JENS LEKMAN sings about stalking Kirsten Dunst.

THE GREENHORNES brought their garagey goodness to Morning Becomes Eclectic.

OBERHOFER did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter at Pop Montreal.

FLUXBLOG 2010 SURVEY MIX: 8 Discs or a torrent.

REMINDER: Amazon MP3 is offering a free song daily.

ISRAEL KAMAKAWIWO'OLE, the late Hawaiian musician best-known for his ukulele-backed cover of "Over the Rainbow," is one of NPR's 50 Great Voices.

PATSY CLINE & FERLIN HUSKY: "Let It Snow!"

JOHN LENNON's final interview. Plus, Newsweek notes that Lennon was also "a pioneer of fame - a man who courted, commented on, used, retreated from, and was finally consumed by his own gargantuan renown..."

ARETHA FRANKLIN has cancer.

SONIC YOUTH: Lee Renaldo essays why he loves Sandy Denny.

SEASON of the LIST: Stereogum's Top 50 Albums (and Top 15 EPs) of the year. Also, All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen lists his Top Nine.

KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND co-founder and fmr member Richard Finch -- who co-wrote the band's 1970s smash 'That's the Way (I Like It)' -- has been sentenced to seven years in prison after entering a plea of no contest to charges he had unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

JUDAS PRIEST are to take on the world with one final tour.

JIM MORRISON will be getting a pardon from outgoing FL Gov. Charlie Crist.

BRITNEY SPEARS: The scandal-denying tour continues with her bestest birthday ever.

NICOLE RICHIE & JOEL MADDEN wedding details.

JENNIFER ANISTON is telling pal Chelsea Handler to cool it viz her profane attacks on Angelina Jolie.

OPRAH WINFREY says she is not a lesbian. NTTAWWT.

CHRISTINA AGUILERA is hitting back after some semi-nude photos of her hit the Internet.

TIGER WOODS: The adult movie actress selling a purported sex tape of herself with Woods claims the golf superstar paid her off not to release it, and so she's closing a Web site that has been accepting orders for weeks. Oh, sure.

KATY PERRY is in the process of taking new husband Russell Brand's last name.

KIRSTEN DUNST's return from a hiatus is covered by BlackBook.

IRAN: The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is growing its fleet of "suicide ships" to attack shipping in the Gulf; a defector claimed 9000 such ships exist. The United Arab Emirates' foreign minister called on Iran to end the occupation of three islands claimed by the emirate.

AFGHANISTAN: Coalition commanders are rebalancing their strategy, with less counterinsurgency and more counterterrorism strategy.

PARROTS IN BOWLS: Your moment of Zen.

PET BUFFALO rides in a car. Animal Planet has filmed the bison and its caretaker driving around and playing together for a documentary which will be shown sometime in the spring.

SHARK vs MAN... at tennis. Gonna need a bigger racket.

THE "TERRIBLE, HAIRY FLY," one of the world's rarest and oddest-looking flies, has been located in Kenya.

JEFF TWEEDY joins YO LA TENGO on Wilco's "Jesus, Etc," and a Gary U.S. Bonds cover, "Eight Day Weekend" during YLT's traditional Hanukkah stand at Maxwell's in Hoboken, No Jokin'.

THE NAKED and the FAMOUS made their US radio debut on Morning Becomes Eclectic just before Thanksgiving.

ELTON JOHN & LEON RUSSELL played NYC's Beacon Theatre, featuring their collaboration on The Union plus, their separate hits. You can stream the gig on demand.

TWIN SHADOW gets the twofer treatment on World Cafe: Next.

TWILIGHT SINGERS, Live in Amsterdam, Nov. 28, 2006.

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS: "Santa's Beard."  Their cover of "New York City" is pretty seasonal, too.

ARCADE FIRE's Win Butler lists his 14 favorite Springsteen songs.

SPOON: Britt Daniel and Eric Harvey have a bit of a career retrospective with Drowned In Sound.

THE PIXIES continue to innovate by building an online gigography.

