28 JUN 2021 · Rob and Eugene started season 6 of Café Seoul discussing time travel films, but decided to rebrand as the Time Travel Forensics podcast. So Café Seoul needed a proper sendoff.

12 APR 2019 · 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).

5 MAY 2018 · This is a supplement to the blackface episode (season 5 episode 2), featuring Fatimaah-Joso Menefee, who penned us a critical email regarding our content in that episode. We invited her to have her via audio clips, and we responded.

13 FEB 2018 · 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.

11 NOV 2017 · 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.

12 SEP 2017 · 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.

5 AUG 2017 · 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.

2 AUG 2017 · 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.

8 JUL 2017 · 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.

26 JUN 2017 · 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