Happy pumpkin spice latte season! We like season changes, because it means we get to record our seasonal vibe check episodes. A couple of weeks ago out of a burst of productivity we shipped a survey to get to know yall better, which includes an AMA section where we collected all of your simmering questions. We had so much fun reading the responses (keep’em coming!!), and decided to break out the mailbox for an AMA episode! The survey will stay open, we read every entry religiously, so consider that a way to let us know about your questions, concerns, thoughts, anything you would like us to know. You can also email us at cyberpinkfm@gmail.com.
Apart from the podcast, we have set up an official account on Xiaohongshu. We will periodically post content such as “CyberPink Reading,” “CyberPink Watching,” “CyberPink Traveling,” “CyberPink Vlog,” and more. Those are lighter, more fun and more experimental stuff about our lives. Leave us some comments on Xiaohongshu!
In preparing this episode, my mind kept going back to a print by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya – The Dream of Reason Produces Monsters. Its themes resonate eerily with the moral complexities of Oppenheimer – a man haunted by the monster he dreamed into reality. When ChatGPT went live earlier this year, many people started asking – does humanity face another Oppenheimer moment? Did we unleash another monster? – and many others started to find that question itself distracting, or even dangerous.
As we delve into the second installment of our conversation on Oppenheimer, this episode also shines a spotlight on Qian Xuesen's life, drawing parallels with Oppenheimer's own story. We probe the ethical issues arising from the dichotomy between scientific openness and national allegiance, and unpack the burgeoning anxiety around an so-called AI apocalypse.
Apart from the podcast, we have set up an official account on Xiaohongshu. We will periodically post content such as “CyberPink Reading,” “CyberPink Watching,” “CyberPink Traveling,” “CyberPink Vlog,” and more. Those are lighter, more fun and more experimental stuff about our lives. Leave us some comments on Xiaohongshu!
How do you even begin to tell the story of the Atomic bomb, when humanity split the atom out of wartime desperation, and finally created the ability to destroy ourselves? For eight decades, we've lived in its looming shadow, a tool of annihilation that has redefined global geopolitics and provoked existential inquiries that span generations. It takes a filmmaker like Christopher Nolan to project it onto the grand canvas of a 70mm IMAX screen. Enter 'Oppenheimer,' this summer's epic blockbuster.
To discuss the film, two former physicists - Zhao Zhichen, a former theoretical physicist, and Cheng Yangyang, an experimental particle physicist - engaged in a two-hour conversation to unpack the summer epic blockbuster Oppenheimer. In the first part, we reflect on the narrative choices and visual language of the film, uncovering many overlooked figures in nuclear history - indigenous peoples, women, colonized nations and citizens, victims of the bomb. We also explore how their backgrounds in nuclear physics inform their unique perspectives on this memorable cinematic experience.
Apart from the podcast, we have set up an official account on Xiaohongshu. We will periodically post content such as “CyberPink Reading,” “CyberPink Watching,” “CyberPink Traveling,” “CyberPink Vlog,” and more. Those are lighter, more fun and more experimental stuff about our lives. Leave us some comments on Xiaohongshu!
From the moment acclaimed feminist filmmaker Greta Gerwig took the helm of this project, the CyberPink team has intuited that this film would resonate deeply with us—as women content creators peering into pop culture. Barbie is the movie we need right now—one destined to be made, seen, and discussed by a new generation of women who experienced this cultural icon in our own ways. Its central themes echo our longtime theses: gender power dynamics, women’s role in society, the conflicts we grapple with, and paths to self-actualization.
Through clever satire of patriarchal tropes, raw disappointment with the real world, surprisingly sharp critiques of the tensions women face, and an arc of personal awakening, Barbie reflects our collective zig-zagging journey.
For us, watching Barbie is a communal experience, spanning a spectrum from playful reverie to solemn rumination.
On the opening day, we reveled in the gleeful pink fever dream of Barbie. Then came endless rehashing of plotlines, contextual research, reviews, introspection, and of course, culminating in this podcast episode that unpacks it all. This pink storm led to an epic 2-and-half-hour recording session. The film resonates as both a cultural touchstone and an opportunity for personal reflections —an instant classic to savor alone and together.
