A couple thoughts to start out this blog post/contest entry/critical theory paper re: Tao Lin and Richard Yates. First and foremost, this is my premier blog post. I’ve had this blog for about four months but have had serious writer’s block, so maybe this entry will not only get me some free stuff [via promoting Richard Yates to my social network] but will also kick-start my blogging future. Who knows, maybe musing about Tao Lin will help me gain a dedicated following and some online groupies also.
I’m going to start from the middle, not the beginning. After obsessively reading most of Tao Lin’s works, my friend and I purchased Tao Lin tees [iamcarles.org]. After divulging this fact to Tao Lin, he asked me to send him pictures of said tee. And I totally planned to. I wore the Tshirt to Bonnaroo and planned to take pictures of myself in it there, but I felt like taking a picture at the Neon Indian set would be too “cliché”. I wore it to my hippy summer camp near Yosemite where I worked for three weeks, but couldn’t decide what picture was more authentic, Tao Lin’s face in front of Half Dome or eating a watermelon slice at a camp BBQ.
A small aside about summer camp: wanted to bribe a kid to go up on stage at the opening campfire and yell RICHARD YATES, but couldn’t solve either of two problems. If they went on stage, the entire crowd would be looking at them, so they couldn’t turn around. If they were behind the crowd, I’m pretty sure I would have gotten fired. Too bad, guess it’s the thought that counts [re: action wouldn’t work since I gotz to get money get paid].
Another thing about Tao Lin. I was exposed to his new book from the Rumpus Book Club, http://therumpus.net/bookclub/, http://therumpus.net/2010/05/one-rumpus-one-book/. Not gonna lie, I joined the book club to get his book. The other books have been great too, maybe check it out, readers? Back on topic: This book is going to be delivered to my new home (I am moving to Somerville, a suburb of Boston, in about 11 days. I am driving across the country so I’ll actually be there in 18 days, but who’s counting.) I can’t wait to read this book. I entered another contest of his and received an unmarked page of Richard Yates. Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning are driving to New Jersey/New York. On the page, Tao Lin talks about “Burk’s Bees” eyeliner. I wondered if this typo (isn’t it Burt’s Bees??) was a mistake or what. Maybe he’ll answer this question and give me a shout out for noticing. Hopefully.
Now for the beginning. I first heard about Tao Lin from http://www.hipsterbookclub.com/reviews/copy/eeeee_eee_eeee_bed_tao_lin.html. I was about to leave California for a month traveling Europe with my parents and sister. Since my parents have been unhappily married since I was born I figured I had to have some good reading material to get me through the trip, and I stumbled across this site. I then headed to Analog Books [http://twitter.com/Analog_Books], my local independent bookstore, to purchase said reading material. Alas, the bookstore only had Shoplifting at American Apparel. I bought it anyways, thinking ‘oh hey, I can relate, because I too may or may not have shoplifted from AmerPer.’ I felt I was having an authentic Tao Lin experience, reading his book from an independent bookstore. I guess I could have shoplifted it from Urban Outfitters. Tao Lin, have you ever shoplifted from Urban Outfitters?
I wanted to make this post exactly 1,000 words to pay homage to Tao Lin because one of the reasons that I so thoroughly enjoy reading his work is because of his succinct writing style. I have a serious problem cutting words out of my writing, mostly because I am too lazy to edit, but Tao Lin really expresses himself in few words. I admire him for that. Another way that I like to pay homage to Tao Lin is by talking to my dear friend, B, on gchat and telling her the important things about my life. Like, what I made myself for lunch. Or my “feelings” about our other friends. Etc. I also feel that Tao Lin has “revolutionized” putting quotes around words. I didn’t know if I should discuss this fact since I’m sure most people wrote about it in their entries, but could someone review Tao Lin without “discussing” something so integral to his writing style? Some people I know that spend a lot of time reading the blogosphere have insinuated that Tao Lin and Carles are the same person. I wonder how far this theory has spread or if it only exists inside the SF Bay Area.
In general, I think this contest was a good way to get the word out about Richard Yates without too much effort on Tao Lin’s part. He already has such a devoted fan base that they seem to want to do anything for some of his stuff (myself included, duh.) This contest seems to serve another purpose though. It seems to be a way for Tao Lin’s fans to 1) list why they like/dislike Tao Lin and 2) show how well they can copy or replicate his writing steeze. I don’t think that people enter this contest only to win, but I think that entering this contest also serves as something they can be proud of. Everyone wants to share their stories of why Tao Lin is important to them and why they can relate to him and why he has impacted their lives. Everyone “enjoys” putting quotations around words. Everyone hopes that they will stand out from the masses and maybe strike up a real conversation (on Gchat) with Tao Lin and maybe even develop a friendship and fly to New York to visit him. But most of all, everyone wants to win free shit. I want to win free shit too. The end.
