THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:
FRIDAY TIMEWASTER: There are 75 bands hidden in the picture above, which can be downloaded at wallpaper sizes from Virgin Digital. I'll link to the answers on Monday.
DAVID BYRNE got a warning from the RIAA for streaming too much Missy Elliot from his website.
BUILDING A HARP: String Theory, a Los Angeles-based trio of musicians, is turning a new office building into a gigantic harp. David Byrne already turned a building into an organ.
NELLIE McKAY had a bit of a meltdown onstage in L.A. Tuesday night.
QUEEN is touring the US with Paul Rodgers this Spring. Tickets start going onsale Saturday. There's a St. Paul date with Mike Kelly's name on it.
SEASON OF THE LIST: Largehearted Boy posts his eleven favorites of 2005, presumably because it's one more than ten. The Hype Machine MP3 blog aggregator aggregates a top 52 of 2005. The staff at The Big Take-Over offers up their individual Top Tens. VodkaPundit offers a list of 50 Things You Ought to Have on Your Christmas Playlist. BONUS: The Brothers Judd have compiled a list of book lists.
IS THE NME “BEST OF 2005” POLL DOCTORED? That's what the Londonist blog claims, with The Arcade Fire being bumped from the top slot, bands like New Order disappearing and acts like Babyshambles and Madonna artificially boosted.
THE WHITE STRIPES have exclusive performances at VH1's site.
MORRISSEY explains his side of the royalty dispute with M Joyce. Sounds like a Smiths reunion is unlikely.
GARY GLITTER: Scott at Sterogum makes quote of the week on the ex-glam rocker's arrest on child molestation charges.
THE CLASS OF '05: In the L.A. Weekly: “The year 2005 marked a clear shift from the era of airwaves to the era of iPods. The digital landscape has been laid; the critical apparatus necessary to govern its borders is settling into place. It’s a hierarchy of Web zines, MP3 blogs, podcasts, and message boards with peculiar names like Music for Robots, Coolfer, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan and Tracks Up the Tree…”
U2 and THE ARCADE FIRE: Speaking of which, Brooklyn Vegan points you to the video of the two bands joining for a cover of Joy Division's “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The troubled singer confirms that the shamed supermodel has dumped him after he skipped out on drug rehab she paid for, but claims the real reasons are his relative lack of wealth and anatomy. He's already been arrested on suspicion of possessing crack. And he reportedly tried to roll what police believe to be a joint while waiting to be questioned. Meanwhile, Moss is on track to triple her earnings next year.
GARFLECK GIVES BIRTH: Us Weekly broke the story that Jennifer Garner had her labor induced at an L.A. hospital Wednesday night. Garner and Ben Affleck were planning on naming the baby girl Violet, which bucks the trend of completely absurd celeb baby names.
JACKO: Traces of cocaine were found on Jacko’s underwear during a police raid, as cops investigate allegations by former aides that Jacko is abusing and trafficking in anti-depressants and painkillers. Meanwhile, ex-wife Debbie Rowe has hit out at allegations she told an Irish newspaper the pop superstar was not the natural father of their children. Shockingly, lawyers are involved.
MITZVAHPALOOZA UPDATE: The Long Island bullet-proof vest tycoon who spent ten million bucks for his daughter's star-studded bat mitzvah bash on Saturday, is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. His company has been the subject of several class-action suits stemming from a government recall of its body armor.
WENDIE JO SPERBER, who starred alongside Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari in the hit '80s sitcom Bosom Buddies, passed away Tuesday evening after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 46.
ANNA NICOLE SMITH: on a Friday, it's always good to have a video reminder of the foolishness of overdoing the party favors.
EX-CREED frontman Scott Stapp was less than Christian at a taping of the Spike TV show Casino Cinema on Tuesday afternoon.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY seems resigned to plastic surgery: “In five years' time I will probably already be past it and having Botox, face-lifts, nose jobs and false hair.” How will Kate Winslet compete? (BTW, Kate's doing alright so far.)
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: The trailer for Dead Man's Chest is online in multiple formats at Yahoo.
PORN STARS make big bucks moonlighting as “escorts.” Who'da thunkit?
NICOLE KIDMAN and KEITH URBAN are not engaged; they are just friends whose familes spend Thanksgiving together. Nothing to see here… move along.
JESSICA SIMPSON is the one who didn't want a prenup? That's tasty frosting on your schadenfreude…
CLARE DANES: Undoubtedly scratched from Tom Cruise's list of future fiancees.
AEON FLUX is the only big movie opening this weekend. Paramount won't screen the flick for the press, which is not exactly a vote of confidence, is it?
IRAQ: Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), who created a storm of comment when he called for US troops to leave Iraq now, says the Army is “broken, worn out” and “living hand to mouth,” and that the Iraqis know who the insurgents are, but don't always share that information with US troops. Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, claims that coalition and Iraqi forces are receiving nearly 10 times the number of tips from Iraqis than were coming in just a few months ago. Maj. Gen. Mark Lynch, while warning of attacks in advance of the Dec. 15 elections, says that U.S. and Iraqi operations along the Syrian border have resulted in a significant drop in suicide bombings — the lowest in seven months — along with a reduction in car bombs and roadside bombs, resulting in a 34 percent reduction in overall casualties. Bill Roggio blogs from near the Syrian border about the Sulemani tribe — which sided with al-Qaeda and the insurgency over the summer — meeting with local Sheiks and the US military, as well as the performance of Iraqi troops on a misison in the area. And a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Wednesday night found that 55 percent of adults said they did not believe President Bush has a plan for victory in Iraq and 67 percent had not heard or read news coverage of Bush's speech on the subject.
PROPAGANDA: The White House and Sens. John Warner and Ted Kennedy are “very concerned” over a US military program that paid Iraqi newspapers and journalists to plant favorable — though apparently factual — stories about the war and rebuilding effort. No word on whether any of them are as concerned about the AP and Reuters running bogus enemy propaganda as news, as they have done before. And the insurgents didn't even have to pay for it.
EDU-BLOGGING: The 43rd Carnival Of Education is online. I think I forgot to link the 42nd Carnival, so there it is.
NANOTECH: Instapundit notes that the legal risks of nanotech are probably larger than the actual risks.
COW FLATULENCE CURE may curb greenhouse gas emissions.
MAN-SIZED SCORPION roamed Scotland 330 million years ago.
GOLDFISH have memories longer than a few seconds, which answers a question that came up at my family's Thanksgiving dinner.
RUSSIAN SQUIRREL PACK bit to death a stray dog which was barking at them in a Lazo park.
WHOOPING CRANES grounded by high winds in Tennessee are now resuming their migration to south Florida, but will miss the early-bird special.
SWORDFISH skewers an Israeli fisherman, right in the face.
DOG rescued from wombat burrow in New South Wales.