At 25-years-old, Brooklyn-based poet Tao Lin toes the fine line between the sublime and the just plain ridiculous.

From his book titles ["eeeee eee eeee" - the sound dolphins make] to his books’ contents [one of the poems: "some of my happiest moments in life occur on AOL instant messenger"], Lin’s quirky and oft bizarre works invoke a deadpan, absurdist aesthetic. Inspired by “boredom and loneliness,” his poems are akin to empty thoughts on crack. Yet their sheer audacity is pretty hilarious.

This Taiwanese American is no stranger to online stunts either, posting on Craigslist for an “army of interns” and shamelessly promoting his endeavors through blogging and insistent e-mails. Some of his tactics have even garnered him the stink eye from other bloggers and web sites.

Love him, annoyed by him, or just plain dumbfounded by him, the merit of Lin’s work is in the eye of the reader.

His forthcoming book, entitled “Shoplifting from American Apparel,” is set to come out this fall. Mochi recently interviewed Tao Lin via e-mail.

Do you approach your writing with a philosophy or mantra? If so, what is it?

Maybe “write what I want to read.”

Tell me about your journey to becoming a writer.

I played a text-based online role-playing game called “Gemstone III” in middle school. I think that maybe increased my awareness of sentences and adjectives and things to a certain extent. Later on, I read the book version of “Fight Club” [and] then read Kurt Vonnegut after seeing his name on Chuck Palahniuk’s unofficial website. I also saw Amy Hempel’s name on the website and read everything by her … and then at some point I read “White Noise” by Don Delillo, thought it was funny and wanted to write a novel like that.

What does your name mean?

I think it means “the way.”

What is this “army of interns“ you speak of and how does one join?

I advertised for interns on Craigslist once for me and like four other people. The interns would be all of our interns. Something like 200 to 300 people responded, many of them NYU or Columbia students. Later on, I advertised for interns on my blog and people became my interns. To join you just make a blog saying you are my intern. I don’t know who is or is not currently my intern; I don’t communicate with my interns about intern things.

Tell me about your novella, “Shoplifting from American Apparel.” How did the incident that inspired it go down?

I went in American Apparel to shoplift a shirt to wear to a reading I had that night. I remember thinking that the reading was in an art gallery or something and that the shirt I was currently wearing was making me feel bad, which motivated me to want a new shirt. An undercover policeman (or security person) stopped me on the sidewalk outside. [Ed's note: In case you were wondering, Mochi doesn't endorse shoplifting, even though it can make for a fascinating book subject.]

What are you working on now?

I’m responding to e-mails mostly. I have completed my next two books. I made some graphs and posted them on my blog. I am also focused on doing things related to Muumuu House, a press I started. Its first book will come out in March, a poetry book by Ellen Kennedy.

Does your heritage influence your work?

My heritage does not influence my work, I feel, except in ways that anything else would influence my work, like having a toy poodle or having no legs.

What are your books driven by?

I feel my books are driven by me writing what I want to read, which changes often, but could be described as funny, detached, existential literature written mostly in concrete language (unless in the style of Lorrie Moore) about people being depressed or lonely or bored or hanging out.

Is there something that repeatedly inspires you?

Coffee.

How did the G-mail chat poetry come about?

I read G-mail chats and thought “haha.”

To buy Tao Lin’s books, visit his website: http://www.heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com.

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With nine film and television projects underway, James Kyson Lee is coasting on a wave of “Heroes”-induced fame. From the upcoming romantic comedy “White on Rice” to horror flick “Necrosis,” Lee enjoys running the genre gamut. “Each project is different,” says the 33-year-old actor who recently learned to play guitar for his musician role in “White on Rice,” “especially when you’re doing films. I have to perform with a quick learning curve. Any time you get to pick up new roles, you learn new skills.” A burgeoning global jet-setter, Lee has traveled to international shooting locales as varied as Bulgaria, England, and Japan.

“I was supposed to spend a night at a hostel. But when I got there, I ended up driving around the ocean. I got completely lost, ended up at some mall parking lot, and fell asleep. I fell asleep in my rent-a-car.”

Not bad for someone who spent his first night in Hollywood sleeping in a rental car.

Flashback to eight years ago, when Lee’s prospects looked completely different compared to the nation-hopping lifestyle he leads now. Then a communications major at Boston University, Korean-born Lee was stuck in a quintessential quarter-life crisis: “I was twenty-four, twenty-five and I still hadn’t forged an idea of what my life was about,” Lee says. Finding himself not particularly interested in his major or the prospective of corporate life, the New York City native broke through the slump when a friend invited him to participate in an improv comedy troupe. “I went to see what it was like and I just had the time of my life,” Lee says. “I felt like I was seven again.” Though the small group only performed short-form improv games (think “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”) for family-and-friends types of audiences, the acting bug had permanently latched its jaws onto Lee.

By the summer of 2001, Lee says he had sold 90 percent of his possessions for a one-way plane ticket to Los Angeles. “I didn’t know how Hollywood worked at the time, but I felt like I hadn’t found my path, my identity yet … I felt like I needed to go to a new environment,” he says of his impromptu decision. Of course, not everyone took Lee’s newfound initiative as good news, least of all his parents. “They thought I was crazy; They didn’t know what I was doing. But I needed to go and find my life,” he says. Selling his used car for $1,800, Lee resisted any qualms and naysayers and flew to Los Angeles, landing late in the evening with only a rental to call his own.

