Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Michael Jackson's Kids Formed Prayer Circle as Father Fell Ill
Michael Jackson's chef is speaking out about the day the King of Pop died and the bizarre role Dr. Conrad Murray -- Jackson's private physician and now the focus of a manslaughter investigation -- played that morning.
On June 25, Kai Chase, a professionally trained chef who has worked with Macy Gray and Jamie Foxx, said she knew something was up when Murray didn't come downstairs to get the juices and granola he routinely brought Jackson each morning.
See 32 photos from inside Michael Jackson's Staples Center memorial
She said she was also used to seeing the doctor coming down the steps carrying oxygen tanks. When Murray didn't come downstairs the morning of June 25, "I thought maybe Mr. Jackson is sleeping late," Chase told the Associated Press.
"I started preparing the lunch and then I looked at my cell phone and it was noon. About 12:05 or 12:10 Dr. Murray runs down the steps and screams, 'Go get Prince!' He's screaming very loud. I run into the den where the kids are playing. Prince (Jackson's oldest son) runs to meet Dr. Murray and from that point on you could feel the energy in the house change.
"I walked into the hall and I saw the children there. The daughter was crying. I saw paramedics running up the stairs."
Then, a small group consisting of the children, their nanny, a housekeeper and Chase held hands and began to pray, Chase recalled.
See photos of Michael Jackson's kids through the years
As paramedics raced to the room, Chase said, "We were all praying, 'Help Mr. Jackson be O.K.' "Then everyone was very quiet."
At about 1:30 p.m. she said security guards told her and other staff to leave the property because "Mr. Jackson was being taken to the hospital," according to the AP.
Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
See how Michael Jackson's face has changed over the years
Authorities searched Murray's Las Vegas home and medical office Tuesday, following a raid last week at his clinic and storage in Houston.
A law enforcement official told the AP that investigators believe Jackson died from a fatal dose of the powerful anesthetic Propofol, allegedly supplied by Murray sometime in the early morning of June 25.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
How to convert WMV to MP4/MOV/iPod/MPEG/DVD/3GP/AVI/MP3 etc.
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System Requirements:
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How to...
Brüno (character)
Brüno Gehard (pronounced "gay-hard"), sometimes written as Bruno or Brueno, is a fictional Austrian fashion reporter portrayed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who first appeared during short sketches on The Paramount Comedy Channel in 1998, before reappearing on Da Ali G Show. Following the success of Ali G Indahouse and Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,Universal Studios gained rights to make and release a feature film.
Officials probe Jackson's doctors in star's death
Investigators looking into the death of pop starMichael Jackson have seized new information to analyze as they narrow their focus in what could become a criminal investigation.
Almost one month after the King of Pop died, federal and local agents on Wednesday raided the Houston clinic of Conrad Murray, the personal physician Jackson hired in May to look after him as he prepared for a series of comeback concerts in London.
Among the items seized were files copied from an office hard drive and 21 documents. Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, said authorities believed the evidence "constituted evidence of the offense of manslaughter." He did not provide further details, and police said they do not consider Murray to be a suspect.
Authorities are investigating several doctors who associated with Jackson to see if they inappropriately provided him with prescription drugs.
In the weeks since he died, rumors about what killed him have been rife. Several members of Jackson's family have said they suspect foul play. Investigators appear to be focusing on a powerful anesthetic, propofol. The drug was found in the Beverly Hills mansion Jackson was renting, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation who is not authorized to speak publicly.
Wednesday's raid of Murray's clinic in a lower-income area of north Houston was the most visible sign yet that Murray remains a central figure in the investigation.
On June 25, Murray found Jackson unconscious in a bedroom of Jackson's rented mansion, his lawyer has said, and tried to revive him and ultimately helped summon paramedics.
Police have twice interviewed Murray, including at the Los Angeles hospital where Jackson was taken and pronounced dead. The coroner's office wanted its own interview, which the lawyer agreed to; it may happen Friday without Murray present, according to Miranda Sevcik, Chernoff's spokeswoman. Chernoff would answer questions on the doctor's behalf.
"Based on Dr. Murray's minute-by-minute and item-by-item description of Michael Jackson's last days, he should not be a target of criminal charges," Chernoff had said in a statement a day before the raid. "Dr. Murray was the last doctor standing when Michael Jackson died, and it seems all the fury is directed toward him."
