Really, you should be listening to music every day, but thanks to Twitter, Monday has become the best day of the week to discover new songs, show some love to the tune currently dominating your iPod playlist and quietly judge the listening habits of your closest friends.

Yes, it's #MusicMonday, one of Twitter's most enduring trending topic. And since we're all big fans of the site — not to mention music — we decided it was time to get in on the act, too. So, for the first time, we'd like to present "MTV News' #MusicMonday," a weekly look at the songs we're obsessing about here in the Newsroom. And given that this is our big debut, we've recruited a big-name talent to help us out: "American Idol" champ Kris Allen.

So, here's what's on our playlists right now.

Kris Allen, "American Idol" Season Eight Champion: "I might be biased, but there's a couple of songs on the new Switchfoot album that I really like. [Ed. note: Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman co-wrote a song on Allen's album.] 'The Sound' is really good. I think it's Jon Foreman's voice and the way he sings. He can sing nice, but he can also go up there and sing that rock voice, or he can scream and stuff. It's cool."

Jocelyn Vena, MTV News Pop Music Writer: "I am listening to Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance.' I just think it's really catchy. She's got that battle cry in there and it shows her growth as a pop star. It's her, but taken to a new level."

James Montgomery, MTV News Rock Editor: "I'm listening to the Flaming Lips' song 'Watching The Planets.' The video just premiered a couple of weeks ago, and it's got a bunch of naked hippies in it. It's the last song on their Embryonic album, which is one of my favorite records of the year. I really dig the harsh, lo-fi thing — it sort of reminds me of the Folk Implosion's 'Natural One.' And it's a really good ending to a really confounding and deep record. And it's got Karen O screaming on it."

At the taping of the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards on Wednesday night (November 18), there were a handful of memorable moments that captured both the madcap energy of the show and the envelope-pushing nature of the artists involved. There was the near-nudity of Matt and Kim's backup singers, the curse-happy introduction Mary-Louise Parker gave for the Dead Weather and Asher Roth's stage dive. One of the most head-turning moments of the night came when Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte — otherwise known as 3OH!3 — stepped onto the stage to present the Left Field Woodie (which ended up going to fiercely independent rapper Tech N9ne).

The pair were introduced and appeared on the stage at the Roseland Ballroom wearing two outfits that Lady Gaga wore at the Video Music Awards back in September. Foreman donned the strange white bird's nest outfit, while Motte was wrapped in that full-body red lace stocking (which he described as "a soiled pair of panties" on his face). "We're here to present the Left Field Woodie," said Foreman.

"It honors the artists out there with the balls to make the music that they want to make," Motte added. "To write lyrics that others are afraid to write."

"To dress up with a f---ing bird's nest on your face," Foreman concluded.

The band didn't seem particularly comfortable in the Gaga-inspired threads, though the outfits were definitely an improvement over Foreman's cardigan sweater. You can see the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards in their entirety when the show airs on December 4 at 10 p.m. on MTV, MTV2 and mtvU.

Considering how many chart-topping albums he has had and the number of smash singles he has released, it's amazing to think that Jay-Z has never had a song top the Billboard Hot 100, the definitive pop songs chart. That changed this morning, as his "Empire State of Mind" took the top spot in its tenth week of release. The track, which of course features a memorable hook care of Alicia Keys, picked up a ton of radio airplay in the wake of the New York Yankees' World Series win (the team ended up adopting it as a victory anthem). Meanwhile, "Run This Town," the first single from The Blueprint 3, remains in the top 20.

While it does mark the first time Jigga has had one of his own songs at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, it's not the first time his name has been associated with the top spot. He has been a guest on three other number one tunes: Mariah Carey's "Heartbreaker," Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" and Rihanna's "Umbrella." Keys is no stranger to the summit of the pop mountain either, as she has had two of her own songs hit the top spot ("Fallin'" and "No One") as well as another collaboration ("My Boo," with Usher).

Elsewhere on this week's Hot 100, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" jumped seven spots up the chart to #11, which suggests that it should bust into the top 10 the same week that her The Fame Monster gets its official release. Other big gainers included 50 Cent's "Baby by Me" and the version of "Defying Gravity" as performed by Chris Colfer and Lea Michele from "Glee."

Rihanna's new video for "Russian Roulette" is an incredible cinematic affair, full of striking images and a narrative that may or may not hold together or even exist. It cuts between Rihanna being monitored in a padded cell, then shifts to the singer sitting across a table from an anonymous man and contemplating the gun between them. Then there are flashes of tigers and Rihanna ends up in the desert, where she is buzzed by a car. Finally, she ends up underwater, shot in the chest and bleeding (theoretically to her doom). There certainly seems like there is a story in there, but it's unclear and pretty dense.

