Bookslut Jessa Crispin on Keanu Reeves and the joys of celebrity fixation

“It’s helpful to have a thing that only exists in your imagination, as long as you are aware that that’s what it is. It’s only when you try to drag it into reality that it goes to a weird place.” –Jessa Crispin

Jessa Crispin (@thebookslut) is an author, book critic, former editor-in-chief of the pioneering literary blog Bookslut, and current host of the podcast Public Intellectual. Her books include The Dead Ladies Project: Exiles, Expats, and Ex-Countries and The Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspired Life.

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf speaks with Jessa on all things Keanu Reeves. Through this lens, they explore high school, and how ones world is forever contextualized by that experience (16:30); hooking up with celebrities in the social media age (29:40); adolescent crushes and idealized love (34:30); and personal obsessions (43:10).

For more information on Jessa Crispin, visit her website, www.jessacrispin.com.

Links of note:

• Jessa Crispin’s favorite YouTube video of Keanu Reeves clips
• Jessa Crispin and Jen May’s tarot deck
• Lisa Frank stickers
• Tiger Beat (teen magazine)
• Guiding Light and As the World Turns (soap operas)
• Burning Man (gathering/event)
• Jessa’s podcast interview with Neal Pollack
• Joe Rogan’s podcast interview with Henry Rollins
• “Julian Edelman learns falling asleep with strangers is a bad idea,” from the Washington Post
• Evan Wright’s “Scenes From My Life in Porn,” from the LA Weekly
• Rolf’s Kansas City Royals Twitter list
• The Goddess Kali

Notable People Mentioned:

• Cosima Wagner (wife of Richard Wagner)
• William James (philosopher)
• David Fincher (director)
• Paul Verhoeven (director)
• David Wojnarowicz (queer painter and writer)
• Paul Monette (queer author and poet)
• Cary Grant (actor)
• Tori Amos (singer-songwriter)
• Nina Hoss (German actress)

Notable Films Mentioned:

• Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Keanu Reeves film)
• The Matrix (Keanu Reeves film)
• John Wick (Keanu Reeves film)
• American Beauty (Sam Mendes film)
• Susan Orlean (journalist) in Adaptation (Charlie Kaufman film)
• Zodiac (David Fincher film)
• Philadelphia Story (George Cukor film)
• The Achievers, a documentary about fans of The Big Lebowski (film)
• Keanu (Peter Atencio film)

This episode was sponsored by the Paris Writing Workshop, an intensive one-month course in the artistic heart of Europe.

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at [email protected].