Voxcali

 A Honoluiu drive-in started by a Korean father-son team has grown to 230 franchised locations across the globe. 

Before L&L was the largest Hawaiian BBQ chain, it was a small Honolulu drive-in called L&L Dairy that sold hamburgers and other island favorites. It was a local spot founded by a Korean man in 1952, Robert Lee who named the diner after himself and his son Robert Lee, Jr.

The diner was later sold to Filipino-Chinese businessman Eddie Flores, Jr. in 1976 who purchased it for his mother. He changed the name to L&L Drive Inn and since it already had a strong reputation for their filling lunch plates, Flores and his mother knew they would continue to build the name of L&L.

Flores brought in his partner Johnson Kam to help his mother run the business and the three of them worked the restaurant every day, building strong relationships with customers throughout the neighborhood. Their affordable meals blended Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, and Hawaiian influences into one satisfying plate.

By 1991 L&L’s success motivated Flores and Kam to make the decision to franchise their business as L&L Hawaiian Barbeque and in 1997, there were 30 locations throughout Hawaii serving popular dishes like Loco Mocos, Katsu Chicken, and Korean Beef Short Ribs. After noticing that Hawaiian-style lunch plates were becoming increasingly popular in San Francisco, Flores and Kam introduced L&L Hawaiian Barbeque to the U.S. mainland in the Puente Hills Mall in California.

This decision paid off as word spread quickly about the quality and deliciousness of Hawaiian lunch plates driving L&L to become well known for their BBQ mix plates, kalua pork, and spam musubi. Today there are over 200 locations across the United States, including stores in Virginia and Alaska. Internationally, L&L has 30 locations in the Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The company has been taken over by Flores’ daughter Elisia Flores who now acts as the current CEO and has shared plans to have 500 locations worldwide by 2032, keeping L&L Hawaiian Barbecue as the largest Hawaiian BBQ chain in the world.What began as a local drive-in has evolved into a global sensation, serving their customers with tasty food that feels straight off the island and with every lunch plate served, L&L will continue to bring a taste of Hawaii to the world.

Following a viral run on CBS’s The Road, Cody Hibbard is set to release a new single with John Daly on January 23rd.

Cody Hibbard is an independent country artist whose profile reached new heights in late 2025 following a standout appearance on the CBS competition show The Road.  His performance of his 2023 blue-collar anthem “We Speak Country” earned high praise from judges Blake Shelton and Keith Urban and is now his most popular song on YouTube.

Hibbard’s most streamed song “Dying Breed” hits key country themes of self-reliance, traditional values, and a tough work ethic.  The song was the lead on his 2020 premiere album Memory and a Dirt Road.

Of the same year “Armed & Dangerous” serves as a staple of his high-energy live sets.

From his 2021 self-titled EP “I’ve Been There Too” boasts a relatable honesty, blending the hardships of manual labor with the yearning of small-town life.

The release of his 2024 album Long Ride in a Short Bed helped garner further industry attention, ultimately securing his spot on The Road.

Hibbard was raised on an Oklahoma farm after being adopted from South Korea at 13 months old.  While on the road as a pipeline worker, a restaurant in Crocket, Texas spotted his talent and invited him to perform on upcoming shows prompting more songwriting that launched his music career. 

His next single features PGA legend John Daly is set to be released on January 23rd.

Hibbard’s authenticity and relatability have resonated with his growing fanbase.

After making history at the 93rd Academy Awards, filmmaker Chloé Zhao is back in the Oscar race with Hamnet.

Filmmaker Chloé Zhao has returned to the awards conversation with her film Hamnet, released in August 2025 to widespread critical acclaim.

Directed, edited, and written by Zhao, the adapted screenplay centers on Agnes, wife of William Shakespeare, as she struggles to overcome the loss of her only son Hamnet to the bubonic plague.

Prediction markets currently have the period drama listed as the second most likely film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, trailing only behind One Battle After Another. 

She reached a historic peak with the 2020 indie masterpiece Nomadland – which she also wrote, edited and co-produced.  The film swept the 93rd Academy Awards winning Best Picture and Best Director, making Zhao the first woman of color to achieve the feat.  Nomadland grossed nearly $40 million worldwide, a significant return for its modest $5 million budget.

Following her Oscar success Zhao transitioned to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021 with Eternals.  She directed and co-wrote the cosmic epic, which earned $402 million at the global box office.

In 2017 Zhao released The Rider, a contemporary Western which has scored an astronomical 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.  It won the Art Cinema Award at Cannes.

Zhao’s first feature was Songs My Brothers Taught Me which debuted at Sundance in 2015.  It was developed over several years while she lived on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.  The film served as her feature thesis as an MFA student at NYU from which she graduated in 2014.

The 43-year-old was born in Beijing and raised there until 15 when she attended boarding school in London before finishing high school in Los Angeles.  She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 2005 with a bachelor’s in political science.

Meet the AAPI athletes who will be representing Team USA on the biggest winter sports stage.

The 2026 Winter Olympics are just around the corner and Team USA is stacked with AAPI athletes that are ready to represent the growing impact of Asian Americans on one of the biggest sports stages in the world.

