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The New Magic Man
by David J. Jefferson, Newsweek
John Lasseter, Pixar's wacky genius, is hoping to bring the magic back to the Mouse's animation studio.

Masters Of Chocolate Look Abroad And See Something Even Richer
by John Tagliabue, New York Times
For the Belgians, who know their ganache from their gianduja, and relish the difference, names like Mr. Boey's have become household words. And now they are stretching their palates to create new chocolate recipes, and looking abroad, above all in the United States, to find connoisseurs for them.

My Diner (A Love Story)
by Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times
My diner doesn't have old-school credentials like the original pantry or Du-par's, and it's not as trendy as Fred 62 or Swingers. There are no jokes on the menu, no retro signs on the walls, no mustachioed waiters and no waitresses with gravely voices who call me "hon."

The Flip-Flop
by Elinor Lipman, Boston Globe
Every parent has a birth story, and everybody loves their children. My larger point is this: We almost made a huge mistake.

On The Far Side Of The World, Watching Her Sister's Back
by Jenny Spinner, Washington Post
When your twin goes off to war, she never really returns. And you are the one left desperate, grasping for an arm, a leg, anything familiar to hold onto, to push her back into the womb you once shared.

For The Year Of The Dog, Beijing's Big Bang Will Be Perfectly Legal
by Jim Yardley, New York Times
This year, Beijing becomes the latest Chinese city to rescind a ban on fireworks during the Lunar New Year.

A Chinese New Year Resolution: This Is The Year I Will Rock That Wok
by Nancy Leson, Seattle Times
To live surrounded by a world of Chinse ingredients, cooking implements and cookbooks in one thing. To create the complex flavors and intriguing textures that put Chiense food high on my list of favorites is another reality entirely.

Scene And Be Seen
by Corie Brown, Los Angeles Times
How to get ahead in show biz? Invest in a restaurant. Lately, everyone's doing it.

My Week As A Waiter
by Frank Bruni, New York Times
Last week I traded places and swapped perspectives, a critic joining the criticized, to get a taste of what servers go through and what we put them through, of how they see and survive us.

Just Like Lao Lao Used To Make
by Alison Arnett, Boston Globe
The world may be changing, but traditions are not. It's good luck to eat dumplings on the New Year, and you may have to do as the Chinese do: Eat out.

The Worst Word In The Language
by Jeremy Clarkson, The Times
The worst word. The worst noise. The screech of Flo-Jo's fingernails down the biggest blackboard in the world, the squeak of polystyrene on polystyrene, the cry of a baby when you're hungover, is "beverage."

My Mother, My Hair
by Deborah Tannen, Los Angeles Times
Does your mom think yours is too long, too short, too sexy or too repressed? Where you see criticism, she sees caring — and she may be right.

The Pornification Of America
by Don Aucoin, Boston Globe
From music to fashion to celebrity culture, mainstream entertainment reflects an X-rated attitude like never before.

'Mommy, I Know You'
by Carol Gilligan, Newsweek
The study of adolescent girls bears on problems boys have with school by solving a longstanding psychological puzzle.

Time Machine Cuba
by William Gibson, The Infinite Matrix
I learned of science fiction and history in a single season.

Three Decades After Roe, A War We Can All Support
by William Saletan, New York Times
The lesson of those decades is that you can't eliminate the moral question by ignoring it.

The Anti-Anti-American
by Laura Winters, Boston Globe
A French philosopher retraces Tocqueville's steps to see if America is really as bad as his countrymen say it is.

Rail At Crossroads
by Brian Kladko, Boston Globe
Commuter rail has long had a daunting task: getting people in the suburbs to forsake their cars, if only for two trips a day. But attracting riders is getting even harder.

Why America Has To Be Fat
by Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post
In many ways, my being fat also makes me pretty good for the economy.

Eat, Memory: Orange Crush
by Yiyun Li, New York Times
To think that all the dreams of my youth were once contained in this Tang commercial drink.

The Pleasure Of The Text
by Charles McGrath, New York Times
This may be the universal attraction of text-messaging, in fact: it's a kind of avoidance mechanism that preserves the feelling of communication — the immediacy — without, for the most part, the burden of actual intimacy or substance.

The Mystery Of The Rude Waiter
by Tim Harford, Slate
I don't want to complain, but my favorite lunchtime haunt has the rudest waiter I've ever encountered — and I don't think it's an accident.

Black Humor
by Paul Beatty, New York Times
It's always struck me as odd that there hasn't been a colored Calvin Trillin, Bennett Cerf or Mark Twain.

Why Lawyers Are Liars
by Michael Kinsley, Slate
They don't want to: It's their ethical obligation!

Why Is Everybody Going To Cambodia?
by Matt Gross, New York Times
Change has come at an amazing pace.

Dinner With Porn Stars — And My Wife
by Peter Sagal, Chicago Tribune
If you have a dinner date with three beautiful stars of adult films, it's a no-brainer that you bring your wife.

I'm Pro-Choice And I Fuck
by Rachel Kramer Bussel, Village Voice
True choice means more than just the option not to become a mom.

