The Blog Turns 10!
It's already been a decade? What the Fuuuuuuck
Today, I found myself rummaging around the spam-infested wasteland that is my personal email and stumbled on a social post from Tumblr.
Tumblr? Why?
Has that long-deceased cringe-fest of the early-aughts come barreling back with a vengeance? Perhaps they’re trying to stick me for money——utilizing my embarrassing posts from year’s past as collateral.
No, it was a friendly alert. A reminder that, on the 10th of October, 2015, I posted my first blog on the site, titled:
By my count, this was the first piece of writing I’ve ever published online. And now, that was ten years ago. Bonkers!
What’s wild is that I still have a sense memory of drafting that blog. All in all it was a short review of MADMAX:FURY ROAD which I had just watched for a second time with a group of friends.
As a, then, twenty-three year old with disposable income and little in the way of hobbies (or girlfriends for that matter,) I made it a habit of watching movies on a weekly basis. If the film was excellent, I’d return to the cinema for a second or maybe even a third watch. This time, with a group.
Like all perverts, voyeurs, and habitual smokers, I get a kick out of second-hand experiences. I crave that boost of serotonin gained from watching someones face light up having just watched an AMAZING movie. That feeling of having been lifted on wings as you leave the darkened hull of the cinema and are greeted by the piercing light of the outside world.
That was the case on my second watch of MADMAX: FURY ROAD, a film that by all estimates is a modern masterpiece. My friends and I left the movie, shuffled like zombies to the closest bar and proceeded to speak it’s gospel.
Later that evening I went home, still vibrating with things to say. Little nuances, detected. I immediately zeroed in on Tom Hardy’s dubbed voice in the movie. Something that stuck out on second viewing.
“I needed to tell someone!” was my first compulsive thought. And just like that, I pulled out the MacBook, fired up Tumblr (a site I frequented) and started writing. No second guessing, no editorialization. Just tap…tap…publish.
And I haven’t stop sense.
Some things in life require meticulous planning, pre-imagination, and foresight. Other things are best left to spur-of-the-moment action. The latter can introduce one to the joys of life. Hobbies that feed the soul.
I’ve hosted various blogs on a number of platforms throughout the years. My first blog, aptly named “The Pornographers,” featured bite-sized, surface level critiques of everyday occurrences, from Television, to the local weather. Later came a blog dedicated towards video game reviews, back when I dabbled with getting a job in games entertainment.
Through “The Pornographers” I learned about SEO’s. How a simple name could decide the sort of audience one attracts. For example: I would write an innocuous post about playstation and get views from sexy goth girls with Onlyfans? That was a an interesting time; not that I was complaining…
I’ve navigated the murky waters of market branding, and niche audience retention. Trends have popped up and disappeared though the years, but the one thing that has kept me going is the avenue I’ve constructed for my personal self-expression.
Currently, I run GONDO MEDIA and, as I reminisce about my growth in the last ten years, I’m startled about how little has changed in the driving mantra.
“Express Yourself.” Your voice matters, whether you think so or not. It’s not the size of your audience that propels one towards the next day. It’s the love of the game.
There are a myriad forces pulling us one way or another. Vying, through influence, for our time and money. As a result, life can often times feel like a rat race, overlong and lacking in any sort of respite.
This is a reminder to carve out a niche for yourself. Doesn’t have to be a homely blog like the one handled by your’s truly, but it must be something.
Surely there must be fires quietly stocking in your heart. A knitting project, a musical inclination. Stoke further. The flames might illuminate something profound.
Thank you for reading. Here’s to another ten years.