Murray also has a clinic in Las Vegas, which showed no signs of activity Wednesday.
Also Wednesday, Los Angeles County coroner's officials were piecing together Jackson's medical history from subpoenaed records related to nutritionist Cherilyn Lee's treatment of Jackson, according to Lee's spokeswoman, Belinda Foster.
The registered nurse is cooperating with investigators but required a subpoena because the records were protected by law, Foster said.
The coroner's office did not return calls Wednesday seeking comment.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
'Potter' conjures up $159.7 million in 5 days (AP)
Harry Potter continues to work box-office alchemy, turning his latest movie adventure into an overnight blockbuster.
The sixth installment, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," took in $79.5 million domestically over opening weekend and $159.7 million since debuting last Wednesday, according to estimates from distributor Warner Bros. on Sunday.
The movie also took in $237 million overseas since Wednesday in 54 countries, bringing its worldwide total to $396.7 million.
With some of the best reviews of any "Harry Potter" movie, "Half-Blood Prince" was off to the fastest overall start in franchise history.
The sixth movie about the young wizard came in $20 million ahead of the last movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which grossed $139.7 million domestically in its first five days two years ago.
The new film had the second-highest start ever for a movie premiering on Wednesday, trailing the $200 million five-day opening for last month's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
"Half-Blood Prince" already has surpassed the $157.3 million "Order of the Phoenix" pulled in during its entire first week. By the end of its seventh day Tuesday, "Half-Blood Prince" will be in the $180 million range on its way to becoming the franchise's first $300 million domestic smash since the original movie, 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," said Dan Fellman, Warner head of distribution.
The audience was a bit older for the new movie, with more elder teens turning out to see Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and pals Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) as they deal with adult concerns such as heartache, jealousy and romantic triangles.
Fans have grown up with the franchise, from young readers whose parents had to debate whether the early movies might be too intense for their children to see.
"When the first movie came out, they fought to go. The mother was like, well, should I take them, should I not take them?" Fellman said. "Now they're driving themselves to this and going to the midnight show."
Sacha Baron Cohen's mock documentary "Bruno" plummeted after its No. 1 debut the previous weekend. The Universal Pictures comedy fell to fourth-place with $8.4 million, down a whopping 73 percent from its $30.6 million opening.
Crowd-pleasing movies typically dip 50 percent or less in their second weekends. But "Bruno" has had mixed reviews and failed to earn the audience buzz that made a $128 million hit out of Baron Cohen's 2006 comedy "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."
After 10 days in release, "Bruno" has climbed to $49.6 million and will finish far below $100 million domestically.
While "Harry Potter" had a healthy start, the overall box office plunged compared to the same weekend last year, when the Batman juggernaut "The Dark Knight" had its record opening weekend of $158.4 million.
The top-12 movies this weekend combined for less than that, taking in $153.9 million, down 39 percent from a year ago.
"We got kind of slaughtered even with the 'Potter' movie, but we knew that was going to happen," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "When one movie last year makes more than what the top-12 movies did this year, you're going to have a down weekend."
Fox Searchlight's romantic comedy "500 Days of Summer," starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt andZooey Deschanel, got off to a big start in limited release with $837,588 in 27 theaters. That amounted to an average of $31,022 a cinema, compared to $18,376 in 4,325 theaters for "Half-Blood Prince."
A hit with critics, "500 Days of Summer" expands gradually into wide release over the next few weekends.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," $79.5 million.
2. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," $17.7 million.
3. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," $13.8 million.
4. "Bruno," $8.4 million.
5. "The Hangover," $8.32 million.
6. "The Proposal," $8.3 million.
7. "Public Enemies," $7.6 million.
8. "Up," $3.1 million.
9. "My Sister's Keeper," $2.8 million.
10. "I Love You, Beth Cooper," $2.7 million.
Convert Harry Potter Movies to MP4, AVI, DVD, MOV, TOD etc.
Apollo 11 Facts: 40 Years Later
On the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, get the facts on Apollo 11's historic trip, from initial skepticism to lunar firsts and the implications for returning humans to the moon.
More Apollo 11 Moon Landing 40th Anniversary Coverage
• APOLLO 11 HOAX PHOTOS: 8 Moon-Landing Myths—Busted
• APOLLO 11 AT 40: Who Owns the Moon?
