THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

....wtih THE PRETENDERS! Circa 1981, via one of Pate's two fab drummers, Jon Hahn.  Your setlist includes "The Wait," "The Adultress," "Message of Love/Louie Louie," "Talk of the Town," "English Roses," "Birds of Paradise," "Kid," "Stop Your Sobbing," "Private Life," "Day After Day," "Jealous Dogs, " Up the Neck," "Tattooed Love Boys," "Bad Boys Get Spanked," "Precious," and "Brass In Pocket/MysteryAchievement."

PANDA BEAR Meets the Grim Reaper got a listening party on KCRW.

MARSHALL CRENSHAW, an early Pate influence, has a new radio show, The Bottomless Pit, where he spins tunes at least 40 years old. The latest, all-45 rpm show has plenty of old skool country music, pays tribute to Joe Cocker and kicks off with The Who's "Dogs."

THE REVIVALISTS dropped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

BANDIT advance streams Of Life.

JENS LEKMAN drops his weekly "Postcard No.3."

NUDE BEACH drops "Been Waitin'" as a single. And I think The Replacements might dig it.

BELLE & SEBASTIAN's Stuart Murdoch discusses the soundtrack of his life at Pitchfork. A good list, but it coulda used a little more cowbell.

SASHA FRERE-JONES picks his favorite columns forom his just-ending stint at The New Yorker.

PINK FLOYD, ranked by Stereogum.

THE 61 GREATEST FILM SOUNDTRACKS, according to NME, in time for the Oscars noms.

THE BLACK CROWES are dunzo, according to guitarist Rich Robinson.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include American Sniper, which is currently scoring 74 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Paddington, which is scoring 97 percent; The Wedding Ringer, scoring 17 percent; and Blackhat, scoring 32 percent.  Foxcatcher expands to 759 screens scoring 87 percent.

THE ACADEMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS went to these folks. Notable snubs include Gone Girl (Best Picture, Director), Selma (Director), and The LEGO movie (Best Animated Feature). At least "Everything Is Awesome" for Tegan & Sara.

DICK POPE: The cinematographer gets his 15 minutes of fame, which he likely hopes stretch to Oscars night.

JAKE GYLLENHAAL may replace TOM HARDY in DC's Suicide Squad.

NIKKI REED and IAN SOMERHOLDER are engaged after six months of dating.

MARIAH CAREY signed a residency deal with Caesars Palace.

JOHN TRAVOLTA, working out at 3 a.m., without a toupee.

BELGIUM: Two suspects died in a gunfight as authorities searched locations they believe are tied to a terror plot, an official said.

FRANCE: 19000 French civilian websites are under attack by hackers, according to France's head of cyberdefense. Spanish authorities said Thursday that the French gunman killed last week while holding hostages in Paris drove his common-law wife from France to Madrid on Dec. 31 and was with her until she took a Jan. 2 flight to Istanbul. The Malian who helped hostages at a Jewish supermarket to hide during last week's terror attacks in Paris is to be made a citizen of France.

THE ISLAMIC STATE is losing its grip on the Syrian border town of Kobani under intense U.S.-led airstrikes and astonishingly stiff resistance by Kurdish fighters.  But more generally, ISIS continues to gain substantial ground in Syria, despite nearly 800 airstrikes in the American-led campaign to break its grip there.  Security forces in Morocco recently mounted a campaign of arrests in several cities, targeting suspects who declared their loyalty to the Islamic State.

THE BOUNCING LAMB has grown, but is still bouncing.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT strikes again, this time in Forest Park, OH.

TOYSTORY the BULL—a titan of artificial insemination who sired an estimated 500K offspring in more than 50 countries--was recently laid to rest.

ARE YOU SMARTER Than A Rat?