Karl 
RILO KILEY: Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett, former child actors, former lovers and the singing and songwriting partnership behind the California quartet, are interviewed separately by the Belfast Telegraph.
D. BOON: With classic punk trio the Minutemen back in the spotlight thanks to a new documentary, a former roommate of the band's late singer/guitarist, D. Boon, has refurbished and expanded a CD of previously unreleased recordings. At one of the taped performances, D. Boon was on a bill with Spinal Tap. According to the roommate, Harry Shearer (a/k/a Derek Smalls) came up to D. Boon afterward and “said it was the greatest thing he'd ever seen!”
ON THE PITCHFORK: Tour dates for Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth and Built to Spill. If only that was a triple-bill!
EARWORM: Scientists may have found what makes a tune catchy, after locating the brain area where a song's “hook” gets caught. They also confirm that “When you are recalling a particular song that will activate auditory brain regions but that may, in turn, lead to you having a very vivid visual memory as well. For example, you may picture yourself at the high school dance when you first heard the song.” But we knew that already, didn't we?
A GIRL CALLED EDDY: Recently noted here, the Philadelphia Inquirer gives a thumbs up to the Dusty-esque song stylings of Erin Moran. And no, she's not that Erin Moran. You acn listen to song samples at her website.
CATS STRIKE BACK: The Wisconsin man who asked the state to allow hunters to kill stray cats says he's been getting death threats. At least, the meowing over the phone sounds very nasty.
FOUNTAINS OF CHOCOLATE: As the home base for Pate drummer Jon Hahn, I had to relay this account of the swank new Whole Foods store in Austin: “How about a four-tiered fountain of liquid chocolate the size of a large wedding cake, into which an artsy young woman continually dips strawberries and cookies. Oh, that doesn’t appeal to you? How about grinding your own nut butter (honey-roasted cashew?) and eating it at an outdoor plaza on any kind of bread you can imagine, from blueberry pecan to hempseed to striata?” And that's just for starters.
NANOTECH: An article at SciDev.net argues that those concerned about the potential side effects of nanotechnology should spend more time worrying about ways of ensuring that it meets the needs of the poor. The authors admit that those involved in any market-driven innovation will inevitably be drawn to regions and markets where profits are likely to be highest, but that the promise of nanotechnology — for example, in offering relatively cheap diagnostic or water filtration techniques — highlights the dilemma in a particularly stark way.
THE VIDEOGAME INDUSTRY is now bigger than the movie industry, but this blog post summarizing an industry panel suggests they have many of the same problems as the movie industry.
LEBANON: Publius has an extensive round-up of news from Lebanon, not least of which is the European Parliament branding Hezbollah as a terrorist group. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently said that designating Hezbollah a terror group in Europe will mean “the sources of [our] funding will dry up and the sources of moral, political and material support will be destroyed.”
WEBSITES STARS HATE: The Smoking Gun and Gawker are among the usual suspects named by The Insider.
GEORGE SCOTT, a founding member of the Blind Boys of Alabama, has died at 75 of complications from diabetes and a heart condition. If you have never heard the gospel group, you should take the occasion to do so. While believing he was called to sing by God, Scott also seems to have had the same self-reliant spirit as Ray Charles. “Back then, you'd see a blind person and they'd be begging on the street with a cup,” Scott said in a 2003 interview. “I did not want to do that, and school was more like a prison, kinda rough. They taught us to cane chairs, make brooms and mops, but we couldn't see making no money doing that. So we left there, out on our own. God knew what he was doing when he put it in our minds to sing. I did not know it at the time, but he was fixing me up for this. We had no band until after we left school, so God did not want us to do rock 'n' roll or blues. He wanted us to come up hard, and we did. As I've gotten older and reflected, I have come to appreciate what he did for me.”
BOOT LIQUOR RADIO, which streams from both Shoutcast and Live365, is music for “Cowhands, Cowpokes and Cowtippers.”
FOLK MUSIC FANS may want to tune into the streams from WUMB, which is actually several stations affiliated with UMASS Boston.
MUSIC OF THE 80s: Dueling critics! Gemma Tarlach loves it. Jim DeRogatis hates it.
WHY WOMEN ARE LEAVING I.T.: NewsFactor examines a social issue not unique to, but perhaps more acute in the field of Information Technology. ALSO: The Independent looks at a generation of British women “reverting to more traditional social mores.”
CUTE ROBOTS top the weekend box office, but in the future, biomorphic designs may be used for real world business as well as pleasure. BTW, Robots was pretty good, though nowhere near as good as The Incredibles, which comes out Tuesday on DVD.
BLOGS: Not in the media big leagues yet, according to the latest Gallup Poll. on the other hand, blog readers appear to be a desirable demographic, according to the latest blogads survey and an analysis of the Gallup Poll by Mystery Pollster (who is no longer a mystery, but is a pollster).
PANDAS get help with the birds and the bees at the National Zoo in DC.
SCIENCE BLOGGING: Girl Scientist presents Tangled Bank, a round-up of blogging about Biology, Zoology, Natural History, Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Psychology and Behavior, Neurobiology and Learning, Clinical Medicine and Epidemiology, Physics and more.
