Administrators of Michael Jackson’s estate on Wednesday dismissed questions about whether his legal will is valid, after the celebrity news website TMZ reported that his brother Randy Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, a Jackson family confidant, raised questions about whether the pop star was in Los Angeles to sign the will on the date stated in the document.

Howard Weitzman, an attorney for administrators of the Jackson estate John Branca and John McClain, said in a statement, “Despite any claims to the contrary, we are confident Michael Jackson’s will is valid, that he signed it and that it reflects his wishes. All three witnesses listed on the will recall being present when Michael signed it.”

The will is important, because it names Branca and McClain as administrators of Jackson’s estate, and a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has relied on the will since Jackson’s June 25 death to put the Branca, an attorney, and McClain, a music executive, in charge of the estate.

The will, which is available to view here, bears Michael Jackson’s signature dated July 7, 2002. Another page of the will bears the words, “We declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on July 7th, 2002 at 5:00 pm, Los Angeles.” But TMZ has posted photos that show Michael Jackson was in New York the day before on July 6, 2002, where he publicly protested against Tommy Mottola, the former head of Sony Music Entertainment, in a dispute over how he was being treated as an artist.

TMZ has other photos of Jackson in New York on July 8, 2002. In several of the pictures, Jackson is appearing with the Rev. Al Sharpton. So far, no photos have surfaced of Jackson in New York on July 7, 2002, the date in question when he is believed to have signed the will.

Sharpton has weighed in on the question, in a statement through his spokeswoman Rachel Noerdlinger.

“We have reason to believe that Michael may have been in NY on the 7th and Rev. Sharpton will address this after he discusses it with the Jackson family,” Noerdlinger said in the statement. “Michael Jackson was with us in New York City on July 6th at our Harlem Headquarters and again for a summit with Rev. Sharpton, attorney Johnnie Cochran and others around the issue of artist rights a few days later on July 9th.”

There has been already been plenty of friction between the administrators and Jackson’s family over control of the estate, and the questions that Randy Jackson and Sharpton are raising appear to be the latest instance of that. Did Jackson simply hop on a plane from New York to sign the will in Los Angeles on July 7, 2002? It’s possible. But it’s also possible that the question will continue to be a point of contention in the coming days.

Kanye West is alive and well, despite an Internet hoax suggesting that the rap star died in a Los Angeles car crash on Tuesday.

A fake story was circulated via e-mail and on social networking websites saying that West was killed in a collision that left a second person injured, a third arrested for  manslaughter and a fourth person detained by police.

None of it was true. The rap star’s girlfriend, Amber Rose, posted a message on Twitter denying the story. “This ‘RIP Kanye West’ topic is not funny and it’s NOT TRUE!” she wrote, according to news website MTV.com. Her Twitter post has since been taken down.

By Wednesday afternoon, the Kanye death hoax was replaced on Twitter by the following popular wisecrack, repeated by several posters, “Whoever started the RIP Kanye West hoax, Imma let you finish, but Balloon Boy had the best hoax of all time!”

West, of course, interrupted singer Taylor Swift’s victory speech last month the MTV Video Music Awards with the words, “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time.”

West, who pulled out this month of a planned tour with singer Lady Gaga, isn’t the first celebrity to be the subject of a fake death report. But could it be the MTV incident that led the hoaxers to choose West as their target this time? If not,  why have the mystery hoaxers got it in for Kanye?

Robbie Williams did himself few favours when he sang his new single on the X Factor TV show, with the former Take That star clearly nervous, some would say positively wired.

But the 35-year-old put that setback behind him on Tuesday night with his first full concert in three years at the Roundhouse in London which scored well with the critics. Both the Guardian and Telegraph broadsheets gave Williams four stars out of five, quite an achievement for someone who says he suffers from stage fright.

The best-selling Sun tabloid agreed, saying: “Robbie Williams overcame his nerves to nail the brilliant show he needed last night - his first gig for three years. After looking shaky on X Factor just over a week ago, the pressure was on to prove he’s still got it. I’m relieved to say he certainly has, and maybe a bit more besides.”