• MOON PICTURES: 1960s Orbiter Images Restored
• VIDEO: Abandoned McDonald's Serves Restored Moon Pics
• APOLLO 11 PHOTOS: First Manned Moon Landing
• APOLLO 11 HISTORY: Sounds of the Space Age Interactive
• EARTH'S FIRST RISE: Dive Deep Into a Lunar Orbiter Picture
• MOON PHOTOS: New Lunar Orbiter's First Pictures
• Moon Myths Quiz
• Moon Quiz
• APOLLO 11: New Before-and-After Photos of Moon Bases
• PHOTOS: Apollo 11 Among Landmarks in Google's New Moon
July 16, 1969: The world watched in anticipation as three men were hurtled skyward in a rocket bound for the moon.
(Read about the Apollo 11 moon-landing mission in a 1969 National Geographicmagazine article.)
The Apollo 11 launch date had arrived with just months to spare: Nine years earlier, U.S. President John F. Kennedy had said that by the end of the decade the country would put a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth.
The successful Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, ushered in an era of moon exploration that has so far gone unrivaled (Apollo 11 quiz).
(Find out about NASA's plans to return humans to the moon in Naked Science: Living on the Moon, which airs Thursday, July 23, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.)
Moon Race
President Kennedy's moon mandate came at the height of the space race—a kind of subplot to the Cold War between the United States and what was then the Soviet Union.
(Hear sounds of the space age, including the Apollo 11 mission, with an interactive version of a pressed vinyl record that was included in the December 1969 issue of National Geographic magazine.)
The U.S.S.R. had made the opening gambit, sending the first artificial satellites into orbit, starting with the 184-pound (83.5-kilogram) Sputnik I in October 1957.
The Soviets followed that success a month later with the first animal in space, Laika the dog, which did not survive the experience. (See pictures of monkeys and other primates sent into space.)
Things came to a head in April 1961, when the Soviets sent the first human to space. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made a 108-minute suborbital flight in a Vostok 1 spacecraft and returned safely to Earth.
A month later Alan Shepherd became the first American in space with his suborbital flight aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft.
From there the two countries started upping the ante by increasing the number of orbits per flight. Meanwhile Kennedy's moon directive had signaled a change in tactics for the U.S.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Paris Fashion Week
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Adolf Hitler Publishes First Volume of Mein Kampf (1925)
Following the failed Beer Hall Putsch, Adolf Hitler went into hiding. However, he was arrested on November 11, 1923, was remanded in custody, and, after a 24-day trial, found guilty of high treason and sentenced to five years imprisonment (of which the term was to be reduced by four months and two weeks for the time served in prison prior to and during the trial). Presiding Judge Neithhardt was convinced that Hitler and the other members of the Kampfbund had acted honorably, and Hitler was therefore eligible for parole in six months and also to be given the privilege of Festungshaft (imprisonment without penal labor). This permitted Hitler a steady flow of visitors and a desk in his cell.
Hitler was allocated Cell No. 11 of the Fortress Landsberg prison. A subsequent trial pertaining to the putsch saw Hitler’s chauffeur Emil Maurice and close associate Rudolf Hess imprisoned for five years, though they too would be eligible for release in six months. During this time in prison, Hitler underwent something of an epiphany with regards to his use of violence: from now on everything was to be ostensibly legal.
Having chosen this new move, Hitler felt that he needed to make sure that the public knew what he stood for, so began to dictate a book to Hess and Maurice, part-autobiography but also a political treatise. While imprisoned, Hitler’s first often overlooked contribution to the literary world was released, a small 24-page self-written booklet entitled ‘What Happened On November 8?’ aimed at clearing up confusion and rumor amidst both the party ranks and presumably some members of the public.
A poster shows that Hitler originally wanted to call his forthcoming book ‘Viereinhalb Jahre [des Kampfes] gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit’ (Four and a Half Years of Fighting Against Stupidity, Lies and Cowardice). Hess is said to have suggested the much shorter Mein Kampf (often translated as "My Struggle", its meaning could also be conveyed as "My Fight").
Though Hitler had received many visitors earlier on, he soon devoted himself entirely to the writing (or rather the dictation) of the book. As Hitler continued, he realised that it would have to be a two-volume work, with the first volume scheduled for release in early 1925. The prison governor of Landsberg noted at the time that ‘he [Hitler] hopes the book will run into many editions, thus enabling him to fulfill his financial obligations and to defray the expenses incurred at the time of his trial.’
