Michael Jackson

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Spike Lee Plans Michael Jackson Film

4/24/2010 6:39 PM ET

A new Spike Lee film centered on Michael Jackson will reportedly star Samuel L. Jackson. Speaking at the press day for his latest film, Mother and Child, the actor said that the film is based on a tribute concert that was planned in Brooklyn following the death of the King of Pop.

"He's written a movie about these folks who want to have a big concert in a Brooklyn park for Michael," Jackson said of Lee. "And the new gentrified people that live in the neighborhood are worried about the kind of element that might be coming into the neighborhood."

Jackson revealed that the title of the film will be Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson. The Snakes on a Plane star also said that he met with Lee for lunch the day after the Academy Awards, which is when he read the script and agreed to do the film.

"We had a power meeting," Jackson said. "We talked about it and I read the script. I like it. So it should be okay."

Lee reportedly took the death of Jackson extremely hard. Jackson stated, "Spike said he was bent out of shape about Michael Jackson for a long time."

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Decision delayed on Michael Jackson doctor’s medical license

Associated Press

Friday, May 7, 2010 | 11:10 p.m.

A court officer in Las Vegas postponed a decision Friday on whether the doctor accused of administering a fatal dose of anesthetic to pop star Michael Jackson should be allowed to keep practicing medicine in his home state of Nevada.

Dr. Conrad Murray's professional fate rests not with the Nevada state Board of Medical Examiners, but with a ruling in Clark County Family Court.

Clark County Prosecutor Gerard Costantian tried Friday to convince a Family Court hearing master to recommend Murray's medical license be suspended because he's almost $16,000 behind in child support to the mother of his 12-year-old son in Santa Clara County, Calif.

The hearing officer, Elliot Yug, set a June 25 hearing date in order to have the results of a May 27 court hearing in Santa Clara where Murray's lawyer said the woman will formally waive the doctor's past child support debt.

"She's going to forgive the debt because she wants to," attorney Charles Peckham said.

Murray has kept current paying $1,003 a month since November, after appearing before a Family Court judge who expressed surprise but accepted an informal agreement that the woman would forgive his past debt if Murray began paying monthly. The judge at that time set a July 5 hearing to ensure the agreement was working.

Costantian said Friday he filed a request April 1 to go after Murray's medical license after Murray failed to produce a California court order formalizing the debt forgiveness.

Nevada law allows Family Court judges to order suspensions of medical, professional and recreational licenses for nonpayment of child support.

Murray's license to practice medicine in California has been restricted by a judge who arraigned him in February on a felony involuntary manslaughter charge in Jackson's death and allowed him to remain free on $75,000 bail pending trial. A court hearing regarding his California medical license is scheduled for June 14.

Murray, 57, a cardiologist, has clinics in Las Vegas and Houston, where Texas medical authorities followed the California judge's order and restricted him from administering the drug authorities say was responsible for killing Jackson.

His medical license in Nevada is unrestricted, but police and Medical Board officials have said they are aware of the California judge's order.

Jackson, 50, was about to launch a world comeback tour when he died last June after being found unresponsive with Murray at his bedside in a Beverly Hills mansion. Murray had been hired at $150,000 a month to be Jackson's personal physician. He told police he administered the anesthetic propofol to Jackson as a treatment for insomnia.

Murray's lawyers have pleaded with judges to allow Murray to continue to practice medicine so he can pay his bills, including his legal expenses and his child support obligation.

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^ why do people like making sad portraits like that?

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Michael Jackson's Tomb -- Flower Power

Originally posted 41 minutes ago by TMZ Staff

Michael Jackson's tomb is ensconced in sunflowers after last week's delivery -- and now we have the pics to prove it.

After Lisa Marie Presley made a plea for more flowers at MJ's final resting place, a flower shop delivered about 1,500 sunflowers (Jackson's fav) to Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, CA.

Along with the delivery, there appear to be several individual arrangements ... with cards and all.

Lisa Marie -- mission accomplished.

Read more: Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Celebrity News | TMZ.com

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^ why do people like making sad portraits like that?

i found it on google... i find it very touching...

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Graceland for Michael Jackson Proposed (in Gary, Indiana)

Thursday, June 3, 2010, by Dakota

Gary, Indiana is seeing tough times. The steel mills have disappeared, as have the associated jobs, and the population is dwindling. But now the city, the birthplace of Michael Jackson, is proposing a Graceland-like development that would honor the late singer. More via the Wall Street Journal: "Plans for a $300 million project outlined at a news conference here Wednesday include a 300-room hotel, shops and restaurants as well as a golf course and conference center. Likening the project to Graceland—the Elvis Presley museum in Memphis, Tenn.—[Gary Mayor Rudy Clay] said he expected it to draw 500,000 to 750,000 visitors a year. He hopes those people would pump $100 million to $150 million into Gary's economy." The development has the support of the Jackson family, but it doesn't yet have the support of the lawyers for the estate of Michael Jackson, who are said to be considering another project to honor the singer.

