The Boston Globe's long-awaited paywall is here! Aren't you super-psyched about forking over $3.99 a week to read Boston Globe journalism? Good, because Marty says you're not allowed to read online for free anymore. However: if you'll allow the Globe to hand-deliver its four-pound doorstop of a Sunday print publication to your residence, the price of accessing the new BostonGlobe.

It would be shocking if these two announcements were not intimately related: yesterday, Phoenix contributor Dan Kennedy broke the news that DAVE BEARD is leaving as the editor and "tweeter in chief" of Boston.com. Today the Globe announced that it will be severing BOSTON.COM into two pieces: BostonGlobe.com will put much of the Boston Globe's journalism behind a paywall, while Boston.