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The late King of Pop Michael Jackson ruled the Internet this year, with his name crowned the most popular search term at Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

Jackson dethroned pop princess Britney Spears, a controversy plagued music star that had reigned supreme in annual Top 10 search results at Yahoo! for the previous four years, the California-based Internet firm said Tuesday.

Spears was the fifth most popular search topic at Yahoo! in 2009, ranking behind Jackson; teenage vampire book and film series "Twilight," World Wrestling Entertainment, and rising star Megan Fox in that order.

"We saw consumers escape to the Web hoping to pursue news and their guilty pleasures: vampires, political implosions, how to moonwalk -- you name it, people went online to find it," said Yahoo! trend analyst Vera Chan.

"And with economic uncertainty looming, people looked for ways to find stability by searching the Web for new jobs, unemployment benefits, and ways to save through old-fashioned coupon hunting."

Jackson was also king of Google's list of fastest-rising searches this year, which included social networking websites, "Twilight," and US singer Lady Gaga.

Facebook came second on Google's "Zeitgeist" list, released by the California-based search engine, followed by Facebook's Spanish-language counterpart Tuenti in third place and micro-blogging site Twitter.

The Turkish website Sanalika was fifth ahead of "New Moon," the title of the popular vampire book from the "Twilight" series that was made into a movie.

New York-born Lady Gaga was in seventh place ahead of Windows 7, dantri.com.vn and torpedo gratis.

Google said it filtered out spam and repeat queries to build year-end search term lists "that best reflect the spirit of the times."

Microsoft, in a blog post late Sunday, said "Michael Jackson," "Twitter" and "Swine Flu" were the top three search topics of the year on Bing, which launched in June.

Others making the list of top 10 Bing searches were "Stock Market," "Farrah Fawcett," the actress who died in June, "Patrick Swayze," the actor who died in September, and "Jaycee Dugard," the California girl kidnapped at the age of 11 who turned up alive 18 years later.

Jackson died on June 25 in Los Angeles and an investigation into his death has focused on unlawful prescriptions of the powerful anesthetic propofol.

Microsoft said it had analyzed billions of search queries to come up with the list.

Global Language Monitor (GLM), a Texas-based company which analyzes and tracks language trends, said meanwhile that "Twitter" was the "Top Word of 2009."

"In a year dominated by world-shaking political events, a pandemic, the after effects of a financial tsunami and the death of a revered pop icon, the word Twitter stands above all the other words," said GLM president Paul Payack.

Other top words on the GLM list included "Obama," "Stimulus," "Vampire" and "Deficit."

GLM said it uses a "proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in the media and on the Internet" to compile its rankings.

It said words are tracked in relation to "frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets, factoring in long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum and velocity."
(AFP - By by Glenn Chapman)

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Michael Jackson's father has launched a bid to seek more information about his son's death, which has infuriated the King of Pop's estate managers.

Joe Jackson has subpoenaed medical records from the UCLA Medical Center because he believes they could contain evidence of foul play in his son's June 2009 death.

His attorney, Brian Oxman, has sent two subpoenas to the UCLA Medical Center, where Jackson was pronounced dead on 25 June, according to TMZ.com.

Oxman is asking for a number of documents, including autopsy reports, photos and assessments.

Joe Jackson insists the whole Jackson clan is behind his latest action because they all believe the medical records will show what was in Jackson's body when he passed, and they believe the information will expose foul play.

But those in charge of the King of Pop's estate are far from happy with the move.
Estate lawyer Howard Weitzman has called the subpoenas "clearly improper" in a letter to Oxman, obtained by TMZ.com.

Weitzman claims the subpoenas violate Jackson's right of privacy and the physician/patient privilege.
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Michael Jackson's classic THRILLER video will go down in U.S. history as a national treasure - the 1983 promo is set to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

The work of the late King of Pop is the first music video to make it into the archives, which preserves original copies of classic film, TV and other recordings at the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center near Culpeper, Virginia.

However, Library officials will have to battle to obtain a copy of the horror video for preservation because it's currently the subject of a lawsuit between music video director John Landis and the tragic star's estate.

Landis, who directed and co-wrote the Thriller script, filed suit against Jackson in January 2009, claiming he's owed royalties for his work on the video.

Thriller will be entered into registry on Wednesday (30Dec09) alongside 24 other films including 1979's The Muppet Movie, 1957 sci-fi epic The Incredible Shrinking Man, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and Jezebel (1938), which starred Bette Davis. Share

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DAVID GEST is planning to purchase a historic hotel in the U.K. and renovate it to include a museum for his late friend Michael Jackson.

The music producer, who divorced Liza Minnelli in 2003, is in talks to purchase the seaside St. Elizabeth's House in Plymouth, England - and he's already making plans for the hotel to house a tribute dedicated to the King of Pop.

He says, "I'm thinking of turning it into a whole different kind of hotel with more nightlife and atmosphere for Plymouth. My people are in touch. If the price is right - and not outrageous - I plan to buy it. I think my name would make it work.

"I'd like to see football teams staying there. I've always wanted to own a hotel and there's a consortium of friends who are entertainers that St. Elizabeth's would look good to. I want to bring a little bit of showbiz to the city."

Gest, who boasts an enormous collection of Jackson memorabilia, would also exhibit pieces once owned by The Doors rocker Jim Morrison.Share

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Michael Jackson's father JOE JACKSON has suffered another setback in his bid to receive a monthly stipend from his son’s estate - his attorney's law license has been placed on probation for two years.

