Eric Sipple
@ericsipple.com
Author of BROKEN MAGIC, MIMESIS. Head of Engineering at Hey Jane. My brain is a beautiful rain of frogs. 🏳️⚧️ (they/them)
https://linktr.ee/saalon
https://linktr.ee/saalon
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Eric Sipple
@ericsipple.com
· Dec 9
The headline for the experience online that I cultivate is Cloud Yells At Old Man.
Agreed! So much of this comes down to, "Please, just have some damn fun with it!"
January 13, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Agreed! So much of this comes down to, "Please, just have some damn fun with it!"
I can believe it. So much of rote plotting is using the mechanics to stop things from happening or repeating beats or just otherwise keeping you trapped on the tracks and having no fun along the way, and I am not surprised to hear stuff for younger folks is even more rife with that.
January 13, 2026 at 3:52 PM
I can believe it. So much of rote plotting is using the mechanics to stop things from happening or repeating beats or just otherwise keeping you trapped on the tracks and having no fun along the way, and I am not surprised to hear stuff for younger folks is even more rife with that.
I haven't! It's on my list but I keep getting things I need to watch more urgently, I really want to see it though. Sounds great.
January 13, 2026 at 3:51 PM
I haven't! It's on my list but I keep getting things I need to watch more urgently, I really want to see it though. Sounds great.
The plot is gonna happen. The magic is in making it feel like it's happening of its own accord. If you force me to watch the monkey grinder turning the crank, I'm gonna be reminded that I've seen this performance five hundred times already.
January 13, 2026 at 3:47 PM
The plot is gonna happen. The magic is in making it feel like it's happening of its own accord. If you force me to watch the monkey grinder turning the crank, I'm gonna be reminded that I've seen this performance five hundred times already.
Nora Ephron was such a master because her worlds felt so alive. Under the hood, it was structurally every romcom ever, but her scripts knew that and let that stay under the hood. The joy was in the how it played out, the color around the story, the cast of characters, the vibes.
January 13, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Nora Ephron was such a master because her worlds felt so alive. Under the hood, it was structurally every romcom ever, but her scripts knew that and let that stay under the hood. The joy was in the how it played out, the color around the story, the cast of characters, the vibes.
There are no illusions about what beats a romcom is gonna it. We know the structure. We know it *so well*. And you can't actually break the structure too much without it no longer being a romcom, so you've gotta check *some* boxes. The game comes entirely down to how much life you put into it.
January 13, 2026 at 3:45 PM
There are no illusions about what beats a romcom is gonna it. We know the structure. We know it *so well*. And you can't actually break the structure too much without it no longer being a romcom, so you've gotta check *some* boxes. The game comes entirely down to how much life you put into it.
Something I really do just respond more and more poorly to is writing that anchors entirely on very basic plot mechanics, especially in the kind of stories where those plot mechanics primarily produce frustration and churn. It's why, despite my love of romcoms, so many late 90s ones were Bad To Me.
January 13, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Something I really do just respond more and more poorly to is writing that anchors entirely on very basic plot mechanics, especially in the kind of stories where those plot mechanics primarily produce frustration and churn. It's why, despite my love of romcoms, so many late 90s ones were Bad To Me.
(Did I just pitch gay cutting edge? I did didn’t I? Welp. That’s on brand.)
January 13, 2026 at 3:22 PM
(Did I just pitch gay cutting edge? I did didn’t I? Welp. That’s on brand.)
I’ve never seen this! Gotta watch it thank you.
January 13, 2026 at 3:21 PM
I’ve never seen this! Gotta watch it thank you.
Make them figure skaters where the problems are different and I’m all in though, probably!
January 13, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Make them figure skaters where the problems are different and I’m all in though, probably!
I really feel this and it wrong footed me coming in, too. I just… really didn’t want the big hot sexy gay show to be basically in a setting that forces the same kind of problems onto the romance that we were getting in the 80s and 90s. It’s probably not inaccurate, but it’s not what I want.
January 13, 2026 at 3:18 PM
I really feel this and it wrong footed me coming in, too. I just… really didn’t want the big hot sexy gay show to be basically in a setting that forces the same kind of problems onto the romance that we were getting in the 80s and 90s. It’s probably not inaccurate, but it’s not what I want.
I think if, subjectively, I'd keyed into some kind of chemistry between the leads, or was just lustful for them in some way that made the sex parts hotter to watch, it probably would have been enough to get me through another episode or two to see if they got onto better footing.
January 13, 2026 at 3:16 PM
I think if, subjectively, I'd keyed into some kind of chemistry between the leads, or was just lustful for them in some way that made the sex parts hotter to watch, it probably would have been enough to get me through another episode or two to see if they got onto better footing.
Yeah, I wasn't 100% onboard with all of the piece, either, but the central thrust of it was the closest expression of what I was feeling when I watched it. I do suspect I'd like it more if it got going, and maybe someday will come back -- but I was def becoming a crank in that first episode.
January 13, 2026 at 3:14 PM
Yeah, I wasn't 100% onboard with all of the piece, either, but the central thrust of it was the closest expression of what I was feeling when I watched it. I do suspect I'd like it more if it got going, and maybe someday will come back -- but I was def becoming a crank in that first episode.
This one was a difficult mix of "not for me" and "I think the writing should have been better either way" that's hard to talk about, because the latter issues aren't by their very nature show killers, but they're also still material problems in writing a good romance story IMO.
January 13, 2026 at 3:10 PM
This one was a difficult mix of "not for me" and "I think the writing should have been better either way" that's hard to talk about, because the latter issues aren't by their very nature show killers, but they're also still material problems in writing a good romance story IMO.
