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Add one part satire to two parts sincerity. Sprinkle on a couple of rants. Stir liberally.
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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.
If it's called Daily Blah, how come you don't ... hey, wait, you're writing every day!
See? Told you I'd try harder.
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.
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Daily Blah for... Thursday, October 31, 2002
Baz and the Bohemians
Went to see Baz Luhrmann's production of La Boheme the other night, glad of the rare opportunity to see a major production in The City before it hits Broadway. My glee turned out to be justified. I was one of those people who adored Moulin Rouge to bits, and Baz' Boheme turned out to be more of the same -- Act II, set on the Left Bank, especially. His supertitled translation played as fast and loose with the libretto as Moulin Rouge did with musical history. Musetta was given the Nicole Kidman treatment, while Musetta's cuckold, the "sweaty old Englishman," was a dead ringer for Ewan McGregor's nemesis, The Duke. Our heroes' gray Parisian garret was squeezed behind a large neon "L'Amour" logo -- reminiscent of the absinthe-soaked "truth, beauty, freedom and love" scene in MR. And the Left Bank itself was all lights and noise and costumes and color: beautiful, bohemian bustle. I've never heard a crowd gasp all at once the way they did when those lights went up.
Baz, whom I saw a few weeks back at the Mill Valley film festival introducing an anniversary screening of Strictly Ballroom, is fast becoming my favorite director. Not only does he refuse to take himself or his work too seriously, which is a wonderful way to be after all the praise that's been heaped on his back, but he also seems to be drawing a very political line through history. A line that connects liberal, loving, life-affirming dots of culture, from Romeo and Juliet to the Montmatre bohemians, and reminds us it's all the same. If you're firmly on the side of truth, beauty, freedom and -- above all things -- love, nothing else matters. You may starve, you may die, but you are golden. No wonder Baz wanted to open Boheme in San Francisco. He, Rudolfo, Puccini, this city, we all feel the same way.
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