Long-serving Jackson legal eagle Brian Oxman has been disciplined by California Supreme Court for failing to drop a 2002 federal lawsuit and ignoring an order to pay sanctions imposed against him.

He'll continue to represent Joe Jackson but Oxman's license could be suspended if he upsets lawmakers and regulators again.

The Jackson family patriarch has argued he should receive more than $15,000 (GBP9,400)-a-month. A hearing on his petition is scheduled for next month.Share

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Michael Jackson's stunning death made him the Internet's biggest star this year.

The quest to find out what happened to Michael Jackson in his final hours on June 25 and celebrate his legacy elevated the late entertainer to the top of the Internet's search charts for 2009. On Yahoo, it ended singer Britney Spears' four-year reign on top.

The annual lists released Tuesday were compiled separately by Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., which combined handle two-thirds of the world's Internet searches.

Jackson also grabbed the top spot on the third-largest U.S. search engine, Microsoft Corp.'s Bing, which announced its rankings Sunday. AOL, which relies on Google's search technology, also had Jackson at No. 1.

The lists are meant to provide a reading on our cultural pulse.

As usual, people using Yahoo's search engine in 2009 seemed to be most interested in celebrities and other diversions, even against the sobering backdrop of the worst recession in 70 years.

Google's audience seem more interested in using the Internet to connect with friends and family.

The online hangout Facebook and Tuenti, a similar socializing site in Spain, both made Google's Top 10, as did the popular communications tool Twitter. Microsoft's latest Windows operating system also grabbed a spot. Singer Lady Gaga was the only other celebrity besides Jackson on Google's Top 10.

Google, which processes more than six times the search volume that Yahoo does, has had a more diverse mix in its annual search rankings. The self-proclaimed King of Pop follows former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (2008) and Apple Inc.'s iPhone (2007) in Google's top spot.

Besides Michael Jackson, the other new entrants on Yahoo's Top 10 list this year were: No. 2, "Twilight," the vampire story that has spawned two movies, including the recently released "New Moon," that are drawing hordes of teenage girls and their mothers; No. 4, Megan Fox, an actress who starred in the movie "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen;" No. 8, Kim Kardashian, part of a family with their own reality TV series; and No. 9, NASCAR, an automobile racing league.

"New Moon" also made Google's Top 10.

The other half of Yahoo's list consisted of 2008 holdovers. With the defending champion Spears dropping to fifth, the others were: No. 3, WWE, or World Wrestling Entertainment; No. 6, Naruto, a character created for the Japanese art form known as anime; No. 7, top-rated television series "American Idol;" and No. 10, RuneScape, an online video game.

Barack Obama made Yahoo's top searches list in 2008 as a presidential candidate and the President-elect, but fell off after he took office in 2009. The others falling out of the Top 10 were all actresses: Miley Cyrus, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan and Angelina Jolie.

Google also said Obama was among search requests that declined the most in 2009. Others losing steam included singer Amy Winehouse and actor Heath Ledger, whose January 2008 death triggered a searching frenzy.

Although the economy couldn't compete with entertainment in 2009, the hard times clearly weighed on people's minds. "Coupons" and "unemployment" were the most requested searches tied to finances, according to Yahoo.

Ask.com, another major search engine, focused its list on the most popular questions posed on its search engine. "How do I get out of debt?" was the second-ranking question of the year.

No. 1? "How much should I weigh?"
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Write

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Artist Nate Giorgio recalls the last time he saw Michael Jackson, just days before the singer's death.

The pop icon wanted Giorgio to create dazzling murals of his children as well as artwork for his "This Is It" concerts, and Giorgio got out his pen during their talks.

"I was doing little drawings on the spot of him, and he loved it," says Giorgio of his black-and-white sketches. "He was great, he was really excited."

Those never-before seen sketches, as well as other rare artwork and photos of Jackson, are now part of a lavish new leather-bound book, "The Official Michael Jackson OPUS," out Dec. 7.

The book, the only publication officially sanctioned by Jackson's estate, not only contains unseen images of perhaps the world's most famous face, it also has essays about the superstar written by friends and those who worked with Jackson over the years, from Motown founder Berry Gordy and Paula Abdul to John Landis and David Blaine.

While many Jackson books have been printed since Jackson's June 25 death at age 50, Jeff Wald, president of OPUS Media Group, which published the book, says his stands out.

He and his team decided "this would not be a red carpet sound bite kind of a book," he says. "It wasn't about, 'Yeah, he's a great singer, a great dancer.' It was much more in depth about the human being that he was."

To that end, OPUS executive vice president Jordan Sommers elicited essays that weren't quite tributes, but personal reflections. Some talk about Jackson the jokester; others recall his artistic genius; still others reflect on his friendship.

"There's a lot of information from the book that comes directly from sources that will clear up a lot of misconceptions," he says. "There are stories told directly from the likes of Smokey Robinson (and others) that they've never told before."

The photos, some of which were provided by friends like Gordy, range from Jackson's childhood to his many transformations as an adult.

"Our mandate ... was to have most of the photos either not be seen ever before or never ever seen in the format in which they had been (shown)," says Wald.

There are also drawings of Jackson done by Giorgio and other artists. Giorgio says Jackson was a voracious art collector and was very specific about the kind of imagery he wanted of himself, jotting down instructions, some of which are included in the book.

