richard yates

2010-08-02T22:47:00.002+08:00

Richard Yates from yishu zhou on Vimeo.

2010-07-28T20:43:00.001+08:00

1:12 AM me: i was hoping you'd say tomorrow

im tird

1:13 AM Yishu: oh, then let's do it tomorrow

no rush

me: do you have like

Yishu: should we plan what we're going to say first though

me: things in mind

Yishu: i feel stressed

me: haha yes

Yishu: yeah, no.

me: he says to talk about ry OR tao

so like

keep on topic

and all will be good

Yishu: hm

me: remember to link back to the question

Yishu: do we do it seriously or what

lol

me: 'link back to the question'

1:14 AM huh seriously

what would that entail idgi

Yishu: idk

or do we have to try to be like, 'humorous'

or 'zany'

me: guess not

'act natural' i think

now?

U RDY

Yishu: now??

I'M SCARED

me: k wait ah

1:15 AM http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/2010/07/3x-contest-re-richard-yates.html

using the following as reference: internet, official site, HTMLGIANT review/coverage of this blog post, Alt Report, Fishkind review, author description, Justin Taylor, [anything], [coverage "generated" by this blog post, listed above].

have you read like, some of this

Yishu: damn

must do research all

k let me prepare first

let's do it tomorrow then

1:16 AM me: eh no la

sian

i was so ready

we can just talk about sfaa i think

good thing weve read his stuff

mm and cbt

Yishu: hm

idk

me: talk about falling asleep via e e e

Yishu: feel scared

me: .

stop that

Yishu: of tao judging me

what stop that

me: same

Yishu: how to stop

i also want to stop

1:17 AM me: you can do this shupes you have to believe in yourself

Yishu: what the

haha

1:18 AM no, let's do it tomorrow

me: sian

Yishu: k

me: have you read any richard yates

Yishu: naw

where?

me: as in the real yates

1:19 AM Yishu: no

1:20 AM Yishu: you called eve's blog godspot

hahahahahahahahhahahahaa

me: was that in an sms

heheh i liked it too

Yishu: good job, honestly

1:22 AM me: thanks

idk how we are going to talk about ry

without knowing about about ry

Yishu: we can talk about how we don't know ry, i guess

i don't think it cares

it might add to the plot

it matters*

1:23 AM me: ok

CAN WE JUST DO IT NOW

srs its just 500 lines bro

1:24 AM Yishu: THATS LIKE FUCKING LONG RIGHT

me: and we can add some of this shit

building suspense

Yishu: hm

me: hi zhou yishu

let's talk about Richard Yates

Yishu: am i allowed to use like, singaporean colloquialism in here, or would he not get it

cos i want to say 'sian'

1:25 AM me: yes you can, there were some danish people writing like i have no idea what and he accepted it

guess you have to explain 'sian' then

hi tao, 'sian' is a regional interpretation of ennui

Yishu: k cool, but how to explain

i feel like he is here, beside us

judging

me: he is

1:26 AM Yishu: feel intimidated

me: omg there was this dude in my class called tao yi

he was 'chen tao yi'

Yishu: is this all going into the official 500 lines

me: i just thought 'chen tao lin'

yes

ok richard yates, bro

Yishu: but your tao yi was irrelevant

me: we don't know anything about it really

Yishu: sorry

me: i know theres dakota fanning and that haley joel osment or something

joel haley osment

osment haley joel

1:27 AM Yishu: some dude i guess

discuss the significance of naming in the novel richard yates by tao lin

me: i just googled him i hate this dude :/ i thought it was the anakin from the star wars where he lost his legs to obi wan

Yishu: isn't anakin ewan

me: tao talked about this in the rumpus comment question thing

1:28 AM bro, gregor was obi wan

or cockroach

Yishu: oh dude

sorry

oh i know who he is npw

his face swimmed to the surface of my memory

1:29 AM me: he has a cute face

Yishu: he kind of looks like hannah montana's brother from hannah montana but let's not go there

me: here: http://therumpus.net/2009/09/the-surface-of-things-the-rumpus-interview-with-tao-lin/#comment-27531

Yishu: ok, i feel like the use of celebrity names is somewhat ironic

1:30 AM me: yes let's not go there it has nothing to do with ry, stay on topic bro

ironic how

Yishu: because, when reading about the characters with names such as these

you will have preconceived notions of the characters what, somewhat

1:31 AM me: can you not write like you are writing to eka, you're writing totally unchill'dly bro

mm yes, 'method', effect?

