DK PAN IS A FREE MAN

King County prosecutors have dropped all charges of "professional gambling" against artist and Stranger Genius Award–winner DK Pan. Pan's charges resulted from a years-long search for domestic terrorists and political dissidents by the SPD and the FBI. When they didn't find terrorists, but did find people playing poker at after-hours parties, they charged them with that. Other defendants pleaded guilty to get light sentences, but Pan dug in his heels and insisted on a trial, and prosecutors backed down. A New Year's Eve party at Washington Hall will help defray Pan's legal costs.

REGINA GOES OUTSIDE

Every few months, a whisper campaign streaks through the city: "Have you seen Regina?" Regina Hackett, former longtime P-I art critic, blogger, and all-around character, has gone inexplicably underground in the last year or so. Last Sunday, she was spotted at Francine Seders Gallery, where, when asked, she said she'd been "under the bed." We laughed, turned away for a second, and she was gone again.

HI, QUENTIN

Less than a month after his debut novel, The Assassin of Secrets, was pulled from the shelves and pulped due to plagiarism (on almost every page of the book), writer Quentin Rowan published an embarrassing essay on the Fix claiming he suffered from an addiction to plagiarism. Trusted sources say that Rowan has relocated to Seattle and is currently living with his father, local novelist Lou Rowan. Where does an addicted plagiarist hang out in town?

VERY PERSONAL THINGS

In October, Stranger books editor Paul Constant called Alexander Maksik's debut novel, You Deserve Nothing, "just too damned good to put down," and interviewed Maksik at Elliott Bay Book Company. The book was about an affair between a teacher and student. Now, feminist blog Jezebel alleges that Maksik (previously employed as a teacher), may have been fired for having sex with one of his high-school students, and, further, the student claims that Maksik, without permission, "included a number of very personal things she told him in confidence in the book." Maksik and his publisher aren't talking.

Douches Take Over The Room

For years, Tommy Wiseau's ridiculously awful The Room has thrilled audiences with its no-one-can-do-this-on-purpose blend of stupidity and hilarity. A key part of The Room experience was beholding its amazements with an audience full of others. Unfortunately, the monthly Room screenings at Central Cinema have reportedly devolved into stinky swamps of frat- flavored douchiness, highlighted by drunk guys yelling crap about the ugly fat chicks on-screen. Is it time to kill The Room???

looselips@thestranger.com