Sarah Ball

  Michael Jackson's public memorial service at the Staples Center attracted a parade of impersonators, look-alikes, wannabe-dancers and others eulogizing the pop star by imitating his unique dance and dress style. Check out our gallery of creatively attired mourners, from Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Harlem and back.

Michael Jackson's meteoric rise to fame was shepherded by television and photographs: the Jackson 5 lead singer broke out on American Bandstand, was immortalized in button-cute photographs as a kid, and became the world's most celebrated pop star with the advent of the music video.

Longtime celebrity publicist Michael Levine represented Michael Jackson during the singer's first child-molestation trial. NEWSWEEK spoke with him regarding his former client's death and what he believes may have caused it.

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The Los Angeles Times confirms that the King of Pop, 50-year-old Michael Jackson, has died after a cardiac episode in Los Angeles. Jackson was reportedly rushed to UCLA Medical Center this afternoon; paramedics reported that Jackson was not breathing when he arrived at the hospital.  NBC News and other sources have also confirmed the singer's death.

Below are seven other starlets who, like Fawcett, launched their careers with sultry print images.  Click out to view!Kathy IrelandMarilyn Monroe Cheryl Tiegs Betty Grable Cindy CrawfordBrooke ShieldsBettie Page

  Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences President Sid Ganis announced this afternoon that the Oscar race for Best Picture—a race traditionally between five films, at least since World War II—will double the number of contenders starting with this year's presentation.  "Having 10 best picture nominees is going [to] allow academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the...

Why Transformers 2 star Shia LaBeouf was cast with a cast.

Shocker of the Century -- Gosselins Are Divorcing.  Jon and Kate of Jon and Kate Plus Eight made their divorce official last night on their show, and said that their reality show will go on.

Year One star Michael Cera, famous for irreverent, fun and even silly films, gets surprisingly serious in front of our cameras.  He talks about his love of history books, how he has a difficult time trusting people, and the downside of wearing a wig and makeup on set.  Click the player above to view.

They're strange bedfellows: the old guard of broadcast journalism, the new guard of Media 2.0.  But Twitter was atwitter with links and posts to YouTube videos of Walter Cronkite's most famous broadcasts yesterday -- check out an Associated Press aggregation of those Tweets here, or watch clips below:Cronkite was the first to break news of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination in the spring of 1968.Cronkite interviewed the president at Hyannisport on Labor Day weekend in 1963.Perhaps his...

"Year One" Drags Its Knuckles.  Year One, the caveman comedy out today that stars Michael Cera and Jack Black, has been panned as a blemish on the Apatow Productions laugh-track record.

We would say that Stephanie Pratt is eating her words, but that just seems... wrong, no? The star is on the cover of Us Weekly today, with this headline: "The Hills Made Me Bulimic." Now, Pratt is denying the statement to (who else) her boss, MTV.  The refute:This was never actually going to be a cover story.

Billy Joel Loses Another Uptown Girl. Katie Lee Joel, a Southern chef and cookbook writer, will separate from husband Billy Joel (she is his third wife). The pair were married for five years, and say they will remain friends.  [MSNBC]Bruno Premieres in Britain; Early Reviews Hit Web.  Sacha Baron Cohen hit the red carpet for Bruno's premiere in London, dressed as one of the Queen's guardsmen -- only, you know, showing a little more waxed/spray-tanned skin.

Penn Backs Out and Declines to Give Reason. A rep for Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn has confirmed that he will back out of his two current movie roles, in The Three Stooges and Cartel, the BBC reports.

 30 Rock and My Sister's Keeper star Alec Baldwin bares his soul for Playboy's July/August issue, in it describing a Baldwin-less 30 Rock.  "I'm done in 2012.

Outcry Prompts (Another) Letterman Apology. After threats of protests hit The Late Show, David Letterman devoted both his Monday night monologue and a large portion of his show to apologizing, again, to Gov.

  If Oscar-winning screenwriter and playwright Peter Morgan is a smear of our favored brand of extra-crunchy peanut butter, then actor Michael Sheen is a thick slathering of homemade strawberry jam.

Virgin to Launch Download Service. Virgin Media and Universal will partner to offer an all-you-can-download MP3 service for a flat rate, the companies announced today; early estimates are between $20 and $30 per month.

Check out NEWSWEEK's exclusive clip of the upcoming National Geographic documentary A Decade Behind Bars: A Return to The Farm. The film is a sequel to 1998's inmate-perspective documentary The Farm: Life Inside Angola (click to watch full doc), which was nominated for an Oscar for its portrayal of six prisoners at Louisiana's high-security penitentiary.

At Least 1 Million to Have TV Problems Today. As six decades of analog television come to an end today, at least 1 million homes are expected to be left without TV service, the Associated Press reports.

Phil Spector prides himself on his tresses—this much we know from his lifelong experiment in outlandish coiffure.  But now that he's in jail, it looks like his mirror time has been curtailed.  Since staring too long at this wet-rat 'do makes us hear the Chucky theme in our heads, let's time-travel. Click through our gallery of Spector's zaniest hair-dos—from his Reno 911-style handlebar moustaches to his Howard-Stern-wannabe mop.

Most people go with cake and champers, but in honor of her 40th birthday, Chastity Bono gave herself the gift of... man.  Shortly after her over-the-hill celebration, the daughter of Sonny and Cher began undergoing the preliminary stages of gender-reassignment, MSNBC reports.  Her rep confirms that Bono is in transgender transition and says he'll go by Chaz.  The full statement: He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by his loved...

It's the rap-world equivalent of a bugle sounding taps: When a once-cool hip-hop technique is being used to shill watery milkshakes, you can consider it officially FUBAR.

Not The New York Times, but you're getting warm—the answer is the flagging paper's balance sheets. So says Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones, anyway, in segment of the show that tours the Times' newsroom and profiles "aged news," in part via a very uncomfortable sit-down interview with Bill Keller himself.

So now we know what crosses the line. If you eviscerate Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, and compare her speechifying to beauty-pageant stumping, you can expect her to take it in stride.

DMB Still Sells Through. Dave Matthews Band snagged the third-best album debut of 2009 this week, rising to the top of the Billboard pop charts with Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King, which has sold 424,000 copies.

Less than one month after Donald Trump deigned to let Miss California Carrie Prejean keep her crown, the blonde former model will now lose her title. Documents obtained by Fox News cite Prejean's unwillingness to fulfill her Miss California obligations—whatever those may be—and that Trump himself gave the final approval to fire her. It quotes him:

The new TV spots for Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno are up—check it out, above. Among the goofy, German-tinged voiceover lines? "Brüno ist rated RRRRRR!"  Now that they've ridden the early NC-17 warnings from the MPAA to their full publicity potential, guess it's time to distance themselves?

Efron to Take On Tony Manero? Zac Efron recently detached himself from the Footloose remake, his reasoning that he didn't want to be the cherubic Musical Guy all his life.