While Wald talked about the book (which costs $249) benefiting the Jackson children and his mother, the Jackson family did not play any role in the creation of the 400-page, 26-pound book.

"We just decided this would be something apart from the family," Wald said. "It was about Michael... We really stayed narrowly to that."

Jackson's continuing appeal is highlighted by the success of the film "This Is It," which has become the all-time top-grossing music documentary, and the honors that still arrive, such as Jackson posthumously winning four American Music Awards on Sunday night.

Wald first met Jackson as a teen and stayed in touch with him throughout the years. Jackson reached out to him earlier this year because he was a fan of the OPUS books and wanted two done on him: one based on the "This is It" concerts and another chronicling his career.

Wald said Jackson, who at times had battled an addiction to prescription drugs, was lucid and energetic when they met for two hours at his home.

"He seemed clear eyed, not drugged... he was in great spirits," he says. "He was just happier than hell, he had a sense of humor about him... it was nothing like you hear on all those breathless reports on television."

Giorgio, who illustrated the book's cover sketch, recalls Jackson being anxious for him to start work on huge murals he planned to put in his Las Vegas residence: He wanted a painting of himself and his children walking through a forest.

"He kept telling me, come on, we gotta start on this — the kids are growing, and they are changing," he says.

While Giorgio drew elaborate, fantasy images of Jackson for the legend, he says the quick sketches he took of Jackson just before he died reveal the most: "They really capture more of the essence of him." By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer

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A casino in the Chinese gambling haven of Macau will open Asia's first Michael Jackson shrine after its owners bought the late King of Pop's iconic white rhinestone glove for $350,000 at a U.S. auction.

The shrine will be located in the lobby of the casino-resort Ponte 16, adding to Macau's attractions which already include the world's largest casino, The Venetian.

"MJ's distinctive musical sound, vocal style and choreography inspired numerous pop, rock, R&B and hip hop artists," said Hoffman Ma of Success Universe Group, who has teamed up with Macau gaming tycoon Stanley Ho in the Ponte 16 venture.

"We aim to create a rendezvous to reminisce this great performer of the 20th century," he added in a statement.

During Saturday's auction of Jackson memorabilia in New York, Ma's firm paid $350,000 for the glove, almost eight times the pre-sale estimate amid stiff bidding.

Ponte 16 also snared nine other items that were owned by Jackson, which will also be housed in the "MJ Gallery," including a signed drawing of Charlie Chaplin, a pair of acrylic tube socks, Jackson's "zombie" shirt which he wore in the video of "Thriller" and a platinum record awarded for the album "Bad"

"These precious items can revitalize MJ's legendary career to all his fans, providing them another place to house MJ memorabilia besides the Neverland Ranch in California," the resort said in a statement, without giving an opening date.

The white glove, which auctioneers Julien's Auctions, called "the Holy Grail of Michael Jackson," was worn by the performer when he first staged the famous moonwalk dance at the 1983 Motown 25 television special.

Made of cream leather and studded with hand-sewn rhinestones, the left-handed glove is considered an iconic accessory by Jackson fans.

(Reporting by James Pomfret, editing by Miral Fahmy)

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The glove Michael Jackson wore during his legendary performance at "Motown 25," can now be found at the Ponte 16 Resort Hotel in Macau.

The glove was sold over the weekend to a bidder from Hong Kong, who paid $350,000 for it ($420,000, plus taxes and fees). The bidder, like many others, attended the Michael Jackson auction, held by Julien's Auctions Saturday at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York's Times Square. Profits from the event totaled a whopping $2 million.

"The glove" as many people simply coined it, was worn by Jackson during his performance at Motown's 25th anniversary TV special in 1983, where Jackson debuted the moonwalk. It was originally owned by Walter "Clyde" Orange of The Commodores. According to CNN, Orange asked for Jackson's autograph at the taping, but instead Jackson generously gave him the glove.

Other items auctioned off included a signature black jacket from Jackson's "Bad" tour, which went for $270,000. A Jackson drawing of Charlie Chapin sold for $33,480, and the fedora Jackson rocked at the 1995 MTV Music Awards where he kissed ex Lisa Marie Presley, went for $73,800. -- Linda Hobbs. Share

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Michael Jackson's doctor returned to work at his Houston medical clinic on Monday for the first time since the pop star's death and his patients welcomed him back without reservation.

Dr. Conrad Murray was greeted by several patients and the pastor of his church when he arrived at the Armstrong Medical Clinic. One church member held up a handwritten sign that read "Welcome Back."

Patients later praised Murray's work as a cardiologist and called him a community role model, saying they have no concerns about being treated by the man under investigation in Jackson's June 25 death.

The doctor has been the focus of a Los Angeles police homicide investigation since telling investigators he administered propofol, a powerful operating room anesthetic, to Jackson to help the pop star sleep. The Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Jackson's death a homicide, caused primarily by propofol and another sedative.

Murray, who was with Jackson when the 50-year-old singer died, has not been charged with a crime.

"He's a good doctor, he's a kind man," Ransom Craddock, 81, said as he sat outside the clinic, a nondescript brown brick building next to a supermarket in a lower-income area of north Houston. "We all in this community welcome him back. We need him in this community."

Ruby Mosley praised Murray for providing care to low-income patients and said she believes very little about what the media has reported about his possible role in Jackson's death.

