SHARON JONES and the DAP-KINGS:  The video for "100 Days, 100 Nights" was directed by Adam Elias Buncher, who achieved the old skool look using two vintage TV cameras bought on eBay for 50 dollars each.

NEW RELEASES are hitting the pre-holiday season lull.  The new Sigur Ros and the reissue of Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures" are streaming in full via Spinner.  Grizzly Bear is streaming its new Friend album -- presumably so named because it collects remakes, covers (by and of the band) and collaborations.  Avant-folkie Richard Youngs releases his Autumn Response.

CANADA'S HOTTEST BANDS, according to a bloggers' poll conducted by i (heart) music, with a slate of honorable mentions.

SUPERDRAG:  The crew from Daytrotter attended the band's recent reunion shows at Chicago's Metro, which led to the band sitting for an interview and recording free songs in the Quad Cities.  The band also did a Lounge Act set for WOXY.

BIG DIPPER is reuniting and releasing a 3-CD set in April 2008.  Rock Town Hall interviews guitarist Gary Waleik about the past and future of the band.

CARIBOU:  Dan Snaith talks about his influences (including The Zombies), the new album, working with the Junior Boys' Jeremy Greenspan and more with Loyola University's Phoenix.

RYAN ADAMS and the CARDINALS played "How Do You Keep Love Alive" and "Pearls on a String" (with a cameo from Nellie McKay) in an exclusive webcast for Dave Letterman.  And that is your Twofer Tuesday.

MONITOR MIX:  Carrie Brownstein (ex-Sleater-Kinney) is blogging for NPR about why people are drawn to certain songs, genres, voices, or instruments.

PROJECT SONG:  Magnetic Fields guru Stephin Merritt kicks off a new series from NPR in which writers are given 48 hours to complete a song from a group of six photos and six words.  BONUS:  Magnetic Fields announces tour dates in advance of a new album due in January.

INTERNET KILLED THE ROCK STAR?  In the Detroit Free Press, Brian McCollum argues that the Information Age is causing rock stars to lose their mystique.

IRON & WINE:  Sam Beam talked to London's Sun about his nom de band and musical influences.

PETE DOHERTY spoke exclusively to NME.com about his struggles to stay clean after completing his rehab.

BRITNEY SPEARS spent her court-approved visitation time chandelier shopping, leaving her two kids in her car with the court-required monitor.  Oh, that's going to look about as good in a court report as she looked shopping -- bloated, pasty-faced and with greasy hair, while her skin-tight jeans and transparent vest top exposing her black bra seemed to be straining at the seams.  The former manager suing Spears for back commissions thinks the pop tart ought to try farm life.  She's already lived like the Beverly Hillbillies, so Green Acres would be a natural next step.  BONUS:  The Eagles beat Spears on the UK album charts... and in US sales (by at least a factor of two), though Billboard will list Spears at the top because Wal-Mart is not reporting the numbers on its exclusive release.

BRADGELINA:  W magazine has managed to get Jolie and Jennifer Aniston to agree on one thing -- neither likes the fact that the mag put their faces on competing covers for November's issue of the mag.

OPRAH WINFREY called the abuse scandal at her 47-million-dollar South African school for girls "the most devastating experience of my life."  Video at the link.  A former dorm matron appeared in court Monday to face a series of charges that she mistreated girls at the school.

ROSIE O'DONNELL is in serious discussions to host a prime-time show on MSNBC, according to executives on both sides of the negotiations who have been briefed directly.

JESSICA SIMPSON was escorted by National Guardsmen through New York's JFK airport Friday night control -- at the request of American Airlines (I guess I missed when they got in the chain of command).  Video at the link.  Woody Harrelson reportedly flirted up a storm with Simpson at Willie Nelson's recent video shoot, even though Harrelson is married with three children.  She politely rebuffed him and moved onto the Butterscotch Stallion, Owen Wilson.

JOHN MAYER, Simpson's last boyfriend, has decided that Americans are so celebrity obsessed that he will blog his meals to slake their thirst for gossip.  I've never been a big fan of his music, but I'm liking his blogging.

