First Three Songs, No Flash

I started this blog a few years ago essentially so I could get accredited to concerts. And it worked! I've been lucky enough to get credentials for great gigs I would've paid for anyway. Anything from small indie bands to the Rolling Stones. Unfortunately, I still have to pay for most of the concerts I attend. And I can only take my little point and shoot. I'm not complaining, mind you.

But when I do get that precious photo pass and I get to stand in the pit between the stage and the audience, the thrill is indescribable. When the artist takes the stage and the lights come up again and you are right there in front of them, not just enjoying the music but having to somehow capture it in your magic electronic device, the rush you get is beyond compare.

I've now started to monetise my blog (that's what those annoying ads you might see are all about) and in order to do so I've joined Adsense, which is a Google service. And in 5 days I've made exactly ten cents, so I'm not expecting to make a living out of this. In fact I might have to shut down that experiment soon. And again, I'm not complaining.

So in order to boost views I've opened accounts on all the major social networks and holy fucking shitballs has it been an education in the Internet. You are never prepared for the amount of hate and stupidity you are going to encounter at every corner of the web. I haven't had any directed at me yet, but I'm too small for that. But fucking hell, I can see how a sensitive kid that's being cyber-bullied would chose to commit suicide. It's brutal. I've always known about it, but it's different when you see it firsthand and I can only imagine how real it gets when you're the target of such bile.

Not everything is hateful rhetoric and aggression, thankfully. If you step away from divisive subjects like politics, religion, sex, sports, musical opinions, gender identity, Star Wars, coffee, facial hair, Uber, fast food chicken places, vaccination, parking spaces, dogs vs. cats, the weather, Khal Drogo, the color of a dress, bees, science, abstract thought and breast-feeding you might be able to have a perfectly civilised internet experience. But you have to be willing to put up with attention whores.

I must be very naive, but I never realised how many people (real or bots) were online just to show you their tits. I like T&A as much as the next guy (unless the next guy is Satchel, in which case I barely register) but it's a bit much. The constant need for validation is staggering. Also, I do not believe all of the people online claiming to suffer from depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, OCD or to be down with OPP.

But this is the nature of the beast. Progress is often puzzling. I'm forty now, and phenomena is going to get increasingly weird and scary to me. I can either lament it or I can adapt.

So in that spirit, follow Electric Eye on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit and Facebook, and subscribe to the blog by entering your email on the left.

Thanks for reading!