New online magazine The Rumpus officially launched in January, but they’re just now getting around to celebrating in Los Angeles. The event will be at the Steve Allen Theater this coming Saturday, and will feature readings by:

Janet Fitch (White Oleander and Paint it Black)
Aimee Bender (The Girl In The Flammable Skirt)
Jerry Stahl (Permanent Midnight and Painkillers)
Zak Smith (Pictures showing what happens on each page of
Thomas Pynchon‘s novel Gravity’s Rainbow)

Tickets are $10. More info here.

You Betcha: Mary McNamara notes that the real losers of last night’s VP debate were the pundits who were handicapping it: “If the bar had been placed any lower for this debate, they would have had to bury it. So how surprising was it, really, that neither candidate devolved into a Jerry Springer screaming fit or fell into a state of catatonia? In fact, both were in rare form, giving what may have been their best respective campaign performances yet.” So there.

But Can She Field-Dress A Moose? She’s no Tina Fey, but doesn’t Monica Corcoran kinda rock Sarah Palin‘s ‘do?

Best “News” We’ve Heard Today: Time was, whispers and rumors wouldn’t make it into a paper of record. Good thing we’re not living in those times! Carolyn Kellogg hips readers to an Internet rumor that Thomas Pynchon‘s next novel is coming out in 2009! Is it true? Who knows? Is it exciting? You betcha!