Karl Bade 
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS score an impressive 8.5 for Love Kraft on the Pitchfork.
THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS' Twin Cinema is racking up raves most everywhere, looking at the round-up at Metacritic. The Onion's A.V. Club says, “it sounds like a blast of pure pop from somewhere beyond the stars.”
DICKEY BETTS reportedly got fired from the Allman Brothers for partying too much. He hasn't stopped.
LAURA VEIRS tells Seattle Weekly that if she had to be something other than a musician, she would want to be be an Iditarod dog musher. Why not a lumberjack?
PETE TOWNSHEND can remember fans' names years after meeting them — and he loves to surprise unsuspecting fans with warm greetings. Especially the younger ones. Okay, I made that last bit up… I think.
METAL MADNESS ensues when Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson and Sharon Osbourne start feuding.
PET POLITICS is the nom de rock of Magnus Larsson, who tells *Sixeyes that some of his favorite records are by Bonnie “Prince” Billy, the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Silver Jews, and Magnetic Fields. His stuff bears out those influences, with the exception of Sonic Youth. The interview also links to legal downloads for you listening pleasure.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: The troubled singer is supposedly back with galpal Kate Moss, so why is Moss moving to L.A., where she fled two months ago when she and Doherty briefly broke up.
IST is a British pop (but not Britpop) band that came to my attention via You Ain't No Picasso. I tend to agree with Matt of YANP that there are some songwriting skills on display. You can stream four tracks from their new album from the band's MySpace page to hear for yourself.
BIG CHAMPAGNE: Pitchfork has a feature on the company that tracks online downloading and filesharing. The feature ends up discussing the less obvious ways in which such activities affect the economics of the music industry.
KATRINA AND THE WAVES hit Florida this weekend (Thanks, Fark).
BRADGELINA UPDATE: Pitt and Jolie celebrated his divorce last weekend in Canada, where he is filming The Assassination Of Jesse James. Pitt, Jolie, her son and daughter took in a dinosaur exhibit at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Defamer reports sightings of Cruise clones around the set of Mission Impossible 3. Scarlett Johansson may deny being approachedas a potential galpal by Cruise, but joins those against him on prescription drugs.
LOHAN LOWDOWN: The teen actress is spotted dining with Bruce Willis, which will reignite those old rumors.
IRAQ: At Iraq the Model, Omar reported on bloody clashes in Najaf between the supporters of Muqtada Al-Sadr and the local authorities. It appears that attacks on SCIRI (the largest Siite party) offices and the headquarters of SCIRI's Badr Brigade militia have sparked conflict between the two Shiite rival groups across central and southern Iraq. Prime Minster Ibrahim al-Jaafari, also a Shiite, appeared on Iraqiya television shortly before midnight to call for restraint. Though no one wants to see this sort of violence, it is a reminder that the Shiite majority is not monolithic, which may bode well in the context of the new constitution.
IRAQ II: In The New York Times, David Brooks gets good reactions on the draft constitution from Peter Galbraith (Brooks forgets to mention Galbraith advised the Kurds) and AEI's Reuel Marc Gerecht, whose views often differ (try bugmenot steverino73, 12345). ALSO: Maj. Gen. Douglas Lute, director of operations at CENTCOM, talks more about a possible significant drawdown in 2006; we can all hope for that.
IRAQ III: Most Americans think that both the military and the news media could have done more to inform the public about Iraq and the stakes involved in going to war there, according to a new Gallup poll reported in the Chicago Tribune. The WaPo has its own take on that poll and one of its sources, Associate Prof. Cori Dauber, blogs further on it. Ironically, U.S. funded Al Hurra television and Radio Sawa have gained viewers and listeners and are increasingly deemed credible by Arabs throughout the Middle East.
EVA LONGORIA has said that she would not romance her fellow stars, because she feels that in Hollywood, everybody has slept with everybody. Wasn't Tommy Lee spotted stumbling out of her hotel room at 3:30 a.m. the other day?
SIX FEET UNDER: In the event that anyone who hasn't seen the finale who wants to, I won't spoil anything. But if you saw the end and want to know even more, check TV Squad.
