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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... Wednesday, November 30, 2005
At Home with the Bennets
The best thing to be said about the new Pride & Prejudice movie is that it doesn't get in Jane Austen's way. I saw it last night, and even as I seethed at the terrible casting, I was overwhelmed, I was melted Darcy-style, I was filled to bursting by the pithy glow and gentile bite of one of my culture's greatest achievements. Finding yourself back in the Bennet household is an irrepressibly bubbly, joyous thing, even if it has been taken over by a family of imposters.
I do not think, as some of you do, that another film of P&P should not have been attempted in the wake of the triumphant 1995 BBC miniseries, hereafter referred to as the CFV (Colin Firth Version). That would be like saying no one should climb Everest out of respect for Hilary. P&P should be routinely scaled at least once a decade, just because it's there. And Joe Wright, our latest brave mountaineer, does add a few nice touches at base camps along the way. There are some great tracking shots at the society balls, which feel more like the highly-regimented meat markets they probably were. You can smell the desperation through the lace.
But the CFV was a perfect storm of casting, the kind of collection of talent that only comes along once a century, and Wright's actors were always going to suffer by comparison. Matthew MacFadyen has won a lot of praise for his Darcy, but I can't for the life of me see why. He's a wimp who repeatedly crumples in the face of Lizzie. Colin Firth had a glare that could pierce sheet metal. MacFadyen looks like someone just shot his puppy.
Brenda Blethyn and Judi Dench were born to play Mrs. Bennet and Lady Catherine, respectively, but every time they bustle on screen it's like they're acting in a vacuum. Donald Sutherland: I love him to death, but he was not, is not, could never be Mr. Bennet. The phrase "long suffering" is not in his lexicon. He's too Californian, all gleaming teeth and well-aged skin. When he delivers the killer line about Mrs. Bennet's nerves being his constant companions these twenty years, you simply don't believe him. You expect to see him out by the lake, leaning on his surfboard and taking long drags on a joint.
And Keira Knightley? She acquits herself well enough, I suppose. It's nice to see a Lizzie who is actually the age of the heroine in the book (ie. twenty). But Wright puts a heavy burden on her young shoulders, since we're supposed to see the majority of the film through her eyes (literally, in a couple of scenes). She simply doesn't have the talent, or experience, to convey the full range of Lizzie's inner life and make her seem mature beyond her years. Maybe. Or maybe it's just that my heart belongs to Jennifer Ehle, the CFV Lizzie. Whom, I am shocked to Google, was born and brought up in the US. She also, I am rather less shocked to Google, had an affair with Firth after filming the CFV. I should think so. Post-P&P affairs ought to be in the contracts of every movie Darcy and Lizzie, to generate just the right amount of chemistry, tension and pride.
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