TAO LIN | ART

2010-11-16T23:11:00.000-08:00

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'vice' column

2010-11-16T19:46:00.001-08:00

TAO LIN'S DRAWING STYLE (2006 - 2011)
QUESTIONS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED, SIMPLY RAISE YOUR HAND

THREE STYLES

1. MINIMAL (CURRENT STYLE, TO A LARGE DEGREE)

2. DETAILED ('ABANDONED,' TO A LARGE DEGREE, WILL NOT BE ADDRESSED IN THIS PRESENTATION)

3. MINIMAL/CLEAN/LAYERED (STYLE FOR MY 'VICE' COLUMN 'DRUG-RELATED PHOTOSHOP ART, WILL BE ADDRESSED LATER)

TIMELINE

TOOLS

MICROSOFT PAINT (MSPAINT)
Favored for its convenience/speed/user-friendliness. Has been 'abandoned' due to its lower resolution, unavailability on Macs, smaller variety of tools/features/fonts (such as layers/Helvetica).

SHAVED/SUNBURNT BABY CAMEL (2007)

PEN/MARKER
Used often for 'pieces' that do not require large areas of solid color, when 'personalizing' books for people at readings, 'pieces' to sell on eBay.

TOY POODLE (2007)

CONSTRUCTION PAPER
Useful for 'pieces' requiring large areas of solid color, especially ones with multiple layers of different colors. Creates a mild 3D effect, even when scanned. Seems easy/satisfying. I like doing this calmly in my room while listening to music.

GIGANTIC SATANIC HAMSTER 'VERY HAPPILY' FLYING ONTO AN 'UNSUSPECTING TREETOP' AFTER INGESTING AN UNKNOWN BUT PROBABLY 'VERY LARGE' DOSE OF AMPHETAMINES TO RELIEVE BOREDOM/DESPAIR (2009)

MIDDLE-AGED BLUEFIN TUNA 'SQUANDERING' ITS LIFE-SAVINGS, RISKING ITS LIFE 'BIG TIME,' & ABANDONING A 'VERY SUCCESSFUL' CAREER IN 'THE ARTS' (VIA 'ABANDONING LIFE') TO 'PARACHUTE AMIDST MOUNTAINS DEFORESTED & PAINTED NEON COLORS BY AN UNRELATED 'MIDDLE-AGED BLUEFIN TUNA WITH A "VERY SUCCESSFUL" CAREER IN "THE ARTS" BECAUSE IT "HONESTLY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO WITH ITS LIFE,"' ACCORDING TO THE 260-WORD NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARY OF IT PUBLISHED TWO DAYS AFTER THIS PHOTOGRAPH

(MILD 3D EFFECT)

PHOTOSHOP
Preferred non-'IRL' method. Drawback: 'fill-all' tool not as easy-to-use as MSPaint's.

CRYING-IN-BED SASQUATCH (2008)

FLICKR
Useful for organizing 'pieces,' can order prints from them at what seems like a low cost. Has built-in 'Statcounter.'

REOCCURRING THEMES

CONVENTIONALLY CUTE/'PRETTY' THINGS

THE 'CAN'T CONCENTRATE' MANATEE (PHOTOSHOP, 2008)

PINK HAMSTER (PHOTOSHOP, 2010)

CONVENTIONALLY UGLY/WEIRD-LOOKING THINGS WEARING COLORFUL/'PROFESSIONAL' OUTFITS OR WITH COLORFUL SKIN OR FUR

BIRD (MSPAINT, 2007)

BEFORE SHOWERING (MSPAINT, 2007)
AFTER SHOWERING (MSPAINT, 2007)

PROFESSIONAL OCTOPUS (MARKER, 2007)

ANIMALS CRYING OR HAVING DEPRESSED EXPRESSIONS WHILE DOING SOMETHING CONVENTIONALLY HAPPY

ANIMALS BEING EXPLOITED BY HUMANS

[something like 'a cow on a conveyor
belt moving toward a machine that
will turn it into beef' with the
cow displaying a neutral, confused
or 'ambiguous' facial expression]

ANIMALS SUFFERING OR DOING 'STRESSFUL' THINGS WHILE IN BEAUTIFUL LOCATIONS

FINANCIALLY DESPERATE TREE DOING A 'QUADRUPLE KICKFLIP' OFF A CLIFF INTO A 5000+ FOOT GORGE TO RETAIN ITS NIKE, FRITOS, REDBULL SPONSORSHIPS (CONSTRUCTION PAPER, 2010)

'SEX MONSTER' SEARCHING FOR SEX 'IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES' (CONSTRUCTION PAPER, 2010)

DINNER HAMSTERS (MARKER, 2006)

MONA LISA-LIKE (AMBIGUOUS/'COMPLEX') EXPRESSIONS

CONVENTIONALLY 'UNFORTUNATE' SITUATIONS PRESENTED IN A NON-PITYING/NEUTRAL MANNER (OR IN A MANNER LIKE IT'S A CLOTHING ADVERTISEMENT TARGETING YOUNG PEOPLE)

HOMELESS MOOSE

ANIMALS DOING INTERESTING THINGS WITH UNCERTAIN OR NEUTRAL EXPRESSIONS

UNICORN MOTHER THINKING ABOUT EATING HER DAUGHTER TO GET RID OF IT (PHOTOSHOP, 2007)

ANIMALS SEEMINGLY 'NOT DOING ANYTHING' WITH NEUTRAL, CONFUSED, OR DEPRESSED EXPRESSIONS

PERUVIAN JUNGLE PIG (MSPAINT, 2007)

SASQUATCH SITTING AT BENCH AT NIGHT EXPERIENCING THE FULL EFFECT OF THE LONELINESS OF EXISTENCE (MSPAINT, 2007)

OKAPI (PHOTOSHOP, 2007)

ANIMAL OR THINGS THAT ARE 'SCREAMING IN AGONY'

ORGANIC TOMATO “SCREAMING IN AGONY” BECAUSE IT INACCURATELY THINKS IT DIDN’T GET ORGANIC CERTIFICATION

ANIMALS BEING 'OUT-OF-CONTROL'

TREE-SWINGING SASQUATCH (PHOTOSHOP, 2008)

OBESITY

OVERWEIGHT MOOSE (PHOTOSHOP, 2008)

SASQUATCH OBESE FROM EATING TOO MUCH PASTA TO CONSOLE HERSELF FROM BIRTHING A BABY OF A DIFFERENT SPECIES (CONSTRUCTION PAPER, 2010)

MORBIDLY OBESE HAMSTER (PHOTOSHOP, 2010)

DEPICTIONS OF INTENSE EMOTIONS OCCURRING FOR SEEMINGLY 'NO CONCRETE REASON'

PANDA CRYING FOR "NO CONCRETE REASON" (PHOTOSHOP, 2008)

SATANISM

HARRY POTTER (MSPAINT, 2007)

UPSIDE-DOWN CROSS FRIENDS (PHOTOSHOP, 2007)

RELIGIOUSLY CONFUSED LEMUR (MSPAINT, 2008)

168-IQ MOOSE (PHOTOSHOP, 2007)

TEN-YEARS OLD (MSPAINT, 2008)

SATANIC HAMSTER (CONSTRUCTION PAPER, 2010)

WHAT MY ART STRIVES FOR, GENERALLY

1. Sympathetic or neutral presentation of the subject. For example if I drew Hitler or George W. Bush or other people that most people conventionally dislike I would not present them negatively.

2. To not be a parody of something else.

3. To be directly focused on the emotional state of the subject.

INFLUENCES

CONCRETE REALITY

PINK/ORANGE FISH W/ 'VAGUELY NEUTRAL EXPRESSION' (PHOTOGRAPH, 2010)

'DUDU' (PHOTOGRAPH, 2010)

'DUDU' REMAINING CALM IN STRESSFUL SITUATION (PHOTOGRAPH, 2010)

NEW GIRLFRIEND (PHOTOGRAPH, 2008)

OKAPI (PHOTOGRAPH, 2010)

ELLEN KENNEDY

CHEESE BEAST GOING THROUGH CHEESE WITHDRAWAL (MSPAINT, 2006)

COWS DROWNING (MSPAINT, 2006)

DANIEL CLOWES

SMALL CHILDREN

DRAWING TECHNIQUES

MOUTH

FEMININE, OR 'HAS LIPS'

OPEN

CLOSED

'LOPSIDED' (CONVEYS 'ACTIVE' EXPRESSION OF INTENSE EMOTION)

AGE/WEIGHT

Because it's generally accepted that eye/mouth-size don't vary much with age, a large face can indicate a young age. A smaller face can indicate adult-hoot. A very small face can indicate obesity.

57wz6Go/s1600/Picture+9.png">

Put the 'face' in different areas for different effects.

EMOTION

NEUTRAL

HAPPY

DEPRESSED

CRYING

DECEASED

TITLING TECHNIQUES

'ONE WORD'

Direct, toneless description of what is literally depicted. Conveys detachment or weariness. Can enhance something 'conventionally notable' by rendering it not-notable.

EGGPLANT (MSPAINT, 2006)

ASS-EATER (MSPAINT, 2006)

'FUCKED' (SEEMS TO 'WORK' FOR ALMOST ANY 'PIECE')

'CATCH-PHRASE' TITLE (ALSO 'WORKS' FOR ALMOST ANY 'PIECE')

'SEVERE DEPRESSION'

'CRIPPLING LONELINESS'

PLOT-DRIVEN

NETWORK CARD'S RAFT-RIDE TO FREEDOM REALIZING IT'S FUCKED (MSPAINT, 2006)

UGLY FISH BABY STILL ABLE TO FEEL HAPPINESS BECAUSE NOT YET REALLY UGLY BECAUSE IT'S A BABY STILL (MSPAINT, 2006)

APPLYING TITLING STYLE TO CONCRETE REALITY)

'BLUE TRUCK CONTINUING TO ENDURE ITS DEPRESSION/LONELINESS BY DRIVING ACROSS A BRIDGE' OR 'FUCKED'

'UNABLE TO EXPRESS TRUE FEELINGS DUE TO IMMATURITY' OR 'COCONUT WATER FRIENDS'

'FUCKED' OR 'CRIPPLING LONELINESS'

DRUG-RELATED PHOTOSHOP ART, MY COLUMN FOR 'VICE'

CHARACTERISTICS

1. very long titles, often 1-sentence
2. depression, loneliness, confusion
3. minimal/clean/layered

Schopenhauer watching 'Walrus sucks own dick' on YouTube while absently petting his 2,000,000mg Xanax (specially ordered from Thailand) at 3:34 PM on a Tuesday in April after being put 'on hold' for the second time in ~40 seconds as he tries to reach the one person he knows at Harper's, an editorial assistant who "really liked" The World As Will And Representation, to see if there's any chance they want to send him anywhere—to write about anything—as his toy poodle, 'ever aware' that it's 'very similar' in size/weight/color as the 2,000,000mg Xanax, suppresses uncontrollable crying successfully, to a large degree, owing to having licked the 2,000,000mg Xanax a few times, ~30 minutes ago, when Schopenhauer was at the doorway gripping the doorknob tightly while staring across the street thinking [what seemed to be 'nothing'] after receiving his 3rd form-rejection in 14 months from Electric Literature.