Apart from the podcast, we have set up an official account on Xiaohongshu. We will periodically post content such as “CyberPink Reading,” “CyberPink Watching,” “CyberPink Traveling,” “CyberPink Vlog,” and more. Those are lighter, lighter, more fun and more experimental stuff about our lives. Leave us some comments on Xiaohongshu!
In this episode, we talk about a very under-explored topic in pop culture -- sex (lol) We reminisce about the pop culture characters from childhood that sparked our sexual awakening. We critique the controversial HBO series "The Idol" for its terrible portrayals of desirability and sex. We also discuss recent shows praised for their positive depictions of female sexuality, encouraging women to embrace their own wants and needs.
A note from CyberPink - our perspectives come from personal experiences as cis heterosexual women, which come with inherent limitations.
This episode is sponsored by the female sexual wellness brand OSUGA. Tune in to hear our thoughts on their sex toy "Rabbit Moon"!
01:50 We rave about the advanced new product "Rabbit Moon" and enthusiastically (maybe too much) introduce product details and real user experiences (we talked for a full 10 minutes!)
10:08 Cyberpink’s sexual awakenings from movies and TV shows - twisted female sexual subjects in mainland Chinese media vs alluring female characters in Hong Kong & Taiwanese media
14:10 Sexual repression in the Disney version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame": sexual power can transform into darkness and destruction
17:25 Two generations of women's tragedies in "Romance in the Rain", and mundane sex on screen
21:27 Forbidden and cross-class sex in "Atonement"
25:40 Women still don’t know how to express sexual needs
28:20 HBO's "The Idol" and its terrible portrayals of the female body and sexuality
42:20 The positive sexual ethos in Netflix's "Never Have I Ever"
49:17 Asian sex icons and inspirations during Pride Month
"Past Lives" is the first feature film by director Celine Song. The movie tells the story of Nora (played by Greta Lee) reuniting with her childhood sweetheart Hae Sung (played by Teo Yoo) after 20 years in New York. But by now, Nora has formed a family with Arthur (played by John Magaro) and is chasing her dream to be a successful playwright. It's the best original scripted film we've seen this year, and it provokes some soul-searching and reflections on our own past life stages. The heroine Nora is like a close friend of ours. Her leaving, staying, pursuit of dreams, and determination to control her own fate remind us of our own paths to our current life.
Movie and TV writers started a prolonged strike led by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in early May, demanding better revenue share from the studios and protection from the threat of artificial intelligence. The strike has resulted in the suspension of multiple talk shows, some of our favorite late-night shows, and delayed production of many drama series.
In this episode of CyberPink, we talk about the reasons behind this strike, and how streaming and the era of prestige TV changed the industry's revenue structure. We interviewed director and writer Maegan Houang, who is a strike captain at WGA, about why she decided to start the strike and what she thinks the studios need to do. The points she made (the interview was in English) were relayed and incorporated throughout the episodes.
Alas, it is over. The fight for the throne of media conglomerate Waystar Royco has settled. The king, Logan Roy, alongside his four hapless offsprings, have finally taken their bow. The show launched during the peak of the Trump era and ended as the U.S. smolders in the aftermath of a pandemic. Every form of power that is inherent to our era — patriarchy, money, politics — has been laid bare, scrutinized, taken apart on the screenwriter's operation table. Our perceptions of power structures might have been irrevocably reshaped by this show, in ways we cannot quite put into words yet. But still, we try in this episode:
"Brush up Life" is a Japanese comedy about Kondo Asami, who discovers that she can go back to being a baby and relive her life after dying in an accident at 33. After experiencing five reincarnations, she gradually realizes the meaning of her rebirth and ultimately returns to her hometown to live out her days with her childhood friends. The screenwriter, BakaRhythm, uses a light touch to discuss the grand theme of life and death, outlining a world that allows us to feel such a strong emotional resonance with the characters despite being from different backgrounds. The protagonist in the story has a sense of certainty about who she is and a relaxed attitude toward conventional success. Her hometown is depicted as a utopian community opposite from our atomized society. The brilliance of this drama lies in its gentle reminder of the unreasonable way we refuse to accept that death could come at any moment in life, as well as our obsession with being extraordinary.
