Today’s I can’t believe they’re turning that into a movie story comes to us from a View-Master…you know, those binocular like things you insert pictures in to view.

Fringe co-producer/writer Brad Caleb Kane will be writing the movie for DreamWorks Pictures.

According to Coming Soon, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (”Fringe,” Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek) are behind the film and that it will be “like the old 80’s Amblin movies: Goonies, Young Sherlock… In that vein.”

If they sign Anna Torv for the lead role I’ll be the first in line to watch it, but that aside ZOMG MAKE THIS MADNESS STOP! Someone in Hollywood is just completely taking the massive piss on the entire planet now. Yesterday it was Asteroids, now it’s a View-Master, tomorrow it will be a plastic shopping bag (oh wait, they’d done that already with Confessions of a Shopaholic) and the day after a dog turd.

Rihanna, who visited a New York tattoo parlor earlier this week and was photographed inking her signature umbrella logo on the arms of East Side Ink’s attandants, could be facing criminal charges over the incident.

According to a New York City spokesperson:

“Only licensed tattoo artists can administer tattoos in the city according to the City’s Health Code. We are sending someone down to follow up on this.”

Rihanna could be facing a criminal charge for NYC health code violations which carries a maximum fine of $2000.

[Source & Photo: PopCrunch]

…and the tabloids imploded.

The Telegraph is reporting that upon hearing the news of the Suleman octuplets, Michael Jackson offered to adopt the eight children to “give Blanket siblings.” Suleman’s lawyer Victor Munoz says he declined the “creepy” offer on Suleman’s behalf. (Because she’s not creepy at all?)

The obsessed with children pop star apparently had three representatives reach out to the Octomom camp before personally calling to speak with the unemployed mother of fourteen children. Jackson was said to be “concerned” regarding reports that Suleman planned to give Malia, Jonah, Isaiah, Nariah, Jeremiah, McCai, Josiah and Noah up for adoption. Because that would be scandalous!

From the article:

According to Munoz, speaking to the Daily Mirror, Jackson told him “Blanket would love to have more siblings”.

“I could take care of all the babies, they could live with me and wouldn’t need for anything. They would have a bright future,” he is said to have told him.

“I want to take care of Nadya. She will be happy and won’t have to worry about caring for her children any more.”

Munoz said that “Michael clearly thought Nadya was unfit and decided he wanted to help [the] children,” but also indicated that the tone of the calls became less about concern and more like a sales pitch. Munoz said the last call indicated that Suleman would “be compensated” in an adoption scenario.

Michael Jackson dug James Brown’s fly casket so hard, he picked one out to bling his way into the afterlife. How Egyptian.

The pimptastic ride coffin, the “Promethean” model, is lined in blue velvet, cast in solid bronze and plated in 14-karat gold. Classy! The coffin isn’t a stock model, and it’s being custom made by Indiana-based Batesville Casket Co. The flashy casket costs $25,000.

The cash-strapped Jackson is being sent off at the Staples Center in equally broke-ass Los Angeles. Older brother Jermaine confirmed to press that a private service for family and friends would precede the grotesque spectacle public funeral set for Tuesday morning.

Tickets for Michael Jackson’s funeral are expected to be free, although the city has not yet confirmed how they plan to distribute them. Tick tock, LA… The organizers for Jackson’s ill-fated and seemingly fatal concert series in London spoke to Fox News and indicated the complex issues of crowd control and ticket distribution were being deferred to crowd-control and event organizing expert… Katherine Jackson?

Michael Jackson reportedly used several variations of his name to apply for loans because his credit history was so poor and financial institutions were reluctant to give him money.

In 2007, the ‘Thriller’ singer - who was raised in the Jehovah’s Witness faith - allegedly applied for loans under the names President Mr Michael Jackson, Michael JJJ Christ-Jehovah, Michael J Jackson ChristJeh, Michael Jackson Jehovah and Mike J Jackson. He also reportedly used alternative spellings of Michael - Micheal and Micheel - in a bid to trick bank managers.

According to Britain’s The Sun newspaper, leaked financial documents linked to some of Michael’s properties show the failed applications. It is illegal to give a false name to a financial institution for money for the purpose of influencing the bank’s decision and anyone found guilty could face fines of $1 million, 30 years in prison or both.

Despite being one of the most successful musicians of all time, Michael has struggled financially in recent years and was reportedly desperate for monetary help.

A source said: “Michael Jackson’s financial affairs were beyond a mess with county court judgements and taxes owed all over the place. No bank was prepared to bail him out.”

Meanwhile, Tommy Mottola, the former boss of Sony music - who own the distribution rights to Michael’s music - has revealed the label has “dozens” of unreleased tracks in storage which could guarantee the pop legend a place in the charts for the next 30 years. He said: “There are dozens of songs that did not end up on any of his albums. People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There’s just some genius and brilliance in there. The releases could go on and on for years - even more than Elvis.”

