BUSTER POINDEXTER joins ARCADE FIRE in Brooklyn for "Hot Hot Hot" after the band syncs David Johanssen's "Personality Crisis." And there was a conga line.

BLONDE REDHEAD advance streams Barragán.

THE GOTOBEDS advance stream Poor People Are Revolting.

ZAMMUTO advance streams Anchor.

SINKANE advance streams Mean Love.

THE KNACK: "My Sharona" topped the chart at this time in 1979 and would remain there for five weeks.

CRAIG FINN: The Hold Steady frontman talks to The Rumpus about his writing process, the purpose and function of songs, and the relationship of songs to other forms of writing.

TY SEGALL Guest DJs All Songs Considered, mixinng his new material withclassic songs that inspired him.

PAST MTV VMA WINNERS, ranked by Stereogum. REM beaten by Katy Perry. Sigh.

20 CONTOVERSIAL MUSIC VIDEOS, listed by NME.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Guardians of the Galaxy retakes the top of the chart with 17.6 million, as all of the new competition fell short.  Marvel's 251.9 million domestic take officially pushes GotG past Transformers 4 to become the top grosser of the summer.And it will soon pass Captain America: The Winter Soldier to become the biggest grossing movie of the year. Worldwide, Guardians is just short of the roughly 500 million it needs to profit...but has yet to open in China or Japan. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shows (if the estimates hold up) with 16.8 million, and is on track to wind up in the black. If IStay, which most gurus picked for the top slot, showed with 16.4 million, as a strong Friday petered out over the weekend proper. Nevertheless, the teen weeper has a mere 11 million production budget.  Let's Be Cops takes the fourth slot with a fairly leggy 11 million and is near profitability on domestic receipts alone. The debut of When The Game Stands Tall rounds out the Top 5 with 9 million; it may need some help from the faith-based community to recoup a 15 million budget plus marketing costs. Normally, this is the spot where I'd note that Expendables 3 is flopping, but Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame To Kill For did even worse in its debut, coming in eighth with 6.5 million, mostly bad reviews and bad word of mouth against a rumored 60-70 million budget. Ouch.

FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR, btw, pretty much deserved the bad reviews and bad word of mouth.  Most of the reviews note the sequel is more explicit--both in nudity and violence--than the original, yet more boring.  On the last point, I tend to disagree.  The problem with A Dame To Kill For is not necessarily that it's boring; it's certainly as visually stylish (and stylized) as the first one.  Rather, the problem is that this one is much more joyless.  Granted, it seems Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez set out to tell a more grim set of stories this time around, but there's even less sense of comic relie, let alone outright fun this time.  Moreover, the original tended to focus on the classic noir theme of the ambigous antihero rising to some level of heroism and --while other noir tropes abound here, there's much less heroic in these tales.

SUGE KNIGHT: The famed music producer (and jailbird) was shot six tiimes at a pre-VMAs party in a Los Angeles nightclub hosted by singer Chris Brown.

NICKI MANAJ: One of the singer's backup dancers was bit by a boa constrictor during a VMAs rehearsal of "Anaconda."

IGGY ALZALEA is so Fancy that she fell offstage at a pre-VMAs benefit show.

THE MTV VMAs went to these folks; there's also video of the perfomances at the link.

GWYNETH PALTROW is very happy that Chris Martin is dating Jennifer Lawrence. No, really, she is totally happy. Totally.

IAN SOMERHALDER & NIKKI REED are already living together after three weeks of dating.

JOSH CHARLES and his wife Sophie Flack are expecting their first child together.

LORD RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH, the actor (The Great Escape, Ghandi, Jurassic Park) and film director (Cry Feedom, Chaplain), has died just days before his 91st birthday. At various times he was chairman of the British Film Institute, Channel 4, Goldcrest Films, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and Capital Radio and a director of the Young Vic and the British Film Institute.

CHINA broadcast an andless loop of James Foley's execution on a giant video screen in downtown Beijing.

UKRAINE: The Russian military has moved artillery units manned by Russian personnel inside Ukrainian territory in recent days and is using them to fire at Ukrainian forces, NATO officials said on Friday. Don't call it an invasion, y'all. Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have marched dozens of captured government soldiers through the city of Donetsk.

LIBYA: Tripoli Airport is reportedly in flames, after its capture by Islamist forces following weeks of fighting.