A Tyrannosaurus Rex falling into a 1000+ foot gorge after accidentally sprinting off a cliff at a record-breaking speed* while euphorically propelling itself in various directions, screaming in joy and sometimes leaping across arbitrary expanses, for more than 20 minutes, during which it became increasingly then fully unaware of its surroundings, except the occasional "blurry area of grass" or "briefly enlarging tree," now experiencing its "falling sensation" as a nearly imperceptible "tingliness" that within a few seconds—and until its death—it will believe to indicate [Tyrannosaurus Rex equivalent of "I have the ability to fly and am currently flying on my own volition"].

*52 miles-per-hour, despite having its head, in an idiosyncratic side-effect of "peaking" on an extremely large dose of MDMA, turned almost completely in the opposite direction

Extreme close-up of a 30mg Adderall

Extreme close-up of a 30mg Oxycodone

A 32-year-old "aspiring artist" (currently supporting himself by walking dogs for a company specializing in toy poodles) in the Whitney Museum of American Art on April 21, 2019 staring at [area of wall between "Extreme close-up of a 30mg Adderall" and "Extreme close-up of a 30mg Oxycodone"] thinking variations of "I fucking hate you..." and "I fucking hate my life..." while catatonically aware, with increasing fear and a sensation of imminent fearlessness, that he is 15+ rooms "deep" into a 26-room Tao Lin retrospective and that it may not be possible for him to "get outside" before "completely losing control," even if he picks up both toy poodles and runs toward the exit, because between his current position and the exit there will be hundreds of framed Tao Lin pieces (or "pieces," as Lin calls them) in every direction and the peripheral sight of any of them will likely "set [this man] off" on a mechanical rampage of repeatedly headbutting and kneeing and punching holes in pieces while shouting nonsequiturly xenophobic content in an exponentially worse repeat of the horrible embarrassment of two weeks ago, at this retrospective's opening, when six videos,* all of which immediately "went viral," were recorded of him standing alone in front of "Harry Potter..." loudly muttering negative commentary for more than three minutes (while surrounded by a semi-circle of people that seemed mostly to be grinning in a kind of approval despite the shocking language of the intense mutterings) before realizing what he was doing and then walking quickly away in an arbitrary direction, into an elderly woman, then into another person, feeling increasingly dizzy and confused and ashamed and genuinely apologetic as he bumped into dozens more people in the resulting seven-minute-struggle to navigate himself through an exit that he later learned was less than 30-feet from his original position.

*the longest video was 18 minutes 24 seconds and ended with the man descending into a subway station at 68th Street

An adolescent koala, seated on a trampoline, cries for an unknown reason, clutching 2mg Xanax and a full-grown hamster, adjacent Krispy Kreme donuts. Looking closely, at the background, a second koala, who appears to have "wet eyes" at the same time that it's smiling, can be seen, behind a tree, in the top-right corner. This second koala (possibly an uncle or, most likely, a friend of the family) seems to have elevated itself for "spying" purposes, though one wonders what, of relevance, it can see, from that angle (behind everything), so maybe not.

"Large dose of MDMA" Halloween-costume, hand-crafted in China, with pulsating first-tier koala. Visually conveys one's experience of reality after ingesting a medium-to-large dose of MDMA on a low tolerance. Prices range from 1800元 to 9400元 depending on size (adolescent, medium, large) and added features (glow-in-the-dark, organic, waterproofing, bulletproofing, etc.). Add 2000元 for international shipping. PayPal is accepted.

Dumbledore skillfully demonstrating—to no one, alone in his room, suffering from insomnia—the extremely difficult, polycognitive, 2-wand/3-function technique for “small-object levitation” that he developed over 40 years ago and has since honed to virtuosic levels, privately and with immense shame, as the technique’s only known purpose is for [what he’s doing now], which occurs with such consistently surprising frequency that Dumbledore “can’t help but feel amused” whenever it happens again, despite his embarrassment and earnest disapproval of its seemingly unending recurrence (though usually he realizes “it has happened again” only after he’s ingested an amount of pills and is chemically inclined to feel amused about it): levitating pills [toward him], [away from him], [in place] for as long as 50 minutes while struggling in a neurotic and despairing manner to “calculate” the optimal combination of pills he should ingest to guarantee a satisfactory night’s sleep, maintain a relatively low tolerance for at least one class of drug, and appear functional to others the next day—an especially difficult decision tonight because Dumbledore is additionally trying to “factor in” that he keeps feeling like he “has to” pee (has gone to the bathroom six times in the past hour, each time “trickling” zero to five drops into the toilet) and that, in a horribly devastating* error, he ingested one of the three** Adderall that he initially levitated [toward him] thinking they were “orange Valium,” a nonexistent “hybrid pill” that he daydreamed about a few days ago while staring with 80% unfocused eyes at someone’s ear at a Quidditch match.

*Dumbledore has a low Adderall tolerance and likely won’t sleep at all tonight even if he ingests everything currently levitated that isn’t Adderall

**Dumbledore is currently levitating the remaining two Adderall [away from him] with an incredibly applied quality of controlled acceleration (the Adderall will decelerate beautifully, one can tell, as they near the dresser) that is truly virtuosic, having channeled most of his anger/frustration not into “curse words” or “hitting things,” like many of his peers, he feels, but “wand control”—something he learned to do as a small child and has always felt to be the principle factor in his success in life, not “talent” or “chance” or even “hard work”

Nicolas Cage (as viewed from a "Che Guevara angle") 4.7 seconds after being told "sorry, we're actually all out of walnuts" while on a medium-large dose of psilocybin mushrooms, unable to believe that this specific ice cream truck would "just happen" to be "completely out of walnuts" at this precise moment that he wanted walnuts, thinking this coincidence to be "hilarious" and barely stifling uncontrollable laughter, struggling to begin to formulate a verbal response to the increasingly "visibly impatient" ice cream man (who only vaguely recognizes Nicolas Cage, thinking it's an annoying acquaintance from college or someone who works at Whole Foods and probably crudely packaged a dozen mussels for him 4 years ago).

DRAFTS & 'ABANDONED' IDEAS

cows licking xanax bar, giraffe reaching to lick xanax leaf

Nicolas Cage saying "tiny addy balls" in a british accent after being miscast as a 19-year-old college student 'cramming' for a final in judd apatow's next movie

Nicolas Cage on a medium-large dose of mushrooms trying to order walnuts for his ice cream unable to believe that the ice cream truck could "just happen" to be out of walnuts when he wanted walnuts

sweet. imagined you 'veering' uncontrollably and accidentally killing someone at the same time as photographing them, indicting yourself.

Werner Herzog ~20 seconds after responding to Chloe Sevigny's "what's this?" about the painting on the wall by staring at it with a nonhumorous sensation of utter unrecognition (not remembering, due to the 2mg/day Xanax his doctor prescribed him two weeks ago, upping it to 3mg after one week, which Werner misremembered as 6mg after two
days, that he created it 4 days ago as a prepared contribution to a possible Where's Waldo edition comprised only of drawings by famous people and framed and hung on a wall blocking a door leading to 30% of his house) for an unknown amount of time before finally remembering only that an unknown amount of time (days? months?) earlier he had,
then also not knowing what it was or where it came from, told a BBC reporter that his wife created it "as a sort of reminder note" for him to turn off the hallway light before getting into bed each night and quietly saying "I have to go to the bathroom" and walking calmly to where he now stands in a state of "stoic anxiety" considering if he could say "let's go look at the kitchen, shall we?" in a certain tone that would cause Chloe Sevigny, [someone he doesn't recognize at all], and—troublingly—the male protagonist of Antichrist (all three of whom arrived a few minutes ago saying something about being invited to a "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done reunion get-together" and laughing when Werner said "I don't even know what My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is...how could I have invited people to a get-together for it?")
to follow him into the kitchen where he could divert their attention from the painting by showing them what's in his refrigerator: "________," Herzog thinks and feels confused why he's standing in a hallway staring at a wall thinking about food.

as he doesn't want to lie about it again, aware that Chloe Sevigny might Tweet about it and that his wife, though without a Twitter account herself, "reads Chloe Sevigny's tweets," Herzog thinks now and feels confused about why he is standing in a hallway staring at a wall thinking "Chloe Sevigny's tweets."

(which Werner )

that currently the only thing he can remember about is that , but this time not wanting to lie, as he is

Werner Herzog saying "oh, that was my contribution to a guest-edited edition of Where's Waldo, but, you see, they rejected it, as you can probably see why" about a painting on his wall he knows nothing about, but seemed to come into his awareness at some point, lying to Chloe Sevigny and about a painting on his wall he remembers nothing about due to being on Xanax for two weeks.

