Tuesdays are big in entertainment-ville: Not only do all the new DVD releases hit Netflix, but new music also pours into stores, including iTunes. So I take a spin through each week's iTunes music releases and pick out some albums and tracks worthy of a download. You may have heard that Coldplay's new album is out today (I reviewed here) and you can also sample the new Wolf Parade album before you download it.

By the way, if you took my advice and downloaded the Fleet Foxes a couple of weeks back, there was something wrong with the iTunes version of the track called "He Doesn't Know Why." So, now you can get the better version here for free!

Makin' mischief: People tend to describe Katy Perry's musical sensibilities as "feisty." I think that's an understatement. Her song "Ur So Gay" is totally hilarious, and you probably know a guy or eight that seem like the one she's singing about. "I Kissed a Girl" is catchy, too, and already has a bit of a cult following. Hers are the kind of songs that will get your friends talking (and dancing) if you slip them into a party mix. Good times.

The boys of summer: It's no secret I'm a giant fan of The Hold Steady. On this busy day for music, do not miss taking a listen to the band's fourth album, Stay Positive, which is out early on iTunes ahead of its physical release next month. Already the track "Constructive Summer" makes me want to jump up and rock out, and I'm really digging "Lord, I'm Discouraged" as well. But who am I kidding? I'm downloading the entire thing.

Two more great download selections, so read more

• I love this question: FilmExperience wants to know which movie star you first had a crush on. (See my answer, left.)
• The Vulture editors use charts and logic to predict the song of Summer 2008.
• Best Week Ever lists 20 headlines that are funnier if you pretend they're about House, MD.
• Popwatch has a sweet "in memoriam" post for visual effects genius, Stan Winston, who died Sunday at the age of 62.
• TV Squad interviewed the fabulous Jean Smart.
• Cinematical ponders the news that apparently A Fish Called Wanda will be the next movie to be made into a stage musical.
• YumSugar has the scoop on Top Chef's 20-city tour.
• Rolling Stone's Rock & Roll Daily found the toughest tradeoffs on the Lollapalooza schedule (Nine Inch Nails or Kanye?).

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Coldplay fans rejoice: Viva La Vida has arrived! This album, the band's fourth, is a big deal as Coldplay strives for that sweet spot between critical success and broad appeal. This time out, Chris Martin and co. have brought in famed U2 producer Brian Eno to help take their sound in new and interesting directions.

Viva La Vida is indeed experimental but not in a way that will alienate fans. Many critics had a viscerally angry reaction to to 2005's X&Y (the New York Times declared Coldplay "the most insufferable band of the decade" after that effort – ouch, right?), but Viva La Vida is just the kind of album you want a band of this stature to release mid-career.

Martin and his mates retain all the epic instrumentals that give Coldplay its signature amphitheater rock sound but apply an obvious amount of self-restraint to the album, making it fun without putting you to sleep. The band refrains from repeating choruses over and over again (ahem, "Fix You") and steers clear of the self-pitying lyrics of albums past, instead focusing on themes around war, religion, and the nature of love.

Viva La Vida is something borrowed and something new for Coldplay, and I'm pleasantly surprised and happy with the result. After giving the entire album a whirl, I feel like I’ve listened to a soundtrack of a sweeping epic that spans wars, generations, and the globe.

To see my initial thoughts on each of the tracks, read more

Gossip Girl may not have great ratings, but it certainly has the eye of the teen demographic. The show and its stars scored a total 14 nominations for the 2008 Teen Choice Awards today, easily the most of any nominee.

In the music categories, Chris Brown was the clear leader with nine nominations. Miley Cyrus, who will return as host of the surf-themed show on Aug. 4, picked up four nods of her own in both the music and TV categories. Among TV series, Grey's Anatomy and Heroes were big names, while the movie nominations ran the gamut from Rendition to Made of Honor. And hey, no matter what your feeling are on the Teen Choice Awards in general, I have to give props to any show that recognizes Friday Night Lights (ahem, Emmys).

Voting is now open at the awards site, and you have to be between 13 and 19 (or make up a birthday) to participate. To check out all the nominees, just read more

Lots of intriguing movie news coming out of Hollywood today:

• Kevin Spacey will star in the indie film Shrink as a depressed therapist who likes to ah, partake of the ganja. (A pot-smoking therapist? That sounds familiar.) His clients in the movie will include "Hollywood characters" like Robin Williams, Keke Palmer, Laura Ramsey and Gore Vidal, among others.
• Columbia and Sam Raimi will team up together again after their Spider-Man ventures for yet another adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel. Lehane's books make excellent screenplays, apparently, as Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and the upcoming DiCaprio-Scorsese project Shutter Island have all been adapted. Next up, Raimi will direct a film version of The Given Day, which follows Boston cops in 1919.
• Speaking of adaptations, the rights to an as-yet-unpublished Stephen King novella Throttle — which he wrote with his son Joe Hill — have already been optioned. The story is about "father-son members of a motorcycle gang that's chased through the desert by an 18-wheel tanker truck." The novella will be a part of a 2009 anthology dedicated to I Am Legend author Richard Matheson.

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