In the realm of popular culture, the female body appears to be infinitely malleable: social media promises that with discipline and luck, any desired physique is within reach. But in reality, our relationship with food often twists into a painful knot. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors evolved an insatiable craving for sugar and fat; in mere decades, the modern food industry has made these indulgences effortlessly accessible, incessantly tempting our willpower at every turn. Recently, a new drug called Ozempic — the key to the Kardashian-esque metamorphosis from silicon-injected peaches to sinny Barbies — has ignited a fervent debate in America. Does obesity signify a weakness of will? In a world where the body remains commodified, how should we perceive the seductive allure of Ozempic's promise of effortless slimming? Is fat bias systemic and how do we fight against it?
In this episode, we are talking about A24's latest hit show "Beef," how it serves up Asian American fury, discuss intergenerational trauma, power dynamic and class differences within a marriage, and the limitation of therapy. We also discuss the controversy over David Choe, who plays Issac in the show.
本节目有关于性的提及,请酌情收听。This episode is explicit in every way. Please listen with caution.
We have many words to describe this diasporic state of leaving the Chinese-language world and Chinese-language identity behind, gradually dissolving into the identity of a world citizen. In 2023, Chinese pop culture refers to this state as "run" -- running away from one's homeland, running back into the embrace of the mother tongue, constantly on the go and wondering where is home. Leaving home doesn't mean all your troubles cease to exist. For creators, leaving behind the world of one's mother tongue often means the need to find a new language to express themselves fully. What language should I use? Who's my audience, now that I myself am caught between worlds? How should I lean into this new identity of a displaced person who's now a part of the diaspora community, and find a new language?
We are obsessed with the video game adaptation TV series by HBO, The Last of Us, and invited our old friend Sophia (screenwriter) to join us in diving into the details of this well-made show. Love is a major theme of the show -- but does it conquer all? Does it forgive all faults? Does the end justify the means? Tune in to find out.
Major spoiler alert, we will be discussing several episodes and the ending as well, so this is your reminder to watch the show if you haven't, or be prepared to find out what (controversy) happens at the end.
"Everything Everywhere All At Once" swept the 95th Academy Awards last week. In this episode, we break down the universal themes behind the movie, why it's considered a zeitgeist of our times, as well as the career trajectory of Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh. We also briefly discuss other Oscars frontrunner nominees, and why we haven't watched most of them.
020 | 「白莲花度假村」:出淤泥而全染的人间群像 "The White Lotus 2": a scan of reality
Mar 19, 2023
本期节目由大人糖赞助播出
【聊了什么The What】
「白莲花度假村」 White Lotus 2是今年呼声最大的剧集之一,引发了无数中英文关于人性幽微、性与权力、表演性女权主义者等等问题的思考和讨论。这次我们和神交很久的好朋友Hayami聊了这部剧集。
White Lotus 2 is one of the most popular dramas of the year, sparking countless think pieces and discussions in both English and Chinese about class, about the nuanced power dynamics in relationships, sex and desire. In this episode, we invited our friend Hayami to talk about how the series was received in China and the U.S.
I asked ChatGPTto draft me a few questions to OpenAI in the style of Leung Man-tao, and it responded with - "In the face of a rapidly changing era, how do we adapt to these changes while maintaining humanity's uniqueness and authenticity? And how do we deal with the changes brought about by AI technology?"
I like this question. Perhaps you are already feeling the revolutionary changes AI might bring in our lives, an equally exciting and unsettling era to be in. In this episode, we talked to a researcher, a founder and a journalist about the inspiration, impact, and reflections that AI has brought us over the past year.
