GIANT REVIEW, special gchat collaborative edition: Shoplifting from American Apparel

159 Comments

1. September 10th, 2009 / 6:56 pm Joseph—

   Before I read the rest of this, which I intend to do, I must say that the idea of Michael Cera playing Tao Lin in a hypothetical film version of Shoplifting From American Apparel is so contemporary and ironic and charming that it’s quite painful to even think about.

2. September 10th, 2009 / 2:56 pm Joseph—

   Before I read the rest of this, which I intend to do, I must say that the idea of Michael Cera playing Tao Lin in a hypothetical film version of Shoplifting From American Apparel is so contemporary and ironic and charming that it’s quite painful to even think about.

3. September 10th, 2009 / 6:57 pm Joseph—

   I made that sound like a good thing. It was supposed to be a bad thing.

4. September 10th, 2009 / 2:57 pm Joseph—

   I made that sound like a good thing. It was supposed to be a bad thing.

5. September 10th, 2009 / 7:21 pm reynard seifert—

   wholly appropriate. i liked when you guys got distracted doing other things. we are all fucked existentially. i would never play poker with tao lin. never.

6. September 10th, 2009 / 3:21 pm reynard seifert—

   wholly appropriate. i liked when you guys got distracted doing other things. we are all fucked existentially. i would never play poker with tao lin. never.

7. September 10th, 2009 / 7:57 pm jereme—

   i think this is a perfect representation of tao lin’s writing; upper-middle class white guys with coddled lives talking about meaningless bullshit and making a joke out of it because life is so easy and time only exists to mock things including existential despair.

   great review.

8. September 10th, 2009 / 3:57 pm jereme—

   i think this is a perfect representation of tao lin’s writing; upper-middle class white guys with coddled lives talking about meaningless bullshit and making a joke out of it because life is so easy and time only exists to mock things including existential despair.

   great review.

9. September 10th, 2009 / 8:00 pm jereme—

   i also enjoy the tao lin mythology and propagation of that mythology. he peeks from behind doors but yet his # 1 goal in life is to be famous?

   so funny. love the hipster irony.

   ‘good job’ as usual tao.

10. September 10th, 2009 / 4:00 pm jereme—

    i also enjoy the tao lin mythology and propagation of that mythology. he peeks from behind doors but yet his # 1 goal in life is to be famous?

    so funny. love the hipster irony.

    ‘good job’ as usual tao.

11. September 10th, 2009 / 4:00 pm Drew Toal—

    “Thanks.” I’m going to go out and buy a latté, play some Halo 3 and take a nap now.

12. September 10th, 2009 / 8:01 pm jereme—

    man my g/f just pointed out that the pumpkin spice latte is back. feel ‘excited’ about it.

13. September 10th, 2009 / 4:01 pm jereme—

    man my g/f just pointed out that the pumpkin spice latte is back. feel ‘excited’ about it.

14. September 10th, 2009 / 4:03 pm Drew Toal—

    I will send out my migrant houseworkers to pick one up now.

15. September 10th, 2009 / 8:06 pm jereme—

    drew, that is a funny comment but probably not why you think.

    see migrant does not mean housemaid.

    it means some one who moves frequently for work and almost exclusively with farm type work.

    but spoken like a true upper-middle class white male. i love it.

16. September 10th, 2009 / 4:06 pm jereme—

    drew, that is a funny comment but probably not why you think.

    see migrant does not mean housemaid.

    it means some one who moves frequently for work and almost exclusively with farm type work.

    but spoken like a true upper-middle class white male. i love it.

17. September 10th, 2009 / 4:08 pm Drew Toal—

    I aim to please.

18. September 10th, 2009 / 8:09 pm Joseph—

    The pumpkin spice latte is indeed back, I believe, with a price hike. That motherfucker is upwards of five dollars. I look forward to getting one bi-weekly on pay days.

19. September 10th, 2009 / 8:09 pm tao—

    can you elaborate

20. September 10th, 2009 / 4:09 pm Joseph—

    The pumpkin spice latte is indeed back, I believe, with a price hike. That motherfucker is upwards of five dollars. I look forward to getting one bi-weekly on pay days.

21. September 10th, 2009 / 4:09 pm tao—

    can you elaborate

22. September 10th, 2009 / 8:10 pm jereme—

    on?

23. September 10th, 2009 / 4:10 pm jereme—

    on?

24. September 10th, 2009 / 8:12 pm tao—

    ‘perfect representation,’ ‘tao lin’s writing,’ ‘upper-middle class,’ ‘coddled,’ ‘meaningless,’ ‘bullshit,’ ‘joke,’ ‘mock,’ ‘existential despair’

25. September 10th, 2009 / 4:12 pm tao—

    ‘perfect representation,’ ‘tao lin’s writing,’ ‘upper-middle class,’ ‘coddled,’ ‘meaningless,’ ‘bullshit,’ ‘joke,’ ‘mock,’ ‘existential despair’

26. September 10th, 2009 / 8:35 pm Captain Chesley `Sully' Sullen—

    Look, an adult reading this reads about six exchanges and then scrolls down. Who cares what you childish dolts think? If you want to read an adult reviewing the book, read the reviews in Publishers Weekly, Time Out New York, The Village Voice, Bookslut or other responsible media written by adults, not like children.

    If this is what HTML Giant aspires to, fine. But you are like the people who draw Hilter mustaches on the president and masquerade it as political commentary or who think shouting “You lie!” at an elected leader is intelligent criticism.

    It’s not a question of a favorable or unfavorable review. It’s a question of a childish response or an adult one.

    Carry on, kids — it’s time for your pacificiers. You resemble, from what I can tell, the formless characters who appear in this novella. As as Theodore Roosevelt said in another context, I could carve better people out of a banana.

27. September 10th, 2009 / 4:35 pm Captain Chesley `Sully' Sullenberger III—

    Look, an adult reading this reads about six exchanges and then scrolls down. Who cares what you childish dolts think? If you want to read an adult reviewing the book, read the reviews in Publishers Weekly, Time Out New York, The Village Voice, Bookslut or other responsible media written by adults, not like children.

    If this is what HTML Giant aspires to, fine. But you are like the people who draw Hilter mustaches on the president and masquerade it as political commentary or who think shouting “You lie!” at an elected leader is intelligent criticism.

    It’s not a question of a favorable or unfavorable review. It’s a question of a childish response or an adult one.

    Carry on, kids — it’s time for your pacificiers. You resemble, from what I can tell, the formless characters who appear in this novella. As as Theodore Roosevelt said in another context, I could carve better people out of a banana.

28. September 10th, 2009 / 4:38 pm Drew Toal—

    TR rules. So do you for that matter, Capt. Sullenberger. Sweet landing.

29. September 10th, 2009 / 8:39 pm reynard seifert—

    why are people always so sure of other people’s economic status? do you work for the IRS or something? if you are on the internet, you are probably wealthier than 75% of the world’s population. we all swim in the same pool, man. some people just happen to have floaties on their arms. but if you breathe in deep, you’ll float – i promise.

30. September 10th, 2009 / 4:39 pm reynard seifert—

    why are people always so sure of other people’s economic status? do you work for the IRS or something? if you are on the internet, you are probably wealthier than 75% of the world’s population. we all swim in the same pool, man. some people just happen to have floaties on their arms. but if you breathe in deep, you’ll float – i promise.

31. September 10th, 2009 / 8:50 pm alec niedenthal—

    sweet review. i am excited to read the book, which i guess proves how sweet this review is.

    reading this review also made me wish i lived in new york, and had friends.

32. September 10th, 2009 / 4:50 pm alec niedenthal—

    sweet review. i am excited to read the book, which i guess proves how sweet this review is.

    reading this review also made me wish i lived in new york, and had friends.

33. September 10th, 2009 / 8:54 pm sarah m.g.—

    My favorite moment in the novella is Tao’s great, brief assessment of Lorrie Moore.

34. September 10th, 2009 / 4:54 pm sarah m.g.—

    My favorite moment in the novella is Tao’s great, brief assessment of Lorrie Moore.

35. September 10th, 2009 / 9:00 pm L.—

    You posted this comment on an indie internet messageboard.

    …

36. September 10th, 2009 / 5:00 pm L.—

    You posted this comment on an indie internet messageboard.

    …

37. September 10th, 2009 / 9:21 pm mike young—

    i agree with jereme

    unfortunately, this review makes me take the book even less seriously now

38. September 10th, 2009 / 5:21 pm mike young—

    i agree with jereme

    unfortunately, this review makes me take the book even less seriously now

39. September 10th, 2009 / 9:54 pm jereme—

    yes reynard. that is what i am saying but i don’t want to have to explain. explaining is so boring.

    the comment was a direct attack at american culture of the past 10 years, not drew/justin.

    if what i said was “hurtful” because it was truthful, well, it’s not my problem.

40. September 10th, 2009 / 9:54 pm jereme—

    send me your book and i’ll review it and elaborate on everything.

41. September 10th, 2009 / 5:54 pm jereme—

    yes reynard. that is what i am saying but i don’t want to have to explain. explaining is so boring.

    the comment was a direct attack at american culture of the past 10 years, not drew/justin.

    if what i said was “hurtful” because it was truthful, well, it’s not my problem.

42. September 10th, 2009 / 5:54 pm jereme—

    send me your book and i’ll review it and elaborate on everything.

43. September 10th, 2009 / 9:57 pm gena—

    tl;dr

44. September 10th, 2009 / 5:57 pm gena—

    tl;dr

45. September 10th, 2009 / 10:02 pm zachary german—

    do you guys have twitte

46. September 10th, 2009 / 6:02 pm zachary german—

    do you guys have twitte

47. September 10th, 2009 / 10:05 pm MIchael James—

    The gchat was funny. I read less than half the exchange, but got tired very quickly of it. Though I enjoyed all that I read.