FAVES 2010, courtesy of a fave blogger, Frank Yang, at Chromewaves.

JESSICA SIMPSON has a a new fiance, a holiday album and... news that she is on her way to becoming a billion-dollar mover and shaker in the fashion world?

LINDSAY LOHAN finally has permission to get back behind the wheel of a car.

BRETT FAVRE's accuser might go public with an "overabundance of evidence" if the NFL doesn't come down on the veteran QB for his alleged sexting scandal.

PORTIA de ROSSI will not be dancing with a woman on Dancing With the Stars.

JULIANNA MARGUILES tells her Good Wife costar Alan Cumming why sometimes it's good to be bad. 

FRUSTRATED CELEBS returned to Twitter after a billionaire donated 500K to an AIDS charity. Our short national nightmare is over; our long one resumes.

RANDY & EVI QUAID are writing a tell-all book, apparently detailing their bizarre conspiracy theory that they are the victims of Hollywood  "star whackers."

KEVIN SMITH takes on another airline.

GEORGE LUCAS has been buying the film rights to dead movie legends to put them together on screen.

AL QAEDA may be planning a horrific 'Frankenbomber' suicide attack by implanting explosives into a human body.

AFGHANISTAN: Al-Qaeda's leaders have allocated 23.25 million and launched a new training program for 400 militants in Khyber Agency to start a full-blown insurgency in the Swat area of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province and Malakand Division next summer.

IRAQ: Police stepped up security at Shia mosques in in volatile northern Diyala province for the Muslim New Year on Tuesday after Al-Qaeda issued a series of threats. Al Sumaria has released photographs of al Qaeda in Iraq's top two leaders.

RUDOLPH the RED-NOSED REINDEER explodes after becoming impaled on traffic lights. Video at the link. The humanity!

SNAKE in a wreath.

SNAKES on a PLANE, with parrots and a squirrel. There's always a squirrel.

WHEN TERRIERS ATTACK: Where was the air marshall?

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS dropped a video for "I L U," directed by Toby Halbrooks and David Lowery.

NOT-SO-NEW RELEASES from Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse, Les Savy Fav, Springsteen, Local Natives, Four Tet, Mumford and Sons, the Budos band and more are streaming via Spinner.

JEFF MANGUM (Neutral Milk Hotel) played a surprise show at the Schoolhouse in Brooklyn to an audience of 75 or so people.

THE BEST WORLD CAFE of 2010, according to host David Dye.

GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL, home to bands like Gold Panda, Matthew Dear and School of Seven Bells, is streaming a compilation LP featuring unreleased tracks.

DIAMOND RINGS did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter at Pop Montreal.

GLAM XMAS:  Wizzard's awesome "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" and Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody" (1973's UK Xmas No. 1) are your Twofer Tuesday.

LESLIE FEIST talks to The Guardian about making a documentary, swapping schools without telling her mom and her debt to the Muppets.

GORILLAZ have started their own online advent calendar.

THE WORST ALBUM COVERS of 2010, according to Pitchfork.

COLLEGE RADIO: An endangered species?

BRITNEY SPEARS is on a romantic trip with Jason Trawick in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The allegations she has vehemently denied about their relationship are purely coincidental.

JOHNNY DEPP would like George Clooney or Brad Pitt to star opposite him as the Lone Ranger.

CHELSEA HANDLER wants you to know she really, really, really is not a fan of Angelina Jolie.

KIM KARDASHIAN denies being pregnant by Kanye West.

JOSH DUHAMEL says he learned his lesson after being booted from an airplane for refusing to stop texting.

KELSEY GRAMMER is engaged to his new girlfriend Kayte Walsh.

CHARLIE SHEEN's estranged wife, Brooke Mueller, has checked into a sober living facility.

EVA LONGORIA put on a brave face at Hollywood hot spot Chateau Marmont with dozens of pals.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY almost retired at the age of 22 when she realized she was not enjoying her work, she has disclosed.

"DANDY" DON MEREDITH, the Dallas Cowboys and SMU quarterback and Monday Night Football icon, died Sunday evening in Santa Fe, NM. He was 72.