Alysa Liu is the youngest AAPI athlete competing on the team. At just 20 years old, Liu will return to the winter games with more record-setting jumps in women’s figure skating after announcing her retirement in 2022.

Also representing the U.S. in figure skating is Chinese American pair skater Ellie Kam, half Japanese figure skater Spencer Akira Howe, and Chinese-Taiwanese American Emily Chan. Kam will be entering her first Winter Olympics, and Howe will skate pairs with Chan who has been his partner for 4 years. Chan has been skating for over 14 years and has won multiple medals worldwide, bringing international experience to Team USA.

In short track speed skating, Brandon Kim, Eunice Lee, and Andrew Heo are representing AAPI excellence on ice. Lee was raised between the United States and South Korea and recently won a silver medal at the World Speed Skating Championships, while Stanford student, Kim, took the past year off in order to train for this year's Olympics. This will be Heo’s second time competing for Team USA, building his resume of world championship success.

Next we have Taiwanese-born sled hockey player Jen Lee. He is a U.S. Army veteran who had his left leg amputated above the knee after a motorcycle accident in 2009. Lee did not let his accident stop him as he became a three time Paralympic gold medalist in sled hockey. This year he will bring leadership to the team and continue decorating his career while representing the United States.

Madison Chock is getting ready to participate in her fourth Olympics as one of the country’s most talented ice dancers. She is known for her artistry and consistency on the ice and this year she will continue to prove exactly why she and her skate partner and husband, Evan Bates are one of the best ice dancing duos on the world stage.

And finally, Chloe Kim, two time Olympic gold medalist will be returning to the Winter Games. Just a few weeks ago she had suffered a shoulder injury while training in Switzerland, but has been officially cleared to hit the slopes at this year’s snowboarding competition.

Milano Cortina will be taking place from February 6th through the 22nd and these AAPI athletes are redefining visibility for our community on a global scale, highlighting the growing influence of Asian athletes in elite sports.

In Part I of our exclusive interview, actor Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, House) talks "most challenging" roles he's played and one that he'd give a hard pass to.

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Kal Penn (01:14)

So playing both of those things was like, it was a stretch. Loved it. So on the one hand, it's like, okay, what's the biggest departure from who I am in real life? That's the kind of thing I want to play. But then on the flip side, and you know this about me, I'm a huge astronomy nerd. So I've kind of always wanted to play an astronaut who like, but who actually gets to go to space. Yeah.

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So I was caught off guard when it became this like massive news story. "Kal Penn is taking a sabbatical from acting to go work in the Obama White House." And because it became a news story, my agent at the time apparently got like 50 phone calls with straight offers for big movies that were like, well, if Kal can just defer nine months, we'd love to offer him this huge part in this massive blockbuster that we're doing. And I told him to never tell me what those were because I couldn't do it. Like I couldn't say,

All of which, by the way, in retrospect, yes, you could have. You could have waited nine months to go work in government. You should have done that movie, whatever those movies were, like do as many of those things as you can and then go serve your country. So it's not to say I have regrets, I obviously don't, but whatever the ones that were that got away, I don't know their names.

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I saw an AI video recently that depicts

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Japanese choreographer Akane brought twenty women together to create Avantgardey, a Butoh-inspired dance group bringing one of the most unforgettable acts to America. 

This is Avantgardey, a surreal dance group that took over our TVs and became an internet sensation with pure performance art.

Avantgardey was formed in 2022 by Japanese producer and choreographer Akane, who is popular in Japan for the creativity within her viral dance work. The aesthetic of this dance group is nothing like the world has seen before. Avantgardey stays mysterious with identical bob-cut wigs and school-uniform outfits that highlight the group’s small movements and facial expressions.

Twenty women make up Avantgardey, each chosen from Akane’s wide network of dancers. Not only is this group demonstrating unbelievable choreography skills, but also a true artistic performance. The perfect synchronization, exaggerated looks, and unexpected humour makes their dances mesmerizing, but also uncanny.

Avantgardey became known internationally after performing with world-renowned DJ, Steve Aoki in January 2023 and that same year, they exploded onto U.S. television screens with an immaculate appearance on season 18 of America’s Got Talent. Their audition routine involved a synchronized dance to Hiromi Iwasaki’s “Cinderella Honeymoon”, leading all four judges to vote “Yes” which sent them to the next round.

The group eventually made it to the semi-finals where they were eliminated, but brought back by judge, Howie Mandel, as the season’s wild card. Avantgardey finished their America’s Got Talent run in the bottom six of the Top 11 performances, but their segments generated some of the show’s highest engagement.

As Avantgardey continued to win over the judges and the crowd throughout the season, videos of their performances were earning millions of views online, increasing their global momentum. The group appeared in many cultural showcases, including the Korea-Japan festival, where their impact goes much deeper. Avantgardey reimagines elements of Butoh, a Japanese dance style that emerged in the 1950s, characterized by slow, hyper-controlled movements, white body paint, and distorted facial expressions.

The shine that Avantgardey has been given signals a new shift in global performances, one where Asian artistry can be celebrated. From Japan to one of America’s biggest stages, Avantgardey has shown that audiences love entertainment that is uncanny but hard to look away from.

