Karl 
BOB MOULD: The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that on his new album, Body of Song, “Mould has returned to the high-intensity pop and rock sound that made his two albums as leader of Sugar so memorable.”
MARC BOLAN of T. REX: Moistworks is killing music by offering up some out-of-print demos. You really should pay the market rate of 75 bucks for them.
THE DECEMBERISTS' Colin Molloy explains to London's Guardian how he got so warped: “He's always been obsessed with music: from an early age he would sit in his bedroom listening to mix tapes of US college rock – REM, Hüsker Dü, Guadalcanal Diary – that were sent to him by an uncle at college in Oregon.” Molloy is also “quick to credit the influence of the English singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock,” as well he should be.
LIVE AND LET DIE: The Cute One has suggested late Beatles bandmate George Harrison helped him write a song for his latest album from beyond the grave.
NEW PORNOGRAPHERS have a new legal download from the upcoming album posted at Matador Records' site.
SIENNA MILLER caught canoodling with Orlando Bloom. Guess she's over maybe-fiancee Jude Law. What will Kate Bosworth say?
BRUCE WILLIS was just kidding when he hit on a college sophomore with the subtle line, “What are your plans for sex tonight?” And that whole rumor about him and Lindsay Lohan? Nothing to it!
MICHAEL BAY calls the fourth-place opening for his latest move, The Island, a “debacle.” While he also said, “It's always the director's fault,” her seems to blame everyone but himself.
WILLIAM H. MACY was fine being naked and handcuffed, until the key was lost. Geez!
IRAQ: Michael Yon reports from Mosul: “The enemy in Iraq does not appear to be weakening; if anything, they are becoming smarter, more complicated and deadlier. But this does not mean they are winning; to imply that getting smarter and deadlier equates to winning, is fallacious. Most accounts of the situation in Iraq focus on enemy 'successes' (if success is re-defined as annihiliation of civility), while redacting the increasing viability and strength of the Iraqi government, which clearly is outpacing the insurgency.” Read the whole thing. Also, a look at the bigger picture from Bill Roggio (hat tip to the Mudville Gazette milblog). Plus, disappointment at the latest draft of the constitution from Omar, an Iraqi blogger. Finally, Steven Bochco's Iraq-based drama Over There, premieres tonight on FX; reviews from the WaPo and USA Today seem pretty positive.
M WARD is photoblogged by Brooklyn Vegan. You can stream the nifty Americana on his Transistor Radio album from this flash-based player.
MICK JAGGER turned 62 yesterday. Congrats, Mick; you doesn't look a day over 186.
LOLLAPALOOZA is blogged and photoblogged by Dodge at My Old Kentucky Blog. At the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim DeRogatis lists who he deems to be the “Lollapalicious” and the “Lollapalosers.”
STEREOGUM, a favored music blog here, gets some linky love from — of all places — Forbes magazine.
NYC TERROR BOMBING FOILED? Five Egyptian men with maps of the New York City subway system and video of New York landmarks have been arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark, N.J., according to ABC News.
AL-QAEDA operative Mohammed Afroze was sentenced to seven years in prison in India for plotting to crash passenger jets into the House of Commons and the Tower Bridge in London on September 11, 2001. Afroze also confessed to plotting with a group of Al-Qaeda operatives to attack Melbourne's Rialto Towers and the Indian parliament in 2001. All of these plots predated any invasion of Afghanistan or Iraq.
EDU-BLOGGING: The education jargon drinking game!
DOGS will be doing yoga on Animal Planet's K9 Karma, which starts August 15th.
A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL FOR CHELSEA CLINTON, but 36 year-old Kenyan Godwin Kipkemoi Chepkurgor has waited five years for a response from Bill. 20 head of cattle and 40 goats seems like a decent offer to me.
THIS JUST IN: Wining and dining is the best way for men to woo women, scientists said on Tuesday. Scientists would be the last to know (Pate's Jon Pratt excepted, of course).
