When you read this article in Media, what exactly are your eyes scanning? Chances are it’s not an archetypal bundle of cellulose and ink, but just another Web page on your laptop, PC or mobile device. As are most magazines today, Media is available in both paper and digital incarnations - and, as is the case with other publications, an increasing number of its readers prefer the latter form.

The mangled legacy our inept leaders have left us is that every market is going to hell and every category is crumbling, enabled by bureaucrats whose idea of regulation is giving AIG only enough money to party in a luxury resort in Phoenix instead of Hawaii.

The defeat of same-sex marriage makes it harder for the Advertising Council’s new effort to educate teenagers about how painful anti-gay language can be. The goal is to teach teenagers tolerance and to help stop the verbal and physical harassment gay and lesbian teens endure at school.

We’re working too hard. And by “we” I don’t mean my colleagues and me at the Brooklyn Brothers, I mean the collective we. The people of America. We’re working too hard. This strikes me as I sit on a JetBlue flight from LA to New York after a night of focus groups, balancing my Mac on the rather shaky seat-back table in order to meet a deadline I’ve already had to extend once.

The U.K. Office of Communications apparently reported that 65% of kids ages 8 to 11 had Internet access at home in 2007. (”Hey Tommy, how’d you spell Jena Jamison?”)

It’s tough to beat Tina Fey at her Sarah Palin best, but among so many memorable “Saturday Night Live” campaign spoofs over the past weeks, John McCain’s opening sketch on Nov. 1 was near the top of the list. Four days before he would lose to Barack Obama, McCain appeared as a “QVC pitchman,” and finally seemed like a happy warrior.

The election results were like the ending to an old-fashioned Hollywood movie. But the sequel isn’t going to be much fun. The Bush Administration was really, really bad for the country, but really, really good for advertising.

What a difference a decade makes. This thought struck me recently while I was dining with some colleagues from the interactive advertising ranks. They were talking (okay, complaining) about clients and agency partners who spend too much time and money trying to perfect their ads - even relatively simple banners - on the front end rather than just putting them out on the Web and seeing what works best. Their experiences sounded surprisingly similar to those of my colleagues in more traditional ad arenas.

This month’s issue focuses on the role of color in media. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to confine this column to just one - the color green. Let’s face it, it’s the color that’s been on all our minds as we put this magazine to bed, though the color red also seems to be lurking in the background - not to mention hopes for the resurgence of a shade of black. Mixed metaphors aside, I’m talking money here - and/or the lack thereof. How could I not?

Time Warner’s AOL this week reported a 6% ($33 million) drop in ad revenue during the third quarter–driven, it said, by declines in display advertising on AOL Network sites and sales of ads on third-party sites (aka Platform-A).