"I can't tell you the joy. We were proud to see him," Mosley, 80, said of the visit she and a group of patients had with Murray at the clinic on Friday. "I see him as a physician and a friend."

Murray, who was scheduled to see six patients on Monday, didn't speak with reporters before entering the clinic.

But on Sunday, while attending services at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, Murray stood before parishioners and told them he returned to serve his community.

"I am taking my life back step by step. I wanted to come home," Murray said in video shot by Houston television station KPRC.

Murray has been primarily living in Las Vegas, where he also has a clinic. His attorney, Edward Chernoff, said the cardiologist has been unable to earn a living since Jackson's death.

"His legal fees are enormous and his debts have mounted to the point where it is unclear whether he will be able to keep his house or support his family," Chernoff said. "His intentions are to attend to these patients who have continued to support him, despite the attention and despite the threats."

Murray, who wore sunglasses as he spoke to parishioners on Sunday, did not mention Jackson or the investigation directly, only saying "It appears I was at the wrong place at the wrong time" and "I know what trouble is."

Murray, licensed in Nevada, Texas and California, was hired to be Jackson's personal physician during a world tour.

Authorities searched Murray's Houston clinic and a rented storage unit on July 22 and conducted searches later at Murray's home and office in Las Vegas, at properties in Los Angeles and at a Las Vegas pharmacy where police say Murray bought five 100-milliliter bottles of propofol.

Chernoff said Murray has been followed and threatened since Jackson died and felt he had to close his Las Vegas office because patients were being harassed as they came and went. Chernoff said Murray will eventually reopen that office.

Associated Press Writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

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Grieving La Toya Jackson claims to be talking to her dead brother Michael – from beyond the grave.

She says: “When I go to his house I say, ‘Hello, Michael. How are you? If you’re here, please, please let me know’. And the lights start blinking. I can feel him.

“I can smell his Tom Ford cologne and I’ve felt him brush past me. It’s the most wonderful feeling and the biggest smile comes over my face.

“I tell him I love him so much and ask him to show me he’s here again. The lights blink again.

“I know he’s there, answering me and knowing he’s watching me is a huge comfort. I never believed that people could speak, hear and communicate in that sense. But I’ve witnessed it several times now and I want to investigate it further. I am certainly open-minded to speaking to a medium.

“No other members of the family have experienced it. Just me.”

La Toya has also witnessed Michael’s pet macaw, now with mother Katherine and the children at the family compound in Encino, conversing with the Thriller star.

She says: “Michael had a macaw and he was saying, ‘Everything’s OK, Michael. Everyone’s fine, don’t worry. The kids?

How are the kids doing? Well, see

how the kids are playing. They’re playing and they’re having fun’.”

La Toya also believes Michael is helping the police investigate his death. She says: “I ask Michael to help me understand what took place. I’ve told him to find a way to let me know. A person’s name will pop into my head out of the blue, I’ll call them, they give me information and I’ll find the connection I’ve been looking for. It’s amazing.”

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Kenny Ortega was responsible for some of Michael Jackson's biggest concerts, including what were to be his comeback shows in London. But in the singer's final days, the producer-director-choregrapher felt like he needed to take on another responsibility — making sure Jackson stayed healthy.

"Michael had sleepless nights and we had to look after him. (I'd say to him), 'Stay hydrated, have a protein shake — Did you eat today before you came?'" Ortega said in an interview Thursday to promote the new Jackson documentary, This Is It.

When Jackson would say he had, a skeptical Ortega would say — "Michael?"

"Michael's an adult. ... We didn't want to baby him," he said. "(But) I had concerns and we had conversations, wanting to make sure he was doing everything he could to build himself and not break himself down."

Jackson died June 25 at age 50. The Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Jackson's death a homicide, caused primarily by the powerful anesthetic propofol and another sedative. Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, has not been charged with a crime but is the focus of the police investigation.

Ortega's work with Jackson included world tours for Jackson's Dangerous and HIStory albums. He was directing the This Is It shows — which would have marked the performer's comeback concerts in London's O2 Arena in July — and was brought on to direct a film adaptation of those taped rehearsals after Jackson's death.

This Is It will premiere globally on Tuesday and run for two weeks. The soundtrack for the film, which includes the newly released title track as well as some of his best-known hits, is being released Monday.

In a 12-minute clip previewed for media on Thursday, a strong-voiced King of Pop is shown enthusiastically practicing some of his biggest hits.

Jackson, though frail-looking, is shown warming up his vocals during a performance of Human Nature. That's followed by the singer running through the song in various outfits.

Later, he playfully dances with a woman as he sings The Way You Make Me Feel, touching her thigh and holding her waist.

"One more time," Jackson says toward the end of the song after being told the last eight bars were to be cut.

Ortega says although he worried about Jackson's health, he doesn't believe the preparation for the shows wore the singer down. In fact, he says it was the opposite.

"I can tell you this experience, working on this show, was invigorating, was nourishing. ... (it) wasn't taking away from Michael," he said.

Travis Payne, a choreographer who worked on This Is It and other Jackson tours, says he remembers spending one-on-one time with Jackson — especially visiting websites like YouTube.

"I used to love sitting and just surfing the 'net with him," Payne said. "And we would just do that and we would be able to have our creative reference time in a different way now."

