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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
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Daily Blah for... Sunday, June 20, 2004
Moore? Over. The Corporation Rules.
Okay, chaps and chapesses. Here's your task for today. Go see The Corporation, then tell 20 friends to do the same. Forget Farenheit 9/11 -- this is the must-see political documentary of the year. What Michael Moore has been trying to do for years with the visual and literary equivalent of buckshot, this movie does with heavy artillery. It is a thoroughly intelligent indictment of the entire corporate system, all the more damning for staying calm, quiet and fair: business leaders and economists are given equal screen time with the usual suspects (Moore, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein). With a mountain of evidence from the mouths of the accused, you'll be hard-pressed to argue with the movie's central charge: that the way corporations behave, unchecked, is inherently pathological. In fact, one FBI analyst tells us, the Feds are looking into the idea that the corporate entity -- which the law treats like a person -- could be charged just like a regular psycopath. Though it weighs in at a Tolkein-esque three hours, believe it or not, this film remains as consistently engrossing as any Rings epic.
P and I just saw it at the Lumiere, and the theater was heaving. Word has gotten around. No, it isn't just that bashing capitalism is a good part of any decent San Francisco Saturday night date. What draws the crowds is the fact that the movie offers a hefty draught of hope, something we're all thirsty for these days. Did you know some towns in the US have started setting limits on the number of chain restaurants, and asserting their ancient ability to cancel corporate charters? That Gap has caved to pressure over its Central American sweatshops? That peoples' movements in India and Ecuador have scored victories against outrageous corporate attempts to own their seeds and their rainwater? That a growing group of lawyers has been trying to dissolve the mighty Unocal, something the Attorney General of California says they have every right to do? All it takes is one scalp like that, and the entire corporate world would be put on notice. The system is not monolithic. Companies change with the generations. Their relentless drive for profits can be manipulated in subtle ways, if we will it. They can be made, as Google's rule has it, to do no evil.
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