THE McCARTNEYS:  Heather Mills is demanding that Sir Paul tell the world she is 'not a fantasist or a golddigger' as part of their divorce settlement.  Meanwhile, the Cute One was spotted getting cozy with the wife of a millionaire New York lawyer who has recently dropped her husband's name.

CELEBS DUMPING THE DOLLAR?  Supermodel (and Pats QB Tom Brady's squeeze) Gisele Bundchen reportedly has insisted that she is paid in Euros rather than US dollars as the dollar hit an all-time low against the Euro.  Her agent later denied the story and said she would be seeking 'clarification' on what the model's sister said -- but not before I got to look at the pics of Bundchen from the Victoria's Secret fashion show at the first link.  Meanwhile, Jay-Z flashes large stacks of €500 Euros in his new video based on by the Ridley Scott movie "American Gangster."  In this case, however, it may be that Jay-Z knows that the large-denomination Euro is the modern gangsta's currency of choice.

JULIA ROBERTS tells the next issue of Vanity Fair that she wants to make less garbage, but is referring to her homelife, not her movie career.  Indeed, her dream is to be "a highly fulfilled and productive stay-at-home mom and wife."

SCARLETT JOHANSSON & JOSH HARTNETT broke up in part because Scar-Jo was jealous of seeing Hartnett in the arms of other actresses.  At least, that's what Hartnett suggests in an ungentlemanly interview with InTouch Magazine.

THE HOLLYWOOD WRITERS' STRIKE over residual payments for DVDs and Internet content puts "hypenates" like the writer-actors of The Office in a tough position.  The L.A. Times has created a strike blog -- my favorite entry so far is this one.

STEPHEN COLBERT has dropped his bid for the White House after the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council voted last week to keep the host of "The Colbert Report" off the state's primary ballot.

WALK HARD:  Entertainment Weekly has the title track from the mock biopic of musician Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) co-written by Judd Apatow, due in theatres Dec. 21.

NANOTECH:  Ultracapacitors may replace batteries someday, as MIT scientists work on a device that can hold up to 50 percent as much electrical energy as a comparably sized battery.  Commercially available ultracapacitors already can provide many times the power of batteries of the same weight or size.

AFGHANISTAN:  Close to 90000 children who would have died before age 5 under Taliban rule will stay alive this year because of advances in medical care in the country, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins University.

PAKISTAN:  Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum told Reuters that Pakistan would hold its national election by mid-January and Pres. Musharraf pledged to quit the military after criticism from the US for imposing emergency rule.  AFP quotes Musharraf as saying January's planned polls would be held "as close as possible to the schedule."  Meanwhile, the crackdown on protesters apparently continues, and deals are already being cut with the Taliban.

IRAN celebrated "Death to America" Day yesterday.  Let's go to the video.

IRAQ:  US and Iraqi forces launched a massive assault targeting al-Qaeda fighters in the northern provinces of  Diyala, Salaheddin, Kirkuk and Nineveh, where some AQI fighters fled from the "surge."  Iraqi and US forces detained 81 people and found a large weapons cache during an operation against AQI near Suwayra, 40 miles south of Baghdad.  At least 683 detainees held in US-run prisons across Iraq have been released since the middle of last month, according to VP al-Hashemi's office.  The Iraqi government has resumed discussions about an amnesty program to encourage insurgents and militiamen to lay down their weapons as daily violence lessens across the country.

HOUDINI the IGUANA lived up to his namesake by disappearing last week, but he has reunited with his owners in Portage Michigan.  Let's go to the video.

THE FANTASTIC MR. FLY rides a bike, and plays both piano and guitar for Belgian amateur photographer Nicholas Hendrickx.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT:  A militant squirrel took down the power grid in Auburn, CA.  Judging from the comments, squirrels have targeted the city several times since 2003.

WHEN ONE DOG CLOSES, a cat opens.

CAMEL BEAUTY CONTESTS have been banned by a fatwa from Saudi Arabia's Senior Clerics Association.