Musical director Michael Bearden recalls Jackson's lofty goal to try to capture all of his music in one, over-the-top show.

"He had so, so much music that we tried to get everything in but not cheat the audience at the same time, which is a delicate balance if you will to try to get everything in and still feel like you're getting a full song," he said.

Ortega says Jackson was very adamant about the look of the tour — from the length of the songs to the stage's lighting.

"From the very beginning Michael was very vocal, and very upfront about what he wanted to do and why he wanted to do it," Ortega said.

"That's what This Is It, Michael Jackson's This Is It the film, is about — it's a privileged peak into the final creative process of Michael's last theatrical work."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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A Carmel businessman whose company distributes Michael Jackson memorabilia was sentenced to two years in prison for tax evasion.

Eugene Cappello, 57, admitted he dodged more than $200,000 he owed to the Internal Revenue Service by having paychecks issued to a family member who then deposited funds in bank accounts Cappello controlled. While underreporting his income to the IRS, Cappello used the hidden cash to buy a $34,781 country club membership and a $91,000 yacht.

Cappello owns Connecticut Marketing and Consulting, a company that sells Chinese-made Michael Jackson memorabilia to a company called Bravado, which has exclusive rights to sell such items connected to the deceased singer.

Cappello also has done the same for tours involving the Rolling Stones, Rob Zombie and another dozen bands, according to court papers filed by his lawyer, David Moraghan. In those papers, Moraghan asked U.S. District Judge Alvin Thompson to sentence Cappello to probation.

"He has suffered not only financially," Moraghan wrote, "but he has been humiliated as a result of the publicity inherent with a conviction."

Cappello pleaded guilty in August to tax evasion and illegally structuring money transactions.

Federal prosecutors asked Judge Alvin Thompson to sentence Cappello to the agreed upon range of 24 to 30 months, noting that at the same time Cappello was evading taxes he was living a "lavish lifestyle."

"This is an egregious case of tax evasion that warrants a period of incarceration," Assistant U.S. Attorney Raymond Miller wrote in a memorandum to Thompson.

In addition to the prison term, Cappello has also paid the IRS more than $400,000 in back taxes, penalties and interest.

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The secret turmoil of Michael Jackson’s grieving children can be revealed today by the King of Pop’s closest sibling.

Behind the closed doors of the Jackson family’s Californian compound, Prince, Paris and Blanket have been left shattered by grief at the death of their superstar father.



In a searingly honest interview, Michael’s sister La Toya confides that, four months after his death, each child is having counselling

to help them cope with their loss amid worldwide attention.

And she admits that while daughter Paris, 11, appears to be handling her heartache, the family are worried about the two boys.

Prince, 12, has bottled up his pain, refuses to talk about his feelings and can’t even bring himself to look at a picture of his dad.

And traumatised little Blanket, the youngest at seven, spends long periods sobbing, unable to comprehend that he’ll never see again the only parent he has ever known.

Speaking at a London hotel during a whirlwind visit to Britain, La Toya says: “Paris thinks and talks about her father all the time. She’s doing very well, writes a lot and she wears his shirts every day. They still smell of him and it helps her feel close to him.

“Her bedroom is covered in posters of Michael and she watches tapes of him all the time. After he passed, the kids went up to the house to get whatever they wanted.

“Paris took anything with a picture of her father on and brought it back to her new room at my mother’s house.

“She was so upset that she would never see her father on stage. She said, ‘Now I’ll never get the chance to see Daddy perform live’.

“Prince just doesn’t want to speak about it. He won’t even watch the DVDs – he just walks right past the TV. It’s too soon, too touching. I do worry about him very much.

therapy

“And Blanket is just a very sad, shy little boy. He cries – he really does cry. It’s so painful for him. No one can bring his daddy back and it hurts so much.

“They all go to therapy and I truly hope Prince especially will be able to open up.”

Routine, says softly spoken La Toya, has helped the home-schooled children deal with the horror of their dad’s death, currently at the centre of a murder investigation.

Michael’s mother Katherine, 79, is their legal guardian but the whole of the family have dedicated themselves to raising the children exactly how their father would have wished.

They’re even planning a lavish Christmas Day, the kind Michael loved, despite the annual festive celebration being against Katherine’s Jehovah’s Witness religion.

“They still have the same nannies so it’s the same routine,” says La Toya, 53. “They don’t watch TV apart from the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon and only for two hours a day.

“They’re with each other all the time. All of them are taught at home together, although they say Blanket goes to school upstairs because he has his lessons on the next floor.

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“They never fight. Michael has preached nothing but love and, boy, did he instil right from wrong in those kids. He did an incredible job of raising them.

“They have so much innocence but are also highly intelligent. Prince especially knows everything about everything. He can tell you fascinating things about the moon in great detail or where certain rocks come from.

“Michael made sure they were always reading books and he was very particular about what they read. I’m not even sure if they read things like Harry Potter – it was always about knowledge and how that is key.

“We grew up Jehovah’s Witnesses and so didn’t celebrate Christmas. But I think it’s very important that Michael’s children celebrate it because that’s what he did with them.

“I want them to continue to have that. I’ve spoken to my mother about Christmas and she said she will be celebrating.”

The children were in the LA mansion 50-year-old Michael was renting when, drugged to the eyeballs with prescription medication, he collapsed with a heart attack on June 25. La Toya was one of the first on the scene and has played an instrumental part in supporting the children through the last few months – including their appearance at Michael’s memorial service, seen across the world.

