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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
Friends, Bloggers, Countrymen ... lend your ears to these people. I come not to bury them, but praise them.
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Daily Blah for... Thursday, July 01, 2004
Billboozled!
Until two nights ago, I was proud to say, I'd never fallen for an online prank. I tend to browse with one eyebrow raised. But the Bill Clinton book tour blog got me, and got me good. It's not satirical; that would be too obvious. Instead, the imitator has just the amount of waffle, platitudes and man-of-the-people prose you'd expect from an ex-President hawking his autobiography. Each entry starts with the location of Clinton's latest signing, talks about how pleasant it was to meet the people of yada yada yada, drops some celebrity FOB names. Then, just when you're getting bored, drops in an eye-popping personal detail or two. Like the ongoing feud with Chelsea's boyfriend, described only as "Curly." Like the account of how he and Robin Williams surprised their wives by miming Maria Carey songs. It's not beyond the bounds of belief that our fun-loving, celeb-worshipping, touchy-feely Mr. C would be persuaded to do such a thing and have no qualms writing about it -- especially when he's just written his 957-page confessional. He's on a roll, I thought. Besides, he's trying to sell books. Why would he hold back?
Each entry pushes the envelope a little further. Thus I remained credulous even when I got to the entry where he describes his favorite sex act with Hillary (and practically screamed at the screen -- no! Too much information!) Had I started with the poorly-written first entry ("I got up, scratched my lazy ass and went downstairs"), it would have been obvious. But the anonymous imitator improved over time, and the advantage of the blog format is you're always as good as your last entry. There. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
If anybody has a bridge they want to sell me, now would be the time.
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