AMERICA ONLINE IM SERVICE NOT PRIVATE? AOL has quietly updated the terms of service for its AIM instant messaging application to give AOL the right to “reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote” all content distributed across the chat network by users.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: The troubled singer never fails to surprise, as he decides to open for The Streets as a solo act after his band cancelled due to a death in the drummer's family.
INDIES VS. MAJORS: Billboard examines the hard decision faced by rising indie artists as to whether to jump to a major label, particularly given the success of some acts that have stayed indie.
ROD STEWART GETS ENGAGED, AGAIN: Third time's a charm, right? Wonder if he'll make her sign a prenup, now that he has all of that Nelson Riddle money…
THE THRILLS are profiled at icWales, which correctly notes that the Thrills are the most California-sounding Irish band you have ever heard.
THE DOUBLEMINT TWINS are back. And drinking Coors beer. Just kidding about that last bit.
KYRGYZSTAN: Registan has plenty of on-the-ground reports from the tiny republic struggling for democracy. Gateway Pundit blogs the beginning of the second round of parliamentary elections.
TROOPS IN IRAQ are probably receiving better medical care than ever, thanks to better body armor, battlefront mini-hospitals and quick flights back to the United States for treatment, according to a series of reports from NPR.
TERROR ATTACK IN THE U.S.? A top aide to Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi taken into U.S. custody last year has told U.S. security agencies that al-Zarqawi has talked about hitting “soft targets” in the U.S., which could include “movie theaters, restaurants and schools.”
THE UNITED NATIONS is facing new allegations of sexual misconduct by U.N. personnel in Burundi, Haiti, Liberia and elsewhere. Peacekeepers in several Liberian communities routinely engage in sex with girls, according to an internal U.N. letter obtained by the Washington Post. The letter also stated that community leaders in the town of Robertsport have accused Namibian peacekeepers there of “'using administrative building premises and the surrounding bush to undertake sex acts with girls between the age of 12-17.'”
CULT OF THE iPod: An article at iPod Garage looks at using the device for music therapy. Prof. Ann Althouse explains why she ordered an iPod Shuffle.
JOURNO SHOT BY U.S. TROOPS: Italy's justice minister urged former hostage Giuliana Sgrena on Friday to stop making “careless” accusations after being shot by U.S. forces in Baghdad. “Sgrena, I think, should perhaps be more careful. She has said a load of nonsense, speaks somewhat carelessly and makes careless comments,” Justice Minister Roberto Castelli told reporters in Bologna. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear that Sgrena has gone back to claiming a tank was involved. ALSO: U.S. forces might not have known that slain Italian secret agent Nicola Calipari was in Iraq to secure a hostage's freedom, Italian papers say. And unnamed italians are saying that Sgrena's car was swerving around cement blocks in the road.
IRAQ, WMDs AND OIL-FOR-FOOD: In the weeks after Baghdad fell in 2003, looters systematically removed tons of equipment from Iraqi weapons facilities, including some with components capable of making parts of nuclear arms, The New York Times reported on Sunday. Meanwhile, the London Telegraph reports that Saddam Hussein's regime offered a two million dollar bribe to the United Nations' chief weapons inspector to doctor his reports on the search for weapons of mass destruction. The news that Iraq attempted to bribe a top U.N. official is a key piece of evidence for investigators into the scandal surrounding the oil-for-food program.
ANGELINA JOLIE denies having slept with Brad Pitt. Which I'm sure is literally true. And there's plenty more about her sex life, which apparently includes plenty of women and friends with benefits.
WARD CHURCHILL UPDATE: The University of Colorado professor who called those working in the World Trade Caenter on 9/11 “little Eichmanns” is accused of plagarism. The university wanted to buy him out for a few hundred thousand dollars. However, the negotiations were disclosed as the plagarism story made news, including the allegation that Churchill threatened Dalhousie University professor Fay G. Cohen, the author of the allegedly plagarized article. Now Churchill's critics are vowing to recall from office any regents who agree to pay Churchill to leave his job.
ELECTION CONTROVERSIES: In New Hampshire, a GOP operative is given jail time for jamming telephone lines for 85 minutes on election day in 2002. In Florida, Democratic Mayor Buddy Dyer was charged with violating state absentee ballot laws during last year's mayor's race and quickly removed from office.
TIME-TRAVEL? Not quite, but Europe may be the next best thing. The EU Observer reports on a new study by a pan-EU small business organisation claiming that the US economy is 20 years ahead of that of the EU and it will take decades for Europe to catch up.
BASEBALL ON STEROIDS: House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis threatened to push contempt proceedings against some of the biggest names in baseball if they fail to appear for a hearing this week about performance-enhancing steroids that have rocked Major League Baseball. That could be a tough spot for Mark McGwire, as a New York Daily News exclusive reports that FBI sources claim that McGwire's name came up several times during “Operation Equine,” a landmark anabolic steroids investigation that led to 70 trafficking convictions in the early 1990s.
ISRAEL HAS SECRET PLANS for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear program, according to the Sunday Times of London. Of course, everyone suspects as much, which leads mystery writer Roger L. Simon to wonder about the timing of the story.
SPEAKING OF IRAN, you really should check out these photos of Iranian female police cadets.
