August 15th, 2011 / 9:51 am
Snippets
Snippets
Blake Butler—
Tao Lin’s next novel, reportedly titled Taipei, Taiwan, has been sold to Vintage. More info at the Observer, “I honestly feel, to a large degree, like me and everyone else are close to death and that the awareness of this has, to me, precluded thoughts of “making it” (this is a theme of the novel).”
It’s not that he’s less loathsome than James Fry – it’s just a different sort of loathsome
tao lin >
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What’s wrong with James Fry?
We’re fucked.
He convinced me to turn my thesis into a YA novel and then he couldn’t sell it!
Maybe he was mad you didn’t know how to spell his name correctly?
Seriously though, your last comment makes me sad.
This is awesome. Hurrah for TL.
Tao used up all the ‘e’s
Fair point.
The world definitely needs another hipster-existential novel written in a deadpan style.
I wanted to post an ASCII swastika but I felt it might offend
good job :)
vintage ass knopferfuckers
bien!
I’m curious about how someone who feels himself and everyone else are close to death would want get an agent to sell his novel to a major publishing house, but then dismiss thoughts of “making it.” I mean, if you want an agent–or want to seriously entertain the idea of writing for a living, which I think Tao does–don’t you have a goal of “making it?” (whatever nuanced definition you want to assign “making it,” I don’t know, generally I think everyone can agree the term means “success” in some form). Like, tell me what you feel right now Tao Lin, do you feel happy about this? Did you just not like the term “making it” or something? Were you just embarrassed about answering a question (talking about the quote above/question referenced in the Observer) that would require you to take ownership over your success? Does that not fit with the “we’re all going to die” thing?
The world definitely needs another “Guest” commenter to add a snarky comment to their two-comment history.
The world definitely needs another “Guest” commenter without any comment history to snarkily comment on another “Guest” comment.
The world definitely needs another “Guest” commenter with one previous comment in their history stating:
everyone talking shit about him on here please do me this:
post a video of you 720 a staircase or doing a 3whip
i doubt most of you talking shit would even 3 that staircase.
to write a snarky comment about “Guest” commentary.
what does the world need?
What? I was serious. We need Tao Lin to tell us that “we are close to death” in 150-200 pages of declarative sentences. Don’t protest so much.
A hipster-existential novel written in a deadpan style that investigates middle-class ennui.
I see the Vice Magazine crowd has arrived.
By the way, that was meant for the other Guest, not you.
the world needs a 20+ comment thread in a news announcement about tao lin
i think he made the comment to be funny, and because it would be impolitic to say “yes i have made it, thank you.”
Yes, he does. How else would he be relevant? I’m assuming you’ve read the wretched prose.
In other news, great advances in porcine avionics were announced this morning. Look out your windows! Yes, they’re flying.
i feel really good about this.
i’m glad
i feel like i really like this and i’m glad i feel this way.
i feel like there are butterflies earnestly swimming in my stomach over this news.
I like the title. Does it take place in Taipei, Taiwan?
Great news. I’m interested to find out if this novel will be an extension of Tao’s story “Taipei, Taiwan,” which is a powerful, excellent read.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IDNkRlTHrU
this john cage movie is really boring
wait a minute, this isnt twitter
where am i
is this novel a way to get other people to go first
that would be sweeee eee eeeeet
‘Taipei’ should be the title.
Drop ‘, Taiwan’.
You’re welcome.
the world needs
either you’re part of the solution, or you are
correct!
I don’t care if Tao Lin is annoying or not. Apologies if I’m repeating anything that you folks discussed this in another thread, but there’s a larger story here about Melville House screwing over Tao Lin. Why, for example, didn’t The Stranger’s Christopher Frizzelle didn’t have the balls to go forward with Part Two?
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/nightstand/Content?oid=8742109
I doubt very highly that Tao is going to say anything critical about Dennis Johnson or Melville House. But if Melville House has screwed over Tao (and Tao’s speedy hookup with Bill Clegg, together with the speedy deal with Vintage, suggests a speedy desire to escape Melville House), then it’s quite likely that they’ve screwed over other writers. What can we do to look into this?
melville house hasn’t ‘screwed me’ at all, i’m happy that they published five of my books
i think my third novel being published by vintage will benefit melville house (via increased coverage and sales of those five books, including foreign sales) and me (via having money, from this and from foreign sales of this, which wouldn’t be as much, i think, without a literary agent, to focus on writing)
i’ve got something to say!!
