As if the recent flood of Michael Jackson footage—see: videos of him and his children to a horrifying clip of his hair catching on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial—wasn’t enough, a judge recently ruled in favor of the production of a movie stringing together snippets of his final rehearsals. Judge Mitchell Beckloff, of the Los Angeles Superior Court, gave his blessings to a deal between MJ’s estate, AEG Live, and Columbia Pictures, leading to the production of said film. Over 100 hours of footage will be sewn together to make this film, which, before it meets public scrutiny, will be approved by Jackson’s estate, ensuring it does nothing but flatter the late King of Pop. The film is scheduled to be finished late October, but an official release date has not yet been divulged. (Via Billboard).

The endless onslaught of news surrounding Michael Jackson continues: New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones is set to publish a book on the musician via Ecco. Interviewed for the New Yorker’s blog, Jones claims that he wants to write a short book that will “be a single-purpose thing, a small machine that acts like a lens and zooms in.” Instead of delving into the sensationalism surrounding Jackson’s life, Frere-Jones plans to focus on Jackson’s artistry:

“I am interested in what he did that was different, how he recontextualized the past, how he changed the rules. This is a guy who grew up in a factory system, created his own system, and then had to deal with the fallout. I’m going to be dealing with the two big albums, but also Bad, Dangerous, and Invincible.”

No release date has been announced for Frere-Jones untitled tome.

Today is Michael Jackson’s public memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which, for local residents, translates to: “Shit, there goes being on time for work.”

The pop star’s post-mortem celebration is planned to be attended by celebrities and fans alike, causing officials in the greater L.A. are to officially freak out about the thousands of fans who are already waiting at nearby Dodger Stadium to pick up their lottery-won tickets or hopefuls looking to buy.

Those scheduled to perform include Mariah Carey, who sang the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” as a cover on her 1992 MTV Plugged show, propelled the song back into the charts. Others who have RSVP’ed for the festivities include Kobe Bryant, John Mayer, Magic Johnson, Martin Luther King III and Bernice A. King, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder.

It’s been nearly a week since the King of Pop passed away from cardiac arrest, and perhaps the most intriguingly warped thing we’ve read about Michael Jackson so far is that Diana Ross could take guardianship of his three children.

As specifics are coming forth about Jackson’s drug use (who gave it to him?), how much he was in debt ($400 million), and what his schedule London shows would have looked like, a spotlight has been put forth on the future of Jackon’s kids: Prince, Paris, and Blanket. In Jackson’s will, which was revealed this morning and written in 2002, details on who will acquire the children as well as divisions of his assets and wealth were made public. Jackon’s mother, Katherine, has been granted custody of the kid trio, but what also is fun to digest is that in the event she is no longer to care for them, diva and Jackson friend Diana Ross will overtake custody rights. This, on top of news that Jackson and former personal dermatologist Debbie Rowe are not biological parents of the older two kids.

—Jenn Hernandez

Following the tragic and sudden death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson albums have been flying off the shelves. Compared to the 10,000 albums sold in the week prior to his death, over 300,000 albums such as Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller sold this past week in response to this tragedy. It is expected, also, that those three albums will procure spots on Billboard’s Top Pop Catalog chart and that Jackson may acquire over 5 spots in the Billboard’s Top Ten, a feat that has yet to be accomplished by any musical artist.

—Meryl Natow