Pieces, Particles XII
The following media-related stories recently spotted in print publications might be worth a look. Heads and decks, only. Heads and decks. Apologies for the long entry, but it's a 2K2 blowout!

2002: A Cell-Phone Odyssey by Rebecca Weider, Boston Phoenix, Aug. 30, 2002
We're intoxicated by new inventions. But sometimes progress can be problematic.

9-11 Amateur Radio in New York by Bart Lee, Popular Communications, September 2002
A private citizen's eyewitness report on ham radio's finest hour

Advertising by Jane Levere, New York Times, July 31, 2002
A dishwashing liquid capitalizes on cutting the grease on dishes -- and the oil on ducks.

Analyze Disk by Franz Lidz, Sports Illustrated, Aug. 26, 2002
Frisbee designer Ed Headrick left behind one beloved piece of sporting equipment -- and a strange last wish

Are We Still Bowling Alone? by Christopher Shea, Boston Globe, Dec. 15, 2002

The Attack of Stealth Pitches by Leonard Pitts, Chicago Tribune, Sept. 3, 2002
Advertisements by people we would never suspect

Book Reviewing, African-American Style by Wanda Coleman, The Nation, Sept. 16, 2002
It is incumbent upon any reviewer to grasp the diverse happenstances of what was once simply summarized as "the Black Experience."

Brand New Jag by Rob Walker, Boston Globe, Sept. 15, 2002
The Clash sell luxury goods

Case-Sensitive Crusader by John Schwartz, New York Times, Dec. 29, 2002
Who owns the Internet? You and i do.

Comic Book Clubs by Don Allen, Comics & Games Retailer, June 2002
Start your own literary discourse on comics

Comic Strip Uses Clip Art As Antiwar Ammo by Cary Darling, Boston Globe, Jan. 1, 2003

CrossGen Makes Comics Returnable... from the Readers, Comics & Games Retailer, January 2003

Dear Orphan Annie by Jeet Heer, Boston Globe, Sept. 15, 2002
Why cartoon characters get all the best mail

Draw What You Know by Nick Hornby, New York Times Book Review, Dec. 22, 2002
Graphic novels are never dull -- try saying that about most works of prose fiction.

Drive Small by Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, Sept. 2, 2002

Dropping Logos That Shout, Luxury Sellers Try Whispers by Tracie Rozhon, New York Times, Sept. 15, 2002

Eggers Goes It Alone by Malcolm Jones, Newsweek, Oct. 7, 2002

Encyclopedias Still Speak Volumes by David Mehegan, Boston Globe, Dec. 30, 2002
People are going back to the source in print form

Ever Been to a Public Supper? by Brooke Dojny, Down East, July 20002
Some weekends the finest dining in town is at the local parish hall.

Extraordinary Details by Mike Cotton, Wizard, December 2002
Alan Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentleman" packs in more Easter eggs and cameos than any DVD -- and Wizard points out and analyzes what you might have missed

Finding Black History's Lost Stories by John Fountain, New York Times, Dec. 29, 2002
Project aims to fill in gaps by moving beyond familiar faces

From Fan to the Man by Dave Marshall, Wizard, December 2002
JSA fan club founder gets crack at writing


Me, hardly working

Gay Old Times by Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, Sept. 2, 2002

Ghostwriting the Law by Karen Olsson, Mother Jones, September/October 2002
A little-known corporate lobby is drafting business-friendly bills for state legislators across the country.

Group Think by Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, Dec. 2, 2002
What does "Saturday Night Live" have in common with German philosophy?

He Lit up HBO. Now He Must Run It by Bill Carter, New York Times, Dec. 29, 2002

Hold That Cell Phone, Chicago Tribune, Dec. 27, 2002

In Battle of the Band, Some Like It Low by Kathleen Brill, Boston Globe, Sept. 15, 2002

In Nod to Vinyl, Some Reject CD's Sound of Silence by Randy Lewis, Boston Globe, Dec. 28, 2002

In Whose Interest? by Ian Donnis, Boston Phoenix, Nov. 22, 2002
Broadcasters use a public asset -- the airwaves -- to make their money. So why do we let them take in millions in political advertising when mandatory free air time for candidates could raise the level of debate in political campaigns?

