Weekend Box Office Guide: 11/14-11/15

Headed to the box office? The Korea Herald offers a weekend guide to what's in theaters. For something a bit out of the ordinary, catch the Chinese film "Monster Hunt," a mix between live-action and animated comedy. Those looking for a more realistic laugh should opt for "Burnt." If thrills and mystery are more your speed this weekend, check out the latest 007 movie "Spectre," the Spielberg offering "Bridge of Spies" or the first commerical occult movie to hit Korean cinema, "The Priests."Monste

FilmNov. 15, 2015

[Weekender] A must-read for foreigners looking for internship in Korea

As in many economies where eager college students fall prey to corporate exploitation, internships in Korea have gained a notoriety that rivals the advantages they potentially offer. 　For non-Koreans hoping for an internship experience, however, the trouble begins before they even start. 　 Foreign students attend a class at a Korean graduate school. (Korea University Graduate School of International Studies)Searching for openings can be a laborious quest without sufficient Korean language skills

Expat LivingNov. 13, 2015

Around the hotels

Grand Hilton Seoul presents swellfish at MitsumomoJapanese restaurant Mitsumomo at the Grand Hilton Seoul will be presenting swellfish dishes until Dec. 31.Mitsumomo is offering set menus with the best quality swellfish from the clean waters of the Tongyeong Sea. The set menus include marinated swellfish skin with dropwort, swellfish sashimi, swellfish tempura, swellfish chiri or spicy swellfish stew.Swellfish is especially good for blood circulation and very effective for skin care, both for wo

FoodNov. 13, 2015

[Travel Bits]

Dubai opens Korea tourism office Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing said that it has opened its Korean tourism office aimed at promoting tourism to the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates.In a launching event with the local media and tourism industries, Dubai Corporation said that the city aims to attract 20 million tourists by 2020 when Dubai will be holding the Expo 2020 under the theme of “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.”Its Korea office is its 21st oversea

TravelNov. 13, 2015

Rethinking pie at Pizzafication Jaha

Even though Pizzafication Jaha opened over a year ago in Seoul’s Seochon, chef Suh Ki-won is still trying to achieve his idea of perfect pizza.  Pizzafication Jaha‘s tartufata pizza features slow-roasted oyster and shitake mushrooms, fresh mozzarella and white truffle oil.  (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald)For Suh, the goal is not to create a transcendental Neopolitan or Roman or any specific regional type of pie per se. While the roots of his style of pizza are planted in Italy’s Napoli, Suh sees

FoodNov. 13, 2015

Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga wins Yanghyun art prize

Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga received the eighth Yanghyun Prize at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul on Thursday. “I am happy to be here, honored and extremely overwhelmed to receive this prize. And I am very proud to represent my continent and my country Nigeria,” said Nkanga at the award ceremony. “It’s an amazing thing to imagine that my work is recognized in Korea, on the other side in the Eastern part of the world.”  Artist Otobong NkangaNkanga, the first African-born artist to receiv

PerformanceNov. 12, 2015

[Herald Review] ‘Songgot-Piercer’ breaks drama mold

Webtoon-turned-drama “Songgot-Piercer” from JTBC is unusual in two ways. The first is its subject matter: labor rights. The second is the way in which it brushes off expectations of fantasy.Although the series only has viewership ratings of about 1.7 percent according to Nielsen Korea, “Songgot-Piercer” has garnered interest and online buzz, constantly ranking highly on monitoring metrics from Daumsoft that tally mentions on Twitter.Labor rights has never been the direct subject of a TV drama in

TelevisionNov. 12, 2015

H.K. director breaks Chinese box office

This year, Chinese box offices were shaken up by a Chinese film -- and that’s unusual.As the second-largest film market in the world, China is a precious source of sales revenue for globally released Hollywood blockbuster series such as “The Fast and the Furious,” “Avengers” and “Terminator.” In fact, this year’s “Furious 7” reigned as the highest-grossing film of all time in China up until 52-year-old Hong Kong-born Raman Hui showed up with the dark horse “Monster Hunt.” Raman Hui (Edko Films)I

