Things We Like: “The Novelist” Edition
Another season, another “Things We Like,” stuffed to the brim with recommendations from Countere’s friends, favorite accounts, co-conspirators, getaway drivers, and personal snake charmers. These recommendations took on a literary flavor, no doubt inspired by the smash launch of recommendee & recommender Jordan Castro’s The Novelist, which has received acclaim everywhere from Wired to the magnificent subterranean depths of these very pages. Here are a few of our favorite things: a science-fiction thriller, a Christian drill rapper, an interior design style, a Mafia documentary set in the Caribbean, an American religion, and accounts you should follow now.
The Novelist by Jordan Castro
by Serena Zets, Professional Reader
I couldn’t put down Jordan Castro’s The Novelist in the same way that his protagonist can’t bring himself to log off of Twitter. Most of my mornings are almost identical to the protagonist’s morning that we see chronicled throughout the novel: opening a Google doc, opening Twitter, closing Twitter, responding to emails to procrastinate working on aforementioned Google doc, opening Instagram again, spending time brewing the perfect cup of tea, opening Twitter again, and letting the cycle repeat. Castro masterfully captures the monotony of our digital lives and how it has seeped over to everyday life to the point that there’s no distinction. We’re all expected to live online and in the real world, reacting to everything as it happens and emitting the right reaction to a public audience that is waiting to tear it, and by proxy us, apart. For that reason, I declined to tweet about The Novelist when I read it and instead wrote this blurb. The Novelist reminded me that we should take time and space to react to the things we consume and experience, whether they come in the form of a Tweet thread or a Jordan Castro novel.
Lil Kili
by Jordan Castro, Author of The Novelist
Lil Kili is like if Lil B, Chief Keef and Young Thug were combined into one Ugandan/East Cleveland high schooler who loves Jesus. Kili has drill songs about “killing demons”; a pop-punk type song in which he “remembers [his] nights watching porn“; a chadded trap ballad titled “Bad People Go To Heaven.” Kili utilizes the other-worldly aesthetic of some “weirdo” or emo rappers to convey a message that is truly not of this world. But one thing I love about Kili is his expression of feelings that so often get overlooked by popular Christian music—loneliness and alienation.
To be a young Christian in an increasingly secularized world is to be increasingly misunderstood. In “N95 Freestyle,” Kili has to “choose Christ over the friends,” and “at the end of the day [he] was left alone.” In “Life Gets Hard Sometimes,” Kili has to clarify that “I don’t hate you / I preach the truth to you because I love you.” There is a sorrow that befalls the humble heart when Love-in-Truth is perceived as Hate. Kierkegaard—another Emo Christian—knew exactly this: “Divinely understood, love means precisely to hold fast to the true, eternal conception and to love in the power of this conception, although the one or ones who are loved, if they have a merely human concept, may regard it as hate.” This leads to a kind of mourning. In Kili’s words: “Tears run down on my eyes / I preach the truth to all of my friends / it’s so sad that they think that reading the Bible is so boring.” He goes on, “When I talk about God they don’t want to hear me talk about God / they like ‘Can you change the topic?’ / it’s so crazy how they say that to me / it hurts me a lot.” His music is at times like Christian emo, at times like Christian drill, at times like Christian worship, but it’s always dynamic and interesting—if not totally whigged out and amazing.
Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace by Douglas Rushkoff
Hauntology Fan, Archivist & Culture Scholar
Given the fact that I’m a zoomer who never got to immerse myself in the world of the cyber-psychedelic 90s, Douglass Rushkoff’s look into this esoteric subculture made me nostalgic but also longing for a time I never got the chance to experience. It would be best to include this book into a subgenre of literature and visual media referred to oftentimes online as “Laincore,” a reference to the 1998 cyberpunk anime Serial Experiments Lain. From the first few pages, I immediately fell in love with this book and was enthralled until the very end. Reading about the intersection between deadheads and computer scientists, Timothy Leary and transhumanism, and a wide litany of other topics ranging from ecstasy-filled raves to Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, Cyberia acts as the definitive view into a world before the omnipresence of our modern hyper-commercialized internet. A time—not that long ago—when humans were not the product being sold online, but rather the architects of a vast cyber frontier where the possibilities for ascension, both politically and mentally, still occupied the minds of a new generation of hackers, hippies, and philosophers.
