MORRISSEY is throwing his arms around Paris in his latest video.

M WARD: His upcoming Hold Time album is advance streaming at NPR. 

THE HYPE MACHINE has posted its Blog Zeitgeist 2008, surveying the buzziest artists, albums and songs of the past year, most all of it streamable, including full albums.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKER Patterson Hood shares his first album purchase(s) with JamBase.

THE RAVEONETTES: Sune Rose Wagner did an e-interveiw with the Bay Bridged to discuss the duo's recent series of digital EPs, a love of Christmas music, and what they're currently working on. (Thx, LHB.)

FRANZ FERDINAND relesed a clip for "Ulysses" and a PR video for their upcoming album.

THE WRENS have released a new song and claim (again) they have a new album in the works.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT is profiled in the Boston Globe.

ADELE talks to Rolling Stone about working with The Raconteurs on a cover of Brandan Benson's "Many Shades of Black," as the B-Side to the band's own version.

THE FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS talk to The A.V. Club about Season Two of their show, touring, etc.

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD: I really wanted to like this, as the novel was a likely influence on Mad Men.  But it turns out that the AMC drama series, while set a few years later, explores these themes with a lot more nuance than this screenplay.  Director Sam Mendes seems to enjoy slamming the suburbs (as he did in American Beauty), but the Wheelers would have had marital troubles living in Manhattan, or Paris, or anywhere else on the globe. Kate Winslet makes the material better than it is; Leo DiCaprio is good, but doesn't rise to the level that he achieves under Scorsese in The Departed or even The Aviator.  The production design, costuming and cinematography are wonderful.  It wasn't a bad movie, but it was a disappointment.

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT has obtained a restraining order against a 62-year-old-stalker.

HOWIE MANDEL was hospitalized Monday with an irregular heartbeat, but his condition was not believed to be serious.

JENNIFER GARNER & BEN AFFLECK named their second daughter Seraphina. Her sister Violet is happy to be born first.

EDDY CURRY: The NY Knicks center  was slapped with a shocking sex-harassment suit Monday by his former driver.

KELLY RUTHERFORD of Gossip Girl is seeking to bar her estranged husband from leaving the US with their 2-year-old son for fear they'll disappear.

BRITNEY SPEARS is looking for a Harvard grad to manage her Facebook..

WATCHMEN: Warner Bros. and Fox are "close" to reaching a settlement regarding the "Watchmen" lawsuit, according to those familiar with the negotiations.

JOHN CARTER OF MARS: It now appears that Pixar is making a live-action epic for Disney.

MICHAEL BAY & McG: Two bigtime action directors who need to face off with Rock-Em Sock-Em robots.

ROMAN POLANSKI: The woman who was raped by fugitive director Roman Polanski three decades ago when she was 13 has lashed out at the L.A. County D.A.s office, saying she is being victimized again by prosecutors' focus on lurid details of what happened to her.  She believes they are trying to distract from their office's own wrongdoing 31 years ago, brought to light in the documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," which prompted the director's lawyer to file a motion for dismissal.  Or it could be that the L.A. D.A. is rebutting the wildly biased documentary and press coverage favoring Polanski.

AFGHANISTAN: The Obama Administration intends to send up to 30K more US troops, but does not think it will significantly change the direction of the conflict.  It's a plan to have a plan.

CAT & RATS, living together... mass hyteria...

DOG & HEN, raising puppies together... Pic at the link.

RARE TREE KANGAROO births two joeys in Nebraska.

2300 ENDANGERED LIZARDS rescued from the cooking pot in Malaysia.

CUTE SPIDER with a punky hairdo.