OCTOBER 2025 FINDS

october 2025 finds is here!

BOOKS

1. ce am invatat de la graham greene by andrei gorzo was a fast read. the writing style was quite fluid. also, i admit i skipped through the parallel graham green stuff. don’t bait me with a communist time story and then switch to some endless gg stories. if you take that out, the novel has probably less than 100 pages. anyway, the books seems to be written for the satisfaction of its author, not that of its readers.

2. i zipped through miss kim knows and other stories by cho nam joo. the 8 short stories inform about women’s position in south korean society. this book will help you understand the 4b movement. my favourite story was dear hyunnam oppa.

3. not my father’s son by alan cummings dives into his murky and uninviting past. be warned: the story involves domestic violence, but also survival.

MAGAZINES

4. british vogue is trying to keep gwyneth paltrow relevant. even if she’s as obnoxious and tone-deaf as ever.

MUSIC

5. placebo sounds as good as ever. watch to the end for the cameos.

6. why does rhian insist on using that cringe baby voice? we’d still like her un-infantilized.

7. nin live at woodstock 94 never gets old.

8. during the us leg of the 2025 summer tour, the nin show had 4 acts on 2 stages. it also had a great playlist, good hits-to-fillers ratio, good sequence, the crucial final song and remarkable show dynamic.

9. the third act was in collaboration with boys noize. that bit of meta sampling in the beginning of closer was this month’s ear worm.

10. lava la rue is wet leg’s rhian’s girlfriend and i like some of her songs.

11. becane by yame is so good. i’d try following the lyrics for a better experience.

THEATRE

12. this is a one-off category. i haven’t seen a theatre play in probably twenty years. but i did book a plane, bus, train, hotel and a miraculous last ticket to see hamlet in girona.

hamlet has been playing in its home theatre schaubuhne in berlin sold out since it premiered in 2008. the plan was to go to berlin to see it there, but it’s always sold out. somebody nice from the theatre gave me some tips, but, even so, i realized that seeing it abroad was a safer bet.

i tried and failed to read the original play. but i did read a few reviews and they assured me that ostermeier’s version is loosely inspired by shakespeare’s original. the theater offered an introduction for the play. in catalan, of course. i was able to follow probably around half of the ideas since i had already read the reviews.

i think i was hoping such a lauded play would make me change my mind about theatre. it didn’t.

but i did spend a few minutes talking to my favourite at the end of a stone bridge in girona. so i’ll call this a win.

GASTRONOMY

13. this is a category i should have added a while before. in girona, i couldn’t go to el celler de can roca because it’s very expensive and because i don’t think they do reservations for one anyway.

but i did the next best thing. i ate at can roca, the traditional restaurant where the cook is the mother of the roca brothers, montserrat fontané. open only during week days, it’s advisable to book a table. they have a daily menu among others.

go for a great homemade kind of lunch. go to just listen to everybody chat in catalan. google translate your menu and enjoy!

FILMS

14. after the hunt by luca guadagnino is supposed to be about cancel culture. the film couldn’t make me forget i was watching actors acting. as a plus, trent reznor and atticus ross are, once again, in charge of the soundtrack.

maybe you could watch the film on a long flight. or not at all.

TV SERIES

15. i zipped through the 3 seasons of the sex lives of college girls.

it’s fun and funny enough to watch at the right time.

ARCHITECTURE

16. i went to the opening of kengo kuma: onomatopeia at casa da arquitectura. after the conference, i showed him his buildings i saw in japan last year. the show is open until the 8th of march 2026.

17. while in barcelona, i visited 3 public libraries. i loved the gabriel garcia marquez library by suma. apparently, it was the world’s best public library in 2023. find my pics on insta.

PODCASTS

18. joe talbot has a new podcast called oh gatekeeper. i chose the episode with julian casablancas and the one with jehnny beth. while i love julian, i cannot say the same about jb. she seems better at getting attention than at making music. but her episode was interesting.

18. one year after the tiny desk, paco and catriel speak migue granados.

19. billy talks to yungblood, who’s riding a well-deserved wave of public love.

20. i enjoyed listening to theroux talking to steve coogan, i wish i could use language like they do.

21. i never liked david cronenberg or his films. i gave him a chance with this podcast, but i’m afraid he left me with the same opinion.

22. i also tried to listen to the ocean vuong episode. but he was too pretentious for me. he sounded like somebody who’s afraid people will believe he’s too simple. so he uses a pompous synonyms for each and every word. i didn’t have the patience for it.

23. pissed, i searched for jg ballard and came across this absolutely satisfying 2016 episode of backlisted. it’s about cocaine nights. now i made a list of the ballard books i have yet to read.

24. alex invited victoria beckham. it’s funny how they believe they can make her relatable. i don’t like rich people who force their children down the public’s throat. she’s doing exactly that. she expects us to be kind. how are you kind to us by giving an undeserved platform to your mediocre children? i couldn’t listen all the way through.

25. i listened to 3 episodes on good bad billionaire this month: john d. rockefeller, henry ford and howard hughes.

26. i listened to a few interesting unpacking japan episodes. i loved the one in which an economist debunks japan’s “stagnant” economy and the one with peter barakan.

27. kid cudi talks to zane lowe.