Escape From Plan A

Teen, Adam, and Chris talk about reactions to the Peng Shuai incident, desperate American attempts to spark a #MeToo in China, and how American moralism has ramped up as a direct reaction to its deteriorating material conditions. Join us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/planamag TWITTER: Adam (@snbatman) Chris (@JesuInToast) Teen (@mont_jiang) REFERENCED RESOURCES: What Peng Shuai’s rape accusation say...

Jess and Chris hit on a grab bag of topics, including Spotify Unwrapped, college debt forgiveness, Ariana Grande's "Asianfishing" thing, and some Christmas movie/TV recommendations. Join us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/planamag TWITTER: Jess(@cogitatotomato) Chris (@JesuIntoast) SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com UA Theme: "Escape From Plan A" by Ciel (@aerialist)

Chris and Filip talk about the differing reactions from the Asian American community to recent videos where the Asian victims fought back compared to when they didn't (namely, the Astroworld fight and the assault on the Philly subway). GoFundMe for Christina Chen, the Asian American girl who was assaulted on Philly subway: https://www.gofundme.com/f/aufh6m-help-christina-recover/share?qid=90dc79e1...

While we have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, it's time for the Asian American Festivus, and ritualized Airing of Grievances. Jess and Teen express not a little anger and frustration about the mass gaslighting of Asian American emotions, particularly around our reactions to Black-on-Asian violence, and how suppression of an uncomfortable topic yields terrible results all around. One of...

Liza, Filip, and Chris talk about the new #1 movie on Netflix, 'Love Hard' starring Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang. Does a movie about an Asian guy using a white(-passing) guy's pic to catfish a woman veer into a trainwreck, or does it actually have some decent insights? TWITTER: Chris (@JesuInToast) Liza (@aesthdistance1) Filip (@filipgwriting) SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com UA...

Jess, Chris, and Teen talk about the public's shifting attitudes towards wealth, billionaires, and power-by-inheritance, starting from the 1990s to contemporary times. References are made to The West Wing, Succession, Gossip Girl, Crazy Rich Asians, Silicon Valley, and more.

Chris, Filip, and Adam form a makeshift book club after reading Jay Caspian Kang's "The Loneliest Americans." They particularly focus on the chapter on Asian American male online spaces, especially since it actually features Adam in one of its narrative arcs. Other points of discussion include what it would mean to listen more to working-class Asian Americans and why there was some Twitter controv...

Teen and Chris discuss a recent New York Times article about Millennial bosses facing culture clashes with Gen Z employees. Also, they talk about the continuing critical backlash against Eternals and why nobody discusses the lofty station Chloe Zhao comes from in China. TWITTER: Chris (@JesuInToast) Teen (@mont_jiang) REFERENCED RESOURCES: The 37-Year Olds Are Afraid of the 23-Year Olds Who Work F...

Kenny Xu's "An Inconvenient Minority" cuts against the grain of the current Asian American literary vogue of Ivy League MFA writing. Instead of inner emotional turmoil and racial confusion, Kenny's writing cuts to the heart of Asian American material interests. In particular, a fair shake at a top-flight education, long seen by many Asian Americans as the key to American life. Kenny joins Eliza an...

Asians love to talk about 'WMAF' (guilty) online. But we rarely talk about WMAM -- the complex and often toxic relationship that white men seek to enter with Asian men, often for self-serving reasons. Kyle joins Jong and Teen to talk about this through his ten-year friendship with Bloomberg opinion writer Noah Smith. Teen compares notes with his brief online acquaintance with Noah. Join us on Patr...

(Warning: Spoilers! Time stamps will be provided during podcast) Chris, Adam, and returning guest John Bai sit down to review and discuss the recent movie 'Blue Bayou' written, direct, and starred in by Justin Chong. 'Blue Bayou' follows the events in the life of Korean-American adoptee Antonio LeBlanc (Justin Chon), his pregnant wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and her daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalsk...

Teen, Jong, and Chris discuss THAT Salon article (about the Asian American woman who didn't find Asian men attractive until she started watching Korean dramas), and the increasingly gloves-off Twitter spats between Asian American bluechecks that suggests a convergence of high-class and dirtbag Asian Twitter mentalities. Join us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/planamag TWITTER: Chris (@JesuInToast) Tee...

Teen, Liza, and Chris talk about Wesley Yang's latest Substack piece reflecting on his "Paper Tigers" essay and Andrew Yang's Politico piece on how mentally warped you can get running for president. Join us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/planamag TWITTER: Teen (@Mont_Jiang) Chris (@JesuInToast) Eliza (@aesthdistance1) REFERENCED RESOURCES: Personal Note by Wesley Yang | Year Zero Substack: https://we...

