DEAN & BRITTA have a new, delightfully retro video for "Words You Used To Say" that the kids at Stereogum and Chromewaves think is a partial homage to this Serge Gainsbourg video.  The kids also seem to agree that Britta is teh hottness; sorry, guys -- D&B are hitched.

NEW RELEASES:  Arcade Fire is obviously the big new release in indieworld... and probably beyond.  Their buzz got as far as The New York Times Magazine over the weekend.  Son Volt, The Stooges, Bright Eyes, Mary Chapin Carpenter, !!! and more are streaming in full this week via Spinner.  BTW, Son Volt mastermind Jay Farrar does good interview with the Hartford Courant on the themes and tone of The Search.  Broken Social Scene spin-off Apostle of Hustle releases the National Anthem of Nowhere.  Super Furry Anumal Gruff Rhys releases Candylion.  Ry Cooder releases My Name is Buddy -- a concept album about a cat named Buddy.  As noted yesterday, sometimes Roxy Music crooner Bryan Ferry releases his album of Dylanesque covers.  Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 release a live EP.  The Stooges' Fun House, Television's Marquee Moon, and Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy all get deluxe reissues.  Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley get gospel compilations.  Several of the new releases have enough advance reviews to make Metacritic already.

VAN HALEN:  Eddie and Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar have all told the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that they will be attending the induction ceremony on March 12th -- but they will not be performing; Velvet Revolver will be stepping in to pay tribute.

RONNIE SPECTOR'S interview about her upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is currently streaming at NPR.  Ronnie recently learned that her ex-husband, famed "wall of sound" producer and murder suspect Phil Spector had moved to oppose The Ronettes' admission into the hall as far back as 1994.

CASIMIR PULASKI DAY was yesterday.  I forgot (as it's no longer a a work holiday for me), but Athsmatic Kitty and Pitchfork offered up the demo of the Sufjan Steven song named after -- but not really about it.  Here's a bit on the actual Pulaski.

TWOFER TUESDAY:  My two favorite performances from Juliana Hatfield are probably her cover of "Temptation Eyes" with the Blake Babies and her solo track, "My Sister."

NEIL YOUNG, Swedish garage rockers Mando Diao and the more arty Blonde Redhead can be seen on 3x3 via AOL.  The Neil Young performance is from the recently unearthed Massey hall gig from 1971.

BONO will edit an issue of Vanity Fair in his ongoing effort to rebrand Africa for the idle rich. 

SHAWN COLVIN may suffer from depression, but it didn't stop her from becoming the latest to cover Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," which you can stream via Spinner.

WOLFGANG'S VAULT, sued by Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Santana and the Doors by selling merchandise and streaming concert archives belonging to the musicians, has filed a counterclaim against the musicians and their labels, arguing that case is actually a blatant attempt by two of the largest record labels in the world -- using artists as a front -- to secure new income streams and destroy a legitimate business.

BRITNEY SPEARS:  A source tells US Weekly that the Spears family is worried that the troubled pop tart may not last the scheduled month in rehab.  Which tends to support the rumors that Spears tried to hang herself while claiming to be an anti-christ.

NICOLE RICHIE was hospitalized after falling ill on the set of her reality series.  Dizzy spells are not unknown when you're on the Skeletor diet.

COURTNEY LOVE totally narced on the French Hotel's birthday party, using her website to note a big pile of white powder in the rest room.  Big fans of talc, I'm sure.

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  The paparazzi at X17 have pics and video they say show the Tom-Kitten's resemblance to Cruise.

GREY'S ANATOMY co-star Isaiah Washington -- just out of gay-slur rehab -- got an NAACP Image Award last Friday.  Better luck next year, Ann Coulter!

JESSICA BIEL'S 25th birthday party is the subject of some subtle deadpan humor at People magazine.  The mag notes that the shapely actress happily took a piece of cake, declaring: "I'm not one of those skinny actors. I've got meat on my bones."  The next sentence:  "Other guests at the party included Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and supermodels Jessica Stam, Daria Werbowy, and Gemma Ward."

