Michael Jackson's Kids Lay Golden Crown On His Casket At Funeral

Nearly two months after Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris, provided a dramatic denouement to the late pop star's public memorial at the Staples Center by expressing her enduring devotion for the singer, Jackson's children again took center stage on Thursday night at their father's funeral. As more than 200 family and close friends looked on, Jackson's three children — Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7 — opened the solemn ceremony by placing a golden crown on the gilded casket of the self-proclaimed King of Pop. Friends & Family Say Goodbye To MJ Though the funeral just outside the Great Mausoleum at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles was closed to the media and public, Jackson's spokesperson provided some details of the ceremony. The stage was covered with six large bouquets of white lilies and white roses, and on either side of a flower-decorated dais stood two pictures of Jackson in a bright yellow shirt and thick gold belt. Helicopter cameras hovering overhead showed that Jackson's family placed his flower-covered casket in front of the audience — including Macaulay Culkin, Mila Kunis, Stevie Wonder, ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley, Corey Feldman, Elizabeth Taylor, Barry Bonds, Berry Gordy, Quincy Jones, Teddy Riley, Chris Tucker, Gladys Knight and the Reverend Al Sharpton — but due to the media blackout, no audio was available. The pallbearers included Jackson's five brothers — Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Randy Jackson — who all wore suits with their brother's signature black armband and one sequined glove, according to Us Weekly. The opening prayer was delivered by Pastor Lucius Smith, who also offered prayers at July's Staples Center event. Singer and family friend Gladys Knight sang the gospel hymn "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," accompanied by frequent Jackson collaborator keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, who was the musical director for the singer's "Bad" and "Dangerous" tours. Songwriter Clifton Davis sang the Jackson 5 song "Never Can Say Goodbye," which he penned for the group. Among those who reportedly made spontaneous remarks from the podium were family patriarch Joseph Jackson, close family friend the Reverend Al Sharpton, as well as other friends and unnamed family members. "I just spoke at the conclusion of tributes," Sharpton wrote on his Twitter account during the ceremony. "Gladys Knight sang her heart out. Now we prepare to lay him to rest." The ceremony lasted about an hour and 15 minutes and wrapped up at approximately 9:45 p.m. PT. "Michael Jackson has been laid to rest," Sharpton tweeted around this time. Following the ceremony, Jackson's brothers carried the casket into the Great Mausoleum, followed by guests. "The Jackson Family wishes to once again thank all of Michael's fans around the world for their generous outpouring of support during this terribly difficult time," the statement said. "Their expressions of love for Michael and his music have sustained the Jackson Family."

She’s a woman who keeps her words. When Katrina Kaif says something, she usually sticks to it. Sometime ago she has made a promise that if Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani turns out to be a hit, she will treat everybody in the theatre to some vanilla ice-cream. Well, if you haven’t got your scoop, don’t throw a tantrum, dearies. She didn’t mean everyone, for every show, in every theatre in town, in every part of the world. The Katz special offer was open only for two shows in her chosen theatre. But we gotta admit that it was a sweet gesture. And it sure ‘melted’ her fans hearts too!

Linkin Park's Bennington Talks New Band

Dead By Sunrise's debut album, "Out of Ashes," doesn't come out until Oct. 13, but frontman Chester Bennington is guaranteeing it will be a going concern, though always subject to the demands of his other band, Linkin Park. "We'll make records when we can," Bennington -- who started forming Dead By Sunrise, originally as Snow White Tan, in 2005 -- tells Billboard.com. "I don't think people should expect to see an album every couple of years. I'm definitely not going to tell Linkin Park, 'Hey, can you guys take some time off so I can go work on Dead By Sunrise?' That's not gonna happen. But we definitely see this as something we'll continue to do. This isn't a one-time thing for us. Every five years or so I could imagine there'd be a Dead By Sunrise record." And, Bennington adds, his bandmates in Linkin Park have become his "No. 1 support group" for Dead By Sunrise. "I think they see how much time I put into it," he says, "and they definitely can tell these songs are different from what Linkin Park is doing. I still contribute 110 percent to Linkin Park. I think they know (Dead By Sunrise) is not something I would do if it meant jeopardizing what we have in Linkin Park." With the album's first single, "Crawl Back In," already out, Bennington -- who co-produced the album with Howard Benson -- and the Dead By Sunrise crew are itching to play some live shows in support of "Out of Ashes." "We really are looking forward to going and playing small venues for a few hundred people," he says, "and really having the people who want to hear us play getting sweaty with us and having speakers right in their faces and blasting them pretty loud." The fledgling group will also offer fans some bonus material, including a cover of the Misfits' "20 Eyes" and acoustic renditions of the "Out of Ashes" songs, some of which will be available for download with the purchase of the album. While he's preparing for "Out of Ashes' " release, however, Bennington is also in the studio with Linkin Park working on the band's fourth album. Rick Rubin is again on board as co-producer, and Bennington says the group would like to have the set out by mid-2010 but "won't put anything out until we can pull a batch of super-stellar songs together." "We're really experimenting a lot with sounds and time signatures and (song) structures," Bennington reports, "really not being constrained by any kind of preconceived ideas that we might have ourselves. So it's really promising."

