BOOK REVIEW: TAO LIN — 'SHOPLIFTING FROM AMERICAN APPAREL'

Author Tao Lin's rapid ascent into the realm of literary celebrity over the past four years, coupled with the seemingly constant threat to his career's stability that he himself fuels with gimmick-driven, narcissistic self-promotion, are entertaining for the chuckling masses of well-informed blog readers and lit junkies to observe in various forms on the internet. But these aspects of his life and the polarized quality of his growing mythos are only small fractions of what are worth gleaning from Tao Lin's never-ending stream of memetic output, because he is also a fantastic writer.

His latest release into the physically world as opposed to the digital is the autobiographical novella, 'Shoplifting From American Apparel', a thorough and thoroughly entertaining look into the life of Sam, a New York-based author, wandering through a clusterfuck of daily human interaction, while maintaining a sort of cognizance of what is going on in the context of time passing at a definite pace. The novella is full of the main character’s passionless advances through life and conveys an appreciative sense of the sadness and beauty offered a meager, intuition-guided youth of 'the fucked generation'.

Author, Tao Lin, drinking champagne.

The book is an easy read that I have managed to get through fully, twice, and skimmed over repeatedly to grasp clever minutia amidst the relative insanity of the narrative. My favorite part includes a day trip to Atlantic City, in which Sam wins eight hundred dollars, and then voluntarily loses all but twenty to save for a steak dinner he, with his vegan sensibility and awareness of how ‘shitty’ he might feel after, doesn’t buy. The book is full of moments worth reading and re-imagining using one’s knowledge of the author and the intrigue of his celebrity, while it is also excruciatingly precise in its narrative structure, and thus, worth its weight in poetic substance. I enjoyed reading ‘Shoplifting From American Apparel’ both times, and loaned it to a friend yesterday, who despite his many obligations to school and his girlfriend, has already read halfway through it.

To purchase 'Shoplifting', either visit The Tao Lin Store
Or increase his rating on Amazon by buying it for substantially cheaper here.

Tao Lin's Official Website

WTF ARE 'LOVE SONGS?'

I have been experiencing 'really fucking bizarre' emotions recently. Someone told me that the best way to deal with feeling 'heavy' emotions is listening to euphoria-inducing music and taking massive amounts of drugs.

Not sure what makes a song 'good' when thinking about the notions of quality vs. context vs. artistic self-awareness, but I have found that 'love songs' seem to make me feel 'genuinely euphoric' regardless of the subject matter as long as the lyrics and melody trigger ideas/feelings I experientially/existentially 'relate' to.

What I find really fascinating is that all of these songs are supposedly about 'love', a concept no one has been able to succinctly explain to me in concrete terms. Because of this I am having trouble understanding what makes these songs 'love songs' as opposed to 'non-sense songs' or 'Jesus songs' or 'tribal chants' or something. Going to do a comparative/comprehensive/highly subjective assessment of what 'makes' songs 'love songs.'

Additionally, this blog post is a promotional review of "Jesus Christ." (the indie band)'s debut single 'Is This Really What You Want', 'a love song'.

CLICK THE 'PLAY' ICON TO HEAR THE SONG WHILE READING THE REVIEW

Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved
Not sure if this song is a 'love song' or a 'lust song'. It is sung from various perspectives, via first/second/third person, and doesn't really address any concrete ideas.

I think that Maroon 5 introduced me to the concept of love songs at some point during sophomore year of high school, and this song 'resonates' with me as the most basic form of 'love song', since it has the word 'love' in the title/chorus, and is about one person singing to/about another person they 'slept with'.

I think that the song's lyrics are placed somewhat arbitrarily throughout the song in order to fit the over-produced, heavily layered music beneath the singer's voice and to 'set the mood' or something. Unsure if this song really 'means anything' or just 'sounds sad and cathartic' and is about a girl.

The Beatles - Girl
This song seems more like a gimmick to me than the last one. When pop bands make 'ballads' it seems like what inevitably happens is that the song turns into a song about 'some anonymous ho' that the songwriter isn't over yet.

By doing this in the way that the Beatles did for this song, however, this might be the best-constructed generic love song ever written, via utilizing the word 'girl' for the chorus. It is beautiful in its simplicity and addresses all of the qualities that make for a tragedy-bound relationship with a girl who is 'out of your league', or just 'relatively cooler/more entitled/manipulative than you are'.

This is a 'love song' about 'pining'.

The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
Some bros speculate that the Beatles 'wish they wrote this song'. It is the quintessential delusional internal dialogue that I feel ultimately leads to a bro killing himself/going crazy because some broad feels 'cornered' and leaves the relaish because she 'isn't as in love with him as he is with her' and feels guilty or something.

