|
|
The increasingly inaccurately-named blog of journalist and futurist Chris Taylor. Either the most sporadically brilliant amateur blog, the most brilliantly amateur sporadic blog, or the most amateur sporadic brilliance on the Web since 2001.
Oh My God, the RSS Feed Actually Works!
Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
Do you write any other blogs, by chance? Could that have something to do with the fact that Daily Blah isn't always Daily?
Yes -- the Future Boy blog for Business 2.0. And yes. If you want true, editorially-mandated daily coverage from me, that's probably the best place to look.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
Praise for Daily Blah:
"It is fun to watch the author's navel-gazing joy." - Sunday Times (UK)
"It's really funny and informative." - Dave Eggers, author
"The Blah is becoming a daily destination for me." - Richard Marsh, Playwright
"I like it, and I don't." - Fiona Hogg, Teacher
"Better than Xanax." - Lessley Andersen, journalist
"Dude, lay off the crack pipe." - Souris Hong-Porretta, gamesmith
Friends, Bloggers, Countrymen ... lend your ears to these people. I come not to bury them, but praise them.
Arik
Bill
Dan
Cole
Emily B
Emily G
Helena
Jee
Jewelz
Kaila
Kathryn
Mac
Robin
Slim
Souris
Mr. West
My TIME articles
All magazine articles (subscription required for older stories)
Online column index
|
|
|
|
|
Daily Blah for... Tuesday, May 28, 2002
Trent and I
A couple of readers have asked how on Earth I managed to meet Trent Reznor, and furthermore why I threw his name in so casually a couple of posts ago. The answer to the latter is I know next to nothing about Nine Inch Nails, and therefore the meeting meant very little (sorry, NIN fans). I had an appointment to talk to John Carmack about Doom III, an early demo of which I had just been shown. The demo was very, very spooky and the lighting effects in the game are going to be fantastic. I was ushered into a small meeting room where Carmack sat, appropriately, with a single spotlight above him. We had spent some time together at id's offices in Mesquite, Tex. a couple of years ago for the release of Quake III, and I was engrossed by how much he has changed. He has lost none of his evil scientist streak, but he is much more gregarious and approachable (the new haircut helps) and babbled away incessantly about how to achieve visual reality in computer games. Perhaps his multimillion dollar fortune and garage full of Ferraris has helped. Something has, anyway. Unlike our chats in Mesquite, I could actually understand half of what he was talking about.
So there I was, engrossed in the new, dynamically-lit Carmack talking his mad genius talk, vaguely aware that there are other people sitting in the room. Finally the PR flack interjects, pointedly: "maybe we should talk about the audio for the game." I turn to her and realize Reznor is also at our table. I only know it is him because he is wearing a name badge, and I only know he is a big deal because I'd bumped into my friend Noah Robischon from Entertainment Weekly, who was frantically trying to arrange an interview with him (he created the audio effects for Doom III). Reznor indicates he was as engrossed in what Carmack was saying as I was -- "No, it's alright, I was getting an education" -- but he's protesting too much. I get the sense he's trying to supress the part of him that wants to blurt out "I'm a big star, why don't you talk to me?" Trouble was, I had prepared nothing to ask him. Luckily, I also didn't care about his status, didn't get palpitations over his mere presence, and so my brain was functional enough to fake something that would allow him to feel he was being listened to. "Well, we've just been talking about deceiving the human eye -- how do you deceive the human ear?" was my gambit. It paid off, and he talked happily about how to enhance the audio of reality. Still, I would have swapped a roomful of Reznors for the chance to meet Robin Williams, who was also spotted at the show. That would have given me palpitations.
|
|
|
|
