Just a Muselet here, lovelies. Tomorrow I’ll post my regular Musings, featuring a new Royal Rebel and our usual love for KStew and her Misfit partners in crime… Today I’m happy to announce the winners of the Musings On Other Soundtrack Giveaway, aka: KJ’s Old-School-Love-Letter-poured-into-a-mixed-tape-but-on-a-CD-to-Others. I always enjoyed writing and receiving a good letter. It started when I was in fifth grade, and I took a week-long trip to Washington D.C. with some classmates, and I met new friends who lived in exotic places like…Florida…and Colorado. To have a long-distance penpal when ten or eleven years old, having met them while traveling abroad, seemed pretty damn cool, in my opinion.
Letter writing became my all-consuming world when I was in seventh grade. I knew how to fold the 8 1/2 by 11 inch squared paper into a heart, a circle, an envelope, and perhaps, when computer class became too boring, a swan. And do you know what these little “letters” (notes) would say? Something like this:
Dear M,
Hey honey! I’m in Mrs K’s class, English. I’m so bored. Did you see Joe today? Oh my god, he is soooo fine. Do you think he still likes Kelly?
I LOVE U. K.I.T. BFF. Budz4Life. WRITE BACK.
Love Always, K
Clearly, not on par with Beethoven’s prose to his Immortal Beloved. But a definitive step higher than:
DO YOU LIKE JESSICA?
PLEASE CHECK THE RIGHT BOX:
YES: ___
NO: ___
So here’s the delio: I love you guys. I love you so much I don’t have words, and that in itself is telling, because I always have words. I also love music, it’s an integral, essential part of my being, and it shapes Musings in a very personal way. If I we were still in junior high or high school, I’d write you all and pass you a swan-shaped note in which I checked the box that said YES, when asked if I love you. And, as was the case of my first love, Joe (see above, 7th grade Joe was beautiful), I’d exchange mixed tapes filled with music of light-FM love songs and R & B. And instead of stealthily passing the note while en route to History class under the pretense of fixing my hair scrunchies (YES, SCRUNCHIES, facepalm), I would implement today’s technology of Twitter, Skype, Email, Chat, Texting…where beautiful, devoted poetry has been reduced to:
I heart U, u hot biotch. Txt me. xx
Swoon.
Ok. While this is perfectly fine for every day interactions, and for moments where we are in between meetings and errands, and the eighteen jobs we have…This lackluster statement leads me to think: we have lost the ability to connect in a more meaningful way.
Let’s think about this a second: If you could write Kristen Stewart, our Reigning Other Queen, which medium would you use, what words would you use? How would you communicate your admiration for her? Would you put thought and time into composing a text message? Or would you perhaps like to speak a little bit about your propensity towards domesticity and baking…Kristen puts time into planning and creating meals and desserts for her loved ones, don’t you think she’d appreciate something a little more personal than a statement that could only fit amongst 140 characters a la Twatter?
If she doesn't inspire hand-written love sonnets...
So, let me send you my love letter to Others…Here are the winners of the first Musings On Other Giveaway, based on the comments left on last week’s first Musings’ essay from the new website (If you left more than one comment, I counted you once, and I only included commenters on the main Essay’s page)…
From Random. Org: The Integers
Generate random integers (maximum 10,000).
5
Each integer should have a value between and (both inclusive; limits ±1,000,000,000)
1-21
Here are your random numbers:
16 7 5 10 3
HOORAY! To my lovelies: (16) Dano, (7) Buff82 (5) Nail, (10) Jessica (3) Medelia_Fi , you will be receiving the MusingsOnOther Soundtrack/My Aural Love Letter to YOU in the mail as soon as we get in touch and I have a your contact information. CONGRATULATIONS!….As a Reminder, here are the Tracks:
1. Trouble–Ray LaMontagne
2. The Devil’s Tears–Angus & Julia Stone
3. Acid Tongue–Jenny Lewis
4. Crucify–Tori Amos
5. Hallelujah–Jeff Buckley
6. Soul to Squeeze–Red Hot Chili Peppers
7. Wake Up–Arcade Fire
8. Not Afraid–Eminem
9. Lying–Martina Topley-Bird
10. It’s a Fire–Portishead
11. Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What A Wonderful World–Iz
12. Never Tear Us Apart–INXS
13. Dig–Incubus
14. Wave of Mutilation–Pixies
15. The Shining–Badly Drawn Boy
16. Addicted to Love–Florence + The Machine
17. The 6th X: For Kelleen–Richard W feat. KJ on vocals
18. Joyful Girl –Ani DiFranco
Why am I doing this? Well, I realized that I miss the old-school way of expressing affection, with an old-fashioned letter written by hand. I miss the romantic sentiment behind homemade gifts, and the excitement of receiving envelopes or packages in the mail. So that is what I’m trying to resuscitate: the personal connection we as humans, have the privilege of exercising. Even now, as I pieced together the playlist for the Musings Soundtrack Love Letter, I could just post it up on PlayList.com for you all to peruse. But if I did that, I wouldn’t get to send you the CD, in the mail, and write you a little card in my own hand. You wouldn’t have the pleasure of receiving a small parcel in your mailbox. I wouldn’t be able to tell you that every single song on the play list was featured in a Musings essay past, and contained a specific message: Love, empowerment, encouragement, gratitude, solace, grief, joy, affection, inspiration…
How do I love thee, let me count the ways
So I’ll see you tomorrow for our regularly scheduled Musings. We’re talking Creative Living, Following Bliss, The Social Network, and the resurfacing of Kristen and Rob, three nights (going for 4?) in a row…Last night, they took in a show by one of our Featured Rebel Royals, Jenny Lewis. SWEETNESS.
And let’s take a moment to gaze at the gloriousness that is the Official Welcome to the Rileys Movie Poster, shall we? *Stares, hypnotized* Ok. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, my dears. Much Love, KJ.
P.S. WINNERS, make sure you send me your contact info! P.P.S: I will most likely be creating a Volume 2 of the Soundtrack. There is just so much good music out there by Others and for Others.
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