"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-writing
The 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:
-
The Geto Boys, by Rolf Potts
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Slayer’s Reign in Blood, by D.X. Ferris
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Some Kind of Monster (documentary film about Metallica)
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The Defiant Ones (documentary about Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre)
-
Straight Outta Compton (movie about N.W.A)
- "My Holy Land Vacation," by Tom Bissell
- "Euphorias of Perrier: The Case Against Robert D. Kaplan," by Tom Bissell
- "One Man’s Odyssey into ‘Eat, Pray, Love’," by Rolf Potts
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Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, by David Kushner
-
Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads, by Paul Theroux
- "The Mystical High Church of Luck," by Rolf Potts (about Las Vegas)
- "Humor Doesn’t Translate Internationally," by Rolf Potts (about The Asylum)
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
deviate@rolfpotts.com.