Well, Whitney Houston is dead and anyone who didn't see that train wreck a-coming has not paid a lick of attention in the last few years. Sad to say, she was a talented artist. As a preteen and then teen in the 80s, I admit to owning at least 1 Whitney 45 (I think it was "I Wanna Dance With Somebody") and liking her music. But liking her music and liking her behavior are two different things, and that is my rant.

Like Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson, and even Elvis Presley, we as a public watched Whitney Houston implode. We can be horrified that no one intervened in her downward decent. We can be shocked that she could be so rich and famous and yet so dumb about her life choices. But the fact is, we watched her reality show with Bobby Brown, we bought the magazines to see the pictures of her looking outrageously thin and drugged out), and we followed the headlines (TV and print) of her escapades. Tragedy sells...and that is the bigger tragedy.

So, we'll be treated to tributes on the Grammys and unending news coverage as the mystery of Whitney's demise is unraveled and not a mystery at all. But the fact remains, a 48 year old mother with a phenomenal talent is dead, and the media is going to make millions off of it. Maybe we should boycott the magazines, television shows, and books that will ultimately sell millions and millions and return to our own normal lives. Maybe then, the next celebrity to die tragically young because of poor life choices (Lindsay Lohan is my bet) can do so privately and without the spectacle that this one is.

And for your listening pleasure, one of my favorite songs sung by Whitney:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx4v6cO1GMk