MUSIC MAKES THE PEOPLE COME TOGETHER! Hmm... STRANGE, NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT, THAT'S TRUE ISN'T IT?

The Oscars are a week away, mostly crap in theatres, TV is either in full swing, or already done with mid-season replacements. Frankly, not much is happening that I can really comment on at the moment.(Or, at least comment on with more anything more substantial than a tweet.) The biggest story going on in the entertainment world, is the same one that's been going on for a week, the sudden death of Whitney Houston. The state of New Jersey is in mourning, and Costner and Aretha are gonna be there for the funeral, and yada, yada, yada... I've already written my Whitney post, and I certainly don't have much left to say on a new one. I also had and earlier post on Amy Winehouse's death to explain the basic role that music has played in my life. Sadly, music has been lacking in my life. I am realizing that now, for whatever reason. Within the last few weeks, I've been ecstatic over the Madonna Halftime show, which lead to a long debate over the most controversial of questions, "Is Madonna Hot?", on Facebook. (An argument I still can't even fathom even has to be fought, but for the record, yeah, she's still fucking hot as hell!) I've been addicted to the premiere of "The Voice," since last year, (I've already written one blog, where I compare "The Voice," favorably to it's competing reality shows) and now I can't get Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger," out of my head. Then the Grammys and Whitney's death coincided, which led to ratings grab for them. I didn't watch. I never watch the Grammys, but they are the Music industry's biggest night, and Adele, who I do like, did really well from what I've heard. It's strange actually, suddenly after about a ten-year self-induced hiatus, I'm basically more enveloped in the pop music scene that I have in years. It took a very long time for me to trust the music industry again. It still takes too long for me to scour through the CDs at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or any of those stores, and... I don't know how or where to go online for music anymore, but I imagine it's not tripley hard to search and scour and navigate to explore the newest and latest of music, but for the first time in a long time, I actually feel like looking.

That's not to say that music has been absent from my life, but it became to much of a crapshoot to look for some new up-and-comer star of the moment, and find out whether it was worth listening to him/her, or at least whether it was worth 12.99 to buy the Cd of them or not, or whether it was better and/or more practical to spend the money on that, or buy a cheaper older Springsteen album that I know I'll listen to more than once, than spend money on one or two songs on an album that I kinda like. Oh, I forgot to mention, that I was then, and still am to some extent, and albums over singles person. I know that's not the typical opinion of the day. Ipods have made it more easily to download particular songs, and that's fine. I like particular songs, but usually if I want to remember a song or two separately, I'm able to in my mind. Other than that, I'd just listen to the radio. Well, I used to listen to the radio. I'm doing that a little more now. I'm glad to be doing that again.

They say that all art strives to be music. All art, whether it be a book, painting, film, that want them to have the ability to stick in one's mind the way music does. Instantly abled to recalled by the mere recollection of a memory or a whiff of a sensory recall. With a mere note, we can identify a song. Not from our inate ability to determine songs, but it's because from the deepest recesses of our minds, we can instantly recall the most obscure of songs, simply because they're powerful enough in some way to us that they've stuck with us. The way we can remember every lyric to a song that we might bot have heard in years. Try remembering every line of "Hamlet," or every line of dialogue in a movie, without having seen/read it for decades? It's not possible, is it? The more personal the song, the stronger the recall isn't it?

A few months back, I wrote a series of blogs about my participation in Facebook's 30 Day Movie Challenge, where I challenged myself and my readers to post a clip on the FB site for 60 days (There was 2 parts to the movie challenge) of a movie, under different parameters each time. Favorite, least favorite, favorite of a genre for, etc. etc. Well, on Facebook, they also have a song challenge, for 30 days. They have a few challenges like these. I've decided to participate in this, starting today. 30 days, 30 different parameters. I would like to say that this is for you readers, an attempt to allow you into my own personal musical mindset and tastes, but really, this is something I feel I must do, to remind myself just what music is inside me. I've abandoned this art form for so long, that until recently, you could've described it as practically dead to me. Now, I have to chosen to search and find it again. I don't have a musicians ear, nor do I have the widest range of knowledge as I wish I did, and I'm especially lackluster in modern music, but, I think now is an appropriate time to begin learning and relearning this part of me. I invite all of you to do the same.