A Slight Delay

Q: Guess it’s time for the obligatory bit of self-promotional, self-explanatory drivel. So, why A Slight Delay?

A: A couple of reasons, actually. For one thing, it seemed a bit silly to put a blog up with just my name on it. That’s fine if you’re, say, Haruki Murakami. It’s another altogether, however, when people see your name and their first reaction is, “Who the fuck…?” Incidentally, if that’s your reaction to Mr. Murakami’s name, stop reading this blog right now and don’t come back ’til you’ve read one of his books. I’d suggest The Elephant Vanishes, but any of the others would do, too.

And I make no pretense of being “hip,” “ahead of the curve,” or any of that stuff. Like most people do (but most of them–the “hip” ones, at least–won’t admit), I’ll see/read/listen to something, find out it came out ten years ago, and wonder where it’s been all my life. Since I’m willing to bet that some of this stuff might also be unknown to the four or five of you who’ll stumble across this blog, from time to time I’ll be posting about things that could charitably be called “old.”

Q: So why not a blog about just music, just books, or just nearly anything, as long as it’s one thing?

A: Where’s the fun in that? I like the variety, even if it sometimes reads like A.D.D., or touring a library with a Yorkshire Terrier. Off his leash.

Q: Where do your ideas come from?

A: I don’t pretend to be an expert on anything. I tend to dive into subjects, sometimes for the sake of learning one more thing, and sometimes to find out how they relate to some other subject, and then move on. I usually come back again later, too. But when I look at the world sometimes, I’m like a kid in a toy store. I want to try all of it. And my writing ends up reflecting that, sometimes making me look as if I’ve got the attention span of a fruit fly. So the short answer is, “everywhere.”

Q: Your reviews seem lopsided. You seem to be either very positive on things, or pretty negative.

A: That wasn’t exactly a question, was it?

Q: Well, that wasn’t an answer, either. Play along for a minute.

A: Okay. I’m not a shill for some publishing company, record label, or political party. What this means is that I don’t have product tossed at me like Tom Jones gets panties. It also means that I have to shell out my own cash for this stuff, and I’m not one to rush out and buy every last little thing. And have I mentioned that if I review something, I’ve actually read/listened to it first? This is not, surprisingly, common practice.
Anyway. The positivity stems in part because I tend to buy things I figure I’ll like. The negativity comes in either when something turned out not to be very good, or when I know the person who put it out there is capable of better.

Q: This blog doesn’t tell much about you…

A: I’m not big on confessional writing. I figure that nobody really wants to read about my day at work, every last facet of my personal relationships, or–God forbid–my sex life. That said, I don’t think it’d take that much reading between the lines to see what makes me tick.

Q: Well, it tells me you’re an opinionated bastard.

A: Guilty as charged. I don’t pretend to know everything, but if I’ve thought about something, I tend to have an opinion about it. Given that I analyze some things only slightly less rigorously than the CDC, I tend to be pretty opinionated. I also make no pretense of being a dispassionate observer. I’ll try to approach things fairly, but a slant one way or another will come through.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: I’m not a journalist, as such; not quite a critic; not really a scholar. I’m just a random guy, sitting here (often as not) in my bathrobe, jotting down random thoughts. I’ve said some dumb shit when I wasn’t thinking, so to spare myself the embarrassment (and spare the rest of y’all a headache), I’m going to do that rarest of all things in the so-called “blogosphere”: I’m actually going to think about things before I write them! Imagine that!

Contact: aslightdelay (at) hotmail.com