La Toya adds: “Paris talks about her dad a lot, even little things. I’m terrified of cats and Paris has two kittens.

“She said, ‘Daddy told me you pretended to be allergic to cats when really you’re just afraid of them’.

“Or she’ll say, ‘Daddy says everything always has to be neat for you Auntie La Toya’. She remembers him all the time. I try to stay strong as they have lost their father. It’s like a bellyache that doesn’t go away.” The family know that Katherine’s age means she may not be fit enough to care for the children in the long-term.

La Toya, who has no children, would be more than happy to step into the breach.

She says: “According to the will, Diana Ross will be the guardian if anything happened to my mother. I know Diana would do a good job with them but I think the kids will stay in the family and I’d be more than delighted to look after them.”

La Toya brushes off any suggestions that the children’s natural mothers – whoever they are – might help out.

And she admits the family were baffled by ex-Oliver! star Mark Lester’s claims that he had donated sperm to Michael in the mid-90s and could be the father of Paris.

“My mother didn’t understand it,” says La Toya. “It was a very sensitive time to be bringing that up. Why not approach my parents for a private conversation? It’s interesting how many people suddenly want to be the parent.

“Thank God the children haven’t heard about it as they don’t watch TV. Do you know how many people in America have said they’re the parents? It’s amazing. All these women saying, ‘I’m the mother. I’m the mother’. Michael was always the father and the mother to those children.”

La Toya has vowed that they will never forget their famous dad. “The children will always remember him because the world won’t let anyone forget him,” she says.

“You will always hear his music and see his posters, which is wonderful. They’re young and may forget the moments he caressed them or disciplined them or took them shopping and the house which was filled with laughter. Sadly those memories will fade. But they’re surrounded by their cousins and they adore having all these children to play with.”

La Toya accepts they will now grow up in the public eye but, despite the problems fame and fortune created for Michael, she would support them if they wanted to pursue a career in showbiz.

La Toya, whose single Home is available on iTunes with profits to Aids Project Los Angeles, says: “Paris doesn’t know it but she has all the makings of a star. If she wants to go into showbiz I can see that happening. The boys like the idea of directing which is what Michael wanted to do.

“Kids are resilient. He gave them so much love and that is helping them.” (mirror.co.uk)

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MICHAEL JACKSON29. A Florida woman who told a television interviewer that Michael Jackson's ex-wife was only interested in getting money from the singer's family and wasn't interested in gaining custody of her two children is being sued.

In a filing last week, Deborah Rowe's attorneys said the mother of Jackson's two oldest children should be awarded $490,000 in general and punitive damages.

Rowe sued Rebecca White in July for White's comments to the television show "Extra." White hasn't responded to the lawsuit and Rowe is seeking a default judgment against the Key West, Fla. resident.

Rowe's defamation and invasion-of-privacy lawsuit sought to recoup any money that White may have been paid for the interview, which aired in July. Rowe's attorneys estimated those earnings at $100,000 on a court filing.

They are also seeking $100,000 for emotional distress, $45,000 for medical and attorney's fees and $245,000 in punitive damages.

A hearing on Rowe's petition to issue a default judgment against White is scheduled for November.

Rowe has some visitation rights with the two children under an August agreement with the singer's mother. No money is believed to have changed hands in the arrangement.

Stories aired by "Extra" were based on White's description of e-mails she said were exchanged with Rowe after Jackson's June 25 death. Rowe, 50, denies she sent any recent e-mails to White.

White was described in the segments as a "close friend" who said Rowe had emphatically stated in an e-mail exchange that she didn't want custody of Jackson's children. Rowe's attorneys have denied that White and Rowe are friends.

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MICHAEL JACKSON29

We all know that Michael Jackson was one of the greatest entertainers who ever lived. But when it came to how he conducted his business and financial affairs, was he smart, lucky, or mad? As depicted in the Fight Over Michael's Millions , he managed to be all at the same time.

Repeatedly, people who worked with Jackson told me that although he had a shrewd sense of business, he had no appreciation of -- or concern about -- the value of money. He came into an unfathomable amount of it during the 1980s at the apex of his success, and he hit a double-home run when he parlayed $47.5 million into his half-interest in what is today Sony/ATV Publishing, which is now worth more than 10 times that.

It's interesting that despite leaving his famed Neverland Ranch nearly five years ago and vowing never to return, Jackson never bought another home. My impression is that is because he only believed in doing things on an ever grander scale and he was biding his time till he could come back bigger than ever.

This explains the apparent lunacy of Jackson, despite the crippling loans he carried, this year planning to buy a house in Las Vegas for close to $50 million and even having a $15 million advance for the house built into his contract with AEG, the promoter of his comeback concerts.

According to Jackson's recent manager Tohme Tohme, Jackson's largesse extended to people he cared for -- he says Jackson agreed to buy a $600,000 motor home for his mother Katherine and asked that a $400,000 bracelet that he liked be bought and sent to one of his celebrity pals -- both in the past couple of years when he was on the brink of financial ruin.

Yet, Jackson understood that he needed to make money to get out of hock. One of the many ironies in Jackson's tragedy is that he was poised to sell a warehouse full of his vast possessions at an auction in Los Angeles this past April. He called that off at the last minute and now, given the interest in Jackson since his death, his stuff is undoubtedly worth far more.

