Comments on *: 0 people entered my contest

I wish I had actually known about you during the t...

2010-03-05T12:28:53.478-05:00

I wish I had actually known about you during the time of this contest. Or, if I did (which I think I did) then I knew about your blog. And, if I did (which I don't think I did) then I would've participated in this contest. Now my Paypal has about $.60 in it, which may be the maximum amount for the next few months or so. Unless I get fired from my job in the summer, which means that it will be like that forever.
Sometimes I wish I was in your place, Tao, so that I could sell random shit on eBay as a source of income.

yeah right. Like the publishing company actually ...

2010-01-31T15:28:30.833-05:00

yeah right. Like the publishing company actually writes the textbooks. Like they would really care whether you used the word depressed in Soc101. You need to get out of your own head bro.

Tao, here is how i would view the results of this ...

2009-11-27T16:47:39.936-05:00

Tao, here is how i would view the results of this experiment/contest/digisocially produced new-media stunt:
i am probably one of the longest ago readers of your works, blog poetry before going to print. over the last months i have read nothing from this blog because it changed addresses and your voice and the voice of 'Carles' became interchangeable that i had forgotten of the new 'hehehehehe' blog.

my potential participation lost, your mother and myself separate but equally loyal fountains of readership, failed completely to engage in the project.

let me quote an illustrative line from CBT: "the rest of myself feels like a rare form of the placebo effect."

the new book seems funny. thank you.

My psych. professor uses your work now just becaus...

2009-11-18T21:09:35.921-05:00

My psych. professor uses your work now just because she loves it.have you ever seen the response of hicks from georgia reading your work? i think it would make you smile.

couldve been great in sociology class but dont off yourself or anything...because then psych will suck again.

i might have sent you a dollar but i didn't see th...

2009-11-18T13:18:49.278-05:00

i might have sent you a dollar but i didn't see the contest and i kind of don't know how to use pay pal

sounds like writing for a textbook could be a 'fun...

2009-11-16T14:07:48.996-05:00

sounds like writing for a textbook could be a 'fun, new experience' or could be rationalized as such to 'make a buck' off fuzzy speculative sociology (read: the entire study)
(jk!)
regardless, it is 'something to do' and you 'only live once'
and 'no one will care'
especially after you die

If you consider yourself an artist, then you canno...

2009-11-16T02:13:58.609-05:00

If you consider yourself an artist, then you cannot possibly cause damage to your reputation.

If you consider yourself anything else, though, you may have fucked yourself over.

steve holt.

2009-11-14T21:45:55.169-05:00

steve holt.

here is what i thought 1. i do not really want wh...

2009-11-14T18:17:20.230-05:00

here is what i thought

1. i do not really want what tao lin is giving away
2. someone else with more money will probably outspend me because so far people have been surprisingly willing to spend money on tao lin.

and therefore i sent nothing.

if you had made it public, you would have received "more than enough money."

Seems like a small scale, survivable example of ca...

2009-11-14T16:33:57.034-05:00

Seems like a small scale, survivable example of career failure, (or even a covert success 'in that' I think one can feel better about being in a demographic of 'tao lin readers' knowing that they are not ________ (something bad)).

When I was 7 I won a contest. I was supposed to ge...

2009-11-14T14:13:36.945-05:00

When I was 7 I won a contest. I was supposed to get a free photo of myself with a blue sky background. The sample portraits showed a slight fuzz around the faces of other children. I went in and they sat me down. I asked if they can make me fuzzy, I thought it made me look more heroic. They took the photo congratulating me and then led me to the front desk. I got there and they told me I now had to pay them 20 dollars to have it framed. The man was very angry. I think I urinated a minuscule amount. He told me to go get 20 dollars. I went outside and I was very sad. Never again.

kim testani

2009-11-13T20:59:47.135-05:00

kim testani

steve holt

2009-11-13T20:50:40.860-05:00

steve holt

this is hilarious.

2009-11-13T18:17:22.127-05:00

this is hilarious.