According to record sources, the collection of tracks includes recently recorded material with Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am and singer-and-producer Akon. Tommy also said the collection includes singles left off Michael’s earlier LPs, including ‘Bad’ and ‘HIStory’.

It is believed Michael - who currently holds nine out of the 10 top US album chart spots - kept the unreleased tracks back to ensure financial security for his three children Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Prince Michael II.

Michael Jackson’s family has confirmed that his memorial service will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday July 7.

Up to one million fans are expected to attend the star-studded service, with a further 750 million watching on TV. We’re not sure on what channels where yet, but there’s a good chance the service will be available live or delayed in many countries.

The singer’s family has confirmed the ceremony will feature performances and tributes from a range of stars, reportedly including former Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney, Diana Ross and Elizabeth Taylor. Former Miss Indiana Kellee Patterson and singer Deniece Williams, both from Michael’s home town Gary, Indiana, have also agreed to perform.

The Jackson family is reportedly keen to make sure the service lives up to the spectacle the singer dreamed of. The family’s lawyer Brian Oxman confirmed: “It’s going to be huge. Massive.” In 2002, Michael said: “My funeral is going to be the greatest show on earth. That’s what I want. Fireworks and everything.”

Nearly 20,000 people will be seated in the stadium, while giant screens will broadcast the send-off to fans who can’t get in.
US President Barack Obama - who recently expressed his sadness at Michael’s death - is believed to have been invited.

The service will start at 10am, and will reportedly last two hours. Ironically, it will be held on the stage Michael spent his last evening alive as he rehearsed for his London residency. As we reported yesterday, footage from the stage has been released.

Fans were outraged yesterday, when it emerged venue owners AEG Live were planning to charge $25 for tickets to the service.
The company has since backtracked and will now give away 11,000 tickets for free. A spokeswoman for the company said: “Executives have been in back-to-back meetings all day over how things will work. They’ve just come out to see the reports everywhere. I can confirm that we will not be charging.”

Michael’s body is expected to be buried at Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills, where his grandmother was laid to rest in 1990. Other celebrities interred there include Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Liberace and David Carradine, who died in Thailand last month.

It is not known when the funeral will take place, but the singer is expected to be buried in a $25,000 gold-plated casket.
The custom-made coffin - which features a blue velvet interior and a hand-polished mirror finish - is the same type used to bury legendary singer James Brown in December 2006. The Jackson family had been hoping to bury the singer at his beloved Neverland ranch, but they were unable to obtain the residential exemption necessary for a burial on private property.

Angelia Jolie raked in an impressive $27 million between June 2008 and June 2009 to top this years Forbes Magazine list of top earning actresses.

Angelina beat her partner Brad Pitt’s ex-wife Jennifer Aniston, who came second in the list with earnings of $25 million.

In a statement, the magazine said: “Much of Angelina’s earnings came from her share of the profits on ‘Wanted’, but she also scored a fat upfront cheque for ‘Salt’, an action film originally slated to star Tom Cruise, in which Jolie plays a CIA agent who is accused of being a Russian spy.”

‘Mamma Mia’ star Meryl Streep was placed third with an income of $24 million, while ‘Sex and the City’ actress Sarah Jessica Parker came fourth with $23 million in earnings.

Cameron Diaz was ranked fifth generating $20 million, while Reese Witherspoon and Sandra Bullock tied for sixth place after making $15 million each. Nicole Kidman and Drew Barrymore tied for eighth place, followed by Renee Zellweger.

The magazine compiled the list after speaking to agents, managers, producers and lawyers. Money earned from clothing, perfume or accessories lines was also taken into account.

As usual, the actresses earned significantly less than their male counterparts. This year’s top-earning actor Harrison Ford earned $65 million, $38 million more than Angelina. The top 10 actors earned a combined total of $393 million, compared with the actress’ earnings of $183 million.

Forbes magazine’s top 10 Top-Earning Actresses of 2009:
1. Angelina Jolie, $27 million
2. Jennifer Aniston, $25 million
3. Meryl Streep, $24 million
4. Sarah Jessica Parker, $23 million
5. Cameron Diaz, $20 million
6. Sandra Bullock, $15 million
6. Reese Witherspoon, $15 million
8. Nicole Kidman, $12 million
8. Drew Barrymore, $12 million
10. Renee Zellweger, $10 million

Michael Jackson’s last rehearsal video has been released.

AEG, promoter of Michael’s planned London shows, released the video of the deceased singer rehearsing Tuesday June 23 in Los Angeles to CNN.