Tatsuya Imai fans the flames of the Astros-Dodgers rivalry by joining Houston with a clear mission to dismantle the superteam he refused to join.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have become a natural home for Japanese superstars, but pitching sensation Tatsuya Imai isn't looking to join the superteam — he’s looking to dismantle it.   Asked about the prospect of playing alongside compatriots Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki, Imai’s response was ice-cold: “I’d rather take them down.”

If that provocative stance didn't incite Dodgers Nation, his landing spot certainly will.  

The Houston Astros started off 2026 by signing Imai to a 3-year $54 million deal.  While he’s a Dodgers supervillain, he’s primed to be a fan favorite in Houston.  Imai’s opening press conference included him reading a prepared statement in English and throwing up the “H” several times.  He was spotted doing the same the day before at the Texans’ game and that night at the Rockets’ game.

Under the posting agreement Houston will pay a transfer fee over $9 million to Imai’s NPB ballclub the Saitama Seibu Lions.

This past season the 27-year-old was dominant on the mound with a 1.92 ERA and 178 strikeouts.  Standing 5-11 Imai dealt 5 complete games including 3 shutouts — answering any questions about his durability.

The 3-time All-Star was lethal in his 8 seasons, averaging 8.5 strikeouts per 9 innings.

Imai is pegged to join Houston’s starting rotation and help it return to the postseason after its eight-year streak came to an end. 

The first half of the Astros’ 2026 schedule includes a 3-game homestand versus the Dodgers.  Should he take the mound at Daikin Park, all eyes will be on the rookie as he’s clearly ready to take the heat as well as bring it.

With his 2.0 dating profile an Asian American single man launches his quest for a lady with ambition, intelligent media consumption habits and a sincere love of the active life.

Tom Kagy (00:01)

Recently, while I was speaking with Victor, I learned that he had recently become single and that he's embarked on an online dating journey. So being opportunistic, I figured this would make a great podcast topic and invited Victor to share some of his experiences. Welcome, Victor.

Victor (00:46)

Tom Kagy (00:49)

be the subject of your attentions through these online dating platforms. What are some of the qualifications that separate these women from the, I would estimate, maybe a half a million single young women across the LA metro area?

Victor (01:32)

Tom Kagy (01:42)

mean, you know, you must have some guidelines. I mean, you're not indiscriminately aiming to talk to every single one of these half million women, I'm assuming. So just, yeah, give us a little rundown of what qualifications you're focusing on.

Victor (01:52)

Like a job interview, that's funny. That's funny. Yeah, yeah, the job description, the job posting. Yeah, in general, I guess I, as far as like profile selection goes, right? Typically, I'm looking for somebody like physically active, likes, I would say sort of deeper.

Tom Kagy (02:01)

Victor (02:18)

Active lifestyle tend to like people that don't sort of just treat being active as like a chore that they have to do. I do value people that like…

going outside, being active, exploring things, having skills to develop. And then also, I guess, ambition, right? career, whether it be career goals or hobby goals, I find that it's attractive when people have things that they're working towards. So those are just a number of things that I'm looking for. Yeah.

Tom Kagy (03:15)

especially the first one. I I never really considered this. Of course, I haven't been single in a long time. the idea of focusing on the person's media consumption, know, like what type of media and how they consume it. Well, give me some examples like what what type of media consumption would get you all excited and hot and bothered with a person?

Victor (03:24)

Yeah, yeah, no that that's a that's a good one Yeah, because because it isn't really something that we talk about especially nowadays. We have so much media out there whether it's like through YouTube Netflix Apple TV, streaming service out there. There are there's a lot to consume now. So to me

It's a little bit easy just to kind of fall into the trap of just like, you know, consuming media just to consume it. So when I talk about like discerning media consumption, I mean, really being able to like, you know, in high school, right, everybody rolls their eyes as to reading a book that they kind of don't want to read, like The Great Gatsby. then like, you know, figuring out the symbolism between the bill, like of the billboard with the eyes of TJ Echolberg. Like everybody rolls their eyes.

when it comes to that, but personally I find this sort of like deeper analysis of media of stories to be really, really exciting. And it shows, to me it shows somebody that's engaged in what they're consuming, right? Because there's just somebody that, you know, will just be sitting on their phone and then just like, you know, scrolling through like 10,000 reels a day and then not really getting anything out of it. Whereas…

what I value is the intentionality that comes in curating the media that you consume, right? Like if you have a movie that you really, really like, I like the idea of intentionally picking out a movie and then really taking the time to deconstruct it and…

see those component parts and how they work and then how you sort of internalize that, right? And to me this applies, I use a very vague and broad definition because to me I apply this sort of framework with any kind of media, right? You probably are thinking, I used a lot of like examples like Netflix, know, and movies and whatnot, but this…

can be any type of entertainment media, whether it is like books, television, movies, or video games, even animated works. do like, I think that they all have interesting stories to tell and

and I get excited when somebody has something that they're really fascinated with and that they've invested time into picking it apart. Like there are multiple like video game franchises that I'm interested in and I like to look at the symbolism behind certain things and it'd be nice to sort of share this ⁓ deeper media analysis with another person, yeah.

