Steven Trull and Just Sayin– the only two people who entered the villanelle contest- are the winners!!! I will send them both packages of books! Thanks, you two, for writing a villanelle and entering the contest. Email me your addresses at peterrutt@live.com.

Poet accuses Oprah of plaigarism & is suing for $1.2 trillion. [via Coldfront]

congratulations to mike young, pony strangler, on his upcoming full length poetry collection, WE ARE ALL GOOD IF THEY TRY HARD ENOUGH, coming out in 2010 from PUBLISHING GENIUS PRESS.

how important are physcial descriptions of characters and do they ever work?  it seems like whenever someone describes a character, i have less of an understanding of what they look like.  and when someone doesn’t describe the character, i just supplement with my own understanding.

If anybody is wondering why I religiously re-blog the Brights’ Jezebel posts, it’s simple: I think they’re really fun geniuses and I want them to be friends with me a lot. In this installment of their mother/daughter sex advice column, a couple looking to open their relationship up asks where to find positive role-models for conscientious and fulfilling non-monogamy.

Aretha: Well! This cracked me up because all I could think was, “My mom could tell you A LOT more about this than I can!”- lol.

Susie: Yeah, har-de-har-har.

Aretha: Thinking about what happened with you and Dad made me want to caution this girl that picking who you open your relationship with is super-duper important. Stay away from needy stalker people who want more than you can give them.

Susie: In my defense… in all the years I’ve been with your dad (21)- all non-monogamous- I can only think of two (and in retrospect, mercifully brief) times that we went through some real grief. I don’t blame it on being “open” – it’s just the hard things relationships go through at times, be they social, platonic, or battles with your own relatives.

You never knew about all the times everything worked out copacetic or drama-free, because part of our “open relationship” ethos was protecting our family life: Kids come first, privacy is a big deal, and discretion is definitely the better part of valor.

God, the sanity! The well-adjustedness! It’s breathtaking, really.

There’s a new issue of Bookslut up. As usual, it’s action-packed with features and interviews, but I’d like to draw your attention to three non-fiction reviews of books I didn’t know existed and am very pleased to have been made aware of. Interestingly, all three books are written by women, all three are reviewed by women, and all three have subtitles. Here they are: (1) Slanted and Enchanted: The Evolution of Indie Culture by Kaya Oakes, reviewed by Gina Meyers. (2) I’m Perfect, You’re Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah’s Witness Upbringing by Kyria Abrahams, reviewed by Kate Munning. (3) The Importance of Being Iceland: Travel Essays in Art by Eileen Myles, reviewed by Elizabeth Bachner.

(via Andrew Leland, via facebook.)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asNbeOBZaTs

Michelangelo’s first known painting contains dragons, and other ‘really cool stuff.’

Really excited about this one: Extraordinary Renditions: 3 Novellas by Andrew Ervin, coming in 2010 from Coffee House Press. Andrew is a badass, and 3 novellas in the same book is about exactly what I need right now. Mark it. [Also: Andrew has a piece/object for auction right now in the Significant Objects project right now. Check it out, and bid!]

Wouldn’t it be awesome if Hank Williams III [Update: Turns out it was junior in the picture. My bust.] turned out to not actually be related to the legendary Hank Williams I and instead turned out to be the illegitimate son of Marge Schott and dog shit? Because I think that would be awesome.