, check out www.cinedigm.com.

Even in death, the King of Pop continues to shatter long-standing records.

As the news was  confirmed about Michael Jackson’s death, the internet was flooded by Google searches and music uploads/downloads. This article has the numbers.

The company had a $17 million insurance policy that covered an accidental death, which it might be able to claim, Mr. Phillips said. And he expected only 40 to 50 percent of fans to redeem their tickets for a refund, substantially reducing the company’s potential losses. AEG Live also owns the rights to audio and high-definition video that was created at the rehearsals, which Mr. Phillips said could earn millions. (source)

As long as Phillips’ estimation of nostalgic fans is correct, sales of rehearsal film footage could provide a huge financial boost for his company.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/foraggio/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Famous Hollywood gossipmonger Perez Hilton is getting a lot of negative press these days, and he made more enemies over the weekend with his initial coverage of the Michael Jackson death. Fox News points out the flamboyant celeb blogger’s post on perezhilton.com, where Hilton speculated “Either he’s lying or making himself sick,” after reports of Jackson’s cardiac arrest were first released.

See more here:

Perez Hilton’s coverage of Michael Jackson’s death has brought the celebrity blogger more attention — but not because he broke any news.

The gossip hound is being slammed from all corners for dismissing the initial word on Thursday that Jackson had been rushed to the hospital, calling it a publicity stunt.

“Supposedly, the singer went into cardiac arrest …” Hilton wrote in his blog, before stating, “We are dubious!!”

“Either he’s lying or making himself sick,” the blog continued. Then it urged those who had purchased tickets for Jackson’s series of concerts in London to “get your money back!”

The post included a picture of Jackson with the hand-scrawled headline: “Heart attack or cold feet?”

Bloggers and Web site posters responded quickly and angrily. “Despicable Michael Jackson Coverage Spurs Backlash” was the headline on the social media site Mashable, which was among many reporting that outraged Jackson fans and others were flocking to the Web to slam Hilton.