

Escape From Plan A
Escape From Plan A
Escape From Plan A is an ongoing discussion of life and politics in America from the perspective of Asian people living here.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 12, 2026 • 1h 2min
Ep. 657: Asian American Perspective on the Killing of Renee Good (ft. Chris Jesu Lee)
Chris joins Teen to discuss whether the intra-racial gender and class tensions among Asian Americans as a group - much discussed on this podcast in the past - might shed light on the raging hostility and violence over the killing of Renee Good at the hands of federal agents.Part 1 of 2For access to bonus pods: patreon.com/planamag

Jan 4, 2026 • 1h 2min
Ep. 655: China Is 1980s America Redux (ft. Dalian Mike)
Mike (@meow_meow_2020) joins Teen from Dalian to talk about moving to Northeastern China, whether China is liberalizing, is Xi Jinping the Chinese Ronald Reagan, and why China should be compared to the US as it exists today, but back at its Cold War peak in the mid-1980s.Part 1 of 2For access to pt. 2 and bonus episodes: patreon.com/planamag

Dec 23, 2025 • 56min
Ep. 651: Canned For Christmas (ft. Jess)
Teen talks to Jess about getting canned from a job for the last and final time. Why economic dependency is not the full story about our dependency on careerism. Why status and identity are so intertwined.Pt. 1 of 2For access to bonus pods: patreon.com/planamag

Dec 11, 2025 • 1h 4min
Ep. 647: Mortal Muffin (ft. Jess)
Teen and Jess discuss changing diet and other fundamental aspects of life as a matter of choice rather than 'willpower' and how a Mortal Kombat dance demonstration was mistaken for a bake sale. And more observations about careerism at the mid-lifespan point.Part 1 of 2For access to bonus pods: patreon.com/planamag

Nov 24, 2025 • 59min
Ep. 644: Rejection (ft. Chris Jesu Lee and The Professors)
Chris reunites with Plan A, along with resident professors Chong and Fred, to discuss Tony Thulathimutte's short story collection "Rejection", a tour of modern alienation, pathos, and terminal loneliness.Part 1 of 2For access to bonus episodes: patreon.com/planamagChris's review of 'Rejection' at his Substack: https://salieriredemption.substack.com/p/rejects-r-us(**link to private video of Chris's short story reading in the bonus**)

Nov 16, 2025 • 1h 2min
Ep. 642: Post Work (ft. Mike)
*Note, we have migrated off of SoundCloud, our new public webpage for EFPA episodes: https://rss.com/podcasts/escape-from-plan-a/Mike and Teen spend a Saturday evening looking back on our working decades, life after work, and the investment-over-work mindset.Part 1 of 2For part 2 and all bonus episodes: patreon.com/planamag

Nov 6, 2025 • 1h 8min
Ep. 640: Talking to an AI About Investing (ft. DeepSeek v3.2)
Teen continues his experiment with AI, to try and get a better understanding of what we're all actually talking to. This time, he talks about personal investment strategy, because it's involves both the empirical and subjective domain.Conclusion: You Got To Know When To Fold 'Em.Part 1 of 2For bonus episodes: patreon.com/planamag

Oct 28, 2025 • 1h 9min
Ep. 638: The Fancy Hobbies of Asian People (ft. Jess)
Jess and Teen talk about why fancy, high-skilled hobbies become more Asian as you climb higher on the skill and investment level. In the bonus section, they discuss the corollary of the Asian immigrant insistence on suffering and not living well.Part 1 of 2For bonus episodes: patreon.com/planamag

Oct 17, 2025 • 1h 9min
Ep. 636: The Risk of Ruin (ft. DeepSeek)
In an experimental podcast episode, Teen talks with the large language model DeepSeek-V3.2 to talk about the transgression and the professional managerial class, and why our view of it may be completely inverted. What does transgression actually mean within the constraints of a culture at once obsessed with virtuous perfection, and unvarnished degeneracy? And what is the nature of the dissociated, eternally discontent PMC subject?Part 1 of 2For Part 2: patreon.com/planamag

Oct 13, 2025 • 1h 6min
Ep. 634: American vs Asian vs European Cities (ft. Scott)
Back from a 5 month world tour, Twitter moot Scott (@alreadydawn, born in Taipei, raised in SoCal) talks with Teen about his world city rankings. What makes a city great (Osaka) versus loathsome (ahem LA)? And what exactly constitutes a city even?See Scott's city rankings at: alreadydawn.substack.comPart 1 of 2For Part 2 and access to bonus pods: patreon.com/planamag