Tom Kagy (06:20)

about it, I guess that would actually make for a very convenient conversational topics on your first dates. So now, so I was thinking when you said that that you were being a bit of a snob and you had certain types of media in mind, but it sounds like what you really want is somebody who isn't mindlessly sitting in front of TikTok videos for a couple of hours.

Victor (06:28)

Yes, yes.

Tom Kagy (06:49)

that can talk intelligently about what they just got through consuming. OK. So it's a sort of a, I guess in a way, sort of an indirect IQ test, right? mean, is that how you see it? I mean, it doesn't sound as cold and snobby as an IQ test, but.

Victor (06:53)

Yeah. ⁓

Tom Kagy (07:11)

Victor (07:18)

Because because like, you know, psychological like psychologically matching is just as important. I mean, I'm sure that, you know, I don't I don't want to go into things like IQ, but I'm sure that you find yourself being able to relate better with people of certain educational backgrounds. Right. So, yeah, this this again is.

Tom Kagy (08:04)

Victor (08:08)

Tom Kagy (08:13)

right. I'm kind of getting it. I see that is sort of a convenient way to find people with whom you could at least have a couple of good conversations on your first date.

Victor (08:25)

we're going by, you know, these proxy measures, right? I did mention something about profile selection, right? This does show their ability to, you know, have a conversation, right? If you can develop these articulate thoughts, at least mentally, then, you know, in a conversation that should come out because it's really hard to… ⁓

Tom Kagy (08:50)

Victor (08:51)

Tom Kagy (08:56)

Victor (09:10)

I've matched with people and then on and you know when it moves to the texting stage they don't really they they flat out do not reply in complete sentences in a way that leads to fruitful conversation and then I reviewed their profile again and then I just went wait a second there's not a single complete sentence in this profile

Tom Kagy (09:59)

they were offering clues in their profile all along. You just didn't pick up on it. Okay. Well, by the same token, when you say you want somebody who's active, you, is that sort of a polite way of saying, I want somebody who's fit? Is that the kind of active you're talking about? Physically active? Okay. All right. Well, that's a clever strategy. I mean, you don't have to sound like a

Victor (10:02)

Yes.

Tom Kagy (10:24)

Victor (10:40)

Most of the time, yeah, if you are physically active, you should be, you know, relatively fit. That's what I've seen, yeah.

Tom Kagy (10:50)

not seeing people putting up like, you know, sort of inflated descriptions of their physical activities that don't really carry over to their daily habits.

Victor (11:02)

Tom Kagy (11:06)

Okay.

Okay, now what about the ambition part? I mean, are you, so is there not some limitations in that? mean, what I mean is like, somebody can be very ambitious, but that ambition may actually…

preclude them from having a meaningful relationship, for example. So are you like just indiscriminately turned on by people with a lot of ambition or are you kind of curating that for reasonable levels of ambition? if somebody wants to be a senator, is that a turn on or is that too much? mean, what is your measure of an appropriate amount of ambition?

Victor (11:46)

That is a very good question and I'm still personally trying to figure that out. Yeah. And honestly, it's really like a case by case basis, right? Because, there is, you do raise a good point about like what levels of ambition are acceptable, right? Or like what levels of ambition do like leaves room for

Tom Kagy (12:12)

Victor (12:31)

having a target put on, like indirectly being put on me does not really sound appealing, right? Because like not too long ago, know, Nancy Pelosi's husband, wasn't he assaulted? Yeah. Yeah, right, right.

Tom Kagy (12:59)

I'm just laughing at the fact that you immediately dredge up that to exemplify the possible downside of having an ambitious date.

Victor (13:16)

Tom Kagy (13:32)

Victor (13:41)

Clear, like if I were to scale it back, would say something like, you know, clear goals, right? And, you know, steps being taken towards those goals, right? Like a sort of like long-term planning type of mentality. Oh, sorry, I was just going to say like a sort of long, like I'm looking for more like long-term thinking.

Tom Kagy (13:49)

Or, okay, sorry, go ahead.

Right. So are you sure this is not just another example of you using kind of a sort of veiled alternate socially acceptable criterion and not saying, OK, I want somebody to be making a good income, be at a productive, financially productive job. mean, is that is this kind of a proxy for that or? OK.

Victor (14:30)

as you know, play like if we look at, you know, dating as a game, right? These are these are metrics that everybody is looking for without actually saying that they're looking for these metrics. So.

Tom Kagy (14:43)

Yeah, no,

I find it interesting that you have the, your strategy is to, you know, find proxies that are socially acceptable and may also reveal a little bit more than just, you know, how much money are they making or, you know, how, how, what is their BMI or what is their IQ, you know what mean? So yeah, I think it's a, it's a good strategy that you've come up with to focus on these as

Victor (15:05)

Yeah.

Tom Kagy (15:14)

Victor (15:18)

that do appeal, that do actually appeal to me, but obviously they do index towards other appealing traits, yeah.

Tom Kagy (15:27)

So those are kind of the non, I guess, sort of the subjective traits, if you will. But what about objective traits? I I understand you're what? Are you 30 now or are you 31 now? OK, 30. So what is your age range?

Victor (15:44)

Um, at the moment, between 20 to 30, though I feel like…

I feel like 25 is probably my preferred lowest threshold.