@anonymous re 'winning own contest' go here

2009-11-13T16:04:14.845-05:00

@anonymous re 'winning own contest' go here

i meant career death

2009-11-13T15:14:33.326-05:00

i meant career death

damn, bro, hope things work out and you don't die ...

2009-11-13T15:14:02.048-05:00

damn, bro, hope things work out and you don't die

i feel you'll have an career altering, money-earning epiphany soon

I think most people didn't care, and as such it is...

2009-11-13T13:33:40.114-05:00

I think most people didn't care, and as such it is not like the Kitty case. Some thought they'd never win and didn't bother, and some live far away and dont want to pay postage.

Stunts like this wont always work out, who cares?

Keep writing please.
James (UK)

You asked the questions, here are a few answers. ...

2009-11-13T12:51:22.616-05:00

You asked the questions, here are a few answers.

Your hipster aura was tarnished recently with a couple of "meh" reviews in icons of hip journals/papers; some of it admitedly "old style" hipster, but still, you know hipsters. The first wiff of #hipsterfail and they'll leave you like so much roadkill back at mile 9.

Your ironic/smartass stance is fine for your fanbase from a distance, but they don't want to get involved with you one-on-one because they're afraid you'll somehow make them look foolish.

Here's a longshot, but it might have something to do with it: Too much commerce, not enough art. It seems like everytime we (your fanbase) turns around you are selling something. There is already that weird thing going on (thanks to the Internet and writers having to promote themselves by "relating" to their fans) of a sort of reverse stalkerism. It would be kind of like in the old days if you bought a Richard Brautigan or Ken Kesey book and they personally followed you home and kept asking you how you were liking it. You might think: "Dude, I bought the book, not you. Back off." (This might also have something to do with a bit of overexposure for you, though how to make that point is a bridge too far for me at the moment.)

And finally, be careful...Comic genius (alleged) Andy Kaufman once ran a contest/took a poll to see if the viewers of Saturday Night Live thought he should do more shows or never come back. I guess enough people thought he was irritating enough that the majority voted that he should never come back. And he didn't. In my opinion you are not annoying like Kaufman, but that's just me -- I don't have my finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist, so maybe the Kaufman example can be useful, if not instructive for you.

Another thing -- the age bracket you are aiming to sell books to? Fickle. Think of the life span of the careers of most rock stars. If I might leave you with one thought it's: Don't try to be a rock star of lit. Wait, on second thought; what the hell, go ahead. It might be interesting.

4 reasons nobody entered ur contest: 1 - recessio...

2009-11-13T12:06:18.326-05:00

4 reasons nobody entered ur contest:

1 - recession, ppl are out of work, no 1 has $

2 - google 'tao lin' & 'contest' togther, u get Tao Lin Wins His Own Contest and Refuses to Refund the Entry Fee Money to the Other Contestants
& u sd no $ wd be returned

3 - google 'tao lin' & 'scam artist'

4 - u have rep as liar & keep feeding it, like mcgrawhill didnt call b4 contest ended, besides they wdnt have to pay u $ to put u in textbooks, its free

bonus reason 5 - yr stuff looks like crap ud just thro out

I did it.

2009-11-13T11:40:22.463-05:00

I did it.

Maybe it was just a 'bad idea'.

2009-11-13T10:06:09.445-05:00

Maybe it was just a 'bad idea'.

there do seem to be a lot of cash related posts......

2009-11-13T04:44:03.831-05:00

there do seem to be a lot of cash related posts...but maybe that's because those are the only posts i really look at.

I haven't read his books, but I don't get the sens...

2009-11-13T02:36:00.578-05:00

I haven't read his books, but I don't get the sense that Tao is depressed.

Dear Tao Lin, You are intelligent. You are not a...

2009-11-13T02:06:27.235-05:00

Dear Tao Lin,

You are intelligent. You are not a good social critic, and your poetry is middling. Please apply your talent to one of the following fields:

1) Health Promotions
2) Engineering
3) Medicine
4) Policy

Failure to do so will result in the immediate removal of all "history-shaping" privileges claimed-- or implied to have been claimed-- at any time.

Yours, Truly,

The White Hat