Werner Herzog giving a tour of his house on a never before aired episode of cribs, showing a painting he did

Werner Herzog 1.5 seconds after listening to "Drugs Are Good" by NOFX beginning to formulate a response but then suddenly interrupted by a memory of having painted a Jackson Pollock-like "piece" that

Joan Didion about to discover

Werner Herzog about to discover the basement he forgot his house had (during a month, 2 years ago, when he was pressured into going on a Xanax prescription by his family, a month in which his doctor increased his dosage twice, from .75mg a day to 2mg a day to 3mg a day) and his contribution to

basement room in werner herzog's house whose door is blocked by a grand piano that werner herzog has completely forgotten due to it being created during the month his doctor prescribed him 2mg of xanax a day, upping it to 4mg after 2 weeks during which herzog said he liked it, but it wasn't working anymore

justin beiber having a microsecond nonsequitur image of [2 pomeraneans, 4 hamsters, himself rotated 10 degrees counter-clock-wise, a sperm whale with 500 kilograms of mdma strapped on his head, werner herzog staring at an ice cream cone with 'tiny
addy balls' from 3 20mg adderall XRs on it instead of sprinkles, 2 mcdonald's arches, a n octopus thinking "shit, 3 divided by 2 is 1.5, not .75," and his current situation in 10 degreee counter clock-wise rotation at 4:31:0091 and lasting until 4:31:3218

me 'faking' photographing the computer screen, getting in position to photograph the screen, and then allegedly becoming distracted by a photograph of ~10 30mg adderall as a deus ex machina out of the 'hell' of trying to draw this week's 'drug-related photoshop' art 'piece'

56-year-old man who looks exactly like justin beiber circa 2009 except with a slightly disproportionately larger head (though he is, like justin beiber circa 2009, 5'3"),

who has been shunned in his community after investing his life savings and a large loan in opening a petstore specializing in hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, and pomeraneans enacting his plan to share a large amount of mdma with his pets before loading them all into a uhaul he rented and sharing with all of them a very large amount of seroquel and driving the uhaul into the ocean by cape canaveral where the cruiseships are

being on the largest dose of xanax he had ever been on the day he had someone blow up a drawing he made anticiapting where's waldo solicitation and hanging it on the wall down there

werner herzog commissioned to direct an anti-MDMA short-film by the American government after

lonely petstore owner who has somehow and inaccurately developed a reputation in his community as a pedophile who looks exactly like justin bieber circa late-2009 (same height/weight) in central florida in 2006 peaking on MDMA, adderall, and oxycontin, which he dissolved all of in Red Bull with almost his store's entire stock at 2am before killing itself by driving its flatbed truck with all its tropical fish
into cape canaveral in view of disney's cruise ship

Lonely petstore owner in Oviedo, FL ingesting MDMA with his pets after his employees denied before he kills himself in the morning

person crippled by social anxiety combined with and the inability to lie to people peaking on mdma on a playground at an elementary school--which she never attended due to her deformity--at 2am with her 6 pomeraneans, 4 toy poodles, 2 cats, 1 parrot simultaneously experiencing extreme loneliness and euphoria to a degree that the loneliness gives the euphoria undertones of ___ and __ thinking with clarity that it's going to kill itself

14 toy poodles peaking on mdma

person sharing mdma with his 6 pomeraneans

extreme close-up of a light-blue adderall

kafka/gollum editing his lookbook look titled

Batman looking up drug on that website after running over a college student

Me in MOMA lying to attendants about abstract art Saying it's Jackson pollacks where's Waldo contribution

Werner herzog bringing the cast of Christian bale movie downstairs to look at his "where's waldo" drawing

Werner herzog miscast in a buddy movie with a pomeranean

Drug dealer stuttering while considering if he should tell werner herzog he likes his movies, except fitzcaealldo

Person blacking out number to post text messages from his drug dealer to his tumblr

Girl taking pics of herself eating an addy ball dipped ice cream cone (on photobooth, you can see it reflected on the screen)

Banal: People watching green Hornet 3-d on large dose odf Xanax

Person grinning alone in room (While packaging ecstasy in a Hootie and the blowfish cd case to mail to a friend)

Person vomiting 30 times openly in manhattan (After snorting 1.5 bags of heroin after miscalculating that 3 divided by 2 is .75)

Hamster sarcastically contemplating suicide while peaking on MDMA, adderall, caffeine

Person taking blood from hamster (After hamster ate it's heroin; or eating it, frying it before a deadline, after it got onto it's adderall XR stash)

Dan Akroyd doing drugs

Dan akrood injecting Stephen hawking with heroin. Jeffrey Brown injecting his son with heroin. Young Maculey Culkin injecting old maculley culkin with heroin. Obama injecting Beyonce with heroin at a concert. Someone injecting a stranger that's asleep with heroin in bobst library.

Person or animal serving platter of choice of drugs to confused hamster (having confused it with a famouser hamster?

werner herzog thinking 'i don't know what i'm looking at' while staring at a poodle

werner herzog on a medium-large dose of adderall, a low dose of percocet, a low dose of xanax, a low dose of codeine, a medium-large dose of mdma, a large dose of marijuana, and a medium-large dose of flexeril ordering a large espresso in a cone while thinking 'do i want walnuts?'

werner herzog accidentally saying 'bacon man' instead of 'grizzly man' and then the sentence 'these abominations aren't graphs to cover manager complaints' at a press conference while on a large dose of MDMA, completely unaware that he isn't making any sense at all, experiencing a nonsequitur image of a pomeranean and then, within microseconds, 'painting' in his mind, from his image of the pomeranean, a 'where's waldo' contribution in case they ever have an issue where they have famous people contribute 'where's waldo' pieces

werner herzog thinking 'what do you want from me'

SIZE

ALL

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2010-11-16T18:39:00.000-08:00

NOVEMBER 2006 | POETRY
YOU ARE A LITTLE BIT HAPPIER THAN I AM

i want to pour orange juice on my face

i want to pour a carton of orange juice onto my face and body
when i am lying on my bed, in the morning
and i want it to be sunday and i want to go back to sleep
and when i fall back asleep i want the orange juice to quickly evaporate
and take me with it

MAY 2007 | STORIES & FIRST NOVEL
BED & EEEEE EEE EEEE

BED (FROM "SASQUATCH")

In the parking lot, she drove and parked in a dark area with no other cars around. She reclined her seat, and listened to music. Outside there were trees, a ditch, a bridge; another parking lot. It was very dark. Maybe the Sasquatch would run out from the woods. Chelsea wouldn’t be afraid. She would calmly watch the Sasquatch jog into the ditch then out, hairy and strong and mysterious—to be so large yet so unknown; how could one cope except by running?—smash through some bushes, and sprint, perhaps, behind Wal-Mart, leaping over a shopping cart and barking. Did the Sasquatch bark? It used to alarm Chelsea that this might be all there was to her life, these hours alone each day and night—thinking things and not sharing them and then forgetting—the possibility of that would shock her a bit, trickily, like a three-part realization: that there was a bad idea out there; that that bad idea wasn’t out there, but here; and that she herself was that bad idea. But recently, and now, in her car, she just felt calm and perceiving, and a little consoled, even, by the sad idea of her own life, as if it were someone else’s, already happened, in some other world, placed now in the core of her, like a pillow that was an entire life, of which when she felt exhausted by aloneness she could crumple and fall towards, like a little bed, something she could pretend, and believe, even (truly and unironically believe; why not?), was a real thing that had come from far away, through a place of no people, a place of people, and another place of no people, as a gift, for no occasion, but just because she needed—or perhaps deserved; did the world try in that way? to make things fair?—it.

EEEEE EEE EEEE

[sometimes] Andrew would feel, in a way that momentarily made him believe despair was a mistake, that he missed those times, that there was a yearning, really, to his prose; and would try, then, to desire, in this missed and wanting and therefore nostalgic way, the present moment, when feeling lonely or sad; to experience it while it was happening as the thing he would later yearn for—to realize, as it was happening, that feeling bad was a mistake—as if it were words on a page, being read not lived. Schopenhauer had said that—that life was to be perceived not as a book you would write but as a book already written, something to be gotten through, so as to detach oneself from suffering, which was an outside thing, really; not actually in the text.

MAY 2008 | POETRY
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

eleven-page poem, page two

energy drinks help me achieve worldviews that allow me to forgive you
masturbation is underrepresented
in my poetry, it’s a scientific fact
that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviors
and there is a tingly sensation on the surface of my face
that feels like the binary nature of the universe
i feel severely confused and unable to function, i’ll be right back
something behind my forehead is trying to crush my ‘good feelings toward you’

SEPTEMBER 2009 | NOVELLA
SHOPLIFTING FROM AMERICAN APPAREL

“I’m alone,” said Sam. “What would happen if I started sniffing coke.”

“You would kill yourself in a panic attack.”

“Are you sure,” said Sam.

“You will be on coke trying to steal batteries and your mind won’t be working properly and you will fuck up and someone will catch you and then you will go to jail.”

“Oh yeah,” said Sam. “I don’t have to worry about money anymore, I just steal batteries.”

“Do people really buy batteries off eBay,” said Luis.

“Yes. I have undercut the competition. Walmart is crying.”

“I’m going to watch cartoon porn,” said Luis. “No I’m not. I'm going to look at Indian women. Have you ever fucked an Indian girl.”

“No,” said Sam. “Native American or Indian.”

“You are awesome,” said Luis. “Is her picture online.”

“I’m confused,” said Sam. “What are you talking about.”

“How did you meet her,” said Luis.

“No, I haven’t,” said Sam. “You’re confused.”

“What are you talking about,” said Luis.

“I haven’t had sex with one,” said Sam.

“Okay,” said Luis. “What are you talking about.”

“Luis,” said Sam. “What is happening. It’s Saturday.”

“I think we are going insane,” said Luis. “From not being around people. We are starting to go inside ourselves, and play around inside of our own mental illness. That doesn’t make any sense.”

“What should I eat,” said Sam. “I have two choices. Cereal or peanut butter bagel.”

“Cereal,” said Luis.

“I wanted the bagel. I’m eating the bagel, I don’t know why I asked.”

“Sheila didn’t let you go over for leftovers,” said Luis.

“No,” said Sam. “I mean, we just didn’t talk or something.”

“Are you serious. Is everything okay.”

“I don’t know,” said Sam. “I woke up at 3:30.”

SEPTEMBER 2010 | SECOND NOVEL
RICHARD YATES

The next night after work [Dakota Fanning's mother] said there wasn’t time to drive Haley Joel Osment to the restaurant before Dakota Fanning’s therapist appointment. Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning talked in the backseat on the way to the therapist’s house. “Stop whispering to each other,” said Dakota Fanning’s mother looking in the rearview mirror. “It’s rude. If you want to say something say it so everyone in the car can hear.” Dakota Fanning said they were speaking at a normal volume. “We aren’t like you, we don't scream everything,” she said. “It’s rude to keep talking when no one wants to hear what you have to say. That's what you do, you keep talking when no one is even listening to you.” They parked on the street outside the therapist’s house. Dakota Fanning and her mother talked loudly outside the car. Haley Joel Osment heard Dakota Fanning scream “Don’t touch me” and “Let go of my arm.”

