- Photos provided by Tao Lin and Brad Phillips
Brad Phillips is an observant, creative, open-minded, generous, reclusive man who thinks I’m funny. I enjoy making Brad laugh in Twitter and Instagram messages. I also find Brad funny. Thank you, Brad. A disclaimer for our conversation: I tell Brad I have no physical friends, but I forgot to mention my wonderful partner, Yuka, whom I live with. She and our three cats are my only physical friends, currently. —TAO LIN
Tao Lin made me believe in Bigfoot. He and I were introduced to each other as equivalently isolated people. Tao doesn’t like, but reminds me of, Andy Warhol. He makes me laugh out loud in my apartment. Tao remembers things about my life, asks me questions, is generous and cheerful, polite and encouraging. I read and praised Tao’s new book, and continue to praise it. —BRAD PHILLIPS
TAO LIN—Are you recording?
BRAD PHILLIPS—No, it wouldn’t let me record it. Wait. It just keeps me like, stuck in this thing and then nothing opens.
TAO LIN—I allowed you to record, so you should be able to record now. It’s just better for both of us to record in case—
BRAD PHILLIPS—I know. I just am stuck. I think maybe because I have a MacBook Air there’s not enough space, because that happens a lot. I can’t even download a movie anymore.
TAO LIN—Hmm. Yeah. I also have a MacBook Air, but I probably have more space.
BRAD PHILLIPS—I just get stuck in this page where it says ‘Open,’ but it won’t let me open anything. Maybe it’s recording right now!
TAO LIN—Yeah. At the bottom, do you see like, ‘Share screen?’
BRAD PHILLIPS—Yeah, let me try again. Record—I’ll tell you what, do you want me to narrate what happens? I pressed record then it goes to Settings and it says, ‘Store my recordings at user/Brad Phillips/document/ zoom.’ Then there’s just an Open button next to it, and when I press Open, it takes me to another