4/25 Recap and Recs

Jack Amos Holloway

— 4 min read
4/25 Recap and Recs

Here's a breakdown of my three posts from this month:

"“I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities,” the apostle Paul wrote, for God’s power “is made perfect in weakness” and, “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12). He was an apostle of Christianity, the central symbol of which is an innocent man dying on a cross. For Jesus, the source of resilience is not political power, nor is it dependent on success. No king gives it to you. No king takes it from you. It comes, rather, from the kingdom of God within."
"I thank God for my godlessness, for my lack of spiritual apprehension. It has forced me to become more aware of myself and the world. Lacking knowledge, I had to pursue it. How spoiled we must be to presume that knowledge would simply drop in our lap. How timid we must be to expect God to usurp our senses, like a dog refusing to trust her nose. The world is ready to be understood by those who would use their senses. Consciousness is an active not a passive gift, and wisdom blesses those who search for her. So I’ve learned not to depend on spiritual experience."
I have had many faith crises in my life, and have often been tempted to ditch theism altogether, but what always abides in me is something like faith in dharma, a fundamental belief in truth and justice.

And here are some movies/TV, books, and music I've been enjoying recently:

Movies/TV:

  • Network (1976)
    This film has an all star cast and crew. Directed by the legendary Sidney Lumet, written by three-time-Oscar-winning screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, and starring Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, and Robert Duvall, Network is one of the greatest satires about television media out there. When TV anchor Howard Beale (Finch) goes rogue and announces he will kill himself on live television, it sets off a firestorm for his network, only to inspire network-head Diana Christensen (Dunaway) to launch a new series of television shows based on articulating the people's political rage. But an anti-establishment viewpoint can only go so far as entertainment before it starts to threaten the system on which the network is based.
  • Macbeth (1948)
    Orson Welles' eerie adaptation of Shakespeare's classic is an under-appreciated masterpiece. I saw a 35mm print of it at Brooklyn Academy of Music on April 12th and it looked stunning. The high contrast black and white, the smoke-filled shots of darkness and gloom, the stellar performances by Welles as the titular character and Jeanette Nolan as Lady Macbeth (her first film role), and the bleak, claustrophobic set designs, come together to a mesmerizing effect.
  • Severance (season 1)
    It has been a long time since I have watched a season of television this satisfying. I wasn't sure of it at first, and not every episode is as captivating as some of them are, but by the end, they had me. The season finale is worth getting to. It is jaw-dropping. The premise is a company that "severs" many of its workers, implanting a chip into their brains that splits them into two people, their work self and their off-duty self. The work self is completely unaware of the reality of the outside world, and the off-duty self is completely unaware of what goes on inside Lumon, the company that employees them. It's a brilliant idea for a show, and the more the plot thickens, the more enraptured I become.

Books:

I haven't read anything recently that has really blown me away, but this is what I finished this month:

  • The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey by Che Guevara
    A young Che Guevara sets off on a long journey through Latin America with his friend Alberto, starting out on a motorcycle but eventually having to ditch it when it breaks down for the umpteenth time. I didn't know anything about this book before reading it, including that it just covers a window of Guevara's life in his early 20's and not his later work as a revolutionary for which he is famous. If you're more interested in the latter, I recommend looking elsewhere.
  • The Conspiracy Against the Human Race by Thomas Ligotti
    Ligotti is typically a writer of horror novels, but this is his nonfiction book, where he explores the philosophy of antinatalism. His main contention is that consciousness is a tragedy, that being alive is not alright, and that we should spare future innocents of experiencing the suffering of existence by not having children. Each chapter explores different figures and issues related to this theme, introducing some obscure nihilist thinkers from the past, and dialoguing with other writers and philosophers who have dealt with pessimism. It's a cheery one!
  • Being and the Messiah: The Message of St. John by José Miranda
    Miranda is known for combining philosophy, Marxism, and biblical analysis, and that's what he does with this fascinating look at the Johannine literature of the Bible. Miranda is more assertive than he is persuasive, but there are some interesting discussions in this book. It offers a unique perspective on a range of issues related to existentialism, Marxism, and the Gospel.

Music:

  • "12 Years" by Jack Holloway - Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube
  • Proximity by Jack Holloway - Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube
    These are two of my own releases from this month. They are both instrumental and electronic. I made the first one in honor of my 12th anniversary with my wife Debbie, and the second is an EP of songs I've made within the last two-three years. I hope you enjoy the vibes!
  • Sludge - Spotify
    This is a playlist of my favorite sludge metal songs. It's over six hours of the most brutal, nihilistic music you could possibly imagine. I love it. I played it in its entirety at my birthday party on the 11th, and we were really basking in the gloom. It was a great night, and this is the perfect playlist for when you feel like this world is hell itself.
  • Creeping Misery - Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube
    This playlist consists of eight songs from new metal releases from this year that I've really been enjoying. It features Witchcraft, Divide and Dissolve, Deafheaven, Pissgrave, and more. If you like metal, you should definitely hear these songs.

What about you? What have you been listening to, watching, and reading lately?

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