Agalia Tan

“People call romantic films ‘chick flicks’ as a way to diminish them, which I find unspeakably sad, not just for the way it excludes ‘chicks’ from the realm of ‘serious people,’ but also for the way it excludes ‘serious people’ from the realm of romance and love.

On TikTok or Instagram, you don’t truly control your relationship with the people who care about your work: the platforms do. They can take away those audiences at any time, or change something in the algorithm that prevents you from reaching them, or put things in front of them that you would never want them to see. Those places are great for find... See more

We lose the feeling that comes with a little mystery and a healthy amount of risk. When we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, you know what happens? We get to be surprised. Our anticipation builds in the not knowing – better get there early to figure out getting in, ask others if it’s their first time, scan a pamphlet for clues or read seat... See more

If you think someone is normal, you don’t know them very well. Normalcy is a fiction. Your job is to discover their weird genius.

my belief that everyone’s most difficult trait is tied to their most winning one, e.g. a flighty person might also be fun and whimsical, or a neurotic person might be thoughtful and curious, therefore in order to love them wholly you must appreciate all manifestations of their core being. Dualism, basically, and I’m not the first to say it, but I t... See more

I am aware that I shouldn’t judge how people try to escape the 9-to-5 grind. I am aware that a job’s purpose is money, not emotional enrichment. I know!

What I am instead arguing for is something more expansive. The thing you should work hard at is everything . Finding ways to imbue each moment with meaning and purpose and effort is the only path t... See more