Top 10 Bleakest Unpublished Blog Posts of 2009

Dec. 8, 2010
Tao Lin is a writer living in Manhattan, NY.

1. “Professionally Bleak” (July 27)

Seems like a straightforward “promotional post” that became infiltrated by feelings of bleakness and then attempted to regain professionalism via “thank you for your time.” I imagine myself typing it with a “zombielike facial expression” and at some point noticing I was typing bleak sentences not relevant to the promotion of SFAA. Seems like I might have deleted many bleak sentences in it before clicking “save as draft.” I sense a level of endurance in this blog post that seems bleak. When reading this blog post I sense the inevitability of myself “succumbing” to bleakness at some point. I’m not exactly sure why I didn’t post this or why I unposted it.

The nonsequitur “i looked in the mirror this morning and saw that my face had a ‘healthy glow’” seems magically bleak. I feel that when bleakness reaches a certain level it automatically transforms into something 70x more powerful than anything within the range of human experience and that the ‘healthy glow’ sentence has previously reached that level.

i am available to be interviewed ‘or something’ re ‘shoplifting from american apparel’

email binky.tabby [at] gmail.com

‘shoplifting from american apparel’ will be released officially sept. 15

discretion will be used re ‘should i do [whatever interview/thing]‘

seems that a limited number of interviews placed strategically in selected venues is desirable

i may forward your request to my publisher’s publicist, depending on certain things

i think there are no more ‘advanced reader’s copies’

but i will send people ‘for real’ copies in mid or late august if i feel you ‘for certain’ will review it in a venue that i view as strategically important re my target demographic

i encourage people to review ‘shoplifting from american apparel,’ seems that my long-term financial situation depends ‘heavily’ on what happens the next ~3 months

i encourage people to review it on amazon

my tumblr has become a place where i reblog other people’s ‘tao lin posts’

have been sort of deliberately not thinking about what that means, what effect it will have on my internet persona, what people are thinking about it, if i’m alienating large groups of people

seems i am, in this blog post, continuing ‘deliberately not thinking about [etc.]‘

having problems ‘gauging’ level of interest re ‘shoplifting from american apparel’ relative to my previous books

google trends

i looked in the mirror this morning and saw that my face had a ‘healthy glow’

while walking on the sidewalk i thought about the seemingly ‘very large’ number of people that talk shit about organic food, thoughts did not progress beyond what i just typed

sometimes feels like coffee’s effects last 10-30 minutes

can distinctly/honestly remember a time when i drank one green tea and felt ‘really alert’ for 1-2 hours

thank you for your time

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  • mario

    sweet.

  • http://hbgwhem.tumblr.com/ hbgwhem.tumblr.com

    damn.
    i found feb 5th inspirational, then about 8 seconds after i finished reading it, before i clicked '6' i remembered this was a 'bleak' post countdown. got confused how i could be at #6 on the bleak list when i was on page 5. 7 seconds after i thought this, i received a text message that said, “Well I'm sure you won't have a 1 bedroom forever, I'm talking like future. I have 4 roommates so I have no room.”
    bleak as hell.

  • http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/ tao

    seems complexly bleak

  • elaine

    situation in #4 seemed inception-esque

  • http://twitter.com/t_baugh Travis Baugh

    seems like top 10 lists are becoming tao's gimmick. possibility of non-top 10 structured blog posts in the future seems “bleak”

  • http://popserial.tumblr.com stephen

    lol/sweet/bleak/inspirational

  • http://twitter.com/t_baugh Travis Baugh

    “nice”

  • http://popserial.tumblr.com stephen

    “are you shit-talking commenters as well”

  • http://popserial.tumblr.com stephen

    “are you shit-talking commenters as well”

  • http://twitter.com/t_baugh Travis Baugh

    damn

  • http://tomhankssuperfan.blogspot.com megan boyle

    keep looking at 'thank you for your time' and ~5 lines preceding it with something like 'awe-stricken fondness + amusement'

    remembered feeling excited re getting 'tagged' in #3

  • link

    accidentally read this as “Top 10 breakfasts unpublished blog posts of 2009……….” was actually kinda excited about that.

  • http://steveroggenbuck.com steve roggenbuck

    nice i really appreciated these
    yeah the end of #1 is wonderful

  • anon

    This is great.

    lol @ “magically bleak”

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Parker-Baldin/516709205 Parker Baldin

    feels like some blog posts are in a ‘first’ or ‘not ready for publication’ stage and they’re written for you. Like to read at a different point in time. Have a bleak voice. Feels ‘hopeless’ and ‘in a state of desperation’ and possibly ‘cruel.’ Seems interesting how you ‘converse with self.’

    Posts seemed ‘philosophical’ at times. Almost ‘beautiful’ / ‘harmony korine strange’ re blog post #8. wish more ‘weird’ blog posts existed. More non sequiturs in terms of blog ‘as a whole.’

  • http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/ tao

    sweet

  • http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/ tao

    sweet

  • http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/ tao

    sweet

  • http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/ tao

    sweet

  • http://brianmcelmurry.blogspot.com/ Brian McElmurry

    When I was a kid I pretended to be sick on the day my elementary school class went to LA to watch the play “WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.” I found out the next day. I regret it now. When I think the word “bleak,” I think, “that's Tao Lin's word.” Enjoyed all of this. Feel bleak.

  • dalas

    “i seem unfunctional, in the world, yet i keep going, things keep happening successful”

    I feel this way a lot.

  • Jordancastroisthepresident

    feels like i 'missed' 'this era' of your blog, to some degree

    trying to remember [posts] that were 'content-based' when i got in on your blog and seem to 'only' remember [the 'fall asleep immediately one']

    seems interesting/sweet

    just thought 'feel better able to understand “where you're coming from”' while not experiencing any feeling like [aformentioned feeling]

  • http://twitter.com/waxdustcoat A.M. THOMAS

    seems bleak that i don't find many of these posts bleak.

  • http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/ tao

    sweet

    will do a 'bleakest of 2008' soon i think

    sweet ass

  • http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/ tao

    sweet

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