He left the car and said to Dakota Fanning’s mother that she was acting like a 4-year-old boy and that she was a bad person. Dakota Fanning said she would go to therapy but that this was the last time. Her mother walked away. They were in a neighborhood of three-story houses. Dakota Fanning showed Haley Joel Osment bruises on her arm. She went in the therapist’s house. Haley Joel Osment sat alone in the car reading The Myth of Neurosis which said psychotherapy was destructive to people’s self-esteem, often confused unhappiness with mental illness, encouraged excuses and dependency while discouraging hard work and will power. Dakota Fanning and her mother came in the car. Haley Joel Osment apologized for saying Dakota Fanning’s mother was a bad person. Dakota Fanning’s mother said something about Haley Joel Osment’s age. She said Dakota Fanning’s hair looked bad.

2010-04-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

3-PART/2-HOUR "PRESENTATION" BY TAO LIN*
4/02/10, KANSAS CITY ART INSTITUTE

PART 1 (BELOW), PART 2, PART 3
*EMAIL BINKY.TABBY [AT] GMAIL.COM FOR "BOOKING" INQUIRIES

2010-04-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

2010-03-26T14:28:00.001-07:00

TAO LIN'S DRAWING STYLE RE "2006-2010"

QUESTIONS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED, "SIMPLY" RAISE YOUR HAND

TWO STYLES

1. MINIMAL (CURRENT STYLE, TO A LARGE DEGREE)

2. DETAILED ("PHASED-OUT"/"ABANDONED" TO A LARGE DEGREE, WILL NOT BE ADDRESSED IN THIS PRESENTATION)

TIMELINE

2006 - 2010

TOOLS

MICROSOFT PAINT (MSPAINT)

Favored re convenience/speed/user-friendliness MSPaint has since been "phased-out"/"abandoned" due to its lower resolution, unavailability on Macs, smaller variety of tools/features/fonts (such as layers/Helvetica).

PEN/MARKER

Used often for works that do not require large areas of solid color. Used when 'personalizing' books for people at readings. Used for some things to be sold on eBay.

CONSTRUCTION PAPER (CONSTRUCTION)

Useful for "pieces" requiring large areas of solid color, especially ones with multiple layers of different colors. Creates a mildly 3D-seeming "piece," even when scanned. Seems easy/satisfying. I like doing this calmly in my room while listening to music.

PHOTOSHOP

Preferred non-"IRL" method. "Fill-all" tool is not as easy-to-use as MSPaint's.

FLICKR

Useful for organizing one's "pieces," can order prints from them at what seems like a low cost. Has a built-in "Statcounter." Seems satisfying.

ART ORGANIZED INTO A 'SET'

SUBSET FEATURING PHOTOSHOP HAMSTERS

REOCCURRING CONTENT/THEMES

CONVENTIONALLY CUTE OR "PRETTY" THINGS

THE "CAN'T CONCENTRATE" MANATEE (PHOTOSHOP, 2008)

CONVENTIONALLY UGLY/WEIRD-LOOKING THINGS WEARING CLEAN/"PROFESSIONAL"/COLORFUL OUTFITS OR WITH COLORFUL SKIN OR FUR.

PROFESSIONAL OCTOPUS (MARKER, 2007)

ANIMALS DOING CONVENTIONALLY HAPPY THINGS WITH A "DEPRESSED FACIAL EXPRESSION" OR WHILE "CRYING"

ANIMALS BEING EXPLOITED BY HUMANS

[something like 'a cow on a conveyor
belt moving toward a machine that
will turn it into beef' with the
cow displaying a neutral, confused
or 'ambiguous' facial expression]

ANIMALS SUFFERING WITHIN A COLORFUL/"AESTHETICALLY PLEASING" CONTEXT

"SEX MONSTER" SEARCHING FOR SEX "IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES" (CONSTRUCTION PAPER, 2010)

MONA LISA-LIKE (AMBIGUOUS/"COMPLEX") FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

SOMETHING CONVENTIONALLY VIEWED AS "UNFORTUNATE" PRESENTED IN A NON-PITYING/NEUTRAL MANNER (OR IN A MANNER LIKE IT IS AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR CLOTHING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE)

ANIMALS DOING INTERESTING THINGS, OR SEEMING "IDLE" IN INTERESTING SITUATIONS, WHILE DISPLAYING AN "UNCERTAIN FACIAL EXPRESSION"

PRIZE-WINNING HAMSTER (MSPAINT, 2008)

FISH-SNIFFING SQUID (CONSTRUCTION/MARKER, 2007)

UNICORN MOTHER THINKING ABOUT EATING HER DAUGHTER TO GET RID OF IT (PHOTOSHOP, 2007)

ANIMALS SEEMINGLY "NOT DOING ANYTHING" WHILE DISPLAYING A "NEUTRAL, CONFUSED, OR DEPRESSED FACIAL EXPRESION"

PERUVIAN JUNGLE PIG (MSPAINT, 2007)

SASQUATCH SITTING AT BENCH AT NIGHT EXPERIENCING THE FULL EFFECT OF THE LONELINESS OF EXISTENCE (MSPAINT, 2007)

OKAPI (PHOTOSHOP, 2007)

"SCREAMING IN AGONY"

PANDA "SCREAMING IN AGONY" (MSPAINT, 2007) (BY 'ELLEN KENNEDY,' AN INFLUENCE, MORE INFO RE 'INFLUENCES' SOON)

EXTREME EMOTIONS IN EXTREME SITUATIONS (DEPICTIONS OF BEING "OUT-OF-CONTROL")

TREE-SWINGING SASQUATCH (PHOTOSHOP, 2008)

OBESITY

OVERWEIGHT MOOSE (PHOTOSHOP, 2008)

SASQUATCH OBESE FROM EATING TOO MUCH PASTA TO CONSOLE HERSELF FROM BIRTHING A BABY OF A DIFFERENT SPECIES SOMEHOW (CONSTRUCTION PAPER, 2010)

DEPICTIONS OF EMOTIONAL THINGS HAPPENING FOR SEEMINGLY "NO CONCRETE REASON"

PANDA CRYING FOR "NO CONCRETE REASON" (PHOTOSHOP, 2008)

SATANISM

HARRY POTTER (MSPAINT, 2007)

UPSIDE-DOWN CROSS FRIENDS (PHOTOSHOP, 2007)

RELIGIOUSLY CONFUSED LEMUR (MSPAINT, 2008)

168-IQ MOOSE (PHOTOSHOP, 2007)

TEN-YEARS OLD (MSPAINT, 2008)

WHAT LIN'S ART STRIVES FOR, GENERALLY

To always be a parody of itself, to some degree (to a ~30-70% degree, ideally). To always be "self-aware," to some degree.

To never be a parody of something else. Unless its parody of itself, as a parody of something else, is more evident than its parody of something else.

To convey a functional self-mocking tone where the "mocking" component functions to relieve negative feelings by accommodating "more perspectives," in an effort to have a "more accurate, or comprehensive," perspective, which, in times of despair will relieve the despair for some people.

To view extreme misfortune or "unfairness" as humorous in order to (1) prepare for extreme misfortune (2) be able to view the misfortune more accurately and from more perspectives and (3) perhaps "enjoy" the extreme misfortune on certain levels. While always having the view, firstly, that it is desirable to avoid the misfortune and to do so, if possible, without inflicting misfortunes onto others.

WHAT IT STRIVES TO AVOID, GENERALLY

UNIRONIC "GROTESQUE" DEPICTIONS

Violence without a kind of humor that functions as an ameliorative (against pain) mechanism. For example the below drawing seems created not to lessen one's pain via humor or something else, but to either simply display violence or to promote, to some degree, violence against a certain type of person or thing or specific person or thing, to incite violence.

Abstraction without indication to the viewer that the artist is self-aware or self-mocking of the abstraction (i'm 'okay' with this, and everything else i strive try to avoid, it 'simply' isn't what is strived for in this certain style)

Unself-conscious (on the level of the artist) anger, jealous, distrust, disapproval

Direct sarcasm, irony, or rhetoric—a drawing of someone winning on Wall Street making a lot of money with an exaggerated happy facial expression with a title that is against capitalism or 'the bourgeoisie' or something, a drawing of someone eating non-organic meat while talking shit about their wife treating their dog badly with a title like 'hypocrite'

DAVID SHRIGLEY

[UNKNOWN]

Expression of "negative" emotions without irony, on some level, or the opposite of what is conventional—a drawing of someone with a sad facial expression walking in rain with the title "sad, rainy day" (someone doing that but smiling would be okay). "Cr[ies] for help."

INFLUENCES

1. ELLEN KENNEDY

CHEESE BEAST GOING THROUGH CHEESE WITHDRAWAL (MSPAINT, 2006)

COWS DROWNING (MSPAINT, 2006)

HAMSTER (PHOTOSHOP, 2006)

GRENDEL (PHOTOSHOP, 2006)

DECAPITATED BEAST HEAD FLOATING IN OUTER SPACE HUMILIATED AFTER JET LI BEAT IT IN TENNIS MATCH AND CUT OFF HEAD WITH RACKET THEN KNOCKED IT INTO SPACE TO SHOW OFF (MSPAINT, 2006)
'

2. DANIEL CLOWES

3. SMALL CHILDREN

[DRAWING BY 2ND-GRADER (I think) IN TAIWAN ON DISPLAY IN SUBWAY] (MISC., 2009)

[DRAWING BY 9-YEAR-OLD FROM INTERNET] (MARKER I THINK, 2010)

[DRAWING BY 3-YEAR-OLD] (PENCIL/PEN/MARKER, 2010)

4. NATURE

PINK/ORANGE FISH W/ "VAGUELY NEUTRAL FACIAL EXPRESSION"' (PHOTOGRAPH, 2010)

"DUDU" (PHOTOGRAPH, 2010)

"DUDU" REMAINING CALM IN STRESSFUL SITUATION (PHOTOGRAPH, 2010)

NEW GIRLFRIEND (PHOTOGRAPH, 2008)

OKAPI (PHOTOGRAPH, 2010)

TECHNIQUES, DRAWING

GENERAL

Always use imperfect lines, imperfect shapes. But always fill in space completely/perfectly, using only one color.

