THE DECEMBERISTS have released an animated video for "The Rake's Song," created and directed by art students in Moscow, complete with refs to Russian folklore.

NEW RELEASES: School of Seven Bells, Josh Rouse, Erin McKeon, the Blakes and more are streaming in full this week via Spinner.

JOE HENRY stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a chat and mini-set streaming via KCRW.

STEVE EARLE stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a chat and mini-set streaming via KCRW.

CHRIS WALLA and J. ROBBINS write a song in two days, having never even met before they stepped into NPR's performance studio.

REGINA SPEKTOR played "Eet" and "The Calculation" live in NYC on Saturday night.

FANFARLO drummer Amos Memon tells the Yorkshire Evening Post and bassist Justin Finch tells Wales Online that they can't wait to get back to the US of A. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

GLEN HANSARD (The Frames, The Swell Season) talks to Billboard about the latter's upcoming Swift Joy LP, "which sounds more like Van Morrison than the delicately melancholy acoustic songs that first made the duo famous."

OKKERVIL RIVER: Will Scheff talks to the Golden Gate X-Press about life on tour and his experience playing at this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.

AMY MILLAN talks to NOW about keeping the wheels turning, and waiting for the right stories to present themselves.

TOY STORY 3 now has a trailer online.

OPRAH WINFREY is sued for sex discrimination in a mile-high scandal.

MICHAEL JACKSON's mother will benefit from, but not inherit, any of Jacko's estate.

BILL HADER and his wife welcome a daughter, their first.

ANGELINA JOLIE may take over for Charlize Theron on The Tourist.

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS (Mad Men) married fiancé Geoffrey Arend at Il Buco restaurant in New York on Sunday.

X-MEN: Bryan Singer says he's interested in making another installment and has discussed the possibility with Twentieth Century Fox. And after Superman Returns and Valkyrie, who is surprised by that?

THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX was directed by e-mail?

NORTH KOREA fired five short-range missiles off its east coast on Monday, news reports said, even as South Korea proposed working-level talks with its communist neighbor.

AFGHANISTAN: The Obama administration is considering outbidding the Taliban to persuade Afghan villagers to lay down arms. Meanwhile, Mullah Omar is mounting a comeback of sorts.

CONAN the SCAREDY CAT: What's he afraid of?

A PLUCKY PIGEON has visited a Kingston golf club every day without fail since his friend, a pro at the club, nursed him back to health back in May.

A GAZA ZOO has got around animal import restrictions by dyeing stripes on donkeys to make 'zebras'.

A WEINER DOG who was paralyzed has taken his first steps after pioneering treatment by scientists at Cambridge University.