There appears to be one factor and one factor only in dictating chart success in Britain at the moment, and that factor is X.

Alexandra Burke, last year’s winner of the talent TV contest, performed her new song “Bad Boys” recently on the popular show and stormed to the top of the UK charts with the fastest-selling single so far this year. The 185,000 copies sold was more than twice the total shifted by Robbie Williams, who is making his long-awaited comeback.

Williams also showcased his new song “Bodies” on the X Factor, but the magic failed to rub off after a disjointed performance during which the former Take That singer appeared nervous. Still, one of British pop’s biggest names clearly felt the need to appear on the programme in order to reach an audience that can peak at nearly 15 million viewers.

And now there is Cheryl Cole, a judge on the contest and member of girl band “Girls Aloud” who is launching her solo career. Needless to say, she was invited to perform her new single “Fight For This Love” on the show, and, despite a performance many viewers would describe as mediocre at best and possibly something much worse, looks set to top the charts when they are announced on Sunday.

The Official Charts Company, which compiles the weekly music ratings, says the singer is on course for a tally close or even higher than Burke’s.

A Los Angeles woman kept it a secret from her husband for more than four months that she is smarter than a 5th grader, and more than that, she won $250,000 on a game show by proving how smart she is.

Elizabeth Deister taped an appearance earlier this year on “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” and she planned to watch it at home with her husband on Monday, when it aired on television. But those plans were interrupted and the Deisters were not going to get a chance to watch the broadcast, because it will be preempted by a telecast of the Los Angeles Dodgers versus Philadephia Phillies baseball playoff game.

So Deister did what any sensible woman would do. She invited a TV news crew into her house on Monday, and had them show her husband’s reaction live on the Fox “Good Day L.A.” morning newscast, as the couple watched a DVD copy of her appearance on the game show. Sure enough, he hollered when he saw her win. Watch a video of that moment from “Good Day L.A.” here.

“I thought it would be so much more exciting to have him watch it than to tell him,” Deister told the TV news reporter.

To win $250,000, Deister answered 10 questions in a row, and got the bonus question, “In 1804, an army composed mainly of former slaves defeated their colonial masters to form what modern Caribbean country?” The answer: Haiti.

Well, she did much better than this former contestant on the show who when asked by host Jeff Foxworthy which European country has its capital in Budapest said, “This may be a stupid question, but I thought Europe was a country.”

With episodes like that, it might not be long before the following show comes to a TV network across the pond, “Are You Smarter than an American?”

Now that authorities say last week’s balloon boy incident was just a hoax, the public is getting re-acquainted with the underside of reality television. Richard and Mayumi Heene, parents of the 6 year-old boy thought to be trapped in a balloon before he was found in an attic, are expected to be charged this week with making up the whole scenario.

If what authorities are saying about the Heenes is true, they may have been hungering for fame, and saw the hoax as a great way to get a reality TV show. As everyone knows by know, the Heenes already starred in a past episode of the reality show “Wife Swap.”

Reality TV is littered with personalities who have cashed in on whatever public prominence they have gained to try and become a media star.

The latest is disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is making a bid to star on Donald Trump’s reality show “Celebrity Apprentice.” Following his arrest last year on corruption charges, the much mocked Blagojevich became a reviled. But lack of popularity has never been much of a liability in the reality TV world, which relies heavily on villain-type personalities such as married provocateurs Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt.

Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, already had a role this year on the reality show “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” on NBC. At least the Blagojeviches keep it all in the family.

And then there are the parents who make their children the focus of a reality show, such as Jon and Kate Gosselin (”Jon & Kate Plus Eight”) and Nadya “Octomom” Suleman (”Octomom: The Incredible Unseen Footage”).

Rod Blagojevich and shows like “Jon & Kate Plus Eight” have parallels to the possible “Balloon Boy” hoax. Just as Jon and Kate Gosselin put their children in the spotlight, the Heenes did the same with their 6 year-old son Falcon Heene. And just as the “Jon & Kate” show rolled on even after the couple announced in June that they were divorcing, the Heenes may try to capitalize on their newfound fame, even as they deal with their own nightmare — namely criminal charges.