TEMPLATES

Any enclosed shape + 'facial expression' + 'appendages' ([any #] of lines connected to the enclosed shape, if the appendages are 'enclosed spaces' themselves always incorporate it into the initial enclosed shape, so that all the appendages and the initial enclosed space composes only one enclosed space).

Will always manifest, due to the facial expressions, as a sentient being. Only becomes a template when the facial expression is added.

Is a spectrum. View it as a room, and any coordinate, any atom in the room, can be a template. Those chosen, and named, are chosen arbitrarily, in the view of this style. Resemblance to actually existing animals is not relevant, as the mind will perceive whatever is there as representative of a sentient being.

TYPES

Types are "sub-templates" to be applied to templates, changing it in a manner that can be applied across all templates, without further knowledge, if one wants that.

May be metaphysical (to different degrees) in nature. For example "meta" can be indicated by a "dotted line" template. "MFA Student" can be inherent but not apparent unless stated in the title.

ACCESSORIES

Can be "applied" to any template of any type to any degree. May also be used themselves as templates (in a way that "types" cannot) in an infinitely progressing, two-way manner (a skateboard skateboarding on a skateboard that is skateboarding, etc., while wearing "adhesive antlers" that are wearing "adhesive antlers," etc.).

"PUMPKIN SUIT" ACCESSORY

ELLEN WEARING A PUMPKIN SUIT (MSPAINT, 2006)

"PAJAMAS" ACCESSORY

STAR BABY (MSPAINT, 2007)

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Eyes: two enclosed circles, each containing one smaller/filled-in circle.

Mouth: line or enclosed space.

Nose: use rarely, two lines that connect at their points or two curved lines with two filled-in spaces ("nostrils") between them.

Eyebrows: use rarely, one curved/straight line (or enclosed space) above each eye.

Ears: do not use unless it is part of the enclosed-space of the "template."

Place the "facial expression" within any area of the "template," to different effects.

Because it is generally accepted that eye-size/mouth-size do not vary much with age, using a "large facial expression" can indicate a "small body" (a technique in conveying the "baby" type) and using a "small facial expression" can indicate a "large body" (a technique in conveying the "obese" type).

(Large eyeballs can also indicate the "baby" type because eyeball-size seems to vary in size even less than eye-size/mouth-size re age).

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

NEUTRAL
MOUTH: STRAIGHT LINE, NOT TOO LONG

EYES: EYEBALLS CENTERED WITHIN CIRCLES IN SIMILAR LOCATIONS, PLACING IN DIFFERENT

LOCATIONS CAN INDICATE VARYING DEGREES OF 'INATTENTION,' FROM 'STARING BLANKLY' TO 'SEEMS BORED' TO 'SEEMS MENTALLY IMPAIRED' TO 'SEEMS FUCKED UP'

HAPPY
MOUTH: STRAIGHT LINE W/ SLIGHT UPWARD CURVE OR UPWARD 'HALF-CIRCLE'

EYES: DETERMINES OTHER THINGS, WILL 'SEEM HAPPY' REGARDLESS OF EYEBALL PLACEMENT
AVOID EXCESSIVE CURVATURE, TOO LARGE A MOUTH

DEPRESSED
MOUTH: STRAIGHT LINE OR W/ SLIGHT DOWNWARD CURVE OR DOWNWARD 'HALF-CIRCLE'

EYES: DETERMINES OTHER THINGS, WILL 'SEEM DEPRESSED' REGARDLESS OF EYEBALL PLACEMENT
AVOID EXCESSIVE CURVATURE, TOO LARGE A MOUTH

CRYING
MOUTH: DETERMINES OTHER THINGS, WILL 'SEEM TO BE CRYING' REGARDLESS, TO CREATE A 'CRYING IN AGONY' TYPE OF CRYING USE A 'LOPSIDED,' ENCLOSED-SPACE MOUTH

EYES: FILL IN BOTTOM 1/2 TO 1/6 OF EYE WITH THE COLOR YOU'RE USING (OR BLUE, IF IT'S IN COLOR), IMPLEMENT BELOW THE RIGHT, LEFT, OR BOTH EYES A CONVENTIONALLY-SHAPED 'TEAR DROP,' COLORED IN WITH THE COLOR YOU'RE USING (OR BLUE, IF IT'S IN COLOR); A SQUIGGLY LINE IN THE GENERAL SHAPE OF THE BOTTOM OF THE EYE CAN BE ADDED TO ENHANCE THE EFFECT VIA VAGUELY CONVEYING A KIND OF 'QUIVERING' IN THE EYE AREA (SEE 'EGGPLANT' BELOW)
AVOID LOCATIONALLY SIMILAR PLACEMENT OF 'TEAR-DROPS' BELOW BOTH EYES, PERFECTLY DRAWN 'TEAR-DROPS,' WATER IN EYES HAVING A PERFECTLY STRAIGHT OUTLINE

DECEASED
MOUTH: DETERMINES OTHER THINGS, WILL 'SEEM DECEASED' REGARDLESS, FUN TO EXPERIMENT WITH

EYES: SINGLE LINE X'S INSTEAD OF EYES
AVOID DEPRESSED MOUTHS

COLOR

AVOID USING SO MANY COLORS THAT THERE IS VAGUELY A 'RAINBOW EFFECT'

A 'FULL-ON' 'RAINBOW EFFECT' IS ACCEPTABLE AS IT THEN BECOMES SELF-AWARE, AND CAN FUNCTION IN WAYS UNCONVENTIONAL TO THE NORMAL 'RAINBOW EFFECT' EFFECT

OFTEN THE MOST SATISFYING CHOICE WILL BE TO USE ONE OR TWO COLORS

BRIGHT COLORS ARE ENCOURAGED

USE ONLY ONE SOLID COLOR PER ENCLOSED SPACE

DO NOT USE COLORS IN A 'STRAIGHT-LINE' MANNER OR IN ANY STEP PRIOR TO THE 'ADD COLOR' STEP

'ellen wearing out-of-control dragon suit on halloween' (MSPAINT, 2006)

'tricolored fish' (MSPAINT, 2006)

SCENERY

USE SPARINGLY, SEEMS TO BE CONSISTENT WITH THE STYLE ONLY IF THE BACKGROUND IS RELATED DIRECTLY IN SOME MANNER TO THE TEMPLATE'S FACIAL EXPRESSION, THE TITLE, OR THE 'PLOT' OF THE 'PLOT-DRIVEN' TITLE

'marital problems' (CONSTRUCTION/PEN/MARKER, 2007)

MOUTH (INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUES)

FEMININE, OR "HAS LIPS"

OPEN

CLOSED

'LOPSIDED' (ENCLOSED SPACE, CONVEYS 'ACTIVE' EXPRESSION OF STRONG EMOTION, EVEN W/O TEARS OR 'WET EYES,' SEE CLAIRE DANES)

EYES (INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUES)

LASHES

'AUTHOR PHOTO'

'MESSED UP'

'QUIVERING' (SLIGHTLY 'SQUIGGLY LINES BELOW EACH EYE, CONFORMING TO SOME DEGREE TO THE BOTTOM SHAPE OF EACH EYE, CONVEYS 'ACTIVE' EXPRESSION OF STRONG EMOTION, SEE 'CLAIRE DANES')

'AUTHOR PHOTO' EYEBALLS + 'DEPRESSED' MOUTH = 'STRONGLY UNCERTAIN'

TECHNIQUES, TITLING

'ONE WORD' TECHNIQUE

A DIRECT, TONELESS DESCRIPTION OF WHAT THE DRAWING LITERALLY IS OF

CONVEYS, VIA ITS TONELESSNESS, A KIND OF VAGUELY HUMOROUS 'DEADPAN' DETACHMENT, WEARINESS, DEPRESSION, OR 'BLANKNESS' IN TERMS OF THE ARTIST

CAN ENHANCE SOMETHING CONVENTIONALLY NOTABLE ABOUT THE DRAWING BY RENDERING IT NOT-NOTABLE, AS BELOW RE 'CRYING' FACIAL EXPRESSION

'EGGPLANT' (MSPAINT, 2006)

'ass-eater' (MSPAINT, 2006)

'fucked' (Applicable, with satisfying results, to almost any drawing)

'CATCH-PHRASE' TITLE

Often, AND surprisingly, applicable (to satisfying results) to almost any drawing.

'severe depression'

'crippling loneliness'

'[name of template] friends]'

'upside-down-cross friends'

'PLOT-DRIVEN' TITLE

'network card's raft ride to freedom realizing it's fucked' (2006)

'jet li jumping across logs blind-folded being watched by jealous obese tree'

'REALLY LONG' TITLE

'ugly fish baby still able to feel happiness because not yet really ugly because it's a baby still'

APPLYING THIS STYLE OF TITLING TO PHOTOGRAPHS (OR 'REAL LIFE')

'binky pondering the mysteries of existence hamster' or 'fucked'

'blue truck suffering from severe loneliness' or 'crippling loneliness' or 'fucked'

'unable to express true feelings due to immaturity' or 'coconut water friends'

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS (THINGS IN PARENTHESIS ARE OPTIONAL)

AUTODIDACTIC/EXPERIMENTAL MODE

1. DRAW AN ENCLOSED SHAPE
2. DRAW TWO IMPERFECT CIRCLES INSIDE [1.]
3. DRAW ONE FILLED-IN CIRCULAR SHAPE INSIDE EACH [2.]
4. DRAW A LINE OR ENCLOSED SHAPE ANYWHERE BELOW [2.]
5. (ADD THINGS IN A MANNER THAT SEEMS CONSISTENT WITH [1. - 4.]

