Music, the Grammys, and and Ingenuity.

According to Variety Sunday night's Grammy Award Show hit a 6 year low.  With an 8.5 rating in adults 18 to 49 and 25.3 million viewers the show was down 14% from last year.  This is significant.  With the shifting logistics of music delivery the economics of the industry are changing.  Pharrell Williams' song "Happy" (one of the most popular, catchy, cheerful songs ever written) was played 43 million times in the first quarter of 2014 on Pandora paying a tidy little sum of $2700.00.  This can not make him very happy.  Obviously, music needs to find new ways to attract an audience, and stay solvent.

Kanye West has been making repeated attempts to liven up the ceremony.  Inject a little life into the staid, lifeless proceedings only to be spurned by the very industry he is struggling to save.  However, there is some movement at the top.

There are plans to the song of the year award decided in a "Survivor" style competition.  Singers will need to crawl across a rope bridge suspended over a pit filled with ice water (filtered, carbonated mineral water, of course) while singing the nominated composition.  Competitors will try to knock them off of the bridge by hurling insults, slander, recriminations, and tennis balls.  The contestant who crosses the pit the quickest will receive immunity, and be allowed to choose the competition used to decide the Grammy for New Artist of the year.  There is even talk of having the oscar winners face the grammy winners in a paintball contest.  This is very exciting, but that is only the beginning.

Hulk Hogan is going to give out the Grammy for Artist of the Year.  When the award is handed out Nature Boy Rick Flair is going to come storming in Stage Left, and smash a chair over the head of...  Wait, I can't tell you who is going to win the Grammy, contractual obligations.  Flair will climb up on the top rope, leap down and deliver a "Devastating Flying Body Slam of Doom" just as the grammy winner rolls from the ring, and is replaced by The Rock, who smiles winningly at the audience, while delivering a "The Peoples Elbow" to the prone Rick Flair, and accepting the award on behalf of the incapacitated recipient, whose identity is secret.  You are going to want to tune in for that.

Things seem to be in good hands.  Another national industry saved from financial collapse by solid American Know How, and a can do it spirit.  It brings a tear to the eye.

It's Not Too Late, Yet!

We, here at Life Explained, have changed the threat level from "imminent system failure, and the collapse of civilization" to "cautious optimism."  This change is expressed in the ominous, chilling graphic below.

Last Week                                                                                                       Today

Obviously, things are looking up, and there is renewed hope, here at Life Explained. 

What could cause such a swing, such a sudden, dramatic change?  That is a very good question.  Recently, we here at Life Explained, learned of the selfless acts of one man, one giving, caring man, who, with no thought of reward, no flashy exclamations of self aggrandizement, one man with very little to gain at all, and a hearty investment of time and money, has decided to launch The Fantastic Traveling Book Project.

People all over the world will have the opportunity to share some personal, part of their life in words and pictures with strangers from distant places.  People who thought they had nothing in common could find some mutual ground, some small common trait.  If people start talking, and looking for similarities instead of differences who knows where that might lead.  Maybe even peace and understanding.

What can you do to help?  I am not sure, but, there is a Forum on the site, Forum, for the Fantastic Traveling Book Project, and that might be a good place to ask the venerable Mr. Raven what you can do to assist.  

Anyway, we should all take an active interest in this, we should all be jumping on the chance to spread the word, and the books.  In the immortal words of The Police;

"We can all sink or we all float,

Because we are all in the same big boat."

So, do the right thing, it will make you happy.