Whatever your reading plans are for the next few days, make sure they include this outstanding Vanity Fair profile of NY Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. The piece, by Mark Bowden, is a terrific read. And it makes a compelling case that, given the challenges the Times and other papers are currently facing--and thanks to his conservative, Times-ian faith that good journalism is bound to succeed--Sulzberger is very much the wrong man for the job.

The magazine, that is, which is a finalist in eight separate categories in the '09 National City and Regional Magazine Awards. By way of comparison, Boston's finalist tally last year was one.

In the running: former staffer Joe Keohane in the column category; Paul Kix for writer of the year; the entire publication for "Excellence in Writing" (specifically, the November issue); the whole magazine again for best cover (for the December issue); best "special issue" (for August); best ancillary issue (both Boston's travel and weddings publications are finalists); online excellence (for bostonmagazine.

A confession: I didn't know Colonel Tribune existed until Romenesko pointed me to this Mark Potts blog post.

Now, though, I'm weirdly fascinated by this quasi-historical, absurdist personification of the Chicago Tribune. And I'm wondering: if the Globe and Herald decided to follow suit, what characters would work best?

Suggest away.

Obviously it's not going to stop me from reading--or, I'm sure, everybody else who relies on Jim Romenesko's Poynter Insitute Web site for their steady diet of media news. But couldn't the people at Poynter (which has revamped its entire site, not just the Romenesko portion) have found a way to make Romenesko a bit less busy?