On Dec. 3 1998, Josh Jackson, Nick Purdy and Jordan Feibus launched PasteMusic.com, a retail site for independent music. The company began with the release of the first-ever live album from Vigilantes of Love. The website grew over the years, selling music from artists such as Pedro the Lion, Over the Rhine, Innocence Misison and Marzuki (a late '90s indie-folk band featuring Sufjan Stevens).

When Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak dropped last week, so did Stephen Colbert's Christmas spirit (as well as his album's place on the iTunes chart). As West sits at #1, the Colbert Christmas soundtrack hangs tentatively at #16. But the Comedy Central pundit has a master plan to change the fate of his disc.

If Ronnie Wood of Faces/Rolling Stones fame is to believed, it looks like the long rumored Faces reunion has finally come together. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Wood confirmed that the group was prepping for a new tour, which would be the band's first since 1974.

When Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist came out this October, TheMovieBlog posted a short lamentation: "Already Bored With Michael Cera." They were neither the first, nor the last, to voice such opinion—film and TV critics had long been noting the stark similarities among the roles of his career—but they did state the concern with a certain amount of pith:

Matthew Houck doesn't play live as Phosphorescent alone anymore. It's a change, but a good one, as 2007's wondrous Pride featured dark-cloud chorales and otherwise lush treatment of Houck's folk tunes—layers that the live show now reflects.

Folksinger, blueswoman and civil rights activist Odetta died from heart disease yesterday in Manhattan. She was 77.

The debate for what exactly constitutes an "independent" film is as old as the studio system itself and doesn't seem likely to end anytime soon. This year, the Spirit Award nominations seemed to honor films that seem a little bit more independent, with an emphasis on truly small films instead of the arguably studio-funded pictures by Quentin Tarantino or Ang Lee that have done well in the past. Not one of the best pictures nominees were above $8 million in budget, sending the message (intentionally or not) that what it takes to make a great movie is vision over financing. Keep in mind that the awards stipulate based on "Percentage of financing from independent sources," thus further blurring the lines between indie and non-indie.

Atom Egoyan is best-known for his non-linear films focused on alienation. He's perhaps equally well-known for being really Canadian, and is in fact one third of what I like to call The Canadian Contingent, which is a filmmaking/crime-fighting supergroup with fellow canucks David Cronenberg and Guy Maddin that I just made up. Together they travel to high-profile film festivals to fight against their arch-nemeiss, the evil master of cliches Dr. Commercial Success.

With Halo 3 having been released last fall and Halo: Wars not on deck until until Feb. 2009, what do you get the Halo fanatic this Christmas? Microsoft and Sumthing Else Music Works hope to entice that audience with the release of the Halo Trilogy original soundtrack, a massive five-disc compilation of music from the first three games and a bonus disc previewing Halo Wars.

It's a gimmicky gambit, that title of Franz Ferdinand's upcoming third LP. But what the Tonight: Franz Ferdinand moniker lacks in elegance, it makes up for in marquee-preparedness.