Notable matchups include A-Rod vs. Bellichick and Beckham vs. Bonds in the sports division, and Octomom vs. Dane Cook in the entertainment division.

All of which is good clean fun, to my mind. But the Politics Division is a real letdown. I mean, there's a pretty disappointing pattern here: Slightly loudmouthed (OK, sometimes more than slightly loudmouthed) leftist goes up against some sort of heinous, far-right succubus. Observe:

This, to me, is a really, really tepid shot at centrism on the part of the Taco. Are they actually suggesting that Harry Reid is a fouler personage than Ann Coulter? Or that Michael Moore's moderately successful movies are douchier than Bush's warmongering? There's hardly a pairing here that even approximates a level playing field. Arianna Huffington runs a left-leaning publication and writes the occasional middlebrow editorial; Rush Limbaugh jeers dying senators. I'll give 'em the Spitzer/O'Reilly one, though it's a stretch. But come on: Is this fair? How can we commies possibly hope to compete?

By way of a teaser, the Taco is pitting Katherine Heigl against Ryan Seacrest. To wit:

Voting begins noon eastern tomorrow.

Nice interview in the latest edition of Bookslut with Dave Housley, the D.C author of the short-story collection Ryan Seacrest Is Famous (we profiled him in November '07) and coeditor at the literary journal Barrelhouse (which disclosed its Patrick Swayze anxiety in our pages last April). He talks a little about Barrelhouse, the story collection, and Swayze, but the best exchange involves a hypothetical scenario:

You are in a little room with Ryan Seacrest, 40 copies of your book, and an oversized toothbrush. Ryan Seacrest has a cellphone with your mother's number in it. He also has a squirt tube of skin bronzer in his tight jean pockets. There are no windows or doors in the room, but there is a TV, and Ryan Seacrest is trying to watch TV. What's going to happen?

Now, the most interesting part of this is that squirt tube of skin bronzer. I really feel like he might have that in his tight jean pockets. Do you think when he leaves the house he actually might have a squirt tube of skin bronzer? He probably would carry it in a little man-purse, or he'd have an assistant carry it for him and he'd shout "TAN" every now and then, and the assistant would have to come rub bronzer on Ryan Seacrest, and then by the end of the day, the assistant's $500 jeans would be the exact color of Ryan Seacrest's hair, because he's been given nothing to wipe his hands on, other than Ryan Seacrest.

Photo of Dave Housley by Darrow Montgomery