Episódios
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Review of Game of Thrones - Most satisfying deaths, predictions, retrospective of the series so far, etc etc. It wouldn't be Café Seoul without nerding it up.
The Best Goodbyes - Rob finds goodbyes from books, movies, songs and other forms of pop culture. Eugene has to guess where they come from.
On the Pulse: Exit Interview - Rob and Eugene reflect on the past 10 years in Korea. Rob asks Eugene to make top three lists on various expat in Korea related topics while introducing some of his own. Rob also reads a sad sappy (heartfelt) letter to inflate Eugene's ego (but really really appreciated). -
Estão a faltar episódios?
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Wow, this episode is like 6 months late. Apologies to our guest Hyunsoo Kim, who was kind enough to visit with us in August of 2017 to discuss being "Out" in Korea. Out meaning... LGBTQ.
News of the Weird:
-Chinese Restaurant gives discounts based on bra size
-Ariana Grande creates problem during first concert in Korea, showing favoritism towards Japan
-NY Times calls bubble tea a new trend
On the Pulse: Discussion with Hyunsoo Kim of what it is like to be LGBTQ in Korea, compared to other places that she has lived. -
After a long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long period of being very very very very very busy, Eugene has actually finally found time to edit this episode. Rydia is back and our subject today is plastic surgery.
But rather than criticize all the people in Korea getting it, we are discussing why Rydia made the decision to get it in the first place.
During the initial banter of this episode we got some letters from Dave and from Kathleen. Dave's letter sparked a discussion on Western remakes of Asian films. Kathleen's letter caused us to discuss foreigner privilege in Korean settings.
News of the Weird:
-(Korea Herald) Rural village in Korea exposed to nudist resort
-(Huffington Post) - Blogger Praises K-Beauty While Calling Asians ‘Ching Chongs’ In ‘Funny Clothes’
-(BBC) - TV host's race jokes spark Brazil-Korea online war
Rydia Kim was once a co-host on Café Seoul, and she's returned to discuss plastic surgery in Korea. As someone who recently got a procedure or two herself, she's here to elaborate on her decision to get plastic surgery, and how her initial aversion to the practice was overcome. She also goes in detail about how the procedures have helped her to be confident and how it is important to have a positive body image. Later Rob and Rydia discuss why plastic surgery is such a trend in Korea, and how body alterations work in the context of Korea's modern culture.
Rydia can be found @Rydia0722 on Instagram
If you're an expat in Korea, chances are that you are her friend on facebook already, or are at least friends with someone who is her friend. She's very popular afterall. -
Nerdy friends rejoice! This is the Spider-Man Homecoming Special episode!
Teen Hero Popularity Contest - Similarly to what we did in the Wonder Woman episode, we talk about some of our favorite teen characters from movies and TV (and books), then make them face off against each other in a 1:1 battle royale to find out which one would hypothetically kick the ass of the others.
Spider-Man Orientation - Discussion of the Spider-Man character, and how we came to know him, as well as some of our favorite storylines, and ranking the movies he's appeared in so far.
Spider-Man Homecoming - In depth discussion of the most recent film, Spider-Man Homecoming.
Special thanks to Emma Kalka for stalking us and using the dark side of the force to trick us into inviting her to appear in this episode. -
Café Seoul is back! Korea's traditional culture is the topic of this episode, and we have one of the most knowledgable academics on hand to discuss the role that traditional culture, specifically performance art plays in modern Korean society.
Special Guest: Dr. CedarBough T. Saeji, Korea Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Korean Studies
News of the Weird:
-'Creative Korea' slogan abolished
-Active X to be removed from public websites
-Scrapping HIV test for native English teachers 'unacceptable'
On the Pulse:
How relevant to modern Korean society is Korean traditional culture? Many people who observe Korea suggest that Korea's traditional culture is somewhat removed from its modern one, but is that really the case? In this episode we have the benefit of an academic expert to delve into this topic and find out exactly what role traditional culture, specifically performance art plays in Korea today. In addition to the overlying theme, we discuss some initial access points for Korean traditional culture and how one can go about learning more about and enjoying the rich traditional culture Korea possesses. -
We're behind in the editing, but better late than never. This episode is about Korea's suicide crisis, so it is a little heavy. Special Guest: Shaun Webb of Shaun on Site
News of the Weird
-Korean scientists try to engineer the smell out of Kimchi
-People named Park Geun Hye changing name at accelerated rates
-Male cop dresses as woman to lure and catch criminals
-Commentary from Korea Times suggests that a wave of anti-Koreanism in the US will begin soon
On the Pulse: Korea has a suicide problem, and we've invited Shaun Webb on the podcast to discuss his own attempted suicide and to discuss the very serious situation in Korea. -
Disclaimer: This is is absolutely the longest episode we have ever recorded... Ever. But you know what? It's a podcast and you can listen to it at your own pace and even skip around or skip past parts you find boring.
