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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.
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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
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Online column index
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Daily Blah for... Tuesday, May 07, 2002
The Vampire Strikes Back
Profuse and profound apologies, dearest reader. I've been away in New York for the last week and a half -- yes, I know, they have the Internet there too. But that damn city can so easily turn you into a sleep-deprived vampire. It's hard to readjust to a 24-hour town when you haven't lived in it for two years. I felt full of energy that I spent by staying out and up virtually every night till 4 or 5 am -- in velvet-roped clubs where they sell vodka and cranberry for $12 a glass, or simply putting the world to rights with my old friend and Daily Newshound Bill. He doesn't sleep much at night either. Oh, and he likes to talk about bulls. (Sorry, Bill.)
I was in town for my J-school reunion two weekends ago, finding out what the rest of our class -- an unusually close one, for reasons that will become obvious -- has been up to this past five years. That Friday I spent in the Time-Life building, back on the 23rd and 24th floors where Time magazine itself resides and where I was located from 1997 to 2000, back among the well-versed writers and sanctified editors I still call collegues. The business editor buttonholed me and, over a couple of bourbons, requested that I stay in town for another week to close a six-page story I was writing for him. How could I refuse?
Daily Blah was always on my mind, of course. But heck, I couldn't even finish the story I was writing until I stayed in the building one night until, yes, 4 or 5am. I am painfully aware that the blog has now become a means for my friends and family to check up and check in; it's like I'm married to the damn thing, for better or worse. My mother called me earlier today just to make sure I had returned from New York. Part of her concern: "you haven't updated your website ..." My friend Kaila writes from Florida: "Are you alive?" All in all I can sympathize with CNet writer Jennifer Balderama, who wrote in My blog, my self:
Eventually you gain an audience that has expectations that you're going to have something witty, profound, helpful or humorous to say on a regular basis. If you don't update your blog, the e-mail starts trickling in: "What happened? Are you dead?"
Quite. I feel like training all the large dogs in the neighborhood to type, so that if I end up half-eaten by one -- pace Bridget Jones -- they can at least make a Daily Blah entry informing all and sundry of the fact.
Of course, I'm sensitive to the concern, and my ambitious ol' self is even more sensitive to the point Bill made: a constantly updated blog leads to exponentially improved page views. A rarely updated blog will barely attract readership. I may not have written entries while in New York, but I still checked out the hit counter at the bottom of the page. I could see it was slowing down. I hate the thought that I'm causing people to click away and I want to make wild promises about this site literally living up to its name. But of course I can't. Because who knows when two glasses of bourbon are going to send your life in a radically different direction, at least for a short while?
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