Since I have this space, I want to keep a record of the things I loved each month. It can be a book, a movie, a song, an album, a manga series, something I saw on TV, or heard, a new recipe I tried, a dish I ate, or even a material object. Why? Because it’s fun to talk and read about beloved things!
So, in October 2026, I loved:
1. A queer love story
…that has been unfolding in Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, the game I’ve spent more than a month playing. Without going into spoilers, I am just in awe of how they’ve made this love story an official, unskippable, crucial part of the game. And what a beautiful story it is too. It is so queer, and I use the term in a way that goes beyond non-heterosexual romance, in the sense that it queers and challenges the idea of love itself. Basically, it asks what love is at its essence and how might it grow between two people who barely fit the constraints of what is considered “normal”.
Because what does it mean to love someone when you strip away everything that defines our modern idea of a romantic relationship? All the things we assume or take for granted— biological imperatives, social contracts and societal expectations, heteronormative assumptions, the nuclear family, so-called norms in sexuality and romance. What is left is, I think, pure love. Love at its essence. Love of the other’s essential self, love that grows from seeing each other thoroughly and truly, with no external motives. Needless to say my jaw dropped with every reveal as the game committed itself over and over again to telling this love story.
2. Pizza 4P’s, Hanoi
The idea of going to Vietnam to eat pizza seems strange, but it was incredible! The wood-fired pizzas here are made with cheese made from their own local dairy farm, there is beer brewed in their own brewery with the whey from making that cheese, and on every table there is honey from local bee farms that you drizzle onto your (delicious) 5-cheese pizza, that they also brew into a beautiful sparkling honey wine. You should make a reservation online if you want to go, and you should definitely go if you’re in Vietnam.
3. Did Someone Happen To Mention Me? (2026)
With a script from Kudo Kankuro and starring one of my favourite film actors Yakusho Koji, this drama is everything I could have dreamt of. Kudo’s writing has a way of finding humour in sorrow, sorrow amidst humour. The off-beat absurdity of his plots shine alongside utterly real characters, and he frequently explores the pains and beauty of family, focusing most often on the fraught relationship between fathers and sons. His characters never quite act quite the way you expect them to, and they are rich with the idiosyncracies and contradictions of living human beings. A wonderful father figure, for example, is also a horrible father.
Did Someone Happen To Mention Me is the story of a top actor who is forgotten by the entire Japanese population (you need to watch it to discover how and why this happens) and finds himself having to start over from scratch. In doing so, he is forced to confront everything about his career and himself. Just like what Kudo’s previous work, my beloved Tiger and Dragon (2005), did for rakugo, it does for film and acting with so much heart and love for the art form— and with a master of acting at the helm too. It’s also a hell of a treat for fans of Yakusho Koji to see him in such a variety of roles and costumes, hehe.
❦
To tell you the truth, this month was and still is a hard one, full of migraines and anxiety and an inability to feel settled anywhere. So it was hard to engage with the things I loved, or feel like I loved them at all. Much less write about them. But I need to keep myself accountable, I need to remind myself that there are still things to love even in times of difficulty. This entry is brief, but at least it exists.
Other things I enjoyed:
Autumn Leaves, Eddie Higgins Trio: A lovely take on a jazz standard, especially notable for the little Bach sequence he incorporates in the middle.
Rome, The National: The usual heavy production that defines their sound is completely removed in this live performance recording, and it is beautiful. The relentless instruments and straining vocals… everything is more raw and strikes at the heart in a whole new way. The whole album is stellar but my highlights are The Geese of Beverly Road, Mr November, About Today, Day I Die.
Kaamos, TOUCHED: The first full album from a K-rock band I love. Though it unfortunately still doesn’t quite capture the unique sound and emotionality of their older work, there are some standout tracks here, namely Liar and Stay by My Side, and the whole album flows on with a pleasing cohesion.
Ghost in the Cell (2026): An Indonesian horror movie I went into with no expectations and left thoroughly charmed by what it dared to do.
And the best short stories I read this month: “People Like That Are The Only People Here” by Lorrie Moore; “The Best of Betty” by Jincy Willett.
31 October 2026