THE RAMONES: "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)."

THOM YORKE stops by Morning Becomes Eclectic.

WU-TANG CLAN plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

ANNA ST LOUIS plays the World Cafe.

THE STAVES share "Home Alone, Too."

GUIDED BY VOICES shares “My Future In Barcelona.”

PEDRO THE LION shares "Model Homes."

YO LA TENGO reunited THE STRANGELOVES (after 53 years!) for “Cara-Lin” and “I Want Candy” during their Hanukkah run in Bklyn.

THIS MORTAL COIL gets a retrospective at The Quietus.

MIKE COOLEY talks about touring solo and future material from the Drive-By Truckers.

THE 50 BEST LPs of 2018, according to Stereogum. BONUS:Their Best EPs of 2018.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at the 5th Dimension's theatrically desperate "Wedding Bell Blues."

JAKE GYLLENHAAL confirms his role as Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

EMMA STONE will play infamous 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella De Vil in what is being billed as an origin story, set in the early 1980s with a punk vibe.

MEGHAN MARKLE and PRIYANKA CHOPRA were both subjects of some fantastically lame "journalism."

NATALIE PORTMAN and JESSICA SIMPSON wound up beefing over bikini pics from 1999.

THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA: A MIDWINTER'S TALE is a one-shot special with a trailer online.

KEVIN SMITH had kind words for Star Wars: Episode IX.

JOHN WATERS discusses his fave films of 2018.

THE END OF ENDINGS: How endless franchises, boundless revivals, and the infinite scroll of social media rob us of closure.

BASSET HOUND PUPS pose for a group portrait.

AN OWL killed 70 lemmings and made a nest out of them. Savage.

THIS ROTTWEILER is not a fan of vegetables.

THE OCEANS' TWILIGHT ZONE: An enormous mass of living sea creatures.

GLAM CHOPS: Art Brut's Eddie Argos has a "Countdown to Christmas."

DIRTY PROJECTORS plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

HALEY BONAR plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

JD McPHERSON stopped by The Current with a holiday-themed mini-set.

ROBYN covers Wham!'s "Last Christmas" at the BBC.

SMASHING PUMPKINS backing HANSON on FLEETWOOD MAC's "Landslide" is pretty 2018.

THE 50 BEST LPs of 2018, according to NPR.

THE HOUSEMARTINS: How we made “Happy Hour.”

DEAN WAREHAM shares a few of his favorite things for 2018.

THE NUMBER ONES looks back on Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds," one last glorious burst of brilliance before the legendary singer's decline.

LES MOONVES, facing multiple sexual misconduct allegations and fearing his career as the chief executive of CBS was over, destroyed evidence and misled investigators in an attempt to preserve his reputation and save a lucrative severance deal, according to a draft of a report prepared for the company’s board.

GWYNETH PALTROW talks to WSJ Magazine about the Goop empire.

DIE HARD is not a Christmas movie, according to a Morning Consult poll I deem fake news.

BRADGELINA reached a final agreement over the custody of their six children.

AFI announces its Movies and TV Programs of the Year.

KEVIN HART is hosting the Oscars.  It's a gig that almost no one should want. 

WATERSHIP DOWN has a trailer online.

TOM CRUISE has tips for watching Mission: Impossible - Fallout on HDTV.

A DOGNAPPING, attempted by another dog.

BEAVERS shopped a Massachusetts gas station, but apparently didn't find what they were looking for.

HOW PABLO ESCOBAR created a hippo problem in Colombia.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Two feet tall.

GLAM XMAS:  Wizzard's awesome "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" and Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody" (1973's UK Xmas No. 1) are your Twofer Tuesday.

WAVVES stream an Emo Christmas EP.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: The Year In Music 2018.

GRAHAM NASH joined YO LA TENGO on The Hollies' "Bus Stop" and "Look Through Any Window" to kick off YLT's Hanukkah stand in Bklyn.

GUIDED BY VOICES shares "My Angel."

THE SPECIALS share “Vote For Me” from their first new album in 37 years.

CAT POWER covers the Burt Bacharach/Hal David classic "What The World Needs Now."

FOXWARREN shares a video for "To Be."

QUEEN gets over three hours of analysis and debate in the latest Political Beats podcast, with guest law prof Adam J. White.

HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH have announced their first tour in more than a decade.

THE TOP 10 BEASTIE BOYS SONGS, according to NME.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at the Temptations' great psychedelic soul banger "I Can't Get Next To You."

CAPTAIN MARVEL drops a second trailer.

THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA, Part 2 already has a teaser trailer online.

KATE MIDDLETON & MEGHAN MARKLE will Christmas together, because the press claims they're not best buds.

LINDSAY LOHAN: Inside her enduring cult of celebrity.

JENNIFER ANISTON did not have the best relationship with her Mom.