Jackson's entrepreneurial neighbors and more.>>>

Via the Associated Press: "There also was no mention Wednesday of Michael Jackson's estate. It is considering a different museum plan and must give written approval for any use of the singer's name and intellectual property, including his music, attorney Howard Weitzman said.

"The Estate of Michael Jackson was never consulted about, nor is it involved in, the Jackson Family museum being proposed in Gary, Indiana," Weitzman said in a statement. "The Estate has no connection to this project."

Additionally, it's not clear where the money would come from for the Gary development. Meanwhile, the Jacksons still own the small home that Michael grew up in, a residence that became a "shrine," after his death, according to the paper. And what thrifty neighbors live nearby. "Across the street, the entrepreneurial resident of a home the same size and layout as the Jackson's charged tourists to come inside in groups of 11 to get a flavor of Michael's childhood and feel how crowded it was for the family."

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/06/no_m...on_proposed.php

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Michael jackson fans will have acces to the Mausoleum, Says brother Randy

Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale is opening up the gates to Michael Jackson's fans on the anniversary of The King of Pop's death.

Randy Jackson tells X17online exclusively:

I just had a meeting with Forest Lawn and beginning on June 25, the anniversary of my brother's death, fans will be able to go right up to the mausoleum and drop off flowers and pay their respects. Michael loved his fans, and the family wants to make sure that the fans are able to celebrate his incredible life.

At the 1-year anniversary memorial on June 25, Randy tells X17online that his sister Janet, Michael's three children and mom, Katherine will be there. Also attending ... Lisa Marie Presley who last month inspired a flower shop to deliver thousands of sunflowers to Forest Lawn in memory of Jackson.

X17online brought you the exclusive details about Lisa Marie Presley's initial visit to the mausoleum in which she carried in an empty portrait-sized frame filled with sunflowers ... spending over an hour getting the placement just right.

Various groups, like the Justice4MJ fan group consisting of thousands of members, had plans to gather at the mausoleum for the special 1-year anniversary. However, just last month Forest Lawn security had been informed that fans were no longer welcome. Thanks to Michael's youngest brother, that has all changed.

Randy adds,We are so thankful to know that our brother's fans still love him as much as we do.

http://x17online.com/celebrities/michael_j...dy-06042010.php

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our King Op Pop

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One year later: A look back at the legacy of Michael Jackson

By GREGORY CLAY - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

They were the conspicuous signs of the times.

Suddenly, hats, posters and T-shirts seemingly popped up everywhere. There were "King of Pop" baseball caps. There were

T-shirts featuring the likeness of Michael Jackson and Nelson Mandela; Michael Jackson and Malcolm X; Michael Jackson and President Barack Obama; MJ vs. MJ, that is Michael Jordan dribbling a basketball facing Michael Jackson dancing on his tippy-toes.

The memorabilia was a reflection of Michael Jackson's shocking death on June 25, 2009. Has it been that long already? Yes, it surely seems like yesterday.

The outpouring of emotion from fans around the world captured the moment. The international sense of loss was palpable. The collective mourning - which was part hysteria and part disbelief - was unlike anything we've seen since the unexpected deaths of Elvis Presley and Princess Diana.

"There are a lot of people who have been attached to Michael Jackson," says Dr. Alvin Poussaint, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, during a telephone interview from Boston. "They feel they have lost access to Michael's creativity."

If the world's population is an estimated 6.8 billion, it seemed 6.5 billion of them offered a visceral reaction to Michael's death.

Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese was quoted as saying of Jackson: "Michael Jackson was extraordinary. When we worked together on 'Bad' (music video), I was in awe of his absolute mastery of movement on the one hand, and of the music on the other. Every step he took was absolutely precise and fluid at the same time."

"It was like watching quicksilver in motion. He was wonderful to work with, an absolute professional at all times, and - it really goes without saying - a true artist. It will be a while before I can get used to the idea that he's no longer with us."

The general public adamantly displayed an insatiable appetite for the ATM: All Things Mike.

As CNN president Jonathan Klein said during a Michael Jackson panel discussion in 2009 at the annual National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Tampa, Fla.: "There was such an enormous interest in this story. We were overwhelmed, globally. And we are a global network."

