James Lileks
James Lileks (born August 9, 1958 in Fargo, North Dakota) is an American journalist, columnist, and blogger living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His blog, the Daily Bleat, began in 1997 and is one of the oldest blogs still running. The Bleat, which is still written in the older "online journal" style, covers every topic from his personal life, to politics, to cultural points of interest ranging from art and architecture to movies and music. Known for dry humor and an engaging style of writing, Lileks grew in fame in the blogosphere especially following 9/11 and the subsequent explosion in the popularity of blogs for spreading both news and general punditry.
Lileks's Web site also hosts a vast repository of vintage advertisements and other ephemera from the 1920s to the 1970s. In the Institute of Official Cheer portion of the site, Lileks displays strange, irreverent, or just plain bizarre advertisements, photographs, pamphlets, comic strips, matchbooks, currency, postcards, cheesecake drawings, and architecture, usually accompanied with his humorous analysis and commentary. His section dissecting the works of cheesecake artist Art Frahm, for instance, observes the devastating effects of celery on the gravitational pull of women's underwear. His books The Gallery of Regrettable Food and Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s follow a similar form.
Lileks writes columns for the Star Tribune, the Newhouse News Service and The Washington Post. He was formerly a regular columnist for the Minnesota Daily in school and later St. Paul Pioneer Press. More information about his work (as well as many of his writings) can be found at his website. He has also hosted a radio show called The Diner on KSTP 1500 AM, a Twin Cities ABC affiliate.
Bibliography
- Falling up the Stairs (1988, ISBN 052524655X)
- Notes of a Nervous Man (1991, ISBN 0671737015)
- Mr. Obvious (1995, ISBN 0671737058)
- Fresh Lies (1995, ISBN 0671737031)
- The Gallery of Regrettable Food (2001, ISBN 0609607820)
- Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s (2004, ISBN 1400046408)
- Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice (2005, ISBN 1400082285)