TRADITIONAL/ACADEMIC MODE

1. CHOOSE A TEMPLATE
2. APPLY, IN YOUR MIND, A TYPE (IF YOU WANT) OR SPECIFIC FACIAL EXPRESSION (IF YOU WANT) TO YOUR TEMPLATE
3. DRAW THE TEMPLATE AS INFLUENCED, OR NOT, BY THE TYPE OR SPECIFIC FACIAL EXPRESSION, IF ANY, YOU'VE CHOSEN
4. (ADD ACCESSORIES)
5. (ADD SCENERY)
4. (ADD COLOR)
5. (TITLE IT)

ABERRATIONS/'PHASED-OUT'/'ABANDONED STYLES/FORMS

A LOT OF THINGS IN ONE DRAWING

COMICS

'MUFFINS' (MSPAINT, 2007)

DRAWINGS CONTAINING NO FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND/OR NO ENCLOSED SPACES

'SQUID HOUSE' (MSPAINT, 2006)

DRAWINGS CONTAINING NO EYEBALLS

'SQUID FUCKING A POTATO ON RAFT IN DELAWARE RIVER' (MSPAINT, 2006)

OTHER THINGS OF NOTE

TATTOOS

'unwanted pregnancy' OR 'kangaroo and joey' (2007)

'3x fish' (2008)

REMEMBER: ALL TEMPLATES ARE ON A "SPECTRUM," EACH "NAMED" ONE IS ARBITRARILY CHOSEN AND GIVEN A NAME

[TALK GENERALLY ABOUT WHAT I REMEMBER ABOUT EACH PIECE IN THE 'HIHIHIHI' SITE WHILE TALKING QUESTIONS]

[DRAW SOME THINGS ON THE DRY-ERASE BOARD AND SPEAK ABOUT THINGS AS I REMEMBER THEM]

[HAVE PEOPLE DRAW THINGS TOGETHER AS PART OF THE LEARNING PROCESS]

>

2010-02-20T16:41:00.000-08:00

"KMART REALISM"

INITIAL REMARKS RE "THE TERM"

(FEEL FREE TO LOOK AWAY FROM THE SCREEN, AT YOUR GRAPHS, IF YOU WANT, WHILE I SAY THESE INITIAL REMARKS, OR WHILE I READ ANYTHING ELSE OFF THE SCREEN THROUGHOUT THIS "LECTURE.")

MY USE OF THE TERM TODAY IS ALWAYS "SARCASTIC" OR "IN QUOTATION MARKS," IMPLYING I'M QUOTING PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THE TERM "LITERALLY," BELIEVING THAT IT LEGITIMATELY DESCRIBES A SET OF PEOPLE ACCURATELY.

I DON'T FEEL THAT ANY TWO WRITERS, HOWEVER SIMILAR THEY ARE IN WHATEVER MANNER, ARE THE SAME, IN PART BECAUSE LITERALLY NO TWO PEOPLE AND NO TWO TEXTS, EVEN TWO TEXTS THAT ARE EXACTLY THE SAME, ARE, TO ME, THE SAME, BECAUSE EVEN IF THEY'RE IN-THEMSELVES THE SAME THEY HAVE DIFFERENT CONTEXTS, LITERALLY, ACCURATELY.

ANY DISCUSSION OUTSIDE THAT LEVEL OF ACCURACY SEEMS, IN PART, TO ME "SARCASTIC," OR "JUST SCREWING AROUND."

"KMART REALISTS," UNLIKE SOME OTHER GROUPS OF WRITERS GROUPED TOGETHER, HAVE LITTLE CONCRETELY IN COMMON—FOR EXAMPLE THEY DIDN'T READ THE SAME WRITERS, DIDN'T ATTEND THE SAME SCHOOLS, DIDN'T "HANG OUT TOGETHER," AND WEREN'T PUBLISHED BY THE SAME PUBLISHERS OR MAGAZINES.

EXCERPTS

[READ SOME FROM MY PAPER]

[READ JOY WILLIAMS EXCERPT]

[READ ANN BEATTIE EXCERPT]

WHAT IS IT?

“Kmart Realism” is a derogatory term someone made-up some time in the early or mid-80's, commonly mis-attributed to Tom Wolfe, who used it in a 1989 essay in Harper's. I searched a database of "major periodicals & newspapers" and it was used multiple times in the mid to late 80s in The New York Times & Washington Post, but in manners like it originated elsewhere.

It seems to have no agreed-upon origin.

I think the main people in “Kmart Realism” are Ann Beattie, Joy Williams, Frederick Barthelme, Mary Robison, Bobbie Ann Mason, Raymond Carver. I think Larry Brown isn’t really included since he was perceived as poor and so had "real problems." He was also a fireman which means he contributed to society, which I think disqualifies him from being a “K-Mart Realist,” and he wrote about war sometimes, which also disqualifies Barry Hannah and some other people from being a "Kmart Realist." I would not include Amy Hempel, Diane Williams, Sam Lipsyte, or most of the people who had taken some instruction, or something, from Gordon Lish (more below) because “Kmart Realists,” as grouped by the majority of journalists, have a different tone to me. Amy Hempel is often called a “minimalist” though. David Leavitt, whose first book, a story-collection, was published in 1984, cited Ann Beattie, Raymond Carver, Mary Robison as the "older writers" influencing him. Those writers are an average of about 15 years older than him.

“Kmart Realism” has also been called “minimalism,” “dirty realism,” and other things.

“Kmart Realism” was at its “height” maybe in the mid-80’s. Frederick Barthelme had 20-30 stories published in the New Yorker, Mary Robison also had many stories in The New Yorker, and Gordon Lish was publishing other people’s books and stories as an editor at Knopf and Esquire around then.

The funniest and most detached and "existential" “Kmart Realism” person to me is Joy Williams I think. They are all funny and capable of controlling themselves from using dialogue tags not “said,” sarcasm (or just describing something without judgment), and a sense of hopelessness beyond what is acceptable in the mainstream today, I think.

I don't think any of these people are religious. Frederick Barthelme has said that he admires the writing of Jean Rhys and Jane Bowles. I think the people who wrote similar things to “Kmart Realism," but earlier, are James Purdy (“Color of Darkness”), Jean Rhys, Jane Bowles, Ernest Hemingway (“The Sun Also Rises” and some short stories), Knut Hamsun (1890-1892), and Richard Yates, with his later stories.

To me only Ann Beattie’s first four or five books are “Kmart Realism-like.” I like “Kmart Realism.” In the memoir “Double Down” (about losing two hundred thousand dollars or so at casinos) by Frederick Barthelme and Steven Barthelme they said they did not think of themselves as “writers” or even “professors” (they have both been teaching for over 20 years, Frederick Barthelme is the director of the MFA creative writing program at University of Southern Mississippi), which is something that seems true to some extent to all “K-Mart Realism” people based on me reading their writing and thinking about them.

"Landmark texts" in its history (more on SOME OF these later).

1985, "ON THE NEW FICTION," Missisippi Review

AN ENTIRE ISSUE OF THE LITERARY MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO DISCUSSION OF "KMART REALISM"/"MINIMALISM."

1986, "LESS IS LESS," HARPER'S

ARTICLE BY MADISON SMARTT BELL CONDEMNING, FINALLY, PUBLISHERS FOR PUBLISHING BOOKS THAT ARE "MINIMALIST." PRAISES MARY ROBISON FOR SOME REASON. MENTIONS NIHILISM.

1986, "A FEW WORDS ABOUT MINIMALISM," NEW YORK TIMES

ARTICLE BY JOHN BARTH ("John Simmons Barth (born May 27, 1930) is an American novelist and short-story writer, known for the postmodernist and metafictive quality of his work." DISCUSSING MINIMALISM THROUGHOUT HISTORY. NOTES THAT THE PHRASE "LESS IS MORE" HAS BEEN ATTRIBUTED TO SOMETHING LIKE SEVEN FAMOUS PEOPLE THROUGHOUT HISTORY. CONCLUDES, IN MY VIEW, THAT SOME PEOPLE LIKE SOME KINDS OF WRITING, OTHER PEOPLE LIKE OTHER KINDS, AND THAT IT'S OKAY NOT TO BE AGAINST ONE KIND, BUT TO "TRY" BOTH KINDS. [READ QUOTES].

1988, "ON BEING WRONG: CONVICTED MINIMALIST SPILLS BEANS," NEW YORK TIMES

ARTICLE BY FREDERICK BARTHELME DISCUSSING HOW HE "CAME TO" WRITE LIKE HE DID. SAYS HE AND EVERYONE HE KNEW WAS MOST INTERESTED IN JOHN BARTH, DONALD BARTHELME, WILLIAM GASS, JOHN HAWKES ("John Hawkes, born John Clendennin Talbot Burne Hawkes, Jr. (August 17, 1925 – May 15, 1998), was a postmodern American novelist, known for the intensity of his work, which suspended the traditional constraints of the narrative.").

1989, "STALKING THE BILLION-FOOTED BEAST: A LITERARY MANIESTO FOR THE NEW SOCIAL NOVEL," HARPER'S

ARTICLE BY TOM WOLFE DESCRIBING DIFFERENT MOVEMENTS OR PHASES, INCLUDES A PARAGRAPH ON "KMART REALISM."

1995, 1996, [ARTICLES IN "STUDIES IN SHORT FICTION"]

"RECAPPING" THE ABOVE. [READ EXCERPTS.]

A GRAPH I MADE WITH THE X-AXIS DENOTING "BLEAKNESS" OF THE WORK

KMART REALISM CONTEXTUALIZED

1985, MISSISSIPPI REVIEW

In a 1985 issue of the Mississippi Review devoted to commentary about literary minimalism, Kim Herzinger's introductory article names the stories of Carver, Beattie, Robison, and Bobbie Ann Mason among many others--the list is repeated several times, with variations--as minimalist fiction, "work loosely characterized by equanimity of surface, `ordinary' subjects, recalcitrant narrators and deadpan narratives, slightness of story, and characters who don't think out loud"

A few pages later Herzinger adds other traits to the list: compression, "aggressive lucidity," "spareness and cleanness, above all the obvious `craftedness,'" and a "profound uneasiness with irony as a mode of presentation"

Kim Herzinger (also said in that introduction):

[FROM AN ARTICLE FROM 1996 IN "STUDIES IN SHORT FICTION"] Herzinger's second definition, published in the New Orleans Review, incorporates many of these traits: “Minimalist fiction is a) formally spare, terse, trim; b) tonally cool, detached, noncommittal; "flat," affectless, recalcitrant, deadpan, laconic; c) oblique and elliptical; d) relatively plotless; e) concerned with surface detail, particularly with recognizable brand names; f) depthless; g) comparatively oblique about personal, social, political, or cultural history; h) often written in the present tense; i) often written in the first person; j) sometimes written in the second person."

Frederick Barthelme said:

SEEMS ZEN

Experience of concrete reality, of time "passing."

PEOPLE

ANN BEATTIE (B. 1947)

Funny. A lot of non-sequiturs, sentence to sentence. Seems to like imaginative jokes or "fantasies" told by adults to children, for example "snake shoes" or "dinosaurs growing brains out of their heads to form antlers."

