In the wake of the announcement, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth ... riots broke out in cities across the country (especially in Portland). It was bad. In fact, it's gotten so ugly that it appears Zooey and Ben have finally been forced to take action. In order to escape the indie world's wrath, they're moving their wedding to the most remote spot possible: the Moon.

At least that's what Zooey told us when we caught up with her on the carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles. And though lunar nuptials would prove to be a bit of a logistical nightmare, she appeared serious. Here, watch for yourself:

We hope the happy couple understand if we can't make it. We used up all our space-travel budget earlier this year when we covered 50 Cent's concert onboard the International Space Station. But we'll definitely send a card ...

At least, that's the way In Touch Weekly reported things yesterday morning, erroneously writing that the couple had gotten engaged during the holidays and that they were "so excited" to spend the rest of their lives together. It all sounded very lovely — if not a little bit odd — but it wasn't true.

As we know by now, Deschanel did get engaged over the holidays, but it wasn't to Burgan — rather, Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard (a source close to the couple confirmed the news to MTV Monday afternoon. Needless to say, it was fairly awkward, and not just because Burgan had reportedly dated Deschanel in the past. In Touch would soon correct the mistake, but that did little to stem the tide of reports that Burgan was betrothed.

So, how did he go about setting the record straight? Why, Facebook and Twitter updates, of course.

First, he changed his Facebook status to read "Hunter Burgan is not engaged," and then he took to Twitter, writing, "No, I'm not engaged. However Perez Hilton did mention me twice today." (Oh snap!)

Perhaps feeling that he'd said enough, Burgan has maintained radio silence since, and though he'll soon probably be relegated to "that bass player dude from AFI" status once again, we'd like to applaud Burgan for handling the incident in perhaps the most 21st-century way possible. It's not inconceivable to say that the days of publicists and press releases might soon be a thing of the past ... all manner of public incidents (arrests, marriages, divorces) will be addressed in 25 words or less — and for that, he's a real trailblazer. At the very least, Burgan can probably teach Courtney Love a thing or two about blogging. It's all about the brevity, Court.