Look, we all know what you're doing this weekend. You're not preparing for Thanksgiving, raking the last of your leaves before the snow arrives or indulging in this year's batch of Beaujolais Nouveau. Rather, you're going to be at your local cinema watching Taylor Lautner's perfectly-sculpted abdominal muscles in "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." And we can't blame you — it's a heck of a roller coaster ride through teenage angst and vampire mythology. But in between screenings (because you're obviously seeing it more than once), you should catch up on everything you missed this week here on the Newsroom blog.

» Last weekend saw a couple of cool-looking flash mobs in honor of Janet Jackson's Number Ones, and we had a first-person account from one of the dancers. (Be sure to catch Janet this Sunday on the American Music Awards, where she'll open the show.)

» MTV mourned the passing of comedian, TV producer and "Remote Control" host Ken Ober with classic clips and testimonials from friends.

» Rihanna premiered the hotly-anticipated video for "Russian Roulette," which really made us think about the head wound Balthazar Getty received in a David Lynch movie.

» Are you a hardcore fan of Adam Lambert, Kris Allen or Allison Iraheta? Make sure you enter our photo contest, with the winner receiving an autographed copy of the new issue of Elle magazine, which features all three!

» There was no shortage of other "American Idol" news this week. For example, we now know why Kris Allen changed his Twitter name.
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Picking out a key scene from "Cousins," the just-premiered-today video from Vampire Weekend, is something of a mistake. After all, the spastic new clip is all about kinetic energy. The entirety of its three minutes takes place in an alley and features frontman Ezra Koenig rolling backwards and forwards on a track set up in the middle of the street. The clip mixes in a lot of low-fi cuts and funny visual gags, but one thing stays the same: It never stops moving. It's a perfect marriage of visuals to music, as the tune is a prototypical Vampire Weekend workout, full of spastic guitar twitches and rhythms that keep threatening to run away from the track entirely.

However, there is one shot that perfectly melds together just about everything that is brilliant about Vampire Weekend. During the second verse, Koenig is dressed in a tuxedo, and he holds a martini glass full of green liquid that he then throws behind him. Suddenly, his right arm becomes that of a gorilla, and he rips it off at the shoulder, dumping a series of Superballs (apparently that's what keeps Koenig springy) onto the ground. It's simultaneously funny, violent and absurd, not unlike the music on Vampire Weekend's forthcoming album Contra.

Vampire Weekend scored immediate buzz when their self-titled debut became a source of obsession for bloggers, NPR listeners and stoned college students alike. They found a permanent home in people's hearts with jumpy, Peter Gabriel-inspired workouts like "Oxford Comma" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa." Their second album, the hotly-anticipated Contra, will hit the streets on January 12. Stay tuned to MTV News for much more on the band — including a complete track-by-track rundown of Contra — in the coming weeks

There are still a handful of weeks left in 2009, but there is already buzz building around a handful of releases dropping in early 2010. Perhaps the biggest of the new year will be the second album from Vampire Weekend, who will look to continue surfing the wave created by their self-titled debut. The follow-up, Contra, will be hitting the streets on January 12, and will feature much of what made the band so undeniable the first time around: Prickly rhythms, blasts of surf guitar, jazzy inflections, nods to world music and hyper-literate lyrics.

The quartet recently shot a video for the album's first single "Cousins," a jittery track that blends together a sing-songy vocal line with a little bit more guitar savagery underneath (though that's all relative — despite the extra punch, they're still pretty casual). Buzzworthy snagged a 30 second preview of the finished product, and the result is delightfully trippy. It features masks, awkward dancing and some dual-action guitar heroics. Vampire Weekend have always had a knack for creating memorable images (just check out the clip for "Oxford Comma" or the album cover for Contra), and it appears as though "Cousins" will continue on that path. It makes sense, as the band's name comes from the title of a film created by frontman Ezra Koenig.

Check out the teaser below, and be sure to stay tuned for more from Vampire Weekend's extended conversation with MTV News' James Montgomery, rolling out in the coming weeks.

Five random thoughts while looking at the cover of Vampire Weekend's brand new album, Contra (which will be released on January 12, 2010).

1) If there's a better way to sum up Vampire Weekend's entire musical output — nay, the totality of their aesthetic and world view — than with a picture of a towheaded Connecticut WASP wearing a piqued Polo, well, then I am not aware of it.

2) Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. Brrring!

3) This photo is amazing because, though it looks like it was taken at somebody's graduation party at Tavern on the Green in, say, 1983, there is still roughly a 50 percent chance that it was actually taken last week in some bar in Williamsburg or Silverlake. In fact, it would not shock me if the latter were the case, and the photographer was actually Terry Richardson or the Cobra Snake ...

4) … and, to that end, are Vampire Weekend really trying to say that everything — music, fashion, you name it — is cyclical, and as such, they are not plundering the mines of Peter Gabriel or Paul Simon, but rather, ushering their worldbeat-embracing pastel tones back into the mainstream? That they're just doing the inevitable, and that time marches on, forever, in some endless, looping infinity sign, and there is no way of knowing if we're on the downstroke or the upswing of the helix, and that none of that really matters, since we're all going to die someday anyway?

5) Clambakes!

