Picture from Evolution of Hatred

As part of my turning forty assessment of my life I have come to the conclusion that I am pretty much okay despite the fact that things haven't turned out quite as I would have hoped. However, my dreams have changed since I was a teenager who wanted to be a millionaire famous person and now I am happy to put out things for my own enjoyment (and other people's obviously) because the reward is in getting something finished. The actual process of making something, even something relatively simple like recording a podcast, is the bit I dislike, the finished product is something I love and of course I can't achieve that without putting the work in. Part of the problem, in fact it is quite a big part of the problem, is time and money, not enough of either to fulfil my ambitions to the fullest. 

Having to work a day job isn't the ideal situation but needs must I suppose, although it isn't something I imagined I'd still be doing at my age. I make a comfortable amount of money but of course I can't afford to plough it into making films that aren't going to make money because they're on YouTube. If people donated more then I could do what I originally set out to do which was to make more ambitious and more experimental projects and put them online. At the beginning of the year I suggested the one-off donation of £3.65, meaning that you have paid me one pence a day for all the cool free stuff you get, but apparently even that's too much. My to-do list for the year doesn't have a single thing crossed out yet because they all need funding, even the Indie GoGo campaign to drop some funds in the coffers hasn't (at the time of writing this blog) made a single penny. That might be my fault though, as people have missed the point somewhat and the whole concept has gone over everyone's head as they haven't read the blurb or watched the video. It seems that everyone just saw that on the surface it looked as if I was simply trying to raise two thousand pounds to produce last year's kazoo Christmas album on vinyl, when in fact the money would have been used for all sorts of exciting projects. Of course if the target had been raised then I would have made the album but I never expected that to happen, hence using Indie GoGo who let you keep all the money. 

I said on my birthday that I am pleased at how this year has turned out with regard to my career, so I can't really complain. It is disappointing though that the Internet has bred this culture where everybody expects to be entertained for free. Music was the first victim and now it has spread to all aspects of entertainment. People still pay to enter a cinema, theatre and a gig but for some reason people object to having to pay for anything over the Internet and as such are happy to watch YouTube videos and listen to podcasts without clicking the PayPal button at the top of the page. Don't be like those freeloaders, scroll back up when you've read this blog (and of course shared it on Twitter and Facebook) and be able to hold your head up high when I next release something knowing that you have made a valuable contribution.

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This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative is here. (Bank Holiday Special)

The latest episode of The Random Saturday Sessions is here.

Thank you in advance for donating using the PayPal button at the top of this page. It all goes towards creating podcasts, sketches, documentaries, films and more, all of which I will make available for free in return for your generosity.