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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.
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Daily Blah for... Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Gonzalez, Newsom and the Foie Gras Crawl
So where do I stand on the SF Mayor's race? Am I gaga for the Green Gonzalez or demagogic for the Democrat Newsom? Well, I liked them both on a personal level. Gonzalez was a little more prickly as an interview subject -- he seems to have the kind of inherent distrust of any mainstream media that is sadly prevalent among the far left (strange, really, since it's a form of prejudice). Newsom went out of his way to make himself likeable -- perhaps too far out of his way. He was all smiles and warm, honest chatter during the lengthy interview; it was only when I started transcribing that I saw how many times he'd sown the seeds of innuendo about his opponent. Smooth. (Not that Gonzalez was above innuendo, passing on the ridiculous rumor that the Newsom campaign was talking about the White House as its endgame.)
The Gonzalez campaign is far more vibrant, in a wonderful Beatnik kind of way. Last week its headquarters was packed with colorful neighborhood volunteers who just dropped in, it would seem, to see what condition their condition was in. The walls are filled with work from local artists. A violinist was practising for a nightly jam session when I arrived. Gonzalez himself greeted me at the door, grabbed me somewhat forcefully by the arm and deposited me in the office of his self-proclaimed "Propoganda Minister", whose first question was: beer or wine? Over at Newsom HQ, about the only interesting things to look at were the piles of ironing boards (used to get around election-day prohibitions on the use of tables, apparently) and the boxes of high-class chocolates from an Italian donor with "Newsom for Mayor" printed on them that were being given out at reception. So I was left with a soft spot for the Gonzalez campaign and its "hey kids, let's put on a show!" appeal. There were more dreamers there, and I hate to see dreams dashed.
That is, until I read about the foie gras. Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle featured a survey of the candidates' food preferences in which both were asked the question "which should be illegal -- marijuana or foie gras?" Newsom went for the witty "neither, as long as it is for medicinal purposes," but Gonzalez' response was blunt: he gave foie gras the thumbs-down.
I was shocked. In fact, I was shocked how shocked, shocked I was. Yes, I know what they do to geese to get foie gras out of them. Yes, I know you make a pact with the devil every time you eat it. But have you ever tasted the stuff? (For that matter, have you ever met a friendly goose?) Normally I'm no gourmet, but ever since I first went to Boulevard, I've been a foie gras fiend. Just the memory of the way it melts in the mouth--with a texture so tender and a taste so rich you have to close your eyes--makes me salivate. Mmmm. What's for lunch?
A couple of weeks ago, during a mix-up at our neighborhood French restaurant, P and I discovered that what I like is called pan-seared foie gras, rather than the pate-like stuff. Armed with this information, and desperate to get me out of the house so guests for my surprise party could sneak in and decorate the place, P took me on a foie gras crawl the night before my birthday. We hit two of the city's top restaurants and had four different samples of pan-seared foie gras, which is probably the limit for most human beings (the stuff is so fatty, you feel full after a few calories' worth; it makes an excellent Atkins food). I returned home in such a state of bliss, I didn't even find it suspicious that the lower door bolt, which we never lock, had been locked. Surprise!
All of which happy memories makes me irrationally fearful about a Gonzalez-run, foie gras-free San Francisco. Would wild geese roam free in the city streets, snapping at pedestrians, perhaps tying a few of them down in a misguided attempt at revenge by force-feeding them until they popped? Would my rumbling stomach and salivating mouth force me to move (to Sonoma, perhaps, where the city council recently declined to debate the foie gras issue)? Would I really throw my support to Newsom over the goose liver issue? Is this my own personal bread-and-circuses experience (not that I'd change allegiance over something as bland as bread)? All in all, it's probably for the best that I can't actually vote in this election.
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