Barrett Avner’s Summer Essentials
by Barrett Avner, Host of the Contain Podcast
70s interior decor, islands, exotica. Lakes, rivers, beaches, falls, gulches. It’s summer, and we are headed for a recession. I suggest going swimming as much as possible to save money. Listen to the Ventures & the Sun City Girls. Progressive Rock. Mid-sized American City. I suggest living an idle, laconic, and frugal existence for the foreseeable future. If you drink alcohol, stick with cheap beer: Lone Star, etc. Buying books and reading them cover to cover, we are knowledgemaxxing now. Who you know will be less important than what you know. Some of the most prescient times of my life were founded under conditions brought about by the “Great Recession” of 2008. We’re going to have to become many things, wear a few hats we’d never thought we’d have to try on. Getting into repair work; learning basic electronic schematics, handywork, etc, will be invaluable.
Superfiction…Micronesia…BBQ…Cornucopia Mindset. Imagination is power.
The Return of Maximalism
by Sofia Oaks, Artist
Maximalism has been making a comeback in the last few years in interior design. Around a decade ago, minimalism became all the rage and everyone aspired to have a simple, zen, and clean interior. Minimalism as an art movement has been around for many decades, beginning with artists such as Donald Judd and his simplistic installation pieces. On the other hand, Maximalism has been popularized by influential interior designers like Iris Apfel.
Modernism as an aesthetic is centered around minimalism; this can be seen in branding, architecture, and tech. Unfortunately, with the adoption of minimalism, there is often a loss to attention to detail. Everyday items such as the iconic red telephone boxes of London become replaced with “modern” simple black boxes; an intricately decorated street lamp becomes a simple metal pole with no defining features.
It seems the popularity of minimalism is on its way out as many people are beginning to feel as though everything looks the same and is lacking in character. Maximalism is a reactionary movement to minimalism in interior design and fashion, showcasing a clash of tastefully paired textures, colors, and patterns. While some prefer the simple and neat aesthetic of minimalism and others prefer the vibrant self expression of maximalism, most would agree that both are uniquely valuable and influential contributions to artistic expressions.
Fishing Irony Instagram Accounts
by Zachary Emmanuel, Director of MOG THE WORLD: The Story of Dark Iron Gains
The “fishing irony” Instagram accounts—which includes current flagship @fishing_irony.v3, the “OG” @fishing_irony, @fishing_irony.v2, and @fishing_irony.fans—are a series of highly banned and extremely edgy fishing meme accounts. The admin adopts the persona of a homicidal maniac who’s also a fishing enthusiast: memes abound about smoking meth while fishing, dumping your dead wife’s body in “The Secret Fishing Spot,” and assassinating oppressive, technocratic game wardens. Fishing Irony is part of a larger shitposting subculture of Instagram accounts promoting niche hobbies under a heavy cloak of transgressive humor: @sewing_irony (who appears to be Fishing Irony’s girlfriend), @lovecraft_irony, and @welding_irony are a few others. Follow them while you can; these types of accounts are never here for long.
Golpar (Persian Hogweed)
by D.C, Host of The 8PL8S Podcast
"What do yuo love?" Countere asks in my DMs on a Tuesday afternoon. My vascular noggin starts joggin'. Potential answers start populating my neuronal schizotopia. "God.” Taken. "Rotisserie chicken.” Taken. A lifter (me) was stuck between a rock that exceeded his one-rep max and a hard place. His coolguy-incel internet personality and desire not to fuck up his second Countere collab created a ball-busting Venn diagram that restricted his choices to the boring and meaningless.
That's when I took the first bite. A spoonful of the snack that was resting on my massive, striated quads. Pomegranate seeds mixed with ground Golpar, also known as Persian hogweed. I looked up to my Stewie Griffin poster drawn in the style of the Scarface (1983) promotional poster to whisper confidently: "Message received.”
I like Persian hogweed. Tastes amazing. Increases power. Elevates pomegranate seeds to a new level, both in terms of their restorative effects and in terms of the culinary satisfaction they provide. I'm getting another scoop.
