michael silverblatt interviewed me for kcrw's bookworm

the interview can be listened to here, more information about michael silverblatt is here; bookworm's archives contain 3x joy williams, 4x ann beattie, 3x lydia davis, 1x mary robison, 1x bobbie ann mason, 7x nicholson baker, 5x david foster wallace, 1x gordon lish, 1x stephen dixon, 1x clancy martin, 2x kurt vonnegut, 2x lorrie moore interview

norway has purchased 'shoplifting from american apparel'

cappelen damm, a company some are calling 'norway's premier publisher,' the result of a merger between companies formed in the 1800's, is publishing shoplifting from american apparel in 2010 or 2011

"selected coverage" re Shoplifting from American Apparel

12/14 Review, The Globe and Mail (vaguely "damning")
12/03 Interview, KCRW's Bookworm (I seem "brain-damaged")
11/13 Review, The Guardian (positive)
11/09 Review, Ron Silliman (positive)
11/04 Interview, Vernacular (I seem okay)
10/13 Review, The Rumpus (observational, with concerns)
10/08 Review, Austin Chronicle (positive)
10/07 Interview, The Stranger (I seem "brain-damaged")
10/07 Interview, New Hampshire Public Radio (I seem okay)
10/07 Interview, Gosh Damn (I seem okay)
10/05 Interview, The Millions (I seem okay)
10/02 Review, Matador (observational)
09/30 Review, San Francisco Chronicle (positive)
09/29 Interview, The Rumpus (I seem okay)
09/28 Review, HTMLGIANT (positive)
09/25 Review, Yale Daily News (positive)
09/24 Essay, Largehearted Boy (observational)
09/24 Review, Los Angeles Times (seems concerned)
09/22 Review, Time Out Chicago (positive, with concerns)
09/22 Interview, Brand X (I seem "brain-damaged")
09/22 Excerpt, This Recording (~7 pages)
09/22 Interview, Dazed Digital (I seem okay)
09/22 Interview, Stop Smiling (I seem "brain-damaged")
09/19 Profile, The Daily Beast (I seem "brain-damaged")
09/18 Review, The Boston Phoenix (positive, with concerns)
09/18 Review, The Quietus ("damning")
09/17 Review, The Faster Times (positive)
09/16 Interview, FREEwiliamsburg (I seem "brain-damaged")
09/15 Excerpt, Hipster Runoff (~10 pages)
09/11 Interview, Impose Magazine (I seem okay)
09/10 Gchat, HTMLGIANT (positive)
09/08 Review, Village Voice ("damning," I think)
09/08 Review, Anthem (positive, with concerns maybe)
09/08 Review, Bookslut ("damning")
09/02 Review, Time Out New York (positive, with concerns)
09/02 Review, 3:AM Magazine (positive, with concerns)

Older coverage/more info here; publisher's page here; direct media inquiries here.

0 people entered my contest

'why, and how, did this happen?'

seems like an email i received this morning may contain the answer to that question

this morning 'mcgraw-hill,' the leading publisher of college textbooks, working on an anonymous tip, emailed me expressing interest in using the tao lin experimental contest case as 'the main case study/concrete example' for the sociological concepts 'the bystander effect' and 'diffusion of responsibility,' replacing the kitty genovese case, in next year's sociology 101 textbooks, to increase the relevancy of sociology, by connecting it with blogs, they said, and also to appease christian groups that complain about the violence and implied nihilism, that the murderer just wanted 'to kill a woman,' which 'the kitty genovese case' seems to promote

i'm not sure how i feel about this, seems offensive yet lucrative

should i do it, they want me to capitalize my sentences, and not use the word 'depressed'

is it 'even' true, does 'the tao lin experimental contest case' really demonstrate 'diffusion of responsibility' and 'the bystander effect,' will professors still be able to assuredly put those concepts on mid-terms, without fear of students arguing with them

