Michael's Last Rehearsal: 'I Feel So Alive'

Michael Jackson was in surprisingly good shape in dazzling footage

(NEWSER) - Michael Jackson didn't live long enough to take the final bow he had planned in London, but critics agree This Is It is a fitting swan song, proof that the King of Pop really did have a comeback in him:

• "This Is It is quite extraordinary. If there was any doubt that Michael was in control of the shows or his decisions, those fears are allayed here," writes Roger Friedman for the Hollywood Reporter. "It is truly amazing, considering the last 16 years of total lunacy, to see him so capable."

Album sales up 90% from first week

(NEWSER) - Michael Jackson is still dominating the Billboard charts, with his solo albums selling 800,000 copies in the first full week after his death and 2.2 million songs downloaded. His Number Ones collection is the top-selling album in the US as well as No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Comprehensive Albums chart, with Thriller coming in second. More»

For Calif. community, King of Pop not bigger than Jesus, but 'about even'

(NEWSER) - A California family says Michael Jackson’s likeness appeared on a tree stump in their yard the day the pop singer died, CBS 13 reports. Some neighbors say the stump looks more like the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, or like Jesus. One neighbor finds the latter comparison fitting: "Michael Jackson was an icon to us," the neighbor explained. "To Stockton, Michael Jackson meant more to us than Jesus, to some people. I think they're both about even." More»

If it's truly the kids she's after, she's only hurting them

(NEWSER) - After Debbie Rowe announced she wanted custody of Michael Jackson’s two older children, her lawyer “scrambled to say she had reached no final decision,” writes Michael Daly for the New York Daily News. Which means she could probably still be persuaded to, say, accept another big payment to relinquish her parental rights for the third time. So far she’s received more than $4 million, plus a house. More»

Janet, brothers have been approached

(NEWSER) - As promoters determine the best way to salvage Michael Jackson’s 50-night London concert run, the possibility has emerged that his siblings will fill in, the Sun reports. “Janet has been sounded out about fronting some of the shows,” says a source. “Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon have been approached as well, with the idea that they would perform as the backing band.” More»