If you want to know why Boston Common magazine -- the glitzy chronicler of Boston's rich and moderately famous that finally arrived yesterday after much hype -- probably won't win any awards from the Columbia School of Journalism, this
Alex Beam column in Tuesday's Globe will explain.
Now that the fat and happy 352-page debut edition is here, let's review some numbers from the issue.
* Number of ad pages (including the inside front cover and the back cover) -- 172
* Number of ad pages before the first Contents page -- 37
* Number of ad pages before the first "story" -- a brief interview with Tom Menino -- 61
* Page on which the cover story -- Q&A with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler -- starts -- 212
* Number of stories or profiles that are no longer than one page -- 40 (This doesn't count the service-oriented pieces)
* Number of paragraphs in Alan Dershowitz's piece about Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts and Harvard -- 9
* Number of paragraphs in Danny Ainge's preview of the upcoming Celtic basketball season -- 3
* Number of paragraphs in BSO director James Levine's summary of the new season -- 4
* Number of paragraphs in the interview with Menino -- 4
* Number of pages filled with party-style photos of local folks and celebs (including portraits from photographer Bill Brett's new book on Boston's movers and shakers) -- 41
* Number of names on the cryptically headlined feature, "The List." (The line describing "The List" on the Contents page says simply: "Are you on it?") -- 200