Reading Response 10/20

In "Shoplifting From American Apparel", by Tao Lin, I felt that Sam was this very minimalist person but at the same time he tried to keep up with the latest. For example, Sam had money to buy the cheap headphones, but he wanted the forty dollar ones and ended up getting caught. Was it worth the day of community service that he got? In my opinion no, but in his opinion it was. He has this mindset about being somewhat presentable, we know this by the first time he tried to steal the shirt. I didn't quite get it because he doesn't seem like the kind of person who would care what kind of headphones he had or how spiffy he looked. Throughout the whole book he's got this very lackadaisical vibe about him. Especially in the opening scene of the book when he's talking to Luis. They both seem somewhat unsatisfied with their lives. The one thing I did notice though, is that Sam is about living in the present and future.

I think the minimalist part of being an artist of any sort that Warhol was talking about is really showcased in Sam. Sam spends his trip to Florida in what I see as this hippie bus. He's not in the Marriott on the water. Like Warhol said, as an artist striving to live a simple, minimalistic life, it's almost oxymoronic because your job is to fill up empty space in other peoples homes. Sam seems to be a pretty popular author and does a lot of visiting to schools and what not but he never seems to stay in one place. He reminds me of a nomad. Even though he spends the majority of his time in NYC, he hasn't confined himself to just New York as well as just one part of New York. But, at the same time I think this minimalist lifestyle takes a toll on Sam. Every time he get affiliated with a woman, he tends to go into this slight depression and asks himself and his "associate" questions about life. The only problem is he never has answers to his own questions, he kind of acts like nothings wrong which leads everyone to believe something is indeed bothering him. I think going from girl to girl really makes Sam feel like he has this void in his life. The void being someone he can count on and enjoy himself with.

In terms of being alone, I think Sam really does miss his ex. I think this attitude he has about life is his ultimate downfall to being genuinely happy. Sam has this somewhat rebellious attitude about him. Kind of like Mohammed was talking about, the alcoholic dead by age 26. He loves to party, which is shown every time he goes out he never stops drinking. I sometimes wonder if his life would be different if he wasn't such a drinker. I feel like that may force him to find other things to do besides go out and drink. The exploration aspect of it is pretty cool and he's definitely had some great (or not so great) life experiences but I still firmly believe that this is part of the reason he's unhappy.