Interview with Derek Edwards by Matthew Black
So, recently, I was named as one of several recipients of what, now that I think of it, bears strong resemblance to a chain letter. But it’s not asking for money or any useful personal data, so I feel fairly safe in participating. To enter into a discussion of the specifics of the situation, a young man whose writing I have followed for some few years now, has devised a stock interview for the purpose of facilitating a better understanding of independent content creators, such as myself. As I do not often write about myself, I thought this would be a good opportunity for my readers to better understand me. The following are his questions with my answers.
1) What’s one of your biggest pet peeves?
Most of the annoyance in my life lately has been from bugs in a new desktop browser I’m using and will probably review at some point: some touch screen functionality isn’t there and I have to use an actual mouse for a lot of page navigation depending on the site, and (of course) Medium doesn’t support it yet, so I’m having to type this on Firefox. But that’s all sort of minor things I’ve brought on myself for being an early adopter. So I’m going to go in a different direction and voice my displeasure with people pulling electrical plugs out sideways and ruining the grip inside the socket so my chargers fall out. Stop that.
2) What is your favorite song at the moment?
I’ve been a big fan of Mussorgsky’s magnum opus since I first heard it, and I’ve been a fan of the Piano Guys since I first heard them doing instrumental Christmas music. They did their piano/cello thing using the main theme from Pictures at an Exhibition and it’s just fantastic. Listen to it and then listen to their other stuff. (I know Matt likes the music from the Dark Knight Trilogy. They used a bit of that in a medley of Batman themes.)
3) Who is your favorite blogger?
Probably Brad Dowdy . He writes a blog called the Pen Addict, where he reviews pens. I’ve always had a thing for pens and pencils, and Dowdy is really into them, and I just find his fascination fascinating. I’ve gotten some good advice on mechanical pencils from his site (which essentially boiled down to “get a Rotring 600”. I did and it’s really nice.)
4) What’s the nicest thing you’ve seen someone do recently?
The library at my school gave pizzas to students studying for finals a few days ago. That was nice of them. I didn’t personally witness this, mind, but I did hear of it.
5) What’s something you regret doing?
I regret watching Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. I had heard so many people talk about how bad it was I had gotten this idea in my head that it was something like Batman & Robin, but it wasn’t. It was just really cheap looking, and generally awkward and boring. It wasn’t really anything to laugh at, for the most part, it was just sort of sad to watch the last wheezes of a dying franchise.
6) If you could take only three items with you to a deserted island, what would they be, and why?
One would definitely be a pallet full of duct tape.
As for the other two, uh, probably a machete and a first aid kit, since those are two important things duct tape can’t work as. I’m presuming that this island is a garden of mango trees surrounded by water teeming with skipjack tuna, of course, and not packing food.
7) What past fad do you think should make a comeback?
Capes. I don’t know what happened to them, but they seem like they were warm. Also, I think you could do a lot of interior pockets. Lots of really old stuff seem to be back, but not capes yet.
8) How would you describe the perfect date?
Uh, I guess you both enjoyed the activity. I don’t have much to say about this one. Sorry.
