Karl 
IRON & WINE and CALEXICO are doing more press supporting their joint EP and tour. Sam Beam talks to the Boston Herald, while Calexico is at JAM.
KEXP: The University of Washington–owned music station is globally popular and flush with donations, but seems to have corporate governance issues.
SEASON OF THE LIST: Stylus continues its Top 50 Singles countdown. Filter adds Top Tens from Nick Harmer of Death Cab For Cutie and Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan of the Crystal Method. The Top Ten list from Mojo magazine includes Richard Hawley's Coles Corner. At Said the Gramophone — one of the premiere music blogs — Sean has posted “My 22 Favourite Songs of 2005” and is killing music to boot. The Arizona Daily Wildcat has a list of Top Ten Indie Rock Moments in songs from 2005.
NME defends its Top 50 Albums poll against the attack by the Londonist blog.
TEN REASONS TO DRINK DURING THE HOLIDAYS, compiled, oddly enough (or perhaps not), by Forbes magazine.
TOP TEN CHRISTMAS TV VILLAINS is the first of the Twelve Lists of Christmas at YesButNoYes.
RYAN ADAMS: London's Guardian reviews 29, which is not the number of albums Adams released this year, but pretty close.
THE POGUES are playing a handful of dates on the East Coast.
DOWNLOADING LYRICS is killing music, according to Warner/Chappell Music.
NC MUSIC HISTORY is a nifty blog that's killing music of just one state, including a seasonal cover of “Mr. Grinch.”
OUTLAW COUNTRY: L.A. music promoter Shilah Morrow and longtime friend Polly Parsons (daughter of Gram) are trying to “stoke the country flame with an audience beyond traditional Americana listeners.”
UK SONGWRITERS have set out their case for an increased royalty rate for the sale of music downloads and challenged record companies to disclose the monies they make from the sale of internet downloads.
DONOVAN: You can still call him “Mellow Yellow” (quite rightly).
HILARY DUFF: A Disney darling probably shouldn't turn up at a premiere party for a porn movie. I have to doubt that this sort of thing is what Duff was thinking of when she told MTV she was holding onto a script with a meatier role that would let her stretch her acting muscles until after her 18th birthday!
NICOLE RICHIE and her fiance, Adam Goldstein, have called off their nine-month engagement. She just can't stop copying her ex-BFF, the French Hotel.
MARILYN MANSON is having a kinky honeymoon. Who'da thunkit?
ROD STEWART and his fiancee have named their baby Alastair, which, afaik, is not a food.
BRITNEY SPEARS wants to patch things up with Cletus because, as a source said, “She doesn‘t want everyone saying, 'I told you so.'” Could there be a better reason?
JOHNNY DEPP will have sex with an aardvark, if director Tim Burton wants him to do it.
BRADGELINA UPDATE: Pitt faces a stream of legal red tape in his attempt to adopt Jolie's kids that could be avoided if the two were married. Pitt is reportedly proposing daily, but Jolie is playing hard to get. Except at Peter Gabriel's charity concert, where she posed with some hottie who has a tattoo of Jolie on her butt.
LOHAN LOWDOWN: TRL is where she'd rather be. She's allergic to Regis and Kel-ly.
SIENNA MILLER has has cleaned out her wardrobe, because she is ashamed by the clothes she used to wear. Used to wear?
UMA THURMAN, still looking for a date, is letting it be known that she will consider a much younger man. And why not?
HARVEY PEKAR talks to the Boston Globe about his record collection, his new graphic novel, and life after American Splendor: “I was surprised. I just wanted to get paid. For the thing to actually be good blew my mind.”
ROB REINER won't run for governor in 2006, putting to rest rumors of a potential “Meathead vs. Terminator” showdown with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. We can still hope for Warren Beatty.
CHARLIZE THERON is a martial arts expert, which may be the only good thing coming out of her Aeon Flux episode.
IRAQ: Bill Roggio blogs the latest operation in Ramadi, noting that the results of the small scale offensives are still in question. The US military is curb prisoner abuse by Iraqis. Austin Bay looks at the backgrounder for President Bush's speech on reconstruction. The Washington Times used NEXIS to discover that major US newspapers have ignored progress in education and on the economy in Iraq. DC Democrats worry that recent comments by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and DNC Chairman Howard Dean could harm efforts to win control of Congress next year, but most are coalescing around a political plan that would allow Democrats to adjust their position as conditions in Iraq change — and fix public attention on Bush's policies rather the details of a Democratic alternative. Some Connecticut Democrats want to formally complain about Sen. Joe Lieberman finding improvements on his latest trip to Iraq.
SOMETHING ROTTEN IN DENMARK? The Danish Al-Aqsa Association has been charged with funding terrorism by channelling funds to Hamas. Some Danish Muslims refuse to eat traditional “Jewish” cookies because they feel offended by the name. The cinnamon and hazelnut treats actually have nothing particularly Jewish about them.
UK HONOR CRIMES: Sahjda Bibi, 21, was preparing to celebrate her wedding when her cousin stabbed her 22 times with a kitchen knife. A series of such gruesome killings has forced Britons to recognize that women are being murdered by relatives who believed they had brought shame on their families through their behavior or choice of boyfriend, husband or lover, often within the country's large ethnic Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani communities.
MYSTERY CREATURE UPDATE: Cryptomundo thinks the animal spotted on Borneo may match another “mystery creature” photographed by Malaysian wildlife specialists and has a guess as to what it actually is.
THE CANINE GENOME has been decoded, with scientists prepared to make detailed comparisons between breeds and with humans. Researchers hope to determine why owners end up resembling their pets.
THE DOGS OF WAR: Cpl. Justin D. Hamma, a dog handler with 2nd Military Police Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, was saved from a sniper attack by his sidekick Chang on Nov. 6.
DOGS will be able to get cellphones starting this March.
ARTHRITIC LION is treated with injections of gold pellets. Now that you mention it, I'm feeling a bit stiff myself…
A ONE-EYED DUCK probably shouldn't live on a golf course.
AN ORPHAN MOOSE CALF rescued after falling into a window well at a house has a new home with another orphaned moose calf at Yellowstone Bear World.