Michael Jackson glove sells for $350,000

NEW YORK - The shimmering, white glove Michael Jackson wore when he premiered his trademark moonwalk dance in 1983 was auctioned off for $350,000 — plus tax — on Saturday.
Winning bidder Hoffman Ma of Hong Kong will pay $420,000, including taxes and fees, for the rhinestone-studded, modified golf glove Jackson wore on his left hand for his moonwalk on Motown's 25th anniversary TV special.
The glove was the top item in a collection of Jackson memorabilia on the block at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. Its pre-auction estimate was $40,000 to $60,000.

It was a fairly good discount," said Ma, a 36-year-old Jackson fan who bought the pop-music treasure on behalf of the Ponte 16 Resort Hotel in Macau.
As the price of the glove soared, fans roared and squealed — echoing the kind of frenzy that accompanied the late pop star when he toured the world.
"That's what death brings upon celebrity," said Brendan Doyle, a college student munching chicken fingers from a plate in his lap. "Jackson's death was such a tragedy at such a young age that it pushed up prices."
The pop icon, who died June 25 at 50, had given the glove to Walter "Clyde" Orange, of the singing group the Commodores.
A jacket that Jackson wore on his 1989 "Bad" tour fetched $225,000 — 20 times its low estimate of $8,000.

The sale, held by Los Angeles-based Julien's Auctions, also included a fedora Jackson wore for the moonwalk. It sold for $22,000, against a $2,000 high estimate.
New Yorker Linda Derogene said she was willing to spend up to $5,000 for a material link to the performer she's idolized all her life, but never got a chance to see in concert.
"I can't even tell you what it would mean for me. It would be like a dream come true," she said as she waited to bid on something she could afford.

In Defense of Kristen Stewart

As a parent, I would never want any child of mine to be a movie star; there is too much risk to the psyche. But if I did have a daughter who found herself headlining a mega franchise like the "Twilight" series, I'd be pleased if she handled her fame the way Kristen Stewart has: sometimes crankily, often awkwardly, but with an admirable and defiant reserve. Bella, the heroine of the world's longest and most ridiculous perfume commercial, is played by Kristen Stewart, but Kristen Stewart isn't played by anyone except herself, a 19-year-old girl who hasn't been to charm school, stylist camp or studied the fine art of the sound bite. I don't like her franchise, but I've come to like her.
Video: 'New Moon' clips and extras Photos: More of Kristen Stewart
When the whole "Twilight" insanity began, I tried to ignore it (it wasn't going to be "Buffy"), but it was hard to miss Stewart as she made the publicity rounds. I saw her on a few talk shows, notably "David Letterman," where she seemed remarkably fidgety and diffident. The little girl who seemed such a fantastic casting choice to play Jodie Foster's daughter in "Panic Room" was now a tall, slender teenager, wearing a lot of makeup but somehow still looking innocent. She looked down at her nails every chance she got, as if this sacrifice of time to nibble on them might create some sudden growth spurt she'd have to thwart as soon as possible.
More: 'Twilight' Superfans Blog
She was so unlike the other starlets you see elegantly crossing their legs on "Letterman" that I thought quite possibly she was stoned, especially after she told Letterman she was looking forward to driving from London to Russia. He made quiet but ruthless fun of her. "Oi," I told the screen. "Get that girl a proper publicist. She's awful."
Since then, a year has passed, and in that time I've seen reams and reams of gossip columns and magazine articles devoted to the are-they-or-aren't-they aspect of her relationship with "Twilight" co-star Robert Pattinson, who plays the brooding Edward to her brooding Bella. I've glanced at these pieces and posts only in moments of desperate procrastination, because really, I could not care less. As a couple, they are slightly less tedious than the Gosselins, but only slightly so. No offense to either Stewart or Pattinson, but I'm no more interested in their future (unlikely to have much longevity) than I am of the relationship between the prom king and queen of the high school in the town where I live. They're just too young. (Johnny Depp, you might remember, once had a tattoo of "Winona Forever" on his arm. Now it says, "Wino Forever." It is best not to get too vested in youthful Hollywood love.)
But I've also watched Stewart in this spring's enchanting release "Adventureland," where I expected she'd be nothing more than "that girl from 'Twilight,'" playing another Bella type, and instead found her surprisingly captivating. She is not an eager actress, but rather one who intrigues through balancing an overarching distance with small intimacies that resonate all the more for the contrast. It's tempting to dismiss that as just Stewart herself, angsty, artsy, removed.

