Last week, we checked in on Hayley Williams while she enjoys her down time before Paramore heads to Europe to rock their way through the continent as they continue their tour for Brand New Eyes. In a series of tweets, she plugged video game "Left 4 Dead 2," the spooky sci-fi flick "The Fourth Kind" and the holiday stage production "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," among other cultural things that she indulged in during her period of rest.

Over the weekend, she jumped into another series entertainment treats that she weighed in on via her increasingly excellent Twitter. On Saturday night (November 21), her evening was taken up by UFC 106, which saw Tito Ortiz make his return to the Octagon to take on former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin. "UFC 106. I must say Forrest Griffin almost won me over with his walk out music," she tweeted (Griffin, as good-natured a fighter as there is in UFC, walked to the cage to Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping"). "But I'm pulling for Tito." Griffin ended up beating out Ortiz in a split decision (though many would argue that he dominated the fight outright). "I ain't crying," she wrote later. "Forrest fought really well."

Following the end of the fight, Williams and her companions headed back to playing video games, including more "Left 4 Dead 2" and a run through "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2." In fact, the next day she took a picture of the screen while playing "Modern Warfare 2" and simply titled it "My life."

Finally, she made another sojourn to the cinema over the weekend, catching "The Blind Side" and posing with promotional statues of Alvin and the Chipmunks. "Sandra Bullock, you have outdone your hot self," Williams tweeted after the movie. "'The Blind Side' was awesome!" Much in the same way that Miley Cyrus' Twitter made her infinitely more real, Williams' feed really puts her on the same level as her audience. She's never been that distant from real life, but it's refreshing to know that her version of the rock and roll lifestyle involves watching fights with some friends and shooting digital terrorists. Rock stars — they're just like us.

Last week, Paramore wrapped up a triumphant North American tour at the Palladium in Hollywood, California. This Sunday, they launch a European tour that will begin in Finland and will take them across the continent (including a show at London's Wembley Arena). That left a little over one week to decompress and catch up on whatever the group might have missed while they were on the road. For frontwoman Hayley Williams, that meant indulging in a handful of video games, television shows and movies that kept her occupied and helped her unwind between tour dates.

Williams has been keeping her fans abreast of her taste via her Twitter. On November 17, she wrote, "Can't stop playing 'Left 4 Dead 2,'" referencing the cricitally acclaimed zombie-hunting video game for XBox 360. "Still haven't come across the clown zombie as pictured on the back cover. He is my worst nightmare."

Two days earlier, she indulged in some cinema. "Got the German/zombie/awesome film 'Dead Snow' from a fan at meet and greet in Los Angeles last week," she wrote. "Watching it now! Opening scene rules." Clearly, she's got a taste for zombies.

On November 14, she took in an instant holiday classic. "'A Christmas Carol' warmed my soul," she wrote. "Jim Carrey, you are a legend."

Over the course of the week, Williams also saw the sci-fi movie "The Fourth Kind," played the "Saw" video game, discussed the UFC, experimented with writing one word tweets for a full day, saw "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" on Broadway in New York and promoted the new video from New Found Glory (boyfriend Chad Gilbert's band). But it wasn't all rest and recreation — in fact, she kept tabs on the post-production of the video for Paramore's "Brick by Boring Brick." We wish the band luck on their European tour and hope that Williams will continue to keep everybody updated on what the most awesome parts of Helsinki are and where she likes to hang out in Paris.

"It's really new for us. We've never done a video that wasn't performance. I'm really excited for our fans to see this side of us. This is the first time we've ever had a real set, where it's not like a stage with instruments and a mic. We've built this whole world."

-Paramore singer Hayley Williams, expressing her enthusiasm about their new video for "Brick by Boring Brick," the second single from the band's excellent new album Brand New Eyes. The clip, which premieres on MTV on Tuesday night (November 17), was directed by Meiert Avis, who has also been responsible for videos for U2 ("With or Without You"), Avril Lavigne ("My Happy Ending") and Flyleaf ("Again"). It features the band stepping outside of their normal video routine to cast themselves as characters. "After we came up with the treatment, we wrote it down in an e-mail, sort of sent it out, and then we got a few treatments back," Williams explained to MTV News' James Montgomery. "One of them was from Meiert Avis, who we recognized, because he's done some awesome videos in the past. We just thought he's got really good ideas, he gets where we're coming from, with the whole fantasy thing, but not going too overboard. But also, he wasn't afraid to bring a lot more ideas to the table. He's exciting to work with." Paramore just wrapped up a tour for Brand New Eyes and have a few weeks off before they head to Europe.

