TEGAN & SARA played "Call It Off" for Dave last week, where he made them seem even tinier than usual.

HALLOWEEN RADIO, courtesy of Slacker.

THE WATSON TWINS: Leigh Watson surveys their career so far with the Louisville Courier-Journal.

JENNY LEWIS talks to The A.V. Club about the recording of her new Acid Tongue album -- and using ProTools like analog tape. 

AQUALUNG played the World Cafe on Friday; you can stream the gig now via NPR. AFAIK, snot is not running down their noses.

FEIST tells the Canadian Press she's taking a break when her tour ends in November; she's as tired as dirt.

25 UNFORGETTABLE ONE-HIT WONDERS -- most from the past 20 years -- courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. Somewhere in the middle of that unordered list is Semisonic's "Closing Time," which is a good excuse to relink Semisonic's fab predecessor, Trip Shakespeare.

RYAN ADAMS: According to Rawkblog, the upcoming Cardinology album "sounds like f***ing Phil Collins... And I kinda love it. Sigh."  Live previews at the link.

MARNIE STERN talks to Pitchfork about her long, convoluted path to becoming a guitar goddess, her songwriting process, the pros and cons of not having a debut album until after she turned 30, and the significance of the title of her sophomore release, This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That.

CROOKED FINGERS: Eric Bachmann talks to Crawdaddy about self-releasing his latest "band" album.

JOHNNY CASH'S AMERICA: The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports on a new documentary featuring interviews with Bob Dylan, Al Gore, US Sen. Lamar Alexander, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Sheryl Crow, Jon Langford of the Mekons, producer Jim Dickinson, Ozzy Osbourne and Snoop Dogg.  The film debuts next Thursday on the Bio channel; here's the promo.

JENNIFER ANISTON & JOHN MAYER are giving their relationship another chance, meeting up last Friday for a Ray LaMontagne concert.

GERARD BUTLER ("300") has been... wait for it... caught canoodling on camera with model-actrass Shanna Moakler. Pals claim the two are just old friends, but the video at that link shows a bit more than talk.

LINDSAY LOHAN's alleged diva behavior has gotten her dropped from her role on Ugly Betty, even though a script including her character has already been written.

MADONNA has been branded ‘uncaring' by a British murder victims' group after she controversially stepped out at the premiere of her new movie wearing a pair of shoes with handgun heels.

FOREIGN BOX OFFICE is something I occasionally mention in reporting the weekend box office, but it's worth noting the global appeal of Eagle Eye and Wall-E, two examples of films that probably do well worldwide due to the relative lack of dialogue to dub or subtitle. And Mamma Mia is a tribute to the global appeal of ABBA.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS: Veterans of Kill Bill and Death Proof join the cast of Quentin Tarantino's WWII movie.

IRON MAN 2: Don Cheadle will replace Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes, apparently because Marvel is cheap.

BAMBI has been named the best tear-jerker of all time, in an unscientific poll by Pearl and Dean, which is getting a lot of press for some reason.  Top Ten Tear-Jerkers at the link.

SUMNER REDSTONE's National Amusements Inc. said that it had sold 233 million dollars' worth of Viacom and CBS stock to raise cash to comply with debt covenants.

NORTH KOREA: At Slate, Anne Applebaum notes that North Korea may be off the terror blacklist, but little has changed. "For the record, North Korea has sold missile technology to Syria and Libya, has assassinated diplomats, and has kidnapped Japanese and South Korean citizens and refuses to give a full accounting of their fate. North Korea also keeps untold numbers of its own citizens in concentration camps, which are direct copies of those built by Stalin, and knowingly starves many of its citizens to death as well. By any normal definition, North Korea is still a "terrorist" state, and everyone knows it..."

AFGHANISTAN: US military successes in Iraq have forced sophisticated and well-trained insurgents to pour into Afghanistan instead, the Afghan defense minister said Tuesday.

IRAN: The New York Times reports: "Former President Mohammad Khatami, a moderate under pressure by political allies to challenge President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in elections next year, held a high-profile event here on Monday that many saw as a possible first step in his return to the political arena."  In this context, "moderate" is a highly relative term -- for example, Khatami does not think Hezbollah is a terror group, compares Pres. Bush to Osama bin Laden, and has a lame record on democracy and human rights.

IRAQ and the US are working on backup plans that would allow US troops to stay beyond Dec. 31st if a security pact is not finalized by then. A British Foreign Office minister thinks reaching that a pact is critical to UK forces remaining there. Iraq's Kurdish leader plans to meet a Turkish delegation in Baghdad, for the first direct talks in four years.

ANJANA the CHIMP befriends a white tiger cub; she has also raised leopards and lions.  Awww...some pics at the link.

KBUCK the MINI-HORSE will get a shot at being a show horse after receiving a prosthetic eye.

SKIPPER: One part "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," one part "Body of Lies."

ELEPHANTS text-message rangers in Kenya.

PANDAS lounge in a tree. Awww...some pics at the link.