STRUT: "Al Gore will help me."

Yesterday, following a series of emails debating whether Collie (FYI: semi-slutty "cool girl" chick on Real World: Denver who's obsessed with boning Alex, the pretty punk kid who looks like he spends more time tweezing his eyebrows than I do) has a full-on man face or a kind-of-man-face, the SloCult crew exchanged words on the latest La Lohan gaff.

TURNING TRICKS?: Fishbowl vs. Cutler

It's been awhile since we checked in with the crew at Off the Shelf, the Boston Globe's lit blog. Yesterday, publishing reporter and all-around smarty guy David Mehegan posted a very funny rant about author's acknowledgment pages in fiction novels. He addressed it to the Department of Curmudgeon.

SPLIT: Jen's all alone again

Jesus, is late fall break-up season in Hollywood or something? Reese and Ryan, Britney and K-Fed, Pam and Kid, Adam and Rachel, and now Vinifer are totally over as well, gossip-grubbers at the Post report. Who else is on the chopping block?

Poor Jen. The man of her dreams, the Hot Stud with Real Aspirations, dumps her for Angie (who really ought to try to take Bolton's job at the U.

But really, I'm too emotionally distraught by the news to focus on his single status.

IT'S OVER: The O.C. lovebirds call it quits

Via Gawker's Gossip Roundup, I've just learned that yours and my favorite celeb couple, Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson, are no longer in <3 anymore. Life & Style, Molly Good, and E! Online concur.

Brookline Booksmith dedicates an evening to literary zeitgeist with a killer double bill. First up is local academic LEORA LEV, whose Enter at Your Own Risk: The Dangerous Art of Dennis Cooper is the first critical collection of essays on the author of the George Miles novels (Closer, Frisk, Try, Guide, Period), which typify his wall-of-assault psychosexual prose.

"Uh oh...!"

Let's talk shit about Lindsay Lohan, a/k/a L. Lo, a/k/a La Lohan, a/k/a Crazy Fucking Cokehead. Lindsay is always pulling off these wacky antics that provide me with a satisfying, knee-slapping chuckle. Out of everything I've come across this year, I lurved the Elle cover story on Miss Thang the most.

A few things to note:

1. It's officially December, which means the 2006 National Novel Writing Month bonanza is dunzo. And we'd like to know: did any of you participate? Does anyone get something worthwhile out of this thing? Is it just bullshit pressure to pump out drivel for 30 days? Or is it a magical literary bender of creativity? Discuss.