As soon as the only scenes the one guy had with his mom were flashing signs about BEING A ROLE MODEL and SPONSORSHIP it was clear to me that the show had on its mind nothing but the rote roadmap of Forbidden Gay Love. And if that's what you want, you could at least add some color to their world.
January 13, 2026 at 3:08 PM
As soon as the only scenes the one guy had with his mom were flashing signs about BEING A ROLE MODEL and SPONSORSHIP it was clear to me that the show had on its mind nothing but the rote roadmap of Forbidden Gay Love. And if that's what you want, you could at least add some color to their world.
It's very fine for people to be into the balance that HEATED RIVALRY gave and not have these same priorities, but I've basically detached from these monomythic narratives of pressure not to come out that wrap every choice around the most generic approach to queer development.
January 13, 2026 at 3:07 PM
It's very fine for people to be into the balance that HEATED RIVALRY gave and not have these same priorities, but I've basically detached from these monomythic narratives of pressure not to come out that wrap every choice around the most generic approach to queer development.
I really needed literally anything outside of superficial GOTTA BE A ROLE MODEL FOR THE SPONSORS shit that filled the margins of the episode, something that made me feel like these people had and lived lives beyond the central events, and how those lives overlapped with said events.
January 13, 2026 at 3:05 PM
I really needed literally anything outside of superficial GOTTA BE A ROLE MODEL FOR THE SPONSORS shit that filled the margins of the episode, something that made me feel like these people had and lived lives beyond the central events, and how those lives overlapped with said events.
This piece really lands what I found so distancing about HEATED RIVALRY's first episode (and my last that I chose to watch), a point of view about queerness that spidered out into the lack of a sense of how it all shapes the lives these people lead outside of their hookups. slate.com/life/2025/12...
The Horniest Show on TV Actually Has a Weirdly Conservative Message. Don’t Fall for It.
Why do we keep skating in circles?
slate.com
January 13, 2026 at 3:03 PM
This piece really lands what I found so distancing about HEATED RIVALRY's first episode (and my last that I chose to watch), a point of view about queerness that spidered out into the lack of a sense of how it all shapes the lives these people lead outside of their hookups. slate.com/life/2025/12...
The problem with the “more training” thing is that people will ultimately do their jobs based on the actual incentives at the job. If shooting people is something you get away with, you will increasingly find reasons to shoot people, and leaders will increasingly encourage it.
January 13, 2026 at 12:32 PM
The problem with the “more training” thing is that people will ultimately do their jobs based on the actual incentives at the job. If shooting people is something you get away with, you will increasingly find reasons to shoot people, and leaders will increasingly encourage it.
This is and has been my perspective: the only way to address this issue is to ensure that anyone authorized to use force by the state has such a high bar to clear for the use of that force that effectively anything lethal or nearly lethal is an instant career ender, a sign of failure, without appeal
Let me give you a thought experiment:
Imagine not just a ban on qualified immunity for authority, but a reversal; a new legal framework, under which authority bears greater responsibility than civilians in matters involving force—as it should.
www.the-reframe.com/absolute-imm...
Imagine not just a ban on qualified immunity for authority, but a reversal; a new legal framework, under which authority bears greater responsibility than civilians in matters involving force—as it should.
www.the-reframe.com/absolute-imm...
Absolute Immunity
Alignment with supremacy is a vile choice. Raising the natural costs for those who make that choice by putting first things first.
www.the-reframe.com
January 13, 2026 at 12:31 PM
This is and has been my perspective: the only way to address this issue is to ensure that anyone authorized to use force by the state has such a high bar to clear for the use of that force that effectively anything lethal or nearly lethal is an instant career ender, a sign of failure, without appeal
Reposted by Eric Sipple
i hope all the people resisting ICE on the ground know how fucking inspiring they are. minneapolis right now, and chicago and LA and charlotte and DC and portland before them, you’re setting the blueprint for the future battles sure to come. thank you.
January 13, 2026 at 1:54 AM
i hope all the people resisting ICE on the ground know how fucking inspiring they are. minneapolis right now, and chicago and LA and charlotte and DC and portland before them, you’re setting the blueprint for the future battles sure to come. thank you.
I had a great chat with Exec Engineering and got to talk about my philosophy of leading teams at early stage companies, and on where LLMs have been useful for engineering (and the more key areas where they have not transformed the job). www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-tr...
Why Treating AI as Extra Engineers Sets Teams Up to Fail | Eric Sipple, VPoE, Hey Jane
My Dialog guest this week is Eric Sipple, VP of Engineering at Hey Jane, where he leads product engineering for one of telehealth’s most talked-about startups. Eric has over 20 years in engineering le...
www.linkedin.com
January 13, 2026 at 12:24 PM
I had a great chat with Exec Engineering and got to talk about my philosophy of leading teams at early stage companies, and on where LLMs have been useful for engineering (and the more key areas where they have not transformed the job). www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-tr...
Reposted by Eric Sipple
This is fake, this is not happening. This originated from a parody account.
January 12, 2026 at 11:04 PM
This is fake, this is not happening. This originated from a parody account.
If the Mass Effect Reapers got him, we could call him Elon Husk.
January 12, 2026 at 11:27 PM
If the Mass Effect Reapers got him, we could call him Elon Husk.
I don't really know what to say to folks whose argument seems to be, "Well, I don't like that there are a lot of politicians we won't unseat who don't hold this view, and therefore, political strategies should all act like they won't exist."
January 12, 2026 at 10:57 PM
I don't really know what to say to folks whose argument seems to be, "Well, I don't like that there are a lot of politicians we won't unseat who don't hold this view, and therefore, political strategies should all act like they won't exist."