Uncle Sam-I-Am
by Tunku Varadarajan, Wall Street Journal
Dr. Seuss celebrates the American virtues of slaesmanship and open-mindedness.

In Winter, It's Scallops
by Mark Bittman, New York Times
Fans of seasonal, regional foods have little to celebrate in the depths of winter, especially those of us in the Northeast. Among the notable exceptions is the bay scallop.

Adventures In Storyland
by Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times
Indie bookstores catering to young readers in Southern California offer some surprising tales — far beyond just the classics of kid lit.

Veni, Vidi, Vici, Vino
by Leslie Brenner, Los Angeles Times
Coffeehouses? They're so last year. Now wine bars are conquering the city.

The Spreadhsheet Diet
by Ed Bruske, Washington Post
How a personal chef got his high-powered client to embrace the whole grains we all need.

The Broken Windows Theory
by Daniel Gross, Slate
Who suffers when the DVD is released before the movie has left theaters?

Oprah's Grand Delusion
by Richard Cohen, Washington Post
Oprah finds herself incapable of seeing that she has been twice fooled — once by Frey, a second time by herself.

Hardwired To Seek Beauty
by Denis Dutton, The Australian
The existence of a universal aesthetic psychology has been suggested, not only experimentally, but by the fact that the arts travel outside their local contexts so easily.

When 'Natural' Seems Too Risky
by Susan Brink, Los Angeles Times
More women are choosing cesareans — with support of doctors and research. But some say nature has its reasons for vaginal delivery.

The Lottery
by Dan Baum, New Yorker
Once you have a green card, what's next?

The Most Dangerous Game
by Serge F. Kovaleski, Washington Post
Fred Kovaleski and Yuri Rastvorov were secret agents, sworn enemies on opposite sides of the Cold War. When they finally came face to face, a mutual love of tennis spawned the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Is The Big Lie No Big Deal?
by Andrea Simakis, Cleveland Plain Dealer
It's official. Fibbing is OK if it serves a higher purpose. Oprah said so.

It's Raining In Seattle... No, Really, This Is News
by Lynn Marshall, Los Angeles Times
The stretch of wet weather is currently the second-longest on record for the Emerald City — behind 33 straight days in 1953. Forecasters think that record may be in jeopardy, with more tain expected in Seattle over the next 10 days.

Plucking Hell
by Polly Vernon, The Observer
More complex removal methods will evolve. It'll all hurt more too. And cost more. And of course, I already know that I'll willingly comply.

Seeking Our Sages
by Paula Bock, Seattle Times
In a scattered society, we turn to others in search of ourselves.

The Pressure To Cover
by Kenji Yoshino, New York Times
Now a subtler form of discrimination has risen to take its place. This discrimination does not aim at groups as a whole. Rather, it aims at the subset of the group that refuses to cover, that is, to assimilate to dominant norms. And for the most part, existing civil rights laws do not protect individuals against such covering demands.

Crusty Macaroni And Cheese
by Sara Dickerman, Slate
What's wrong with the New York Times' weirdly popular recipe.

No Fire Without Smoke
by Robin Blake, Financial Times
"There would be no bohemia without smoking," said David Hockney at the Labour Party's Brighton conference last September. A particularly dotty thesis, it may seem, but art history can furnish it with some lively supporting footnotes.

China Beat Columbus To It, Perhaps
by The Economist
An ancient map that strongly suggests Chinese seamen were first round the world.

Strat-O-Matic, The Throwback, Endures The Era Of The X-Boxes
by Lorne Manly, New York Times
Somehow, in a video-game age in which the landscape is ruled by John Madden, an old-fashioned sports board game stubbornly hangs on.

Group Therapy
by Jay McInerney, New York
Can a sober, settled-down front man and a great new record solve the problems of New York's most dysfunctional rock band?

Wait Wait! Don't Tell Me!
by Joanna Weiss, Boston Globe
While I'm as big a fan of time shifting as anyone, I also believe there's a bargain implied. If you watch on your own time, you give up complete control over the information.

The Bread Is Famously Good, But It Killed McDonald's
by Ian Fisher, New York Times
First, an inconvenient truth: This is not a new story. But somehow the tale of how the city with the best bread in Italy forced its McDonald's out of business never really got told, and is spilling out now.

East Meets West, Adding Pounds And Peril
by Marc Santora, New York Times
Asians, especially those from Far Eastern nations like China, Korea and Japan, are acutely suscepitble to Type 2 diabetes. And that peril is compounded by recent immigrants' sudden collision with American culture.

Mmm... Samples!
by Providence Cicero, Seattle Times
Good luck dodging the demonstrators.

Desktop Dining
by Michaele Weissman, Washington Post
The question is, do we lose something valuable when we eat alone at our desks?

Can New Orleans Save The Soul Of Its Food?
by Kim Severson, New York Times
Among those who care about New Orleans food, the debate is whether the high can survive without the low.

You Don't Know Jack?
by Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon
Jack radio is cheap and souless and all about random sex; it's also the new love of my life. Who needs Howard Stern?

I've Got A Secretion: The Sociology Of Spitting
by Linton Weeks, Washington Post
Hawking a loogie, spewing, spluttering or whatever you want to call it is very human. And inhuman.

