11-1-2026 MY FAVES: october culture meter
october culture meter
what i'm reading...
i finished reading the dec/jan 1986 edition of unique homes. there’s something so enchanting about seeing homes full of character, with amazing references and state of the art technology (for 80s standards). im sick of seeing people nowadays gutting homes like these and turning them into ikea storefronts or faux bougie residences, yet the bed seems like it’s made out of cardboard. there's no soul, no passion, no artistry. just bland greyscale that seems too polished, too waspy, too clean. is this really a home?
i’m pretty sure another boring set of cheaply made ryan homes development is being built a couple streets past me, and i dread knowing we won’t be seeing any ‘adobe villas of timeless enchantment’ any time soon.
what i'm watching...
sib and i continue the hobbit journey with the desolation of smaug. these hobbits are so realistic. far from heroes, kinda klepto.
we also watched a few episodes of martha stewart living: halloween edition. such cute ideas to carve a pumpkin!
sib recently read stoker’s magnum opus - dracula, so we picked up francis ford coppola's version. she was disappointed in most of the film, while i enjoyed the artistry throughout the film - particularly the vivid colors and coppola’s cinematic genius and the costumes - styled by the great late japanese designer eiko ishioka who even won an oscar for best costume design for this film in 1993.
while we had different opinions, i find it fulfilling that we saw the film each from the ‘left brain’ analytical vs ‘right brain’ artistic perspective. sib, for example, found the women to be objectified to sexual concubines, and ‘overly horny’ in the movie, and disliked the hypersexualization of the whole thing. i think i view it more empowering - women who expressed their sexual desires more openly. then again, i never read the book.
of course it doesn’t matter at the end, sib is totally right - the women mostly get killed for lusting over dracula or turning into sexy vamps anyways as the ‘good men’ of victorian england (anthony hopkins as van helsing and keanu reeves as jonathan) were here "the heroes". it was winona ryder as mina who ends up saving the day in a visually stunning climactic ending.
the casting was superb, and the costumes were enchanting. i fell in love from the first scene - dracula’s armor that resembles of human flesh, bright red, ribbed, enhancing each anatomical muscle. is it to symbolize the time when dracula was still a raw human, a great warrior who was defined by his insane strength?
mina vs lucy’s fits - mina buttoned to the top until she is entranced by dracula, and becomes brave enough to wear more daring outfits. lucy was the sassy and confident friend, and immediately we notice her attitude through clothes, plunged necklines and vivid colors. lucy’s wedding dress is so unique though, i can’t stop thinking about the doily collar hiding her bite.
what i'm listening to...
here's top 10 songs saved this october:
baby, i love you - the ramones
a classic
at last - celine dion
celine + covers = heavenly vocals
golden boys - res
for the girls on the go
can't get blue monday out of my head - kylie minogue
iconic mashup
it is what it is - blood orange, samantha urbani
locked in closets - solange
blood orange and solange combo was the best
4gether - boy throb
the new generation of boyband
rick owens 'stone' menswear ss27 (official runway version) - sissy misfit
sib calls this genre undescriptive industrial noise
they don't care about us (immortal version) - michael jackson
extra special effects because why not
lurelin village - anbuu
let's wrap it up with some relaxing lo-fi
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