Karl THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:
What's that I'm listening to? It's the new Belle & Sebastian — The Life Pursuit is streaming broadband at SceneStars. It’s a little more groovy than usual.
FRIDAY TIMEWASTER: Duck Hunt 1945 pits you against Nazis… and ducks!
ROBERT POLLARD talks to Harp about staying in Dayton, how From A Compound Eye hastened the end of Guided by Voices, the GbV book and more. The UGA Red and Black preview of Bob's solo tour brings out my inner curmedgeon: “Evans, who has been to a Guided By Voices show but didn’t stay the entire time, plans on sticking his head in to check out Pollard. 'They usually play for like three or four hours,' he said. 'I couldn’t stand for that long so I left early. Three hours is just ridiculous.'”
WHAT IS INDIE MUSIC? PopMatters mulls it over.
WILCO : Hunks of the upcoming tour are now on presale.
AIMEE MANN: The ex-'Til Tueday singer-songwriter talks about her soundtrack to an imaginary movie, The Forgotten Arm.
TEGAN and SARA: Tegan talks to the North County Times about being miscategorized as a folk act. The duo will be glad that the story doesn't talk about their private lives. NTTAWWT.
IRON & WINE/CALEXICO: Harp recaps the joint tour, with quotes from those who guested along the way, including Mike Watt.
FLAMING LIPS have a new track, The W.A.N.D. streaming in Quicktime and ASX formats. It's a bit funkier and guitar-driven than some of the band's recent albums.
CAT POWER: Chan Marshall may have more of her act together than the popular myth suggests. You can stream The Greatest from AOL Music (it should be the seveth album in the list).
NEKO CASE has a lovely advance track from Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, “Star Witness,” available for download.
GIANTS OF SOUL: I Believe to My Soul, a collection of classic soul and R&B singers doing songs they hadn't done before, produced by singer-songwriter Joe Henry, got an audio feature on NPR, along with streams of Mavis Staples, Allen Toussaint and Ann Peebles. Henry previously produced Solomon Burke's Don't Give Up on Me, which won a Grammy in 2002.
ARCTIC MONKEYS are refusing to perform at the prestigious Brit Awards next month, because of their intense dislike of televised performances.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: Another day, another arrest on suspcision of possessing Class A drugs. Doherty has been released from police custody, though why is a mystery.
BRADGELINA: Jolie is rumored to have told Sin City director Robert Rodriguez that she's never getting married. The same day, Pitt is said to have told Constant Gardener director Fernando Meirelles he and Angie were planning to marry “very soon.” Angie, if he loves you more than me, maybe it's the best thing. Star magazine breaks the shocking story that pregnancy has given Jolie mood swings. The duo top a new list of bad-skinned celebrities. Meanwhile, Mr. & Mrs. Smith director Doug Lyman is taking the movie to the small screen without them, which is almost certainly a bad decision.
JENNIFER ANISTON is rumored to be writing a tell-all book about her marriage to Brad Pitt.
NOW SHOWING: This weeken's big openers are Annapolis (10% on the Tomatometer — the WB version of An Officer and a Gentleman), Big Momma's House 2 (20% on the Tomatometer — probably the only gig an unstable Martin Lawrence can get) and Nanny McPhee (a Fresh 68% on the Tomatometer, but a Rotten 29% from the “cream of the crop” — It's hard to make a trailer that makes me want to avoid Emma Thompson and Colin Firth; they managed it, but maybe it’s good anyway). Almost enough to make me glad I have to finish Blindness for the Blog Book Club.
AWARDS SEASON: With Oscar noms coming next week, The Envelope has predictions for the Directors Guild of America Awards on Saturday and the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday.
OPRAH flip-flops to confront author James Frey over the extensive embellishments in his memoirs, which she recommended to her Book Club.
JESSICA SIMPSON: Popsugar thinks she may have been caught doing the walk of shame. Judge the pics for yourself.
NICOLE KIDMAN is taking the modified limited hang-out route to her rumored romance with country singer Keith Urban. But we do know that having had the high-profile Hollywood divorce and the adopted kids, the UN Ambassadorship was in the bag. Glamorizing the UN in The Interpreter was frosting on the cake.
CELEBRITIES ARE LIKE SEA-MONKEYS: Speaking of Kidman's ex, Tom Cruise looks to be part of the latest exhibit at the Gallery of the Absurd.
THANDIE NEWTON is reported to be the new Bond girl. Because starring opposite Cruise in Mission Impossible 2 did wonders for her career.
KIEFER SUTHERLAND: It's looking more and more like saving the world in 24 hours leads to plenty of drinking and odd behavior in bars.
LISA LOEB talks about her decision to do the #1 Single reality show.
ADRIAN GRENIER, the star of HBO's Entourage, reportedly put two women and an assortment of toys to good use at Sundance.
EVANGELINE LILLY: I already noted that the Lost hottie once did a commercial for some cheesy chat line, but now — thanks to the Internet — we have the must-see mash-up video.
IRAQ: Bill Roggio notes that a demonstration in Samarra is the latest evidence of the growing split between the Sunni Arabs and al Qaeda. The No. 2 official in Saddam's air force says Iraq moved WMDs into Syria before the war by loading the weapons into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed. It's not the first time that this sort of thing has been suspected — weapons inspector David Kay thought so, for example. The man now making the claim, former Gen. Georges Sada, has a fascinating backstory.
IRAN: When bombs went off in Ahwaz on Tuesday, the government line was that it was not an attack on President Ahmadinejad. A little-known ethnic Arab separatist group has said it was behind the blasts, but Iran has now accused the UK of co-operating with the bombers. British officials have denied any involvement. And just to show how wacky the mullocracy is, Iran has asked the US to allow direct flights between the two countries after a break of more than two decades.
ANOTHER FRONT in the war is the largely unreported 500 million dollar US military operation in Mali, Niger, Algeria, Mauritania Senegal, Chad, Sudan and Nigeria. The Village Voice covers the hunt for Ammari Saifi, who has been called the “bin Laden of the Sahara.”
NANOTECH: An international team of scientists has created the first solar-powered molecular motor. Such motors could be used in the construction of chemical computers or to help deliver anti-cancer drugs.
EDU-BLOGGING: The 51st Carnival of Education is online.
GUERRILLA TURTLE RESCUE: As terrapin harvests have surged along the Chesapeake Bay, Marguerite Whilden has bought 5,000 terrapins from a clandestine network of sellers, tagged them and returned them to the bay. (Thanks, Debbie)
PAW-ROOM DANCING: Dancing with dogs, also known as musical canine freestyle to enthusiasts, might make some people roll their eyes. But it's a growing pastime that has thousands of devotees worldwide. (Thanks again, Debbie)
KAUAI WOLF SPIDERS: For the first time ever, Hawaii scientists snapped a baby Kauai wolf spider being carried on its mother's interlocking back hairs.
NICE BEAVER! Thank you. I just had it stuffed.
