U2: "Pride" and "MLK." Crushingly obvious. Have a dream.

THE JOY FORMIDABLE is advance streaming Wolf's Law.

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA is advance streaming II.

BLAUDZUN is advance streaming Heavy Flowers.

BUKE & GASE are advance streaming General Dome.

SHUGO TOKUMARU is streaming In Focus? (Thx, Chromewaves.)

DION: A vintage performance of "Abraham, Martin & John."

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS: John Darnielle talks to The Quietus about piano tuning, his pro-choice activism and the tensions between fiction and non-fiction in his work.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND: Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij talk to Rolling Stone about the long road to their third album.

MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER: Melody Prochet talks to TLOBF about her new perspective on music, and more.

THE FLAMING LIPS, ranked by Stereogum.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Mama tops your chart with 28,1 million against a 15 million budget for instaprofit.Zero Dark Thirty places with leggy Oscar buzz, with a 56 million total against a 40 million budget2; Jessica Chastain stars in your top two films this weekend. The platform expansion lifts Silver Linings Playbook to show with 11.4 million and a 55 million total against a 21 million budget.  Gangster Squad drops to the fourth slot with 9.1 million and a 32.2 million total against a 60 million budget.  The debut of Broken City rounds out the Top 5 with 9 million against a 35 million budget.  Below the fold, The Last Stand opened in tenth place with 6.3 million -- a measure of the cumulative damage to the Schwarzenegger brand. Ouch.

MANTI TE'O quietly began dating an actual living, breathing female human being ... shortly after he learned “Lennay Kekua” had died from cancer.

LINDSAY LOHAN doesn't care that the prosecutor in her car crash case is willing to let her skate without spending a day in jail ... because she won't plea bargain a case in which she says she's innocent.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Could Mel Gibson be the biological father of Jodie Foster's two sons?

EMMA STONE talks to W Magazine about Gangster Squad, the Oscars, and more...

KRISTEN STEWART & ROBERT PATTINSON top the Forbes list of Hollywood's Highest-Grossing Romantic Couples.  For now.

LEONARDO DiCAPRIO is planning to take a significant break from filming and concentrate on his environmental campaigning.

ALGERIA: The US and British defense ministers on Saturday vowed to hunt down al Qaeda-linked militants in north Africa following a deadly Algerian hostage crisis, but said they would not be sending in any ground troops.

MALI: ECOWAS appealed urgently to the UN for financial backing and logistical support in assembling the planned African-led intervention force in Mali; so far only 100 troops have arrived. French troops advanced north to Nionno and Sevare.

SYRIA: The opposition National Coalition discussed the idea of a government-in-exile in Turkey. Syria's foreign minister said any discussion of President Assad's future was "unacceptable." Government and rebel forces fought in eastern and southern Damascus.

IRAN: With time running out on efforts to monitor Iran's nuclear program, 2013 could well be the year when the United States must decide whether to take military action to block Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

EGYPT: Opposition groups called for anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations for Jan. 25. Protesters clashed with police outside a courthouse in Alexandria where policemen are being tried for allegedly killing protesters. Police seized a truck carrying a ton of explosives that was on its way to Sinai.

MARU the BOX CAT opts for a hoodie and the snow.

TINY THE CAT, formerly obese, lost half his body weight and found a new home.

PYTHON CHALLENGE UPDATE: 21 Burmese pythons whacked as of Thursday.

PLAYING WITH A GATOR: Bound to end well.