Yishu: i couldn't help it

1:32 AM naming, is that it

me: hahaha are you taking this from a wss lecture

mm i'm reading his answer hold on

1:34 AM i guess tao being tao the 'main reason' for naming ry like so is because he feels some strange affinity to richard yates

Yishu: or maybe he has something to prove

1:35 AM me: and then there's the meta-ness that tao loves, in his sarcastic worldview re everything

Yishu: i feel like there is always, like, a cultural reference

me: but even this?

Yishu: first in sfaa and now this

yes what, he says himself that people who like richard yates would be interested in his book

1:37 AM me: i think like second to his love for yatesie it's what you said: like it comes with preconceived notions about it, like presenting an image, 'ice mountain', 'something zany', it forces upon you whatever notions/ideas/feelings you have associated with it

yes that's the 'marketing' part i guess

i like to think that tao is still a more than not authentic person

1:38 AM Yishu: that's like reader-response theory

via my IS

me: oh god

Yishu: sorry

me: 'jesus'

1:40 AM me: adding on to earlier: that richard yates / dakta fanning / amappy are all um, in flux in this 'rapidly changing society' makes them different from the ice mountain and shit which stay more or less the same throughout culture and time

1:41 AM Yishu: where is the ice mountain bit coming from

1:42 AM me: it's a generic image

ok am i not making sense we can forget this

talk more, bro, 500 lines

1:43 AM Yishu: i am looking at the other entries and feeling intimidated

the judging eyes of the internet

me: seriously? i thought we were doing pretty well

1:44 AM Yishu: srs

me: can we talk about how everyone's saying it's insanely emotional

Yishu: maybe i just have low self esteem

is it

me: / makes them feel insanely emotional

i think you do

1:45 AM yes, did you feel insanely emotional, or even emotional while reading sfaa

Yishu: i feel like, i am going to feel more detached from the characters because of their names

than i might if they had normal names

because it is so deliberately relevant, that you no longer feel like you are reading about real people

1:46 AM but i don't know if that was what tao was aiming for

me: yeah

'out of this world'

dont think anyone knows what tao is aiming for

Yishu: we should ask him

'is this really what you want;

me: hi what are you aiming for tao

HAHA

nice

Yishu: 'is this really what you want'

1:47 AM me: is this really what you want

Yishu: there was a guy at the bss concert who looked like jesus

me: [echo]

Yishu: this is relevant right

me: aoki

probably

oh you should tell him

Yishu: aoki looks nothing like jesus wtf

me: hi tao yishu just came back from a broken social scene concert

what if he hates bss omg

Yishu: it was rad

me: dude, the hair?

Yishu: it's still rad

1:48 AM me: aoki's hair???

jezus

Yishu: jesus doesn't have pin straight hair

me: bro you don't know jesus like i do

Yishu: oh

sorry

me: is this relevent

Yishu: hm

me: since tao has a jesus-band

Yishu: let's just keep going

me: where are we going

Yishu: tao when are you going to release your ep

1:49 AM me: yeah, damn, i hope he has another contest for free eps

like sing 500 lines

sorry was that a bad joke

Yishu: it wasnt a joke i think

i am unimpressed

1:50 AM me: sian

we can just talk about tao now i guess

he says we can shit on him

/ shit talk him / something

Yishu: i would never do that

me: i can't even get my shit out

via bowel problems

Yishu: bro

1:51 AM me: yes

Yishu: this is going on the internet bro

me: thats ok

ok tao

is tao a real person

or a persona

Yishu: i tend to think of him as a persona

or like, an 'entity'

me: there's like no way he's like this irl right?

he goes to like parties and shit

the fuck is an 'entity' man

1:52 AM Yishu: like, a thing

1:53 AM me: feel like we're all like striving, to survive and shit, all for nothing via meaninglessness, and tao's persona is his effort to recognise that but at the same time counter that. i guess no one is really that self conscious in real life that would be crazy. or they would be institutionalised