    I sometimes find Tao Lin annoying. He reminds me of this French singer/songwriter guy I knew who pretend he didn’t want to be famous, but would do all the things you’d do if you wanted to be famous. He’d pretend as if things didn’t matter, when really he thought they did. It was an act. One I could see through, but he had a good heart, a good soul. So I was whatever about it.

    I found the snippet of his novella I read on ‘that’ website (the name escapes me), and found it to be so amazingly well done and accurate I wanted to buy the book. I believe I will. I’ve been to jail for shoplifting. Stayed in a cell by myself. With Platoon playing on the TV. But I still could relate. I hope Mr. Lin does some great things, but I also hope he doesn’t return completely to his earlier stuff which I find dreadful, or at times enjoy, but rarely. I hope his future stuff is an amalgamation of this style plus his earlier style. That would be a super thing, I think.

    But yeah, even if Tao Lin and I are very very very very very very very different people w/ different styles.

    He’s dope.

48. September 10th, 2009 / 6:05 pm MIchael James—

    The gchat was funny. I read less than half the exchange, but got tired very quickly of it. Though I enjoyed all that I read.

    I sometimes find Tao Lin annoying. He reminds me of this French singer/songwriter guy I knew who pretend he didn’t want to be famous, but would do all the things you’d do if you wanted to be famous. He’d pretend as if things didn’t matter, when really he thought they did. It was an act. One I could see through, but he had a good heart, a good soul. So I was whatever about it.

    I found the snippet of his novella I read on ‘that’ website (the name escapes me), and found it to be so amazingly well done and accurate I wanted to buy the book. I believe I will. I’ve been to jail for shoplifting. Stayed in a cell by myself. With Platoon playing on the TV. But I still could relate. I hope Mr. Lin does some great things, but I also hope he doesn’t return completely to his earlier stuff which I find dreadful, or at times enjoy, but rarely. I hope his future stuff is an amalgamation of this style plus his earlier style. That would be a super thing, I think.

    But yeah, even if Tao Lin and I are very very very very very very very different people w/ different styles.

    He’s dope.

49. September 10th, 2009 / 10:09 pm L—

    No offense, but this reads a bit like one hipster stereotype attacking another hipster stereotype.

50. September 10th, 2009 / 6:09 pm L—

    No offense, but this reads a bit like one hipster stereotype attacking another hipster stereotype.

51. September 10th, 2009 / 11:17 pm reynard seifert—

    first of all, i could care less about defending drew/justin – they can handle themselves.

    if you want to attack american culture of the past 10 years, that’s fine – there’s plenty of meat there. but you’re going to have to do a little more than supply us with a definition of ‘migrant workers.’

    what’s funny is, your refusal to do any ‘explaining’ is the same sort of dismissive attitude toward intellectualism that led us to the bush years – the ones you are supposedly ‘attacking.’

    what i mean is: your twisted logic and use of blanket terms, aimed at belittling a broad range of people (in this case, ‘upper-middle class white men’), are the same sorts of tactics employed by the neo-cons. if you really want to get down to it, the upper-middle class isn’t all that large, and most of the people in it don’t give a shit about things like indie literature because they care about making money and obviously this is not a money-making industry and if you think it is you are just wrong.

    to be fair, i’m not really addressing you here, jereme, but more the general contemptuous attitude you’re expressing in your bland attempts at sarcasm. if you want to say something, just say it. don’t worry about hurting anyone’s feelings. one of the only good things about american culture in the last ten (or twenty) years is that we really can say whatever we want now; and that idea has been applied to the internet (thank ‘god’). so really, go nuts – tell me what you think, do some ‘explaining.’

52. September 10th, 2009 / 7:17 pm reynard seifert—

    first of all, i could care less about defending drew/justin – they can handle themselves.

    if you want to attack american culture of the past 10 years, that’s fine – there’s plenty of meat there. but you’re going to have to do a little more than supply us with a definition of ‘migrant workers.’

    what’s funny is, your refusal to do any ‘explaining’ is the same sort of dismissive attitude toward intellectualism that led us to the bush years – the ones you are supposedly ‘attacking.’

    what i mean is: your twisted logic and use of blanket terms, aimed at belittling a broad range of people (in this case, ‘upper-middle class white men’), are the same sorts of tactics employed by the neo-cons. if you really want to get down to it, the upper-middle class isn’t all that large, and most of the people in it don’t give a shit about things like indie literature because they care about making money and obviously this is not a money-making industry and if you think it is you are just wrong.

    to be fair, i’m not really addressing you here, jereme, but more the general contemptuous attitude you’re expressing in your bland attempts at sarcasm. if you want to say something, just say it. don’t worry about hurting anyone’s feelings. one of the only good things about american culture in the last ten (or twenty) years is that we really can say whatever we want now; and that idea has been applied to the internet (thank ‘god’). so really, go nuts – tell me what you think, do some ‘explaining.’

53. September 10th, 2009 / 11:22 pm reynard seifert—

    before anyone tries to correct me on a minor point, i meant to say ‘couldn’t care less’ – furiously typing, so furious (not really, i’m drinking lemonade and listening to classical music right now).

54. September 10th, 2009 / 7:22 pm reynard seifert—

    before anyone tries to correct me on a minor point, i meant to say ‘couldn’t care less’ – furiously typing, so furious (not really, i’m drinking lemonade and listening to classical music right now).

55. September 10th, 2009 / 11:45 pm jereme—

    reynard,

    i was completely into your comment and ready to respond but then you brought up politics (?) and i stopped reading.

    i do not vote. i do not participate in politics. conversation centered around around the figurehead in office is really boring to me.

    i’m more than happy to engage minus the politics. if you really want me to read and respond, put up another comment minus the politic stuff and i’ll read it through.

    otherwise, who cares.

56. September 10th, 2009 / 7:45 pm jereme—

    reynard,

    i was completely into your comment and ready to respond but then you brought up politics (?) and i stopped reading.

    i do not vote. i do not participate in politics. conversation centered around around the figurehead in office is really boring to me.

    i’m more than happy to engage minus the politics. if you really want me to read and respond, put up another comment minus the politic stuff and i’ll read it through.

    otherwise, who cares.

57. September 10th, 2009 / 11:52 pm reynard seifert—

    we have nothing to talk about, jereme.

    instead, i’m going to dig a hole in the sand so that you have somewhere to stick yr head.

    see you at the end of the world, bro.

58. September 10th, 2009 / 7:52 pm reynard seifert—

    we have nothing to talk about, jereme.

    instead, i’m going to dig a hole in the sand so that you have somewhere to stick yr head.

    see you at the end of the world, bro.

59. September 10th, 2009 / 11:54 pm Matt Cozart—

    Haven’t you introduced politics into it already by bringing up “upper-middle class white males”?

60. September 10th, 2009 / 7:54 pm Matt Cozart—

    Haven’t you introduced politics into it already by bringing up “upper-middle class white males”?

61. September 11th, 2009 / 12:49 am jereme—

    reynard,

    hey what ever is clever. i am around if you want to discuss anything minus the politics and religion.

    matt,

    economic status and race has nothing to do with politics?

62. September 10th, 2009 / 8:49 pm jereme—

    reynard,

    hey what ever is clever. i am around if you want to discuss anything minus the politics and religion.

    matt,

    economic status and race has nothing to do with politics?

63. September 11th, 2009 / 1:25 am Captain Chesley `Sully' Sullen—

    Again, this will appeal to the juvenile segment even of your generation. As someone who flies out of New York and sometimes finds himself smack in the middle of this, I believe taking this childish tripe as a representation of New York twentysomethings, including hipsters, to be a misrepresentation of all but the most annoyingly navel-gazing, I-feel-this, I-feel-that, part of this generation.

    Most hipsters in the downtown scene or elsewhere seem to be engaged in real life. The artistic ones in all disciplines are creating energy and excitement and they are doing positive things in all different fields. They are actually involved in New York, not moving through it as these characters seem to do without any feeling for the city or the treasures in their environment. Maybe that’s because these characters are Twittering on their iPhones when they should be looking at the world around them.

    It was said back when I was a fledgling pilot that the writers and editors of Partisan Review were depending on Saul Bellow to be considered a serious and major writer for their whole enterprise to be rendered legitimate. We know how that turned out. Bellow won the Nobel Prize and his books, whatever you think of them, were widely read all around the world and likely will be around for a long time. And those of us who do reading in our off-hours on the ground know a lot of Partisan Review writers long after they’re dead.

    So it is for the pygmies of HTML Giant. Their entire worth is built upon making sure that Tao Lin is a major writer. So I don’t expect anything but fulsome praise for him on this website. But the comments above, in the post and in the frothy brainless compliments to Lin by individuals, cannot be taken for serious criticism. Again, I commend to you for in-flight reading the work of those critics who, unlike you youngsters, have no dog in this literary fight. Do you have nothing of substance to respond to the reviewers in Publishers Weekly, The Village Voice, Anthem, Bookslut and other places who’ve declared this novel “Twitterature,” the work of one of the “Whole Foods” literature writer, “underwhelming,” “monotonous,” etc. etc.

    To an old hand like myself, these comments ring true.

    Again, HTML Giant and Tao Lin are only a very small part of the young literary generation. You are all good at publicity and the circle jerk of self-promotion but others of your generation will ultimately best you and be the major writers born in the 1980s and 1990s.

    As I said, your idea of criticism is like the jerky Republican congressman who said “You lie!” to our Commander in Chief last night. To continue with the analogy to the Grand Old Party – not that most of you will understand the references: if McSweeney’s was Teddy Roosevelt and Robert LaFollette, and n+1 Richard Nixon and William F. Buckley. . . HTML Giant is Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck.

