New Yorkers are notorious for cozying up in the smoggy bubble that is our city and pretending like there is no other world besides the five boroughs (or two to three for most).

But novelist Tom Wolfe is encouraging New Yorkers to spread their wings.

In the upcoming book, "Telling True Stories," the "Bonfire of the Vanities" novelist says he watched in amazement at a NASCAR race last month as a National Rifle Association honcho got a rousing standing ovation, and was followed by a minister who "asked the Lord to look out for these brave drivers and these loyal fans . . . in the name of Thy Only Son, Christ Jesus."

Writes Wolfe: "Anyone who introduced an event that way in San Francisco or New York would risk arrest for a hate crime. New York writers really must cross the Hudson River, and writers in Los Angeles really must go as far as the San Joaquin Valley. Most of the meaning of America lies in between the coasts, I'm afraid."

A hate crime? Has he never even been to New Jersey? We get that this is the best place in the world because everyone is a yoga-going, repressed, liberal alcoholic, but come on. Yes, everyone should go to the Midwest, the South, and the Pacific Northwest. But not to stare at the gun-toting trailer parkers in freak-show amazement. They should go to try and be this crazy thing New Yorkers claim to be such experts at (and in fact what Wolfe seems to be claiming all coast-dwellers are) called open-minded.

(And because any New Yorker who spends 30 minutes in Milwaukee automatically feels like the skinniest person on Earth. Just don't wear a white suit, top hat, and cane.)

TOM MEETS THE REAL AMERICA [Page Six]

• The flip side to the "bloggies need newspapers" argument comes from (who else?) NYU's Jay Rosen. [Press Think]

• A media hang-out for uber-geeks is on the rise, down in the the "new" Silicon Alley. [NYT]

• We don't know what you heard bout Tom Wolfe, but he just re-enforced the pimp/ho differentiation by swanking up his ride for street cred. And he doesn't even have a new book coming out. [NYT]

• Everyone hates journalists, except, of course, other journalists. (Hey, they're the ones who wrote the article.) [Miami Herold]

• It could be in the style of psychic Cindy Adams predictions, but Ed Carr is said to be "dead cert" to take the Economist's top spot. [Press Gazette]

• Don't miss Tom Wolfe and Pete Hamil debate James Frey-isms at the 92nd st. Y tonight. [Page Six]

• What's more dangerous: a Chinatown bus war or a Latino mag war? [NYP]

• Jack Shafer takes on Ted Koppel the New York Times columnist. His conclusion: while Koppel's column is pretty lame-ass, the bigger question would be, "wtf was NYT thinking?" [Slate]

• The Russians claim to have launched the Frey bomb first. Somebody better buy the movie rights now — it's another media Cold War. [Page Six]

• In light of the fact that Jill Carroll is still missing (though thankfully alive) we hope David changes his mind about sending us all to Baghdad to report on those MSNBC bloggers. [CSM]

• Ok, so the publisher of Yoga Journal isn't the most glamorous job ever, but there were probably a lot of ex-Time Inc-ers in line for the job Bill Harper snagged. [Media Week]

• Ted Koppel is finally on the way out at Nightline, with ABC News brass looking to replace him with either Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and (holy shit) Michael Jackson's favorite interviewer Martin Bashir.

• At the 26th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, onlookers were treated to CNN interviewing their very own Christiane Amanpour about – what else? – reporting!

• Entertainment mogul David Geffen is truly serious about buying the Los Angeles Times, but maybe he's looking more toward spin control than a new playing. After all, the LAT did hound him on DreamWorks SKG's being a flop and his refusal to allow public access next to his Malibu pad.

• Tom Wolfe doesn't need the name of his book I Am Charlotte Simmons to actually be on the book to sell copies. Just his name – in big-ass, bold letters – will do.

• Google is facing its latest lawsuit from book writers, who claim the search giant's plans to scan and create a database of entire libraries amounted to "massive copyright infringement," while the Mountain View firm says its plans to wrap the books' contests in ads constitutes "fair use."

• At yesterday's memorial service, Peter Jennings was remembered as a "devoted father, hard-driving journalist and a man who befriended homeless people," but there was no mention he practically was a definitive version of How To Lose Friends And Alienate People.

• If you were lucky enough to give the Wall Street Journal your business rather than home address, you might've been lucky enough to miss their new Weekend Edition.