Seems to like characters that are "emo" (have a tendency to express self-pity, "calm self-hatred," or that they are depressed in order to feel better). Characters react to misfortune or "not getting what they want" with resignation, humor, or a kind of "nice wryness." Seems to not have many "mean" characters, in my view.

Encouraged by JD O'Hara, her professor, to submit her stories. He submitted for her w/o asking her sometimes. She was rejected twenty-two times by Roger Angell, who encouraged her (and who also later encouraged Bobbie Ann Mason) before acceptance.

(1976) "Chilly Scenes of Winter" (novel)*
(1976) "Distortions" (stories)
(1978) "Secrets and Surprises" (stories)
(1981) "Falling in Place" (novel)
(1982) "The Burning House" (stories)**
(1986) "Love Always" (novel)
[+9]***

*Movie (1979) released twice, once with bleaker ending
**is copyright by "Irony & Pity, Inc.," a "The Sun Also Rises" reference
***in sort of a different tone/style

JOY WILLIAMS (B. 1944)

Seems always aware of "death" and that life is scarily mysterious and "without messages." Maybe the funniest of these, to me. Has non-sequiturs that are more than one sentence long, sometimes entire short scenes of non-sequitur ("ant in doorway," "envelope w/ nothing in it"). Seems to "delight" in people acting weirdly due to being naturally weird, senile, or "insane" to some degree. Is very calming, to me, to read. Perhaps portrays the "bleakest" world, to me, out of these, but in a way that makes me happier when I read it.

Is the most abstract of these maybe. Often says "poetic" things, things aware that they don't make logical sense or aren't literal. Seems to enjoy, like Ann Beattie, having characters say imaginative/fantastical things, like that someone in Nevada "sleeps for them" so they don't have to sleep. Has magical realist elements, like dead people coming back to life. Has a story where the main character is the "spiritual teacher" Gurdjieff (he "chills" in Florida).

(1973) "State of Grace" (novel, more abstract than later work)
(1978) "The Changeling" (novel, more abstract than later work)
(1982) "Taking Care" (stories)
(1988) "Breaking and Entering" (novel)
(1990) "Escapes" (stories)
(2001) "The Quick and The Dead" (novel)
(2004) "Honored Guest" (stories)
[+2]*

*Florida guide book & essay-collection

FREDERICK BARTHELME (B. 1943)*

Most consistent, has published the most novels. Characters are calm, Zen-like, despite almost constant marital "problems." Almost every book features marital problems where there is some kind of separation or divorce. I enjoy rereading many of his novels ("Natural Selection," "Bob The Gambler," "Two Against One," etc.) once every one or two years.

Teaches at "USM," edits "Mississippi Review." I've read maybe 10-12 of his books. I've read maybe 4-6 of his books more than once. Was excited to read his recent book, "Waveland" (2009) and bought it in hardcover, and was not disappointed. I bought the book before that, "Elroy Nights" (2003), in hardcover also.

(1970) "Rangoon" (stories, out of print, in a different style)
(1971) "War & War" (novel, out of print, in a different style)
(1983) "Moon Deluxe" (stories)**
(1984) "Second Marriage" (novel)
(1985) "Tracer" (novel)
(1987) "Chroma" (stories)
(1988) "Two Against One" (novel)
(1989) "Natural Selection" (novel)
(1993) "The Brothers" (novel)
(1995) "Painted Desert" (novel)
(1997) "Bob the Gambler" (novel)
(2003) "Elroy Nights" (novel)
(2009) "Waveland" (novel)
[+2]***

*Brother of Donald Barthelme
**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, 1983, WEEKS OF 8/7, 8/14, 8/21, 8/28, 9/4, "A first collection of stories, by turns funny, weird and sad, delineating the malaise of the unattached middle-class male."
***Collected stories & non-fiction book about gambling w/ his brother, in which Mary Robison makes a cameo, they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars of their inheritance and almost went to jail, while teaching at University of Southern Mississippi's MFA program

MARY ROBISON (B. 1949)*

Seems reclusive. Seems funny in a different way than other writes in this list. Characters seem to like amphetamines. I've read "Why Did I Ever" maybe 3 or 3.5 times. When I read it I want to write a novel like it. I emailed her a pretty long email in 2001 or 2002 after reading "Why Did I Ever."

I remember a story by her called "Pretty Ice," where the girl in it realizes, as her "boyfriend" in it is smiling at her, that it is the last time she is going to see him. I want to reread that story. Taught at "USM" for an amount of time with Frederick Barthelme before "moving" to the University of Florida, I think, where David Leavitt teaches.

(1979) "Days" (stories, out of print)
(1981) "Oh!" (novel, out of print)**
(1983) "An Amateur's Guide to Night (stories, out of print)
(1988) "Believe Them" (stories, out of print)
(1991) "Subtraction" (novel, out of print)
(2001) "Why Did I Ever" (novel)
(2009) "One DOA, One on The Way" (novel)

*Achieved a following on Flickr for her photography some time between 2001 and 2009
**Movie starring Crispin Glover entitled "Twister" (1989)

BOBBIE ANN MASON (B. 1940)

I like her first story-collection the most of our her books I've read. I like her story "Graveyard Day" the most out of the stories. It has a main character whose current boyfriend is named Joe, and who has two previous boyfriends named Joe, and sometimes she gets confused. Has a memorable ending, to me. I've read it between 4 and 8 times, I think.

Seems less bleak than other writers in this list.

(1982) "Shiloh and Other Stories" (stories)
(1985) "In Country" (novel)
(1988) "Spence & Lila" (novel)
(1989) "Love Life" (stories)
(1998) "Midnight Magic" (stories)
[+4]

RAYMOND CARVER (B. 1938)*

I think I like his post-Gordon Lish stories more than his pre-Gordon Lish ones. I think my favorite story by him is "Preservation" in Cathedral. I also like "Vitamins," I like the ending. Carol Sklenicka's biography of him was very funny, I felt.

I would like to read more of his poetry. I've read maybe 5 poems and I like them.

His characters seem to be in the most financial duress out of the writers in this list. They often seem depressed for "concrete reasons," due to being addicted to alcohol or having to work jobs they don't like, or not having enough money to pay rent or something, which is different than the other writers on this list. Sometimes his characters seem to feel depressed for both "concrete reasons" and "no concrete reason."

(1976) "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" (stories)
(1981) "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" (stories)
(1983) "Cathedral" (stories)
(1988) "Elephant" (stories)
[+~10]**

*Biography by Carol Sklenicka

"Ray confided to Carlile that he wasn't working. The resulting lassitude in turn prompted him to think about traveling to exotic destinations or buying new cars or houses."

"In early March, Ray read in the evening paper that he'd won a $2000 NEA grant."

"Carver considered using the last poem in the book, 'Drinking While Driving,' as its title piece."

[Will You Shut The Fuck Up?]

**Poetry, non-fiction, collections

SUMMARY I CREATED IN 2005

RISE

STRUGGLE

DECLINE

BLURBS OF EACH OTHER'S BOOKS & OTHER NOTABLE BLURBS

"Mary Robison is the consummate librettist, a writer to whom each sentence, each word, each splatter of punctuation means everything. Reading Why Did I Ever brings to mind Jane Bowles and Jean Rhys at their best." - Frederick Barthelme, 2001

"Mary Robison has done for Hollywood culture of our time what Joan Didion did thirty years ago. Spare and ruthless, precisely chiseled, Why Did I Ever is the Play It As It Lays of the twenty-first century." - Madison Smartt Bell, 2001

"I admire Frederick Barthelme's peculiar grasp of the slant side of human relationships. Moon Deluxe is something else entirely—superbly written, and very funny." - Raymond Carver, 1983

"[Frederick Barthelme] is one of the most distinctive prose stylists since Hemingway, capable of writing sentences so sharp and crisp and suggestive they have a palpable glow." - Bret Easton Ellis, 1995

"Hypnotic...[Joy Williams is] one of our most remarkable storytellers." - Ann Beattie, 1982 (?)

"The world according to Williams is a world unlike any other in contemporary short fiction. Taking Care is a stunning collection of stories, and Joy Williams is simply a wonder." - Raymond Carver, 1982

"Joy Williams has produced a hard, sharp, comic novel about the off-kilter genius of adolescence—a work of maverick insight and rash and beautiful bursts of language." - Don Delillo, 2001, re The Quick and The Dead

"One-of-a-kind fiction—there's nothing to compare it to. An unnerving vision of the world that's genuinely shocking in its pitiless clarity and comic despair: you read every sentence rapt, and, often within the same paragraph, you find yourself gasping with horror and then laughing hysterically." - Bret Easton Ellis, 2001, re The Quick and The Dead

"A stunning debut...Bobbie Ann Mason is very impressive. I find myself completely immersed in the stories while I'm reading them, and they have a nice aftereffect image as well...these stories will last." - Raymond Carver, 1982, re Shiloh and Other Stories

CONNECTIONS

NOTABLE THINGS

At least half are women, as opposed to "Beats," "Modernists," "Post-Modernists," "Rat Pack" (Bret Easton Ellis, Jay McInerney), etc.

Articles against it distort the prevalence of it. [READ 1996 QUOTE, READ BASS STATS].

Influenced as much by those with writing that is the opposite, or very different, than their writing, as by those with writing that is similar to them.

Frederick Barthelme and Mary Robison studied with John Barth, a post-modern maximalist, before writing their first "minimalist" books.

Frederick Barthelme's brother is Donald Barthelme.

Frederick Barthelme and Ann Beattie and Bobbie Ann Mason admired Donald Barthelme's writing.

Donald Barthelme writes non-realistic, post-modern, surreal and at times "magical realist" stories.

Joy Williams admired the writing of John Hawkes and Malcolm Lowry, and in a 2008 interview, said, "I can tell you who I greatly admire—writers who always move and trouble me—Sebald, Coetzee, Delillo. They are rigorous, merciless novelists of great beauty and integrity.

Raymond Carver was friends with Don DeLillo who is probably almost the opposite of a “K-Mart Realist” excluding non-realism things. Don DeLillo has dialogue that is like “K-Mart Realism” dialogue I think sometimes. I think Don DeLillo was friends with Raymond Carver or something because he was friends with Gordon Lish, who edited Raymond Carver and also published many “K-Mart Realism” writers in Esquire.

There seem to be something like at least 30 people named in various articles as writing "Kmart realism" or "minimalism." Had many "offshoot" groups.