EGYPT: The top Islamic authority in Egypt, revered by many Muslims worldwide, launched an Internet-based campaign Sunday challenging an extremist group in Syria and Iraq by saying it should not be called an "Islamic State."

SYRIA: The Islamic State captured a major airport, reportedly beheaded a number of captured Syrian soldiers and put their severed heads on display in the city of Raqqa. An American held hostage for two years by the Jabhat al-Nusrah terrorist group has been released. British intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6 have identified 23-year-old Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary as the man suspected of the horrific beheading of American journalist James Foley. Bary is the son of an Egyptian-born militant who is awaiting trial on terrorism charges in Manhattan, due to his alleged involvement in the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT, fought with Vaseline.

PUPPIES, Photographed Underwater.

A STRAY KITTEN named Alfonso won a cat casting call, pouncing on a role in the upcoming Broadway revival of You Can’t Take It With You.

THE ELEPHANT WHISPERER: Peter Mbulu is on a mission to save Kenya's orphaned baby elephants.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

SLY & THE FAMILY STONE rip through a medley of "Everyday People" and "Dance to the Music," plus "Hot Fun in the Summertime," "Don't Call Me N*gger, Whitey," and "I Want to Take You Higher" on network TV, circa 1969.

STRAND OF OAKS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

TUNE-YARDS stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

JENNY LEWIS plays WFUV Live.

WOODS features new songs at KEXP.

KING TUFF drops the gnarly title track from Black Moon Spell.

THE DRUMS drop "I Can't Pretend" ahead of Encyclopedia.

BECK & JENNY LEWIS cover Rod Stewart's "D'ya Think I'm Sexy."

THE NEW PR0NOGRAPHERS' A.C. Newman reviewstracks bridging his career at Stereogum.

HENRY ROLLINS criticized Robin Williams for killing himself, having learned nothing from Gene Simmons.

SWANS drummer Thor Harris talks about his own depression.

THE 50 BEST VIDEOS of the Decade So Far, according to Pitchfork.

CUTOUT BIN: From the Sweet to Spoon, from Alex Chilton to Led Zeppelin, from Billy Idol to the Beatles, plus the Clash, Fleshtones, Jon Auer, Nick Gilder and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases inclide: If I Stay, which is currently scoring 40 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, which is scoring 42 percent (but considerably lower with top critics); and When The Game Stands Tall, scoring 25 percent.

MARIAH CAREY & NICK CANNON separated back in May and hope to beat Jay Z & Beyonce to divorce court.

BEYONCE & JAY Z aren't splitting, according to Beyonce's mom

JENNIFER LAWRENCE & CHRIS MARTIN were caught canoodling  at the Wolffer Estate Vineyard in New York.

MEG RYAN & JOHN MELLENCAMP split recently after dating for more than three years, due to the long-distance relationship stuff. They presumably will not reunite atop the Empire State Building.

PAMELA ANDERSON & CAREY HART aren't fans of the Ice Bucket Challenge, unlike Kristen Stewart and Anna Wintour.

ISRAELI warplanes killed three top Hamas commanders in southern Gaza on Thursday.

SAUDI ARABIA has executed at least 19 people since August 4, 2014. Local news reports indicate that eight of those executed were convicted of nonviolent offenses, seven for drug smuggling and one for sorcery.

LIBYA is coming apart at the seams, not that many seem to notice.

THE ISLAMIC STATE in Iraq and Syria cannot be defeated unless the United States or its allies take on the Sunni militancy in Syria, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday afternoon. A senior American official said the Pentagon now estimated the number of fighters affiliated with ISIS to be about 17,000. Ben Rhodes, President Obama's deputy national security adviser, said the United States would not be restricted by geographic boundaries when it comes to the core mission of U.S. foreign policy which is the protection of its people.

A GROUPER swallows a shark whole. What say you, Police Chief Brody?

CITY SPIDERS get big, fat and fertile. So maybe Annie Hall was onto something.

THE MOOSE SEX CORRIDOR is getting much larger.

SEA PLANKTON has been discovered living on the outside of the International Space Station, Russian cosmonauts have claimed. We know how this turns out.

JEFF BECK joins ZZ TOP on Tennessee Ernie Ford’s 1955 folk-country classic “Sixteen Tons.” here's the backstory.

THE THOMPSON TWINS' Tom Bailey sings all his hits for the first time in three decades.

FOXYGEN plays a mini-set at KEXP in a 9-piece formation.