After all, being charged with a crime does not bar you from becoming a reality TV star. The governor’s wife appeared as a replacement for him on “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!,” when a judge barred him from leaving the country to star in the show, because of the corruption charges he faces. But there do not appear to be many legal impediments to Rod Blagojevich starring in “Celebrity Apprentice,” because he would not have to leave the country for the show.

Similarly, could we expect to see the Heenes pop up in another reality show, even as they face criminal charges for allegedly orchestrating a hoax that got the fame in the first place? When did reality TV get so weird?

Director Spike Jonze’s movie adaptation “Where the Wild Things Are” proved naysayers wrong this past weekend with a strong opening at U.S. box offices, making $32.5 million. The film brought Jonze’s hipster ethic to a popular 1963 children’s book, and managed to attract both adults and kids.

Of course, other movies have done that before, including this year’s Disney/Pixar film “Up.” But the doubters were particularly vocal about “Where the Wild Things Are” because early in the production process there were questions about whether the film was too scary for young kids and not scary enough for adults. You can read about some of it here, but none of those past concerns seemed to matter over the weekend.

Other movies that opened this past weekend included the thriller “Law Abiding Citizen,” about an average guy who takes the law into his own hands. The horror movie “Paranormal Activity,” which cost $15,000 to make and has been widened out each week to more theaters, also did well, and has made $33.7 million since it opened in limited release on Sept. 25.

We talked to movie fans this weekend to get their opinions on the latest releases. You can see the video by clicking below.

(video by Marc Price)

Two movies — one complete and one in the works — have underlined how technology is changing the way films are made.

Wes Anderson partly directed his animated “Fantastic Mr. Fox” using a computer, streaming images from multiple animation sets live on to a screen in front of him, allowing him to guide animators from another room, town, or, more often, country. That guidance often came in the form of emails, something which did not endear the film maker to some of the animators, according to a recent piece in the L.A. Times. George Clooney provided the voice of Mr. Fox, and London’s Three Mills Studios carried out the paintstaking, old-fashioned stop-motion animation.

Meanwhile, Peter Jackson used iChat to co-direct the upcoming, big-budget feature “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn”. Actor Nick Frost, who plays Thomson in the film, said Jackson would be linked up live to the U.S. set from New Zealand, from where he would add to Steven Spielberg’s pearls of wisdom on set. “It was weird”, was his description of the experience. The blockbuster will feature motion capture technology, producing the kind of effect seen in “The Polar Express”.

According to Hollywood trade publications, while Spielberg was on set for just over 30 days, Jackson will have spent the best part of 18 months converting the data into an animation movie by the time it hits theatres some time in 2011. The balance has led some to question whether Jackson should be given the directorial credit rather than Spielberg. It also raises the possibility of more and more movie makers spending less and less time on set, particularly where animation is concerned.

“The Simpsons” is holding a contest to see who can create a new character for the Fox cartoon.

Producers announced the contest this week, under the handy slogan “Unleash Your Yellow,” in reference to the odd skin color most of the characters on the show have. Here is the link to the website where members of the public can enter.

In their description of the contest, the show’s creative team wrote jokingly that after 20 years of working on “The Simpsons” they were “tired and frankly too rich to care anymore,” and that they needed some inspiration from the public.

Those entering the contest simply need to come up with a name for the character, a catchphrase and a brief description. The winner will get the chance to travel to Los Angeles and work with the creative team behind the show for an episode scheduled for Jan. 31, 2010.

“The Simpsons,” starring Simpson family members Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, has become the longest running show on television, by entering its 21st season this fall and eclipsing the western drama “Gunsmoke,” which ran from 1955 to 1975.

Earlier this month, the show’s creative team landed matriarch Marge Simpson in the pages of Playboy magazine.

But some media commentators have accused the show of getting flat.  Maybe this contest can add some fizz.