    Carry on. As you were.

64. September 10th, 2009 / 9:25 pm Captain Chesley `Sully' Sullenberger III—

    Again, this will appeal to the juvenile segment even of your generation. As someone who flies out of New York and sometimes finds himself smack in the middle of this, I believe taking this childish tripe as a representation of New York twentysomethings, including hipsters, to be a misrepresentation of all but the most annoyingly navel-gazing, I-feel-this, I-feel-that, part of this generation.

    Most hipsters in the downtown scene or elsewhere seem to be engaged in real life. The artistic ones in all disciplines are creating energy and excitement and they are doing positive things in all different fields. They are actually involved in New York, not moving through it as these characters seem to do without any feeling for the city or the treasures in their environment. Maybe that’s because these characters are Twittering on their iPhones when they should be looking at the world around them.

    It was said back when I was a fledgling pilot that the writers and editors of Partisan Review were depending on Saul Bellow to be considered a serious and major writer for their whole enterprise to be rendered legitimate. We know how that turned out. Bellow won the Nobel Prize and his books, whatever you think of them, were widely read all around the world and likely will be around for a long time. And those of us who do reading in our off-hours on the ground know a lot of Partisan Review writers long after they’re dead.

    So it is for the pygmies of HTML Giant. Their entire worth is built upon making sure that Tao Lin is a major writer. So I don’t expect anything but fulsome praise for him on this website. But the comments above, in the post and in the frothy brainless compliments to Lin by individuals, cannot be taken for serious criticism. Again, I commend to you for in-flight reading the work of those critics who, unlike you youngsters, have no dog in this literary fight. Do you have nothing of substance to respond to the reviewers in Publishers Weekly, The Village Voice, Anthem, Bookslut and other places who’ve declared this novel “Twitterature,” the work of one of the “Whole Foods” literature writer, “underwhelming,” “monotonous,” etc. etc.

    To an old hand like myself, these comments ring true.

    Again, HTML Giant and Tao Lin are only a very small part of the young literary generation. You are all good at publicity and the circle jerk of self-promotion but others of your generation will ultimately best you and be the major writers born in the 1980s and 1990s.

    As I said, your idea of criticism is like the jerky Republican congressman who said “You lie!” to our Commander in Chief last night. To continue with the analogy to the Grand Old Party – not that most of you will understand the references: if McSweeney’s was Teddy Roosevelt and Robert LaFollette, and n+1 Richard Nixon and William F. Buckley. . . HTML Giant is Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck.

    Carry on. As you were.

65. September 11th, 2009 / 2:02 am Ryan Call—

    hey sully, my dad flies for usairways, he says ‘h!’

66. September 10th, 2009 / 10:02 pm Ryan Call—

    hey sully, my dad flies for usairways, he says ‘h!’

67. September 11th, 2009 / 2:20 am Michael Schaub—

    I love this, and it makes me want to play poker with Justin, Drew and Tao. I don’t really know how to play poker, though. More of a Skip-Bo man, myself. I go in for the hard stuff, you know?

68. September 10th, 2009 / 10:20 pm Michael Schaub—

    I love this, and it makes me want to play poker with Justin, Drew and Tao. I don’t really know how to play poker, though. More of a Skip-Bo man, myself. I go in for the hard stuff, you know?

69. September 11th, 2009 / 2:35 am Guy Lou Debord Dobbs—

    Sullenberger III presupposes a writer’s (or book’s) worth can be deduced from its popularity or by its capacity to remain somewhere near the surface of history after a generation. Operating under the guise of a culture czar;calling the shots;knowing talent when you see it. Whta you are talking about Mr. Sullenberger isn’t literature, it is a popularity contest. Your attitudes are the reason sniffling trashy wastes of filth emanate from the depths of the rancid, vapid undercarriage of our society’s mind up into the registries of history, where they forever remain a reeking putrid stain. Eat a used tampon covered in flaming shit, you mentally flaccid leech.

70. September 10th, 2009 / 10:35 pm Guy Lou Debord Dobbs—

    Sullenberger III presupposes a writer’s (or book’s) worth can be deduced from its popularity or by its capacity to remain somewhere near the surface of history after a generation. Operating under the guise of a culture czar;calling the shots;knowing talent when you see it. Whta you are talking about Mr. Sullenberger isn’t literature, it is a popularity contest. Your attitudes are the reason sniffling trashy wastes of filth emanate from the depths of the rancid, vapid undercarriage of our society’s mind up into the registries of history, where they forever remain a reeking putrid stain. Eat a used tampon covered in flaming shit, you mentally flaccid leech.

71. September 11th, 2009 / 2:36 am david—

    bitchesss

72. September 10th, 2009 / 10:36 pm david—

    bitchesss

73. September 11th, 2009 / 2:50 am Jonny Ross—

    ‘damn’

74. September 10th, 2009 / 10:50 pm Jonny Ross—

    ‘damn’

75. September 11th, 2009 / 2:57 am Kyle Minor—

    I enjoyed reading this email exchange. I think it’s always interesting to read about a writer from the point of view of peers who have watched closely his or her development.

    I finished Tao Lin’s new book not long ago and will write about it soon. Since I’m not a roommate or a Brooklynite or any such proximate being, all I had to bring to the reading was my eyes and mind and, thankfully — the book allows for it more than anything Lin has yet written — my heart. I found much to satisfy and delight, and I also thought the novella is a breakthrough for a writer whose talent I already admired. I’ll write more soon on Tao Lin, probably elsewhere on the Internet.

76. September 10th, 2009 / 10:57 pm Kyle Minor—

    I enjoyed reading this email exchange. I think it’s always interesting to read about a writer from the point of view of peers who have watched closely his or her development.

    I finished Tao Lin’s new book not long ago and will write about it soon. Since I’m not a roommate or a Brooklynite or any such proximate being, all I had to bring to the reading was my eyes and mind and, thankfully — the book allows for it more than anything Lin has yet written — my heart. I found much to satisfy and delight, and I also thought the novella is a breakthrough for a writer whose talent I already admired. I’ll write more soon on Tao Lin, probably elsewhere on the Internet.

77. September 11th, 2009 / 3:03 am Jeffrey Heart—

    has the boulevard coffee shop improved or changed at all since i moved out?
    i miss the bagels with hummus and tomato after staying up all night, and also i like their hot chocolate and the little plants.

78. September 10th, 2009 / 11:03 pm Jeffrey Heart—

    has the boulevard coffee shop improved or changed at all since i moved out?
    i miss the bagels with hummus and tomato after staying up all night, and also i like their hot chocolate and the little plants.

79. September 11th, 2009 / 3:21 am Jimmy Chen—

    nah man, HTML Giant is The Beatles at their demise: a bunch of white guys and a weird asian.

80. September 10th, 2009 / 11:21 pm Jimmy Chen—

    nah man, HTML Giant is The Beatles at their demise: a bunch of white guys and a weird asian.

81. September 11th, 2009 / 3:44 am Justin Taylor—

    they’re working on getting a beer and wine license, then they’ll stay open later. that’s about all that’s different.

82. September 10th, 2009 / 11:44 pm Justin Taylor—

    they’re working on getting a beer and wine license, then they’ll stay open later. that’s about all that’s different.

83. September 11th, 2009 / 3:46 am Justin Taylor—

    that’s great, Kyle. I’m excited to hear what you thought.

84. September 10th, 2009 / 11:46 pm Justin Taylor—

    that’s great, Kyle. I’m excited to hear what you thought.

85. September 10th, 2009 / 11:47 pm HTMLGIANT—

    […] speaking of great criticism, the latest issue of The Quarterly Conversation devotes a good deal of its space […]

86. September 11th, 2009 / 3:55 am Catherine Lacey—

    Good point L. What the hell are all these coddled middle class white people doing here?

    I can’t wait til tomorow morning so I can go back to my authentic sweat shop job.

87. September 10th, 2009 / 11:55 pm Catherine Lacey—

    Good point L. What the hell are all these coddled middle class white people doing here?

    I can’t wait til tomorow morning so I can go back to my authentic sweat shop job.

88. September 11th, 2009 / 5:20 am gena—

    i think i saw your dad on the way to chicago.

89. September 11th, 2009 / 1:20 am gena—

    i think i saw your dad on the way to chicago.

90. September 11th, 2009 / 5:24 am PGC—

    I’ve never posted here. I don’t know anybody here personally

    By reading htmlgiant over the last few months, I’ve become familiar with and thoroughly enjoyed Barth, Coover, Pynchon, The Believer, David Foster Wallace, Zak Smith… Not to mention the work of those who have contributed/posted here, Amelia Gray, Shane Jones, Catherine Lacey, Justin Taylor, really everybody.

    I was linked to htmlgiant originally through Tao Lin’s blog, where I was also introduced to Richard Yates, Lorrie Moore, Ann Beattie, Raymond Carver, Jean Rhys, and Joy Williams.

    I studied English and never came into contact with any of these authors. I thought contemporary fiction was dead and I only read Dostoevsky, Joyce, Balzac, Nabokov, and other canonical authors. I’ve also studied literary criticism relatively extensively.

    And I just want to say, thank god I found these two web sites. I’m glad I have the foundation I do, but the authors I’ve found through you guys have opened my literary world view immensely.

    So, thank you.

91. September 11th, 2009 / 1:24 am PGC—

    I’ve never posted here. I don’t know anybody here personally

    By reading htmlgiant over the last few months, I’ve become familiar with and thoroughly enjoyed Barth, Coover, Pynchon, The Believer, David Foster Wallace, Zak Smith… Not to mention the work of those who have contributed/posted here, Amelia Gray, Shane Jones, Catherine Lacey, Justin Taylor, really everybody.

