Karl THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:
VETERANS' DAY: A military spouse reminds us to thank a veteran today and provides a history of the holiday.
FRIDAY TIMEWASTER: Color Test. More of a mental test than a game. So how mental are you?
SMOOSH: The tween-teen indie duo hits London and talks to the Guardian. When told they could be bigger than Led Zeppelin, they said: “Is that big?”
JEFF TWEEDY is interviewed by the Albany Times-Union about the live Wilco CD, his solo tour and his changing guitar style. Billboard reviews the first show on the solo tour, with a setlist that ranged from the recent to vintage to rare.
STEVE BURNS (formerly of Blues Clues and yes, still living) is contributing a track to a They Might Be Giants tribute. I think YANP might be killing music, courtesy of Do It Old Maid, which has more on Steve's post-TV career.
ARETHA FRANKLIN, the Queen of Soul, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for achievement in the arts, in a White House ceremony that also honored Muhammad Ali, Carol Burnett, Andy Griffith, Paul Harvey, Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn (who developed the protocol for sending data that is the basis of the Internet) and more.
GENESIS REUNION? First, it was Phil Collins. Now it's Peter Gabriel suggesting that he thinks it will happen. With Steve Hackett phoing the band's old managers, it seems that only a resurgence of interest in Mike + the Mechanics can save us…
SONY CD COPY-PROTECTION is now targeted by a lawsuit in CA, with another expected in NY. Things will get more serious now that the first virus that uses Sony's software has turned up. The EFF has listed discs with the nasty software, as well as a few protected by a different scheme.
BISHOP ALLEN: You Ain't No Picasso really digs 'em, as evidenced by the fact that his blog is named after one of their songs. Not quite power pop, not quite punk pop, but quite enjoyable stuff. You can stream a few from MySpace and download four tracks from the band's website.
U2 with BRANDON FLOWERS: Having reported on the show and the illicit MP3, how can I not mention the video?
FERGIE of Black-Eyed Peas has landed a cameo on The Sopranos, playing a cop working undercover as a stripper at Bada-Bing (minor spoiler at that link). She has been working out to get in shape before filming starts, probably because she won't be able to wear a babydoll nightie to hide a bloated stomach.
RICK MORANIS recorded a country album. No, really.
AMERICAN ANALOG SET: I've been meaning to post a blurb about their “farewell to touring” tour for a while, but never got around to it. However, Frank at Chromewaves has a mega round-up of linkage on it. The band's latest album, Set Me Free, got decent reviews, but you might do better streaming or downloading a few older songs from My Space. What do they sound like? Pretty mellow in a Feelies-Wake Ooloo-Galaxie 500 sorta way.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: I can't help noticing that Babyshambles bassist Drew McConnell and guitarist Pat Walden are promoting the album without Doherty.
THE VICTORIA'S SECRET HOLIDAY FASHION SHOW is a bit of a swan song for Tyra Banks and a return for Heidi Klum (whose recent maternity should dispel a rumor or two) on CBS Dec. 6th, but what you really want is for me to point you to a slew of pictures.
PANTHERS CHEERLEADERS: Not much new on the story, but Deadspin has an excellent roundup if you missed anything.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise has an ultrasound scanning machine, presumably to check up on whatever is growing inside fiancee Holmes.
MADONNA bided her time until she got the chance to rip Elton John, who has had a few choice comments about Madge this year.
GWEN STEFANI may have had solo success, but still plans to make another album with No Doubt.
VIRAL VIDEO: There's some stuff that never stops circulating around the Internet. For example, the British Agent Provocateur ad, featuring Kylie Minogue in lingerie on a mechanical bull, through Google video or in glorious Quicktime.
LARRY DAVID (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm,) and his wife Laurie — who is always eager to lecture us on environmental issues — were accused of endangering protected wetlands on Martha's Vineyard. They were reprimanded last August for building a 26-foot-long barbecue station, stone-and-concrete bonfire pit, and outdoor theater on an environmentally sensitive patch of their 14-acre North Road property without the proper permits, as wellas tearing up protected vegetation to make way for a lush, sodded lawn. Neighbors claim that the Davids knew they didn’t have permission for the project, but went ahead with it anyway so it would be finished in time for the arrival of — wait for it — National Resources Defense Council champion Robert Kennedy Jr. I'm guessing this story won't turn up on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
WALK THE LINE: The forthcoming Johnny and June Carter Cash comes in for some mild criticism from Kathy Cash, one of Johnny Cash's children by his first wife, Vivian Liberto Distin.
SARAH SILVERMAN: The stand-up comedienne “has become an important member of a guerrilla vanguard in the culture wars,” parodying our discussions of hot-button social and political issues. I'll say that my favorite Silverman bit discusses Ron Jeremy and ends with the punchline, “because he's classy.”
NOW SHOWING: The weekend movies doing well on the Tomatometer include Pride and Prejudice, which gives me an excuse to see Kiera Knightley, and Zathura, which looks like “Jumanji in Space” to me (not surprising, as both were written by Chris Van Allsburg), but it's directed by Swinger Jon Favreau, who surprised me with Elf, so maybe it's good. And Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, which I can recommend, opens wider.
HOLIDAY SHOPPING: In the market for a non-Royal Tannenbaum? Urban Outfitters is selling the Pathetic Tree from A Charlie Brown Christmas. Or you could jump on the trend toward upside-down trees…
EURO-RIOTS: France started a long holiday weekend as the riots seemingly waned, but a police chief said he feared rioters might be planning protests in central Paris. One of France's leading TV news executives has admitted censoring his coverage of the riots for fear of encouraging support for far-right politicians. The Swedish Prime Minister criticised the the French government's approach, though he may be whistling past the graveyard. People have been ignoring the violence against girls in Europe's Muslim ghettoes for far too long.
IRAQ: Operation Steel Curtain moves to Karabilah. Kevin Sites, who was embedded for the Battle of Fallujah, returns and finds a sense of normalcy there. Scott Burgess further debunks the “white phosphorus story” and gets called names by an alleged professional reporter for London's Independent. The split between Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda in Iraq widens.
JORDAN: The Counter-terrorism Blog notes that the bombings might dry up terrorism funds flowing from Jordan, which has been a major funnel, but will also hurt Jordanian contacts with the West. But with thousands of Jordanians rallying in the capital and other cities, shouting, “Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!” I tend to doubt the latter. Have I mentioned recently that Zarqawi is a PR genius?
BIZZARE 135-MILLION-YEAR-OLD MARINE CROCODILE, with the head of a dinosaur and the tail of a fish, is discovered in Argentina. Scientists are calling the beast “Godzilla.”
SQUIRREL SEX: The website too hot to show you!
DOG'S MEMORIAL SERVICE is attended by 300 cats. Ginny, a schnauzer-Siberian husky mix, will be eulogized Nov. 19 at the Westchester Cat Show, where she was named Cat of the Year in 1998 for her uncanny skill and bravery in finding and rescuing endangered tabbies.
LORD GOD BIRD: The ivory-billed woodpecker, thought to have been driven to extinction more than 60 years ago has been discovered in the deep, hardwood swamps of Arkansas.
A PARROT is not the ideal way to pad your bra.
ELEPHANTS at the National Zoo like to smash the pumpkins after Halloween.
