A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma...
About Sam Guthrie
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Confessions From Social Media’s Dr. Frankenstein
Netflix’s recent documentary, The Social Dilemma, gathers the voices of psychologists, software engineers, and tech innovators in a collective plea for social media reform. The film’s urge for humanity to reconsider social media habits is nothing new, as the last decade or so has been stuffed to the brim with books, TED Talks, and films […]
Newborns and the Kingdom of God: Reflections in the Dead of Night
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18:1-3) Their best guess was […]
Scrubbing the Guilt Away: Ramy and the Scales of Righteousness
“Religion can be kind of crazy,” comedian and actor Ramy Yousseff quipped during his monologue on the Colbert report back in 2017. Two and a half years later, the Egyptian American’s one-liner has found fertile soil in his self-titled Hulu original series, Ramy, where Yousseff plays a not-so-fictionalized character of himself navigating career, family, relationships, […]
A Tennis-Ball-Shaped Anvil (and Other Things That Weigh on Us)
“It’s no accident, I think, that tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love, the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature.” – Andre Agassi Stumbling across Andre Agassi’s autobiography Open was like overhearing a parishioner’s confession to a priest. It doesn’t […]
Endings, New Beginnings, and El Camino
Spoilers ahead! El Camino opens with a flashback of Jesse Pinkman standing by an Albuquerque creek; the shot is filtered in sepia, the badlands of New Mexico as a backdrop. On the bank, Jesse dialogues with Breaking Bad’s weathered enforcer, Mike Ehrmantraut. In the conversation, Jesse hopes for respite and a new start in the […]
All I Want is a Wink from the Cross: Arcade Fire’s Everything Now
In Arcade Fire’s 2017 album, Everything Now, the pop rock crew provides a sweeping commentary on loneliness, relationships, and (the search for) rest in a digital age. While Arcade Fire stays true to its anthemic tracks, soaring vocals, and visceral sound, the heavy doses of loneliness leave me incrementally sadder with every listen. The album […]
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