    I was linked to htmlgiant originally through Tao Lin’s blog, where I was also introduced to Richard Yates, Lorrie Moore, Ann Beattie, Raymond Carver, Jean Rhys, and Joy Williams.

    I studied English and never came into contact with any of these authors. I thought contemporary fiction was dead and I only read Dostoevsky, Joyce, Balzac, Nabokov, and other canonical authors. I’ve also studied literary criticism relatively extensively.

    And I just want to say, thank god I found these two web sites. I’m glad I have the foundation I do, but the authors I’ve found through you guys have opened my literary world view immensely.

    So, thank you.

92. September 11th, 2009 / 5:31 am tao—

    sweet

93. September 11th, 2009 / 1:31 am tao—

    sweet

94. September 11th, 2009 / 5:34 am Lincoln—

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen Buckley grouped with Nixon before…

95. September 11th, 2009 / 1:34 am Lincoln—

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen Buckley grouped with Nixon before…

96. September 11th, 2009 / 5:36 am ryanchang—

    why does teddy roosevelt stand for mcsweeneys, mcsweeneys does not sound like a big bad ass.

97. September 11th, 2009 / 1:36 am ryanchang—

    why does teddy roosevelt stand for mcsweeneys, mcsweeneys does not sound like a big bad ass.

98. September 11th, 2009 / 5:53 am Ryan—

    I hate all of this.

    I’m going back to the veranda to shoot the underclass.

99. September 11th, 2009 / 1:53 am Ryan—

    I hate all of this.

    I’m going back to the veranda to shoot the underclass.

100. September 11th, 2009 / 5:54 am mike young—

     ha!

101. September 11th, 2009 / 1:54 am mike young—

     ha!

102. September 11th, 2009 / 7:30 am Dan—

     hahahaha

103. September 11th, 2009 / 3:30 am Dan—

     hahahaha

104. September 11th, 2009 / 7:35 am Cami—

     I just need you to elaborate on ‘white guys,’ please.

105. September 11th, 2009 / 3:35 am Cami—

     I just need you to elaborate on ‘white guys,’ please.

106. September 11th, 2009 / 3:41 am Andrea—

     This was an AMAZING REVIEW!!!!! I loved every second of it.

     “It’s his world, man. We’re just gchatting in it.”

107. September 11th, 2009 / 7:45 am matthewsavoca—

     tao lin has a new book?

108. September 11th, 2009 / 3:45 am matthewsavoca—

     tao lin has a new book?

109. September 11th, 2009 / 6:53 am Captain Chesley `Sully' Sullenberger III—

     This your captain speaking again. Many of you young folks, when we’ve given out your special ‘wings’ pins and other special toys, have told our flight attendants that your parents have fitted your web browsers with ‘filters’ that prevent you from accessing grownup sites.

     Kids, I wouldn’t normally go around the orders of your mom and dad, but this is a historic week in American history. Eight years ago a catastrophic security failure led to the deaths of thousands of our citizens. Just last year, another debacle: the near-death of our financial and economic system as gigantic Wall Street firms collapsed. This week there’s been another epic disaster, and I think you’re grown-up to know about it.

     Just be warned: wear your seat belts as you read these reviews, which contain more panache and style than the simple periodic declarative sentences in your little primers. You may feel a little turbulance as you read this. After you do, and when you’re bigger, you might try – with your parents’ permission – to read some adult literature!

     The Village Voice:
     “Tao Lin is a revolutionary!” declared The Stranger. OK. Great. The quotation, in all caps, adorns the front cover of my advance copy of Shoplifting From American Apparel, Lin’s new novella. The title itself is relegated to the back cover. It’s a joke: Before you can read Lin’s new book, you have to slog through the white noise surrounding it. And, thanks to the Internet, there’s a lot of white noise.

     If you aren’t familiar with Lin, Google him, knowing that’s exactly what he wants you to do. Through various stunts—including selling “shares” of his works and signing a sponsorship deal with Hipster Runoff—the author has created a persona that’s as fun and provocative as his fiction or poetry. Personally, I find it hard to decide what’s sillier/sadder/more disgusting/more moving: that Lin wrote a poem that repeats the line “the next night we ate whale” 4,000 times, or that he has recited the line for minutes at a time during readings.

     Shoplifting advertises itself as “an autobiographical novella.” Lin’s stand-in is Sam, a hipster poet who works in an NYC vegan restaurant. Nothing very exciting happens to Sam—he goes to Film Forum; he shoplifts and ends up in court; he goes on Gchat a lot. Nor does he have many exciting thoughts or conversations. Actually, Lin’s self-discipline in keeping all the book’s events unexciting is astounding: The exclusively declarative sentences just flow by, peaceful and unintrusive, interrupted only by occasional puffs of deadpan humor. “Sam woke around 3:30 P.M. and saw no emails from Sheila. He made a smoothie. He lay on his bed and stared at his computer screen . . .” etc., for 103 pages. It’s soothing when it’s not horrifying.

     Because Lin withholds any description beyond gender and, occasionally, race, his characters are in constant danger of fading into nothingness—by the last scene, which takes place at a Florida music festival, all of Sam’s original twentysomething companions seem to have been replaced by other twentysomething companions. From start to finish, however, Sam & Co. do have one outstanding, unifying characteristic: an insatiable urge to tell others how they “feel” at any given moment. Sam’s girlfriend, waiting for a train: “I feel really happy right now.” Sam’s Gchat partner: “I feel weird.” Sam, at a vegan brunch: “I feel okay.” Shoplifting might even be neatly pared down to two basic things: a string of arbitrary situations, and characters saying how they “feel” while in those situations.

     The result of this combination is—and I apologize for what I’m about to do here—Twitterature.

     Lin has claimed that Shoplifting is “an ultimately life-affirming book.” If this statement means anything, it refers to the novella’s muted glorification of the impulse behind the Tweet—the need to inform others of one’s being by giving voice to sensation, no matter how banal that voicing may be. The point is not to describe the sensation, but merely to mark it as proof that one feels and, because one feels, that one is still real. On the verge of total disappearance—barely sketched in by their own author!—Lin’s characters nevertheless manage to remind each other of their existence constantly. And their author loves them for it.

     Given this, Lin’s public stunts now appear more hazardous than provocative. He has written a fragile, elusive little book—exactly the kind that can get crushed under the deluge of hype/anti-hype nonsense he invites with his pomo gimmickry. “Tao Lin is a revolutionary!” declared The Stranger. If so, he might be eating his children.

     Anthem:

     At the start of Tao Lin’s Shoplifting from American Apparel the protagonist, Sam, happens upon some crass wisdom amid his bored stupor while Gchatting with an online acquaintance (or his closest friend―both, probably):

     “We are the fucked generation.”

     There is no weight attributed to his claim―negative weight, maybe, considering the circumstance, as this is not a book of revelations. The one-liner is a mission statement but it is also antithetical to one. It is a representative selection from an endless tributary of aimless online chats. Neal Cassady’s letters these are not. This is not the Beat Generation and it’s sure as hell not the Lost Generation.These are not the American Romantics or the Transcendentalists. Instead, Lin’s characters wonder: “Do you think in five years the national media will create a stupid term like ‘blogniks’ to describe us.” There is no question there.

     Sam, Lin’s own stand-in throughout his largely autobiographical novella, is an author, too. They have roots in Florida, degrees from NYU and Taiwanese parents, recently relocated overseas, though Lin’s depression and apathy come across less pathetically than Sam’s, as a more sharpened social critique, if not feigned altogether. Sam represents a harsh self-assessment. He is ineloquent for a writer and his one-dimensional starkness is reflected in the book’s terse prose and dry tone. Sam’s go-to descriptor, when somehow riled passed his default flatline, is “fucked.” He wonders “Are we fucked” every so often, but the query is beyond rhetorical and never includes a question mark. In this estimation, “we” are self-conscious by birth, but dispassionate by choice. Or maybe it’s the opposite. It’s irrelevant.

     The Fucked Generation is what happens when parents consider their children’s university educations an endgame. It follows the replacement of slackerdom with neo-hipster unemployment: a few passable books for an independent publisher, a middling Amazon.com sales rank, but pride from Mom and Dad. It’s the result of another check in the mail to subsidize a sub-bohemian lifestyle of organic vegetables and fair labor denim.

     Lin first published a prototype of this story over a year ago appropriately enough, in Vice magazine, probably not two pages from a risqué ad for the LA-based clothing chain from which Sam eventually steals. At the time, Lin called the recounting of his petty theft and subsequent jail time a fictionalized true story and revealed that the “organic vegan restaurants” he referred to were Pure Food and Wine, Angelica Kitchen and Sacred Chow―all overpriced New York City establishments.

     But Shoplifting is honest in the sense that these characters inhabit a real world at a real time. Perhaps it is the defining work from a specific moment few will remember, as it is confined to a handful of zip codes mostly south of 14th St. and east of Broadway, plus the L and G subway lines. Though the characters spend some time in dismal Gainesville, Florida, the work is quintessential Big City aughts. To call Shoplifting a line in the sand would be to misuse the cliche by over-scaling the question’s importance. But the existential challenge remains: Are the musings from within the young, over-privileged and online-obsessed urban milieu worthy of extrapolating to youth culture writ large or are the self-depracating, self-obsessed “issues” they raise too insular, detached and insignificant to apply beyond the Olympic stadium of navel-gazing, i.e. New York City?

     Where you fall in this already overwrought dichotomy might dictate your taste for Shoplifting if its literary style weren’t so specific. Lin’s 103-page inside joke relies on a narrow set of allusions too sparsely described as to be widely relatable: Suicide Girls, Tompkins Square Park, freegans, and indelibly, Gchat; Sam gets by selling sex stories to Nerve.com for $500 a piece. His personality, though, might be less accessible. He is shy but without a filter, inarticulate but appropriately random and thoughtful but crippled by his self-awareness. Depending on the diagnosis, he might find a spot on the autism spectrum near Asperger’s syndrome, but forfeiting social cues works on girls who drink Kombucha the same way a British accent might slay a chick who watches Grey’s Anatomy.

