Confused by today's ever-morphing, ever-bifurcating, ever-weirder culture?

Good.

Get used to it.

And there's no handier way than with MISC., the pop-culture report that pushes the manila envelope of society's fissures and connections; as seen from the city that's given America strong beer, loud bands, and billionaire nerds.

Over 600 of the smartest, silliest, and poignant-est items from thirteen years of Clark Humphrey's MISC. reports are now in one handy, 240-page, trade-paperback volume, The Big Book of Misc., including the following:

• on GENDER:
  "Women aren't just different from men. They're different from other women."

• on SEATTLE:
  "It's big and awkward, but thinks it's little and cuteÑthe Baby Huey of cities."

• on THE VALUE OF JUNK FOOD:
  "You won't find the spirit of England on Masterpiece Theatre. You'll find it in cucumber sandwiches, warm beer, and fish-and-chips wrapped in newspaper."

• on MICROSOFT WINDOWS:
  "Bill Gates's version of the old Ritz cracker recipe for Mock Apple Pie."

• on 'TEEN SLANG' IN ADS:
  "How old white people think young white people think young black people talk."

• on CONTRADICTIONS:
  "If American culture weren't full of them, it wouldn't be American culture."

• on FOOTBALL:
  "The city should rename a street on the Kingdome's Fourth Avenue South side 'South Long Street,' so the Seahawks would have an official address at Fourth and Long."

• on MOVING TO THE COUNTRY:
  "Stop running away from your problems. Stay in town. Fight to make it better."

• on 'SAFER SEX':
  "Imagining the person you're about to have sex with is really Morley Safer should stop anything from happening."

• on RETAIL CONSOLIDATION:
  "It's a good thing drug stores don't come with combination warning labels."

• on 'THE WIZARD OF OZ ON ICE':
  "When the witch melts, do they freeze over her remains? If not, how do they finish?"

• on WORDS vs. IMAGES:
  "Pictures merely deceive. Words lie."

Learn to love the chaos.

Read The Big Book of Misc.

To order online with a credit or debit card, follow this link to our authorized vendor, Kagi. (Some of the instructions might presume you're not buying a book but "shareware" software, Kagi's main e-commerce line, but it should otherwise be fairly clear sailing.)

Otherwise, you can send a check or money order for $19 (including $3 shipping and handling) plus $1.28 sales tax for Washington state residents, to:

MISC. Media
1400 Hubbell Place, #1314
Seattle, WA 98101

Bookstore accounts can email to clark@speakeasy.org.

It's distributed to the bookstore trade by Ingram Book Co. and Partners Book Distribution West.