"I Listen To Bands That Don't Even Exist Yet"

Threadless shirts -- Chicago on your chest!

Diversity: 4/7

For the last 12 years or so, I've been an annual subscriber to 10 magazines. They are Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, National Geographic Traveler, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, Time Out Chicago, Chicago, Vineline (official magazine of the Chicago Cubs) and most recently, All About Beer. You would be an idiot to look into my mailbox and not know what kind of person I am. And that's why my life is an open book, perhaps because at my old place on Addison in Chicago, most magazines can't fit into my mailpigeonhole together with the letters and Netflix, so my mailman leaves them on the floor.

The reason why I pay over a hundred bucks each year to read about film, music, beer, the city of Chicago, the world through Manhattan eyes, the world through travelers and the Cubs is because I'm obsessively passionate about too many things. Puckett once called me a Renaissance Girl, but honestly, the worst situation I can imagine is sitting on a couch with nothing to think about. You might think I am a snob and I am. I detest conformity. I select my Hollywood viewing selection carefully -- "The Dark Knight" is great, but I won't watch "Transformers," no matter how fantastic the CGI or screenplay because I don't believe Steven Spielberg has had a new trick since Jaws snapped its jaws, just new technology to play with. I love "Charlie's Angels," because McG is a brilliant director who offers the pop culture nerd a crossword puzzle of references under the boobs and booties. Instead of mindlessly sifting through "Mamma Mia!" and whatever cinematic confection of the moment, how about gems like "Once," "Juno" and "The Orphanage"?

I hate listening to radio. From the Clear Channel takeover of American wavelengths to the schmaltz in Singapore, one thing is pretty clear -- I'd take Alan Freed and Payola anyday over the commercial crap public listening is subject to. Whatever happened to media as a channel for disseminating new, groundbreaking ideas and art forms? I went to Gramaphone Music the other day and asked for the new Ray LaMontagne record. After a few awkward quizzical looks, the salesperson brought me "Til The Sun Turns Black". Nope, that's Ray's second record; his new one is "Gossip In The Grain" featuring that fantastic Sam and Dave-inspired "You Are The Best Thing" first single. In a world where Gwen Stefani, Sean Kingston, Rhianna, Chris Brown and worst, the faux jazz impersonators Michael Buble and Peter Cincotti, are rotated like they're the very best music can offer and the best producers can do is sample past brilliance, why not check out some of 2008's most amazing releases by The Black Keys, She & Him, James Hunter and The Wood Brothers? Yeah, Bruce Springsteen I know is not the most unconventional music to be listening to. But only if you've never listened to "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions," "Devils & Dust," "Nebraska," "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "Magic." (It's OK if you skipped "Lucky Town" and "Human Touch.")

A few months ago, I wrote an email to the programming manager for ESPN Asia. I said, why the fuck (not verbatim) are you showing Yankees and Red Sox games every goddamned weekend when the Cubs are (um, were) ruling the National League, the Rays are the most exciting thing to happen to professional baseball in decades and we've had the most interesting wildcard chase since the system started? Why are we subjected to Yankees-Mariners games, the most boring and worst teams in the 2008 season and if I had to see the mugs of Pedroia, Ortiz, Matsuzaka and Crisp one more time, I would personally reach in and tear the Green Monster down. The response? "Because our fans like the Yankees and Red Sox." That's right, keep dumbing down baseball, one of the most intelligent games in the world. If you're going to devote airtime to baseball, do it right -- one ad for baseball features an animated Cincinnati Reds player, presumably Corey Patterson. I appreciate the faith, but the entire Reds line-up this year is as accurate a representation of the sport as Michael Jordan. I think baseball had an amazing run in September, so much so that we had to extend the month by one more day with a playoff game between the Sox and the Twins to see who would win the American League Central Division. ESPN Asia did not think it necessary to air that matchup, so bless you, MLB TV.

I'm sorry, this wasn't meant to be a rant but sometimes, it's frustrating to spend time in a culture where you buy donuts when there's a donut fad, where you buy bubble tea because everyone is drinking it, where you're burning dollars with whatever's hot until the next craze hits Fahrenheit 451. I wish more people would try to be their own person instead of a sugar cookie made with Pillsbury dough from the cutter. It's fun to say how you really feel, rather than something that would buy you brownie points. It's fun to be different. Even "Sesame Street" says so, and those muppets know best.