I am excited to read Tao’s new novel and am happy he will make a nice amount of money off his writing due to this. I also feel like anyone that feels negatively re: Tao selling a novel to Vintage has no ‘real’ reason to feel negatively about.
I feel you, bro. I feel earnestly excited and its a great feeling to feel earnestly excited. Did I mention how much I love the verb, “feel”? I feel like ‘feel’ is a sharp, fresh verb. Feel me?
ghostriding even shit whips > planking, RT if you agree
;)
what the world needs now is a new kind of tension cause the old one just bores me to death.
David Lowery knows.
Agreed with this. We can always trash “realism” and women. This never gets old around here and is widely encouraged.
word choice?
your comments are planks, silly clown
Did you read “Richard Yates”?
sincere congratulations to tao lin
I liked Tao Lin’s new book better when it was called “Palo Alto” by James Franco.
I see. I actually agree.
I thought he may have said it to be funny, too. Saying “yes I have made it, thank you” just sounds like agreeing with a true statement, not being impolitic. I don’t know. Just musing over this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-r-V0uK4u0&ob=av2e
http://youtu.be/8-r-V0u
y’all buggin’
y’all buggin’
i just read “today the sky is blue and white with bright blue spots and a small pale moon and i will destroy our relationship today” a few days ago and got into a bearparade.com black hole. wish they still updated/published things, does anyone know what happened with them?
think i read somewhere tao said it was going to be more like the story he had in “vice,” which is cool by me.
gasp how dare you
In related news, I just sold “I liked Tao Lin’s new book better when it was called “Palo Alto” by James Franco: The HTMLGIANT story” to Vintage.
did you try re-working it as a memoir?
Can you elaborate?
Can you elaborate?
Can you not elaborate?
5 books? Really? You have reached your limit, Sir, uh I mean Mamm. 5 books should take a lifetime! Unless mediocrity is your goal. Somebody, please make him stop!!!!
Wait! I just realized, the book is dead. Oh, thank God! Please, nobody tell him about ”movies”. What? …
I think the world needs existential-hipster middle bonbons manufactured by the ennui-class
I don’t know what the world may need but I’m sure as hell that it starts with me and that’s a wisdom, I’ve laughed at
correctimundo wallet segundo
sweeeee eee eeeetly malformed URL content sis/bro
can you elaborate on your own mediocrity stop button
put in your own scare quotes deadbeat
not “despite”
not a point
there’s an e in James
You get one ‘e’ free, for the rest you go speak to Tao
no prob I’m daidgod
I’m Avoid-da-BoomBorn
i’m about 15% sure this new book will be worth a damn, if anything at all.
i felt high levels of interest while reading your comment and earnestly feel that you are on twitter
sigh…
shaun, u alright?
idk… just feelin kinda down lately…
damn… do u.. need a hug
stephen i dont know if even a hug will console me… sigh… do u ever feel this way
feel like i don’t even know what 2 do w/ myself, man, feel like i should write something to deal but seems so useless
u know. i do. wow…. now that u say it… sometimes i’m going for a walk and i wish.. someone was walking with me and… holding my lil hand
sometimes my hand just feels 2 empty. like do u know what i mean?
were all walking alone its just that sometimes we can see ppl off on the horizon and we go to them think weve finally found ‘something’ but then when we get there theyre busted looking and your like damn… i thought… damn…
idk mike… there are other things 2 do with a free hand… i mean… idk…
damn bros… feel like u are 2 entwined with each other to help me out… damn… feel like maybe i should stare vacantly at my gchat window, then close it… u know?
somestimes i feel like even writing wont ‘help’ like it would just make me think more about how i feel even tho i dont even know what to say to make people know what i feel
god it just
you know
*~hehe~* hi yall
shaun i dont know what youre saying… shaun… can we just… talk?
