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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... Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Funny Monkey
The Jon Stewart-Tucker Carlson smackdown on Crossfire (here's the video, and here's the transcript) has already become the stuff of Internet legend. More people have seen it than watch Crossfire, I was told earlier in the week; by now, no doubt, more people have seen it than have ever watched Crossfire. Even I, on vacation on the Oregon coast, could not avoid this rapidly-transmitted meme. I saw it in my rented Westy last Saturday morning in the tiny town of Port Orford, while pulled into the driveway of an oceanside B&B that has wifi. (Yes, wireless Internet is breaking out everywhere. I drove down the road from that B&B when I was done, went past a fish and chips place called the Crazy Norwegian, felt hungry, stopped, went in. And guess what was floating around the air at the Crazy Norwegian, mingling with the scent of battered cod? Yep, free wifi. I ran back to the Westy and grabbed my laptop).
Anyway, Stewart seems to have touched quite the nerve with his outburst. Alessandra Stanley has a good point in today's NYT -- talk shows aren't about unexpected outbursts and uncomfortable confrontations any more. They may ostensibly be spontaneous; in fact, everyone is so primed with talking points, they end up being as scripted as pro-wrestling. Which was exactly Stewart's point. That guy is one smart cookie, not to mention a funny monkey (I can't wait to see the T-shirts: "No, I will not be your monkey.") Awaiting my return from Oregon was his America: The Book, which I've been steadily guffawing my way through ever since -- easily the funniest (and most pointed) tome since The Onion's Our Dumb Century. Jon Stewart is the living embodiment of truth being spoken in jest.
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