     But his somehow endearing, if always stifled romantic encounters are told with the same distance and derision-by-omission that characterize the entire book. Lin either employs a one-note sarcasm or empathy, but it’s difficult to discern as a comment on the world he barely describes or armor parading as aloofness. The insecurity is palpable and it may be to the author’s credit that it is nearly impossible to separate the work from its maker. Lin, after all, has crafted himself (largely online) as an impenetrable iconoclast, a literary outsider, but an Everyman―so long as your man assuages his social anxieties through email.

     It is the same unyielding minimalism of word and feeling Madison Smartt Bell dismissed in a 1986 Harper’s essay titled “Less is Less” and that Tom Wolfe called “anesthetized”―writing “disingenuously short, simple sentences” about “real situations, but very tiny ones.” Writers like Raymond Carver, Joy Williams and Ann Beattie were bunched together and labeled under the derisively classist awning of Kmart Realism. But in an era of irony and reappropriation, why shouldn’t Tao Lin own the epithet cast at authors he so admires? With Shoplifting From American Apparel, he has reclaimed the style, recast it in an online age and stripped it of its economic implications, so as to remove the charge from the term. Now, the poor choose Wal-Mart, while Lin reads the Style section and drinks four-dollar fermented tea. Let’s call it what it is―Whole Foods Realism. It beats the blogniks.

     Bookslut:
     In Shoplifting from American Apparel things just happen and they are not very interesting or meaningful. Occasionally they are funny. Usually they are depressing. Tao Lin’s 112-page novella from Melville House’s “Contemporary Art of the Novella” series is drained of emotion and unfettered by inflection and exclamation, a portrait of a soulless modernity with the consolation of technology and yummy vegan treats. Lin writes with a flat passionless prose, a posed naïveté belying a canny sophistication. Shoplifting is too dour to be twee, but it shares an affected childishness with bands like The Moldy Peaches and it has a put-on weirdness reminiscent of Miranda July’s No One Belongs Here More Than You. There is no universal experience here, but a privacy and a particularity to Lin’s writing as if the book were written for five people. And at the same time Lin as a writer seems to be secondary to Lin as a microcelebrity artman. He seems to use writing as a way to cultivate a persona and to record the ironic, idiosyncratic cultural moment.

     Even in this short and spare work, it is fatiguing to read the commoditized so-called underground undeservedly claiming elevation over mainstream consumer and work choices. From Ghost Mice to Lorrie Moore to Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich, stock objects reign in Lin’s imagination superior to subjects. What you eat and who you know can improve your life and Pilates can make you a better person. Lin’s characters value lifestyle above moods, relationships, or social activism. The means of Sam’s self-actualization can be bought. Here the ephemeral retains primacy over the durable. Time and place are evoked not by detailed descriptions, tone, or theme, but by brands and bands. Shoplifting is so vague that it is difficult to interpret what is ironic, what is not, and what may be a commentary on the postmodern urban condition.

     Shoplifting’s slip of a protagonist is Sam, a writer who spends his time shoplifting, drinking soymilk with green tea extract, masturbating, sleeping, and using Gmail Chat. And he is a cult writer who does not seem to spend much time writing. He and his friends connect through commercial culture, not history. They share the saleable and trendy, and not the ancestral or traditional, that which can be reclaimed through memory. The friends come together and move apart so impassively it is difficult to tell if anyone really cares. An arrest, a mental hospital stay, nothing seems to really matter.

     There is so little aboutness in Lin’s work. From Sam’s narration, a reader can extract themes of loneliness, the nature of happiness, the role and responsibility of the artist, and the vacuity and meaning of internet relationships. But I was angry with this little book so wrapped in layers of irony and without a thesis. With Shoplifting, Lin punishes his reader with banality interrupted by violence and possibly searching for a purpose. The reader is so isolated from the work, from the act of reading this distancing pocket novella.

     Unwillingly, Lin confirms the impossibility of bohemia with his version of a writer’s life. Freedom and happiness are not even possible for a cult writer who can sleep until 3:30 pm, eat cereal for a midday meal, and scream at strangers for kicks. Even without the bondage of full time employment, life is monotonous and bleak. Tao Lin describes this book as “2 parts shoplifting arrest, 5 parts vague relationship issues.” (Numerics his own not mine.) I would describe it as a vehicle for his performance art and self promotion, an amorphous work without many points of access for the reader.

     3:AM Magazine:
     Tao Lin’s fifth book, and first novella, Shoplifting from American Apparel, will probably not register on any mainstream pop culture radar, but if you are at all interested in the future of literature, take notice. It is not going to win any awards, but it is a stop-gap between Lin’s first novel Eeeee Eee Eeee and his forthcoming second novel Richard Yates, a work that hints at Lin moving in a more mainstream direction, with greater exposure, and an increasing legion of fans. This book is about a main character named Sam (who seems almost entirely autobiographical), and various friends Luis, Sheila, Kaitlyn, Paula, Hester, Joseph, Chris, Jeffrey, and Audrey. Sam does shoplift from American Apparel and then later he shoplifts from the NYU Computer Store, a pair of $40 Sony In-Ear headphones. Sam works at an organic vegan restaurant in the East Village, I think, and he has to do two days of community service in order for the shoplifting arrest to be expunged from his record.

     According to Lin, “I would say 100% of Shoplifting from American Apparel is autobiographical. I think nothing is “made up”….If forced to say what percent of the book is “true” I would say 97%.” So it appears that it would be most accurate to label it under “creative non-fiction.”

     I have only previously read Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin and I would have to say that there are generally less plot holes in this book than in that one, though “plot holes” is an inaccurate term – “minimalist detail” might be closer to the truth. More to the point, Eeeee Eee Eeee features a number of absurdist elements like talking bears and dolphins and celebrity slaughterhouse imagery, whereas Shoplifting is content to stay firmly planted in the real world, even if it is a narrowly defined one. This is my biggest complaint about Lin’s work as a whole, and I’d imagine a potentially serious issue for his critics. Detail is eschewed in the name of wit, or poignancy. Minimalism is evoked and any hope that a comprehensive exploration of any particular subject is going to happen is squelched. If there is anything this book does explore comprehensively, it is the phenomenon of GChat, along with other internet staples of today, like YouTube, Wikipedia, and Photobucket.

     Apparently, his focus has shifted over the years: “My first story-collection, Bed, was one prose style. Bed had many long sentences, adverbs, adjectives, words I normally don’t say “in real life,” semi-colons, and em-dashes. The rhetorical parts of my first novel, Eeeee Eee Eeee, also employ this style that was first seen in my oeuvre in Bed. The other prose style I have worked in, I feel, is that of Shoplifting from American Apparel and Richard Yates. These two books have almost no concrete details and very little adjectives, adverbs, semi-colons, or em-dashes. The sentences are short and I use only words I would also feel “normal” saying “in real life.” I feel that both styles can reach a large audience. Ernest Hemingway and Chuck Palahniuk and Kurt Vonnegut do not provide much detail and seem to have a large audience. William Faulkner and Thomas Pynchon seem to have very long sentences that probably provide many details and they also seem to have a large audience.”

     If it is not already clear at this point, Tao Lin may not be for you. It is easy to see why his work as a whole has been extremely divisive. On the one hand, there are struggling writers who work in a much more traditional style who feel their work may be “about something” – whether it be vampires, struggling with mental illness or a traumatic experience, serial dating or shopping in an urban environment, the world of fashion, or the experience of being a soldier in a controversial war – and are constantly met with rejection. These comprise half of Lin’s critics – and the other half are the part of the literary establishment that seek to promulgate their MFA credentials by supplementing their income with teaching, who mistake minimalism in their student’s work for laziness.

     But then there are those who understand where Lin is coming from, to a certain extent. He has amassed a rather impressive contingent of fans and in his work they see themselves – that is, lonely, depressed, and probably spending too much time on the internet. Any visit to his blog (formerly entitled “Reader of Depressing Books,” now listed as the difficult-just-for-the-sake-of-it http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/), and the many comments on any of his posts, will show that now, approximately 50% of his followers have adopted his voice and pose.

     But it would not be fair to call Lin’s aesthetic a “pose” – because it is authentic, if anything. Of course it is sarcastic, and while it may come off as flippant at first blush, upon further review the tone is refreshingly honest, and free of pretense.

     And it is also not fair to say that Shoplifting is meaningless. True, it does seem that Lin simply doesn’t care about satisfying a reader’s expectations, but there is a story here: Sam’s relationship with Sheila, which is almost immediately over in a very short number of pages with eight months elapsing almost instantaneously; the psychiatric effects of GChats with Luis in the wake of this heartbreak and larger issues of emotional well-being; the shoplifting crimes themselves, which act as fulcrums to the story at the ¼ and ¾ points, respectively; the Scrabble-induced hook-up with Paula and the ambiguous sleepover with Kaitlyn; the pining for Sheila during the course of a later relationship with Hester, who seems to not let Sam be himself; the long denouement, somewhat reminiscent of the ending of Eeeee, that details the course of a weekend spent in Gainesville, FL to perform a reading (which describes the actual beginning of Shoplifting) at a free vegan buffet at a record store; and finally, the revelation of Sheila’s current state. There is one celebrity appearance, by the musician Moby, but it should not offend any fans of his (as certain depictions of Sean Penn did for me in Eeeee).