does why 'a person could have paypal'd tao lin 1 cent to gain ~$250 worth of items, but didn't' correspond with why 'a person could have called the police to save 1 person's life, but didn't,' is this an analogous situation

or have i 'simply' alienated the 2500+ people that viewed the contest, a demographic that includes 'people with little interest in me that want to participate because it might help them with their own careers,' 'people who are "really bored,"' 'people who feel pressure to "support the arts,"' 'people who i've supported in the past who now feel pressure to "support me back,"' 'people who constitute "my entire 'real' fan base,"' 'people who feel lonely for 20 minutes and want to "connect, however vaguely" with anyone,' 'my friends and family (even my mother did not enter the contest, i think she 'doesn't have it'/'doesn't know what it is' re paypal)', and 'people with a "vested interest" in me, my career, literature, art, vimeo, contests, or blogs'

will nyu and columbia blogging professors in 2050 project my blog post onto a screen in front of ~200 students and talk about the concepts of 'career-ending blog post' and 'large-scale fan base alienation'

will the progenies of noam chomsky, howard zinn, and [someone else] 'riff' on my blog post, in expensive guest lectures, extrapolating various aspects of my vimeo video and prose style to foreign affairs, linguistics, and, creatively, marine biology

have i finally 'broken in' to the academic world inadvertently

have i finally blogged the blog post that 'actually' 'ends my career'

will college students be able to internalize the concepts of 'diffusion of responsibility' and 'the bystander effect' (and 'fill in' the correct bubbles on their test forms) without the memorable aspects (violence, 'stabbed to death') of 'the kitty genovese case'

have i inflicted irreparable damage to my brand/career in the past 3-6 months/years via 'too many' cash-related blog posts, interviews where i seem 'brain-damaged,' and '"unseemly" "tweets"'

worried about 'the future of sociology in this country'/'my career'

experimental contest, ends wednesday at 11 pm (eastern time)

the email address that paypals binky.tabby [at] gmail.com the largest amount* of money by wednesday at 11 pm wins this 'experimental contest' (no amounts will be revealed until the end, and then only by email to those who 'participated,' and no amounts will be returned, as this isn't an 'auction,' but a kind of 'gamble'), gaining for themselves, their friends, and their family the items in this video

i feel scared and, 'surprisingly,' sort of, though also 'not surprisingly,' it seems, 'depressed' (but in a 'really vaguely' sarcastic manner, or nearly toneless manner, maybe) and a little nervous about this 'experimental contest'

not sure what i feel exactly

just seems like it is a 'melancholy' and somehow 'scary' thing to do, like i am 'splicing' the genes of a human baby with those of a hamster or bluefin tuna; feels, also, though, like i 'must' do it, like i am kissing a girl that might be going on vacation for 2 years and doesn't know how i feel about her; though, additionally, it also feels like 'i "can't believe" it has "come to this,"' like i want to hide in a closet and 'whimper' while holding a stuffed animal immediately after clicking 'publish'

thank you for reading this blog post, if you feel 'angry' or 'vaguely annoyed' at me i understand, i think, and do not discourage you from expressing yourself, resultingly, in the comments section of this blog post

*if there is 'a tie' the tied email addresses will have 10 hours to paypal another amount in a 'nerve-wracking' (but ultimately fun) 'paypal showdown'; if there is another tie the 'paypal showdown' will be repeated, 'and so on' / to avoid contest fraud i will screenshot the highest paypal amount and email it to every email address that paypal'd (a list of every 'contribution' amount will also be emailed to all 'contributors,' for sociological purposes); also you can look at my 100% positive ebay rating to 'assuage your untrustworthy "soul"' (if you want to); finally, if the winner of this contest wants this i will post a screenshot of 'their contribution' (tax deductible) and link their internet presence or an internet presence of their choice

a review of three documentaries by werner herzog by me

has been published by fanzine, for a previous werner herzog review by me go here