The footage shows Jackson in reasonable form, although it’s fair clear that his weight was low when the footage was taken.

The Michael Jackson last rehearsal video as follows:

Director Michael Bay has taken Megan Fox down a peg over her suggestion that his movies don’t offer acting opportunities.

“Well, that’s Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she’s 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, ‘Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it,’” Bay said in an interview this week.

“I 100% disagree with her. Nick Cage wasn’t a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in Armageddon. Shia LaBeouf wasn’t a big movie star before he did Transformers — and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from Bad Boys. Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in Transformers. I like to think that I’ve had some luck in building actors’ careers with my films.”

No word yet as to whether Megan Fox will be returning for Transformers 3

Universal is to produce a movie based on the classic Atari game Asteroids.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers, G.I.Joe) and Matt Lopez (Race to Witch Mountain) will be developing and writing the movie respectively.

Variety reports that Fox and Sony also bid for the rights to the movie version of the game, which begs the question why?

For those of you not old enough to remember Asteroids, the game was a huge hit for Atari in 1979. The game involves a space ship shooting asteroids and flying saucers…. and nothing more. Even by the standards of the day, Asteroids wasn’t overly exciting to look at either, with the original using vector graphics and a two-dimensional black and white view.

A better choice would have been Space Invaders…well, if you absolutely had to pick an old game as the basis for a movie. A video showing how you played the original Asteroids as follows;

Tickets to Michael Jackson’s Funeral/ Memorial service are set to be offered shortly according to multiple reports.

The Michael Jackson Memorial Service is scheduled at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Tuesday, with possibly two sessions at 10am and 12 noon each.

What we don’t know though at this stage is the cost, if any for the tickets. One unconfirmed report claims tickets will go on sale at $25 each, while other reports suggest that tickets will be offered for free. AP quotes a spokesman at the Center saying that they will be offered for free, but distribution of the tickets hasn’t been finalized. The problem there is that ticket systems are set up to involve a transaction, so offering them for nothing may cause issues.

We’ll post the Michael Jackson memorial ticket details when we have them. Keep an eye on Empire Tickets who should have the tickets available for sale if and when they become available.

Update: tickets available from the Staples Center.

Michael Jackson’s former wife Debbie Rowe has confirmed she will seek custody of two of Michael’s children: Prince and Paris.

“I want my kids,” Rowe told NBC. “I am stepping up. I have to.”

The decision by Debbie Rowe to seek custody is somewhat surprising given she signed away all her parental rights to Jackson in 1996 in return for a large payment. It’s also believed that Rowe hasn’t seen the children for years.

Rowe added that she would also be willing to take care of Jackson’s third child Prince Michael II (also known as Blanket) so the children can stay together.

Rowe also isn’t a fan of Michael’s father Joe Jackson, and said she will take out a restraining order if necessary to keep him away from the children.

Jermaine Jackson has been left devastated by the passing of his brother last week, revealing the pain of saying goodbye was “unreal”.

He told The Today Show this morning (July 2): “I wanted to see Michael, and I wanted to see my brother, and seeing him lifeless and breathless was very emotional for me.

“I held myself together, because I know he is very much alive, his spirit is. I kissed him on his forehead and I hugged him and I touched him and I said, ‘Michael, I’ll never leave you, you’ll never leave me. He went too soon. I wish that it was me. I’ve always felt that I was his backbone, someone to be there for him. I was there and he was sort of like Moses. The things he couldn’t say, I would say them.”

Jermaine revealed hearing his mother Katherine Jackson tell Michael had died was one of the hardest moments of his life.
“She was crying, saying he was dead. And to hear my mother saying Michael is dead, to feel and hear the tone of her voice to say her child is dead - it’s nothing that anyone can ever imagine.”

Jermaine also expressed his disappointment that Michael won’t be buried at Neverland, his former home in Santa Barbara.
“This is his home, I feel his presence. He built this place with love, you can see it and feel it. Look at it here, it’s peaceful here. This meant wonderment, the ultimate happiness.”

Jermaine insists Michael was physically fit enough to undertake a 50-date comeback residency in London later this month - despite speculation the rehearsals had left him exhausted and underweight. He said: “I do believe and I do know that Mike is very strong, not just mentally but physically. He’s a dancer, he never stopped dancing. He was already ready physically. He passed the physical, he was strong - he was ready.”

Here’s the Jermaine Jackson on the Today Show video:

Remember David Carradine? An independant medical examiner hired by his family after his death has determined that David Carradine died of Asphyxiation that was not caused by suicide.

In a statement released by Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, whom Carradine’s family hired to perform a second autopsy on the Kung Fu actor’s body after it was shipped back to the U.S. from Thailand, Baden said:

“The cause of death was asphyxiation, an inability to breathe, now why that happened is still what we’re working on. He didn’t die of natural causes, and he didn’t die of suicidal causes from the nature of the ligatures around the body, so that leaves some kind of accidental death.”

