MISC. WORLD for 7/6/99 Driving Desires LAST FRIDAY, we discussed Is America Used Up?, a 1973 book about America's infamous '70s malaise, a book which recommended somehow finding our way back to the can-do spirit that the author claimed had made this country great. Twenty-six years after that book came out, we all can think of some things Americans could do if they got back to some of that old industrial-expansionist-era vigor. Here's one task: Rebuilding urban, and especially the suburban, landscape. Make the burbs more like real towns, with more informal meeting-places and more strolling around and walking to work; instead of ever-huger houses in ever-sparser subdivisions connected by ever-wider roads for ever-bulkier assault vehicles. It's a big task, even bigger than building the suburbs in the first place. But fewer cars is a good first step. And if we can't have fewer cars right away, let's at least get smaller ones, like some of the way-cool minicars that sell so well in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The Mercedes-Swatch Smart Car (discussed on this site last year) is, alas, still not coming to North America anytime soon; and neither is Ford of Europe's cute little "Ka" (described by one critic as "a concentrated espresso shot of carness"). But Toyota's got an electric "concept car" (i.e., just for show) called the ecom that it is trotting around, particularly in Calif. where more severe smog limits are pushing automakers to pursue such desperate measures. Damn, the thing's cute! It goes 60 mph, with about a 60 mile range between recharges. The company bills it as just the thing for scooting around short-range areas (colleges, small towns, "planned communities," office-industrial complexes). I can imagine it as a lot more. I can imagine it as a way to help bring back "community," by encouraging folks to live, work, shop, learn, and hang out in closer geographic quarters. This would help neighborhood businesses (as opposed to big-box chains), though it would also encourage Net-based home offices and Net shopping and home schooling. (Other companies are proposing to deal with the pending Calif. smog limits via more conventional-looking vehicles, such as Honda's Hybrid, which uses batteries to supplement a regular gasoline engine.) (Speaking of America's unmet needs, what do you think this country could, or ought to, do? State your case at our ever-belligerent Misc. Talk discussion boards. More on this topic a little later on.) ELSEWHERE: KOMO claims it's the first TV station in the world ot air all its daily newscasts in digital, hi-definition TV. But its engineering department confirms only the anchor-studio segments are HD. Those of you well-heeled "early adopters" out there with the way-costly HD-compatible sets can see Connie Thompson's face exquisitely pixel-rendered, but the field coverage (you know, what you're really talking about when you talk about "seeing the news") is still shot on good old, '80s-vintage, analog-tape Betacams. (KING has some HD field cameras in use, but it also still uses some traditional analog camcorders and then uses digital-processing tricks to enhance their images. NorthWest Cable News shoots and edits its field footage on digital, regular-definition tape.) TOMORROW: Cool webzines that are not Salon or (thank heavens) Slate. Recent highlights: The end of Mark Sidran's reign of terror? A 1973 book asks the still-relevant question, 'Is America Used Up?' Why the Mariners' latest management gaffe might be one of the last rounds of bigtime stadium blackmail we'll see. More reasons to love Pokemon, so complicated grownups don't get it. ArtsEdge butts up againstFocus on the Family; no fights reported. The final weeks of Another World show how soap operas as a whole might be saved. Some important disciplinary times and lengths for the true pop-cult artist. A new visual-art zine with no pictures; plus the anomie of Starbucks' in-store magazine Joe. Are Seattle singles too PC for their own good? A U.K. social critic looks at "sexual liberation" and finds consumer-narcissism and fear of intimacy. Archives: 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, and 1986-94 columns Longer articles and essays Background info about MISC. Media Hints at some of our future projects

CLARK'S CULTURE CORRAL BOOKS, MOVIES, MUSIC, ETC. REVIEWED AND SOLD Currently Featured: Romantic and ethereal music from Rusty Willoughby, Marc Olsen, and Jeff Grienke and Anisa Romero. Archives: Literature and art Nonfiction and cultural criticism Movies and videos Music and noise Books Popular Music Classical Music Video (Support MISC. Media; make your Amazon.com purchases thru this link.) X-WORD PUZZLES (UPDATED FRIDAYS) This Week: Going to the X-Words! MISC. TALK DISCUSSION BOARDS Does Seattle suck? Why/why not? Stake your case. SLIGHTLY WEIRD FICTION Currently Featured: 'I had to escape Family Day. I just didn't know how...' THE BIG BOOK OF MISC. The best Misc. items ever, now in one handy collection. Read more about it here. Get it here. LOSER THE REAL SEATTLE MUSIC STORY The most complete account of the early-'90s Seattle music scene. Pre-order your copy of the updated second edition. CYBER STUFF Cool, useful, and odd sites. THINGS I LIKE My favorite people, places, and things. Plus a few things I hate. FLY THE MISC. Media FLAG! Download a MISC. Media link button and wear it on your website. MISC. MEDIA UPDATES As of June 14, 1999, your doses of pop-cult confusion are titled MISC. World and come every weekday. The shorter "MISC." title lives on in The Big Book of MISC., now shipping. As of April 29, 1999, we've a new URL. Set your bookmarks to http://www.miscmedia.com. To learn about these and future changes, join the Misc.-l mailing list. Email to Majordomo@lists.speakeasy.org. Leave the "subject" line blank, and in the body of the message write: SUBSCRIBE MISC-L (your email address) Questions? Suggested topics? Email to clark@speakeasy.org. Joe Newton drew the caricature at the top of this page. Charlotte Quinn helped design the site.