“I was supposed to spend a night at a hostel. But when I got there, I ended up driving around the ocean,” says the star, chuckling at the memory. “I got completely lost, ended up at some mall parking lot, and fell asleep. I fell asleep in my rent-a-car.”

After gaining some bearings, Lee immediately hit the L.A. scene, looking to break into show business. He enrolled in community college acting classes and began to train in various performance arts. “I took acting classes, jazz dancing, musical theater, anything I’ve ever been curious about but never went for,” he says. “Twenty years of repressed creativity exploded. I felt like I kept discovering these new worlds.” To pay the bills, Lee tutored SAT classes and worked in educational theater troupes that toured public schools. Eventually all the “safe sex” and “family communications” skits made way for bigger things. Lee landed his first television gig, a small guest part on CBS’ JAG, within three years of living in Hollywood.

However, it wasn’t until Lee was cast as a certain Japanese-speaking, Western culture-loving sidekick on runaway hit “Heroes” that he began to reap national stardom. “He wanted to escape the Japanese corporate life,” says Lee of his righteous-mannered character, Ando. “A lot of times, he’s the comic relief [and] the voice of reason; I feel like my story line is more light-hearted. That’s why it’s fun to play Ando.”

The Korean American says he has no trouble slipping into his Japanese alter-ego. Relying on his Japanese classes from college and an on-set vocal coach, Lee takes care to avoid turning his character into a stereotype. “You make sure to bring the integrity and the strength of the character you play through,” he says.

After all, Asian representation in the media doesn’t need to take any punches. “Statistically, we are the smallest represented,” says Lee on the state of Asians in American media.

Though the recent breakout successes of actors such as Lee are pushing up against the glass ceiling, for this “Heroes” star, progress begins from the creative level. “It starts from the written page, when you have more successful [Asian American] writers and filmmakers. The more people in this field, the more these projects will become a reality,” he says. “We, as a group, are very young in this business… We still have a long way to go.”

Lee views his own career in a similar light: satisfied with what has been accomplished, but believing there is a much longer road ahead.

“Ultimately, [my goal is to] be part of projects that tell a powerful story or make a strong impact,” he says. “I’m just getting started on this journey. The last couple of years has been great; I feel like I’m in the early stages of my career.”

Wardrobe provided by Barbour.

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Mochi Magazine: In “The Woman Warrior,” you wrote, “Those of us in the first American generations have had to figure out how the invisible world the emigrants built around our childhoods fits in solid America.” How did you negotiate between the Asian and American aspects of your identity? What advice do you have for girls dealing with cultural identity issues?

Maxine Hong Kingston: The main task during our youth is to build the self. We do that by creating our values and our ethics. That is, we discover clearly what we value in our inherited cultures. We multi-cultural people have much to choose from. And we make a code of ethics that helps us be brave as we negotiate society. Strong in values and ethics, we don’t distort ourselves to fit into the milieu.

We change the world – and the family – with our very presence.

MM: Both you and Amy Tan wrote extensively about mother-daughter relationships, particularly of the haunted past world the mothers left behind in China. Why was it important for you to tell your mother’s stories?

MHK: Mother represents all of the known world. Each of us needs to come to terms with our own specific mother, and all of life. One needs to understand, interact, reconcile with, and possibly transform life conditions, including one’s relationship with Mom. My own mother was the most dynamic, energetic, interesting person I’ve known. As a writer, I was lucky to have her stories.

MM: Asian American presence in American culture, media, and politics has come a long way since you first published in 1970s. Looking back, what do you think were the movements that spurred the change and what do you believe still needs to needs to be accomplished?

MHK: The Civil Rights movement. The Feminist movement. The American wars in Asia. Literary movements, such as the Beats, Modernism, and Post-Modernism. The pride movements, which led to the existential creation of Asian and Pacific Islander America. The next immediate thing to accomplish is the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States.

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The story is written from a first-person perspective, separated into five independent sections. Each chapter exists as its own story, a piece of a mosaic. The novel begins with the narrator’s (presumably Kingston’s) childhood fantasy of a shunned aunt’s illegitimate pregnancy and later suicide. On that dark, almost morbid note, the novel transcends into a lyrical dream-like sequence set in ancient China. The voice shifts to that of the legendary heroine, Fa Mulan, who seeks revenge and justice for her parents. Unlike the Disney caricature, Kingston’s Mulan is a hardened vigilante, capable of spilling blood. For the third and fourth chapters, we follow the story of Brave Orchid, Kingston’s mother, from her fearless training as a doctor and to her sister Moon Orchid’s abandonment by her husband. It is as if the chapters alternate between strong, independent characters and dependent, hopeless ones. In the end, the book comes full circle in the last chapter, “A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe,” as the narrator recounts a childhood memory of tormenting a silent classmate.

Contrary to its empowering title, what is most striking about Woman Warrior is not the valor of Mulan or Brave Orchid, but the silence of the weak characters that bookend them. Kingston’s aunt, Moon Orchid, and the quiet schoolgirl remain etched in my mind because they seem to represent a muted suffering of an entire identity. Their lack of voice and consequential tragedy is haunting, as if they are a silent parable of what happen if others follow their same path.

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