detachment and playing online video games and playing drums on a drumset and swimming and playing piano and riding a bike in the gated community while listening to music and doing a lot of things alone and ordering organic vegan food off the internet and feeling really lonely but having enough things like drums and video games and fresh fruit and smoothies and surround sound and unlimited varieties of food and music to successfully defeat lonelinessI went to a Tao Lin reading yesterday with le Monsieur. He was nice. It was interesting. The first act, we only caught the tail end of a woman dancing oddly enough and then high-fiving people on her way to change back into her street clothes because the clothes she was wearing on stage weren't street enough.
Then Tao Lin appeared. He was a little short in stature (as all asians are. notice how i say all and not most or some. it's because it's all asians) and a little bit awkward looking. The best part was when he opened his mouth to speak, the voice that muttered the poems was monotonous and dull in a good way.
Then I realized I wasn't at a music concert; I was at a book reading. For some reason I thought there needed to be action on that stage. Something like him grabbing the microphone and then pointing it at the audience for them to sing along and then pointing it back in his direction while simultaneously grabbing his crotch and flailing his tongue out of his head and whisper weird things.
But no. He half-sat on stage with his microphone and read poetry that wouldn't be considered poetry to a poet, but genius to a crowd of geniuses. That's right, I think I'm genius enough to know when I see another genius and let me tell you I was in a small space above a bar having a genius moment with other geniuses.
And then the reading was over faster than romantic comedy. It was almost like a band-aid just being ripped off really fast so that it wouldn't hurt as much.
Sadly, we did not receive autograph copies of his novel/poetry book/short story. He's very versatile. I'm going to work now.