Sometimes working on side projects can pull a band apart and lead to their break-up. But there are other instances where key members taking time off from a giant act can help everybody recharge their batteries. Though Foo Fighters is Dave Grohl's main squeeze, he hasn't been hurt by dalliances with Queens of the Stone Age, Probot or Them Crooked Vultures. The members of Linkin Park also haven't had any trouble keeping their core strong while branching out into other areas of the music world. Mike Shinoda has had a successful run as part of Fort Minor, and Chester Bennington is currently enjoying success as the frontman of Dead by Sunrise.

Dead by Sunrise combines Bennington with members of arena-goth act Orgy. Interestingly, the Orgy members also have an electronic side project called Julien-K. The family tree runs so deep, in fact, that Bennington joked that they could plan an entire festival featuring only his bands and the connected side projects. "We're going to call it the Narcissism Tour," he joked to MTV News at the Ulalume Festival. "It'll be Linkin Park, Orgy, Fort Minor, Dead by Sunrise, Circuit Freaks, Julien-K and JK DJs."

"That's like a seven hour work day," added guitarist Ryan Shuck.

Be sure to check out the Ulalume Music Festival playlist, which features live performances from Dead by Sunrise, A.F.I. and Paramore. You can check out the whole show tonight (October 30) at 9 p.m. on MTV or at 11 p.m. on mtvU.

The new TV season is in full effect, and a handful of stars have taken to Twitter to weigh in on some of their favorite shows. Yesterday, Paramore singer Hayley Williams took some time off to watch multiple episodes of Showtime's "Dexter," the black comedy about a serial killer played by Michael C. Hall. "Dexterrrrrrr," she wrote in an on-point tweet. Clearly, she's enthusiastic about the show, and life on the road must be preventing her from keeping up with it. In a response to a friend, Williams tweeted, "I love Dexter. Literally just watched 7 episodes. All day long." Williams has excellent taste, as "Dexter" is one of the best shows on TV.

Williams isn't the only star on Twitter reviewing television. Pink weighed in on one of her favorite shows last night: ABC's "Brothers and Sisters," the drama series that stars Calista Flockhart, Rob Lowe and Sally Field. "I'm not one to try to persuade viewers — 'cause do what the f--- you want — but 'Brothers & Sisters' is my fav show," the singer tweeted. "I've never laughed and cried so much."

While both ladies are devoted to two excellent shows, they're going to have to cram in some viewing time while on the road. Pink is currently in Europe for another batch of shows on her tour for Funhouse, while Paramore will be crossing North America for the next few weeks before heading across the pond themselves.

"We actually came in at #2 behind Barbara Streisand. Touchß, Barbara. Haha. We sold 175,464 records! To our fans, friends and family ... thank you for once again allowing us to exceed any expectation we could ever set for ourselves. Every goal we've ever had has become a reality thanks to your support and we're stoked to share all of it with you. The guys are coming back to L.A. today. I've been here since last week trying to recover my voice. I can't wait to see them so we can just laugh about how insane this is."

-Paramore singer Hayley Williams, responding to the chart debut of her band's new album Brand New Eyes. Despite early rumors that the group had topped the Billboard Top 200, the group came in second place behind the new album by Barbara Streisand. Still, they managed to top new albums by Mariah Carey and Selena Gomez, as well as the latest Madonna hits compilation. Though their tour for Brand New Eyes launched a week ago, they've been in a holding pattern while Williams' voice recovers (it blew out after the tour's opening date). They'll resume the tour this Saturday in Chicago, and Williams says she's ready to go. "My vocal cords are back for the attack," she wrote to MTV News in an e-mail. "I'm feelin' good!"

The giant grandfather clock in the MTV Newsroom will sound its final bells at any moment, which means it's time to remedy that terrible short-term memory and take a look back at the week that was here on the Newsroom blog. As the calendar switched from September to October and the fall weather began to descend, Kanye West remained in the headlines, Madonna ate pizza and zombies were everywhere. Want to have an instant nostalgia trip? Just keep reading.

» The "Fame Kills" tour — starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga — got put on the back burner, but that won't stop Gaga from doing her own shows.

» Madonna and David Letterman had a civil interview and then sat down for a slice.

» Jennifer Hudson celebrated the anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz" with a stirring rendition of "Over the Rainbow" live in Central Park.

» Adam Lambert has already sold a ton of albums, even though the record in question has no title or single. But that's okay, because he's driving people to donate to public schools.

