May issue of Esquire just hitting stands. Halle on the cover, me just off her left hip.

As product placement goes, hard to complain.

Tom Chiarella does a very funny backwards interview with Berry (like many men, I've never quite gotten over "Monster's Ball"), in which she asks him what it's like writing for Esquire and working in Indiana.

Clearly, I'm working the wrong beat.

Speaking of which, I will blog a bit on Esquire's site in the next 48 to update the piece a bit (remember the first draft was written a while back and events do move, don't they?). Actually, I think the piece remains amazingly on target, so my post will be more an extension than updating.

Finally, A.J. Jacobs' obits on the last page are stunningly hilarious, especially the one on American "hegemony."

Esquire, to me, has never seemed stronger, as evidenced by 7 National Magazine Award noms announced recently, to include one for feature writing by Enterra Solutions employee and fellow "contributing editor" (Enterra now boasts two) Brian Mockenhaupt. After Brian's great profile of Steve DeAngelis in December, I talked Steve into hiring Brian to help tell Enterra's story in words.