They all seem very productive.

Had no "manifesto," did not "attack" or "demean" any other kinds of writing (except perhaps only indirectly, through defense, though they rarely even defend unless asked directly in an interview).

SEEM TO REFRAIN FROM MAKING PRONOUNCEMENTS: 1985 PROFILE: [BOBBIE ANN MASON] PERCHES ON THE EDGE OF HER SEAT, SPEAKING THOUGHTFULLY ABOUT HER WORK IN HER SLIGHTLY TWANGY VOICE, INTERRUPTING HERSELF OCCASIONALLY TO INSIST, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT."

Didn't publish when very young, like most writers who get a lot of attention. Beattie (29), Williams (29), Barthelme (27/40), Robison (30), Mason (42), Carver (38).

BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES SERIES

# 1982: John Gardner (edited by)*
- Raymond Carver, Mary Robison (appeared)
# 1983: Anne Tyler**
- Raymond Carver, Bobbie Ann Mason
# 1985: Gail Godwin
- Joy Williams
# 1986: Raymond Carver
- Ann Beattie, Joy Williams
# 1987: Ann Beattie
- Joy Williams, Raymond Carver

*Raymond Carver's "mentor"/"first influential teaceher"
**Admirer of Ann Beattie, Joy Williams, etc.

CRITICISMS

"Less is Less" (1986)

"DEFENSES"

John Barth

Frederick Barthelme

CURRENT

NOON MAGAZINE (ED. DIANE WILLIAMS)

REBECCA CURTIS, DEB OLIN UNFERTH, CLANCY MARTIN

MISSISSIPPI REVIEW (ED. FREDERICK BARTHELME)

LARRY BROWN, CURTIS SITTENFELD, AMY HEMPEL

FREDERICK BARTHELME: TEACHES AT UNIV. OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
ANN BEATTIE: TEACHES AT UNIV. OF VIRGINIA
MARY ROBISON: TEACHES AT UNIV. OF FLORIDA
JOY WILLIAMS: TEACHES AT UNIV. OF WYOMING (I THINK)
RAYMOND CARVER: DIED IN 1988

>

2010-02-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

"MORAL WITHIN AN EXISTENTIAL FRAMEWORK"

*WARNING/DISCLAIMER* IS NOT COHESIVE/COMPREHENSIVE, POSSIBLY IS NOT ACCURATE AT TIMES, CONTAINS CONTRADICTIONS, HAS NOT BEEN 'THOUGHT THROUGH' TO SATISFACTION, TO A LARGE DEGREE, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME *WARNING/DISCLAIMER*

CONCRETE REALITY VS. ABSTRACT REALITY

CONCRETE REALITY "HAS RHETORIC" (GRAVITY, ENTROPY, CAUSE-EFFECT, ETC.)

ABSTRACT REALITY "HAS NO RHETORIC" AND IS "PRIVATE," INFORMATION CANNOT BE SHARED EXCEPT ONLY THROUGH "CONCRETE REALITY," MORALITY DOES NOT EXIST IN "ABSTRACT REALITY" BECAUSE PAIN/SUFFERING DOES NOT EXIST

PEOPLE SEEM TO GET CONFUSED AS TO WHAT EXISTS IN CONCRETE REALITY VS. WHAT EXISTS IN ABSTRACT REALITY

CENSORSHIP

1. WHEN PEOPLE FEEL THAT "ABSTRACT REALITY" HAS THE "SAME RULES" AS "CONCRETE REALITY," THAT THINKING THINGS WILL AFFECT THINGS IN CONCRETE REALITY, CAUSING PAIN/SUFFERING

2. WHEN PEOPLE AREN'T BEING "IDEAL, IN THE LONG TERM" IN HOW THEY "DEAL WITH" "PEOPLE THINKING 'STRANGE'/VIOLENT THINGS" (IN THAT IT WOULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE, IN THE LONG-TERM, TO TEACH PEOPLE THAT CONCRETE REALITY IS DIFFERENT THAN ABSTRACT REALITY, THAT THEY CAN THINK WHATEVER THEY WANT TO, BUT THEY CANNOT DO WHATEVER THEY WANT TO, IF THEY WANT TO FUNCTION WITHIN SOCIETY, RATHER THAN THAT THEY CAN'T THINK CERTAIN THINGS (FEELING THAT THEY MIGHT AT SOME POINT NOT BE ABLE TO DISTINGUISH CONCRETE/ABSTRACT REALITY)

LIKE TELLING SOMEONE WHO IS EXERCISING BY "SWINGING THEIR ARMS AROUND" NOT TO DO THAT, BECAUSE IF THEY DO THAT IN A CROWDED AREA THEY MIGHT HURT PEOPLE

INSTEAD OF TELLING THEM THAT THEY SHOULDN'T DO THAT IN CROWDED AREAS

CONTEXT

[READ CONTEXT THINGS FROM PAPER]

GOALS

WHAT A RELEVANT PHYSICAL CONTEXT WANTS AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT. A PERSON'S DEFAULT GOAL IS TO 'GET AT' WHAT THEY HAVE ASSOCIATED WITH "[A WORD LIKE "PLEASURABLE"]."

THE UNIVERSE IS ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL, ITS DEFAULT AND ONLY GOAL IS TO CONTINUOUSLY ACTUATE ITS PHYSICAL LAWS, BASED ON WHAT I KNOW. 'EXCEPT ON THE SUBATOMIC LEVEL (CONFUSED ABOUT THAT).

INANIMATE OBJECTS ARE ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL.

CONSCIOUS CONTEXTS ARE NOT ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL.

MORALS

ALL THINGS ARE MORAL, THE DIFFERENCE B/W THINGS IS THEIR RELEVANT CONTEXT

ARE TREES AND PLANS "MORAL," ARGUABLY?

THEIR RELEVANT CONTEXT IS THEY PHYSICAL SPACE THEY OCCUPY. THEY REACT TO, ARGUABLY, TO THE PAIN AND SUFFERING OF PARTS OF THEMSELVES, IN THAT THEY "MOVE TOWARDS" PERPETUATING THEIR LIFE AND GENES.

PEOPLE THOUGHT TO BE "EVIL"

THEIR CONTEXT IS A SMALL AREA OF THEIR BRAIN THAT IF "SATISFIED" RELEASES THINGS THAT PREVENT PAIN OR CREATE PLEASURE

SINCE THAT IS THEIR CONTEXT THEY'LL JUST "DO IT"

NORMAL PEOPLE

THEIR RELEVANT PHYSICAL CONTEXT IS SOMETHING LIKE THEMSELVES, THEIR FAMILY, THEIR FRIENDS, AND, VAGUELY, THEIR COUNTRY

THEIR RELEVANT TEMPORAL CONTEXT IS, FOR THEIR COUNTRY, SOMETHING LIKE, VAGUELY, 10 YEARS, SOME OF THE TIME

IF SOMEONE HAS NO RELEVANT PHYSICAL CONTEXT OF A THING THEY ALSO DO NOT HAVE A RELEVANT TEMPORAL CONTEXT FOR IT

FOR THEMSELVES IT'S, VAGUELY, 2-5 DAYS

VEGANS WHO EAT ORGANIC FOOD AND DO OTHER SOCIALLY-AWARE THINGS

RELEVANT PHYSICAL CONTEXT EXTENDS TO ANIMALS, "EARTH." EXTENDS BEYOND, MAYBE, THEIR COUNTRY.

RELEVANT TEMPORAL CONTEXT FOR THE THINGS THEY HAVE PHYSICAL CONTEXTS ARE LARGER, FOR EXAMPLE THE COMPANY CALLED "SEVENTH GENERATION" SAY THEIR TEMPORAL CONTEXT FOR SOME THINGS IS 'SEVEN GENERATIONS'

THESE CONTEXTS ARE .000000001% OF 'THE ENTIRE' CONTEXT

[READ MARKED PAGE ON PAPER].

THE DIFFERENT BETWEEN HITLER AND A VEGAN IS LIKE THE DIFFERENT BETWEEN...

THESE CONTEXTS ARE BASED ON ASSUMPTIONS OPPOSED TO THE UNIVERSE'S (MORE CONCRETE) RHETORIC

WHY DO WE AVOID PAIN & STRIVE TO LIVE? BECAUSE OF 'EVOLUTION.' ONE CAN STRIVE FOR PAIN, BUT THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOME BUILT-IN RESISTANCE, MAYBE.

WHY DOES A THING MOVE AT A CERTAIN RATE IN A VACUUM? BECAUSE OF 'GRAVITY.' ONE CAN STRIVE TO NOT MOVE AT A CERTAIN RATE IN A VACUUM, BUT THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOME BUILT-IN RESISTANCE.

THE UNIVERSE IS CONCRETE REALITY, WHICH MEANS ITS RULES DON'T EXTEND TO ABSTRACT REALITY, BUT ABSTRACT REALITY HAS EVEN LESS RHETORIC THAN CONCRETE REALITY

THEREFORE ALL ACTIONS IN CONCRETE REALITY FOR THINGS WITH ACCESS TO ABSTRACT REALITY, ARE EQUALLY "ILLEGITIMATE" FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE UNIVERSE.

SARCASM

IF ONE OCCUPIES THEIR "ENTIRE" "ABSTRACT CONTEXT," BY REALIZING THAT ALL OF THEIR ACTIONS ARE BASED ON ASSUMPTIONS, ARE THEY ACTING ALL THE TIME IN A SARCASTIC MANNER, TO SOME DEGREE?

ABSTRACT SARCASM VS. CONCRETE SARCASM

ACTING WITHOUT "COMPLETE CONVICTION," WITH "SARCASM," AND "WITH COMPLETE CONVICTION" PRODUCES THE SAME RESULTS IN CONCRETE REALITY

SEEMS ATTRACTIVE TO ME TO ACT "WITH SARCASM," BECAUSE IT, TO ME, MEANS I HAVE A "LARGER CONTEXT," WHICH SEEMS TO ME A WAY TO, HOWEVER SARCASTICALLY, "KNOW WHAT TO DO" WITHOUT MAKING MORE ASSUMPTIONS THAN "NEEDED" (TO FUNCTION ON ANY LEVEL)

BENEFITS/DRAWBACKS OF HAVING "CONCRETE SARCASM"

[READ FROM PAPER, LAST PAGE]