In that sense, it's a lot like a David Lynch film. In fact, there are so many similarities between Rihanna's "Russian Roulette" and Lynch's 1997 film "Lost Highway" that it seems like it must be a direct homage. "Lost Highway" is a difficult film to describe, but here's a brief synopsis: It's a fever dream of a movie wherein Bill Pullman kills his wife, then goes to jail and morphs into Balthazar Getty, who gets out of jail and gets involved with a gangster's girlfriend. Along the way, the two characters run up against a porn director, a violent mob boss and a guy with no eyebrows who may or may not be the devil himself. It's a difficult film, and one of Lynch's most underrated.

There are a number of parallels between "Lost Highway" and "Russian Roulette." In both pieces, the protagonists both seem to be projecting themselves out of prison into alternate lives that are theoretically free but no less dangerous. They both have scenes that feature cars nearly running over characters in the desert. Even the figure watching over Rihanna in her cell somewhat resembles the evil Mystery Man in "Lost Highway." There's also the scene below, which shows both Patricia Arquette and Rihanna standing mysteriously next to dark cars.

Whether it's intentional or not, Rihanna is not the first artist to indulge in film homages. In fact, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga's new clip "Video Phone" borrows the opening scene from Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs." Kanye West also dipped into his DVD collection for his video for "Stronger," which uses images from the anime classic "Akira." And of course Faith No More essentially recreated all of Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" for the video for "Last Cup of Sorrow."

Click here for a complete look at the space where film and music video cross over!

In the wee hours of the morning, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga pulled back the curtain on the video for "Video Phone (Extended Remix)," their first collaborative effort. The result is an eye-catching, colorful, fashion-forward clip that may be considered a tad anti-climatic, if only because Gaga seems a bit dialed back. The clip opens with Beyoncé re-enacting the beginning of "Reservoir Dogs" (is she Mr. Pink, Mr. Blonde or Nice Guy Eddie?), followed by a flashy barrage of a number of crazy costumes. In the most otherworldly moment of the video, Beyoncé is flanked by two men who have video cameras for heads.

Gaga doesn't actually show up until the halfway point of the clip. She wears a white leotard and dances along with Beyoncé while the two of them hold plastic guns. Gaga isn't given the opportunity to wear any crazy costumes or don masks or make-up — it's probably the most "normal" she has looked in any music video. "Video Phone (Extended Remix)" is clearly Beyoncé's show (after all, it does appear on the deluxe reissue of I Am ... Sasha Fierce, which hits stores next week), so there's a disappointing lack of real chemistry between the two.

Still, that doesn't mean it isn't a good clip — on the contrary, it's one of the more out-there videos of Beyoncé's career. In the key scene, B holds a fake Technicolor gun while wearing a billowy orange top and flashing a savage grimace. It's the fiery side of Beyoncé, and it totally works for her.

When the "Fame Kills" tour was called off, the disappointment was palpable. The concert series that was supposed to bring together Kanye West and Lady Gaga was going to be a theatrical, over-the-top production from the minds of two of pop music's greatest and most warped superstars. While Kanye disappeared somewhere into the Internet, Gaga pressed forward with the "Monster Ball" tour, which will take her across the country presenting a crazed pop opera. It's all in support of The Fame Monster, her new expanded album reissue that hits shelves next week.

The tour promises to be a multimedia affair, as Gaga has reached out to her fans to provide her with video content for the shows. Over the weekend, she announced on her Twitter that she was looking for film creations "in the theme of the apocalypse." She also pointed to a Web site that lets fans upload video clips, which Gaga will then use during the production of the show. "The inspiration is sharp, simple and brutal: the Apocalypse, symbolic of both destruction and rebirth," the site reads. "Lady Gaga, Nick Knight and Ruth Hobgen will select video imagery from the submissions, and the videos will then be spliced together and reinvented as exclusive imagery, played alongside Lady Gaga's spectacular live performances across the globe. In line with new contributions, video pieces will be constantly re-edited and engineered as new submissions are received throughout the tour's 44-date marathon run, in a constant creative renewal."

Gaga is already excited about the submissions she has seen. "Been watching all of your video submissions," she tweeted. "You are some very talented little monsters, I love you!"

