1.

A new film about John Lennon is in the works from the makers of Control. Story here. And here we learn that Kristin Scott Thomas will be in it.

2.

Paste is cooking up one heckuva tribute show for R.E.M, featuring many special guests like Patti Smith and The Apples in Stereo. And the house band? Calexico. How many kinds of awesome is that? Seems like the music world is rallying behind R.E.M. these days. Hopefully it will help them re-start their engine and put out a good record again. (Accelerate was a notable attempt, but I haven’t found any of the songs there to have the lasting power of my favorite REM records — which include Life’s Rich Pageant, Document, Green, Out of Time, Automatic, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, or Reveal.) These guys were so inspired for so long, I refuse to believe they’ve run out of great songs.

3.

Rod Blackhurst has a good list of some of the films I’m most looking forward to in 2009. But hey, where’s Pixar’s Up? What film are you most excited about?

4.

Jeffrey Wells has a good question: What’s the best song-in-movie sequence?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ_phQnNE80

5.

@U2 is buzzing with updates on U2’s new adventures. The new single may hit January 19, and Bono’s talking about where the tour will start.

6.

Wow. Okay, here’s an alternate list of eagerly-anticipated films. Except this one’s about 100 times bigger.

7.
Hard to believe. The State of Washington’s longest-running newspaper has been abandoned by Hearst, put up for sale.

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