Zac Efron was spotted making his way out of La Peer Salon in Beverly Hills, CA yesterday sporting a new hair’do … a shorter hair’do. Zac is widely known for his longish hair and shaggy bangs (bangs that he constantly has to brush out of his eyes with either his fingers or by head flip) but now he’s going for a different look … behold:

I can’t remember the last time that Zac’s hair was so short … it must be for a new movie role because there ain’t no way that Zac would clip his beautiful hair unless he was forced to by the Powers that Be — or mebbe on the advice of a new lady? Zac was reportedly seen out on a date with Megan Fox earlier this week … perhaps she whispered in his ear and Voila! haircut. I must say … it’s a nice look on him. He looks more clean cut. Not too shabby … do y’all like?

[Photo credit: Rocstar]

Good Morning America aired some very special, previously unseen home video footage of Michael Jackson in happier times with his young children, Prince Michael Joseph and Paris Michael Katherine in the years between 1999-2003 … at a time when he was still happily married to his second wife Debbie Rowe, was still living at the Neverland Ranch, before the birth of his third child (Prince Michael Joseph, II aka Blanket) and before he was brought up on a second round of charges of child molestation. The home video is painfully sweet and gives us a different look at the man that we believed we knew. Here are a few screencaps from the GMA footage that has been made available:

Those of you who remember this period in MJ’s life know that he was absolutely private and generally out of public eye for some time. It was ages before we saw him out and about with his children. It was not until he agreed to do the interview with Martin Bashir, Living with Michael Jackson, (after the birth of his third child) that he really opened himself up to the media (and, as you may recall, it was one of the young boys who was featured in that interview that leveled the second round of child molestation charges against him). The home video comes from an earlier, more innocent time. It really is something to see — after the jump, check it out in full …

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The Jackson family has finally agreed to plans for a public memorial service at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday July 7. In a statement issued by the family late Thursday, the Jacksons announced that 11,000 tickets would be made available to the public free of charge (which seems contrary to a report from RadarOnline that tickets for the service would cost $25). Here is the newly updated info on Michael Jackson’s public funeral service as it stands right now:

Michael Jackson’s family has agreed to hold a memorial for the singer at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The decision, announced by family spokesman Ken Sunshine, caps days of discussions about how to honor Jackson. Few details were immediately available. But in a statement, Sunshine said that 11,000 tickets will be distributed to the general public free of charge. There will be a registration system to get tickets. More details will be announced Friday.] At a news conference this afternoon, AEG Live’s chief executive, Randy Phillips, said he had been conferring with the family and that its desire was to hold a memorial service at Staples Center, the scene of the singer’s final rehearsal. Phillips said the ultimate decision about the timing and format of such a program lay with Jackson’s mother, Katherine. “It’s all up to Katherine,” Phillips said.

It is of MUCH comfort to know that there will NOT be a cost to attend Michael Jackson’s public memorial service after all. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if news of the $25 charge was leaked in order to gauge public sentiment on the matter … clearly, giving away the majority of tickets is the right way to go. It should be noted that the Staples Center holds an estimated 20,000 people so it’s possible that the other 9,000 available tickets could be sold for the reported $25 fee (which would equal $225,000). Whatever the case may be and however the tickets are distributed, I have no doubt that MJ’s service on Tuesday will be a major spectacle … and I understand it will be only the first of many public memorials to the late King of Pop. While MJ is surely to be buried here in SoCal very soon, the schedule of public memorials around the country and world is sure to continue for some time. It appears that Michael Jackson will get one final world tour, as it were, after all.

[Source]

TMZ is reporting that the burial casket for Michael Jackson’s body has been selected … and that his remains will be housed in pretty spectacular style. I pass along this information because, if true, it’s exactly the sort of thing that I think MJ would want his fans to know about. He lived a life of opulence & gaudy garishness and was never ashamed of his, shall we say, audacious style and taste. The report states that MJ will be buried in a $25,000, solid bronze, 14-karat gold plated, custom casket … the very same make and model that James Brown, the Godfather of Soul and MJ’s mentor, was buried in (also, I think this is the same model casket that Superman was buried in when he died). Behold, the Promethean:

A $25,000, solid bronze, 14-karat gold plated, custom casket has been ordered for Michael Jackson. The casket — ordered last night from Batesville Casket Company — is called a Promethean and will feature a flame blue velvet interior and a hand-polished, mirror finish. This is the same casket used to bury James Brown… and is extremely rare.

As you may recall, James Brown’s body was on display for public viewing at the Apollo Theater back in December of 2006. A photo of Brown in this snazzy burial casket can be seen HERE. I cannot think of a more fitting way to house Michael Jackson’s remains. As I mentioned above, MJ lived his life as flashily as he liked … and this final resting unit strikes me as the exact sort of way he’s like to go out of this world. Not only will Michael Jackson rest in peace but he will also, most deff, rest in style.

[Source, Source]

Earlier this week we saw photos from Michael Jackson’s dress rehearsal performance at the Staples Center on Tuesday June 23, just two days before his death. Today we get to see video from that dress rehearsal performance. CNN has obtained video footage from Michael Jackson’s full dress rehearsal that was recorded on Tuesday June 23 which features MJ performing with his crew to his single They Don’t Care About Us. Here is a screencap from that dress rehearsal performance:

Michael Jackson appeared healthy in a video clip — obtained by CNN — of his rehearsal two nights before he died. AEG, promoter of Jackson’s planned London shows, released the short video of Jackson rehearsing on a stage in the Staples Center arena on June 23, 2009. Jackson sang “They Don’t Care About Us” — a song from Jackson’s “HIStory” album — as he danced along with eight male dancers. The Staples Center will also be the site of Jackson’s memorial service, which is scheduled for Tuesday at the 20,000-seat Los Angeles arena, according to a person briefed by a family representative. No other details have been revealed about the service.

It’s clear to me from this footage that MJ’s This Is It Tour was going to be something special. To be completely honest, I didn’t think he still had the pizazz in him to pull off a mega concert performance but if this footage is any indication, I was sorely wrong. It’s such a shame that Jackson did not live long enough to prove his detractors wrong. In the performance clip, which you can see behind the cut, it looks like MJ’s old guitarist Jennifer Batten (featured in, among other things, MJ’s Dirty Diana music video) performs with him!

Does this mean that she was going to be a part of his This Is It Tour?! She mentions this clip on her official Twitter account so I’m guessing that it is her in the clip. After the jump, check out MJ performing his song They Don’t Care About Us on stage with his back-up dancers and possibly Ms. Batten …

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