Musically, this song is 'stunning' and I enjoy listening to the harmonies, tambourine, and other percussion instruments, including the piano and some guitar thumping that sounds good. This song conveys 'loveliness' or something while simultaneously seeming rhetorical and gimmicky, in that I feel singing this song to a woman could only elicit 'extreme emotions' because of how extreme the sentiment in the song is.

Unsure if I have a 'bias' against this song because of the 'God Only Knows...' line. When looking at it objectively the rhetorical use of 'God Only Knows...' still seems 'intense' but in a 'FGGTY' manner or something. Think The Beach Boys might be '4 FGGTZ ONLY'.

Animal Collective - My Girls
It has been almost a year since this song was 'hailed' as 'the best song on the best album of 2009'. Seems somewhat accurate in retrospect. I feel the most positive feelings listening to this song of any songs on this list, I think.

This song is about investing 'everything', via thoughts/efforts/money, into people who 'mean the world' to you. This song feels genuine to me, even if beneath all of this positive sentiment the singer might be 'delusional' or 'lying to himself'.

This song could be considered 'gimmicky' with respect to how avidly the 'ironic' crowd embraced it, since most 'hipsters' are not patriarchs/don't feel very passionate about anybody including their close friends, but it seems like the words in this song are coming from 'real, raw emotions' within the person who wrote them.

I think this song is primarily good because the people who made it 'love music' and were able to 'rip off' a good sample and put 'appropriately meaningful words' to it. Not sure what 'makes' it a love song, but it might be that there is a messianic renouncing of all materialism for 'family', which is a 'selfless ideal', like 'love'.

Joni Mitchell - All I Want
Feel like this song is a good example of what girls 'feel' like when 'in love' in the context of 'modern society'. This song seems 'really fucking tender' to me and like the woman singing it is very realistic about the expectations she has for her life/relationships.

Seems like this person just wants to connect to 'genuine people'. Maybe as many 'genuine people' as possible. Maybe this is an accurate assessment/assumption of the emotions 'every woman feels' in the context of a romantic relationship, and therefore the singer feels comfortable speaking from the perspective of 'woman' addressing 'man'.

This song seems 'extremely feminine'. It also 'effectively' addresses isolation and loneliness in the context of a relationship. Curious if this song is a 'love song' or a 'i want love' or 'i know intuitively what the fuck love is' song.

Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me
This song just seems 'fucking retarded' to me. Seems like I can 'relate' to these ideas, but like I associate them with how I thought in middle school/junior high. Not sure why Taylor Swift is still marketing to tweens now that she is a world-wide celebrity/worried she's still a 'virgin'.

Unlike the last song, this song seems shortsighted and delusional, similar to the comparison between the Beatles/Beach Boys. Seems like an attention-starved, socially retarded girl who has never been vaginally penetrated trying to convince a guy who has had a lot of sex that she can 'fix him' or something. Just seems retarded. Might take it off the list. Probably won't because it's bloggable and really catchy.

Beyonce feat. Jay-Z - Crazy In Love
This was the first 'Beyonce/Jay-Z' megameme I remember. Pretty sure this song 'started iTunes' or something. Also pretty sure the lyrics are 'the most vapid thing I have ever heard a woman say'. This song is about a Black woman who really likes to get fucked. This may not be classifiable as a 'love song' despite the word 'love' being in the title. Might just be about a woman who goes 'fucking retarded' when she has a cock inside her, and Beyonce is 'channeling'/embodying 'the pure euphoria of the female orgasm' or something.

If this song is 'a love song' it is strictly because of its pop culture value and due to the fact that Jay-Z and Beyonce have been 'together' ever since they decided to co-brand using this song/the neuly invented internet to 'change how the public views celebrity relationships'.

The fact that the artists who made this song are relevant again now, after six years seems perplexing to me. I feel like women who I consider 'nymphomaniacs' or who appear 'horny all of the time' relate with this song/Beyoncé very well. Not sure what that 'means' about love at all. Not sure if Beyonce is a strong, independent, Black woman or just really loves getting fucked/being the female version of a hustlah.

Daft Punk - Something About Us
I imagine this song as 'the original electro "love" song'. There isn't really much to say about it IMO besides that it has an awesome accompanying anime music video.

With regard to what it 'means' and what 'makes it a love song', the 'extremely french', seductive dialogue conveys 'sexual chemistry' and 'tenderness' that could be interpreted as 'love', but seems more like rhetoric used to solicit mindless sex or something, rather than 'a relationship' in which the two parties would actually do things besides have sex.

Unsure if this song has 'enough substance' to be reviewed further or if it is 'just a gimmicky love song' Daft Punk conveniently put in the middle of their album as 'filler' or something. Kind of feel like if some bro sang this to me I would sleep with him and not be surprised that he 'fucking bailed' in the morning, but might feel bad about being lied to/so easily seduced.

