Karl 
BIG STAR: The much-anticipated In Space is not faring well with the critics.
METACRITIC: So, what is faring well with the critics? As the third quarter draws to the close, check Metacritic's Best of 2005 (so far).
ON THE PITCHFORK: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals' Jacksonville City Nights rates a snarky 7.7: “You could be forgiven for not noticing, but earlier this year Adams started writing good songs again. I know!” Rhino's Just Say Sire box set gets a mere 6.7, but it seems to be based on knocking down a straw man, imho. But the UK reissue of Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea scores a perfect 10.0.
CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH and THE NATIONAL: A Billboard review of the bill at Schuba's (which I had to miss) suggests the latter was better than the former, though it's clear the revewer didn't care much for CYHSY in the first place. You can listen to or watch The National at Beggars Banquet.
BOB DYLAN: More UK backlash: Bob Dylan: a poet and a poseur. A sample graf: “We live in a world run by people who came to consciousness during pop's 1960s golden age. Often significantly younger than Dylan, they not only understand the iconic significance of the Fender Stratocaster guitar, they actually own one. It's hardly surprising, then, that the new film's 'lost footage' from Dylan's crucial mid-1960s period should have created excitement. Yet there's something about our 'air guitar' establishment's endless valorisation of the sounds of its youth that is slightly creepy.”
THE FLAMING LIPS are bringing out the guitars for At War With the Mystics, due early next year.
THE WHITE STRIPES, THE SHINS and M WARD: Each set from the September 27 triple-bill at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, is streamable from NPR. The White Stripes cover Dolly Parton, Burt Bacharach and Blind Willie McTell.
FIERY FURNACES: Seattle Weekly previews Rehearsing My Choir, which features Olga Sarantos, the duo's grandmother.
THE HOLD STEADY will play unplugged during seventh period in Littleton, Colorado's Littleton High School gymnasium.
BORN TO RUN AGAIN: In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's breakthrough 1975 album, Columbia is prepping a box set that will include two DVDs along with a version of the album newly remastered by Bob Ludwig.
eMUSIC MAGAZINE: The online service launches a hub with Michael Azerrad, author of the wonderful Our Band Could Be Your Life as EIC, with help from Kurt Loder, Harvey Pekar, Neal Pollack and Thurston Moore.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: British TV channel Sky one plans to air a documentary next week showing Moss snorting coke. Moss' friends have her on suicide watch. But maybe it really doesn't bother her. Or maybe sh'es devastated and plans to leave Britain. Right now, she's taking a “short-term” break from the public eye and her modelling jobs. Will she take a five million dollar contract from an online gambling company? NME has details of the upcoming disc from Doherty's band Babyshambles. And Pete, the barn door is open.
OZZY OSBOURNE tops Jude Law, as wife Sharon reveals that he was caught in bed with the nanny on the night their son Jack was born.
NEIL YOUNG: Rarities. Killing music.
DELTA BLUES REVIVAL: Tragedy + Time = The Onion.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise lecture series linked here yesterday is a hoax. Cruise is furious He wants to find out who is behind it and jump on their couch!
BENNIFER 2.0: Garner let slip that it's a girl on The Tonight Show. Proof that she's not a super-spy; she just plays one on TV.
ALEC BALDWIN and KIM BASINGER renew their child custody battle. They should put this on CourtTV — my pitch would be that it's The War of the Roses meets Irreconcilable Differences. And yes, that's a high-concept Player allusion.
TARA REID reflects on the reaction to her wardrobe malfunction: “People act like it was the worst crime in the world. It was a mistake, you know! But you would think my boob had popped out and shot Gandhi!” She assured FHM magazine, “My hooters are under control.”
LI-LO is set to bare all for an upcoming Vanity Fair cover, which people might buy, now that she's off the Skeletor diet.
HILLARY DUFF, otoh, is still on the Skeletor diet and will be an anti-obesity campaign to encourage kids to eat right and exercise.
JESSICA ALBA is giving her boyfriend a stranger in the bedroom. Her new movie, Into the Blue gets a “C” from Entertainment Weekly: “In the far-off days of the early James Bond films, underwater action sequences had a hip tranquillity — a lyrical zing… The closest that Into the Blue comes to that old '60s lyricism is to feature Jessica Alba, in all her tawny, rope-muscled glory, slithering through the crystal blue waves of the Bahamas…”
SERENITY, the movie spin-off from the late Firefly, is doing pretty good on the Tomatometer. Perhaps more interesting is the studio's courtship of bloggers which appears to be paying off.
IS THIS THE RIGHT ROOM FOR AN ARGUMENT? Amazon is running a poll of favorite Monty Python moments, with streaming clips.
PRODUCT PLACEMENT: The Writers Guild of America is protesting. And so far McDonald's ain't lovin' it, either.
GEORGE CLOONEY has recurring nightmares that he is playing Batman again. This is something he has in common with most Bat-fans.
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS: The DVD and a childrens book drop in November, just in time for the holidays.
JESSICA SIMPSON getting drinky a lot lately. Sometimes with her husband, sometimes Johnny Knoxville. Sometimes needing to hang on to a restaurant staffer to “stop swaying around.” I imagine she has center of gravity issues.
CULT OF THE iPod: In response to complaints made by a website, Apple admits some Nanos have screen problems and promises free replacements.
GLOBAL WARMING passes the point of no return, so go get that new Hummer. Gas prices too high, you say? Don't sweat it; a trillion barrels of oil might be recovered from Colorado oil shale deposits.
POURING THE PERFECT BEER through science. Unsurprisingly, the company behind the TurboTap is based in the Windy City.
IRAQ: Rill Roggio has much more on Operation Hunter (or Sayaid), noting that gloomy press reports of suicide bombs in Baghdad and Al Qaeda gaining control of five towns near the Syrian border overlook the degree to which the insurgency is being driven westward.
HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER TOM DeLAY was indicted in an alleged criminal conspiracy designed to subvert Texas campaign finance laws. You can read the indictment — a mere four pages — at The Smoking Gun, where you will find very little about what Travis County DA thinks DeLay actually did. Most legal experts looking at the indictment said Wednesday that either an insider has turned against DeLay or the prosecutor may have gone too far. As Earle has suffered big defeats in cases he brought against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), and then-Attorney General Jim Mattox (D), I wouldn't start measuring the Hammer for a jumpsuit just yet. BTW, the indictments against the corporations allegedly involved have been dismissed by Earle under a quite unusual agreement.
BABY AARDVARK debuts in Omaha. Listen, my friend!
HURRICANE KATRINA: Pet rescues are featured at Animal Planet
DUGONGS living in the waters off Malaysia's south coast will be fitted with electronic tags as part of efforts to create sanctuaries for the endangered species.
A FIVE-TON PLATYPUS that was a star attraction at this year's World Expo in Japan has been sold for more than 60K. Yes, it's fake.
ROBOT may have discovered a mythic ten billion dollar treasure trove on the islands that inspired the novel about castaway Robinson Crusoe.
