Sideshow: Levi: It was an I'll-show-her pregnancy

Revenge pregnancy!!!

What a concept!

My mom is pregnant, and that makes me so mad I want to get pregnant, too! Where's my boyfriend?

These shocking ideas seized the brain of Bristol Palin, according to Levi Johnston in his book Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs (metaphors spill all over the highway!), out Sept. 20. Levi accuses Bristol of getting mad (why?) when her mom, Sarah Palin, announced her pregnancy with Trig, so, hippity-hoppity, Bristol told Levi she wanted to get preggers, and Levi, "too dumb" to use protection (he says that of himself in the book, and we find no reason to disagree), happily helped her out. The result: son Tripp, born in 2008. Dueling memoirs! Better than reality TV.

Hey - what's good for fashion is what's good for the country. That was Michelle Obama's message Tuesday, when she presided over a White House ceremony honoring top American designers. "Good design is good citizenship," Obama said, quoting graphic designer Milton Glaser

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Mrs. O. hosted a luncheon for winners of the 2011 National Design Awards, presented by the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York.

Among the winners was Matthew Carter of Boston for lifetime achievements in typeface designs that included creating the fonts Verdana and Georgia for Microsoft and others for major newspapers and magazines. The museum honored J. Mendel for exceptional work in fashion. Corporate and Institutional Achievement: Knoll, a design firm from East Greenville, Montgomery County, was honored for workplace design.

On Sept. 21 in Washington, Verizon's "How Sweet the Sound" gospel tour has its regional competition. Two local choirs are in the running: The Voices of Victory Mass Choir from Victory Christian Center in Philadelphia and Diadem from Abundant Life Fellowship Church in Edgewater Park. Go, teams! The winner goes to the nationals in L.A. Hosts are CeCe Winans and Donald Lawrence, with judges Marvin Sapp, Fred Hammond, and Vanessa Bell Armstrong.

Heery Casting will have an open call on Saturday for background players for a new film, The Silver Linings Playbook, to be directed by David O. Russell (The Fighter). It'll be at 6900 Lindbergh Blvd. SAG talent (please bring SAG cards) 10 to 11:30 a.m. Non-SAG: 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bring casual photos; no professional headshots. Men and women, 20-65, all ethnicities. Casters are "especially looking for real Philly characters, and men, age 30-60, of Southeast Asia /Indian descent." Shooting begins Oct. 10, through the end of November in the Philadelphia area. . . . Former Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, with their band Furthur, will truck into Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. Tickets ($39.50, $49.50, and $59.50) go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. and are available at the Boardwalk Hall Box Office, LiveNation.com, Ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster locations, or at 1-800-736-1420. . . . The 2011 Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival is happening Nov. 2 to 8. Information: 610-564-9738, www.phillyasianfilmfest.org. . . . Madonna premiered her flick W.E. at the Toronto Film Festival Monday. By reflex, critics panned it. Remember the Venice Film Festival, when she rejected a fan's screaming indigo hydrangea? Reports from Toronto say she forbids festival volunteers to look her in the eye. So tough being a goddess. . . .