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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.
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
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"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.
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My TIME articles
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Daily Blah for... Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Longtime Onion Fan
My good friend Dan quoted me extensively in today's top Wired News story, which is all about how some major news organizations (like MSNBC) have started taking the Onion for a serious news source:
Chris Taylor, the San Francisco bureau chief for Time magazine, and a longtime Onion fan, says it shouldn't be difficult to tell that the publication is nothing but satire. "If it wasn't, it would be chock-full of the biggest scoops in history," Taylor says. "As a true journalist, you have to be skeptical even about stories you see on the front page of The New York Times."
Many people who mistakenly believe Onion stories do so in part because the stories are e-mailed around endlessly, often to the point where the source is no longer clear. But Taylor doesn't think much of that as an excuse. "Average readers do themselves no disservice if they're skeptical about every news story they read," he says, "fake or not."
And it seems that one reason many people fall for Onion stories is that they're too close to the subject matter to see humor in it. "Some people are so desperate for proof of their point of view, they'll seize upon any old e-mail forward that floats by," Taylor said.
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