What do Asian girls, co-ed sports, music piracy and expensive sandwiches all have in common? According to comedy blogger and former Mcgill Tribune Sports Editor Christian Lander, they are all things that white people like. Obvious? Racist? Hopelessly simplistic? Maybe. But along with another 90 items and counting, (multi-lingual children, farmer's markets, knowing what's best for poor people, etc.) these seemingly disparate cultural peccadilloes have turned the red-bearded Toronto native into an over-night blogging sensation and soon-to-be bona fide author. Since starting Stuff White People Like (www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com) on Jan. 18 ("Coffee" was the first post), Lander has contended with all of these criticisms, but with over 21-million hits and a lucrative book deal from Random House, his relentless cataloguing of white people's predilections is just getting started. The book version of Stuff White People Like is scheduled to be published in August and will contain two-thirds new material. Meanwhile, Lander continues to add to the blog on a near-daily basis.
"I can run with a joke for a really long time," Lander said of his long-lasting gag. "I thought it was funny, and so long as I still think it's still funny I'm going to
keep doing it."
Since Lander hatched the idea with his friend Myles Valentin during an instant messaging conversation about the critically acclaimed (white people love things that are critically acclaimed, he notes) HBO TV series The Wire (now number 85 on the list), the blog has practically defined the meaning of 'viral' popularity. While word of mouth and e-mail did the initial work, the blog was quickly picked up by media outlets such as NPR and has now been featured in publications ranging from the Grand Rapids Press to China Daily. Lander's stunningly large advance from Random House, which he was not at liberty to disclose but which the New York Times reported to be in the range of $300,000 U.S., has only further fueled the media frenzy. On the instructions of his publisher he has even stopped giving interviews to American media so as to
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hesslei
posted 9/27/08 @ 12:10 AM EST
It is amazing to me that McGill has managed to maintain its typically Anglo posture in spite on being in the midst of Quebec. McGill's approach to its TAs is at least, to ignore them, and at worst, to treat them like enemies. (Continued…)
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