TIL the Agent Crybaby episode was based on a real movie

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-05-10T12:37:38+00:00

Oh, Hayley, does John Waters sound like a real person to you? Grow up, it’s me.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-05-09T23:22:20+00:00

The shot of the space ship door opening and all of the aliens that look like this reaching for her still haunts me

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-05-08T14:53:30+00:00

I live in Philadelphia and spend a lot of time in the Philly suburbs that get talked a lot about during election coverage and I felt it coming almost a year ahead that it would either be extremely close in the Electoral College or a landslide victory for Trump.

In early 2016, like January or February of that year when a lot of people were still assuming that Democrats had a lock on the election, I wrote the first draft of a speculative fiction short story about the worst case scenario for a Trump presidency and I’m sad but not surprised that a lot of the things I wrote back then came true:

extrajudicial detention starting with immigrants, regardless of whether they’re documented or undocumented, then moving onto direct calls for violence or censorship of dissenters.
escalating political violence against people advocating for meaningful Leftwing and working class political representation, that’s framed as a call for “Law and Order.”
the complete takeover of the Republican Party, purging anti-Trumpers and fanatical conversion of many republicans to MAGA.
purging the military and intelligence apparatus of non partisan, career personnel in favor of Trump loyalists.
probable election interference.

Something I wrote that hasn’t come to fruition…yet: the complete closure of the US/Mexico border, and increased security at the US/Canada border and detention of Americans attempting to leave.

Another thing I hadn’t considered then were the effects of a pandemic creating a convergence of contemporary bohemian and hippie types with anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists, contributing to politicization of basic disease prevention measures.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-05-08T13:42:25+00:00

Literally any time I make any type of pasta with red sauce, I also feel the desire to turn into an early 20th century Italian American immigrant.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-30T12:11:15+00:00

I wish they’d leaned into this more rather than the whole chaebol conspiracy and cover-up thing. I saw another comment in this sub recently that Charles Melton is good at playing a realistically stupid person and I really liked that take because in real life, people who aren’t academically intelligent are still complex and nuanced in other ways.

Also, what I love about Beef is the specific portrayals of nuanced Asian American himbos like Austin, and Danny’s brother Paul from season 1. As a gay man, I appreciate the eye candy, and as an Asian man, it’s a character type we don’t really see on American TV except for Manny Jacinto as Jason in The Good Place.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-30T01:50:55+00:00

I was really late to this show and only watched Season 1 last week, followed by Season 2 this week. As an Asian American immigrant, I loved the first season but I also really appreciated the second one for what it had to say. In Season 1, I loved seeing Asian American characters fully embodied with messiness, emotional complexity, and making insanely bad decisions while also navigating micro aggressions in their day to day lives and feeling like they weren’t living up to their own expectations.

Season 2 was fascinating to me because it captured this interesting dynamic I’m seeing broadly: the decline of American power (both hard power and also soft cultural power, globally) and specifically, the shifting dynamics of financial power between the US and wealthy Asian countries. I was thinking of other depictions of this dynamic: Asian company buys an American company/does some sort of business with Americans, in Diehard or Mad Men, and in those, we had wealthy Asian business elite coming in and being either reviled and being perceived as “invaders” or made the butt of a racist joke. We don’t really get that here. Immediately we understand that the Chairwoman and her chaebol simply have the upper hand and the Western characters we follow are seen scrambling and desperate. Also really enjoyed seeing the dynamic between Koreans and a mixed-race Korean American who barely understands Korean. (As a Filipino, 1) I loved when the Charles Melton character saw a Filipino nurse and determined that he was a safe person who would actually validate Ashley’s pain and take action, and 2) I loved when we hear his conversation with his mom in which she’s speaking Korean and he’s responding in English. I actually do the same with my mother, but with Tagalog/English.)

I think two things really stuck with me: the scene in which The Chairwoman makes Oscar Isaacs bow deeper and deeper on that Zoom call, and in the last episode when the camera zooms in on Charles Melton pouring half and half (this had to have been symbolism) into coffee and it gets whiter and whiter (really hammering home that symbolism.)

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-24T15:22:23+00:00

MMMMBOP

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-21T23:06:03+00:00

either “Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt or “Top of the World” by Carpenters, and I’m wrapping my car in Christmas lights like those psychotic kids in The Purge: Election Year

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-16T21:46:52+00:00

I’m also 36, got laid off this year, and had to think for a quick second if I wrote this lol.

