When a Justin Taylor first gave me one of Tao Lin‘s promotional stickers for his new book of poetry, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (out now with Melville House Press), my first reaction, after laughing, was to stop hating Tao so much. The kid is a brilliant writer, without a doubt, but I knew he had a shitty habit of walking out of his own readings immediately after leaving the podium, and I thought his promotional tactics were pretty much retarded (though the literary feud was funny). Like many an envious writer, I rolled my eyes at any reference to his fame. That little upstart! Overrated!! Why aren’t I so clever? . . . But this?

Justin said something smart about Tao taking da da-ism to a new (possibly relevant?) level, and thus my heart was won. Apparently easy to impress, I put the sticker on my laptop and declared myself a fan.
And then, Wednesday, Tao Lin outdid even himself: as part of his ongoing feud with Gawker over a bunch of annoying e-mails (though I thought they pardoned him?), he took book promotion to a entirely new (absurd! criminal!) level: Gothamist reports that Tao and his lively band of interns broke into Gawker’s office and plastered their door with Britney Spears stickers. Immediately following, Tao put an announcement up on his blog: “gawker is having an art show on their front door. 210 elizabeth street, 4th floor, i think it’s free and open to the public but email tips [at] gawker.com to confirm.”
Fucking amazing. It was quickly followed in turn by a whiny “I hope whoever did this feels bad” post, as if Gawker deserves anyone’s sympathy, ever. (Especially after what they did to that poor author, Robert Olen Butler!)
[Sorry — that was neither a compassionate nor Buddhist thing for me to say about Gawker. They entertain us daily with their snark, probably not to benefit of sentient beings everywhere, but at least to the benefit of beings with shitty desk jobs, for which we should all be grateful. And Bob Butler… well…]
So what does this mean for the One City crew? Time to think outside the box in self-promotion, of course! If Tao can do it, so can we. I’ve already made this post a little experiment in Tao’s philosophy by adding “Britney Spears” to the list of tags. Perhaps our pageviews will soar! Or, failing that, perhaps I’ll make an enemy in Buddhist blog-land, and our ensuing feud will ensure fame for us both! Oh yes. Please post all suggestions for brilliant sticker schemes in the comment box, below.