Tom Kagy (16:09)

Victor (16:23)

Tom Kagy (16:25)

Victor (16:27)

yeah, yeah. Not too long ago, I did a match up with somebody that was 38, and I asked a pretty innocuous question in the chat, and then she exploded at me. And it was a very, very unsettling, I will say.

Tom Kagy (16:54)

Victor (16:57)

really. simply asked them a very, very innocuous question because she had mentioned that she had a pretty catastrophic sports injury, which ⁓ made her quit her sport.

And out of concern, I simply inquired, have you pursued any other sports since? I understand that after experiencing a catastrophic injury, can be hard to.

you know, engage in sports, like engage in sports again, right? Because that's a very common thing. And she got very mad at me and then said I was insinuating that she was a fat slob by asking that question. those were the words she used, by the way. She said I was insinuating that she was fat and lazy when I just simply, you know, asked if she was still active after a catastrophic injury. And

Tom Kagy (17:32)

Victor (17:53)

somebody older is still on the app. I don't know that that

Tom Kagy (18:08)

this woman sounds like she was particularly insecure about maybe having put on a couple of pounds during her inactivity, you know, that might have been behind that. So, so you're not going to reconsider and adjust that. Okay, that's fine. I mean, this is your life.

Victor (18:12)

Yeah, I'll probably

reconsider and adjust that. At least for the short term, I was very scared.

Tom Kagy (18:30)

Victor (18:43)

Tom Kagy (18:49)

I guess you have a somewhat wider range than the average guy in the number, the kind of the height of the woman. Right. So all right. I can understand that. So what I'm curious now about is tell me, describe for me, you know, like, OK, you broke up with your girlfriend, Vicky, and that was what, three months ago or something? Oh, OK. So it's been a while.

Victor (18:57)

That was back in August,

Tom Kagy (19:19)

Victor (19:26)

At this rate, I don't really think that this is a good rate at meeting people because in between all my athletic endeavors and my work over here at Gold Sea, I'm not really seeing a lot of new faces every day.

Tom Kagy (20:05)

kind of did the numbers, you ran the numbers and decided that your likelihood of meeting someone that way is not high. Okay.

Victor (20:11)

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

I mean, admittedly, I did make a couple of new friends here and there, at the airport randomly. you know, being, again, being the statistician, it's like, I can't exactly rely on just random chance encounters, you know,

Tom Kagy (20:31)

Victor (20:41)

Tom Kagy (20:42)

what is the actual platform you first decided on and when did you start on that?

Victor (20:47)

Tom Kagy (21:03)

the way? Sorry to interrupt. Is that the biggest ⁓ dating app around now?

Victor (21:11)

Tom Kagy (21:16)

Okay. All right. yeah, take a, sorry.

Okay. So what's the differentiation between tinder and hinge?

Victor (21:35)

A bunch of people could have swiped right on you, but you know, depending on how the algorithm is feeling, they may never serve those profiles to you. So you could feasibly never find, find that match. And secondly, I guess I liked Hinge because the UI was a little better and it's a little bit more geared towards people looking for serious relationships. And I liked how, you know, it wasn't as…

information wasn't as obscured as it was on Tinder, but you know, there's still a lot of features and other information hidden behind paywalls and whatnot, so that's still a pain point with these apps.

Tom Kagy (22:40)

Victor (22:45)

Tom Kagy (23:08)

Victor (23:13)

I would say it's hard to say actually because the way Tinder structures its profiles, like the way you experience the other person's profile, it's very, how do I say this, like pictures first.

So all you really do, all you really see is just like a collection of photos. And that's kind of it. Whereas like at least on Hinge, you can kind of get a better sense of like who these people are because the way the profiles are set up, you can kind of see more information about each person you're looking to meet. I see things.

Tom Kagy (23:57)

this a function of, ⁓ you said that you weren't paying for Tinder. If you were paying for Tinder, would you have been able to see their profiles as well?

Victor (24:09)

Whereas Hinge, the way the user interface is designed, you encounter more secondary information through things like the prompts and their general biographical information, like their age, height, where they live, where they're based out of, et cetera, et cetera.

Tom Kagy (24:48)

Victor (24:48)

Tom Kagy (25:11)

So what are you experiencing with Hinge?

Victor (25:15)

Tom Kagy (25:29)

So, I mean, give me some sense of what frequency, what volume of, you know, matches and dates you're getting on Hinge.

Victor (25:40)

I want to say I've had four dates on Hinge and I've

a few more planned. ⁓

Tom Kagy (26:13)

that take to get to that point with hinge?

Victor (26:17)

Tom Kagy (26:21)

Victor (26:25)

Tom Kagy (26:33)

is it possible you didn't give it a fair shake? Maybe you could have paid for it and gotten better results. mean, any like doubts as to whether you left it prematurely?

Victor (26:45)

Tom Kagy (26:55)

Victor (26:57)

Tom Kagy (27:04)

Mm-hmm.

Victor (27:27)

That then made me go, okay, let's see what would happen if I switched to the premium plan. And it did work. I did. Yes.

Tom Kagy (27:56)

What do you mean by the premium plan? What are you paying a month and what are you getting?