GEMMA RAY advance streams Milk For Your Motors.Oh yeah.

THE WYTCHES advance stream Annabel Dream Reader.

THURSTON MOORE drops the title track from The Best Day. And it's sorta Lou Reed-y, sorta country, sorta Sonic Youth.

DEERHOOF drops "Exit Only" ahead of La Isla Bonita.

CHUMPED drops a “Hot 97 Summer Jam” ahead of their That’s The Thing Is Like EP.

TOMMY JAMES & THE SHONDELLS topped the UK chart (twice) in August '68 with "Mony Mony," which peaked at No. 3 in the US.

SPOON gets a meaty profile at Stereogum.

THE NEW PR0NOGRAPHERS: A.C. Newman talks to Consequence of Sound about the new LP, the solo projects, Twitter, and more... (Thx, Frank Yang)

IAN MacKAYE talks to Bandwidth about Minor Threat, Fugazi, Ted Nugent and more.

FOO FIGHTERS take--and possibly win--the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

BEYONCE asked GWYNETH PALTROW for divorce advice? Too good to check.

JUSTIN BIEBER is getting sued again by a paparazzo.

KIM KARDASHIAN banked 400K from charity auctions? Too good to check.

ZAC EFRON and MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ  have split after nearly two months of dating.

ROBIN WILLIAMS will be honored by Billy Crystal at the Emmys.

KATIE HOLMES doesn't blame Tom Cruise for her acting career.

ELIZABETH VARGAS and MARC COHN will divorce after she completes rehab.

ISRAEL: Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of Hamas's armed wing in Gaza, appears to have narrowly survived a fifth attempt to assassinate him, allowing the mastermind of the six-week war on Israel to pursue the conflict from his network of tunnels.

FRANCE: Foreign Minister Fabius warned that the Islamic State's ambitions extend beyond the Middle East, and said France wants the UN Security Council nations as well as countries in the region to join the fight against the Islamic State.

SYRIA: U.S. special operations forces early this summer launched a secret, major rescue operation in Syria to save James Foley and a number of Americans held by the extremist group ISIS, but the mission failed because the hostages weren’t there, senior administration officials told ABC News.

LIBYA: The Shura Council of Islamic Youth publicly executed an Egyptian man in a Derna football stadium filled with applauding spectators; the al Qaeda-linked group similarly executed two men in Derna on July 27.

IRAQ: Unmanned US drones conducted airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and the Pentagon is said to be considering sending up to 300 more US security forces to Baghdad. President Obama vowed that the US would be relentless in bringing justice to the Islamic State terrorists who beheaded US journalist James Foley. Amid growing concerns about the plight of Iraq’s Christians, a group of leading international scholars of Christian language and culture in the Middle East issued a call for an internationally protected safe haven for Christians in Iraq on Monday.

LET SLEEPING CATS LIE.

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF BATS forced the closure of parts of Dan Gleeson Park in Kirwan. The Townsville City Council will look at block access to ponds using heavy foliage.

CROWS and other animals experience grief at the loss of a loved one, according to a new book about people’s attitudes towards the biggest mass extinction for 65 million years.

AN OWL flew into a 10th story apartment in Coeur d'Alene, ID, apparently opened a bird cage and killed one of two canaries inside.

REAL ESTATE plays The Cranberries' "Linger" for the A.V. Club Undercover.

THE NEW PR0NOGRAPHERS advance stream Brill Bruisers via iTunes radio.

THE RENTALS advance stream Lost in Alphaville.

CONNECTIONS stream Into Sixes.

CASSIE RAMONE (fmr Vivian Girls)advance streams The Time Has Come.

LEONARD COHEN drops "Almost Like the Blues" ahead of Popular Problems.

HALF JAPANESE drops "Our Love" ahead of Overjoyed, their first in 13 years.

NICOLE ATKINS covers Springsteen's "Dancing In The Dark" for a Born in the USA tribute.

THE EMOTIONS: "Best Of My Love" topped the chart on this date in 1977, the start of a five-week run.

SHARON VAN ETTEN talks to SPIN about past musical loves, songwriting and more...

DANIEL RADCLIFFE picks his musical favorites, and considers portraying Iggy Pop.

DON'T VOGUE:They're all dead now.

THE BEST 100 LPs OF THE (Four-Year) DECADE, accoring to Pitchfork.

ZOE SALDANA confirms she's pregnant during the Ice Bucket Challenge.