David Carradine was found in a Bangcock, Thailand hotel room in early June, deceased and hanging by his arms inside a closet. He had ropes around his wrists, neck and genitals.

Supermodel Kate Moss and The Kills’ Jamie Hince are reportedly engaged.

Rumours the pair are planning to wed started after Moss was spotted wearing an impressive diamond on her ring finger during a romantic trip to Paris, France.

A source said: “Kate and Jamie looked totally loved-up. Jamie took her to the trendy La Maison Du Caviar restaurant for a romantic lunch. People kept noticing the ring on her engagement finger but she didn’t say anything.”

This is not the first time it has been reported the Moss and the 40-year-old musician are set to tie the knot. Earlier this year, Jamie revealed he was desperate to commit to Kate, saying “I want to marry Kate. She’s all I want. She’s all I need.”

At the time, a friend of the couple said: “It’s obvious how loved-up they are. We can’t wait for them to get married - and the party afterwards. Now he’s got to pull his finger our and ask her properly. She’ll definitely say yes.”

Shortly after they started dating, and just months after she ended her engagement to troubled Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty, it was reported Kate had popped the question to guitarist Jamie at a friend’s wedding.
Kate was also previously engaged to actor Johnny Depp.

Michael Jackson was in the process of designing a clothing collection with French fashion guru Christian Audigier before his untimely death last week.

Referring to the comeback shows Michael was due to perform in London this month, Christian explained to BANG Showbiz: “I was working on merchandising with him and launching a new line of clothes, which was actually Michael’s dream.”

“A month-and-a-half ago I had a dinner at his house and he was in perfect shape and was really happy and excited to be coming to London and what has happened since then has been very sad.”

The US-based designer - who launched his new range of champagne and fine wines in London last night and is known for his Von Dutch and Ed Hardy collections - added Michael was planning to bring some of his own
distinctive style to the range.

He explained: “It was based on various types of merchandising on different products, also accessories. What he wanted from me was the T-shirts and the hoodies and the caps. And it was very kind of royalist - kind of a mix of the real Michael Jackson and his alter-ego as the King of Pop.”

Super creepy Transformers star Shia LaBeouf has a huge crush on Megan Fox and is upset she only wants to be friends.

“I understand the introspection that way, we have been working with each other for years now” LsBeouf said. “She is a very attractive girl and I am a red blooded 23-year-old. I get it. It makes sense to me but it is just a
professional relationship regardless of what my wishes and hopes would be.”

Megan - who is believed to have rekindled her romance with Brian Austin Green - is a huge fan of Shia but only sees him as a brother.

She added to FOX News: “We have just a real good natural chemistry. I enjoy annoying the shit out of him, I enjoy his personality a lot. He is absurdly witty, I love him to death and we sort of have like a natural banter, brother-sister relationship that we both enjoy.”

The nutters are coming out of the woodwork. Nona Paris Lola Ankhesenamun Jackson filed a lawsuit this morning claiming to be Michael Jackson’s secret wife.

Nona claims that she has known Jackson since he was a teenager, that she is the mother of Jackson’s three children, and that she wrote over 3,000 songs for Michael.

Nona though has form: she’s twice been to court asking for joint custody of the children, and even once tried to claim Neverland for herself. Sadly she wasn’t laughed out of court then, but was told that she had to make a “better presentation of her evidence.” In 2008 she filed for a legal separation from Michael

My guess is that we’ll see a whole lot more bizarre claims like this one for possibly years to come.

Israeli super model Bar Refaeli may be use to wearing tiny bikinis, but a new video shows that she’s rather impartial to wearing nothing at all as well.

We have absolutely no idea what this video is for…as in zip, nadda, zilch, but it does feature Bar Refaeli naked rolling around on a couch. Maybe it’s an ad for a furniture company?

The video is marginally NSFW: there’s a lot of nudity, but no actual exposure as such:

The Sci-Fi channel is remaking 80s television series Alien Nation.

The original series (which was loosely based on the movie of the same name) aired on Fox for one season in 1988-89 before being cut due to funding issues. The series was popular though, and a number of made for television specials were produced during the 1990’s.

Fox 21 head Chris Carlisle (Fox is producing the show) told Variety that he believed Alien Nation could be the next big franchise revival for Sci Fi. “It’s absolute perfect timing for this type of show,” Carlisle said. “They’re looking for more grounded sci-fi and close-ended episodes, and at the heart of ‘Alien Nation,’ it’s a cop movie. It’s grounded. And it has a tremendous amount of dramatic possibilities and humor.”