The Philosophy of Albert Camus
by Mr. Schizo Lifter (@schizo_lifter2.0)
It’s normal to feel stuck or lost. It’s normal to have existential dread, to not understand what it is you’re doing here. Everyone wants to find the magical meaning of life. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus argues that there is no singular meaning or purpose. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was punished after his death by being forced to push a large rock up a mountain for eternity. As soon as Sisyphus gets to the top, the rock rolls back down and he has to start again. One could see this as the epitome of a pointless task—nothing ever comes of it.
However, Camus argues, Sisyphus has found joy in it. To Sisyphus, it does not matter that there is no rhyme or reason to what he is doing. He doesn’t care that he’s doing the same thing every day. To Sisyphus, he is happy that he is doing something. He is struggling towards a seemingly pointless goal, but he is struggling towards something. On the day when he finally makes it to the top, he can relax for a moment and enjoy the peace—before he has to start all over again. Just like pushing a rock up a hill, life may seem purposeless. But just as Sisyphus found his purpose and joy in pushing the rock, one must create their own purpose and joy in the struggles and journeys of life, as the struggles and journeys will always return.
Tiger Lily Herbs (@tigerlilyherbs)
by Gustavo Pierre, Countere Contributor
Out of all our online frends, I’ve seen Tiger Lily seemingly be the most-banned person on Twitter. Every new “Things We Like,” she has a new Twitter handle, whose following quickly grows to eclipse whatever previous 15k, 20k, 30k+ followers she had before. Funnily enough, I’ve only recently seen Tiger Lily Tweet about motherhood, health, and being a woman; I have no doubt this was grounds enough for her recent banishment. Now yuo see! Anyways, she just started a herbalist company, @tigerlilyherbs, which will be offering Yoni steams, herbal remedies, organic herbs, postpartum healing kits, and more. I recommend following it to show support for one of our favorite pariahs. They ban our cures…
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
by Emerson Holloway, Grad Student
Jennifer Egan’s novel, published in 2011, is a collection of interrelated stories whose narrators all share a connection to a former punk musician-turned-producer and his assistant. The stories skip around space and time, from the hormone-fueled live music scene of 1970s San Francisco, to the turn-of-the-century-celebrity-journalism world in New York City, to pickpocketing communities in mid-90s Naples, Italy, and beyond. I saw parts of myself reaching out of the pages in each chapter, despite how wildly different each character was from one chapter to the next. I adore how Egan deftly illustrates how every person and their stories all contain multitudes, that we are all connected in one way or another, that the world is far smaller than we think. The idea that the stranger in the background of that one photograph you took has a rich life, and they may turn out to have once loved the person who makes your coffee each morning. When I read Visit From the Goon Squad, my world simultaneously expanded and shrank, creating a space for perpetual wonder in my heart. Wherever I move, I will always have a beat-up copy of that book by my side, because I want to keep believing in wonder in every home I build.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
by Aesthetic Fanatic, Dissident Academic
While not a practicing member myself, I have been allured by this branch of Christianity for quite some time. My curiosity about a people that often get typecast in casual conversations as “weird” eventually turned into a fervent love and kinship with members of the church. In 1830, Joseph Smith in the United States founded the LDS church, and within both his story and the religion as a whole there lies a uniquely American spirit of rising against the odds, charting your course in the face of persecution, and, when necessary, laying down your life for your beliefs. This is a spirit I have grown to love in these beliefs and the people who share them. You will find no kinder people in life than a proud Mormon man or woman who will readily call you a friend and say they love you within moments of meeting you. There is a beauty in the LDS church and its community that I greatly admire and I hope one day that it is shared with many more people.
Blood on the Palms
by John Flowers, Editor-in-Chief of Countere Magazine
This film was sent to Countere with the following description: “…an investigative film in the Bahamas about a scheme where the king of England and the Mafia murdered the richest man in the world while they were sending money to Hitler.” Marcus Aurelius, one of the admins of the Countere Discord, informed me that a few members had watched it with rave reviews. While you can watch the movie on YouTube, there will be a virtual watch party (and AMA with the filmmakers) in the Countere Discord this Friday night, July 8, at 8 pm EST. Consider this an invitation…
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