DEMOCRATIC DIAGNOSIS: Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack told those attending the Democratic Leadership Council conference Monday that “We've got to be for something, and it is pretty clear that America is waiting for us. They are desperate to know what we are for.” Sen. Evan Bayh says some Americans need to be convinced about the Democratic Party's commitment to protecting the nation. Virginia Gov. Mark Warner was vocal about pulling the party toward the center. Sen. Hillary Clinton said that “Democrats have not yet succeeded in isolating and defeating the far right in part because all too often we have allowed ourselves to be split between left, right and center.” At the Huffington Post group blog, Arianna Huffington disagrees and rounds up other anti-DLC reactions.
FOUR BOY SCOUT LEADERS ELECTROCUTED at the National Jamboree. The leaders are profiled here. There will be a memorial service and an address by President Bush today.
BILL GATES wants to search your PC for pirated software.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: The troubled singer is reduced to phoning a gossip columnist at 4 a.m. to apologize to Bob Geldof and his daughter. Meanwhile, galpal Kate Moss was spotted with Johnny Knoxville, with Knoxville's wife nowhere in sight. Of course, the wife wasn't around when he was partying with a random woman at Soho 323, either.
KAISER CHIEFS: The band's upcoming single can be streamed, following the directions at Torr's blog.
GEEKSTA RAPPERS bring on the Nerdcore. We can hope they will stick to hacking each others' computers instead of shooting each other.
EGYPT TERROR BOMBING: Investigators have identified a suspected suicide bomber, saying he was an Egyptian with Islamic militant ties. Who'da thunkit? A third claim was posted Tuesday on the Internet in the name of a previously unknown group purporting links to al-Qaeda. The statement said the group attacked on orders from Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri “in support of our brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The Arab News opines: “The terrorist is at war with the entire world.”
CUBA: France unilaterally ended a European Union diplomatic embargo against the regime of President Fidel Castro, and normalised relations with his government. How does Fidel respond? By launching the largest wave of dissident arrests since 2003, when almost the entire dissident leadership of the Communist-ruled island was rounded up.
EVA LONGORIA took time off from acting and wearing out the male population to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game pitting the Los Angeles Angels against the New York Yankees.
JOHN CUSACK takes a beating at MSNBC. After leading with his breakthrough role as Lloyd Dobler in Cameron Crowe's Say Anything, the commentary adds, “Sixteen years later, Cusack is still coasting on all that goodwill, despite countless horrible movies and a reputation as a real-life jackass.”
BOTTLE OF WATER VALUED AT 74,000 dollars stolen by a thirsty thief. The two-litre clear plastic bottle containing melted ice from the Antarctic was devised to highlight global warming by artist Wayne Hill, who said said the bottle was clearly a work of art: “It looked like an ordinary bottle of water. But it was on a plinth, labelled, described and in the programme of the whole festival.”
SOCIAL INSECURITY: Democrats and Republicans unveiled new plans for retirement security. Ironically, the Dems' plan focuses on stock investments with a proposal that will do the least for workers with little or no disposable income. Just as ironically, the new GOP proposal focuses on investing in govenment bonds. Not at all ironically, neither plan addresses the eventual insolvency of Social Security.
THEO VAN GOGH'S KILLER sentenced to life in prison. The Dutch are still struggling to understand how Mohammed Bouyeri, who was born and raised in Amsterdam, turned to radical Islam. Twelve other terrorism suspects are awaiting trial in the Netherlands; prosecutors believe Bouyeri is a key figure in that group, but so far they have not come up with enough evidence to charge him.
THE UNITED NATIONS oil-for-food scandal seemingly involved some of the highest officials in the Syrian government, raising questions as to whether illegal cash from the program was used to fund terrorists in Iraq. Also, investigators have discovered a network of overseas bank accounts operated by Benon Sevan, the former head of the program, who is the subject of a criminal inquiry by New York prosecutors.
FALLING COW KILLS CROATIAN FARMER, but I couldn't decide which picture to use.
HOT WALRUS ACTION, streamed right to your browser — goo goo goo joob!
GIANT CARNIVOROUS MICE are wiping out seabirds in mass feeding frenzies on the British-ruled island of Gough.
POTTY-BEAKED PARROT has been banished from public areas in a British animal sanctuary.