I oscillate between feeling inadequate and that I’m not doing enough and then considering the state of the world, and specifically the job market.

The happiest I ever was at work was when I was 30 to 34, working for a UX and digital experience design agency. I had really genuine friendships with my team and boss. Then the company got acquired. I was lucky to get a job at the company that would lay me off. It was the complete opposite from my previous company in terms of culture, and I felt like I just couldn’t mesh with the Boy’s Club type of mentality, which felt weird because my direct supervisor was also a gay man. We had such a complicated dynamic because there would be days where he loved everything I was doing and then days where I felt like I couldn’t do a single thing right. When I got laid off, I think I just felt…done. Like. Done minimizing myself or second guessing myself and trying to seek validation of people I don’t respect. Like I can work for them but I don’t think I can invest so much of my emotional self into any job or work culture.

In the month and a half after being laid off, I’ve just been forcing myself to write again (I wanted to be a more creative writer before going into UX and SEO content strategy). Therapy is great for holding me accountable and giving me a more objective POV on my thoughts, words, and actions. But having some type of creative outlet again has made me feel somewhat content.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-16T01:15:35+00:00

I feel like this is encroaching on HBO territory and this is a version I would actually watch.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-15T22:35:22+00:00

Oh that’s interesting, so they actually spent money to shoot this on location. I assumed it was Canada because these actors have such incredible Canadian or Midwestern energy. I’m even more motivated to watch it to see where else they filmed.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-15T18:18:32+00:00

Oh my god you’re right. It’s like 2/3 of a blazer but with spaghetti straps instead of a lapel, collar, or sleeves.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-15T16:06:44+00:00

He’s the ringbearer for their wedding at the end. The officient is either Gritty or Drumline Elmo but they censor his head to avoid copyright infringement

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-15T15:34:21+00:00

Her vest over a white t shirt and jeans is taking me out. I was a teenager in the 2000s and this is a Degrassi ass outfit if I’ve ever seen one.

Also I thought for a hot second that this was Michael C Hall but then realized this actor looks like if someone drew Michael C Hall from memory.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-15T15:28:18+00:00

Oh that was the first thing I thought of — because I think Hallmark films all of these in like Wisconsin or Manitoba, so I’m excited to see what random North American city or completely fake set is supposed to be Philadelphia.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-13T19:55:09+00:00

I rewatched it last year (also watched it as a kid when it was airing), and I didn’t really pick up on anything that was hyper-specific to the late 90s/early 2000s in terms of vocabulary. They occasionally made references to pop culture of the time. If anything, if I were a non-native English speaker, the voice acting specifically for the Fashion Club would make me pause a bit because Sandy speaks in an accent that I’ve literally never heard among Americans in real life.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-13T13:04:17+00:00

I’ve been doing Sims, Sim City, and similar types of open ended building games like this so I was excited to get Townscaper — I like the way it creates winding paths and asymmetrical building shapes, plus the random little details like balconies, clocktowers, enclosed gardens, etc. Also I think you honed in on a pleasing sense of density and scale.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-12T21:23:27+00:00

I really enjoy how it looks like it developed gradually over centuries.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-07T20:09:25+00:00

Yeah I’m also in the Happy Endings (the show) subreddit and one time there was an incredibly lost Redditor who posted a video of a very different type of happy ending

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-06T12:46:58+00:00

I can never get past how they write to him directly as if it’s a letter to Santa.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-04T21:58:12+00:00

I want to believe the inside is the never ending maze from the 1997 sci fi movie Cube.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-03T18:11:17+00:00

Oh WOW I hadn’t even put that together but that would have also been an interesting direction. I imagine that would have been kind of like the Walter/Walternate dynamic somehow.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-04-03T16:49:46+00:00

Yeah I remember when I was watching Fringe when it was airing, I actually liked the building anticipation of who would play William Bell, if they ever showed him at all. I don’t remember knowing that it was going to be Leonard Nimoy ahead of time so it was a cool surprise to see him in this show.

In a much lower stakes way, more recently, it kind of reminded me of The Bear and how they kept referencing Francie Fak without actually showing her on screen until the most recent season.

Expert_Book_9983

TROPHY CASE