2020 - A retrospective
The year in review
As the year comes to a close, throughout the web and social media, people post their top lists of whatever; be it books, records or movies, there is plenty to go around.
As there are people more qualified or more interesting to do those, this will not be a “standard” list.
Much can be said about 2020, and the media has been busy taking care of that. Following is a list of good things from 2020, the year has been a bad one for everyone, so it’s better to look back on the positive aspects.
Getting this webpage started
Well, i think it is quite obvious…
After many tries, many engines, development languages and many many years, i have managed to get the webpage going forward.
This was partly due to some posts in the Lines community, of which i have been a part of for the past 3 years. It’s nice to find a helpful, respectful and polite community online these days, as they become rarer.
Bandcamp Fridays
It was not unusual for Bandcamp to specify a day to waive their margins from sales in order to support people and organisations in need, as seen previously when they gave margins to LGBTQ or BLM associations.
This year Bandcamp created the “Bandcamp Fridays”, in which the fees are waived in favour of the artists. This is a wonderful move by Bandcamp, as it clearly shows it respects the artists that use the platform.
While the percentage is low, it does help those that due to the pandemic cannot earn from live shows and tours.
Bandcamp announced that it will continue with “Bandcamp Fridays” in 2021.
On the other hand, Spotify did their “year wraps”.
Curiously, artists were posting the “year wraps” on social media; either they like the exploitation from Spotify, or Spotify’s grip is that strong.
Twitter user midi_lizard put it quite clear.
Also worthy of note is the two tweets from Damon Krukowski, the drummer for Galaxie 500 and Damon and Naomi where he said that 8.8M streams in Spotify payed the same amount of money as the sales of 2000 LP’s.
People fight back
In 2020 we saw a large increase in communities fighting back against fascists, racists and capitalists. In a time where people are further apart physically, and this year even more, it brought me hope seeing these massive gatherings of people with a common purpose. I do hope this fight continues, so a better future is built, with more equality and freedom.
Fascism, racism and authoritarianism are on the rise, and it is up to the people to fight back.
Momi
Momi joined me by the end of September. She is an active little lady that brought joy to the house.
Friends found her and were looking for a home for her. Being an animal lover and 1 year after being apart from my buddy Moomoo, i decided i’d give the little one a chance.
When she arrived she could fit the palm of my hand, and was quite afraid of the tall human that brought her food and toys.
As time went by, she warmed up to the strange human, and are now best friends.
She is getting used to jazz and other weird music her human listens to.
Less time for me to do other things now, i spend more time playing with her.
She truly is the best of 2020.
Moomoo is also very happy, living in my family home. He has grown up to be a wonderful cat.
His deafness makes it complicated to communicate with him, but we found ways to do so.
He loves meowing at maximum volume, warm places, the top of cupboards and hanging from the chandeliers.