DECEMBER 7, 1941: A "date which will live in infamy." I'll be watching Tora! Tora! Tora! on tonight. BTW, the first nation invaded by the US after entering WWII was Morocco, then Algeria, iirc.

AFGHANS are more pessimistic about the direction of their country, less confident in the ability of the United States and its allies to provide security and more willing to negotiate with the Taliban than they were a year ago, according to a new poll conducted in all of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.  But residents of two key southern provinces that have been the focus of US military operations over the past year say aspects of their security and living conditions have improved significantly since last December.

A CAPYBARA, sucking on a bunny's ears...Mass hysteria!

THE SQUIRREL THREAT is stealing Christmas in Braintree, Mass.

AN ALLIGATOR was busted after using the drive-through at McDonald's in Kansas City.

MINNIE the SECOND is a harmless-looking kitteh accused of attacking a patron at the 156-year-old McSorley's Old Ale House in NYC.

RESEARCHERS dress as panda bears as an essential part of China's ambitious strategy to reintroduce captive-bred Giant Pandas back into the wild.

DEERHUNTER made their TV debut playing "Helicopter" on Conan. 

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

MASON JENNINGS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

GUSTER stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

AMOS LEE played the World Cafe Live on Friday; you can stream the whole gig on demand now.

DAVID BOWIE: Roio has The Lost Beeb Tapes.

GLAM CHOPS: Art Brut's Eddie Argos has a "Countdown to Christmas."

GARAGE ROCK: An essay at PopMatters notes: "The garage is not only an outside place but also a place for outsiders..." 

SLEIGH BELLS jingle a bit for The Line of Best Fit.

THE BEST of 2010, according to Paste magazine.

PETE DOHERTY escaped a contempt of court charge.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Tangled passes Harry Potter to top the chart with 21.5 million in the traditionally brutal post-Thanksgiving weekend.  If it can show legs against the Narnia flick this weekend, Tangled has the chance to make a profit on its reported 260 million budget before the DVD market, which would be a remarkable turnaround story for the troubled Disney production.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1 places with 16.7 million on a 66 percent drop reminiscent of Goblet of Fire -- the last Potter flick to open in November.  Harry has pulled in ~244 million here and another ~469 million overseas so far.  Burlesque and Unstoppable virtually tie for the third /  fourth slot with an estimated 6.1 million apiece.  Overall, Unstoppable will be in better financial shape than Burlesque.  Love and Other Drugs held slightly better than expected to round out the Top Five with 5.7 million; it's 22 million against a 30 million budget ensures this won't be a big loss for the studio.  Below the fold, the weekend's sole wide debut, The Warrior's Way, opened with about 3 million against a 42 million budget. Ouch.

BRITNEY SPEARS gote even more aggressive in denying stories printed by Star and RadarOnline, but they are now circulating audio purporting to be Spears confessing to smoking pot.

MAD MEL UPDATE: The Beaver has a trailer online.

JAKE GYLLENHAAL & TAYLOR SWIFT: Us Weekly gets comments from Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, thoroughly taxing my vowel supply.

JOSH DUHAMEL was escorted off of a plane Thursday after he refused to turn off his BlackBerry.

SUGE KNIGHT was arrested and released in connection with minor traffic charges late Friday night.

THE SPIDER-MAN REBOOT adds to its cast.

IRAN's foreign minister dampened the possibility for a breakthrough in next week's scheduled international talks over Tehran's nuclear program. Shocka.

AFGHANISTAN: Winning Marjah, one cow at a time.

IRAQ: Intell officials say foreign fighters have been slipping back into the country in larger numbers recently and may have been behind some of the most devastating attacks this year, reviving a threat the US military believed had been almost entirely eradicated.

KITTEH with a teddy bear. Snuggly.

THE ILLEGAL TARANTULA TRADE suffers a blow from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

BIRDS are turning gay from mercury poisoning?