GEORGE CLOONEY has come out for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, calling him "the true rock star" of the Democratic Party.  Clooney has publicly offered to raise money for Obama as well.

STEVEN SPIELBERG is the proud owner of stolen property, i.e., "Russian Schoolroom," a Norman Rockwell painting stolen from a gallery in the St. Louis suburb of Clayton, MO, more than three decades ago.  Spielberg purchased the painting in 1989 from a legitimate dealer and didn't know it was stolen until his staff spotted its image last week on an FBI Web site listing stolen works of art, according to the feds.

HARRY POTTER & THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX:  The Leaky Cauldron and Aint-It-Cool-News have reviews from a test screening in Chicago.  SPOILERS in each.  RELATED:  Daniel Radcliffe has signed on to star in the final two Harry Potter films, according to Warner Bros.

THE GEICO CAVEMEN are getting a half-hour sitcom pilot for ABC.  The Wall Street Journal looks at brand extension, including the scary news that the creepy Burger King has lined up a studio and distributor for a feature film.

BLACK SHEEP:  It's "Violence of the Lambs!"  See the trailer on the Tube or in glorious Quicktime.  More proof -- if any was needed -- that there is nothing quite so dangerous as a clever sheep.

SPIDERMAN 3 video is running at NBC today only.

THE 'STANS:  ABCNews reports that efforts are underway to identify the dead following the US and NATO strike in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan over the weekend.  US officials say that the CIA is moving additional manpower and equipment into Pakistan in the effort to find Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahri -- which suggests to me that they don't think either was killed in that Afghan raid.  The Christian Science Monitor surveys the state of al Qaeda today.   Over 2,000 Afghans in Khost demonstrated against suicide bombings.

IRAN:  A former Iranian deputy defense minister with knowledge of the nuclear and defense establishment has gone missing in Turkey, sparking allegations of a Mossad and CIA-linked kidnapping. The UN's nuke watchdog thinks Iran may have temporarily halted its nuclear program.  But a senior Iranian official dashed hopes that any short-term pause could translate into Tehran accepting a UN Security Council demand to freeze its enrichment activities.

IRAQ:  The Interior Ministry now claims it has captured the second in command of the Islamic State in Iraq, not the top guy as previously claimed; the report remains unconfirmed.  The Islamic State of Iraq has reverted back to the practice of posting execution videos.  The Interior Ministry is also investigating how weapons seized during military operations find their way back to the black market. (hint: a mirror might help.)  A "senior Iraqi official" says Moqtada al-Sadr has been pressured to chill out by Ayatollah Sistani, the Shia clerical leadership in Najaf, and even Iran.  The US is not so sure about the Iran part; it would have been helpful had Newsweek revealed the sect of its source.  ITM's Omar Fadhil reports that al-Sadr's Mahdi army is not responding to the raids in Baghdad with fire, but are trying to undermine the new security plan by spreading rumors about alleged crimes committed by US soldiers.

OSTRICH NEWS:  Three German teenagers may be on the hook for a hefty fine if a court decides that their festive firecrackers scared the libido right out of an ostrich named Gustav.  In Cornwall, Edgar the ostrich regularly escapes from his home and heads for the local burial ground to chase mourners and eat graveside floral tributes.  Maybe Edgar has the same problem as Gustav.

SQUIRRELS may be forced onto birth control in the People's Republic of Santa Monica.  It's already being done in the People's Republic of Berkeley.

MOUSE revenges itself on a man in the Guangdong province of China.

A ROBIN will eat a worm from the mouth of a nature photographer.  NTTAWWT.  Pic at the link.

MOOSE downs a helicopter near the southeast town of Gustavus, Alaska.  The injured animal was euthanized at the scene.  Was global warming to blame?