【时间轴 The When】
02:00 给大家表演一个分角色朗读课文 Kevin Roose and his mid-night chat with “Sydney”
13:44 我们生活中在如何使用GPT:找选题,产品文档,搞艺术 How we use GPT in our daily lives: brainstorming, writing product documents, creating art.
28:30 AI为什么会“瞎编”、为什么用户可以很容易的玩坏GPT Why does AI "make up" things, and why can users easily manipulate GPT?
40:13 为什么大型语言模型会展示出某种价值观?AI的价值观会反过来影响人类吗?Why do large language models exhibit certain values and ideologies? Will the values of AI in turn affect humans?
52:30 我们会把记者、医生、律师甚至统治国家都交给AI吗?Will we entrust reporters, doctors, lawyers, or even governing nations to AI?
We discussed our new favorite Star Wars show: Andor. As the prequel to Rouge one, Andor focuses on Cassian Andor and his life living under the rule of the Empire. Star Wars knowledge is not required to thoroughly enjoy the latest installment (and the most grown-up) in the ever-expanding universe of Star Wars IP.
【时间轴 The When】
00:00: 剧情简介 Brief overview of the show
02:12 安多是如何走上革命之路 How Cassian Andor became a rebel
The first season of HBO's blockbuster series "The House of Dragons" ended. Based on George R. R. Martin's "Blood and Fire," "House of Dragons" is set 200 years before the events of "Game of Thrones" and focuses on the Targaryen family and the civil war known as "The Dance of the Dragons."
Under the shadow of "Game of Thrones," "House of Dragons" has become a deservedly big cultural phenomenon in 2022. In the palace of Westeros, the interaction between the women of the Targaryen family and the power constitutes the main storyline of the show. In this episode, we discuss why the domestic sphere constitutes war and the epic.
“Tar” tells the story of Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchette), conductor of Berliner Philharmoniker, who fell from the height of the classical music industry after her inappropriate romantic involvement with a former student came to light. In this episode, we talk about the other side of “Me Too,” cancel culture and the very real sexism problems in classical music industry, and the central question of what is the relationship between Art and its creator.
We have now entered the months of fall, and before Mariah Carey starts trending again to ring in the holiday season, we want to share with you a ~fall special~ where we dive into the juicest tea and share some of our favorite (or not so favorite things) this season.
This is a special “girls’ chat” episode with our friends from 不合时宜. In this episode, we try to deconstruct the myth of the muse and the lone genius in pop culture and reflect on how it affected us.
Jordan Peele's new sci-fi thriller-comedy western monster movie "Nope" really messed us up. Like Jordan Peele's previous works, it sparked so much discussion across the world. Some saw a tribute to Jaws, some saw a commentary on our relationship with nature, and some even saw a contemporary parable satirizing the entire image-generating content industry - so much packed into the cinematic spectacle enough for a three-credit film class. Since we won’t have your attention for an entire semester, here is the 50 minute version of our post film rant.
In this episode, we talk about contemporary work and derivative topics from the drama "Severance." In what Han Byung-Chul calls the "Burnout Society," the meaning of work is being redefined. The relationship between work and us is gradually being tested and revised.
11:53 What is the concept of compartmentalization? Why does the brain need to be alerted to separation? How does the aesthetics of the show manipulate people's emotions?
19:00 Post-2008, the zeitgeist shift has led us to remove meaning from our jobs
30:38 Why is it that "the richer you are, the busier you are"?
31:40 America wakes up early, China doesn't sleep - China and the U.S. are increasingly burned out after leaving the welfare state
38:30 Lumon: The extreme metaphor of corporate culture becoming a religion
48:18 What is a "dirty job"? Why is it so hard to find people to do "dirty job" in the capitalist labor market?
Good Luck, Leo Grande is a recent dramedy from the UK, which tells the story of Nancy, a widowed retired teacher who hired a male sex worker named Leo Grande to help her achieve the first orgasm of her life. In this episode, Xiaolan, Xiaoyang and Yifang, three hetero, cis women talk about our anexiety related to sex, the difference between sex and intimacy, what shaped our imagination of sex and why the film should not be seen as an accurate nor comprehensive depiction of the experience of being a sex worker.
