THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with 120 MINUTES!  With MTV cancelling Total Request Live, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at the network's alt-rock show (a "dumping ground for light-rotation videos") -- in this case the 10th anniversary show.  Part 1 pays tribute to forerunners like the MC5, The Stooges, the Velvet Underground, punks like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and The Clash, New Wave acts from Devo to Blondie to The Knack, brits like Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen, harcore like Bad Religion and the Dead Kennedys, college rockers like REM, the Smiths, the Replacements, Husker Du, and a cavalcade of those who followed, through Nirvana.  Part 2 has memories from alt-rockers about the show itself, odd interview clips, with bits of Big Audio Dynamite, Public Image Ltd., Morrissey, Lollapalooza, Cracker, Thurston Moore and Michael Stipe as Rush Limbaugh.  Part 3 is only about a minute, but you gey Lou reed smooching up host matt Pinfield.  Really, they did a pretty decent job of including the wheat rather than the chaff.  Youngsters just getting into indie rock could do worse than to look at that list of artists as a jumping-off point.

HOOTS & HELLMOUTH do the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, one previously unreleased.  Americana with a touch of bluegrass and good humor.

LED ZEPPELIN REUNION: Robert Plant has been begging off due to the paperwork: "I've kept every one of the emails that were exchanged before the concert and I'm thinking of compiling them for a book, which I feel sure would be hailed as a sort of literary version of Spinal Tap..."

ALL TOMORROWS PARTIES: This weekend's bug fest will be simulcast Sat & Sun via WFMU, including sets from Wooden Shjips, Low, Lighning Bolt, Mercury Rev, Yo La Tengo, Bob Mould, Dinosaur Jr. and more...

OKKERVIL RIVER frontman Will Scheff gets chatty in the Great White North, including interviews in Straight, the Vancouver Sun and Monteal's Gazette.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE: Here's the "Coke Zero Trailer" that has Jack White miffed.  You can stream "Another Way to Die" at several places.

THE CHEMICAL BROS are streaming their Brotherhood album via Artist Direct.  Not really my genre, but I usually like 'em for that genre.

JENNY LEWIS tells Greg Kot that she's pretty sanguine about her musical career: "I can't believe that I ever got a pass to play music in the first place. I was a child actor --- are you kidding me? I should be like Corey Haim or Corey Feldman or the chick from ‘Diff'rent Strokes'..."

LUCINDA WILLIAMS is releasing a digital-only EP of protest songs in October, which should make Sylvia's month.

CUTOUT BIN: From the Banana Splits to Bob Dylan, from Sylvia to Steppenwolf, from the Ramones to Pink Floyd to Nancy Sinatra covering the Beatles, plus the Temptations, the Electric Prunes, Esquivel and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds can be jukeboxed or streamed separately via the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING:  This weekend's wide releases include My Best Friend's Girl, which opens on about 2600 screens, but was not screened for critics; the thriller Lakeview Terrace, which is currently scoring 30 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; the animated Igor, which is coring 31 percent; and the sixth-sensy comedy Ghost Town, which is scoring 78 percent.

THE FRENCH HOTEL is in mourning today after losing two of her dogs to a vicious coyote attack.

MISCHA BARTON suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction while leaving a fashion show in London.

BRADGELINA: Jolie's rep rubbishes rumors that Pitt and Jolie have split.

CHARLIZE THERON: "I actually have seven children nobody knows about." She was kidding though, I think.

GWYNETH PALTROW gives the world an unprecedented peek at the two-hour rigorous workouts which helped her shed 20lbs of babyweight. Looking good looks pretty rough.

MAD MEN creator Matt Weiner talks to USA Today about the long strange trip the show took to get on the air, though I love what he told prople who asked how writing for The Sopranos was different from sitcoms: "It's the same job. I sit around in a room with a bunch of writers and talk about The Sopranos all day."  ALSO: The GateHouse Press service has an interesting piece about a mother and daughter watching Mad Men together.

INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY is today, matey.

IRAN: Pres. Ahmadinejad said on Thursday Iran would not halt sensitive nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs and brushed aside threats of more sanctions. Ahmadinejad also said Israel would not survive, even if it gave up land for a Palestinian state. A  top adviser of Iran's supreme leader said that in the event of war no ship passing through the oil-rich Gulf region would be beyond the reach of the country's missiles.

IRAQ: A rare decision by SecDef Gates to reject a Marine Corps recommendation that one of its heroes receive the Medal of Honor has angered Marines who say Sgt. Rafael Peralta sacrificed his life to save theirs by covering a live grenade thrown by insurgents during a 2004 firefight in Fallujah.

DRAMATIC ANIMALS:  The original Dramatic Chipmunk spawns imitators like the Dramatic Cat and the Dramatic Lemur. (Thx, Lance.)

DINOSAURS prove it's better to be lucky than to be good.

THE BLACK FOX: According to legend, it brings doom and disaster to anyone who sees it. This is the first caught on camera in the UK.

GIANT KANGAROO RATS are to be counted from space.

RARE (AND UGLY) HAIRY-NOSED OTTERS discovered in Vietnam.

WHEN PIGS FLY: Must be the Royal Melbourne agricultural show in Australia.