Lady Gaga's official Web site has been teasing a new music video for a few days now, but it has finally arrived. The clip, for the new single "Bad Romance," is vintage Gaga, featuring striking colors, bizarre costumes, stunning effects, muscular dancing and a little bit of ultra-violence. The clip is the first of two hotly-anticipated clips that Gaga will be premiering as tie-ins to her upcoming album The Fame Monster, an expanded version of her 2008 debut that includes eight brand-new tracks. (The other upcoming video is the Beyoncé-assisted "Telephone," which will appear on the expanded edition of Beyoncé's double album I Am ... Sasha Fierce.)

The video for "Bad Romance" seems to take place aboard a space station (perhaps the same one that Michael and Janet Jackson are on in "Scream") and has a vague narrative: Gaga is captured and brought to a man wearing a golden mandible, theoretically for sex. In the end, the tables are turned and Gaga once again ends the life of a suitor (in that sense, it makes "Bad Romance" a sort of spiritual sequel to "Paparazzi," which saw Gaga poison video boyfriend Alexander Skarsgard).

The key shot is one of the most striking in music videos in a long time. Clad in lingerie and a bearskin overcoat with a huge train, Gaga approaches her mandible-clad suitor and sets the bed on fire. She stands over the blaze half-triumphant, half-tragic. (The aftermath shot is even more impressive and sort of gory.) After winning Best New Artist at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga has created an early front-runner for next year's Video of the Year.

"I've actually been making a lot of Yankee analogies in my interviews lately because I get asked, 'Do you feel pressure? How do you feel when someone says this? Or do you feel like you have to top yourself?' I say I do feel like I have to top myself. But I feel like I'm [Mariano] Rivera. I'm a closer."

-Fashion-forward pop superstar and New York Yankees fan Lady Gaga, explaining who she relates to on the iconic baseball team. The singer sat down for an extended interview with Sway yesterday, where she touched on the new edition of her album, her collaboration with Beyoncé and a whole host of other topics. But Gaga is also a baseball fan, and she sees a lot of herself in Rivera, the Yankees' famous closing pitcher. After suffering a loss on Sunday night in Philadelphia, the World Series returns to the Bronx tonight for Game 6, where the Yanks will try to shut the door on the Phillies and cash in on their 27th championship. Standing in their way will be Phils starting pitcher Pedro Martinez, who has a longstanding rivalry with the Yanks (he famously referred to them as his "daddy" in 2004). If all goes well for New York, Rivera should be walking onto the field around midnight tonight, and if he really wants to embrace his musical equivalent, he should really ditch his normal entrance music — Metallica's "Enter Sandman" — in favor of "Paparazzi."

As the week comes to a close here in the MTV Newsroom, we're left with a handful of questions before we slide out the door and into the weekend. Is it too late to start training for the New York Marathon? (Answer: Yes, as it's Sunday.) Is this weekend when we roll the clocks back? (Yes, so enjoy an extra hour of sleep before running the marathon.) What's going to be the most popular costume for Halloween? (We've already seen more Sookie Stackhouses than we care to count.) But most importantly: What might you have missed this week here on the Newsroom blog? Lucky for you,
we have whole cornucopia of answers ready and waiting for your clicking pleasure.

» The World Series kicked off this week, with the Phillies and the Yankees each taking a game in the Bronx. We still think the Yankees have the better playlist, but the Phils do have the power of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck."

» "Michael Jackson's This Is It" premiered this week, and Adam Lambert and Paula Abdul celebrated at MTV's red carpet premiere.

» Speaking of Lambert, he revealed the cover for his album For Your Entertainment this week, which caused Jim Cantiello to go a little bit insane and insert himself into some crazy "American Idol" album covers.

» The next day, the craziness continued.

» And obviously, with any good bout of madness, there are always outtakes and deleted scenes.

» Speaking of album covers, Rihanna unveiled hers as well. The people weighed in, but what do you think?

» Justin Bieber dropped a new single this week, and it really made us want to put on a sweater.
Read more...

By Brian Jacks

Leave it to the hard-hitting folks at "South Park" to do more for conservationism than fifteen cable reality shows put together. In last night's episode, the long-running Comedy Central series took on Japan's heavily-criticized whaling industry by way of targeting the do-nothing marauder antics of Animal Planet's aquatic melodrama "Whale Wars."

But while character Stan Marsh was off sinking fishing boats (and generating headlines like "New 'Whale Wars' Cast Member Turns Vegan P---ies Into Actual Pirates"), fellow South Park resident Eric Cartman was adding some flavor to the proceedings with an amazing interpretation of none other than Lady Gaga's VMA-nominated "Poker Face."

First introduced while playing "Rock Band" earlier in the show, Cartman's enthusiastic rendition of "Poker Face" was later memorialized during a particularly hilarious montage later in the episode. Check out that first scene below, and if you have the time, click here to watch the entire episode online.