Plus, some pieces are now about to start earning his estate money as part of a touring exhibition of his memorabilia slated to begin in London next week. (Go here if you want to see the catalogue from the aborted auction.) Whether the Jackson provenance is a plus or minus for the real estate value of Neverland when it is eventually sold remains to be seen.

When it came to negotiating deals (which he often reneged on), Jackson could be sly. He understood that he had assets people coveted -- including proximity to himself -- and that he could find ways to moonwalk around financial disaster.

Sony/ATV was a calling card that separated him from being a mere musical megastar. By following Paul McCartney's advice and buying up music catalogues, Jackson bet wisely on a segment of the music business that has actually grown over the past few years, as music gets licensed for new uses, like ring tones and advertising and TV shows like "American Idol" and video games like Rock Band.

And whether he intended to or not, Jackson picked a business that did just fine -- if not better -- without him involved day to day. During the years Jackson was in the figurative wilderness, he was also an absentee partner at Sony/ATV. Until Sony secured more control over business decisions when it helped Jackson hold onto his stake in the company in 2006, it was apparently impossible to track down Jackson and get him to agree to things.

With a freer hand, Sony was more easily able to make more than $500 million of acquisitions and bring in Martin Bandier, a music industry veteran, to build and run the Sony/ATV in early 2007. Last year, the company made around $65 million in operating profit on revenue of close to $500 million, insiders claim, and the business won an internal award at Sony (SNE) for its rich margins.

Jackson cherished his association with the business and appreciated how Sony had helped him in his pinch, but he was also mistrustful of the Japanese conglomerate after falling out with his record label there a few years ago. It probably didn't help that the partners didn't hold a single board meeting between 2002 and 2007, and Jackson never bothered to meet Bandier in person.

When he agreed to the comeback shows in London, Jackson wanted it known that he was going back to work for the benefit of his three children -- he and his youngest son, Prince Michael II (also known as "Blanket") even showed up in matching black suits when he went to meet Phillip Anschutz, the tycoon whose company, AEG, was to stage the concerts.

Jackson explained that, more than the money, he wanted to show his kids what he had done in his heyday. But at the same time, his advisors say, he mused about a future when he would somehow buy back the other half of Sony/ATV and live off publishing riches in his big mansion in Las Vegas while making movies and doing other things.

It was an impossible dream.(Fortune)

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MICHAEL JACKSON29

Shortly after this picture was taken at rehearsals for the hugely anticipated O2 shows, Michael Jackson was dead. One man was beside him through those last weeks and months: his friend, mentor and choreographer Kenny Ortega. In his first major interview since that June afternoon, he tells the story of the Jackson he knew, the mood of his final days and hours, and why he has decided to bring the King of Pop’s ghost back to life

Where were you when you heard Michael Jackson was dead?

Kenny Ortega knows exactly where he was: on a Los Angeles soundstage, waiting for Jackson to show up for work. They’d been collaborating for months. Decades, in fact. In an extended period when Jackson went out of his way to avoid the press – when he spent years shuttling from his Neverland bolt hole to courtroom to penthouse suite to Middle East island hideaway – the choreographer and director was one of the few people who saw Jackson on a regular basis. He’s an exuberant, positivity-spinning showbiz trouper in the old Hollywood mould. The three High School Musical movies he made for Disney may make Grease look like The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle, but Ortega more than anyone holds the key to Jackson’s state of mind in the last months of his life.

So was he concerned at his old friend’s non-appearance that final day? We know, thanks to the coroner’s report, that Jackson had punctures up and down his arms, chronically inflamed lungs and an arthritic lower spine, and that he had been taking the surgical anaesthetic propofol and a variety of other sedatives. Had Jackson been unreliable, tired, in pain? Did he seem pepped up to the eyeballs on this cocktail of prescription drugs? “I’d been to his home, I’d seen him playing with his children, and seen no evidence ever of anything like that.”

Was he eating properly? “Um…” Ortega pauses. “I think he was eating as much as he thought he needed to. I wished he would have eaten more. I was always making sure there was plenty of food around. People have said they saw me carving up meat and hand-feeding him – it’s not true. I would unwrap his plate and slide it over in front of him. But I didn’t feed him.”

Ortega, clad in an unshowy suit jacket and polo shirt, the uniform of the working director, is an animated character who chats at nineteen to the dozen. When talking about Jackson’s talents he rattles out superlatives; only occasionally, when pressed, will he concede that all might not have been well with his old friend. A diehard fan, he certainly won’t tolerate any suggestion of Jackson’s darker side. In death, Jackson has polarised opinion even further: those who see a car-crash life, a horrific, Grand Guignol pantomime, and those who see a messiah-like figure who could do no wrong – an image Jackson appeared happy to reinforce in his Earth Song video. Ortega claims that he saw only good – a man who took time to visit the world’s orphanages while on tour could only have pure and saintly motives, right? And Ortega was one of the few who had a ringside view of the Jackson circus.

Jackson was 50 years old and saddled with a history of medical issues. He had rebuilt his appearance, allegedly to look more like his childhood heroine, Diana Ross. His skin – on his face at least – was now white. His hair had never fully recovered from the 1984 incident when it caught fire while filming a Pepsi commercial. After his 1993 Dangerous tour, he reportedly entered rehab for addiction to painkillers and sedatives. He was plagued by back pain. During his 2005 trial on several counts of child molestation, intoxication and conspiracy to commit child abduction, he often appeared dazed – on one occasion he appeared in court in his pyjama bottoms.

