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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)
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"Better than Xanax." - Lessley Andersen, journalist
"Dude, lay off the crack pipe." - Souris Hong-Porretta, gamesmith
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Daily Blah for... Monday, January 26, 2004
The Seven Year-old Test
It has become regrettably normal to pick up the paper and discover the world at large has once again gone mad. But now it seems one’s fellow lefties have gone round the twist, too. I mean, Dean was bad enough. But John Kerry? Please. It’s interesting how nearly all the reports from New Hampshire have included some variation on the following sentence: Democratic voters have eschewed policy debates and are simply looking for the most electable candidate. Electable? Kerry? If I were more conspiratorial, I would sense a Republican plot. First off, the Massachussetts thing. The US hasn’t tapped anyone from that hyperliberal state since JFK – and JK, you are no JFK. Did we learn nothing from Dukakis? Secondly, try naming one notable action he’s taken during his years in the Senate. Time’s up. Thought of anything? No, me neither. Kerry is a blank slate on which Republicans can paint anything they choose.
Finally, on the most superficial level of existence – which is the one most Americans inhabit – Kerry looks a fright. Just get a load of that giant, craggy brow (overwhelming his face “as fearfully as doth a galled rock”), the dour mouth, and a complete lack of eyes. The nameless Bushie who told the Times last year that Kerry “looks French” was onto something, but it was not the worst barb that could be leveled at his appearance. In fact, Kerry looks like an utter nonentity; a gray-faced, shuffling commuter in a shabby suit contemplating the complete failure of his existence. The kind of guy you might see hunched over in a corner on the train, or standing at the end of a social security line. I remember some network producer about a year ago saying that Kerry was the one candidate he’d ever met who had failed to excite the producer’s seven year-old son. It seemed as good a test as any. If only seven year-olds could vote in New Hampshire tomorrow, the Democrats might regain a modicum of common sense – and concentrate on candidates who are truly electable.
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