like… really talk
m. maybe you should watch this sometimes when im really feeling this kind of thing i watch this and i feel better it didnt work for me this time but it might for you so idk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z4DpA5YZ94
shaun.. that didnt work for me =(
hi elaine… are u sad… im… where am i… omg
man i hope so
ill explain how i feel below
edit: in full
ne neither :*(
so i feel like im sort of ‘adrift’ in this whole social thing where ppl are like ‘connecting’ whether its on gchat or facebook chat or msn messenger or camfrog but when i log into one of these i get rly anxious and sort of feel like im ‘not there’ and im watching me be there and then i worry that im actually a ghost because its happened before but then i realize nobodys talked to me yet so then i get more anxious and i wonder if ghosts get anxious then what if a ghost gets too anxious is that what makes a poltergeist because i really dont want to do that to my roommates so i just log out and lie down on my bed focusing really hard on not making the walls collapse or the tv bleed and usu i do okay but sometimes ‘not’
effin htmlgiant bleak ass dark void
i dont relate to that, shaun… tbh
elaine
oh okay well thanks for trying steve i can see you did your best
shaun… we’ve talked about this… i give a lot out… and u give… i mean u give a LOT out… but… it’s just never enough… and… i just dont know if its worth it.. we’re different ppl… thats the thing… were not the same..person. physically. we’re literally two differennt ppl
elaine… it’s not going to be ok
you are shaun gannon king of beers
im not the one who wanted to be two different people stephen dont bring that into this unless you want me to call you on it. thanks in advance.
bro…
elaine
Damn man. The dude’s been given 50k for a book. Technically man, not just for a book but an idea of a book. Or perhaps the promise of a book. Whatever. This is incredible. And all the majority of you can do is hate? Cot dayum. Seriously. If someone gave you 50k for a project, there is a high probability *someone* is not going to like it. So, you know, picture yourself and then try to keep hating.
shaun… we discussed that we wouldn’t discuss this in public… so youre breaking the ground rules and idk even.. what do i do with that
you go fuck yourself with that okay
see it looks like m. gets me stephen
i think ill talk to him instead
so m.
u got cam?
i fell off the couch. trying to get back up.
stephen. i am wearing a bright eyes shirt it has upside down crosses on it
wtf..
i dont care.
know what forget it im going to go get sushi
Rough draft for Tao Lin’s next novel, folks. Right here.
i got cam but my mom is home so no sounds okay u have 2 b real quiet 2
effing…shaun gannon u gonna share some of dat sushi?
omg…..omg
Yeah, people are hating because of the money. Get the fuck out of here.
realistically i think people are hating because they don’t think tao lin should be getting 50k instead of idk some other writer so yeah they are hating on the money but it’s not like they’re hating b/c tao lin is “selling out” they’re hating because they don’t think he deserves 50k different story bros
Well, those people are stupid if they’re just realizing that the least-deserving people often “get money.”
This is the first I’ve even heard of such a large advance, and I couldn’t care less. Means nothing insofar as my beliefs about this brand of moronic, privileged nihilism passing itself off as “literature.”
omg the sushi place wasnt even open even though on yelp it said there open til 2 i went there and the sign said 10pm i had to go to taco bell and get three nachos bell grande no meat no cheese no sour cream. someone tell me how my life could be any worse right now
elaine
no
see the tragic tale above for the why
shaun
come back
what do you want from me. what else could i possibly give you.
um tldr
thats ok we can do sound off so uhh do u use Creative Live Cam Pro lets meet in one of their rooms
thats ok we can do sound off so uhh do u use Creative Live Cam Pro lets meet in one of their rooms
dont
even
oh my fucking god right now
Well, those people are stupid if they’re just realizing that the least-deserving people often “get money, fuck bitches, smoke trees.”
i don’t think it’s a recent realization for most people. seems like it makes sense to be mad or w/e if someone gets 50k and u think that 50k should have gone elsewhere.
I think it’s important to note that a defender for Lin was the first one to mention money on the thread.
I think it’s important to note that a defender for Lin was the first one to mention money on the thread.
no, felt stressed about the child actor names
Oh. Well, it’s not about Richard Yates.
You shouldn’t have said that in public. Now Tao Lin has the first chapter for his new book.
it would be better if you weren’t a faggot vegan.