From the Academy Award Best Picture “CODA” to horror blockbuster "A Quiet Place", and to Marvel's introduction of its first deaf superhero Makkari, are we catching a tide shift of deaf representation on the big screen? In this episode, we tried to unpack the disability narrative in Chinese popular culture with our two guests - special education teacher Yiru Chen, and PhD candidate on disability law Renci Xie, highlighting ableism in those tropes, and attempted to imagine a version of pop culture that includes and elevates those disadvantaged.
Summer is here again.
The girls finally met in New York and gathered under the same roof. Sitting in a room with a few microphones in front, we feel the summer permeates in the air. What kind of conversation will be sparked out? This special vibe-checking episode is a tribute to this summer and our friendship. Cheers.
在英文写作中,在非虚构故事中,二代移民 VS 中国本土视角有怎样的冲突?故土和历史的距离赋予了许多华裔作家自由创作的权力,但同时他们仿佛拥有看起来很刺眼的特权。英文环境下长大的人能否准确地刻画对于在中国长大,生活的人,和人们真实经历的生活?以及如果你是一个中国出生长大的作家,用英语写作是一种对思维和真实经历的折损吗?本期请来了我们的好朋友Rui Zhong(华人二代移民), Karoline Kan(用英语写作、常驻北京的中国记者)和Caiwei Chen(英文写作者、记者),让她们聊聊自己用英文书写的经历。
"Being foreign" is a harsh way to describe a group of people. And we are often referred to as "foreign guests". A large part of the reading we devour every day comes from this "foreign guest perspective". Many English writers, or Chinese people who write in English, would use a cold, alienated tone to portray a "real China." However, we sense China in a more vivid way.
The dichotomy of competing China narratives inspired this episode. In English writing, in non-fiction stories, what is the conflict between the perspectives of second-generation immigrants and Chinese natives? The distance between homeland and history has given many Chinese-American writers the power to create freely, but at the same time they seem to have privileges that some of us don't have. Can people who grew up in an English-speaking environment accurately describe China as a country and experience? And if you are a writer born and raised in China, is writing in English a compromise of your authentic thinking and wholeness?
In this episode, we invited our friends Rui Zhong, Karoline and Caiwei to talk about their experiences of writing in English.
Freedom from distraction - what a luxury. The chores of daily life piling like mountains of receipts; no longer able to depend on the shelter of family or school, all of a sudden you become the caretaker of your partner, your client, your teammates, you aging parents, and sometimes a small human being. The internet feeding us a constant stream of faraway sufferings and instant gratification, tearing at our already meager reservoir of attention, it is hard not to feel like we are living in a multiverse all the time. When we look back at my own mother, we are more and more amazed: How did you do that? Aren’t you some sort of multitasking superhero?
In this episode, we talked about the hit new Michelle Yeoh film "Everything Everywhere all at Once", and talked about:
How do you tell a coming-of-age story? As teenagers, we tell our friends stories that minimize our mothers’ roles in anticipation of our independence; mothers, in turn, exchange stories about their meticulous planning and their level of insight on the children’s growth. In the end of the day, we like telling stories about our own growth, our own control and independence, and a child’s coming of age is equally a story of growth and discovery for the mother. “Turning Red” is a story about a girl and her mother’s growth as she comes of age, their miscommunicated heart-to-hearts, and their parallels of evolving womanhood. In honor of this parallel, we brought two daughters and two mothers into this conversation about womanhood and motherhood.
Back in 1996, John Barrow declared in the Cyberspace Declaration of Independence: "Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.” Twenty-six years later, our screentime racks up to 18 hours of screen time a day; Twitter and Weibo doomscrolling competes with Slack notifications, TikTok challenges, the glamorous Instagram life and countless products vying for our attention and our time.
We can’t help but wonder: Is this version of the internet something we should simple accept?
