Let's face it. White people can be a bit predictable, sometimes a bit obvious and quite often unknowingly pretentious. On StuffWhitePeopleLike.com, whitey's many annoying qualities are highlighted in a way that, more often than not, is rather funny. And for one man, the inner workings of the average white person has proven to be quite profitable.

We'll be fair; not all whites are targeted in the site. Instead it's the NPR crowd, the ones that tend more towards the left, are generally a bit urban (as more than one writer has pointed out), as you quickly see in the site, try rather hard in their whiteness to not be quite so.

Christian Lander started the site just a year ago, and almost instantly it became a small phenomenon, the thing many often found in their inbox as a forwarded link accompanied by a link touting its clever ways.  And it is a bit deft, its tone enclycopedia-ish on the inner workings of the white man (and woman).  

In March 2008, publisher Random House reportedly bought the rights to the site for about $300,000, a feat for a blog started just two months earlier by someone with no publishing experience. Any person -- white or otherwise -- would love that.

Of course the conversation often arises as to whether the is racist or not. For something meant as satire, it could easily be perceived as carrying across the smug attitude so many white people have. But for others, it’s not taken quite as seriously and instead is an entertaining distraction,

You can check out the site at StuffWhitePeopleLike.com and you can read an interview with Lander below.

Pine Magazine/ Holly Lang: How did you become the expert on white people?

Christian Lander: 30 years of experience.  But my cred is pretty strong: born in Toronto, went to McGill University, where I double majored in English and history, then went to graduate school for film, then a Ph.D program for a double major in English AND film.  I tried being a vegetarian for a while, I ride a bike, though I'm not sure I'm such an expert.  I started the site as a small joke with a friend and I really just made fun of myself.  Kind of amazing to realize how many people out there are just as "unique" as I am.

PM: How long have you done the site? What prompted it?

CL: Almost one full year.  It started on January 18, 2008 after an Instant Messenger conversation with my friend Myles who said he didn't trust any white person who didn't watch "The Wire."

PM: Your book "Stuff White People Like" is a New York Times' bestseller. Were you expecting that response?

CL: Not at all.  I'm fully aware of how lucky I am to have had this happen.  When the site started, I just expected a few of my friends to read it.  It amazes me every day that it's gotten so big.

PM: Do you plan on doing more books?

CL: I have a few ideas, but I feel stupid talking about them because I already know nothing I ever do will be as big as this.

PM: Some criticism of the book and the site are that it's a different brand of racism or elitism? See any truth in that? Or do you feel people take it too seriously?

CL: I spent enough time in graduate school to know that everything is racist.  But in seriousness, the site can be misinterpreted as racism or elitism, though my goal was actually to poke fun at both of those things.  Again, you cannot control how people interpret a book or a blog and everyone has a right to interpret it in their own way.

PM: What would be the ultimate white person? Someone eating hummus while promising to learn a new language to a girl with bangs?

CL: I think the ultimate white person automatically stops liking everything on the list as soon as they see it's on the list.

PM: Is there anything I haven't asked yet I should?

CL: I'm pretty much the luckiest person ever.