DUFFY, whose video for "Rockferry" I am still digging, has a new video for more upbeat "Mercy."  The Welsh singer, who reminds folks of Dusty and Lulu, is profiled in the Times of London.  The paper is also offering an exclusive free track to anyone who will cough up an e-mail address and claim to live in the UK.  The nice part about that last bit is it suggests Universal may finally start breaking Duffy in North America.

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS:  The World Cafe has live tracks and a chat with A.C. Newman you can stream on demand on NPR.

CAT POWER and MAGNETIC FIELDS are still playing games with the singer-songwriter archetype, according to Salon.  Chan Marshall gets separate treatment in London's Sunday Times, while Stephin Merritt is featured in Sunday's L.A. Times.

IRON & WINE:  Sam Beam stopped by KUT's Sudio 1 for a chat and mini-set you can stream (or just the music) on demand via NPR. 

I WANT MY MTV to be as cheezalicious as these three hours (with ads) from 1983.

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS crammed their "Neo-consumer" into two minutes for Letterman over at the 'Gum.

BLACK MOUNTAIN frontman Stephen McBean talks to the Times of London about opening for Coldplay, the Internet's demystification of music, whether rock stardom is worth it, and more...

SUB POP:  The seminal Seattle label is profiled by the Seattle Times, along with an interview of co-founder Jonathan Poneman and a list of the bands that kept the label hopping for the past 20 years.  (Thx, LHB.)

JOHN VANDERSLICE does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter -- all versions of songs from his most recent LP, Emerald City.

UB40 singer Ali Campbell will be picking up his own UB40, citing management problems.

BONO met with US SecDef Robert Gates as part of his efforts to persuade world leaders to increase aid to developing nations.  Gates was impressed by Bono's knowledge of world affairs but had no clue about his rock star status: "It's a matter of age. I thought U2 was an airplane. My daughter nearly had an aneurysm when I told her who I was meeting with."

HEATH LEDGER:  As a private memorial was held for the late 28-year-old actor in Los Angeles, sources intimately connected with the investigation of his death say Ledger may have died of natural causes.  Nevertheless, the Daily Mail quotes a member of the star's inner circle, Rebecca White, as saying Ledger believed his former fiancee Michelle Williams was about to serve legal papers demanding sole custody of their child, Matilda, due to his drug problems.  White claims Ledger's dependence on drugs only intensified.  Mary-Kate Olsen released a statement about Ledger after learning that the authorities are not planning to question her about the four frantic calls Ledger's masseuse made to her before phoning 911.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:  Parody movie Meet the Spartans edged out Rambo for the top slot with an estimated take of 18.7 million, which is about where movies like Epic Movie and Date Movie tend to open.  Cloverfield turned out to be even more front-loaded than expected, tumbling 68 percent to fourth place in its second weekend -- but has still made well over twice its budget already.  Untraceable debuted in fifth place.  The adorable Juno dropped to sixth, but actually made 3.5 percent more than last weekend and crossed the 100 million mark.  There Will Be Blood jumped from eleveth to eighth in expanded release.

LINDSAY LOHAN has begun penning her memoirs, perhaps due to money woes.  She was reportedly... wait for it... caught canoodling MTV reality D-lister Brody Jenner at NYC's Beatrice Inn on Friday night.

CHRISTIAN BRANDO, who had been hospitalized with double pneumonia, died Friday at 49.  The son of Marlon Brando, Christian pleaded guilty in 1990 to manslaughter for killing his sister's boyfriend and spent six years in prison.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, returning from her USO tour of the Persian Gulf, deflected a media question about her rumored engagement to actor-beau Ryan Reynolds by joking that she is engaged to Sen. Barack Obama.

BRITNEY SPEARS visited psychiatrist Deborah Nadel's Santa Monica home for about an hour on Friday, according to the paparazzi at X17 online.  The uber-reliable News of the World claims that her married boyfriend, Andan Ghalib, has recorded six deranged video diaries of the pop wreck and is offering them for over two million dollars.  Meanwhile, Spears is trying out a new Chinese-Spanish accent.

KATE MOSS:  The uber reliable News of the World has agreed to pay the supermodel damages for an apparently false story about shenanigans at her 34th birthday party.