FRIENDS won't leave Netflix until 2020, as an anxious nation sighs in relief.

WORKING GIRL turns 30: An Oral History.

THE KITTIES want in on the birthday cake.

THE MANDARIN DUCK and other duck leaders of the Central Park Pond convene to discuss issues of concern to the community.

WHEN YOUR BEST FRIEND is a raccoon.

A PUPPER spots her soldier as she comes home.

HIPPO CAMPUS plays The Palace.

THE WATSON TWINS stop by WFUV's Studio A.

LORI McKENNA, the first woman to win Songwriter of the Year by the Academy of Country Music in 2017, visits World Cafe.

THE DECEMBERISTS share "Traveling On."

MUSE covers Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf."

ANNIE LENNOX shares "Requiem for a Private War."

BOYGENIUS covers The Killers' "Read My Mind."

DAVID BYRNE reflects on True Stories, his tabloid-inspired vision of Eighties America.

RHETT MILLER talks suicide prevention, sobriety, and living on through art.

VAN MORRISON: Astral Weeks Is 50, but It Never Ages.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at the Archies' precision-engineered cartoon-bubblegum smash "Sugar, Sugar."

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: In a traditionally slow box office period (two weekends this year, due to where Thanksgiving fell), Ralph Breaks The Internet repeats atop the chart with 25.8MM on a 54 percent drop; it's performing about like Moana, and Disney will be fine with 200MM domestic. The Grinch places with 17.MM on a 42 percent drop as it becomes the 10th movie this year to break 200MM domestic (on a much smaller budget than Ralph).  Creed II shows with16.8MM on a 53 percent drop, pacing well ahead of the "original" reboot of the Rocky franchise. In the fourth slot, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald skids 62 percent to gross 11.2MM; it's almost 50MM behind the last one at this point, but is over 500MM worldwide, so there will be more of this. Bohemian Rhapsody rounds out the Top Five with another 9.1MM; it's also over 500MM worldwide. Below the fold, the weekend's sole new wide release, The Possession of Hannah Grace, debuted with 6.5MM, which probably isn't bad against a 9.5MM budget.

NEIL deGRASSE TYSON Denies Misconduct Accusations.

RICKY JAY, remembered by his pal David Mamet.

STAR WARS KIDS unveils short films in a Galaxy of Adventures.

BLADE RUNNER is headed to small screens as an anime series.

PAUL SCHRADER explains why cinema today isn't the same as the 70s; it's our fault.

KEN BERRY, the boyish television actor who played nice guys with affable attitudes and a wide range of I.Q.s on three popular sitcoms between 1965 and 1990, died on Saturday in Burbank, Calif. He was 85.

THE MANDARIN DUCK gets profiled by the Los Angeles Times.

THE BEAGLE BRIGADE are important guards as the American hog industry battles to keep out deadly African swine fever.

A RAT broke into an ATM, ate almost 20K and died.

CHIMPS retired from government health testing are getting a new life.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with THE ANIMALS! I may have been quite remiss in not featuring them so let's dive in with their signature cover of "House of the Rising Sun" and "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" from Top Gear, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" from Shindig, a creepy clip for  "It's My Life" from Hullabaloo, and "Don't Bring Me Down" on the Ed Sullivan Show.

DIRTY PROJECTORS, Live at Elsewhere, Nov. 18, 2018.

BOYGENIUS visits The Current for a chat and mini-set.

PHOSPHORESCENT visits Morning Becomes Eclectic.

ARCTIC FLOWERS stream Straight to the Hunter.

THE MEMBERS: "Working Girl," from the "Where Are They Now?" file.

ST NICK: The Long, Strange and Wonderful Career of Nick Lowe.

HOW INDIE LABELS reinvented British music: "It was like working in a mill, but with drugs."

30 ESSENTIAL NOISE ROCK TRACKS, according to Stereogum, leaving out the noise pop.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at the Rolling Stones' debauched strut "Honky Tonk Women."

NOW SHOWING: The Possession of Hannah Grace is this weekend's sole wide release, and it was not screened for critics.

ROMA cleaned up at the New York Film Critics Circle awards.

MEGHAN MARKLE & KATE MIDDLETON are not the best of friends. Gasp!

QUENTIN TARANTINO married his fiancée Daniella Pick.There was no bloodbath.

DRACULA: The Sherlock team cast a relatively unknown Dane in the role.

DAREDEVIL has been canceled by Netflix after three seasons.(of course, Disney is launching a competing streaming service, too.)

BLUE BEETLE may be headed for the big screen.

NOT SURE IF THIS IS A LEMUR, but it's a leaper.

THE PUP is a faker.

THIS DOG has a stuffed bear that he always hangs out with and he sat in front of the dryer the whole cycle just to make sure he would be okay.

SANTA is coming.