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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.
Oh My God, the RSS Feed Actually Works!
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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My TIME articles
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Online column index
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Daily Blah for... Thursday, February 09, 2006
Of Cookies and Rockets
My friend Diane recently told me she was going to make it her mission for the year to get mentioned in Daily Blah. I ruminated on this for a while, wondering what I could get in return -- she does bake excellent cookies, and a Blah entry has got to be worth at least a dozen hefty gift baskets of them. But what if the press found out? Do I really want to get sucked into some sordid blogging-for-cookies scandal? No, sir, I do not. For the sake of my journalistic ethics, and my waistline, I shall now grant her wish.
There are many things I could say about Diane "Mad Dog" Anderson, ace reporter, Industry Standard veteran and mother to the world's most adorable five-year-old girl, Story (so named because, of course, everyone loves a good story). I could tell you, for example, about the time we went to the Google media holiday party and she earned her nickname by assaulting Larry Page with questions about hybrid cars the second I introduced her to him. The poor guy never stood a chance. But that was all off the record, and besides, I'm saving it for the tell-all biography.
Nope, for now I'll confine myself to the relatively minor fact that Diane was the one who introduced me to Rocket Boom. Yes, the geek hipsters among you are probably rolling your eyes at the fact that I didn't know about Amanda Congdon's daily broadcast already. I've been skeptical about the very concept of video blogs for the longest time (not to mention that hideous condensed term "vlogs", which I guarantee will never catch on). But a single Rocketboom erased my doubts. This is the virtual equivalent of having a friend come over and show you half-a-dozen of the latest weirdest and wildest Internet memes and news items. All done with a distinct arch of the eyebrow in three minutes flat. Nothing captures the zeitgeist of my ADD, quirky-smart generation better.
Yesterday was Rocketboom's eBay auction, in which the site cannily sold off the rights to the first advertisment on the show -- the content of which will be determined and produced by Rocketboom itself -- for $40,000. This could be the start of something big, or it could be the start of another promising piece of subversive entertainment selling out. Either way, however, I think Ms. Anderson has the potential to be twice the video blogger Ms. Congdon is. Diane's got more looks, more smarts, and way more experience than a 24-year-old actress who got the job by answering an ad on Craigslist. Which is why Mad Dog and I will shortly be dipping our toes into the wild waters of podcasting. $40,000 ought to buy a lot of homemade cookie ingredients. Stay tuned.
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