Israeli-Palestinian Battles Intrude on "Sesame Street" by Julie Salamon, New York Times, July 30, 2002

It’s Time to Turn off Those Bells and Whistles by Matt Richtel, New York Times, Sept. 8, 2002

The Joy of School Supplies by Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune, Sept. 3, 2002

Justices Call on Bench's Bard to Limit His Lyricism by Adam Liptak, New York Times, Dec. 15, 2002

"Kirk, Honey. It's Me, Spock!" by Julie Madsen, Utne, September-October 2002
Women's fantasies find a powerful outlet in these strange stories about odd couples

Laddie Come Lately by Seth Mnookin, Newsweek, Sept. 16, 2002
Has Maxim's babes-and-beer formula finally grown old?

Like the Song, Love the Car by Phil Patton, New York Times, Sept. 15, 2002
Music sells cars. Now car commercials are selling the music.

Look Who Shrunk the Computer by Jeffrey Zygmont, Boston Globe Magazine, Dec. 29, 2002
Wisecracking rebel Harold Koplow was a pharmacist before landing a job at Wang Laboratories. Then, on the verge of dismissal, he designed the first microchip-loaded, user-friendly desktop unit.

Mis-Fortune's Child by Maximillian Potter, GQ, December 2002
Since John Huey took over as the editorial director of AOL Time Warner's magazines, he has presided over an editorial bloodbath. In the space of one year, he has replaced the top editors of People, Sports Illustrated and Entertainment Weekly. In doing so, he has jeopardized almost $5 billion in revenues -- and spread fear through a traditionally sedate corporate culture.

Morphing Magalogs by Greg Lindsay, Folio, July 2002
With third-party ads and oh-so-subtle sponsorships, custom publishing spin-offs are posturing to look and work like traditional magazines

Music to Repulse Loitering Teenagers By by Shari Rudavsky, Boston Globe, Sept. 15, 2002
At Forest Hills, the T has new tack to extract youths: piped-in Pops

My Generation by William Upski Wimsatt, Utne, September-October 2002
A young visionary sizes up the emerging youth movement and tells us there's more where that came from

New Saint Reflects Lay Group's New Influence by Frank Bruni, New York Times, Oct. 3, 2002

The New Weeklies by Jeff Clark, Down East, October 2002
From York Harbor to Mount Desert Island, a flurry of newspapers is sweeping the coast.

Online Uprising by Catherine Seipp, American Journalism Review, June 2002
Many in the mainstream media dismiss the screeds of bloggers -- people who post their views on their own Web logs -- as so much blather. But to this Los Angeles writers, these maverick sites are well worth exploring.

"Operator, I Demand an Automated Menu" by Ron Lieber, Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2002
More companies train staff to aggressively pitch callers seeking customer service

Peeling the Onion by Kathryn S. Wenner, American Journalism Review, September 2002
With its often hilarious pitch-perfect parody of newswriting conventions, the Onion has attracted a dedicated audience for its print and online incarnations. Kathryn S. Wenner takes a behind-the-scenes look at how it all comes together.

Police Scanners May Be Headed for Morgue by Carl Sullivan, Editor & Publisher, Nov. 25, 2002
Memorial scheduled in Caddo Parish?


The out basket

The Puzzle Guy by Raoul Mowatt, Chicago Tribune, Dec. 27, 2002
Man spends life keeping people gsues, er, guessing

Report on a Malfunction in the Zucker Unit by John Richardson, Esquire, October 2002
The man who saved television (i.e., NBC's "Jeff Zucker") is brilliant, decisive, and laconic, but is otherwise quite lifelike. All was well until we initiated a "humanizing" profile. We take up the story at this critical juncture.

The Revolution Will Be Televised by Jefferson Reid, Utne, September-October 2002
The top 10 counterculture characters in TV history

Rock and Roll Report Card by Ivan Kreilkamp, Boston Globe, Dec. 29, 2002
Critic Robert Christgau turns the capsule review into an art form

The Slow Lane by John Seabrook, The New Yorker, Sept. 2, 2002
Can anyone solve the problem of traffic?

Sublime Decay by Lawrence Weschler, New York Times Magazine, Dec. 22, 2002
Martin Scorsese and others may plead for the preservation of decomposing film stock, but a radical new film shows that there's unexpected beauty in those self-immolating archives.

