Dr Dre and Burt Baacharach have collaborated on a new record

This according to the Observer Music Monthly – as if Jamie Cullum guesting on the latest Pharrell Williams album wasn’t weird enough. I’m bracing myself for the inevitable rise of easy listening crunk.

The Fall’s Mark E Smith to read the football scores on the BBC

This scoop also courtesy of the Observer Music Monthly. I’m sure John Peel would approve.

Samuel L Jackson to star in “Snakes on a Plane”

What is it with people with middle initials this week? Anyway, appalling title aside (and after The Man you’d assume Samuel L Jackson might be looking for something a little more – well, high-brow), the synopsis should say it all:

On board a flight over the Pacific Ocean, an assassin, bent on killing a passenger who’s a witness in protective custody, let loose a crate full of deadly snakes.

Dear god, did no-one learn anything from Anaconda? I have absolutely no hope for Jackson’s Black Snake Moan.