By Steven Roberts

CHICAGO -- A couple of years ago, Vampire Weekend was that “it” band that everyone tagged as the next big thing. Countless magazines, music television networks, blogs, and college radio stations pegged the four kids from Columbia University as the next … whatever. So it was only a matter of time before the predictable backlash began. Luckily for the guys, their bouncy South African township jive-inspired songs have acted as a kind of garlic necklace against the haters, even if two years in they're beginning to wear a bit thin as fans await the next batch of songs.

And how could you hate on any band that takes time out of their busy set to pay tribute to recently deceased Chicago-bred filmmaker John Hughes? The band gave props to the director with a performance of “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” on Sunday afternoon at Lollapalooza.

Lead singer, Ezra Koenig, said Hughes was very important to the city of Chicago, especially the suburbs – shout-out to “Home Alone”’s Kevin McCallister and loveable troublemaker Ferris Bueller. Many of Hughes films, including “The Breakfast Club,” “Home Alone” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” took place in the suburbs of the Second City. Cape Cod's a far cry from Chi Town, but Vampire Weekend won over the Snoop Dogg-awaiting masses.

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by Steven Roberts

CHICAGO -- It’s the final day of Lollapalooza, and we enjoyed some amazing performances this weekend despite adverse weather conditions. On Friday, fans endured the rain and enjoyed performances from Kings of Leon, Depeche Mode and Crystal Castles. They came back the next day to find the raindrops replaced by harsh sunrays, and an amazing performance by the always colorful Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, as well as a headbanging good time with Tool.

Well today fans came back for a second day of intense heat, and the final day of Lollapalooza. Sunday's line-up features some big name performances from punk godfather Lou Reed, The Killers, Snoop Dogg and of course Jane’s Addiction, but we wanted to hit the grounds at Grant Park to see what the kids were really excited to see.

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by Steven Roberts

My fellow MTV News teammates 
and I arrived in Chicago yesterday and we've started to settle into our rooms at the Hilton - yup we got 
HBO - preparing for Lolapalooza. The three-day festival features performances by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Killers, Snoop Dogg and Tool among others. There are also a variety of other bands performing throughout the weekend. And luckily for us our hotel is located on 
Michigan Avenue, conveniently across the street from Grant Park where Lolla is held.

It's so convenient that every band seems to be staying here 
too. There are guys walking around lugging their equipment and checking into their rooms. The only thing is we can't seem to make out who any of them are. I 
mean we're sure they're in a band. They wear tight jeans, tattered t-
shirts and have long, unkempt hair, but again, that's generally every 
rock band.

We get back from dinner last night, and the hotel lobby is full of guys who look 
like they're in a band. I'm the hip-hop guy here, so I'll admit I'm not that familiar with some of the smaller acts, but I'll be damn if any of you guys can recognize Portugal. The Man or Animal Collective casually walking by either. So we're standing around going "oh that's the 
guys from..." "Yeah they look really familiar," and "there goes 
Vampire Weekend."

I actually saw Vampire Weekend open for the Clipse about 2 years ago at Columbia University, so I would recognize those oxford shirts and boat shoes anywhere.

I guess the cool thing about Lolla is that by the end of the weekend we'll up on a whole host of new bands. So Monday when we see them walk by we can say "good show."

· Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Broken Social Scene, and Times New Viking are set to headline this summer’s Siren Festival in NY.

· Vampire Weekend, Kid Sister, and Santogold are among the acts playing for free at Central Park SummerStage in NY this summer.

· Perry Farrell’s Kidzapalooza, the kid-friendly companion fest to Chicago’s Lollapalooza, will debut at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles this summer. Farrell and others will perform.

· When not inspiring mediocre covers of classic songs on “American Idol,” Neil Diamond has apparently been planning a "secret" show of his latest tunes for his MySpace “friends” at NY’s The Bitter End. It’s tonight.

· Justice, Band of Horses, TV on the Radio, and Vampire Weekend lead the Monolith fest lineup.

· The search is over! Roger Waters’ pig has landed…at a very upscale location.

· Scarlett Johansson made a music video for one of her Tom Waits covers, and in it Salman Rushdie nuzzles her neck. No, really, you just read that.

· You can still get tickets to the Rainforest Foundation Fund’s benefit show at Carnegie Hall. Brian Wilson, Feist, Sting, and loads of others are on this year’s bill.

It all started with an email from MTV News producer Joseph Patel about Vampire Weekend's performance of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" on Jimmy Kimmel (clip above), subject line "whoa." Soon James "Cap'n" Montgomery, Daniel "Monty" Montalto, and myself had jumped into the fray -- and it went straight downhill from there...

AM: Seemed amazing -- then only kind of weak, I think.

JP: I just wanted to make Dave Matthews Band jokes.

JM: Where's the morbidly obese drummer in the Florida Panthers jersey?

DM: I would think it was cool except for:

1. They couldn't even let the kids get in a sweet little drum solo?
2. They had to kick them off the stage after one song?
3. They didn't invite Darryl Strawberry up there or even dedicate the song to him.

JM: It woulda been awesome if Straw just sort of stumbled on stage, wild-eyed, frothing from the mouth and started banging on a drum.

DM: Is it me, or does the keyboardist look like David Archuleta if he enrolled at Pencey Prep?

AM: I think the kids were all like "I wouldn't wear colors like that."

DM: Kid #1 to Kid #2: "This band dresses like Kanye West three years ago."

AM: Am I the only one who thinks those kids looked weirdly depressed?

JM: I just typed this in an IM conversation, and I don't think I've ever unintentionally summed myself up better: "I HATE (INSERT NAME OF ANYTHING HERE)."