Jeremyriad

This is the kind of stuff that fuels Found Magazine and makes neurotic writers use paper shredders. Here we have two cases of people with varying degrees of criminal histories and infamy whose personal writings and artifacts are currently on the auction block.

Above is a video of Brooklyn-based writer, Tao Lin, sounding drugged and/or autistic as he lists off a trove of his belongings that are available right now on eBay. The auction includes CDs, DVDs, drafts of his books, magazine appearances (signed), a hand-written history of his drug use and lots more. According to Lin:

Sotheby’s estimated these items to currently be worth ~$300 to ~$800, with a 65% chance that these numbers will rise to ~$2500 to $6000 within 10 years, as NYU recognizes Tao Lin as an alumni and enters a bidding war with New School, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and others to acquire my papers and effects.

This feels like performance art to me. Hipster Runoff has more backstory and a long and interesting comments thread about Tao Lin’s eBay auction here.

In related news, today the government began auctioning the private writings and former belongings of Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber.  The government has a history of selling “ill-gotten gains,” but The Unabomber auction is unique. Unlike the spoils that were sold following Bernard Madoff’s conviction, The Unabomber lived off just a couple hundred dollars a year. Because the goods, which the Unabomber was opposed to auctioning, aren’t worth much on the surface, they are expected to sell to historians, curio collectors and morbid celebrity fetishists. Profits will go to the families of the victims.

The auction includes journals, documents, photos, clothing and tools. You can check out all the items online here. So far a hand-written copy of The UNABOMB manifesto is in the lead, having just eclipsed the $10K mark. There are 58 lots to choose from, and everything already has a bid. The Unabomber auction runs until June 2nd.

We live in a weird world. Now, back to toys.