His mental health was further questioned because of his treatment of his children: he dangled his baby, Blanket, from a hotel balcony and sent his two elder children – Prince Michael and Paris – out on public appearances with veils over their faces. All three were white, leading to inevitable speculation about whether he was their biological father.

So wasn’t this battered, rake-thin man too frail to mount a comeback? Ortega is having none of it. “No! Look at photographs of Fred Astaire at the height of his career. They’re the spitting image.”

On the day he died, the entertainer was due to begin rehearsing Dirty Diana, the fifth single from 1987’s 30 million-selling Bad album. Ortega had been putting Jackson through his paces since the singer’s appearance at a press conference in London in March to announce This Is It: a run of concerts, first 10 shows, then 50 over 8 months, at the capital’s 23,000-capacity O2 arena. Fans from all over the world applied for tickets at, some reports said, a rate of 16,000 per second; they sold out in a matter of hours. According to the chief executive of concert promoter AEG Live, Randy Phillips, the first 10 shows alone would earn Jackson $50m (£35 million) – a much-needed fiscal shot in the arm for a man who had frittered away millions on, among other things, the upkeep of his Neverland ranch, the fees of a phalanx of lawyers and paying off his adolescent accusers.

Now, ahead of This Is It’s scheduled opening night on July 13, Jackson, Ortega and their team were on the last lap of rehearsals in the Staples Center in LA.

But Jackson’s comeback was not to be. That summer afternoon four months ago, Ortega remembers, “We were getting a lot of rumour calls, and my phone was just ringing constantly… I was waiting for one of the folks from our team who was at the hospital to call and let us know what was really happening. Of course, what I wanted to believe was that this was another of those days in the life of Michael where rumour and exaggeration take over.”

Inside the Staples Center, Ortega gathered his team around: musical director, vocal coach, dance coach, production designer, lighting designer, musicians, dancers, technicians – “Michael’s [other] family”. They joined hands in a circle, “and we did pray for him, and pray for him to return to us in a strong state of health, so that we could continue [to move] our dream forward. It was a few minutes later when I received the call from one of our team of producers that said we had lost Michael.”

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MICHAEL JACKSON29

Heading toward its October 28 release, Michael Jackson movie "This Is It" looks like a box office winner for Sony's Columbia Pictures movie studio with one estimate saying it could make more than $600 million worldwide in a limited two-week run.

Jackson's many fans are hungry for one last chance to see their idol sing and dance on screen, and the film's makers promise an image of him that is more like the pop star who ruled the charts in the 1980s, and less like the frail paparazzi target he seemed in recent years.

Industry watchers say the unique nature of "This Is It" -- part documentary and part concert film starring a legend who is no longer living -- make it difficult to judge how successful it will be for Sony Corp unit Columbia Pictures because there are few, if any, comparisons to it.

Based on the $60 million Columbia paid to release the film, plus marketing costs, and taking into account distribution fees it will earn, industry insiders predict the film needs to make just over $100 million at worldwide box offices to profit.

Some experts said "This Is It," which opens on Wednesday in more than 3,400 theaters in the United States and Canada, could make $40 million in those domestic markets during its first five days, but that is at the low end of estimates.

A rival studio executive who asked to remain anonymous said over its two-week run the film could make $660 million globally -- $260 million domestic and $400 million internationally.

"This is a big win for Sony," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Hollywood.Com's box office division. "The fact that (Columbia) was able to put this kind of a deal together quickly, and that they were able to obtain the rights, speaks volumes about their ability to get things done."

Columbia has said the movie will be extended beyond its two-week run if ticket demand is high, and it plans to release the DVD for the movie in early 2010.

SONY'S BOTTOM LINE

Still, for parent company Sony, whose annual revenues total $79 billion from a range of businesses including most prominently consumer electronics, any one movie will rarely have a huge impact on the corporate bottom line, experts said.

"I'd say it's likely to be a big success, but Sony is so huge I don't believe it matters much beyond a quarter," said industry analyst Harold Vogel of Vogel Capital Management.

"This Is It" is mostly composed of video footage of Jackson rehearsing for a series of concerts in the weeks before his unexpected June 25 death from an overdose of powerful drugs.

In the following weeks, his fans paid tribute at gatherings from London to Tokyo and at a Jackson family memorial service in Los Angeles attended by about 18,000 people. Fans lined up for tickets to the movie when they went on sale in Bangkok, Munich and elsewhere, and many early screenings sold out fast.

Still, there remains some uncertainty about the box office because sales of Jackson-related products have shown mixed results since his death.

His music has seen a resurgence in popularity with Nielsen SoundScan reporting more than 5.5 million in physical album sales for the "Thriller" singer and the equivalent of more than 900,000 in online album sales.

But the October 13 reissue of Jackson's 1988 autobiography "Moonwalk" was met with more tepid reaction by consumers.

So far, the book has sold 12,000 copies at major retailers, U.S. tracking firm Nielsen BookScan said.

Online retailer Amazon.com listed "Moonwalk" at mid-day Friday as its 156th top seller, far behind such titles as 1963 children's book "Where the Wild Things Are," which was ranked 16th after the release of a movie adaptation this month.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Eric Walsh)(Reuters)

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