Pieces, Particles X
The following media-related stories recently spotted in print publications might be worth a look. Heads and decks, only. Heads and decks.

Alternative Approaches by Lucia Moses, Editor & Publisher, Dec. 2, 2002
As dailies look to young, alt-weeklies skew older. Who's a threat to whom?

Bumping into Mr. Ravioli by Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, Sept. 30, 2002
A theory of busyness, and its hero.

A Disastrous Desk Fits in Neatly with His Working Order by David Polochanin, Boston Globe, Dec. 1, 2002
I take a crude sense of pride in the fact that my desk is one of the more disorganized ones in my building.

Full Circle by Shoshana Berger, ReadyMade, No. 4
The paper wheel returns

How to Fix the Sports Pages by Bob Drury, GQ, October 2002
That sports section you pored over this morning could be a lot more enticing, fun and truthful if only its editors would listen to our grizzled veterans of the press box

In My Lifes by Bill Barol, American Journalism Review, December 2002
What began as an impulse buy became a quest to preserve history. And then there was eBay.

Irrational Exuberance by Stephen Todd, New York Times Magazine, Dec. 1, 2002
Tyler Brule's style bible, Wallpaper, epitomized the glossy, flossy aesthetic of late-90's design obsession.

Joe Viewer and the Internet by Barb Palser, American Journalism Review, December 2002
He has a laptop on the coffee table. Use the Net to keep him engaged.

The Meanest Man on Television by Neil Swidey, Boston Globe Magazine, Dec. 1, 2002
Bill O'Reilly, host of the cable news show The O'Reilly Factor, is an arrogant, controlling know-it-all. And that's exactly why he's so popular.

My James Taylor Problem by Joe Queenan, GQ, November 2002
It's not that I hate his work (though I do). It's that I can't get away from it

The Nerds of Weather by Fred Guterl, Newsweek, Sept. 30, 2002
Where does your "local" AccuWeather forecast come from? A little building in rural Pennsylvania.

A New Brand World by Don Aucoin, Boston Globe Magazine, Dec. 1, 2002
Personality and image don't cut it anymore. Now, like any successful company, you've got to have your own "branding strategy."

A New Poland, No Joke by Sarah Boxer, New York Times Magazine, Dec. 1, 2002
Can one little logo change a country's image from the land of cold, sadness and vodka to the home of youth, playfulness and hope?

"Shut Up He Explained" by Terrence Rafferty, GQ, October 2002
When it comes to spinning sports into literary gold, Ring Lardner was, simply, the greatest. You should get to know "You Know Me Al"

Trying to Save "The World" by Edgar Allen Beem, Down East, November 2002
Nicholson Baker is on a one-man crusade to stop libraries from routinely destroying their collections of historic newspapers and to persuade them to start saving today's papers.

Wiket Good Question: How Smaht Are You? by Benjamin Gedan, Boston Globe, Dec. 1, 2002
If you know what Ball Square diner was replaced by Kelly's after a fire in 1995, or the name of FDR's Somerville-born secretary, you might have a chance on the city's game show, "Wiket Smaht."

A Writer's Fall from Grace by Seth Mnookin, Newsweek, Sept. 30, 2002
A teen sex scandal fells a famous Chicago scribe

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