Victor (28:05)

to say 20 matches within one week. ⁓

Tom Kagy (28:38)

Victor (28:40)

Tom Kagy (28:48)

you're saying 25 bucks per week or per month?

Victor (28:52)

Tom Kagy (28:54)

Are you

going to extend it now that you're seeing that it works or are you going to cruise on what you've already paid for?

Victor (29:09)

help my decision when I got it for the week was it was during the holidays when you know I had more downtime.

sort of engage in this little optimization experiment. yeah, yeah, yeah. The experiment was after, you know, after I was on free and then I saw that my profile was getting some interest.

Tom Kagy (29:36)

Victor (29:46)

do nothing for you. So the math is, you know, 10, like, you know, the marketing says, buy HingeX and get five times as many dates. And if you're getting zero, you know, five times zero is still zero. Right. So, and then in a way, you know, the math almost checks out because before HingeX, was like, I would schedule a couple dates and then people would flake. So it'd be sort of like, ⁓

Tom Kagy (30:21)

Victor (30:33)

Tom Kagy (30:40)

Victor (30:58)

Tom Kagy (31:17)

Victor (31:30)

Tom Kagy (31:35)

Victor (31:53)

if that makes sense. mean, obviously you still have to show off like your personality, but in a way, if we think about it to the job analogy, right? Like if you were applying to a job, won't say, you wouldn't say that, you know, I'm interested in pickleball. I'm interested in rock climbing or whatever. Like, you know, you're applying for a job. What you should highlight are your qualifications.

So to speak. then similarly in a dating profile, right? You may not necessarily want to go off on all your preferences, right? Like, you know, ⁓ I like long, long, like, I don't know. I like XYZ restaurant or whatever. You would try to spin that in a way that

includes or makes room for a partner, right? Like it's one thing to say, ⁓ I like beer, but then it's another thing to say, I like, I know these breweries and great places for beer tasting, right? See, the second way is a conversation opener and

Tom Kagy (33:12)

Victor (33:17)

Tom Kagy (33:30)

Victor (33:39)

So like I said earlier, it's one thing to say, I like beer. It's another thing to say, ask for beer recommendations or brewery recommendations, or saying that you know a place with like great happy hour, so to speak. Right.

Tom Kagy (34:09)

some of the bragging type of things that would help somebody? mean, is there a place for that in these profiles? Are you able to tell them that you're making a six figure income and that you graduated, that you have a master's from UCLA? I mean, are these the kind of things that you put in your profile or are you keeping them out of it?

Victor (34:30)

Those are things that are in my those are things that are definitely in my profile though things like the salary are implied and I guess this is a good way to segue into the game theoretics, right of Dating yeah, so

Tom Kagy (34:52)

Victor (34:57)

Tom Kagy (35:06)

Victor (35:19)

Tom Kagy (35:23)

Victor (35:29)

Tom Kagy (35:31)

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

Victor (35:53)

And it does sound very, very clinical, right? And it does make it seem like, where's the magic? But if you look at every single blanket, piece of advice when it comes to crafting your profile.

Everybody recommends something that indexes to one of these three things Right like having a full body shot and a full face shot that and also on action shots if you do a sport right or a hobby Right that indexes to genetics, right? Like if you're if you play sports, right if you're tall if you're athletic if you have a good-looking face or a body then and you show that off that indexes towards their genetics and people appeal to

that.

They say, ⁓ show yourself doing hobbies, right? Show yourself having fun, right? Like at a restaurant, like a candid photo of yourself, like at a nice trendy restaurant. Or better yet, like very common on Hinge is traveling pictures. That indicates towards resources, right? Like if you have a picture of yourself hanging out with your friends at a national park or like, you know, snowboarding, that indicates that that's an indicator

towards your resources because it shows, this person has the time and the money to go traveling, right? And then thirdly, status, right? People always say, you should have at least one or two group pictures where you are easily identifiable, right?

Tom Kagy (37:43)

Victor (37:55)

if you, but in this day and age, right, status just means like, do you have friends and do people like you? Which is why it's also important to have like group shots of you with your friends. So.

those are things to consider, Like to put the nail in the coffin on your question about like, know, indicating towards things like, you know, your income, right? You have to find these very socially acceptable and roundabout ways of indicating your income.

Tom Kagy (38:39)

Victor (38:51)

Tom Kagy (38:56)

But you can't put income.

Victor (39:03)

Tom Kagy (39:05)

Okay, I guess it would also be kind of crass.

Victor (39:28)

Tom Kagy (39:29)

But you don't want to do that. that the game theory you're talking about? You don't want to do things like that. Is that the point?

Victor (39:40)

Tom Kagy (39:57)

Okay. So, so when you did this transformation, you basically produced, reproduced, or produced your profile. What was the impact of that? I mean, did you see a before and after impact of changing it from, you know, just kind of your standard, you know, brainless, you know, fill in the blanks profile versus your highly produced profile?

Victor (40:23)

Tom Kagy (40:25)

Okay.

Okay. Yeah.

Victor (40:45)

Tom Kagy (40:50)

I mean, can you put a number on it? You are a statistician. What would be the multiple or whatever impact that that had on the response rate?