     Today, there is no other literary figure of his age that has caused so much controversy and received so much criticism, praise, and gossip – much of it his own doing. In now “famous” PR moves, he has sold royalty shares from his novel to be published in 2010, Richard Yates, for $2000 a piece, he has sold his profile on MySpace, and he has started his own literary imprint which features similarly-minded writing from authors in the same approximate demographic. This leads me to the analogy that, what Calvin Johnson is to music, Tao Lin is to literature. While the underground music scene in the 1980s spread their message through zine culture, the underground literary scene twenty-five years later is conducted through the blogosphere. And like Johnson, Lin espouses some of the same virtues: veganism, a “twee” sensibility, and the support of other artists with a similar aesthetic. If this comparison holds up, Lin can expect as long and fruitful a career as Johnson’s, so long as he remains true to his original ideals.

     Time Out New York:
     Peppered with G-chat transcripts and MySpace references, Tao Lin’s Shoplifting from American Apparel could have come off like an extended blog post, but it doesn’t. This novella about the life and quotidian escapades of Sam, a rising young New York writer (a category that Lin belongs to himself), is a humorous reflection on the instantaneity of Internet-era life and relationships. We are presented with a chronological series of moments in Sam’s life: a party at a taco bar, G-chat exchanges about the art of writing, a night on the couch looking at a laptop with a date. One of the novella’s definitive traits is that none of these events add up to a greater sum—just a string of unattached moments with changing characters. Sam is the sole constant.

     This lack of narrative structure, coupled with Lin’s distinctively simple writing style, can get irksome, but the writing stays fresh, thanks to occasional oddball dialogue about everything from Oscar Wilde to what exactly constitutes a fight with a girlfriend. And for all his meandering prose, there’s something charming about Lin’s directness. Writing about being an artist makes most contemporary artists self-conscious, squeamish and arch. Lin, however, appears to be comfortable, even earnest, when his characters try to describe their aspirations (or their shortcomings).

     Still, Lin’s neoslacker text-messaging artists fumble for words. Sam half-jokingly sums up his peer group like this: “We are the fucked generation.” Whether or not statements like that resonate probably depends on how well-done you like your character analysis. In Lin’s case, it’s purposefully raw.—

     The Guardian:
     successors
     Comments (17)Buzz up!
     Digg it
     The coming month sees the release of two quite different but connected books. Douglas Coupland’s Generation A is set in a world without bees and said to “explore new ways of story-telling in a digital world”, a description that could be applied to Tao Lin’s Shoplifting In American Apparel, whose fragmented approach seems to reflects a new strain of hyper-existentialism where thrills come only from bouts of pointless shoplifting.

     Generation A is also said to “reflect” Generation X, Coupland’s novel which documented a relatively unremarkable set of young Americans holding down McJobs while facing an uncertain future armed only with the weapons of sarcasm and apathy. It was one of those rare books that pinned a demographic down onto the page just as it was emerging – that of a generation who would rather work to live than live to work. Or, in fact, get stoned, eat ice cream and not work at all. So successful was Coupland’s book that the mainstream media and advertising world jumped on Generation X and milked it dry quicker than you can say “Kurt Cobain”.

     That was nearly two decades ago, however, and in the interim we’ve seen the emergence of the internet and a generation of young bloggers using the medium to tout their wares, aggressively network with one another and give an insight into the thoughts of today’s young, literate America.

     One the blogosphere’s leading lights is Tao Lin, a young writer seen as something like the figurehead of young, internet-spawned American fiction. He has accrued a number of acolytes, followers and copyists who could collectively be branded the children of Generation X. Or if we’re being harsh, the offspring of the characters Bret Easton Ellis identified back in the mid 80s in Less Than Zero.

     New York-based Lin has made a name for himself via four previous books, prolific blogging activity and some quite masterful acts of self-publicity, including selling shares on future royalties – a shrewd stroke that earned him $12,000. But his writing isn’t for everyone. If Ellis and Coupland’s late 80s/early 90s characters seemed aloof and bored, then the writing of Lin and associates such as Brandon Scott Gorrell, Kendra Grant Malone, Ellen Kennedy and Zachary German is positively dripping in irony and shot through with the type of cynicism that relies on the heavy use of speech marks in order to detach “themselves” from their “work”. And though their web and print presence suggests confidence, the content of their stories displays uncertainty and a meandering preoccupation with the minutiae of everyday urban living: food, drink, fleeting but unfulfilled connections and a general sense of seen-it-all weariness that’s a tad depressing for writers all still the right side of 30. It is as if being a “writer” and maintaining a blog is enough.

     Maybe it is. Maybe this is the real voice of young, blog-happy America – the children of Generation X: sarcastic, bored and a bit spoilt, but nevertheless great at selling the idea of being “sarcastic, bored and bit spoilt” by publishing and publicising each other’s work on websites such as Lamination Colony, Bear Parade, Tao Lin’s own Muumuu House imprint and dozens of others. Media-savvy, basically.

     All that’s really lacking is name for this new wave of writers who, in publishing their shopping lists, Gmail chats, chapbooks and poems about vegan food, come across as a literary extension of Vice magazine and have gained a small army of readers as a result. I’d be inclined to call it Generation Yawn on account of the dangerously high levels of ennui on display, Generation Zzz, Generation Tweet or perhaps more appropriately, Generation :(

     Either way it all suggests either a highly exciting time or the impending demise of modern American literature as we know it, depending upon where you stand or possibly how old you are. A generation gets the culture it deserves, and it’ll be interesting to see which blogging generation writers can make the leap from screen to page – and stay the distance.

     The Antinomies of Action:
     Tao Lin’s newest work, a novella called Shoplifting from American Apparel, is like a version of Malle’s My Dinner with André written especially for glue-huffers and self-loathing masturbation addicts; in other words, Lin’s book is content with—and perhaps even self-consciously celebrates—its own banality and mediocrity, never aspiring to be anything more. Whereas Malle’s film aims to explore the roots of postmodern ennui and the generally overwhelming burdens of the human condition (as well as this condition’s effect on artistic production, explicitly asking how the artist might hope to move a contemporary—i.e., alienated and comatose—audience), this novella simply wallows in its mundanity like the proverbial pig in shit. And it stinks.

     I remember once reading a quote from the filmmaker Jim Jarmusch who, paraphrasing Godard, said something to this effect: There are no original ideas and, thus, it’s okay to borrow or steal in the course of creating a work of art because what ultimately matters is not where you found things (i.e., ideas) but where you take them. Tao Lin has jerked off all over the spirit of Jarmusch’s sentiment.

     Let’s look at a quick example that will hopefully illustrate how Lin has simply stolen without shame (though I’m willing to bet the irony, despite his novella’s title, was lost on him) and, further, has actively refused to take us or those ideas anywhere new or interesting. The first quote is from Malle’s aforementioned film (the “test” that Wally refers to here is life, generally, or what we might call existential meaning-making) and the second quote is from Lin’s new novella:

     “If things get too quiet and I find myself just sitting there, you know, as we were saying before, I mean, whether I’m by myself or I’m with someone else, I just have this feeling of, my God, I’m going to be revealed. In other words, I’m adequate to do any sort of a task but I’m not adequate just to be a human being. I mean, in other words, I’m not—if I’m just trapped there and I’m not allowed to do things but all I can do is just be there, well, I’ll just fail. I mean, in other words, I can pass any other sort of a test and I can even get an A if I put in the required effort, but I just don’t have a clue how to pass this test. I mean, of course, I realize this isn’t a test but, um, I see it as a test. And I feel that I’m going to fail it. It’s very scary. I just feel totally at sea.”

     What this excerpt from Malle’s film makes clear is that 1) this is but a fragment of a much larger and ambitious conversation, one that takes place over the course of more than 90 minutes and that 2) Wally is clearly conflicted, torn between his compulsion to be productive—a result of society’s prodding—and the existential anguish that is the necessary result of man’s inherent freedom to simply be. And, at times, this larger conversation—particularly because of the questions that are raised during it—is truly remarkable for its power to destabilize us, to challenge us, to force us to reconsider the foundation upon which our society (along with its arts and ideas) is built. Perhaps that all doesn’t come through in the one bit of dialogue I’ve selected here but you’ll have to take my word for it. On the other hand, here is a passage from Tao Lin’s novella (a tiny piece which, unfortunately, is representative of its larger whole):

     “‘Really?’ said Sam. ‘I don’t know. Maybe an asteroid will hit me after my next two books come out. I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what to do, like, overall, or something.’”

     Who was that guy who played Ernest in those stupid movies from the 80s? Hold on, let me look it up. … Okay, I’m back. Yeah, it was Jim Varney. If Jim Varney were to play Wally in Tao Lin’s adaptation of Malle’s film, which is essentially what Shoplifting from American Apparel is, the title Ernest Goes to Dinner with André would have been entirely appropriate. (Okay, I may have been stretching a little too far there in order to make a joke but, really, this is what reading Tao Lin does to you.)

     A reviewer, writing for The Stranger, presumably sober and completely serious, has said that “Tao Lin is a revolutionary.” Perhaps Mr. Lin has some career in radical politics of which I’m completely ignorant, as, surely, this reviewer, in his invocation of the word “revolutionary,” could not have been referring to Lin’s literary style—if, that is, it can be called a style at all; Tao Lin writes in impotent, staccato sentences, like Hemingway after a lobotomy and a sloppy castration.

     Lin’s one strength is that his prose is quite readable. His characters are quirky enough (and are quirky just often enough) to keep you hanging on—assuming, of course, that you can continue to stomach Lin’s annoying, too-cute riffs on 20-something/hipster culture (e.g., veganism, retail theft, Gmail Chat conversations, and indie rock) for upwards of 100 pages. And his characters are like mutant middle-schoolers, released into the adult world, who need constant affirmation along with their daily naps and juice-boxes; they’d benefit from some supervision, too. The only reason I don’t hate this novella is because it didn’t waste too much of my time.