But as much as the real girl resembles some facets of that character of Em in "Adventureland" or Bella in "New Moon," there's one important difference: Stewart is confident on-screen and nervous off it. After I went on a YouTube bonanza and watched clips of her squirming and gazing longingly at her fingernails for Meredith Vieira, Jimmy Kimmel and Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, among others, I've realized, it's not that she's stoned or poorly prepared. It's just that she's not capable of faking it.
Stewart doesn't play the game, and host after host, particularly the guys, become uncomfortable as they realize she's not going to do the girlie thing, because she's too busy being an actual girl. As their discomfort rises, it bounces back to Stewart and expands exponentially. Outside of Rockefeller Center, greeting "Twilight" fans on a cold autumn day, she shifted from foot to foot on her high heels, trying to stay warm. Her hands were plunged into the pockets of a parka that looks completely wrong with her dress, it must have matched her street clothes, not her styled "Today" show outfit. She's just like a girl at a football game, wearing the wrong outerwear, unaware that she should try to look comfortable even if she's not.
I don't think Stewart disdains the talk show thing; I think she's not interested in pretending to be someone she's not. That's the nature of her day job, after all. When Kelly Ripa does something goofy in front of her, Stewart laughs, gamely, but it's not an overabundant laugh, it's something genuine and small; Ripa is a little bit funny, but just not that funny. When Jimmy Kimmel tried to tease Stewart about still living at home with her parents and brothers, she makes it clear she likes living with her family, and considers it appropriate. Then he suggested that she buy her family home and "evict your parents." "That kind of defeats the purpose," Stewart said, sincerely. Kimmel's suggestion was stupid. Rather than suck up to him, she just said what is obvious and true. Is it her job to make him feel big? Hardly.
As Vieira led Stewart (and Pattinson, they were doing an interview together) out to those screeching hordes in Rockefeller Center, she asked both the young stars whether she should be scared of the fans. "They're all pretty nice," Stewart said. "To your face." It wasn't a statement that implied dislike of the fans. Instead it was a reflection of reality. Screaming hordes of fans would in fact tend to be nice to your face. But get most of those girls aside and really grill them, and they will likely tell you that Pattinson deserves someone with a little more je ne sais quoi, as in, "Less like her and more like me!" Fans are in fact fickle, and not to be trusted long-term, attached as they are to the fleeting mistress of fame, and it is a very good thing that Stewart gets that.
Of course, none of this, the nail biting, the frankness, the acting of one's actual age, is the best strategy if you want to come across as a vibrant, together young starlet. But what if you were just doing what your job required you to do: showing up and talking to some people? To behave the way Stewart does shows integrity. She's perfectly polite, but she hasn't forgotten who she is, just because she's been in some highly successful and highly anticipated movies. She only seems sullen because we are used to people who really play the game.
This is not to say she's perfect. If I were her mother, I'd urge her to sit up straight and stop swinging her leg during interviews, allowing her body language to reflect her inner strength. I'd also ask that she not ever use the word "retarded" publicly again (in their cover story on Pattinson, Vanity Fair quotes her on the "Robsten" fever as saying, "It's so retarded. We're characters in this comic book") and recommend that she stick to "silly" or "idiotic." The mentally challenged don't deserve to be verbally linked to the nonsense over some Hollywood romance.
But I do respect her refusal to dish about her private life. Last week she told Entertainment Weekly she wasn't going to give "the fiending" an answer because everyone had made such a big deal of it. (Fiending: I love that choice of words, or rather, a non-word, which so nicely evokes the insanity of the tabloids.) People, she noted, assume, "'Well, you chose to be an actor, why don't you just f---ing give your whole life away?! Can I have your firstborn child?'" She offered a couple of answers she could, hypothetically give ("Okay, we are." "We aren't." "I'm a lesbian."), none of which would satisfy, or rather quiet, the hordes. It's true. Does the fact that Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are a couple stop the speculation about what lies within their real lives?
"I'm just trying," Stewart said "to keep something." That something is herself, the one who lives outside of the movies and the press junkets and the endless talk shows. She may chew her nails to the quick, but it is a bold and self-confident young woman who at 19 refuses to succumb to the public's desire for her private life. Think it's hard to resist? Conjure up the gushing footage in your head of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck in the throes of their former love affair -- it's OK if you can't, but, sadly, I can -- and you'll realize how easy it is for even a smart grown-up like Affleck to open that door.
I watched that "Letterman" clip again this week. This time I noticed that the one time Stewart lit up with real excitement was when she was talking about her mother, a script supervisor who had recently finished a screenplay for a movie Stewart plans to star in. It's called "K-11." "She's directing as well," Stewart said to Letterman. "I'm so stoked for her I can't even stand it." How can you not love that girl?

Entertainment

An entertainment is any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time.
Entertainment is typically passive - as in watching opera or a movie. Activities which involve participating in games or sports are more often considered to be recreation.[1] Activities such as personal reading or practising a musical instruments are considered as hobbies.
The industry that provides entertainment is called the entertainment industry. There are many forms of entertainment, which cater for particular tastes. For example, there is cinema, theatre, sports, games, social dance which cater for different groups of people. These may also be grouped on the age of persons interested, such as child entertainment or adult entertainment. For example, puppets, clowns, pantomimes and cartoons tend to appeal to children, though adults may also find them enjoyable.