Funny, But it seems I am much less interested in Pop Culture than I ever thought possible

A couple of years ago I started a subscription to Entertainment Weekly Magazine (EW). It was a ridiculous offer of $10 a year for 52 issues. The cover price is $3.95, so I was saving $195 a Year! After the year was over, I let it expire then they had me re-up for another $10. So, I'm ahead $390, Beautiful. And it really is a one-stop shopping area for all manner of popular culture. Back when I was in college and later my 20s I wanted more in depth coverage of music and movies, so I subscribed to Premiere and Rolling Stone. But RS started losing me in the early '90s with its coverage of rap and grunge rock, two formats I had little interest in. And while Premiere used to be hard hitting, it changed management and started to offer more puff pieces which coddled Hollywood rather than challenging it.

So now I read EW, which is not hard hitting, but is not easy going, either. And to celebrate their 25th Anniversary of publication, they ran a Top 100 list in 8 different categories, spanning the last 25 years. I started pulling out pages of the movie and TV sections to read later and then I got to the music section. Not only didn't I agree with a lot of the albums they picked for their Top 100, I didn't recognize the names for many. I've always fancied myself a big music fan. I have about 300 CDs and about 500 LPs. And while I own several of the classics they list, those records were almost all released before 1995, many before 1991. I listen to almost all my music on the radio in the car, and as is the bad habit of modern DJs, no one ever gives the name of the song or artist. So I have probably heard hundreds of songs over the years that I really enjoyed without knowing their names. For instance, one song I've loved for years sounds like the singer is under water, yet I have no idea who it is or what it's called.

Okay, so I'm not into music enough to know a great album other than Norah Jones' from the last 15 years, so I move onto the books. I have heard of many of the Top 100, but have not read one. I read about 100 books in a 4-year period 10 years ago, but none of those were on this list. What was on here were Harry Potter books and loads of memoirs. Do people read memoirs? Who's life is so interesting that you want them to tell you about it for 500 pages? I read the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, that man escaped slavery, now he had a story to tell. There is this writer named Augusten Burroughs, who grew up in his shrink's house. His name alone annoys me and the circumstances of his life don't so much make me want to read about them, as they make me want to scream about the state of American family life. And this narcissist has written TWO Books about his life. Paul McCartney could write two books about himself, but not Augusten Burroughs

Then I read the list of plays. I've seen about a play a year for the last 15 years and except for Spamalot, none of the plays I saw made it. And I hated Spamalot. Then there was Top Technology, which doesn't interest me and Top Video games which interests me even less, and least interesting of all, Top Moments in Style. Oy.

I often dream of having my own radio show, with lots of interesting guests and cool talk for 3 to 4 hours. Something like Howard Stern used to do well, or Opie and Anthony do well now. But you have to be clued into all areas of Pop Culture to make an interesting show like that, otherwise you become a two-trick pony. Believe me I've heard enough sports talk radio to know that a host who only has one interest will become very boring after a while. Now maybe I'm feeling a bit left out of the zeitgeist because it stresses the last 25 years and not earlier, but I've only been an adult for 24 years, so if I'm feeling left out, how must someone 5 to 10 years older than me feel.

I refuse to become like my friend at work, a man a couple of years older than me caught in a time tunnel where it is still 1979 and being cool means listening to Molly Hatchett. And I don't want to be the Douche that listens to new music he obviously doesn't like to seem hip and young. You see this asshole at red lights with the windows down and 50 Cent blaring. I want to grow old gracefully, appreciating the past while keeping my eyes open for cool and fun things in the future. I guess it is all a learning process. How do others do it? I refuse to stop trying.

The Freditor