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  The ever-reliable National Enquirer has a source this week that claims to have had a conversation with Chris Klein suggesting that his ex, Katie Holmes was pregnant when they broke up back in March of 2005.

CHARLIZE THERON will receive a Hasty Pudding pot at Harvard University on Feb. 7.

THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS was a send-off party for The Sopranos, with awards going to the ensemble cast, James Gandolfini & Edie Falco.  Javier Bardem gave a very classy and funny speech for supporting male actor in No Country For Old Men.  Tina Fey thanked Arec Bardwin, president of the Film Actors Guild, who also won, but did not attend.  But The Office beat out 30 Rock for best comedy ensemble.  Daniel Day-Lewis eulogized Heath Ledger (whom he did not know).  Julie Christie won best female actor in a movie.  No Country For Old Men won for best ensemble cast in a motion picture.  RELATED:  The Coen Bros. won the Directors Guild Award on Saturday night for helming No Country For Old Men.

JUSTICE LEAGUE:  Warner Bros. let the options lapse on the young cast that director George Miller chose to play DC superhero staples, placing the project on indefinite hold.  The studio's reasons included not getting the official response it needed on tax breaks from shooting in Australia, plus desired script polishing precluded by the writers' strike.

JESSICA BIEL, GISELE BUNDCHEN, JENNIFER LOPEZ and TINA FEY are among those featured in a new round of celebrity images promoting the Disney theme parks from famed photographer Annie Leibovitz.

ALEXANDRA HARILL has not seen Flashdance, but she is living it.  She's a maniac.

EURO-TERROR PLOT:  Islamist extremists were planning attacks across Europe, especially against public transport, before their arrests in Barcelona last weekend, a Spanish paper reported on Saturday, citing a would-be attacker's testimony.  A manhunt for the remaining suspects began in Spain and now extendesto France and other European Union countries.

IRAN:  When voters go to the polls on March 14 to select members of Parliament, the early indications are that the religiously conservative forces in control of every branch of government will try to block a comeback by the "reformists" with an unprecedented number of disqualifications from the ballot.  Pres. Ahmadinejad and his allies control the system of vetting candidates for access to the ballot.  Meanwhile, Israeli Defemse Minister Ehud Barak tells the Washington Post that Israel believes Iran has another clandestine enrichment operation beyond the one in Natanz, and is likely working on warheads for ground-to-ground missiles.

IRAQ:  Shaken by two days of deadly bombings, the government said Friday it would dispatch several thousand more security forces to Mosul in a "decisive" bid to drive AQI from its last major stronghold.  The forces arrived on Sunday and will take the lead as a test of US long-range plans to assume a support role.   A son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is behind a group of foreign and Iraqi fighters responsible for last week's devastating explosion in Mosul, a security chief for Sunni tribesmen who rose up against AQI said Saturday.  AQ is using children as suicide bombers in Iraq, with at least two attacks in the past week committed by 15-year-olds, a US military commander claimed on Sunday: "We are not sure whether one of these children even knew he was being used to deliver a bomb."   Some 9000 members of anti-AQ "Awakening" fronts in Iraq have been screened and lined up for training as regular police or soldiers.  Prime Minister al-Maliki urged ministers from the main Sunni Arab bloc to return to their vacant government posts, suggesting he would soon form a new cabinet if they refused.

AMYUMU the CHIMP trounces British memory champion Ben Pridmore, who is capable of memorising the order of a shuffled pack of cards in under 30 seconds.

PET HOARDING really does not describe the rescue of more than 200 animals, including 26 hissing cockroaches, two bearded dragons, 68 dogs, 16 rabbits, 15 guinea pigs, 13 gerbils, seven doves, two dwarf hamsters, two hedgehogs, an opossum and a pink toe tarantula.from an eastern Texas home.  Video at the link.

CAT NEWS:  A cat with five legs will have not one, but two, legs removed.  Popsicle the cat survives losing two paws, several inches of tail, both ears and part of her nose to frostbite.  Fido was rescued from a sinking ship; pics at the link.

A MOB OF WALLABIES has grounded Royal Australian Air Force fighter-bomber jets after dark at a Northern Territory airfield.  They are thinking of forming a rock band.

BUDDY the POLICE HORSE was punched outside a nightclub in Ybor City, FL.  Angelica Rene Ayala has been charged in the incident, though I was thinking it was going to be Mongo.