Recently, the framework of Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 as a way of describing the progression of the internet dominated the conversation. This episode is the musing of four burntout female tech workers, as we look back on the promise of freedom and collaboration of Web1.0, and the prevalence of surveillance capitalism in Web 2.0. We also talked about our hopes and dreams and reservations on this new version of the internet.
We talked about -
1:10 Our lived experience of the Internet history
9:38 How did the internet end up this way?
12:08 Our first decentralized experience: Wikipedia, Linux
14:31 What are we talking about when we are talking about Web1.0
30:00 Web2.0’s cannibalistic profit model, and what is real anyways
This episode is a special program for International Women's Day, co-hosted with Alexwood from “Be a Dodo”. This is also a part of a Weibo campaign for #看见真女人# (seeing real women) -- through a series of videos, podcasts, and articles, we show the world what real women really look like in life, and reflect on society’s unrealistic standards imposed on women.
We chose a tricky angle to explore the concept of real women, but looking at the story of several “fake women”: Song Ji A from Netflix’s hottest show, “Singles Inferno; disgraced former Silicon Valley darling Elizabeth Holmes, portrayed by Amanda Seyfried for Hulu’s “The Dropout”; and the fake socialite Anna Delvey who recently is the protagonist of Netflix’s “Inventing Anna”. What can they teach us about faking it? The images of these "fake women" themselves embody the standards and expectations of society for the "ideal women", and if we analyze these images of women, we will understand why it is so difficult for us to truly be ourselves, or "real women".
9:40 our first example: Song Ji A, from Netflix’s “Single’s Inferno”
33:42 our second example: Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO of Theranos, the legend of Silicon Valley, currently found guilty of fraud
44:52 our third example: Anna Delvey, former NYC socialite and fake German heiress
1:03:25 women are always suggested to “fake it till we make it”, but why? Perhaps women have to “fake it” to adjust for gender inequality, rigid socioeconomic classes, and polarizing wealth disparity
1:10:23 the public loves creating new idols, and then subjecting these man-made idols to impossible standards and accusing them of “failing” the people. Why is that?
1:17:48 Do we all have a fake woman in our hearts? How do we deal with social media-driven body dysmorphia, mental health, and the filter-heavy online world?
Food is both an utterly public and intimate matter. Every decision you make around food is related to infinitely more topics: commercialism, labor, population mobility, sustainability, culture & history, and more. During the past two years of the pandemic, the sprawling diaspora that we are a part of has been forced to face their yearning for home heads on.
So we turn to the kitchen to heal our homesickness and cravings for hometown food, and gathered seven women here today to chat about food, the role it plays in our lives, and how it relates to our personal and cultural identities.
10:58 What to do while missing home during Chinese New Year? How to find a sense of home abroad? How our childhood and upbringing helped shape our memories of food
20:12 Politics and food, and the Asian supermarkets that have everything
26:25 Growing up in Northern China and how lack of resources instilled an instinct to save up food; on labor and food
What’s your impression of the Über-rich? Is it “my super power is rich'' superhero Bruce Wayne? Or reckless entrepreneur like Elon – we mean Iron Man Tony Stark? Or 4D-chess grandmaster Bobby Axelrod of Billions? Or like us, you realized after an orange man settled himself with his glamorous children in the White House — that rich people can be stupid, and are in despirate need of a psychiatrist.
Join us in this episode where we discuss HBO's hit series "Succession":
00:03:14 Deep-dive into the media industry the show is loosely based on
00:10:03 Classical literary references in “Succession”: Shakespeare, Greek Mythology and Palace Fights in Chinese TV
00:16:25 Shiv and her Schrödinger’s feminism: is it fake or sincere?
00:24:30 Kendall and the fragile and privileged elitist struggle of the firstborn
00:33:40 Tom and the unspeakable pain of being caught between sex and class
00:39:35 For narcissists, shame and anger are two sides of the same coin
00:49:00 Corporate lingo 101 and discussion on meritocracy
00:59:05 Shaky camera movement, deliberately inexplicable sets, off-tune soundtrack, and all the juicy details we will be marinating on for the next decade