Dr. Stephen Suh is is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women's and Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs. He is currently doing a research project about Korean-American returnees, that is, Korean-Americans who have for one reason or another moved to Korea as adults.
We at Café Seoul became aware of this project when we came across a post in the facebook group "Critical Korean Studies" where Stephen was looking for participants to interview. So this episode not only features an interview of Stephen for the podcast, but it also contains Stephen doing real live research as he interviews Eugene!
News of the Weird:
-American retailer bottles and sells kimchi juice for $17
-North Korea criticizes US for withdrawal from Paris climate deal
-Former Japanese Ambassador to Korea writes a trolltastic book
On the Pulse: Rob first interviews Stephen about his project, then Eugene participates. Here we can find out a lot about what some of the commonalities and differences between Korean-Americans who have chosen to live in Korea. You can also learn a lot about Eugene from some very interesting and sometimes difficult questions posited by Stephen. -
Well, we ended up nerding out again. How could we resist when the DC Cinematic Universe finally actually made a good film....?
Emma Kalka and Dr. Michael Hurt also appeared in this episode to help us nerd it up a bit.
So we do away with the traditional format. No news of the weird, no on the pulse... instead we have these special segments:
Amazons of the Past - we discuss some of our favorite badass female characters from movies and TV, then hold a hypothetical single elimination tournament to find out which of these badass women reign supreme!
Everyone's favorite Amazon - about an hour in, we finally start talking about Wonder Woman... and here we all explain how we came to encounter the character and some of our memories about her.
Amazons of the Present - Discussing and reviewing the 2017 Wonder Woman film.
Amazons of the Future - What impact this film will have on the trajectory of the DCU and super hero films in general -
After a very popular article published on the Ask a Korean blog, it appears that the definition of the term "K-Pop" is under dispute. So in the second half of this episode Rob and Eugene try to hash it out and come to a more solid definition, but still end up not totally agreeing on it. Oh well!
News of the Weird
-People love President Moon's Dokdo-themed necktie
-Video of "no look pass" from politician goes viral
-People who can find North Korea on a map prefer diplomacy
On the Pulse: So here is where we dive right in and get down to try to define K-Pop. After about 20-30 minutes of discussing it, we decide to make a scoring test to see if your group of choice is or is not K-Pop. -
The theme of this episode is the outcome of the recent Korean presidential election, and the title is an admittedly terrible pun.
News of the Weird
-7up publishes kimchi recipe
-Softbank CEO says Korea was part of China
-Anonymous warns against WW3 breaking out in North Korea
On the Pulse - We discuss what we expect a Moon presidency to mean for Korea, what challenges he will face, and which promises he can keep. -
News of the Weird
-Apparently Westerners have shorter intestines than Koreans, says one domestic digestive powder producer
-Korea to begin coinless society feasibility trials
-Trump says Korea used to be a part of China, receives well deserved backlash.
On the Pulse – In this episode you can hear two guys who aren't black discuss blackface in Korea. As we try to keep their privilege in check, we acknowledge it's a huge problem even today, and it keeps happening and it frankly makes us angry. -
North Korea Acting Up Again?
News of the Weird:
-Questionable Journalism skills alert: Lawmaker proposes plan to include migrant families in the definition of multicultural so that they can also get government support, meanwhile he expects special treatment from police regarding his breaking of traffic laws
-Airbnb host bans host who refused Asian guest
-Doctor dragged off United flight has questionable past
On the Pulse
Why does nobody in South Korea care when North Korea starts acting up? We have a long discussion about this question, but it meanders so much in the beginning because we're actually itching to talk about Star Trek, but we bring it back and actually have a decent discussion about it in the end. Long story short, it's because North Korea is threatening just for show, as a means of projecting itself as powerful to their own people. But now with Trump in office, can they continue the same strategies as always? -
Oh my gosh! Rob and Eugene are back after such a long long long long long long break! Yes! Season 5 is now underway, and as of this writing (on April 29th) there are actually 2 more episodes in the pipeline to be edited. So fear not, there is lots of Café Seoul headed your way so you can get your fix.
