THE SOFT PACK cranked out "Answer to Yourself" at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

THE CURE's Robert E. Smith covers "Very Good Advice" for the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack.

TED LEO drops "The Mighty Sparrow" as an advance track from The Brutalist Bricks.

THE REPLACEMENTS: Captain's Dead is again loaded with B-sides and outtakes.

CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS get a feature plus tracks on All Things Considered.

REHEARSAL VIDEO: From 1984. More here.

ANDREW PARTRIDGE talks to PopMatters about the Dukes of the Stratosphear.

PATTERSON HOOD talks to the Raleigh News-Observer about The Big To-Do, due in March.

ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS are reportedly up for sale by EMI.

THE WORST ROCK MOVIES, according to Jim DeRogatis.

MEGAN FOX tells W magazine that she does not look classy in underwear, and that no one believes her claim that she is really maternal.  Say, you don't think all the plastic surgery has anything to do with either of those, do you?

NICOLE RICHIE AND JOEL MADDEN are getting hitched.  Cue the Lionel jokes.

CHARLIE SHEEN's wife's rehab reportedly involves crack addiction.

BETTY WHITE seems amused at the online effort to land her an SNL hosting slot.

OPRAH won't have John Mayer on her show, but maybe not for the obvious reasons.

JESSICA SIMPSON is the cover story for Allure magazine, in which she discloses that it never occurred to her that her 15 minutes might expire.

JENNIFER ANISTON and GERARD BUTLER are just friends. Why it's almost as if they're promoting a movie or something.

FRANKENSTEIN may be returning to the big screen, Dean Koontz style.

THE OSCARS will not be inflicting the Best Song nominees on its viewers.

PAKISTAN: The capture of the Taliban's top military commander several days ago during a secret raid by CIA and Pakistani intelligence agents would mark a significant departure from Pakistan's policy toward the Taliban. (It also pulls back the curtain on the degree to which the Pakistani military or intell knows exactly where such people are.) The real question -- not being widely asked -- is why that policy is shifting.

AFGHANISTAN: From Jan. 24 to Feb. 14, a total of 17 suicide bombers took aim at one coalition member after another but failed to kill any of them.

GUITAR KITTEH: Let's go to the video.

SADIE the SCOTTIE won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club. Sadie was the huge favorite.

18 PRIZE PIGEONS were stolen from a loft at Ballymena in County Antrim.

FIGHTING FINCHES seized by police in Ashland, MA.

A FEISTY GRANDMA survived a horror shark attack by punching it in the head after it bit off part of her bottom. Gonna need a bigger shark.