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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, August 17, 2004
Rat Pack at the Gay Way
Special prize for illiterate political commentary this week goes to "Marc Troy," the pen name of one L. Troy Prevolos of Wawona Street, San Francisco, who sent me the following screed. It's rather nicely laid out, with a Greek bust atop a clip-art plinth running down the side of the text. If you hold it at arms length, squint, and try to ignore the exclamation points, you could almost imagine its author was sane. "Has San Francisco's Young Mayor Become just a "Social Photo-Fop?", reads the headline. The phrase "social photo-fop" is underlined, presumably to aid readers unfamiliar with the concept of pun-based neologisms. In regular type, he continues:
Keep it in the family of friends, jump on the gay-way theme super train to notoreity-swapping; job swapping political maneuvering smacks of old time religious politics! The 'photo-op' Mayor has gone from Tenderloin street cleaning photo-ops to fashion magazine model poser, draped amidst his lengthly [sic] leggy wife which is more tabloid substance than for San Francisco's interest and well-being!
At this point I had to admit my ignorance on several fronts. I've no idea what "gay-way theme super train" is, but it sounds like a great name for a Castro club. Nor am I too familiar with "notoriety-swapping." Is that what the kids are doing these days? Throwing their notoriety in a punch bowl at the end of a party, then picking out someone else's? Damn, that'd advanced. In my day, if you were notorious, you pretty much had to stay the same kind of notorious. And yes, I've seen the photo of Gavin and Kimberly reclining on the Getty's rug, but no publication I've seen has yet dared print a picture of the Mayor "draped amidst" his wife. Sounds like a job for Larry Flynt.
The argument can get a little dense, so overleaf Mr. Troy helpfully digests it into eight numbered points. Point one: "The man is simply caught up on the Youth Rat Pack Mentality." Again, my ignorance overwhelms me. Has there been some kind of Rat Pack revival, perhaps with Justin Timberlake and Robbie Williams in the Dean and Frank roles? Dammit, I miss everything. Somebody let me know when they're playing Gay Way Super Theme Train.
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