Victor (41:00)

Tom Kagy (41:04)

the quality of the, I mean, does that affect the quality of your respondents in any way? I did you notice any kind of difference in the quality of the people that were responding to you?

Victor (41:20)

Tom Kagy (41:42)

Victor (41:48)

Because, yeah, my profile is weird in the way that I don't get a lot of incoming likes on my profile, but I do get matches when I send likes to these women. So that's where it kind of, that's the part that's under my control, which is

being discerning about which profiles I decide to reach out to to express interest.

Tom Kagy (42:17)

on the back to get them to think that you're nice, desirable person. Okay.

Victor (42:24)

And then tapping and then, you know, tapping the right people. Like I said earlier about, you know, really critically thinking about the types of profiles that I am that I'm looking at, right? Like looking at how their ants, how they filled out their page and whether or not, you know, they can.

Tom Kagy (42:31)

Victor (42:46)

Tom Kagy (42:48)

What about in terms of ethnicity? you focused on specific ethnicities or is that not a factor or is that not even something that's legally permissible? I I have no idea what the role of that would be in a dating app.

Victor (43:02)

You can filter by ethnicity, yeah.

Tom Kagy (43:10)

Victor (43:13)

Tom Kagy (43:15)

Yep.

Right. So you've had a few dates. It sounds like you've had several dates now off of Hinge. You're expecting a few more from that one week. So tell us about the dates. mean, you know, I know you can't get, you don't want to get too personal. I understand. But tell us some things that you think might be instructive for other young single, you know, Asian American men out on the dating scene.

Victor (43:25)

Yeah.

Yeah, as far as like in the date.

One thing I will say is don't be afraid to walk away. That's something that I'm personally learning too. Like, don't put yourself in a situation where you have to be a doormat.

to the other person like, ⁓ I'm not getting a lot of matches. I have to impress this person. It's like, why? If you meet somebody and you don't like them or if they're just something off putting about them, don't be afraid just to put your foot down. That is.

Like one thing I will say, it's better to just, if a date is going poorly, like you just, you meet them and you really don't like them. It's okay to just like pack up and just leave.

Tom Kagy (44:35)

You mean just say thank you, good night, and just walk out?

Victor (44:39)

Tom Kagy (44:44)

how many of the dates that you've had, give us some sense of what the numbers are like. How many were bad dates, good dates, so-so dates?

Victor (44:56)

Tom Kagy (45:08)

Victor (45:12)

Right? Like do they ask things about you? Are they actually interested in things that you have to say? Because in the bad dates, I will say that the one of the off-putting elements was a sort of like lack of intellectual curiosity and like an abject non-responsiveness really. Like you would bring something up and then

they just would not say anything to it. That is a big thing. And then also, as some advice to people out there is be a good listener. Because after experiencing what it feels like to have somebody blatantly not listening to you, that is very, off-putting.

if you're speaking, if somebody speaks to you and you signal that you're not really listening, right? Or that you're just trying to say what you wanna say. Yeah.

Tom Kagy (46:25)

about the, I guess, sort of the catfishing effect? You're picking these people partially on their photos, right? So how accurate are the photos? Have you found there to be a lot of discrepancies?

Victor (46:38)

They're actually pretty accurate so far. Yeah, yeah. I mean, a couple of my dates actually look better in person than in their profile.

Tom Kagy (46:48)

Wow, okay, so they needed a photographer friend to do them a favor.

Victor (47:03)

Tom Kagy (47:06)

So, this has actually gone on much longer than I expected. but I do have one final question. What would be your advice to, based on your experience, what would be your advice to, you know, another single person on the online dating scene? What do you think is the most important thing or things that they can do to improve the experience?

Victor (47:13)

Okay, yeah, yeah, man, I'll try not to spiral into another hour here, but improving the experience

Tom Kagy (47:40)

Victor (47:43)

Tom Kagy (48:00)

Victor (48:02)

sometimes

jokes just won't land, right, without seeing you in person. Secondly, be just like a job interview, really. Like, you have to be confident about things that you've achieved or things that you're working on. Because I see a lot of people, like, have a habit, I guess, like, especially, you know, if we're talking about, like, Asians and culturally, right, we're brought up in a…

in households where it's like, you have to be humble. You have to be soft spoken, et cetera, et cetera. you can't brag, right? But unfortunately, that does come off as very meek and insecure, especially to strangers. And I see a lot of people that they do have things that are going for them. Like even with myself, like I have a lot of things that are going for me, but I like to, you know, downplay a lot of the things that I do.

but from a third person, it's like, these are actually really, really exciting things, but you have to actually sound like you're excited about them, because if you're not excited about yourself, then you can't really expect other people to be, because imagine you meet a stranger and then they're like,

a couple martial arts here and there. It's like, that's not appealing. You have to like, see, like, you have to write down your strengths and then you have to really, really sell them. Because if you're not selling yourself like that, other people are. And by comparison, you're not going, like, a person's not going to be impressed with like, how timid you are compared to somebody else who is more willing to sort of brag.

their accomplishments. So yeah, this comes down to being confident and finding ways to communicate and showcase that. And…

Tom Kagy (50:09)

Victor (50:10)

the profile as like an advertisement for yourself and sometimes that may mean you know inflate like like inflating a couple things or staging a couple things here and there.