Superhero Status Quo by Aaron Schatz, Boston Phoenix, Dec. 20, 2002
Marvel's gay cowboy changes nothing

Televisionary by Don Aucoin, Boston Globe, Sept. 7, 2002
Decades after the fact, the world is just tuning into the work of TV inventor Philo T. Farnsworth

Temporary Beauty by Christopher Hayes, Chicago Reader, Aug. 30, 2002
Poetry guerrillas hit the pavement.

That '80s Show by Mike Rubin, GQ, July 2002
Pulsing keyboards, vocoders and styles straight out of "Liquid Sky." The curious return of electro -- from Berlin to Brooklyn -- drags Reagan-era nightlife back to a club near you

That Guy Showing off His New Phone May Be a Shill by Suzanne Vranica, Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2002
New campaign for Sony Ericsson puts actors in real-life settings; women play Battleship at the bar

The Touch of Brian Graden, Rolling Stone, Oct. 3, 2002
The man behind South Park and The Osbournes seeks to reinvent VH1

Treehouse Residents Receive an Eviction Notice by Patricia Leigh Brown, New York Times, Sept. 8, 2002
A county decides that parks are not for residences.

Tribulations at the Trib by Seth Mnookin, Newsweek, Oct. 7, 2002
Now it's Bob Green's old employer that's being questioned about the columnist's scandalous downfall

Twisted Sister Frontman Still Wants to Rock by Richard Harrington, Boston Globe, Jan. 1, 2003
There's more than music to Dee Snider

Was Romenesko Built in a Daze? by Greg Mitchell, Editor & Publisher, Nov. 25, 2002
Forget Iraq, Osama, and the ad-revenue blahs: When a favorite Web site gets redesigned, all hell breaks loose in media land

When "Gangs of New York" Author Got Mencken Banned in Boston by Carol Schoettler, Chicago Tribune, Dec. 27, 2002

Where Did All the Womyn Go? by Loren King, Boston Phoenix, Nov. 22, 2002
Two local feminist standard-bearers survived almost 30 years of cultural upheaval and technological change. New Words bookstore and Sojourner newspaper have finally succombed, but they're looking to reinvent themselves.

W.S.J.: G.O.P., R.I.P. by William Safire, New York Times Magazine, Dec. 15, 2002
Newspaper war of initialese.

You've Got Mail by Simon Dumenco, Folio, July 2002
A meditation on the lost literature of letters to the editor of In Style -- and why such a letter may actually be a cry for help.

If you work for a magazine and would like to sign me up for a complimentary subscription, please feel free to do so. My address is in the grey bar over on the left.

Soundtrack: The Flaming Lips, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots"

Mention Me! XXVII
Ross Mayfield's social network map offers a visual representation of links among members of Ryze's Blog Tribe. It also maps links among people who've identified each other as Friends within Ryze. I'm in there somewhere. While visually intriguing -- I didn't realize I was such a wallflower! -- this is the start of some substantial online social network analysis. Thanks, Ross, for taking this on!

Sites for Sore Eyes
It's a lazy week for me, so here are some relatively new sites to distract you from the relative Media Diet Quiet:

The Blogs of War: Dr. Frank of long-time East Bay punk band the Mr. T Experience blogs!

Exploit Boston!: "Greater Boston's independent guide to art, culture, and entertainment events"

Nerd: Joe Sizzle asked, "What would Media Diet be like if it were done by a nerd?" I bristled. Then I remembered: I'm a geek.

Random Web Search: A random word generator plugged into Google. Feeling lucky, punk?

Event-O-Dex XXVII

Saturday, Jan. 4: art opening for Robert Moeller's exhibit of new paintings (large oils in the Diebenkorn manner) at the Zeitgeist Gallery on Inman Square in Somerville

Tuesday, Jan. 7: Tubular Tuesday featuring DJ Boothnavy from Lifestyle and the Let Down, Love Your Enemies (tribute to Microdisney, featuring Aaron Tap, Paula Kelley, and members of Baby Ray), Scrapple, Declan and Wendy, and Endz in Z (featuring Paul Natale) at TT the Bear's Place on Central Square in Cambridge.

