THE MYNABIRDS drop a new video for "What We Gained in the Fire."

NEW RELEASES from Smashing Pumpkins, Orange Juice, Sister Sparrow, the French Horn Rebellion and more are streaming via Spinner. It's the calm before the holiday storm.

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

FAMILY BANDS: A mix of Jacksons, Ramones, Carters, Kinks and more, courtesy of NPR.

DOSH did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter. Jazzy.

ATLAS SOUND: Bradford Cox (Deerhunter) has posted a free EP including covers of Kurt Vile and Dylan/The Band.

ARCADE FIRE played "Ready To Start," "Month Of May," "The Suburbs" and "Modern Man" for Jools Holland, which by my count is Fourfer Tuesday.

THE HOLD STEADY: Craig Finn talks about tour playlists, hip-hop and the World Series with Prefix.

BRYAN FERRY talks to The Quietus about the past and present, art, controversy, Keats, Kate Moss, and being stuck in a lift with Charlton Heston.

OLD SKULL singer J.P. Toulon has died at 30 of as-yet unknown causes.

WILCO: The Coffee.

CHARLIE SHEEN and adult film actress Capri Anderson are trading nasty public barbs about his hotel meltdown. And he's apparently suing her for extortion.

EVA LONGORIA & TONY PARKER: The inevitable stories about her from his frends.

JESSICA SIMPSON is not pregnant, just engaged.

KATE WINSLET and her model boyfriend of four months, Louis Dowler, are dunzo.

KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN and her baby boy Mason were rushed to a Los Angeles hospital by ambulance this past Friday night after the 11-month-old suffered an allergic reaction to peanut butter.

THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS had record low ratings. Thanks, Bieber!

MILEY CYRUS pulled the plug on singing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" on the AMAs after rumors surfaced that Bret Michaels - the man who famously wrote and sang it - had an affair with Miley's mother.

LEO DiCAPRIO recently avoided disaster after one of his plane's engines shut down en route to Moscow.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER is getting a reboot without Joss Whedon, who comments.

ISLAMISM in the UK: The government says it will not tolerate anti-Semitic and homophobic lessons being taught to Muslim children in the UK.

IRAN's nuclear program has suffered a recent setback, with major technical problems forcing the temporary shutdown of thousands of centrifuges enriching uranium. Suspicions focused on the Stuxnet worm. Meanwhile, Tehran launched air defense missiles as part of recently completed war games.

AFGHANISTAN: Security forces killed and captured scores of Taliban and Haqqani Network commanders and fighters in Kandahar, Helmand, Khost, Paktia, and Logar. (Thx, LWJ.)  Old hands debate the introduction of US tanks into the theater.

CAT vs GATOR: Let's go to the video.

COUGAR CUBS: Aw.

WILD TIGERS could become extinct in 12 years if countries where they still roam fail to take quick action to protect their habitats and step up the fight against poaching, global wildlife experts told a "tiger summit" Sunday.

AN OUTBREAK OF MILLIPEDES on a local train line between Goryo and Ishikaki stations in Japan on the morning of Nov. 21 caused delays and the cancellation of two trains.

DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN CATS: You realize, of course, this means war.