A WHOOPING CRANE is rescued by a veterinarian dressed as a marshmallow.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with DAVID BOWIE, CRACKED ACTOR! In the mid 1970s, as part of BBC's long-running Omnibus series, Alan Yentob interviewed David Bowie during the American leg of his Diamond Dogs Tour.

MISTER HEAVENLY are a band featuring Nick Thorburn (Islands), Honus Honus (Man Man) and... Michael Cera (live, anyway).  Here's a mess of video from their second gig.

THE BUDOS BAND (a staple of the Daptone label) stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a chat and mini-set in audio and video.

POP MONTREAL: Daytrotter has tracks it recorded during the confab from bands like BRAIDS and The Sheepdogs.

VIA AUDIO did the standard four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

25 DAYS OF FREE SONGS, one a day, via Amazon MP3.

THE KINKS, with the evergreen "Father Christmas."

THE END OF INDIE? The blurring lines are discussed at In These Times.

SYL JOHNSON: An underappreciated soul great gets another chance -- and a lengthy profile from the Chicago Reader.

THE WEDDING PRESENT frontman David Gedge talks to the Yorkshire Post about the band's silver anniversary. (Thx, LHB.)

DAVID LOWERY, of Camper van Beethoven and Cracker, writes about Groupon and venture capitalism.

CUTOUT BIN: From Dean & Britta to Jimi Hendrix, from Harry Nilsson to Led Zeppelin, from John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers to the Housemartins, plus Thunderclap Newman, Blondie, the Beatles, the Soft Boys, The Band and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's sole wide release in the traditionally dead post-Thanksgiving weekend is The Warrior's Way, which was largely not screened for critics. Notably, Black Swan, which opens in limited release, is currently scoring 85 percent on the ol' Tomatometer.

BRITNEY SPEARS:  An expert says purported audio of the pop wreck has been manipulated, but RadarOnline has doubled down with more audio which purports to be Britney Spears admitting not reporting agent-turned-bf Jason Trawick's alleged violent assault on her to cops because she didn't want the controversy. Again, camp Spears vehemently denies the story, claims the audio has been faked, and has threatened suit.

MILEY CYRUS: Her purse was stolen last week.  Some new pictures have *allegedly* leaked from phone and/or camera.  There is a provocative, slightly NSFW picture included in these leaked images.

THE GRAMMY AWARDS nominations went to these folks. Arcade Fire, Black Keys, Roots, Cee-Lo (who cold make the night interesting) are among the multiple noms.

EVA LONGORIA & TONY PARKER reunited... for a lunch date.

KIRSTEN DUNST talks to Vanity Fair about nude scenes, bad boys and beatnik boot camp. Just don't ask her about Jake Gyllenhaal and Taylor Swift.

NATALIE PORTMAN shares a music playlist with the L.A. Times.

QUENTIN TARANTINO was roasted at the Friar's Club; THR has the raunchiest material.

HEATH LEDGER will not appear in The Dark Knight Rises, thankfully.

THE 50 BEST DOCUMENTARIES, according to TimeOut New York.

THE TOP FILMS of 2010, according to Sight and Sound. I saw the top and the bottom.

IRAN: According to a leaked State Department cable, Saudi Prince Nayif bin Abdulaziz told John Brennan, President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, that Iran is harboring al Qaeda members who are targeting the kingdom. The IAEA complained about a lack of Iranian cooperation in the lead-up to Dec. 5 negotiations. Tehran will take further security precautions for nuclear scientists in country.

PAKISTAN has gone from being the "most sanctioned ally" to the "most bullied ally" of the United States, according to a top Pakistani military official, who added that the "real aim of US strategy is to de-nuclearize Pakistan."

AFGHANISTAN: The complete election results have thrust Afghans into a new period of uncertainty, deepened skepticism of the government and stirred Afghanistan's always volatile ethnic fault lines.

DANCING DOG: Let's go to the (Russian) video.

A DOG survives the night under the rubble after the owners' home was flattened by a tornado.

HONEY the LABRADOR was married to her very strange owner in Toowoomba, Australia.

MAYBE THE HORSE ate your hat.

CHOKING THE CHICKEN is illegal, when done literally.