Karl 
WE ARE SCIENTISTS bassist Chris Cain says of the band's buzz: “It's gotta be the cats.” Frontman Keith Murrary has more of the difference between the US and the UK: “Here, our reviews recognize the fact that we lean towards radio-friendly, hooky tones, but we’re essentially a weird, indie version of that. Whereas over there we might as well be the Spice Girls in terms of how mainstream we are. They tend to fetishize the indie rock bands and make rock stars out of them more so than we do over here.” If you scroll down a couple of entries, you'll find links to streams and downloads… or you could watch their recent appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.
SPARKS has a new album coming in March, with help from members of Faith No More and Red Kross.
LESLIE FEIST is big in France and recording her next album in Berlin, but is “grateful to be a Canadian.” You can hear about how Feist got her foothold in Europe by listening to the BBC World profile at her website.
PATTERSON HOOD: The Drive-By Truckers frontman gave a guest lecture to the inaugural class of the Music Business Certificate program at the U of Georgia. He has also penned glowing liner notes for the upcoming Centro-matic album.
DAVE GROHL: The Foo Fighter is to become a dad in the Spring.
THE STROKES: Looks like frontman Julian Casablancas picked the right week to stop drinking.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: The troubled singer pleaded guilty to possessing heroin and cocaine. He could do jail time.
TOTALLY GAY: Sony Music is launching the first major music label dedicated to nurturing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender artists. NTTAWWT. After all, gay recording artists are underrepresented in the industry.
MY MORNING JACKET: Z gets a belated and enomous review from Jon Dolan in the Village Voice: “Unlike the Drive-By Truckers or Bubba Sparxxx, James doesn't care enough about the roots he's tugging at to dig for an organic identity; one day in 1993 someone at a Rodan show yelled, 'Play “Free Bird,”' Jim nodded, and 10 years later he's a mid-level rock star. His secret is that he wouldn't know Lester Maddox from Let's Active…” You can hear tracks from the album at MySpace.
BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO METAL, courtesy of Stylus magazine.
MORRISSEY: Go to Stereogum for the track list of his upcoming CD, but stay for the fake Morrissey song titles.
BRADGELINA: Officially pregnant. Jolie told a charity aid worker in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Monday; the pregnancy has since been confirmed to People magazine by representatives of both stars. E! gossip Ted Casablanca lends support to yesterday's “Brad had to call Jennifer Aniston” rumor, along with some Vaughniston dish.
COLIN FARRELL sex tape website was reportedly shut down Tuesday for violating a court order blocking release of the 15-minute video. But the site's tech consultant told Jossip that the server crashed from high traffic and that he had “not received any legal representations from any party.”
LINDSAY LOHAN and KATE MOSS were spotted in the Dark Room, where Li-Lo resumed her role from Mean Girls in the bathroom.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN actress Michelle Williams notes that husband and costar Heath Ledger doesn't have breasts, which certainly would have put an extra twist on the movie. Meanwhile, Ledger has lashed out at the US theaters that banned the movie, though his swipe at West Virginia displayed a dubious grasp of US history: “I heard a while ago that West Virginia was going to ban it but that’s a state that was lynching people only 25 years ago so that’s to be expected.”
JESSICA SIMPSON hubby Nick Lachey is looking for a girl who looks like Jessica Alba, likes sports, has had fewer than ten sexual partners and likes his music. And I'll bet I find her first, because she's more likely to like my music.
JESSICA ALBA herself is already taken, as the latest round of beach pictures demonstrates.
WHITNEY HOUSTON: How's the rehab going?
BEN AFFLECK and MATT DAMON are rumored to be remaking Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They should know better than to make Capt. Lex mad…
HILARY SWANK caught canoodling with a new guy the day after her separation went public?
THE NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW named Good Night, and Good Luck best film, with Philip Seymour Hoffman winning best actor and Felicity Huffman taking best actress.
OPRAH may be silent about touting a memoir full of exaggeration and inaccuracies, but Random House is offering a refund.
JAMES BOND can't land a woman. Is anyone surprised? With his reputation?
LIZ HURLEY may make her own wedding dress or buy it from a department store. And is studying pig breeding for her future career as a farmer.
CULT OF THE iPod: Is iTunes spying on your listening?
IRAQ: Military officials told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a closed-door hearing that improvements to the body armor worn by the troops are underway and manufacture of the beefed-up armor will begin soon. Let's hope this isn't driven by politics. J.D. Johannes, a documentarian who embedded reporter with the 24th Marine Reserve Regiment, writes on his experience with body armor. So does Baghdad Guy, who is deployed with the 101st Airborne Division, and 1LT Micah J. Garrison, who serves in the infantry.
AFGHANISTAN: A new poll reveals that huge majorities reject Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, approve the US military role in their country and are grateful to international bodies like the UN.
NSA SURVEILLANCE: The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll and the ABC News/Washington Post poll find the country split over warrantless surveillance by the NSA. The latter poll also found that 65 percent say it's more important for the government to investigate terrorism than for it to protect privacy and as many say they're worried that Pres. Bush will not do enough to investigate terrorism as are worried that he'll go too far in compromising constitutional rights.
FUGITIVE COW UPDATE: Molly, who escaped an abattoir last week, will be spared following a wave of popular support. Town residents will now decide through a telephone poll whether the cow will remain a resident of Montana, where it will live out its life on pastureland surrounding the packing plant, or be shipped to an animal sanctuary in Seattle. And Molly may be pregnant.
OTHER COWS are not as fortunate, as they are bought at Indonesian ATM machines as part of Eid al-Adha, the Islamic day of sacrifice. However, in Turkey, some of the sacrificial cattle made a break for it.
FLAMING MOUSE UPDATE: Although 81-year-old Luciano Mares told an Albuquerque television station that a strong wind spread burning leaves that cause fire to consume his house, he and his nephew are again standing by his original version that a mouse was the culprit.
MIRACLE CAT UPDATE: So the flaming mouse story is back on, but the cat clinging under a SUV on the NJ turnpike story may have been a wee bit embellished…
EVEN HAMSTERS get the blues.
