Karl Bade THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE…
FRIDAY TIMEWASTER: Bugs. Cute. Potentially addictive.
THE SPINTO BAND is releasing a new single. I've only mentioned them once before, but they did turn up on a number of “best of” lists, for reasons you can hear at MySpace or at their website.
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS have set an April 25 release date for A Blessing and a Curse. The Replacements-esque “Feb. 14” is streaming at the album site.
INDIE YUPPIES: London's Independent has a UK-centric quiz asking Are you a Yindie?
PAUL STANLEY of KISS wants to rock 'n' roll all night, but the hip replacement surgery didn't do the trick.
LOOKING AHEAD: Seattle U's Spectator lists Ten Most Anticipated Albums of 2006.
THE NEW PANTHEON AWARDS, which continues the mission of the now-defunct Shortlist Prize in recognizing noteworthy albums that have sold less than 500,000 copies in the US, has announced the ten finalists, including Animal Collective's Feels, the Decemberists' Picaresque and Sufjan Stevens' Illinois. The judges include Elton John and Frodo Baggins.
THE BOY LEAST LIKELY TO was SPIN Band of the Day yesterday, complete with a Quicktime video. If you check out the tracks at MySpace, you'll find a description: “Strongly influenced by the independent bands of the 1980s, the songs bring to mind the post punk playfulness of Altered Images, Aztec Camera, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, and Orange Juice.” To which I would add, “Except better.”
THE GO! TEAM captain Ian Parton is more resistant to commercialism than one might guess just from listenting to the band.
THE ARCTIC MONKEYS: Rolling Stone finally figures out that there's this exciting new band from the UK…
WE ARE SCIENTISTS and MORNINGWOOD released albums this week, so Coolfer Glenn decided to graph their blog buzz as compared to Nickelback. You Ain't No Picasso interviews W.A.S. frontman Keith Murray, who explains how the band got its name.
KCRW, home of Morning Becomes Eclectic, is now offering it as a video podcast.
JASON COLLETT, part of the Broken Social Scene thingamabob, talks about his solo album and the rise of his label, Arts & Crafts.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: The troubled singer followed up his guilty plea to drug possession by failing to show up at a gig that night.
CULT OF THE iPod: Boing-Boing reports that an Apple “spokesman” (reliable word has it that it was Steve Jobs himself) told MacWorld that Apple discards the personal information that the iTunes MiniStore transmits to Apple while you use iTunes.
TALK ABOUT THE PASSION: The prevalence of digital music has dulled listeners' senses and instilled in them a sense of music apathy, according to a new study from the University of Leicester.
MY SPACE: Rupert Murdoch plans to turn MySpace into a full-fledged competitor to portals such as Yahoo, adding free video downloads, revamping an instant-messaging program and eventually offering internet calling to the social-networking website. Meanwhile, the MySpace legal team has sent out Cease & Desist letters to the owners of domain names and web sites which use the MySpace name.
SONY XCP SUIT SETTLES: Millions of people look set to get free downloads from Sony BMG after a judge provisionally approved a settlement for many lawsuits against the music maker. However, still pending are legal cases mounted by several US states over Sony BMG's anti-piracy technology.
LINDSAY LOHAN and KATE MOSS: After visiting the Dark Room and lauching a childish and (no longer) anonymous attack on Scarlett Johannson, the duo went to Scores and ended up pole-dancing and kissing each other.
SCARLETT JOHANNSON inexplicably dished on her Match Point co-star Jonathan Rhys-Meyers: “I can say for sure I never had a passionate encounter with him. He's a really sexy, brooding guy, but he's very gossipy. He likes shoes, and it was like having a girlfriend on the set.” NTTAWWT. No wonder he's blabbing about staring at her during the nude scenes.
NOW SHOWING: The gay caballeros open wide today. Other debuts scoring well on the Tomatometer include Queen Latifah's Last Holiday and Glory Road, which scores Fresh with the “cream of the crop,” but Rotten overall. Are you ready for some football?
CAMBERLAKE: E! gossip Ted Casablance reports that Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake are officially engaged.
JACK BLACK also got engaged to his girlfriend, animator Tanya Haden.
JESSICA SIMPSON has found an unusual confidante to help her cope with her split from hubby Nick Lachey… Warren Beatty. Various websites are asking whether Jessica has a shiner.
BRADGELINA: I'm fairly sure People magazine would be mad if you read their exclusive pregnancy story (as scanned pages with pics) on the 'net, so they should hire somebody to chase these things down. The New York Daily News front page coverage includes an “Open letter to Jennifer Aniston.” Extra reported that Aniston's publicist says, “All the reports about phone calls between Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie are all made up lies.” But the Jolie one is really funny. The phone call from Maddox Jolie-Pitt is pretty good, too. Golden Fiddle has the must-read prediction of where the story goes next.
JENNIFER ANNISTON and GWYNETH PALTROW deny reports that they Brad-bash on the phone together.
SIENNA MILLER has words for the nanny who had an affair with then-fiancé Jude Law: “I'm quite looking forward to the day when our paths will cross, which I know they will. She better live in fear.”
CELEBRITY POTHEADS will be hot in 2006, according to CityRag, which helpfully provides a list and incriminating photos. It's like an all-hophead issue of Hush-Hush magazine.
GEORGE CLOONEY and LUCY LIU caught canoodling again on New Year's Eve.
SEAN PENN is having a hard time quitting smoking. And he blames Pres. Bush, natch.
V FOR VENDETTA: The upcoming — and likely controversial — movie starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving was written by Larry and Andy Wachowski (the Matrix trilogy), but is not officially directed by them, as Warner Bros. fears media coverage of Larry dumping his wife for a famous dominatrix and rumors of a gender change.
IRAQ: The US is intensifying efforts to both train and diversify Iraqi police forces. Terrorists will likely attempt to derail the formation of a national unity government. The New York Times (via the IHT) covers the clashes between al Qaeda and local insurgents by interviewing the latter. Bill Roggio has more background on the “red-on-red” fighting.
IRAN: The removal of the IAEA seals from its Natanz uranium enrichment plant is so troubling that Russia signalled that it would support a move by the US and European allies to report Teheran to the UN for breaching its nuclear obligations. However, no such move would result in sanctions without the support or acquiescence of China, which remains uncertain. That would explain Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice downplaying the possiblity of sanctions. Meanwhile, at the Counterterrorism Blog, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross wonders whether an Iranian military plane crash that killed eleven top commanders in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps was due to foul play — and, if so, by whom.
ALITO HEARINGS: Sen. Joe Biden thinks that Supreme Court nominees answer so few questions at their Senate confirmation hearings that the hearings should probably be abandoned. He's got a point, though Alito has been more forthcoming than Roberts. And while Biden is generally a fair and serious guy, he is the worst possible messenger here — both the New York Times and Fox News Channel did analysis showing that Biden monologued through 75 percent of his allotted time, which was more than any of his colleagues.
GLOW-IN-THE-DARK PIGS: Taiwan, home to the world's first transgenic glowing fish, has successfully bred fluorescent green pigs that researchers hope will boost the island's stem cell research. Do you like eggs and green ham? I do not like them, unless Jesse Jackson is offering…
THREE (NEARLY) BLIND PENGUINS, see how they march after a morning of cataract surgery.
DEER are on the rampage again, busting into a school in Kansas and a video store in Indiana. Got Bambi?
THE BIRDS killed one of the most important human ancestors, according to the latest scientific study.
THE HUNTSMAN SPIDER: Kicking one can be hazardous to your health.
MARY POPPINS is the name of the Tell-tale cat.