GISELLE BUNDCHEN tops the Forbes list of highest-paid models.

JENNIFER LOPEZ & CASPER SMART: Together again?

COLDPLAY, RHIANNA & KATY PERRY have been approached about playing the Super Bowl...on a pay-to-play basis.

JARED LETO, sized up by Alexis Arquette.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH will voice Shere Khan in Warners' take on The Jungle Book.

JOHNNY DEPP, KEVIN SMITH and their daughters, all in the same movie.

ISRAEL: A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip collapsed on Tuesday, with Palestinian militants firing dozens of rockets at Israel and Israel launching air strikes that health officials said killed three people.

LIBYA: Islamist militias continued to clash with pro-government forces in Tripoli, where airstrikes reportedly targeted militias that had not agreed to the government's order for a ceasefire.

SAUDI ARABIA:  Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh on Tuesday blasted Al-Qaeda and Islamic State jihadists as "enemy number one" of Islam, in a statement issued in Riyadh.

SYRIA: A video posted online Tuesday purported to show the beheading of journalist James Foley by the militant group Islamic State, nearly two years after the American disappeared in Syria.

IRAQ: When Islamic State militants stormed into a northern Iraqi village and ordered everyone to convert to Islam or die only one person refused; ISIS then killed 80 men and kidnaped the women and children. More than 1500 Yazidi women seized by Islamic extremists in Iraq reportedly are being forced to 'marry' their captors.

A SUPER-RAT attacks a NYC subway passenger.

AN ALBINO CROCODILE NAMED MICHAEL JACKSON has been shot dead after it ate a man in front of his wife.

A NEWBORN BABY PANDA with its Mom in a Chinese zoo.

RARE BIRDS are being scared off Passage Key by nudists.

RYAN ADAMS dropped a video for "Gimme Something Good." Yep, that's Elvira.

WAND advance streams the trippy Ganglion Reef.

OK GO stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

SONNY KNIGHT & THE LAKERS stopped by World Cafe for a soulful mini-set.

PUSS N BOOTS stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 drops "Government Trash" ahead of The Physical World.

NUDE BEACH drops the catchy-as-Hell popwer pop of "For You" ahead of the 77 LP.

THE FLAMING LIPS: Wayne Coyne talks to SPIN about Miley, Kesha, and the Sgt Pepper's tribute LP.

VASHTI BUNYAN talks to PopMatters about Heartleap, her first since 2005's Lookaftering.

THE BEST LIVE ALBUMS, according to Paste.

THE BEST 200 TRACKS of the Decade, according to Pitchfork.

CHRISTIAN BALE and his wife, Sibi Bale, have welcomed their second child, a boy.

CHARLIE SHEEN puts his own twist on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

CHRIS MARTIN was attracted to JENNIFER LAWRENCE because she's the polar opposite of Gwyneth Paltrow, according to a new report.

MILLA JOVOVICH and her husband, director and producer Paul W.S. Anderson, are expecting their second child.

ROBIN WILLIAMS' suicide was spontaneous.

LINDSAY LOHAN is working on a memoir about her life, and it's apparently going to be a trilogy.

IAN SOMERHALDER & NIKKI REED are officially a thing.

KID ROCK will be a grandfather. Get Off My Lawn.

DON PARDO, , the magisterial announcer of Saturday Night Live for nearly 40 years — the highlight of seven heard and hardly seen decades at NBC — has reportedly died. He was 96.

UKRAINE: The Ukrainian military on Sunday moved into the heart of the separatist hub of Luhansk for the first time, officials said, chipping at one of the cornerstones of the pro-Russia rebels’ disintegrating virtual state.

ISRAEL: The Gaza ceasefire has been extended for a further 24 hours after talks in Cairo.

LIBYA: Renegade General Khalifa Haftar's air force was responsible for strikes on Islamist-leaning militia in Tripoli on Monday, one of his commanders said, after weeks of fighting for the capital in Libya's worst violence since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011.

IRAQ: President  Obama on Monday said “important progress” is being made in Iraq and that Kurdish and Iraqi forces have successfully retaken a strategically important dam from Islamic militants.Also, Iran may invade Iraq.

A CORGI gets a massage.

THE VORACIOUS VELVET WORM ensnares foes with jest of slime.

THE GIRAFFE PEN: Not entirely safe for humans, oddly enough.

A BLIND BISON is looking for a new home.