As we were planning the show, we decided that we'd do an entire episode of News of the Weird, and skip On the Pulse. because we'd been away so long. That WAS the plan, but in the first half of the show, we actually ended up having a very long discussion about whitewashing in western media and specifically about Marvel's Iron Fist... so we'll call that On the Pulse for this episode
News of the Weird
Seoul offers free driving lessons for "expats"
Manager at UK firm loses job for refusing to bow to Korean boss
Egypt to export stray dogs to Korea
Pyeongchang unveils new slogan
Korea makes 'fertile women map' in effort to increase birth rate
Is this menu racist?
American flags at pro-Park Rally
Samsung ends top down corporate structure
Doctors take selfie with cadavers
Artist sells trophy during music awards
Public wedding ad angers Korean young people. -
We DID say that episode 24 was going to be our last of season 4, but with Donald Trump winning the presidential election in the US, we had no choice but to have an emergency final final episode. We thought he'd never win the presidency, but this election has taught us to never say never again. Wow, just wow America! WTF!
News of the Weird
-(Korea Times) Viagra found in Presidential Office
-(Angry Asian Man) Nordstrom Rack Pulls Rape of Nanking Hoodie From Stores
-(New York Times) Korean Adoptee to be Deported from US Almost 40 Years Later
WTF (On the Pulse) - What does a Trump presidency mean for Korea, US-Korean relations, Korean Americans, Expats in Korea, East Asian geopolitics and the world in general? Rob and Eugene were beyond shocked at the results of the 2016 election and we probably will be for some time. We try to go as deep as we possibly can to discuss the implications of this latest WTF moment of 2016. -
At last, we are at the finale of season 4 on Café Seoul. This show is all about gates, but not about the kind of gates you're thinking of. No, we're talking about scandals, especially two very recent ones that have severe political and economic ramifications for Korea.
News of the Weird
-Reviewing an opinion piece regarding batterygate, Samsung's exploding battery scandal.
Ask Rob & Eugene
-Gatey McGateface asks why there's no Bukdaemun, when there's a Namdaemun, Dongdaemun, and there used to be a Seodaemun.
On the Pulse
-A long drawn out discussion of Choi Soon-sil gate... the scandal involving President Park's close friend, who has allegedly been manipulating her from behind the scenes.
Special thanks to Peter Daley for contributing to this episode! -
Café Seoul is back and in this episode we focus on coming to Korea to study with American millenial exchange students Sarah and Lizzie from the University of Maryland.
News of the Weird
-Seoul named happiest city in the world
-North Korea revealed to have only 28 websites
-Jeju citizens call for reversal of visa waiver for Chinese
On the Pulse - Sarah Eppley and Lizzie Drake join Eugene and Rob as the foursome discuss their experiences of Korean universities. Keep in mind that the ladies are here temporarily on study abroad and are relatively new to Korea (less than one year). Eugene and Rob are long timers, so that might account for some of the disconnect. -
Guest: Hyunsu Kim (The only Goth in Korea)
News of the Weird:
-Man wins lottery, family protests to get their share
-Air China in-flight magazine contains racist copy
-Seoul to crowdsource editing bad English on signs
Ask Rob & Eugene: Why do Koreans walk backwards for exercize?
On the Pulse: Discussing online men's rights group Ilbe vs. its radical feminist counterpart Megalia. -
This episode features Joe Mondello who used to live in Korea long-term, but went back to his home in the United States. We caught him on a visit back to Korea.
News of the weird
-Koreans no longer xenophobic.
-American monk to leave South Korea, saying foreigners just “decoration”
-North Face under fire for printing 'Sea of Japan' on jacket
On the Pulse - Joe talks about his reactions to Korea as someone who once lived here but has returned on a visit, hence not culture shock, not reverse culture shock, but reverse reverse culture shock. -
If you were a teen in the 1990's in the west, there's a 1/3 chance that either you knew a goth or you were one. (Statistics not proven). Chances are, however, that in Korea in 2016, there's only one goth, and we have her on our show this week.
News of the Weird
-Translations for Korean food still leaving people confused
-Government official calls fellow Koreans 'Dogs and Pigs' to public outrage
-Pokémon GO! not released in Korea but strangely works in the Sokcho area
Ask Rob & Eugene - Why do Korean products cost more in Korea than overseas?
On the Pulse - Discussing Korean goth culture with Hyunsu, the ONLY goth in Korea - Mostrar mais
