Like most bloggers not named Tila, Kyle Gustafson started his for the hell of it, and because he wanted a creative outlet. Since then Information Leafblower has become one of those stop-by’s in the morning and throughout the day, to glean a bit of celebrity, sports, or music info, or just to look at pictures of cats. And the name? Channeled from the novel that it is, Gustafson’s site is caught in some kind of fiction-becoming-reality thing that’s so hard to comprehend, we’re just going to go back to watching “Shot at Love” while you read Information Leafblower Meet & Greet. — Johnny Loftus

Where are you based in real life?
Washington D.C., aka Hollywood for Ugly People. I moved here in 2004 after seven years in New York City. People are always comparing D.C. and NYC, which always makes D.C. look bad. But D.C. has plenty of charm and personality. I quite like it. Although I have yet to find a single decent pizza place.

How did the site get its start? Its name?
While in NYC, I used to work in the music industry, which had been a dream of mine since college. Like many of my friends, I quickly found out working in the industry can drain your love of music, so I started the site as a creative outlet and as a way to remind myself of why Igot into music in the first place. Oh, and a place to post photos of my cat, Mr. Pink.

My blog has evolved quite a bit from when it first started, mostly because it never occurred to me that people might actually read it. But people found it and liked what I was doing, so I’ve kept at it and it’s opened a lot of doors for me. I took up photography a few years ago and now I shoot for media outlets like DCist, Pitchfork and AOL,

The name Information Leafblower comes from the Douglas Coupland book
Microserfs. In it, one of the code developers, who goes by the name of Bug, lists
“information leafblower” as his job title. I’ve always thought that was really cool. I’m glad I picked that name, it’s held up well, much better than my back up choices at the time. Although the downside is now everyone calls me “leafblower.”

Does the nature of what you do make you hate the phone / human contact?
No, working in the music industry made me hate the phone. Blogging is actually a wonderful way to meet people in the real world. Some of my best friends in real life I originally met online.

List your must-checks every morning (read: what’s in your RSS feed)…
I just cleaned out my Bloglines account, so now I’m down to 128 RSS
feeds, but as for daily reads, read on:

Sports: Can’t Stop the Bleeding, True Hoop, DC Sports Bog,Wizznutzz, Celtics Blog and Surviving Grady

Music: Chromewaves, Bradley’s Almanac, Dead Flowers, I Am Fuel, You Are
Friends, Coolfer, Lefsetz, Instrumental
Analysis, and tons of others.

For General interweb wackiness: DCist.com, Kottke.org, Manifest Destiny.net, Whatevs.org, Goldenfiddle.com…I’m forgetting a ton of others.
Favorite blog/website besides your own…
It’s always boggled my mind why some major media outlet hasn’t snapped
up Frank at Chromewaves to write for them. Other than maybe Matt Fluxblog and Jason DCeiver, I can’t think of a better writer covering music on the internet today. He churns out paragraph after paragraph of compelling content every single day. And
he’s a great photographer too.

Favorite record of all time…
This changes weekly, but two records I never get sick of are The Bends by Radiohead and Paul’s Boutique by the Beastie Boys. Somehow I think that answer isn’t indie enough. (*shrug*) Lately I’ve been listening to Granddance by Dappled Cities and My
Morning Jacket’s Z. MMJ killed it at Austin City Limits this year.

Favorite movie of all time…
Fight Club. I worked on the soundtrack not knowing anything about the movie and walked out of a private screening with my jaw on the floor. I immediately went out and bought every Chuck Palahniuk book I could find after that.

Favorite TV show of all time…
“Sports Night” is definitely up there. Currently it would have to be “The Wire. ” People who say “Friday Night Lights” is the best show on TV obviously have no idea who Jimmy McNulty, Omar and Bunk are.

Actor/actress/blogger you’d most like to hump…
She’s none of the above, but the answer would have to be Heather Mitts.

Your guiltiest pleasure. The thing no one would believe you watch,
read, or listen to…
You mean besides all the cat photos? Well, my girlfriend thinks I’m a
huge dork because I watch ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters” every weekend.
What can I say, I like to yell at Mike Lupica every chance I get.

[tags]Information Leafblower, Kyle Gustafson, The Sports Reporters,
Flight Club[/tags]