FilmNov. 12, 2015

Netflix faces uphill battle to change Korea’s TV viewing: KOCCA

 Netflix, the world’s largest video streaming service provider, may struggle to “change the game” in the way Korean viewers consume TV and film content, if and when it launches its service in the country next year, says a report released Thursday. The Korea Creative Content Agency said in an analysis report that Koreans would continue to prefer watching pay digital TV services, such as IPTV, which are likely to be cheaper than the online streaming services of Netflix.The report also noted that l

TelevisionNov. 12, 2015

Seoul Players readies darker, quirkier play fest

Poison, cockroaches and Neanderthals discovering fire will be among the subjects explored in 10 minutes during a short play festival in Seoul. They will be part of Seoul Players’ Ten Minute Play Festival, which runs for two weekends starting Friday.The festival, now in its fifth year, will feature 16 plays chosen from over 200 submissions from Korea and overseas.Festival coproducer Sarah Grover said that whittling them down was tough, but she was impressed by the local submissions, four of which

Expat LivingNov. 11, 2015

Cho Seong-jin’s album continues selling streak

Cho Seong-jin's piano album (Universal Music)The first solo album of pianist Cho Seong-jin continued to fly off shelves Wednesday, reflecting Koreans’ feverish interest in the 21-year-old who won one of the classical music world’s greatest piano contests. According to Universal Music Korea, over 40,000 of the album‘s initial 50,000 copies pressed were sold in Korea in just four days following the album’s Nov. 6 release, prompting the company to place a second order for another 50,000. Locally, a

PerformanceNov. 11, 2015

‘Oh My Venus’ says it’s not about beauty

A woman who was once beautiful gains weight over the years, and begins to lose confidence, leading to crises in her personal relationships. With the help of a talented fixer, she reclaims her beauty and happiness. This, in a nutshell, is the plot of the new KBS drama “Oh My Venus” starring A-listers So Ji-sub and Shin Min-a.“Before watching it, the plot or the characters will feel familiar,” actor So told press at a press conference on Wednesday.  Cast of "Oh My Venus" (Kim Yu-jin/Korea Herald)T

TelevisionNov. 11, 2015

[Herald Review] ‘Priests’ experiment falls short

“The Priests,” from award-winning short film director Jang Jae-hyun, is undoubtedly the most experimental commercial movie of the year, taking on the occult -- a genre that is still largely unfamiliar to Korean audiences.The film follows a priest surnamed Kim (Kim Yun-seok), a thorn in the side of the Korean Catholic community who scoffs at the church’s efforts to become a universally respected and beloved institution. When a young girl named Yeong-shin (Park So-dam) begins to exhibit signs of p

FilmNov. 11, 2015

‘Design for the sake of people, not objects’

“The world is about people, not objects,” according to industrial design expert Arik Levy. That philosophy fuels his belief that design should focus on improving people’s everyday lives in new ways.“In the end, it’s only people that will help people,” said Levy, who opened a “Premium Talk” session held as part of the fifth Herald Design Forum in Seoul on Tuesday.Industrial designer Arik Levy (center) discusses the essence of good design with contemporary dancer Kim Seol-jin(right) during the Her

Arts & DesignNov. 11, 2015

10 new dishes created for PyeongChang Games

A display of dishes created for the 2018 PyeongChang Games (Rumy Doo/The Korea Herald)Celebrity chef Edward Kwon has created 10 new Korean-Western fusion dishes for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics with local, accessible ingredients and easy-to-copy recipes. The dishes, which were revealed at a press conference Tuesday, consist of traditional Korean cuisine with a Western twist, such as pasta made of buckwheat noodles, the quintessential Korean bibimbap with crispy fried rice and salad, and tortill

FoodNov. 11, 2015