Nothing about Michael Jackson's death has been simple, including his funeral. There was going to be an extravaganza of a memorial service on Friday at the late singer's Neverland ranch in California, complete with a white horse-drawn carriage. Thousands and thousands of people were going to attend.

But the public funeral has been canceled, also forcing the cancelation of a Friday afternoon remembrance service at Raleigh's Walnut Creek. The Martin Luther King All-Children's Choir was to perform, along with a live feed of events in California on the venue's big screens.

"Our objective was to get a live feed of the funeral, but that's not gonna happen," said Raleigh organizer Bruce Lightner. "That was important, to connect with other cities across the country. So it did not make sense to move forward."

From the mailbox:

"I am 64 years old and have been a movie buff since I was about five when my father used to take me to the movies every Friday night.  We did that almost every Friday night until I graduated from high school.

It's a sad state of affairs when the #1 movie - for two weeks in a row - is 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua.'

I bet Orson Wells, John Ford, and Billy Wilder are turning over in their respective graves right now!"

— David