Public ‘Crocodile Hunter’ memorial tickets go quickly

Brisbane, Australia – Some 3,000 grieving fans, hundreds of whom camped on the street overnight, were rewarded with tickets to next week’s public memorial service for “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin.

The free tickets were distributed Friday at three locations across Irwin’s home state of Queensland, and were snapped up within about 15 minutes.

Melissa Power, a 34-year-old beautician, was at the front of the line in the state capital, Brisbane, and had tears in her eyes when she finally got her ticket.

“It’s unbelievable,” she said. “I haven’t slept and am so overemotional – I’m looking so forward to it.”

Thousands lined up for tickets outside Irwin’s Australia Zoo. Some burst into tears after the tickets ran out.

The public service for Irwin will be Wednesday at the “Crocoseum” amphitheater on the grounds of the Australia Zoo, and will be a “celebration of his life, not a sad funeral,” his father, Bob, said last week.

Irwin was killed Sept. 4 when he was pierced in the chest by a stingray’s barb while filming a new TV show off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Elton John, George Michael publicly call a truce

London – Elton John appears to have ended his public feud with George Michael, saying, “George and I are fine.”

Two years ago, John said the former Wham! star was miserable and needed to get out more. Michael responded with a furious open letter saying John was no friend of his.

In an interview Friday on ITV, John said with a laugh: “George and I are fine. He came and stayed down (at) my house last year.”

“It’s up to him what he does with his life, and I don’t really want to get into that anymore,” the 59-year-old rock legend said.

John provoked the pair’s fallout when he said of Michael: “He’s quite happy just being at home all the time, and I think that’s a waste of talent. There seems to be a deep-rooted unhappiness in his life and it shows on his latest album.”

The rocker hit back by saying: “Elton John knows nothing about George Michael. We have spoken rarely in the last 10 years, and what would probably surprise most people is that we have never discussed my private life. Ever.”

Jackson to shoot some ‘Lovely Bones’ scenes in U.S.

Wellington, New Zealand – Peter Jackson re-created 1930s downtown New York on a back lot in New Zealand, but says northeast Pennsylvania is too distinctive to replicate for his new movie, “The Lovely Bones.”

Jackson told the film Web site aintitcool.com that a visit to Norristown, near Philadelphia, where the book “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold is set, made him feel “very strongly” that some of the movie should be shot on location there.

“It’s a very distinctive area,” the 44-year-old filmmaker said.

“The Lovely Bones” is a story narrated by a 14-year-old girl who speaks from heaven about her rape and murder.