11/9/09

experimental contest, ends wednesday 11pm (eastern time)

the email address that paypals binky.tabby [at] gmail.com the largest amount* of money by wednesday 11pm wins this 'experimental contest' (no amounts will be revealed until the end, then only by email to those who 'participated,' and no amounts will be returned, as this isn't an 'auction,' but a kind of 'gamble'), gaining for themselves and their friends and family the items in this video

i feel scared and, 'surprisingly,' sort of, though also 'not surprisingly,' it seems, depressed (but in a 'really vaguely' sarcastic manner, or nearly toneless manner, maybe) and a little nervous about this 'experimental contest'

not sure what i feel exactly

just seems like it is a 'melancholy' and somehow scary thing to do, like i'm 'splicing' the genes of a human baby with those of a hamster or bluefin tuna; feels, also, though, like i 'must' do it, like i'm kissing a girl that might be going on vacation for 2 years and doesn't know how i feel about her; though, additionally, it also feels like 'i "can't believe" it has "come to this,"' like i want to hide in a closet and 'whimper' while clutching a stuffed animal immediately after clicking 'publish'

thank you for reading this blog post, if you feel 'angry' or 'vaguely annoyed' at me i understand, i think, and do not discourage you from expressing yourself, resultingly, in the comments section

*if there's 'a tie' 10 hours will be added for what will be known as 'paypal showdown,' during which another amount will be paypal'd and if there's another tie this will repeat; to avoid fraud i will screenshot/email the winning amount and also a list of all amounts to all participants; i will now direct attention to my ebay rating: 100% positive; finally, if the winner wants i will post a screenshot of their tax-deductible 'contribution' and link their internet presence

62 Comments:

Blogger brittany wallace said...

rent due?

12:21 AM  
Anonymous thomas p levy said...

this is more sad than your last contest

please post the names / amounts sent of all the people who send you money so that they will be / can be publicly humiliated for being the most retarded and gullible individuals in the entire universe

cheers to you if you can actually get people to send you money for a grab bag of shit.

12:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I feel glad I saw the video that was up here before and then taken down.

I feel sad because no one else will see it again. You were a good video, you did your best.

1:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

fuck

1:28 AM  
Anonymous brendan said...

wait, so this means that anyone who gives you less than the highest amount of money does not get any of their money back?

Correct me if i am wrong about the stipulations. I would be happy to bid on it if i knew that if someone bid higher than me, i would get my money back because i am not getting anything....

but that's not what you're doing, right? it's "only the highest amount gets the win, everyone else gets 'shit all'", correct?

1:29 AM  
Blogger Tao Lin said...

@brendan, you are correct, no money will be returned; when you paypal it is like a 'gamble,' in that sense

1:32 AM  
Blogger richjensen said...

It's kind of a gambling donation.

1:38 AM  
Blogger shannon said...

mildly hate myself for wanting your stuff.

1:43 AM  
Blogger Buttercup McGillicuddy said...

*buttercup likes this*

1:47 AM  
Blogger sir said...

seems ' chill'

2:04 AM  
Blogger Bryan Coffelt said...

fuck you.

2:15 AM  
Anonymous ME said...

reading 'conor oberst sex', 'clams', some parts of 'bed', 'sfaa', some other stories here and there and in bear parade, i've observed the following:

the women writers/characters in the internet literary community/fiction seem 'hysterical' and the male writers, who seem 'passive', 'intolerant', 'meditative', 'prolific', 'prominent' fuck all of them, then leave all of them.

it's all 'okay' too because the males seem to operate on 'higher', more detached 'existential precepts', while the women are 'only trying to catch up' and 'understand meaning/meaninglessness'.

can't help but think gorrel and lin are getting 'mad lit pussy'.

i'm fucking jealous, right now. ha ha.

2:17 AM  
Blogger kevin said...

this is dumb.

2:18 AM  
Blogger richjensen said...

I think the clever cancels out the diabolical. If somebody wins the jackpot for $3.57, I think they will feel pretty good about it. And maybe there's a collector out there who just knows in his bones that nobody is going to go above $200 dollars, so . . .

2:45 AM  
Blogger Bryan Coffelt said...

save your money, kids.

paypal bryancoffelt@gmail.com $500 and i will send you a t-shirt with your name written in semen.

2:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

is this legal? what is paypal's policy regarding gambling?

3:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is not legal

3:24 AM  
Anonymous chronic masturbator said...

If I paypal you $3000 will you personally deliver it to my home?

4:28 AM  
Blogger DJ Berndt said...

Wait, is this legal? Someone should do some research.

8:33 AM  
Blogger chrysler5thavenue said...

It is a competition, but it is not gambling. Is entering a car race and trying to outspend your opponents on building a faster car for that race considered gambling? It's not.

9:28 AM  
Anonymous bearfish said...

sweet

10:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's a crazy idea... Get a job.

10:39 AM  
Blogger Giles Ruffer said...

Looking forward to 'Bed'-style story.

10:41 AM  
Blogger Zachary German said...

Pooping right now

10:50 AM  
Blogger bmirov said...

oh, shit

12:02 PM  
Blogger Tao Lin said...