1:54 AM *by shit i mean 'stuff' not 'poop'

Yishu: hahahahahahahhaha

1:55 AM me: 258 lines bro, gotta do better than that

1:56 AM Yishu: damn

this is tough shit

me: try harder

just think of things and write

you dont have to like engage me or anything

1:57 AM Yishu: but i don't have anything to say

let's talk about sfaa

me: will that be relevent though

if he rejects this we'll just have another convo ok

Yishu: um, think so

1:58 AM me: k sfaa, sup

Yishu: i guess

me: did you see his thing on gawker

like recently, today was it or yesterday

Yishu: i feel like i didn't really like sfaa until i read like the last sentence of it

and it all made sense

me: the trespassing in nyu's lib

what was the last sentence

Yishu: i skimmed through it

somebody asked sam what he wanted to be when he was a kid

me: i kind of don't have it, some bitch is holding on to it not reading it

Yishu: and sam said marine biologist

1:59 AM me: oh

mm and?

idgi

Yishu: because

sam is not a marine biologist

me: so it can be taken that he's failed

that

shit has changed

big time

Yishu: and wanting to be a marine biologist when you are a kid is like the norm, or like the ideal

and yeah, i don't know, i thought it was sad

me: or is supposedly good

Yishu: and it was also real

2:00 AM me: yes

Yishu: i wanted to be a mermaid

me: feel like we will all be like that

except we dont have dreams well i dont

bro

Yishu: but it didn't work out

me: you were set up for failure

Yishu: i didn't know that

me: at least you got to be another magical creature

tao, yishu is a goblin not kidding

Yishu: fuck u

2:01 AM me: :/

Yishu: yes

me: what

Yishu: tao, luke calls :/ this face the taoface

me: no, the taoface is :|

seriously shupes get your shit together

Yishu: tao, we wanted to do your face for our school's yearbook photo but we didn't in the end

fuck u

me: because i fell asleep

Yishu: i'm trying

2:02 AM me: they made us lie on the floor and i fell asleep

Yishu: that's great

me: yishu smiled. fucker

Yishu: smiling is normal

me: can we get back to tao i dont think he cares ARE WE REALLY GONNA put all this on his hehehehehe.com omg

feel afraid

Yishu: sry

me: ok

2:03 AM Yishu: am 'chickening out'

me: what?

talk about tao, bro

Yishu: taobro

me: ok back to sfaa

Yishu: yes well

me: that thing with the sony earphones was in sfaa too right?

Yishu: what was the point of reading the whole of sfaa if i didn't enjoy 80% of it

2:04 AM even though when i finished it i felt positively about it

me: i thought all the shoplifting was made up. but apparently not via the gawker article

Yishu: but it took kind of long for me to like it

me: enjoyment is overrated i think

i honestly feel completely neutral towards sfaa

i like the cover though

Yishu: yes he steals damn a lot of shit what

me: and the weight and length and size of the book

2:05 AM Yishu: he is banned from wholefoods or somehting i think

me: but i thought i read somewher he never got caught

Yishu: i didn't like the size

it was too small

me: maybe not amappy

seriously

small is good

re books

Yishu: lol

me: what, so you like your gigantic kant tomes

are they even tomes though, or just essays

Yishu: no but i like larger books

2:06 AM nicer to hold

me: heavier also

Yishu: i finished reading no exit today in about 40 minutes

me: idk well my bag is kind of a4 sized

are we going to talk about this now

Yishu: no, it's not relevant

just sayin'

me: talk about it in relation to tao / ry / sfaa

/ cbt

2:07 AM my mom's been going for some cbt course i think

Yishu: yeah i read your blog

me: sbt feels hopeful

Yishu: that's kind of

me: oh damn

Yishu: scary

idk

me: cbt*

the mom?

