Who: Political blogger at TPMCafe; staff writer for the American Prospect; general commentator on all and sundry at his personal blog; a “proud member of the reality-based community.”

Degree: A.B. ’03

House: Kirkland

Current Residence: Washington, D.C.

Spotlight: If only all our online procrastination turned out to be as successful as Yglesias’s. In 2002, “cruelly abandoned” by his girlfriend, “the only one who could put up with listening to [him],” he decided to do what trendy teens were doing all over the Internet and start a blog. Instead of waxing prosaic about his missing pair of socks and his soggy morning cereal, Yglesias weighed in on the Iraq war and other pressing political matters. In just under a year he caught the eye of well-known established bloggers and landed himself a writing fellowship at the American Prospect. By 2004, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was mentioning Yglesias by name. An entry or article of his can sometimes generate ripples all across the political blogosphere: Yglesias’s combination of not-quite-snarky sarcasm and tempered brand of liberalism means that bloggers from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum are equally likely to revere or revile him.

Friends: Phoebe Lithgow, A.B. ’04, daughter of John Lithgow, A.B. ’67, and president of the Independent while Yglesias was editor-in-chief; Belle Waring of Crooked Timber, who upgraded his nickname from “Big Media Matt” to “Giant Media Matt.”

Enemies: Gawker seems to think he is most worthwhile when generating pithy one-liners of other columns; Barbarianblog named him “wanker of the day.”

Dish: Has his own global Facebook group—“Matthew Yglesias is kinda awesome”—the seven members of which seem to be entirely Canadian. Thinks that Harvard graduates, self included, may make better lovers because they’re all unhinged neurotics. In the ongoing war between the Independent and the Crimson, scored one for the Indy by masterminding an awesome, alcohol-fueled theft of their foosball table.

Quotable: “I just can't get past his tortured intellectual syntax (as opposed to my intellectually tortured syntax),” writes a disgruntled fellow blogger.

Splitting Image: According to a face recognition program at MyHeritage.com, Yglesias bears an uncanny resemblance to Leonardo DiCaprio, River Phoenix, and Orlando Bloom.

Aspirations: Plastics.

Public Pleasures: Pandas, sushi, basketball. According to the Facebook, he enjoys Russia and happy hour, reads Anna Karenina and Portnoy’s Complaint, and listens to Rainer Maria and the New Pornographers. Photographs signs, trains, and girls while on vacation.