Blogging About Blogging XLII
The third annual Bloggies awards are underway. You can only fill out the nomination form once -- and vote once, natch -- so take a look at the nomination form, put on your blogging caps, and get involved. I guess. I'm not sure how I feel about stuff like this -- and I'm a nominating judge for the Webbies -- but I think that Dan Cederholm's a shoe in for best blog-related merch. Let the in crowding begin!

Mention Me! XXVI
I'm a thought leader! Fancy that. Seems I'm keeping some pretty good company.

From the In Box: It's an Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World XVIII
Thanks for posting a link to my story. I got mentioned on Slashdot, too, so I got several thousand hits last week.

Just one thought: You mentioned it was "a bit Who Moved My Cheese-ish." I beg to differ. The story is more about the dangers of making change for change's sake or modernizing business processes and practices to go along with the latest trends, rather than as a result of actual analysis.

As well, having worked for over three years with a CRM company, I'm becoming more and more skeptical of CRM's claims, and the story reflects that too. I don't believe that the "relationship" a company has with a customer is anything like the relationship that CRM firms try to portray. Maybe I'll tackle it in another
ebook -- fiction or nonfiction. -- Jonathan Cohen

The Art of Protest
The New Haven Advocate recently published an excellent feature about the Beehive Collective's series of posters protesting Plan Colombia. The article touches on the role of anti-copyright media production, the importance of activist "convergences" as distribution mechanisms, and the United States' complicity in Colombia's human rights violations. Reporter Hank Hoffman indicates a deep knowledge of and involvement in protest-based politics, and this is one of the better accounts of a politcal collective's activities I've read in awhile. Worth checking out.

Thanks to Utne Web Watch.

Soylent Green Is... Corporations?
Early last month, local government officials in Porter Township, Pennsylvania, refused to recognize corporate claims to civil rights when it took steps to better protect residents from toxic sewage sludge. In 2000, one of the country's largest sludge-hauling corporations sued the township because it requested -- required -- verification of the safety of sludge dumped in the area. The complaint claims that the township is infringing civil and constitutional rights held by the company.

While the township's legal actions might merely be a response to the suits brought against them -- how can a company claim its rights have been infringed if the company has no rights in that locale? -- what interests me is this case's potential impact on the very nature of incorporation itself. Historically, incorporation emerged in the world of business to establish companies as quasi-legal entities that were responsible for the companies' activities -- an effort to shield the business owners and managers who in fact take action on behalf of those very corporations.

Part of the problem with the cases of corporate corruption we saw come to light in the last year stems from the lack of legal responsibility held by the executives of companies around the world. If an oil company, say, pollutes the ocean, the company is held liable -- not the business leaders that made the decisions that led to the pollution. Anything we can do to better hold executives responsible for the consequences of their corporate actions -- intended and unintended -- would be good, I think. Porter Township might be a step in the right direction.

Thanks to Utne Web Watch.

Comics and Commentary IV
Ninth Art has published a couple of good year-end round-up analyses of the state of the comic-book industry. In 2002 Backwards Paul O'Brien serves up a publisher-by-publisher recount of the industry's hits and misses, touching on some of the biggest comics events of recent note: the launch of Rawhide Kid and the emergence of manga. As welcome as his backward look is, he totally neglects independent and alternative publishers, which is a shame.

The Ninth Art crew didn't make that mistake when selecting the winners of their 2002 Lighthouse Awards, however. By recognizing Top Shelf as the publisher of the year and tipping hat to Slave Labor Graphics, Alternative Comics, Xeric grant winner Amy Unbounded, Roger Langridge, and Jessice Abel, the team shows that even though the Web site focuses primarily on the mainstream, big-publisher books, staff members continue to read comics that really matter. Kudos!

Hiptop Nation III
Some random snaps from my Christmas week in northern Wisconsin.

New Year's Daze II
Happy new year to Media Dieticians everywhere! I've been away from the net for a couple of weeks -- Christmas week in northern Wisconsin, the office network's been down since Monday -- and I've got to catch up on email and some work stuff before I dive back into Media Diet. I came back to 800-plus personal emails and about 1,200 work-related emails. Harrumph.

But I hope the holidays were relaxing and refreshing. May 2003 bring only the best in happiness, health, love, and good fortune! Media Diet will return to its regular frequency relatively soon, I hope.