And the incessant media coverage showed: For three weeks straight, CNN's "Larry King Live," for instance, featured at least one segment on Jackson after his death.

Furthermore, according to Howard Kurtz, Washington Post media critic and host of CNN's "Reliable Sources," on the day of Jackson's death, CNN's ratings skyrocketed 937 percent at one point, MSNBC's 330 percent and Fox's 243 percent.

And newspapers such as the New York Post and New York Daily News produced special sections, replete with double-page-sized pullout posters of Jackson.

Says Richard Prince, Internet media columnist for the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education: "In this media environment, when there are websites and media outlets for everyone's particular interest, I don't think you can say there was too much media coverage of Michael Jackson. ...

"But I didn't see enough analysis about why the choices Michael Jackson made in his life led to his demise, and what that should tell the rest of us about the society that we have created. If this is what you have to do to become a megastar, is it worth it? He felt that he had to wear wigs and have plastic surgery to conform to what he believed was people's expectations of what a superstar should look like. Then suddenly, he didn't look like a black person anymore."

Remember, in the early minutes following the news of Jackson's death, AT&T reported that 65,000 text messages were transmitted per second (normal traffic was 40,000). Klein said CNN's Internet traffic increased fivefold from the time of Jackson's death to the memorial service held at Los Angeles' Staples Center on July 7, 2009.

The attendees paid tribute to Michael for his innovation, and, yes he was a pioneer, too.

Bryan Monroe, former vice president and editorial director for Ebony magazine, is widely credited with conducting the last one-on-one, domestic interview with Jackson, which appeared in the publication December 2007. When speaking of shattering a glass ceiling at MTV, Jackson told Ebony: "They came right out and said it - they wouldn't play my music. It broke my heart. I refuse to be ignored. So I came up with 'Thriller' and I was always trying to outdo myself . . . But when they played 'Billie Jean,' it set the all-time record. Then they were asking me for everything we had.

"They were knocking our door down. Then Prince came; it opened the door for Prince and all the other black artists ..."

The week of Jackson's death seemed surreal. That Tuesday (June 23), Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's longtime sidekick on "The Tonight Show," died at 86 of multiple health problems; then, early afternoon on that Thursday (June 25), actress Farrah Fawcett died of cancer at 62; later that afternoon, we were shocked by the news flash of Jackson's death at 50.

Says Poussaint, who has appeared on such television shows as "Nightline": "Michael Jackson had a lot of signs of a troubled life - his anxiety, his vitiligo (skin-whitening condition). People could see he was a delicate human being."

Delicate, but still profitable after death.

According to Forbes.com, Jackson was the third-highest earning dead celebrity in 2009. In the four months after his death, Jackson's estate earned approximately $90 million, behind only fashion designer Yves St. Laurent ($350 million) and musical composers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein ($235 million). Behind Jackson was Elvis Presley, at $55 million.

Could Jackson's death, just as Elvis', also become sort of a mystery theater? Famous celebrity plus mysterious death often equals a ripe cocktail for conspiracy theorists.

For Michael, the equation was much more serious, though. He was found not guilty on June 13, 2005 of all 10 charges in a highly publicized child-molestation case.

Rumors dogged Michael during much of his adult life, from suspicions about alleged improper relationships with children to his own sexuality.

Many people viewed him as asexual, androgynous or even bisexual.

"He was a very fragile person," says Poussaint, who has worked as a script consultant for actor-comedian Bill Cosby's television shows. "His looks; he was incredibly shy; he had severe insomnia. Then he dies in this unfortunate accident under the care of a physician."

That physician was Dr. Conrad Murray. He has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with administering a jumbo-strength sedative in an effort to make Jackson sleep better.

Those revelations provided another shocker regarding the circumstances surrounding Jackson's death. Interestingly, Murray in May 2010 was lauded for assisting a distressed female passenger who became unconscious on a flight that left Houston heading to Phoenix.

Meanwhile, Jackson's family members have continued in the spotlight. Father Joseph, brother Jermaine and sister Janet have talked publicly about Michael's legacy. The surviving brothers also have appeared in a reality show on the A&E network called "The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty."

What can we expect next?

"Michael Jackson has hardcore fans all over the world, but I think with time (the intense attention he attracted) will slowly fade," Poussaint says.

"You will soon have a whole generation of people who didn't know him. It's similar to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In time, people won't know the details of his death. Ten or 20 years from now, you may not see all these people in the streets, celebrating his life."

Still, at least for now, many fans, as the Jackson Five used to sing, "Never Can Say Goodbye."

Read more: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/06/08...l#ixzz0qQX0mK6U

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