WHEN WILL CELEB WEEKLIES' BUBBLE BURST? Inquiring minds at Business 2.0 want to know.
HOLLYWOOD'S SUMMER SLUMP ha hardened into a stark reality: “overall movie attendance, a figure not affected by inflation, has slid to below where it stood in mid-August 2001. DVD sales, while still robust, are no longer rising exponentially, and some analysts say that a poor box office performance this summer will lead to poor DVD sales this winter. With billions of dollars at stake, nerves are growing understandably frayed.”
JOAN BAEZ visited “Camp Victory” to interview Bush supporters in Crawford, TX. The Buzz blog at National Review online reports: “To Ms. Baez’s credit, she was quite respectful and diplomatic when talking with the supporters, even though they have very different views on the war and President Bush.” Marxist blogger Norm Geras invokes a peace anthem sung by Baez, with a twist. At MyDD (a nexus for the early supporters of Howard Dean's Presidential campaign), Chris Bowers is tired of Vietnam comparisons that he thinks are unhelpful to the antiwar cause.
EGYPTIAN BLOGGERS are leading antigovernment protests. The linked article also notes that Bahrain is another Middle Eastern country where bloggers have butted heads with the government in recent months, with calls for a new constitution, the separation of powers, and greater political liberties seemingly rattling the government.
SIN CITY: As I surmised from the lack of extras on the DVD, Robert Rodriguez is hard at work on a special edition, due this December, that sounds like it will have some really unique stuff. Also, it appears that the sequel will start shooting in January.
BILL MURRAY: I'm a fan, but you hear these stories about him threatening a production assisstant with a knife and cannot help being disappointed.
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE: Keanu Reeves has dumped his girlfriend to start dating Diane Keaton.
SEAN PENN meets with Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Ayatollah and wonders what yardstick defines Iran as a terrorist-supporting nation, yet dismisses such a claim against the United States. Aside from the U.S. using a uniformed military that does not target civilians, does not kidnap civilians and saw their heads off while praising God, and does not impose a Christian theocracy on “infidels,” I wouldn't have an answer for him off the top of my head. Did Sean learn nothing from Mr. Hand?
OSAMA BIN LADEN reportedly injured in Afghanistan, fwiw. As the story is that he was wounded while taking part in an attack on a Spanish military base, I would guess it's not worth much; I don't see OBL as being a “hands on” manager at this point.
ASSASSINATION: Given the general uproar (myself included) over the Rev. Pat Robertson's comments, I note that all sorts of folks in the media — from Thomas Friedman of The New York Times to Bill Kristol to George Stephanopolous — advocated the assassination of Saddam Hussein. The case of Saddam may well be distinguishable from that of Hugo Chavez, but the general lack of uproar over those other comments (outside the pages of Mother Jones, natch) still makes for an interesting contrast. Perhaps MoJo's Eric Umansky had it right in noting that “The press, of course, has the distinct advantage that nobody really follows their policy suggestions anyway, so their advice doesn't have to be diplomatic, or even legal…”
CULT OF THE iPod: In The New Republic, Michael Crowley argues that the iPod is the rock snob's dream and nightmare. Ladies can now carry their Pod in Kate Spade's new line of cases.
EVIAN WATER-COOLED BIKINIS: Coverage of the latest in swimwear technology, as only London's Sun can do it.
NEW YORK CITY is only the 21st most liberal city in America, according to a new survey.
THE BLOB is threatening some of Canada's richest fishing grounds.
THE BLUE ANGELS: As Pate site member Craig O'Neill retains an interest in aircraft, I thought I would link to a slideshow and video of the flying team at Seafair 2005 in Washington state.
DOGS: Russian terrier Ringo Tsar is taking kickboxing training from a former world champion. Lhasa Apsos have a £300 birthday party, complete with a “bouncy castle.” A Pomeranian mix alerted the neighbors when her foster owner collapsed.
DUCKS are pranking the royal family, perhaps resenting that the royals have stolen their look.
L.A. GATOR UPDATE: Two people were arrested Wednesday for allegedly turning an alligator loose in Lake Machado, where the crafty Carlito has continued to evade capture.
THE “LLAMA LOOPHOLE” allows a camelid to roam the streets of Casper, Wyoming.