     Publishers Weekly:
     The Internet has spawned a generation exceedingly more awkward, apathetic and lost than any that has come before—at least, this seems to be the message and intention of Lin’s underwhelming novella (after Eeeee Eee Eeee and Bed). Sam, a young writer with “good rankings on Amazon,” works at an organic vegan restaurant and spends much of his time checking e-mails and instant messaging with his equally detached friends while wandering downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. There is, indeed, the shoplifting of a T-shirt (and, later, earphones), the acts—both of which end in Sam’s arrest—motivated by a need for “variety.” Though Lin strives to paint a portrait of a generation of disaffected youth “caught in the soft blue light of Internet Explorer,” this offers little more than lackadaisical pop culture reportage that reads mostly like a diary rendered in third person.

     –Finally, kids, although you are awkward, apathetic and lost, don’t fret; your adult pilot will guide during your descend from childhood. But brace yourselves: on the way to becoming grownups, you’re in for a bumpy ride.

110. September 11th, 2009 / 12:50 pm zachary german—

     damn

     hadn’t read reviews not published on html giant before

     i have ‘morning wood’ right now

111. September 11th, 2009 / 8:50 am zachary german—

     damn

     hadn’t read reviews not published on html giant before

     i have ‘morning wood’ right now

112. September 11th, 2009 / 2:19 pm Justin Taylor—

     Hey thanks for this note. It means a lot to us. And also, you’re welcome. :)

113. September 11th, 2009 / 10:19 am Justin Taylor—

     Hey thanks for this note. It means a lot to us. And also, you’re welcome. :)

114. September 11th, 2009 / 2:33 pm Jimmy Chen—

     hey sully, i’m going to respond earnestly here, just cuz you confronted me in other comments. you don’t like tao’s writing, okay — that’s what’s great about art and literature, is that it’s benign and inconsequential, meaning, to like something or not really isn’t that important. say, guy1 likes heminway and guy2 hates hemingway — that conversation/discourse is very boring. i just think it’s funny coz you are calling “us” childish and immature, and you are doing so by calling yourself teddy roselvelt and attacking strangers anonymously on a blog you despise. that’s cool too — stuff like this is exciting. every 3 months or so, we get someone like you, someone who leaves angry posts and attacks people, and then they get bored and leave. you mentioned sep11, so my main point is: yah, a lot of people died and it was horrible and way too large of a spiritual and/or political event for us to understand. so, why is our childish evocative to you? aren’t there real problems out there? by out there i mean, not here. peace bro.

115. September 11th, 2009 / 10:33 am Jimmy Chen—

     hey sully, i’m going to respond earnestly here, just cuz you confronted me in other comments. you don’t like tao’s writing, okay — that’s what’s great about art and literature, is that it’s benign and inconsequential, meaning, to like something or not really isn’t that important. say, guy1 likes heminway and guy2 hates hemingway — that conversation/discourse is very boring. i just think it’s funny coz you are calling “us” childish and immature, and you are doing so by calling yourself teddy roselvelt and attacking strangers anonymously on a blog you despise. that’s cool too — stuff like this is exciting. every 3 months or so, we get someone like you, someone who leaves angry posts and attacks people, and then they get bored and leave. you mentioned sep11, so my main point is: yah, a lot of people died and it was horrible and way too large of a spiritual and/or political event for us to understand. so, why is our childish evocative to you? aren’t there real problems out there? by out there i mean, not here. peace bro.

116. September 11th, 2009 / 3:15 pm Ryan—

     I don’t have a problem with Lin’s work. But his “fans” are fucking morons.

117. September 11th, 2009 / 11:15 am Ryan—

     I don’t have a problem with Lin’s work. But his “fans” are fucking morons.

118. September 11th, 2009 / 11:25 am Gene Morgan—

     I’ve got a college degree, a wife, two kids, a mortgage, a car payment, two small businesses (including this site), and hemorrhoids.

     However, I have you to thank for leading me into adulthood. Thank you so much, wise anonymous commenter! You’ve changed my life!

119. September 11th, 2009 / 3:25 pm Gene Morgan—

     I’ve got a college degree, a wife, two kids, a mortgage, a car payment, two small businesses (including this site), and hemorrhoids.

     However, I have you to thank for leading me into adulthood. Thank you so much, wise anonymous commenter! You’ve changed my life!

120. September 11th, 2009 / 3:51 pm Ryan Call—

     did he have a moustache!?

121. September 11th, 2009 / 11:51 am Ryan Call—

     did he have a moustache!?

122. September 11th, 2009 / 3:52 pm Ryan Call—

     hey sully, my dad flies for usairways, he says ‘h!’

123. September 11th, 2009 / 11:52 am Ryan Call—

     hey sully, my dad flies for usairways, he says ‘h!’

124. September 11th, 2009 / 5:01 pm Matt Cozart—

     I don’t know. I’m a fan of his, and I’ve never fucked a moron. Not even once.

125. September 11th, 2009 / 1:01 pm Matt Cozart—

     I don’t know. I’m a fan of his, and I’ve never fucked a moron. Not even once.

126. September 11th, 2009 / 5:22 pm Ryan—

     You can’t feel a moron from the inside.

127. September 11th, 2009 / 1:22 pm Ryan—

     You can’t feel a moron from the inside.

128. September 11th, 2009 / 5:35 pm amy—

     there are no bad reviews or negative quotations on the book’s Wikipedia page, so those bad reviews must be made up:
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoplifting_from_American_Apparel

129. September 11th, 2009 / 1:35 pm amy—

     there are no bad reviews or negative quotations on the book’s Wikipedia page, so those bad reviews must be made up:
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoplifting_from_American_Apparel

130. September 11th, 2009 / 5:46 pm Ryan—

     Yes, because Wikipedia is unerring.

131. September 11th, 2009 / 1:46 pm Ryan—

     Yes, because Wikipedia is unerring.

132. September 11th, 2009 / 6:10 pm Ryan—

     Um….

     From Wikipedia:
     It was published September 15 2009 by Melville House Publishing and has received mixed, strong reviews. The Village Voice called it a “fragile, elusive book.” Bookslut said, “it shares an affected childishness with bands like The Moldy Peaches and it has a put-on weirdness reminiscent of Miranda July’s No One Belongs Here More Than You.”

     mixed reviews, affected, put on.

133. September 11th, 2009 / 2:10 pm Ryan—

     Um….

     From Wikipedia:
     It was published September 15 2009 by Melville House Publishing and has received mixed, strong reviews. The Village Voice called it a “fragile, elusive book.” Bookslut said, “it shares an affected childishness with bands like The Moldy Peaches and it has a put-on weirdness reminiscent of Miranda July’s No One Belongs Here More Than You.”

     mixed reviews, affected, put on.

134. September 11th, 2009 / 6:26 pm mike—

     sometimes i don’t understand how irony doesn’t come through on the internet to some people

135. September 11th, 2009 / 2:26 pm mike—

     sometimes i don’t understand how irony doesn’t come through on the internet to some people

136. September 11th, 2009 / 6:36 pm Ryan—

     Me too. It’s so surprising.

137. September 11th, 2009 / 2:36 pm Ryan—

     Me too. It’s so surprising.

138. September 11th, 2009 / 10:42 pm jereme—

     tao, no sendy? tao no respond? no want “shitstorm” review tao tao?

     yeah i didn’t think so.

139. September 11th, 2009 / 6:42 pm jereme—

     tao, no sendy? tao no respond? no want “shitstorm” review tao tao?

     yeah i didn’t think so.

140. September 11th, 2009 / 11:10 pm Mike—

     If you want people to know you’re being ironic, you have to put single-quotes around your irony.

141. September 11th, 2009 / 7:10 pm Mike—

     If you want people to know you’re being ironic, you have to put single-quotes around your irony.

142. September 11th, 2009 / 11:56 pm Gian—

     Or use this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_mark

     I don’t know why this is not on the keyboard. It would solve so many problems.

143. September 11th, 2009 / 7:56 pm Gian—

     Or use this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_mark

     I don’t know why this is not on the keyboard. It would solve so many problems.

144. September 12th, 2009 / 1:58 am Ryan—

     Like …irony begins now…

145. September 11th, 2009 / 9:58 pm Ryan—

     Like …irony begins now…

146. September 12th, 2009 / 3:07 pm Link You: 9.12.09 | Impose—

     […] really liked our interview with Tao Lin, but we also really liked theHTML Giant Gchat review of Shoplifting From American Apparel by Justin Taylor and Drew […]

147. September 13th, 2009 / 7:45 pm Jeffrey Heart—

     hmm. thanks.

     nice zak smith interview justin.

148. September 13th, 2009 / 3:45 pm Jeffrey Heart—

     hmm. thanks.

     nice zak smith interview justin.

149. September 14th, 2009 / 1:05 am kathryn regina—

     haha gene morgan is funny. i thought the book was enjoyable to read. i was watching tv when i started reading it and i turned the tv off because the book was more entertaining. that almost never happens. my favorite part is when he calls chopin ’emo.’ it was so earnest and nerdy. chopin is my favorite too. and he’s totally emo.

150. September 13th, 2009 / 9:05 pm kathryn regina—

     haha gene morgan is funny. i thought the book was enjoyable to read. i was watching tv when i started reading it and i turned the tv off because the book was more entertaining. that almost never happens. my favorite part is when he calls chopin ’emo.’ it was so earnest and nerdy. chopin is my favorite too. and he’s totally emo.

