Saturday, May 03, 2025

My World Famous Friend's Podcast

For anyone who doesn't know (because I've told them), my closest brushes with fame are:

  • I once cooked spaghetti for a Christian rock band
  • My uncle loaned Avril Lavigne the guitar that she used to learn how to play, back when she was an ambitious little whelp in his church praise group.
  • I once passed model/movie star Jeon Jihyun at a bakery, close enough to make accidental eye contact with her
  • I shook the hand and snagged a selfie with a sitting president of Korea (who later spent time in jail)
  • During school, my wife was in a club with a guy who is now a major Korean film star. He came over to our house after Babyseyo was born
  • I randomly bumped into a one of Korea's greatest classical violinists at a cafe once, and she and my wife now regularly exchange holiday gifts and stuff
  • I was on a TV show where I judged the cooking of Yu Jaeseok, the guy dancing in the canary yellow suit in parking garage section of the Gangnam Style music video (who has also been Korea's most loved celebrity for a very long time)
  • Korean-American popstar Eric Kim once guest-hosted a radio show I was on
  • My best male friend during university is now an acclaimed, world famous New York Times Bestselling Author (that's what the book jacket says, and I'm going with it)
Well, ever since I knew him, before podcasts were even invented, Mr. Jonathan Auxier has basically been born to run a podcast. He has a nice speaking voice, takes pride in having thoughtful views and expressing them articulately and clearly, looooves hashing out ideas, is very good at disagreeing with people nicely, doesn't take himself too seriously, and talks about the world in a way that is a pleasure to listen to, using idioms and vocabulary in interesting ways, always trying to get the ideas in his head to come out of his mouth precisely right.

Mr. Auxier is now hosting a podcast called "A Good Story Well Told" (and if I'm not mistaken, that looks like his artwork in the logo). In it, he and another world-famous super-successful acclaimed author discuss books and other stories, their strong and weak points, and what would-be writers can learn about storytelling from their examples. If you love stories, or if you're intrigued by what makes one story work, and another story fail, that's exactly what they talk about, and you'll enjoy it a lot.

For me, I love looking at stories, disassembling them into their component parts, and figuring out why they did or didn't send me on their intended journey. When we were in university together, along with other topics, he and I stayed up all hours of the night talking about the movie we'd seen or the story we were reading for a class, doing exactly what he's now doing with another friend in this podcast.

So, if you love stories, listen to the pod. If you are one of my friends and you used to hang out with Jon, these will take you right back, and if you just like hearing two guys talk about something they know a lot about, this podcast is one of those. For me, it really was like sitting with my old friend for an hour, and I'm grateful for that. I miss him sometimes.

Go forth and enjoy!!