NEW RELEASES: Pitchfork will point you to Taylor Swift, The Avalanches, and more.

BILL'S INDIE BASEMENT has Guided by Voices, Osees, Brigid Dawso, and more.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN brought two of his new songs to SNL.

CHARLEY PRIDE, the first major Black star in country music, dies at 86 of covid-19.

SHARON VAN ETTEN: So, How Was Your 2020?

THE 50 BEST LPs of 2020, according to NME.

THE 50 BEST SONGS of 2020, according to Paste.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE?  No new releases this weekend, but Croods: New Age threepeats atop the chart with 3MM on a 32 percent drop; Half Brothers places with 490K on a 30 percent drop; and the re-reease of Elf showed with 390K.

JUDD APATOW thinks the HBOMax deal showed a stunning disrespect to creators.

THIS BLOCKBUSTER Is Coming to a Living Room Near You.

HOWARD STERN is a Scrooge, according to ex-staffers.

BEHIND THE MUSIC: The Muppet Christmas Carol.

THE 50 BEST TV THEMES, according to Paste.

TOM CRUISE'S Holiday Cake is a Hollywood status symbol.

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA talks to Vulture about Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone and much, much more.

JOHN le CARRE, whose exquisitely nuanced, intricately plotted Cold War thrillers elevated the spy novel to high art by presenting both Western and Soviet spies as morally compromised cogs in a rotten system full of treachery, betrayal and personal tragedy, died on Saturday in Cornwall, England. He was 89.

AS SKATEBOARDING DOGS GO, this one is pretty good.

HITLER'S PET ALLIGATOR will be stuffed for posterity and put on display at Moscow’s Darwin Zoo.

A DOGGO, taunted by a groundhog eating pizza.