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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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My TIME articles
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Daily Blah for... Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Things the UK Needs to Export More Of
1. The Kaiser Chiefs.
Whereas the biggest new British band most Americans have heard of is the Arctic Monkeys, the Kaiser Chiefs' first album, Employment, is what's really got the smart set bouncing around. I haven't been able to get "I Predict A Riot" out of my head since I arrived. Not only does it sound like the song the Jam were trying to write, but the lyrics are worthy of the Smiths at their best:
I tried to get in my taxi
A man in a tracksuit attacked me
He said that he saw it before me
Wants to get things a bit gory
Girls run around with no clothes on
To borrow a pound for a condom
If it wasn't for chip fat, they'd be frozen
2. Caffeine Strips
You know those Listerene breath mint strips? Boots does a version that basically gives you a cup of coffee's worth of caffeine in a single hit. Stick one on your tongue, it melts, and you get an instantaneous buzz. My father has often said that the first person to combine coffee and toothpaste would be a millionaire; well, this is pretty much it. I discovered these wondrous things on my last trip over, and started slipping them to fellow Business 2.0-ites; a lot of the reason the Space issue looks so good can be attributed to these Worker's Little Helpers. This time, I bought the Durham branch of Boots out of every caffeine strip in stock. I only hope there's no limit on how much I can take back into the US.
3. TV Comedy
You liked the Office? You liked Extras? You have no idea how much other good stuff you're missing out on: Look Around You, anything by Peter Kay, Shameless, Help, The Mighty Boosh, Nathan Barley, Broken News -- the most pitch-perfect satire on the 24-hour news business I've ever seen -- and that's just the sitcoms. I have the best time sitting down with a pot of tea and a DVD full of Quite Interesting with Stephen Fry, which offers possibly the best combination of erudition and humor ever found in a panel game. You need shock therapy to reverse the effects of dumbing down, this is it. Why have I not seen a single one of these shows on BBC America? What is it, Beeb bosses, you don't think the Yanks are smart enough for the good stuff?
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