THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with the HOODOO GURUS: Check out the Hoodoo hairdos o­n their US debut single, "I Want You Back," then watch them rock the joint in Ann Arbor, MI with a live take o­n "Middle of the Land." BONUS: "Come Anytime," yet another gem from David Faulkner's hit factory.

LUST FOR LAUGHS: Many rock bands have unintentionally funny riders to their concert contracts, but Iggy Pop's rider -- apparently written by roadie Jos Grain -- is intentionally hilarious. For example, two heavy duty fans are required, "So that I can wear a scarf and pretend to be in a Bon Jovi video." A Bob Hope impersonator is demanded, and more. It should put you in the mood to hear "Lust For Life."

LIFTER PULLER, Craig Finn's predecessor to The Hold Steady, is Tom Moon's latest "Shadow Classic" o­n NPR, with three streaming tracks. The new Hold Steady album is still streaming at Vagrant.

MARTIN SCORSESE is working o­n a documentary starring The Rolling Stones. Granted, Scorsese did The Last Waltz, but for the Stones, wouldn't you have George Romero?

THE PIPETTES talk to London's Guardian about their love of classic pop and quitting their day jobs to reinvent the girl-group sound full time. Which is a good excuse to link to their early, primitive video for "Dirty Mind," a song which turned up o­n Grey's Anatomy last night.

FLAMING LIPS frontman Wayne Coyne sings a karaoke duet with Rufus o­n Pancake Mountain, a hip kids' show o­n public access TV in DC. I won't spoil which song they sing, but I will say I like it when Wayne holds the mic in front of Rufus.

MORE KIDS' STUFF: Colours are Brighter is a thirteen track compilation of children's songs recorded by the likes of Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand, Four Tet -- all of which are streaming from MySpace, with a Jonathan Richman track playing at the official website. It will be released o­n Rough Trade Records o­n the 16th, with all proceeds going to Save The Children.

NOT KIDS' STUFF: Plague Songs is a compilation from 4AD where each song is based o­n o­ne of the Biblical plagues. The site is streaming a new song every few days.

THE DECEMBERISTS get a rave review from NPR for The Crane Wife, with a link to a streaming gig from 2005 to boot. You can still stream the album from MTVu, too.

THE CUTOUT BIN: Friday's fortuitous finds from the Hype Machine include: 13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me (Was it the music?); The Stooges - 1969; Green Day - My Generation; The Who - Pictures Of Lily; The Jam - Beat Surrender; The Rezillos - Glad All Over; The Beatles - Rain; Giant Drag - Wicked Game; Neil Diamond - Solitary Man; Lovin' Spoonful - Nashville Cats; My Morning Jacket - Hot Burrito #1; Calexico - Alone Again Or; The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend; and Big Star - Thirteen.

KATE MOSS UPDATE: Jane Shepherdson, the brand director o­nce named as the most important woman in British fashion, dramatically quit Topshop amid reports of a row over the hiring of "Cocaine Kate" as a designer.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH: People magazine shows off its pics of the model's faux wedding. Meanwhile, ET reports o­n court allegations that Anna Nicole was hospitalized in the Bahamas to detox from an addiction to methadone -- the same drug that was found in her son's system when he unexpectedly died Sept. 10th.

NOW SHOWING: This week's new releases are led by Martin Scorsese's The Departed, starring Jack Nicholson, Leo DiCaprio and Matt Damon -- currently scoring 95 percent o­n the Tomatometer. Maybe Marty will get his Oscar this time around. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is currently scoring 22 percent, though it's probably critic-proof for teenagers' date night. The Dane Cook-Jessica Simpson comedy Employee of the Month is currently scoring 29 percent -- whether that's critic-proof remains to be seen, though it got its two best reviews from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter -- which are (aside from Roger Ebert) the main reviews Hollywood reads.

GEORGE LUCAS, who virtually invented the franchise-tentpole film, says many small films and Web distribution are the future: "I think the secret to the future is quantity." So you know Lucasfilm's upcoming animated TV series Clone Wars is going to be all about quality.

KIM BASINGER pled not guilty Thursday to 14 contempt of court charges filed against her in Los Angeles Superior Court in connection with her bitter child custody dispute with Alec Baldwin.

PRINCE offered scantily-clad club dancers double their wages to stop gyrating o­n stage, asking the ladies, "What would your parents think if they could see you now?"

SHARON STONE was caught canoodling Jared Leto, who is a bit younger than she. Just so long as he keeps an eye peeled for the icepick...

BRADGELINA: Not o­nly does Pitt want Jolie pregnant again soon, he wants enough kids for a soccer team, though he seems to get that this means more adoptions.

SIENNA MILLER and JUDE LAW seem to be enjoying themselves -- at least he seems quite plastered in the pics at the link.

THE FRENCH HOTEL, who has been caught canoodling with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, took a roundhouse right to the jaw during a nightclub brawl with his ex-wife, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler. And Moakler o­nce dated Oscar de la Hoya, so we can hope she really landed it.

WE NEED A MONTAGE: Anyone who has seen Team America: World Police knows this, so Cracked has compiled The '80s Movie Montage Hall of Fame.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION is the next mockumentary from Christopher Guest and the ensemble that gave you movies like This Is Spinal Tap and Best In Show. You can watch the trailer in many formats at ComingSoon.

TELEPORTATION: Physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter, bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality. And brought even closer plenty of jokes about Star Trek and The Fly.

INACTIVISM: Penn students marched toward College Green, where they chanted phrases like "No more protests!" and "Down with activism!" College senior Livia Levine held a small piece of paper with the words "I will not make a sign."

IRAQ: At ITM, Mohammed looks at the current situation and lists the sins of the Iraqis and the sin of America, which might surprise you. The New York Times reports that hte Army and Marines are finishing work o­n a new counterinsurgency doctrine that draws o­n the hard-learned lessons from Iraq and makes the welfare and protection of the civilian population a bedrock element of military strategy. The paper notes that the military generally turned its back o­n counterinsurgency operations after the Vietnam War, which might suggest that SecDef Rumsfeld was not the o­nly person at the Pentagon not planning to fight an insurgency.

IRAN (and IRAQ): There's been some quiet journalism I have not noted here yet. Late last month, Bill Gertz reported that Iran was close to an agreement that would include a suspension of uranium enrichment. The next day, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signaled support for such a deal. Since then, there has been talk of demanding progress from the Iraqi government, lest the US engineer a larger deal with Iran and Syria. Now we see Rice making a surprise visit to Iraq to press the new government. So it seems like the clock is ticking for Iraq with a timetable of months to show progress, not years.

SNAKES in a HOUSE UPDATE: Today's snake-infested home is in San Antonio, TX -- far from the original cases in Idaho. Creepy video and slide show at the link.

FRANKENBUNNY: Scientists are planning to fuse human cells with a rabbit egg, in the hope that the "chimeric" embryos, which would be 99.9 per cent human and 0.1 per cent rabbit, could lead to breakthroughs in stem cell research which could o­ne day cure diseases such as Alzheimer's or spinal cord injury.

PET HOARDING: Today's story involves 100 cats fouling a home in South Dakota. Pic at the link.

A GERMAN SHEPHERD apparently being struck by a car limped into a hospital waiting room in Bellflower, CA. "We didn't teach him that," said Buddy's owner. "I don't know how he figured that o­ne out." Pics at the link.

PATCHES the PITBULL: Indiana doesn't want him. Lord, he can't go back there.