Chris and Liza emerge from the weird past couple of weeks of Asian Twitter (where everyone momentarily went back to the gender wars of 2018) to talk about the latest dumb Asian American-related article in The New York Times, upcoming movies they're excited about (like Dune), what people often really mean when they say "social justice," and why straight women hate it when guys take selfies. Join us...

Teen, Chris, and Trevor (from Champagne Sharks) get together to talk about the wild last couple of days on Twitter regarding Simu Liu's supposedly controversial Reddit posts and the rerun of 2018-style Asian American gender wars, and how and why the dynamics of intense sibling rivalries are operating behind all this. NOTE: Part 2 of this episode can be accessed by becoming our Patreon subscriber a...

Jess, Chris and Teen have a throwback discussion about r/aznidentity and MRAsians, and why Aaron Mak's recently-published article trying to revive Asian incel panic is so ... forgettable. All three of us had advised Mak on his article a couple years ago, and he seems to have taken a very deep dive into the 'Asian masculinity ecosystem.' We question his findings. Join us on Patreon: www.patreon.com...

(Warning: Spoilers!) Chris, Teen, and Filip give their thoughts on Shang-Chi and speculate whether the success of Shang-Chi will be the final act of a multi-decade Asian American internal drama on media representation and Asian American male emasculation issues. Join us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/planamag TWITTER: Chris (@JesuInToast) Teen (@mont_jiang) Filip (@filipgwriting) SUBMISSIONS & COMMEN...

Ever wonder what college life is like for Gen Z now? Chris talks with popular Youtuber amandamaryanna (who, among other things, makes highly viewed videos about college life at NYU) about how her generation of college students has dealt with COVID, social media, and the whole idea of turning your passion into your job. Follow amandamaryanna's Youtube and Instagram at: https://www.youtube.com/c/ama...

Communist rapper and podcaster Xiangyu, and Luchuan and Hawaiian independence activist Rob Kajiwara, join Teen to talk about the notable differences between the politics of Asian people in Asia, and that of Asian Americans. While it's not surprising there is a difference, Asian American awareness of it is quite low. It's time to change that, esp. as Asian Americans claim a desire to 'reconnect' wi...

In an extended discussion about cultural appropriation that started in Ep. 286 about what is messed up with the cultural appropriation fight as we know it, this episode with Teen, Chris, and our friend John Bai looks at what are legitimate concerns at the heart of the issue. Is it simply inevitable that America turns cultures into cultural products? TWITTER: John (@bohnjai) Chris (@JesuInToast) Te...

Chris and Millie, along with EFPA's favorite guest Trevor Beaulieu from Champagne Sharks, go in on the latest ridiculous cultural appropriation brouhaha involving attacks on a white British woman, Pippa Middlehurst, for authoring an Asian cookbook. They look at the root causes of this cultural appropriation angst among minorities, as well as the possible reasons that young white women seem to freq...

Jess, Teen, and Chris discuss the aftermath of Roberta Kaplan's resignation from Time's Up (for her pro-Cuomo work) and how the whole #MeToo/#TimesUp movement has come to resemble some twisted melding of a religion and a mafia-like protection racket. TWITTER: Jess (@cogitatotomato) Chris (@JesuInToast) Teen (@mont_jiang) REFERENCED RESOURCES: Who Actually Gets To Create Black Pop Culture? by Bertr...

Considering how the Plan A founders met online well into adulthood and have now become close friends, four of them (Jess, Jong, Teen, and Chris) get together to discuss the importance of continuing to make friends as you get older, as well as the new ways we have of doing so, such as through the internet. TWITTER: Jess (@cogitatotomato) Chris (@JesuInToast) Teen (@mont_jiang) Jong (@calicoarse) SU...

Adam and Filip are joined by returning guest Connie Griffith to discuss the recently filed case against Blizzard Entertainment (and its owner Activision Blizzard) and the rot at the root of the video game industry in general. As a former Blizzard employee and industry veteran she provides a vital and unique perspective to make sense of the case specifically and what it could mean for the future of...

Jess, Chris and Teen start off a conversation about an Asian American surgeon who divorced his wife after finding out she was a high-priced escort, and talk about why such dark (and darkly comedic) real-life stories remain untold in the project of Asian American 'media representation.' And why we need these stories. TWITTER: Jess (@cogitatotomato) Chris (@JesuInToast) Teen (@mont_jiang) SUBMISSION...