Dr. Fun
by Melanie Rehak, The Nation
Kenneth Koch was one of the merrier in the bunch known as the New York School of poets. But he was more than just a poet of humor. He sought the essential nature of human existence, and displayed his infectious awe of the universe in enchanging verse.

Harvard Sq. Is A Banker's Dream - Or Nightmare
by Sasha Talcott, Boston Globe
The United States averages one ATM every 8 square miles. Harvard Square has at least 50 ATMs within a two-block radius.

What Mr. Right Doesn't Read
by Joann Klimkiewicz, Hartford Courant
If men won't ask for directions in a car, why would they buy an instructional book on dating?

High Risk
by Gretcen Voss, Boston Globe
Last summer's death of 14-year-old Ashley Burns illustrates why cheerleading, with all of its highflying, acrobatic, crowd-pleasing stunts, is the most dangerous sport of all for young women.

Speed Bump
by Ann Hulbert, New York Times
The experts are telling us we're in the driver's seat. It's up to us how to handle the ride.

Dividing The Man From His Mother
by Ayelet Waldman, Salon
Once, I chafed at any hour my husband spent with his mother, somehow viewing it as time stolen from me. Now I realize it's not a competition.

Illegitimate Dad Of 'Kong'
by Andrew Eris, Los Angeles Times
One of the Depression's highest-grossing films was an outrageous fabrication, a scandalous and suggestive gorilla epic that set box ofice records.

It's A Life, Not A Feel-Good Moment
by John E. Smith, Washington Post
We all know the devil is in the details, so why the charade?

Starbucks Economics
by Tim Harford, Slate
Solving the mystery of the elusive "short" cappuccino.

Cantonese Is Losing Its Voice
by David Pierson, Los Angeles Times
Speakers of the spicy tongue that can make words of love sound like a fight are having to learn its linguistic kin, the mellower Mandarin.

Indie Record Stores Doing Slow Fade Out
by Geoff Boucher, Los Angeles Times
It'd be harsh exaggeration to say independent record stores are going the way of typewriter repair shops, but in Southern California it's been painfully evident of late that grand, eccentric music merchants are wheezing badly in the modern marketplace.

Bar Car
by Gadi Dechter, Baltimore City Paper
Thousands of Baltimoreans practically live on the MARC train — some of them live it up.

Lhasa Cafe Brings Tibet To Western Mass.
by Jonathan Levitt, Boston Globe
When the wind blows, the Tibetan prayer flags hanging in fromt he awning of the Lhasa Cafe flutter in a swirl of yellow, green, red, white, and blue. Each flag is marked with blessings for peace and long life. In the breeze, the prayers are set free, and according to Tibetan Buddhist tradition, are released into the world to do their good.

In Oregon, Thinking Local
by Marian Burros, New York Times
At the six New Seasons markets in and around Portland, Ore., "homegrown" is not only the coin of the realm, it's the heavily promoted mantra.

Can A Recipe Be Stolen?
by Joyce Gemperlein, Washington Post
"What this reflects is a rising awareness over the last 20 years of copyright issues... and the chilling effect of copyright enforcement... people being intimidated out of using basic common sense about things that would or should never generate a lawsuit."

Do The Poor Deserve Life Support?
by Steven E. Landsburg, Slate
A woman who couldn't pay her bills is unplugged from her ventilator and dies. Is this wrong?

Mascot For A Day
by Emily Yoffe, Slate
My adventure as a 10-foot-tall, inflatable George Washington.

The Cute Factor
by Natalie Angier, New York Times
Scientists who study the evolution of visual signaling have identified a wide and still expanding assortment of features and behaviors that make something look cute.

Going To Extreme Measures
by Steven Barrie-Anthony, Los Angeles Times
Even as digital countdowns and televised timers fill our waking hours, does anybody really know what time it is?

Camembert With That, Sir?
by Josh Lacey, The Guardian
Move over, Ronald McDonald: gourmet burger joints — selling posh meat, in posh buns, and with posh extras — are the next big thing.

Twilight Of A Year And An Old Teenager
by Virginia Heffernan, New York Times
On "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve," Mr. Clark was as much of a spectacle as the dropping of the crystal ball.

Food Slut
by Ann Bauer, Salon
People say great food is like great sex. But after two years of reviewing trendy restaurants, chatting with charming chefs, and indulging in fatted duck breast, I've lost my appetite.

Auld Lang Syne In The Big Easy
by Anne Hull and Julia Cass, Washington Post
This weekend, New Orleans got what it has been missing since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city four months ago: tourists.

The Little Channel That Could
by Alex Mindlin, New York Times
Since taking to the air on Sept 8, 1992, New York's smallest and youngest major TV station has been the subject of considerable mockery. But NY1 has quietly turned into a force to be reckoned with, one whose strengths were powerfully apparent during the strike that ended 10 days ago.

A Year On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
by Dave Barry, Washington Post
It was the Year of the Woman. But not in a good way.

Our Vaginas, Ourselves
by Daphne Merkin, New York Times
These are cruel times for vaginas.