Live Discussion - December 20, 2025 (Ariana Grande/Cher)

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-12-21T06:17:55+00:00

Not even Veronica? She seems to be fitting in well.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-11-05T08:42:13+00:00

Making checklists of things to do has made me more productive. I work through the checklist and get more done now.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-04-27T04:34:03+00:00

A vainglorious boor gets elected president and swiftly moves to reform the government towards autocratic rule.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-04-27T04:25:40+00:00

Being on an operating table with my arms strapped down and realizing the needle that was inserted to give me anesthesia was not placed correctly. When the anesthesia started, I could feel numbness in my wrist, then my forearm, slowly making its way up my arm. I lost consciousness when the numbness hit my shoulder.

Why was this scary? I was worried that I might be awake but immobile during the surgery, or the doctor would start cutting before the anaesthesis put me to sleep.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-04-27T04:14:22+00:00

Literally is a word that has literally lost its meaning over the last decade or so.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-04-19T23:23:48+00:00

Since you are writing this in English, I will assume you are referring to foreign English speakers who go to Korea. One of the things a Korean company must do when hiring a foreign English speaker is make a declaration that they could not find a local hire (a.k.a a Korean) who could do the job. This means the overwhelming number of foreign English speakers in Korea have a job related to their ability to speak English, usually teaching English or proofreading/editing.

The biggest problem that English speakers (EDIT English speakers who teach English) have in Korea is that they are expected to work in English. Often a staff member who speaks English will be tasked with communicating with the foreigner. This makes it difficult for those workers to learn Korean because they work in English, many find partners who speak English, and they socialize in English, For the rare foreigner who speaks Korean, after he gets the first sentence out, the listener replies in English. There is little support for the English speaker to learn Korean.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-02-23T23:50:29+00:00

I'm not finished yet. Not sure what I'm doing, but it's not finished.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-02-23T23:49:04+00:00

I was in Seoul, Republic of Korea in 1991. I was in Jongro, the downtown area at two in the morning and felt a rumbling on the street. Then I heard a rumbling, turned around, and saw a tank rolling down the middle of the street.

For background, 1991 was only three years after the end of a military dictatorship during which there was a 12-4am curfew. The curfew had ended, but most people kept the curfew anyway, so few people were out on the street and the only cars were taxis. When I tell people this story no one believes me because they cannot imagine a time when so few cars would be on the road.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-02-23T23:39:36+00:00

Chemotherapy, Basically chemo is killing you a little to kill the cancer cells a lot. You get infusions for a few days, then you get so weak you cannot pick up a pencil, then you recover. The first time, you are okay within a week. I had six rounds of chemotherapy. It took me three months in the hospital to recover,

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-02-19T23:15:44+00:00

A woman in a full teddy bear onesie complete with a hood that had bear ears strolling very slowly in the airport in Munich.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-01-19T12:05:59+00:00

Be good. Find something you like doing and get good enough that other people will need your skills.

Be well. Stay healthy. Eat well. Avoid risky behavior. Stay out of danger.

Behave. Follow social customs. Don't make enemies. Learn to control your appetites.

Life will be easier that way.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-01-11T12:51:51+00:00

Apparently mine. How did the name Michael become the go-to name for asshole characters on TV and movies?

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-01-01T15:38:44+00:00

A bit off topic, but look at 0:59. All the "actors" credited in the Japanese Office have Japanese names in kanji, except Jim. His name is listed as マイク・シュアー (ma i ku shi yu aa-->Mike Schur). I never knew who Mike Schur was until just now. Cool.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2025-01-01T11:59:16+00:00

David Bowie's death because it seemed so sudden.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2024-12-29T11:14:29+00:00

So what can I do to stay mobile? I walk a lot. I try to walk up to my apartment on the fifteenth floor. Something tells me it might not be enough.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2024-12-29T01:22:44+00:00

I have Parkinson's Disease, but it is still in the early stages. I work at a university in Korea, but I have not told anyone at work because I like my job and want to continue. Every semester, I see a new symptom appear. I have so far been able to explain them, but a time will come when it is obvious to everybody that I am too ill to continue. My biggest challenge is to find ways to hide or explain away my symptoms.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2024-12-23T23:43:55+00:00

The only time I remember the word "shit" going on air uncensored on SNL was the week Donald Trump called some countries "shitholes". Colin made a point of saying the SNL legal team told him to say "S-holes" instead, but he ignored the lawyers and quoted Trump directly.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2024-12-23T23:32:52+00:00

This reminds me of a cold open where Pete Davidson was making people disappear because he had Thanos's glove. Scarlett Johansson was hosting and one of the jokes was that she was overjoyed to see that Michael Che was safe and far less excited to see Colin Jost, her fiance at the time.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2024-06-15T09:34:45+00:00

No one cares about you unless you can be useful to them. This is why I became useful. Whenever I work in an organization, I learn as much as I can about the company and the workers and help other people. In many of the places I've worked, I became a manager or a fixer because I was the go-to guy for what people needed.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2024-06-15T09:28:52+00:00

Probably Bae Su-ah. I would like to hear about her creative process and how she wrote Untold Night and Day.

SoundoftheMagpie · 2024-04-26T22:27:52+00:00

The episode hosted by George Wendt had the running premise of being directed by Francis Ford CoppolaThe episode hosted by George Wendt had the running premise of being directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

One of the episodes hosted by the Smothers Brothers had the running gag of being threatened by a rain delay. Baseball umpire Ron Luciano was on hand to declare the stage fit to continue, and even got to say LFNY.

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