» Before she got sick and had to cancel a bunch of Paramore shows, Hayley Williams wore a tank top on "The Tonight Show" that looked awfully familiar to us.
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This is a blog about Hayley Williams' tank top. You know, the microscopic, blue "Varsity League" one she wore last night during Paramore's performance on "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien." This one:

This is not meant to be a fashion critique (mostly because, well, that's me on the right), nor is it some pervy paen to exposed midriffs (honest). No, I'm writing this because I was there when Williams bought the tank top in question last week, at a Franklin, Tennessee, Goodwill shop.

See, Paramore were showing MTV News around their hometown at the time, and they were adamant about taking me and producer Akshay Bhansali to Goodwill, a place where they used to bum around before band practice (and also the place where they purchased most of the stuff you'll see in the artwork for their Brand New Eyes album, which hits stores today). So, naturally, we obliged them, and after a pretty epic bike ride through downtown Franklin, we found ourselves in the parking lot of Goodwill, and the band wanted to do some shopping.

The only problem? Goodwill wouldn't let us film inside the store (something about a corporate policy), so we stashed our cameras and went inside with Williams and Co., and watched as they selected a whole bunch of fairly redonkulous junk, including a muscle shirt, an amazingly shiny winter jacket, and, of course, that blue tank top. At the time, Williams said she bought most of her onstage clothes at Goodwill, but, to be honest, we didn't believe her. After all, she's a burgeoning rock icon. Surely, her stage gear didn't come from the recycling bin.

Except when it does. And Paramore's performance on "The Tonight Show" is proof. Personally, I've always thought it was pretty cool when bands strode on stage wearing the same stuff they bummed around in on the tour bus — there's an air of authenticity to it, or something like that — but I never pegged Paramore as being a band like that. Now I know different. And it makes me like them even more (if that's even possible). And, on a whole different level, it's pretty amazing to think that perhaps last night, some kid in Franklin (because, honestly, the tank top in question is so tiny it could've only come from a child), tuned into "The Tonight Show," watched Paramore play, and thought to him- or herself "Wait, that's my tank top!"

Rock and roll dreams come in all shapes and sizes, after all.

The day is finally here! Today marks the release of Paramore's new album Brand New Eyes, which is fast becoming one of the most popular records passed around the MTV Newsroom. The band also launches their tour tonight, but last night they got a tune-up performance on the set of "The Tonight Show." Host Conan O'Brien recovered from his head injury well enough to welcome the band to the stage, where they played through their jittery, hook-heavy new single "Ignorance." Singer Hayley Williams sported platinum blond locks, which must be pretty new because she was still a redhead when MTV News visited her and hung out with the band in their hometown last week.

"I think we may have rocked!" Williams wrote on her Twitter page of the performance on "The Tonight Show." She also noted that she wore yet another pair of interesting socks last night, further reinforcing the idea that it's perhaps the part of her wardrobe she concentrates on the most. "I showed him my socks," Williams wrote, referring to host O'Brien. "I wore them for him cuz he's foxy."

These were the socks in question.

Click below for video of O'Brien's explanation of his head injury (he got a concussion racing Teri Hatcher in a triathlon) and scroll down a little bit more for Paramore's performance of "Ignorance" on last night's show (skip to the last segment of the program). And obviously stay tuned to MTV News for more on Paramore, their tour and the unleashing of Brand New Eyes.
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Tomorrow not only marks the release of Paramore's stunning new album Brand New Eyes, but the band will also launch their huge tour tomorrow night in Pomona, California. (They'll get a high-profile warm-up this evening when they visit with Conan O'Brien on "The Tonight Show.") The band will travel across the country over the next month or so, wrapping up with a homecoming show in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium. From there, they'll take a few weeks off before jetting off to Europe for another six weeks' worth of concerts.

Of course, all this travel requires the group to be away from home for weeks at a time, which means that they'll have to pack up a good portion of their lives to hit the road. Frontwoman Hayley Williams took care of her packing over the weekend, and she even included a subset of items you wouldn't normally consider must-haves for life on the open road.

Yep, Williams packed herself several pairs of Halloween-themed socks. In fact, if her Twitter feed is to be believed, these particular socks are her foot coverings of choice. "I'm only packing Halloween socks for this tour," she wrote in the same post that contained the above photo.

So if you've got tickets to check out Paramore any time in the next few weeks, pay attention to Williams' ankles and see if you can play a game of "spot the skull" while she and her band rip through the killer new tunes from Brand New Eyes. (Desperate to hear some of those tunes right away? Check out their acoustic performance for "MTV Unplugged.") And be sure to stay tuned to MTV News for ongoing coverage of Paramore, their new album and their tour, including the rest of correspondent James Montgomery's extended visit to the group's hometown.