The Teenagers - Homecoming
Gorilla vs. Bear compared this band to "Jesus Christ." (the indie band), so it seems like this is an appropriate song to review. This song is about a bro and a broad who fucked. Not sure what else is going on here. Kind of feel like this could be the diametric opposite of "Jesus Christ." (the indie band)'s single, and is therefore 'worth including'.

"Jesus Christ."(the indie band) - Is This Really What You Want
Human relationships are complex and trying to 'put them in a box' like 'love' is not good way to convey what kind of synergy/dynamic/interactions people in 'romantic relationships' have. Regardless of this, it seems that every new idea has a preliminary point of reference or 'stepping stone' that allows a new form of 'understanding' to occur through meme-sharing. Seems like 'love' (the concept) 'had to come first' or the people on the internet would never realize that humans are 'seriously too fucking complicated to stereotype/rationalize/love'.

Seems like this song is 'innovative' for the reasons stated above. The idea of creating a soundscape that amalgamates sound clips relating to negative/neutral emotions that can be associated with 'breaking up' seems 'new' or 'original'. I genuinely enjoy listening to this song because I can relate to the content and find it 'meaningful'.

When two people form a relationship and can relate to each other in a 'meaningful' way, it feels good. When that kind of relationship ends, it hurts/sucks/is really fucking confusing. This song 'explores' the feelings of having 'loved' someone (in the conventional context of simplifying 'a meaningful relationship' as 'love'), and 'the existential limbo that occurs at the end of a relationship' (via not really 'loving'/feeling emotionally honest with your gf/bf anymore or something).

I think this song is a 'love song' mostly because I want to rationalize its existence in this blog post, but also because I think it relates to a series of emotions inside the context of the idea of 'love' that have only just now been touched on extensively/honestly. I think that 'love' is the same thing as 'honesty' or something.

This song is about being 'honest' and therefore 'loving' toward 'members of humanity' you are 'incompatible' with.

HEY, REMEMBER ME GUYZ? YEAH, ME NEITHER...

B. McGILLICUDDY

I'M SAD GUYZ. It's been a while since I've been IN LOVE with anyone, including myself. I realized today that without COFFEE/CIGARETTES I'm pretty much USELESS, and that the women in my life (excluding LA FRERE, who is my bro/lover/fashion accessory) are pretty much either IDEAS in a the sense that they're just ONLINE PERSONALITIES, or are INACCESSIBLE in the sense that they just want me for MY BOD and wouldn't really function properly within the contexts of a RELATIONSHIP.

I'm not even sure if I want a RELATIONSHIP really GUYZ. Shit.

Here's some GOOD MUSIC TAO LIN DISCOVERED by way of TWITTER. I think it's contributing to me feeling LIKE Shit.

'"Nobody knows me neither" LA STRATA' - Hop Along, Queen Ansleis

Have you ever felt like your mother only knows you in the context of THAT THING that formed in her UTERUS? Or what was RUNNING AROUND and PISSING HER OFF between the ages 0-25? I kind of feel like she DOESN'T GET ME Nao. I'm a DIFFERENT person than I was in HER TUMMY. Now I'm INDEPENDENT and not A PART OF ANYTHING Really. Really SUCKS. Miss the womb GUYZ.

I'm afraid that If I get into a RELATIONSHIP now that I'll just be trying to JUMP BACK UP THE WOMB by BEING CONNECTED to some dame as best as I can, i.e. SEX/CONVERSATION/NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION. Feel like I can't just like a dame for WHO SHE IS, because there are so many EXPECTATIONS on her part, and she wants to LOOK SEXY for me, even though I'll have sex with her whether she LOOKS SEXY or NOT. Shit. I maybe a BAD PERSON. I don't know how though.

I just want to have something to LIVE FOR GUYZ. Because LIVING FOR MYSELF is kind of like LIVING FOR THIS BLOG, which just sounds STUPID when you say it out loud. But like, when you have a dame that's REALLY PRETTY, and doesn't mind you BEING IN HER VAGINA/HEAD/BANK ACCOUNT from time-to-time, it kind of makes it all WORTH WHILE, and frees up the my head for OTHER THINGS, like GIVING A FUCK ABOUT SHIT.

What about YOU, ANONYMOUS? Do you miss your MOM'S VAGINA? Do you wish you could be in a MEANINGFUL/FULFILLING RELATIONSHIP? Are you in one? Could you give me POINTERS?

Should I add PROVOCATIVE PICTURES to my posts, like LA FRERE?


THAT'S PRETTY FUCKED UP.

Glad my DAD WASN'T A BRO/TOOL/DOUCHEBAG like this dame's BF. My DAD's a COOL DAD.

I <3 VAGINA. Don't know why though, GUYZ. Don't know why I LIKE TO COME.

B. McGILLICUDDY