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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:
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Daily Blah for... Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Happy to Hitch
Hitchhiker's Guide is the number one movie in America. I saw it on Sunday night and was pleasantly surprised that the Adams legacy has not been completely defiled. (Which just goes to show the power of lowering one's expectations, something I'm trying to do a great deal of with movies right now. If just one actor is able to convey a genuine emotion at any point during Revenge of the Sith, I'll be on my feet cheering.)
Sure, the film had been force-fed its fair share of cringeworthy cliches – the whole love story between Arthur and Trillian, for one. The scene in the shower where he hands her a towel is about the worst bastardization of the whole Hitchhiker's concept imaginable (Disney execs brought in another writer after Adams died to "add some romance"). We could have done without the music entirely – all terribly typical Hollywood strings stuff – and it was a nasty shock to learn afterwards that it came from the talented baton of the Divine Comedy's Joby Talbot (at least he preserved the Journey of the Sorcerer theme tune). And something about this new Marvin didn't quite sit right – the Hello Kitty style cartoon head? The limp body language of the guy wearing the suit? Nah, it was the woeful underuse of Alan Rickman. He needed about 50 better lines.
But here's the thing: I had a smile plastered on my face from start to finish. It was a smile of recognition at the sheer amount of original stuff remaining -- amazing, isn't it, that a joke about a sentient bowl of petunias can make it all the way through the Hollywood sausage-making factory? -- and at seeing Adams' last gift to his fans, those extra scenes with the Great Green Arkleseizure-worshipping John Malkovitch. It was a smile of surprise at the performances of Martin Freeman and Mos Def (yes, I take back what I said about not being comfortable with him as Ford). And it was a smile of squishy warm delight at the animated Guide bits with the voice of Stephen Fry. Again, there needed to be about 50 more of those.
Take note, O greenlighters of sequels at Disney. Yes, we'd like to be taken out to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. But don't push the romance too hard. Not here. Instead, show us you're interested in our minds.
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