I love a journalist who genuinely has a way with words. Who’s actually a good writer. Who might have an agenda and doesn’t pretend he or she doesn’t. Who touches on things that make you nod in recognition as well as laugh your head off.

In sum, a journalist who writes so damn well and, usually, without giving a toss that I’ll read his or her content no matter what.

For me, Paul Carr falls under that description. I tune in via RSS to Not Safe for Work, his weekly column in the Guardian after discovering him for myself with his demolition derby piece on The Register in defence of Twestival last month.

In his latest column a few days ago, Carr talks about his move to San Francisco. This is the key bit that did make me laugh:

[…] San Francisco is a technophile’s waking wet dream; a 24-hour nocturnal emission of innovation and electronic enthusiasm. And to a transplanted Brit, the sense of wonder is even greater when you realise that the cool services and products you’ve only read about on Techcrunch or Twitter – the Hulu, the Kindle 2, the Tesla Roadster – are actually available here. It’s like suddenly getting a visa to live in Minority Report or Back to the Future II. Except for the hoverboards. There are still no fucking hoverboards.

Oh do I get that. As a technophile Brit who’s visited SF a a few times over the years and is still in the UK. :)

But no hoverboards? All my beliefs and illusions just went down the drain!

(Image above screen-grabbed from my Back To The Future II DVD, chapter 5 about half way through the hoverboard chase.)