James Lileks

Lileks: The closing of Macy's store in St. Paul is a sign of a deeper loss

Thu, 3, Jan 2013 17:36:46 CST

The deal to keep Macy's in St. Paul expired on Dec. 31 at 11:59:59 p.m., and no doubt the company agonized over what to do next.

Lileks: Let's take a look at year that's about to begin

Sat, 29, Dec 2012 13:57:33 CST

Everyone else is giving you the Year in Review, which is easy. It takes skill and foresight to give you next year's Year in Review, today. Here is your look back at the year to come: 2013.

Lileks: Tweeting seats might as well be the new smoking area

Thu, 27, Dec 2012 19:18:51 CST

Two stories this week feed into the narrative of General Ongoing Awfulness. At first glance they don't seem connected, but just add a columnist who doesn't think he could get a full column out of either one, and bingo! Strange connections emerge.

Lileks: Mary Tyler Moore slept here ... sort of

Sat, 22, Dec 2012 14:0:13 CST

The Mary Tyler Moore house is up for sale, which means news stories reminding people we haven't had a TV show set in Minneapolis for four decades.

Lileks: It's the rude, crude truth, I swear: Mayans had it wrong

Thu, 20, Dec 2012 18:2:47 CST

Today is Dec. 21, and the world will not end.

Lileks: Even at 5, kids know there are monsters

Sat, 15, Dec 2012 15:13:3 CST

Bzzzzzz click! and the door's unlocked. Every time you have to get buzzed through a school door there's a fleeting moment of gratitude there's something between the kids and the monsters, and a dash of anger that the monsters exist.

Lileks: A storm named what? Great Caesar's ghost!

Thu, 13, Dec 2012 18:18:54 CST

Last week we had the perfect winter storm. Perfect timing, perfect snow, perfect stage-dressing for the holidays to come. Even the next day, when you heard the car wheels spinning like the muffled cries of a mastodon knee-deep in a tar pit -- Rrrrrr! Rrrrrr! Rrrrrr! -- you felt a sense that all was right.

Lileks: The art of feeding those red kettles

Sat, 8, Dec 2012 15:5:34 CST

If you don't hit the kettle on the way in, you want to say, "Get you on the way out." But if you hit it on the way in, you want to say, "Got you on the other side!" as you walk out.

Lileks: Here are a few easy ways to close the state's budget deficit

Thu, 6, Dec 2012 18:18:52 CST

According to a spokesman for the Department of Whoa, Didn't See That Coming, the state is $1.1 billion in the hole, and there's not enough gambling money to pay for the stadium. The problem, according to one of the state reps I heard on the news:

Lileks: Hoping to spend more at the pump? You're in luck

Sat, 1, Dec 2012 14:21:16 CST

We are now the first state in the nation to sell lottery tickets directly at the gas pump.