Great man, brilliant musician, bizarre icon, lover of children -- whatever you think of him, he has passed on to next plane of life. And much like they would for the death of the pope, throngs of the faithful and members of the news media from the world over will descend upon the Staples Center in L.A. for the Michael Jackson Memorial today, and it shall be relentlessly covered, on every channel, and in every newspaper, until all concerned have run out of breath, and ink. Below, our aggregate of updates.

• Our bros at LAist, note that MJ's casket will actually be on display at The Staples Center and that the LAPD have deployed so many officers to the area that the 1984 Olympics "pale in comparison." Also, they covered the gathering, and the merchandising, outside the Staples Center late last night.
• The Chron's got a live Twitter feed and a live video feed of the proceedings.
• The AP talks to fans worldwide, and did this interactive retrospective.
• The NY Times reports on the hot, illegal online market for tickets, and on the lineup of performers which includes Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey and Usher.
• CNN is liveblogging.
• Everything starts at 10 a.m., and the elephants have already rolled in. As Defamer puts it, "See you in hell."