Once released from prison on December 20, 1924, Hitler moved back to the picturesque mountainous climes of the Obersalzberg, to which he had been introduced by his mentor Dietrich Eckart, who had been at Landsberg with Hitler for a few weeks (imprisoned for eighteen months for his role in the putsch) before his health failed and he was released. By day, Hitler dictated his second volume of Mein Kampf to Eckart before sleeping, first at a room in the nearby Hotel Pension Moritz and later a rented cottage just a stone’s throw away from Haus Wachenfeld, over which he would later construct his Berghof as chancellor of Germany.
On July 15, 1925, Franz Eher Nachfolger, later to become the publishing house of the NSDAP, released Mein Kampf: Eine Abrechnung (A Retrospect) at a run of a mere 500 copies. Though by no means popular, people were said to have contacted Eher asking for a larger run, which resulted in the publication of a second edition of the first volume in mid-1926. The second volume, Die Nationalsozialistische Bewegung (The National Socialist Movement) was released in December 1926. It was only ever published as a first edition after which Mein Kampf was only available as a two-volume work.
During Hitler’s time in power (1933-1945), it came to be available in three common editions. The first, the Volksausgabe (People's Edition), featured the original cover on the dust jacket and was navy blue underneath with a gold swastika eagle embossed on the cover. The Hochzeitsausgabe (Wedding Edition), in a slipcase with the seal of the province embossed in gold onto a parchment-like cover was given free to marrying couples and in 1940, the Tornister-Ausgaube, a compact but unabridged edition in a red cover, was released by the post office for parents and partners to send to loved ones at the front.
Big Letterman win in late-night
There could be a new king emerging in late-night television.
David Letterman's CBS "Late Show" whipped NBC's "Tonight" show in the ratings last week by nearly 800,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Letterman generally lost to "Tonight" when Jay Lenowas the host, and he hasn't had this big a victory margin since returning from heart surgery in 2000.
A late-night generation gap also appears to be emerging: the median age of O'Brien's audience last week was more than 10 years younger than Letterman's. NBC says that's good news, since advertisers pay a premium to reach youthful audiences.
In the 18-to-49-year-old age demographic for which NBC sells advertising, O'Brien won each night last week, NBC said.
Still, Letterman has won two of the last three weeks among all viewers during which both men competed with original programming. And the "Late Show" received another boost Wednesday with an attention-getting appearance by Paul McCartney.
"We feel we've got the momentum going for us right now and we feel very confident," said David Poltrack, CBS' chief researcher.
He said network executives had privately been hoping that Letterman could gain ground against O'Brien and be able to take over first place in the fall. The situation is still fluid, but changes seems to be happening faster than they expected, Poltrack said.
Significant numbers of the traditional late-night audience have made the switch, even though O'Brien continues to be very popular with young viewers who liked him when he was on a later time slot.
Last week Letterman averaged 3.68 million viewers, compared to O'Brien's 2.82 million, Nielsen said.
Friday, July 17, 2009
convert FLV video to mp4, mp3, avi
Melodycan ia a powerful program to help you to:
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4. get videos from YouTube to play them on your computer and your Zune, iPod or iPhone player etc
Key features on MelodyCan YouTube Ripper:
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How to download your favorite YouTube video? (see step by step guide)
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MelodyCan YouTube Ripper plays an important role in the digital age. What's more, it shall bring much pleasure and convenience to our daily life .
System Requirements:
Windows® XP x32, x64 Windows® 2003 x32 or Windows® Vista x32, x64
1 GHz processor or faster
256 MB RAM or more
Windows Media® Player 9 or higher installed, which can be downloaded for free from Microsoft®
Downownload& Try
How to...
1. download videos from YouTube.com
2. convert FLV video to popular video formats
3. extract audio from FLV video
4. get videos from YouTube to play them on your computer and your Zune, iPod or iPhone player etc
Key features on MelodyCan YouTube Ripper:
o Supports MelodyCan YouTube Ripper as a plug-in for Internet Explorer
o Supports MP4 and AVI, MP3 as output formats for video conversion.
o h264 video support for YouTube
o Download YouTube videos
o Save YouTube videos
o Convert YouTube video
o Convert YouTube video to AVI
o Convert YouTube video to MP4
o Convert YouTube video to iPod
o Convert YouTube video to MP3
o Convert YouTube to Ipod
o Convert FLV from YouTube
o Convert YouTube to Zune
o can extract audio from FLV video to MP3
o this program provides batch conversion mode
o can convert many files at once.
o can use the default settings, you can configure yourself
o can get any output formats at super high speed and with higher quality video
How to download your favorite YouTube video? (see step by step guide)
Step 1. Open Internet Explorer and put link YouTube.com. Find out there song you want to convert to. Then simply click on the bar of tools.