Tom Kagy (50:51)

Victor (51:02)

Tom Kagy (51:14)

Victor (51:30)

This also kind of leads into the status thing that I talked about earlier. A common counterpoint I hear from a lot of people, especially online is they say, I don't take pictures well, or I don't have anybody to take these photos of me. And then what they don't realize is see, that's a problem, right? That's a problem. If you don't have a good enough friend that's willing just to grab your phone and just take a decent like

decent picture of you in like two to five minutes, then that's a problem. That sounds like you need to make friends, right? That sounds like, okay, you need to find a way to boost your status. third and fourth piece of advice, right, is don't forget to do things in real life.

Like, especially if you have the premium version of the app that allows you to have unlimited likes, right? It becomes very easy to treat the app as, this is a thing I have to do. This is like a job I have to do. You cannot neglect the things that you do in real life. Like, do your job, right? Still cultivate relationships in real life and…

have and cultivate things that you can talk about on the profile, but obviously don't just do things simply for the profile, right? Like don't just say, I'm going to start hiking and traveling just to look better on my hinge profile. Like legitimately do things that you enjoy, right? If you enjoy hiking with your friends, then…

hike with your friends. If you don't have friends to hike with, okay, then you have a bigger problem than finding a date on Hinge. You should go out and make friends. And ironically, when you kind of cultivate these things outside and then you take the time to better document and present them, then that is what leads to a stronger profile.

Tom Kagy (53:22)

Yeah, well, that is very good advice. Not that I'm wishing that you stay on the on the online dating apps for too long, but I think it might be very interesting to do a follow up with you in another, I don't know, a couple of months after you. So I assume that you right now you're only on hinge. Is that right?

Victor (53:52)

I have profiles on Bumble and Coffee Meets Bagel as per recommendations from friends, but being on all these apps is kind of overwhelming. Obviously, I still have operations duties.

Tom Kagy (54:06)

Right,

exactly. All right, well thank you very much, Victor. I think that's been very enlightening and interesting because it also tells me a little bit about the current state of our society, you know, and what young people are going through. So thank you and I look forward to a follow-up maybe in a couple of months. Hopefully by that time you'll have found a suitable mate, but if not, we can do more follow-ups.

Victor (54:17)

Yeah.

Of

Hahaha

for us.

Tom Kagy (54:39)

Building on its live-action success on Netflix, One Piece is bridging the gap between anime fandom and American sports culture at university campuses across the US.

The globally dominant Japanese anime franchise One Piece has announced a historic collaboration with men’s college basketball starting January 23rd, marking a bold expansion of its presence in American sports.  The “US Voyage” campaign spans 15 games across five major universities – Gonzaga, Houston, Illinois, Rutgers, and St. John’s – integrating the Straw Hat Pirates into the high-energy world of collegiate athletics.  

Participating universities will hold pre-game screenings of One Piece videos and feature halftime shows in which marching bands and cheer squads perform the series’ anthemic opening, “We Are!”

Created by Eiichiro Oda in 1997, One Piece is the best-selling manga series of all time, with over 500 million copies in circulation worldwide.  The franchise has seen accelerated growth in the U.S. recently following the success of Netflix’s 2023 live-action adaptation.

The college basketball collaboration provides large in-person audiences, national exposure, and access to young, culturally influential fans.  This also allows One Piece to reach beyond its core audience, further solidifying its appeal in the American mainstream in a space typically reserved for domestic brands.

The initiative builds on previous sports partnerships with the NBA, MLB, and NFL – most recently to promote its Christmas day games.  The aggressive marketing will continue in 2026 with a Nike collaboration featuring Devil Fruit-themed sneakers.

The schools were chosen for their strong basketball identities, with three Top 25 programs, geographic reach, and adaptable licensing policies.  The cohort also reflects a commitment to diversity, including four schools with Asians comprising over 15% of the student body.

Beyond marketing, this initiative signals a definitive shift in how western sports leagues view anime – no longer as a niche hobby, but as a shared cultural language – furthering the growing influence of Asian creators and culture in mainstream American life.

With 16 Grammies and six Diamond singles, the Filipino American is set to cement his legacy with his highly anticipated February release of The Romantic.

Global pop icon Bruno Mars has transformed the sound of modern music by bridging the gap between classic soul and contemporary radio.  As one of the best-selling artists in history, he holds the distinction of being the first artist in RIAA history to achieve six Diamond-certified singles.  Additionally, he was Spotify’s first artist to surpass 150 million monthly listeners.

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On January 9th he unveiled “I Just Might” the lead single for his upcoming February project, The Romantic – his first album in a decade.  The track is a nostalgic throwback, channeling 1970s revivalism that defined his 2016-era hits like “24K Magic.”

His timeless music fueled the pop airwaves in the 2010s with 20 singles and 3 albums released during the decade.

Following successful features on B.o.B’s “Nothin’ on You” and Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire”, Bruno Mars achieved massive recognition in 2010 with his solo debut ballad single “Just the Way You Are.”

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His third album 24K Magic fueled more commercial success with the number 1 hit “That’s What I Like” and the new jack swing single, “Finesse.”