@richjensen 'sweet' re "It's kind of a gambling donation."

@ME what about this

@chronicmasturbator 'yes' re "If I paypal you $3000 will you personally deliver it to my home?"

@djberndt seems legal, i don't know how this couldn't be legal, also feel like it is irrelevant if it is legal or not, while knowing that i don't know how it couldn't be legal, re "Wait, is this legal? Someone should do some research."

1:10 PM  
Blogger a.wolf said...

i don't have the money for this right now. i wish someone i know would just buy all that so i could look at it or something.

1:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

brandon scott gorrell will mysteriously win

2:47 PM  
Blogger Will Ragsdale said...

This made me laugh due to it's brilliance

4:14 PM  
Anonymous Foshiqua said...

I'm donagambling 2 dollars and 3 cents. maybe 5 cents. MAYBE.

DON'T FUCKING TELL ANYONE.

(I'm not actually giving money. I've got a house to pay for! and taxes.)

4:49 PM  
Blogger chrysler5thavenue said...

You should transfer all the money you have in it out of your PayPal account just in case they suspend your account. They've done this for specious reasons before.

6:03 PM  
Blogger Tao Lin said...

@a.wolf re 'i don't have the money for this right now'

if you paypal 34 cents you have a chance of winning

you can win with nearly any amount of money

many people might be afraid that many other people are 'entering' and making it so they can't win as easily

causing everyone to 'hold back,' due to fear, 'in turn' making what they fear something that then doesn't exist, in part due to their own fear

causing the single 'brave' person who enters with 56 cents or 89 cents or something to 'win'

these have been some objective thoughts by the organizer of this contest

6:09 PM  
Blogger Kevin said...

This is ok. You can do this.
It may not be technically 'ok', but you can do it anyway. It's ok.

8:07 PM  
Anonymous cmr said...

hmmmm... noticed a swastika in my bookmarks... funny stuff mr. lin...

11:50 PM  
Blogger a.wolf said...

oohhh now i understand, thanks tao. as the organizer of this contest, could you fill us in on how many people have entered so far?

12:53 AM  
Anonymous thomas p levy said...

we need their names too

so that we can laugh at them for being retarded

1:01 AM  
Blogger Tao Lin said...

@a.wolf part of the 'gamble' is that no information about 'how many people' or 'what amounts' is given

2:35 PM  
Blogger zeroreference said...

I hope you're successful; my guess is you'll raise almost 700 'dollars'. There will be a few people who can afford to gamble 'big'. The success of this might even let you do it again, with increased value.

As a well-off person of privilege I would like to help give the less rich adventurous spirits a chance to 'express' themselves. I will paypal $15 to whomever posts the closest prediction of the total amount here.

I say 700

3:14 PM  
Blogger Buttercup McGillicuddy said...

~$1600

3:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

$666

3:38 PM  
Blogger Neeko said...

$665

3:46 PM  
Blogger DJ Berndt said...

$150

3:53 PM  
Blogger blaise larmee said...

149

4:11 PM  
Blogger Neeko said...

@zeroreference

can we post multiple times?
like, can we revise our guess, as if we were in a heated bidding war

plz elaborate on the rules of your sweet contest

4:23 PM  
Blogger zeroreference said...

@Neeko

Flattery will get you nowhere. My original post, like a child, must grow up and make its way now through the web by itself.

4:53 PM  
Blogger Neeko said...

meant "'sweet' contest"

$664

5:31 PM  
Blogger brittany wallace said...

$650

7:01 PM  
Blogger Buttercup McGillicuddy said...

self-promotion/spam off-putting nigger-dick size-issues

7:16 PM  
Blogger Kevin said...

$300. Are we playing Price is Right rules, or just closest?

7:30 PM  
Blogger zeroreference said...

What are Price-is-Right rules? Probably closest.

8:31 PM  
Anonymous thomas p levy said...

the odds of tao lins newest girlfriend winning are pretty high

once she wins, it will be revealed that her "bid" was actually paid for by tao lin

he will say that his contest was completely transparent and that he did not break any rules

he will say he did this because the internet seemed "funnier" this way

i will laugh at you all for giving him your money

8:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

^
hahahahah

9:34 PM  
Blogger balloons said...

sigh. this is depressing, but also makes me feel blank. so the depression i felt before seeing it seems less pressing or something.

12:13 AM  
Blogger chrysler5thavenue said...

$153

1:44 AM  
Blogger Andrew James Weatherhead said...

did someone win?

1:46 AM  
Blogger brandon said...

i have won the contest

2:36 AM  
Blogger Buttercup McGillicuddy said...

just thought, 'thomas p levy shits himself' with a neutral facial expression

2:45 AM  
Blogger Kevin said...

Price is Right rules: whoever is closest to the actual amount, WITHOUT going over the actual amount.
(Guessed amount must be equal or lesser to the actual amount.)

8:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Direct complaints about illegal Internet scams to the Office of the New York State Attorney General

3:36 PM  
Blogger Neeko said...

$2.75

3:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Author heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com !
I consider, that you are mistaken. Let's discuss. Write to me in PM.

8:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?

9:15 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

older posts / newer posts