You`ll see an automatically downloading.
Step 2. Set desired MelodyCan settings. Also Don’t forget to choose the suitable output folder (your converted files will be saved there)
Step 3. MelodyCan YouTube Ripper will convert your file easy and fast.
Step 4. In the result your converted files will appear in output folder.
MelodyCan YouTube Ripper plays an important role in the digital age. What's more, it shall bring much pleasure and convenience to our daily life .
System Requirements:
Windows® XP x32, x64 Windows® 2003 x32 or Windows® Vista x32, x64
1 GHz processor or faster
256 MB RAM or more
Windows Media® Player 9 or higher installed, which can be downloaded for free from Microsoft®
Downownload& Try
How to...
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Convert Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
1. Open Internet Explorer and put link YouTube.com. Find out there song you want to convert to. Then simply click on the bar of tools. You`ll see an automatically downloading.
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So it`s a simple and fast way to save your lovely YouTube files.
Video of Jackson 1984 Pepsi burn accident surfaces
Us Weekly magazine has obtained video it says shows never-before-seen footage of Michael Jackson's head catching on fire during filming of his 1984 Pepsi commercial.
Jackson suffered severe burns after a pyrotechnics mishap caused his hair and scalp to catch afire. Still photos of the accident have been seen before, but the new video on Us Weekly's Web site shows the moment Jackson's hair caught on fire and the top of his head became engulfed in flames.
Jackson didn't realize his hair was on fire. In the video, he's still dancing as the flames are on his head. When he spins, the flames go out. People on the set tackle him to extinguish the fire, and his brotherJermaine Jackson, playing the guitar in front of him and oblivious to the commotion, turns around. When Michael Jackson emerges from the pile of people trying to help him, the top of his head is bald.
The accident, witnessed by thousands of stunned fans at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, came at the height of Jackson's fame, about a year after the release of his best-selling "Thriller" album. It marked what would be the beginning of serious, lifelong pain for Jackson, who had been treated for painkiller addiction and has been described by relatives and friends as being hooked on pain medication at the time of his death last month at age 50.
Jackson, who was photographed in an ambulance with a bandage on his head and his trademark sequined white glove on his right hand, required several surgeries and needed skin grafts to treat the injury.
In his autobiography, "Moonwalk," he described the cause of the accident as "stupidity, pure and simple."
As he described the accident, he wrote: "... bombs went off on either side of my head, and the sparks set my hair on fire. I was dancing down this ramp and turning around, spinning, not knowing I was on fire. Suddenly I felt my hands reflexively go to my head in an attempt to smother the flames."
As a result of the accident, Pepsi gave Jackson $1.5 million, which he donated to a burn center named after him.
A representative for Us Weekly had no immediate comment on where the video came from.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Jackson's dermatologist: I warned him about drug
Michael Jackson's dermatologist says he on occasion gave the pop star the painkiller Demerol but warned him about using the powerful sedative Diprivan.
Dr. Arnold Klein tells CNN's "Larry King Live" that Demerol was among the strongest drug he prescribed Jackson and doesn't know how he got Diprivan, usually administered by anesthesiologists in hospitals.
Investigators looking into the cause of Jackson's June 25 death have homed in on drugs given the insomniac musician. Diprivan was allegedly found in Jackson's home.
The dermatologist says: "If you took all the pills I had given him in the last year at once, it wouldn't do anything to you."
Klein said Wednesday he discovered that Jackson was using Diprivan while on tour in Germany. Klein told Jackson the drug was dangerous: "I told him he was absolutely insane."