151. September 14th, 2009 / 2:56 pm amy—

     The subject of this entry keeps removing anything negative. I had to put back in this “Gawker has referred to him as “maybe perhaps the single most irritating person we’ve ever had to deal with.” [1]” Redandwhitesheets —Preceding undated comment was added at 11:31, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

     I just put back in the Gawker quote about subject. This is a significant statement by a significant source and no reason given for its removal. Perhaps the individual who did so, under the name K2wiki may be a sockpuppet for the subject. Redandwhitesheets

     This article sounds like it was written by a friend of the subject. I’ve deleted irrelevant information–his nickname, “The Asian John Updike,” for instance–but I think there remains a notability issue. Almost all the secondary sources noted are blogs: is there enough verifiably independent, published material to justify an article? Jweather 22:59, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

     Time Out New York, Time Out Chicago, Publisher’s Weekly, Melville House Publishing, etc.

     [edit] Blatant Advertising
     Whether or not this author has enough notability to merit inclusion, this article is a blatant case of self-aggrandizement and advertising, exhibiting nothing of the style or neutrality appropriate to an encyclopedia article. See, for example, the comments (esp “this is Tao Lin’s secretary . . .”) at goodreads and that he is probably not, in fact, dead. If someone in publishing, criticism, or another literary field who’s unaffiliated with this author and familiar with his work, influence, and level of success wants to rewrite this article with NPOV, then great; if not, the article should probably be proposed for deletion. –Ninly 16:03, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

     Upon a little further research and a review of the rather shameful edit histories of the article and this talk page, it looks like this article clearly merits a speedy deletion under the “blatant advertising” criterion, or at least a deletion proposal for the notability issues. Note also deletion of “dissent” in the histories. I haven’t dabbled in this aspect of wikipedia, so i won’t be the first to tag the article for deletion, but let me know if you agree. Also note that if these two comments are removed, I will formally propose for deletion. –Ninly 16:48, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

     I am in the publishing industry, and am not affiliated with Tao Lin. The subject of this page has had multiple books published (including on widely-distributed national presses), has had profiles in national and regional magazines; his books are widely distributed and reviewed, and he has done readings nationwide. This is quite clear from the external links available at the article. The article, as it stands now, understates his notability if anything. He also has been at the center of various controversies in the last year or two, that have apparently attracted pranksters to this page. If you want to lock the editing, that is one thing. But to delete an obviously notable fiction writer and poet because of the lack of NPOV of the pranksters seems to me to be the wrong approach. –K2wiki 18:20, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

     Please note that the article as it stands right now is extremely neutral and straightforward. I have not read old versions of the page that may have been vandalized. But again, don’t hold the subject responsible for the work of vandals. A great many people have an axe to grind about this subject, as witness comments at the top of this page; I request that the editing on this page be restricted. –K2wiki 18:21, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

     Yeah, that’s definitely fair and well put with regards to Lin’s notability, although the article was definitely neither neutral or appropriate at the time I discovered it, and it seemed at the time like more self-aggrandizement was involved — That is, I just didn’t recognize it as vandalism. Thanks for your response. –Ninly 03:19, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

     [edit] tao lin fraud
     tao lin is fraudulent in his behavior to self-promote. He has altered many entries on the Gordon Lish page in order to link it to himself. He has named himself as Lish’s son (which I removed today). He has written short stories using Gordon Lish’s name as teacher and friend. Gordon Lish is neither. He doesn’t even like him or his work. This dude must be stopped. Do a google search and see what ruckus tao lin is causing just to have his fifteen minutes of fame.Mewlhouse 18:46, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

     I have no personal or professional affiliation with Tao Lin, but I balk at this reactionary response, particularly labeling him as “fraudulent.” I certainly understand and agree with key policies that limit the content of the entry and its associated links, but Tao Lin has garnered much of his notoriety due to what you call “ruckus;” his internet presence is largely responsible for his success. Plus, such responses only seem to amuse him and encourage his behavior. I point to the gawker link for evidence. Sisyphe42 (talk) 20:36, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

     [edit] Cleanup
     I’m working on cleaning up this bio and will delete anything irrelevant or that isn’t completely sourced, per BLP policy since this individual seems to be somewhat controversial. Note that I have no connection (or particular interest) in Tao Lin; just bringing this article up to code. Part of that will mean removing a lot of external links. — phoebe / (talk) 17:49, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

     might as well delete the whole article. this is about as important to the world as another pokemon article. 24.18.229.198 (talk) 07:59, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

152. September 14th, 2009 / 10:56 am amy—

     The subject of this entry keeps removing anything negative. I had to put back in this “Gawker has referred to him as “maybe perhaps the single most irritating person we’ve ever had to deal with.” [1]” Redandwhitesheets —Preceding undated comment was added at 11:31, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

     I just put back in the Gawker quote about subject. This is a significant statement by a significant source and no reason given for its removal. Perhaps the individual who did so, under the name K2wiki may be a sockpuppet for the subject. Redandwhitesheets

     This article sounds like it was written by a friend of the subject. I’ve deleted irrelevant information–his nickname, “The Asian John Updike,” for instance–but I think there remains a notability issue. Almost all the secondary sources noted are blogs: is there enough verifiably independent, published material to justify an article? Jweather 22:59, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

     Time Out New York, Time Out Chicago, Publisher’s Weekly, Melville House Publishing, etc.

     [edit] Blatant Advertising
     Whether or not this author has enough notability to merit inclusion, this article is a blatant case of self-aggrandizement and advertising, exhibiting nothing of the style or neutrality appropriate to an encyclopedia article. See, for example, the comments (esp “this is Tao Lin’s secretary . . .”) at goodreads and that he is probably not, in fact, dead. If someone in publishing, criticism, or another literary field who’s unaffiliated with this author and familiar with his work, influence, and level of success wants to rewrite this article with NPOV, then great; if not, the article should probably be proposed for deletion. –Ninly 16:03, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

     Upon a little further research and a review of the rather shameful edit histories of the article and this talk page, it looks like this article clearly merits a speedy deletion under the “blatant advertising” criterion, or at least a deletion proposal for the notability issues. Note also deletion of “dissent” in the histories. I haven’t dabbled in this aspect of wikipedia, so i won’t be the first to tag the article for deletion, but let me know if you agree. Also note that if these two comments are removed, I will formally propose for deletion. –Ninly 16:48, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

     I am in the publishing industry, and am not affiliated with Tao Lin. The subject of this page has had multiple books published (including on widely-distributed national presses), has had profiles in national and regional magazines; his books are widely distributed and reviewed, and he has done readings nationwide. This is quite clear from the external links available at the article. The article, as it stands now, understates his notability if anything. He also has been at the center of various controversies in the last year or two, that have apparently attracted pranksters to this page. If you want to lock the editing, that is one thing. But to delete an obviously notable fiction writer and poet because of the lack of NPOV of the pranksters seems to me to be the wrong approach. –K2wiki 18:20, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

     Please note that the article as it stands right now is extremely neutral and straightforward. I have not read old versions of the page that may have been vandalized. But again, don’t hold the subject responsible for the work of vandals. A great many people have an axe to grind about this subject, as witness comments at the top of this page; I request that the editing on this page be restricted. –K2wiki 18:21, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

     Yeah, that’s definitely fair and well put with regards to Lin’s notability, although the article was definitely neither neutral or appropriate at the time I discovered it, and it seemed at the time like more self-aggrandizement was involved — That is, I just didn’t recognize it as vandalism. Thanks for your response. –Ninly 03:19, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

     [edit] tao lin fraud
     tao lin is fraudulent in his behavior to self-promote. He has altered many entries on the Gordon Lish page in order to link it to himself. He has named himself as Lish’s son (which I removed today). He has written short stories using Gordon Lish’s name as teacher and friend. Gordon Lish is neither. He doesn’t even like him or his work. This dude must be stopped. Do a google search and see what ruckus tao lin is causing just to have his fifteen minutes of fame.Mewlhouse 18:46, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

     I have no personal or professional affiliation with Tao Lin, but I balk at this reactionary response, particularly labeling him as “fraudulent.” I certainly understand and agree with key policies that limit the content of the entry and its associated links, but Tao Lin has garnered much of his notoriety due to what you call “ruckus;” his internet presence is largely responsible for his success. Plus, such responses only seem to amuse him and encourage his behavior. I point to the gawker link for evidence. Sisyphe42 (talk) 20:36, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

     [edit] Cleanup
     I’m working on cleaning up this bio and will delete anything irrelevant or that isn’t completely sourced, per BLP policy since this individual seems to be somewhat controversial. Note that I have no connection (or particular interest) in Tao Lin; just bringing this article up to code. Part of that will mean removing a lot of external links. — phoebe / (talk) 17:49, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

     might as well delete the whole article. this is about as important to the world as another pokemon article. 24.18.229.198 (talk) 07:59, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

153. September 17th, 2009 / 12:11 am bearfish—

     “pilates monster”

     cuddly

     “he’s more human sounding on the computer”

     damn

154. September 16th, 2009 / 8:11 pm bearfish—

     “pilates monster”

     cuddly

     “he’s more human sounding on the computer”

     damn

155. September 18th, 2009 / 6:32 am Rozi Jovanovic—

     I think this is one of my favorite lines from SFAA (p. 36 – too tired to put it in context):

     “I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking about it until you peed outside and I thought about variety.” –Sam

156. September 18th, 2009 / 2:32 am Rozi Jovanovic—

     I think this is one of my favorite lines from SFAA (p. 36 – too tired to put it in context):

     “I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking about it until you peed outside and I thought about variety.” –Sam

157. September 24th, 2009 / 4:45 pm POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE—

     […] are even doing reviews of book as gchat conversations. Check out one on Tao Lin’s new book on HTMLGIANT. Used to be that everyone wanted to be a DJ – now everyone wants to do nothing all day and […]

158. November 26th, 2009 / 12:33 am hi—

     things tao lin has written move me to experience emotions

159. November 25th, 2009 / 8:33 pm hi—

     things tao lin has written move me to experience emotions