Yishu: yeah

me: why

she wants to like counsel people at church i think

she's a church person she does shit at church

2:08 AM Yishu: oh

so it's not for her

that's fine

me: hahaha no la

Yishu: cbt is fine when it is not for you

me: 'fine'

are you judging my mom

Yishu: no

me: huh. i think i need some cbt

we all need some cbt

Yishu: i'm just saying

me: since everything is shit

Yishu: cbt

sounds very clinical

2:09 AM me: it is

Yishu: i think therapy is a terrible word

to say out loud, and the meaning

me: terrible how

Yishu: even though it is kind of the friend or root word of therapeutic right

2:10 AM dk, it just sounds strange to me and reminds me of the scene in donnie darko where donnie is hypnotized and he says weird shit

me: HAHA what the fuck bro

there was like, something sexual there right

2:11 AM in that hypnosis thing

Yishu: he wanted to masturbate

then the lady snapped him out of his trance before he could

2:12 AM me: did you like donnie darko, i thought it was weird and not very well done

'lame' too i guess

o m g http://caitypoops.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/a-gmail-chat-about-tao-lins-richard-yates/ has like 147 lines?

WHATS GOING ON BRO

2:13 AM Yishu: what

cheater

2:14 AM cos they are all relevant lines maybe

we need to be like that

me: but then http://pettyquarrel.blogspot.com/2010/07/tao-lin-conversation-time.html is 899 lines

Yishu: we need to be 'on task'

tao we are asians

we are 'on task' people

me: we are

how ah

are we done

2:15 AM Yishu: is this really what you want

realising only now the massive potential of that song

me: hahahahaha

massive potential should be a band

like massive attack

but metal

Yishu: yeah right

i was thinking that

me: they would sing about (scream about) action potential in neurons

Yishu: no, why metal

2:16 AM fuck u

me: because metal sucks

Yishu: i have no idea what neurons are

me: what the fuck?

Yishu: ok la

i do

me: your brain is made of neurons i think

Yishu: yes

me: faggot

Yishu: that's the extent of my knowledge on neurons

me: no actually your brain is made of shit

hm :/

Yishu: that was a low blow

i felt nothing

2:17 AM me: that was a good one

Yishu: im kind of really tied

tired

how many lines are we now

me: me too

2:18 AM 446 if we take everything

say a bit more about tao and his stuff? i think we've done more than any of those other people tbh

we're crazy

Yishu: lets keep going for a bit more

me: crazy asians

where are we going

are we going on a journey

Yishu: yes

2:19 AM me: sian

Yishu: no, we're stuck here

my head hurts

me: must be all the bss

Yishu: let's talk about his unableham

and his metaham

me: oh mg

Yishu: is that relevant

me: tao i love your unableham

yes continue

Yishu: i do too

really

i felt a strong connection towards it

me: yishu says our lit teacher is turning us all into unablehams

2:20 AM Yishu: i smiled at it knowingly

it is true

2:21 AM tao lin just tweeted: email from mom said 'angry and irritating facial expression' & '[her dog] tried to play with [a pig], but that pig was not interested'

idgi

2:22 AM me: today dragonman gave us a passage excerpt from proof it was the scene right after catherine revealed that she wrote the proof but this scene was earlier in time, when hal brought his dissertation or whatever over to robert and near the end of the scene 'catherine and hal have a moment' or something like that then 'hal wavers', and me being unableham thought of how this could like 'parallel' how later in the story hal 'wavers' again by not believing catherine

hahaha pigs are funny

2:23 AM Yishu: i can't remember anything about proof now

bad lit student

me: you are like crippleham

Yishu: tao do a cripple ham next

me: cripplehams are crippled by existential despair

2:24 AM they have sadness ratings of over 50% which means they are non-functional

Yishu: i can imagine the ham now

with a little tear

2:25 AM me: no, double tear :"(

Yishu: thats mine

me: or it could be your face

on a ham

Yishu: damn

me: are we done

Yishu: are we

me: 490

but we won't even use everything right

2:26 AM how

Yishu: i dont think he is going to count

we can play cheat or something

me: dont know man

how will we do that

Yishu: just submit what we have

he isn't going to read it all

me: oh mm when you copy it over to your blog my long long lines will become more lines

Yishu: i hope he reads the bit about the crippleham though

me: hahaha

yes

we will bold it

2:30 AM Yishu: psh

ok bro i am really tire

tired

need to study

me: fuck

thats true

Yishu: i mean, sleep now, study tomorrow

me: its 230

god damn

yeah

good night

fucking tao

Yishu: night

haha

put that in

me: yeah