Michael Jackson's final resting place a mystery
Michael Jackson's glimmering casket took center stage at the Staples Center, sitting for more than two hours as celebrities memorialized the King of Pop under the watchful eyes of millions. And when the ceremony was over, it was gone.By law, the golden casket that presumably held Jackson's body should be exactly where his death certificate says it is: back at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills cemetery, the site of a private family memorial service held before the Staples ceremony. Los Angeles County records show the cemetery as the temporary location, where it must stay until those records are officially updated.But where Jackson's body will eventually be laid to rest remained a mystery, fed by the same level of rumor and speculation that surrounded much of his life. Will he be interred at Forest Lawn? IsNeverland Ranch still a possibility?What if he's not buried at all, but cremated? The family isn't talking — and may not even have decided yet.The casket was first seen leaving the mortuary at Forest Lawn, where it got into a hearse for the 10-mile trip to the Staples Center. But before the service even started, the hearse was seen leaving the facility — empty — and wasn't spotted again.But to keep in good standing with the law, the casket would have needed to return to Forest Lawn at some point, presumably after the crowds went home and the television cameras were long gone.
Robert J. Biggins, a former president of the National Funeral Directors Association, said Jackson's body is likely in his casket which he identified it as a custom-made, top-of-the-line coffin made by the Indiana-basedBatesville Casket Company that is called a "Promethean."
The casket is probably in a temporary holding area — perhaps a mausoleum — pending a final location, he said."This happened so quickly that it's something that has to have an awful lot of thoughtful consideration," said Biggins, who is the owner of Magoun-Biggins Funeral home in Rockland, Mass. "This is bigger than your average burial."Conjecture about Jackson's final resting place has been as fraught as the rumors about where his memorial service would be held in the days before the Staples Center was announced. His 5-page will, signed in 2002, does not include final wishes for his body.Forest Lawn is one likely possibility. If Jackson is buried there, he would join other celebrities such as Liberace, Gene Autry, Bette Davis and Andy Gibb. Recently deceased actor David Carradine and "Tonight Show" sidekick Ed McMahon also are buried there.
The Jackson family seems divided over whether the body should go to Neverland, which would surely turn theSanta Barbara County ranch into a West-coast Graceland.But Jackson abandoned the 2,500-acre estate after going into seclusion following his acquittal on child molestation charges in 2005, and many of the things that made it unique — the merry-go-round, Ferris wheel and zoo — are gone.Billionaire Thomas Barrack, who owns Neverland in a joint venture with Jackson, has expressed an openness to the idea of having the singer's body buried at the ranch.
The family would need to get permission from local land-use officials to bury Jackson on private property, then submit an application and paperwork with the state Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.The state application would then need to be approved by the funeral board, a process that could take anywhere from seven to 30 days.
Greate Michael!
Jackson's catalog of solo albums sold 800,000 copies this week, up from 422,000 copies last week. (This was the first full week following Jackson's death on June 25. Last week's total reflected just four days of sales.) Billboard reports that 82% of the Jackson albums sold this week were CDs (vs. digital downloads). Last week, 43% of the Jackson albums sold were CDs. I think this shows that on a special album, people want the CD as a keepsake. (What a retro concept!)
Jackson's total song download sales this week, including hits with his brothers, stand at 2.2 million downloads, down just a little from 2.6 million last week. A total of 47 songs that feature Jackson are listed on the Hot Digital Songs chart. (This is down just a bit from last week's eye-popping total of 50.)
Number Ones has sold 564,000 copies so far this year, which puts it at #18 on Nielsen/SoundScan's running list of the best-selling albums of 2009. If it keeps going like this, it could topple Taylor Swift's Fearless as the #1 album for the year-to-date. (Fearlesshas sold 1,352,000 copies since Jan. 1.) This will (in all likelihood) be only the third time in Nielsen/SoundScan history that an album by a deceased performer has ranked among the year's top 10. 2Pac's All Eyez On Me was the #6 album of 1996 (he died on Sept. 13 of that year). The Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death was the #6 album of 1997 (he died on March 9 of that year).
Jackson has five songs in the top 10 on Hot Digital Songs this week: "Man In The Mirror" at #2, "Billie Jean" at #4, "Thriller" at #5, "The Way You Make Me Feel" at #7 and "Beat It" at #10. Later today, I'll post a Chart Watch Extra in which I count down Jackson's 40 most songs with the most cumulative paid downloads. The list shows which of Jackson's songs have best stood the test of time-and which haven't.
Pop Quiz: To get you in the mood, here's a good (but seriously tough) Jackson trivia question. What do these three songs have in common: "Rock With You," "Human Nature" and "Man In The Mirror."
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