Hosted By
“If you go through your life expecting moral purity from every artist you love, you’re going to have a very lonely life, aesthetically.” – Tom Bissell
Tom Bissell is an American author, journalist, and critic. He co-authored the book The Disaster Artist, which has been adapted into a movie starring James Franco, Seth Rogen, Dave Franco, and Alison Brie.
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Tom discuss Metallica and thrash metal (5:25); violence in music and video games (23:30); how one’s relationship to one’s own writing transforms over time (28:10); the shallowness of cultural criticism in social-media (33:55); the dubious concept of “authenticity” as applied to food, music, and travel (42:00); co-writingThe Disaster Artist with actor Greg Sestero, and making sense of The Room (58:50); and finding joy and contentment within the creative process (1:06:00).
Articles, books and movies:
Bands, songs, and albums mentioned
Other Links:
Tom Bissell’s favorite Metallica albums:
Other books by Tom Bissell:
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].
“One way of making famous landmarks more comprehensible is to look for surprises, good and bad, that go beyond what you are expected to...
“In the end, you’ll have this [psychedelic] experience that people paint about, people write about, and musicians compose songs about.” – Ari Shaffir Ari...
“Don’t miss an opportunity to travel, if you have a chance. Decades from now you will always look back and be thankful you did”...
