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Pop Music“The Swell Season Live in Seoul”: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, widely known for their lead roles in the hit indie musical film “Once,” will be reviving their 2007 on-screen chemistry with a special live performance in Seoul. The duo’s single “Falling Slowly” landed the film an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008. Hansard and Irglova will be performing on Jan. 10 and 11 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts with ticket prices ranging from 66,000 won to 110,000 won. F

CultureJan. 2, 2015

True story eye-poppingly told in Burton’s ‘Big Eyes’

You’ve likely seen the images, even if you have no idea who painted them: Those waifs with the huge, saucer-like eyes, appearing in oil paintings, posters, postcards, refrigerator magnets.Actually, for years, nobody actually knew who painted them. That’s because Walter Keane, a showboating sociopath, claimed credit, when it was his wife, Margaret, who actually was the sole artist, closeted away in a home studio filled with turpentine fumes. It was an epic story of art fraud that ended with a dra

FilmJan. 2, 2015

Eyelike: Lackluster tribute to Paul McCartney

Lackluster tribute to Paul McCartneyVarious artists“The Art of McCartney”(Arctic Poppy)This two-disc Paul McCartney tribute is a decade-in-the-making labor of love by one man, producer Ralph Sall. So it would be churlish to throw cold water on it, right?Sorry. Sall’s interest in chasing down marquee names, rather than marquee performances, makes this a gigantic missed opportunity. Sall enlists McCartney’s current backup band to fill the same role on this 34-song effort (42 with the deluxe packag

PerformanceJan. 2, 2015

Box Office: Casa Amor: Exclusive for Ladies, Criminal Designer, The Tailors

Casa Amor: Exclusive for Ladies (Korea)Opening Jan. 8Comedy. Directed by Jung Bum-shikBaik Bo-hee (Jo Yeo-jeong) is a beautiful and successful career woman at a large toy company. That is, until she makes an irrevocable mistake that leads to her dismissal. To rub further salt into the wounds, Bo-hee’s husband Koo Gang-sung (Kim Tae-woo) leaves her. One day, she becomes friends with her neighbor Nan-hee (Clara) who owns a sex shop, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Bo-hee, with her superb mark

FilmJan. 2, 2015

‘Sideways’-inspired getaway to Santa Barbara wineries

It was 10 years ago that Alexander Payne’s quirky little film, “Sideways,” landed on the silver screen. Merlot was trashed. Pinot noir began its ascendancy. A Saab bit the dust. And as sad sack novelist Miles and his about-to-be-married buddy, Jack, wove their way past country lanes and vineyards, it suddenly dawned on filmgoers that this was not Napa.“Sideways” put Santa Barbara’s wine country on the map ― and won an Oscar, two Golden Globes and American Film Institute movie of the year honors,

TravelJan. 2, 2015

Around the hotels

Stay for half price at Conrad SeoulConrad Seoul is offering an accommodation and breakfast package for the New Year that enables guests to stay at a Grand King Corner Suite and receive a 50 percent discount on breakfast if they book for more than two nights in January. The Grand King Corner Suite, which measures 96 square meters, is the hotel’s largest room. Situated on the highest floor of the hotel, it offers a breathtaking panoramic view of the capital city and Hangang River. It features a li

FoodJan. 2, 2015

A walk around Lake Como unveils Italy’s beauty

LENNO, Italy ― Silvia Givera is standing on the picturesque bank of Lake Como. She winds up, underhand, to throw a tennis ball to her dog Diego. The dog stands transfixed until the ball sails far out into the lake, and then he happily swims after it. He brings it back but is reluctant to return it to Givera. Eventually she gets the ball and the two walk back to Bar il Golfo in town. She helps run this place, which serves traditional Italian fare. The view of the lake is stunning from the restaur

TravelJan. 2, 2015

Lutefisk mac and cheese? You betcha

Chris Dorff, president of the 105-year-old Olsen Fish Co. in Minneapolis, thinks the way to save lutefisk is to innovate. The dried-rehydrated fish dish that’s been declining in popularity in recent years is typically served plain, with just salt and pepper, melted butter and a white cream sauce. But Dorff thinks younger people would take to lutefisk if only it were bacon-wrapped, or stuffed into tacos.I ate my first lutefisk a couple of weeks ago at an Elks Lodge dinner. While the texture left

FoodJan. 2, 2015

The cheese ball is back

I’m not sure the cheese ball ever fell out of favor, but it’s certainly back at the center of the table this holiday season.There was Kinston chef Vivian Howard on a recent episode of her PBS series, “A Chef’s Life,” making a spiced pecan cheese ball rolled in country ham chips. On the show, Howard said, “The cheese ball is so cliche at this point I think it almost stands a chance of being cool again.”A recent Huffington Post headline screamed: “Make These Cheese Balls If You Want to Throw a Kil

FoodJan. 2, 2015

Lee responds to Tong Yang insider dealing rumors

Lee Jung-jae (left) and Lim Se-ryung. (Yonhap)Actor Lee Jung-jae, who confirmed he is dating Lim Se-ryung, the ex-wife of Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong, has denied rumors over property investment linked to troubled conglomerate Tong Yang. The award-winning actor said in a press release Thursday that Lim never introduced him to a Tong Yang Group vice chairman and that his partnership with Tong Yang Corp., the group’s property development company, ended long before a financial crisis began at th

TelevisionJan. 2, 2015

Seo Taiji to expand fan-donated Brazilian forest plot

Old-school K-pop icon Seo Taiji announced that he would be expanding the section of the Guapi Assu Brazilian forest named after him as part of his new “Be the Green” environmental preservation efforts.In 2012, a group of Seo Taiji fans raised 38.67 million won ($35,000) to earmark nearly five hectares of Brail’s vast tropical rainforest as the Seo Taiji Forest in honor of the star’s 20th anniversary as a singer. An aerial view of the future Seo Taiji Mania Forest in Brazil. (Seo Taiji Co.)The fa

Jan. 2, 2015

Lee Jung-seop’s silver foil drawings return

“Children of Spring” by Lee Jung-seop (Gallery Hyundai)During the Korean War (1950-53), when art materials such as paper ― not to mention canvas ― were scarce, Korean painter Lee Jung-seop (1916-56) drew and painted on the foil linings of cigarette packs.His three small silver foil drawings, first purchased by Arthur McTaggart, director of the U.S. Culture Center in Korea in 1955, and donated to the Museum of Modern Art New York a year later, will be on view in Seoul for the first time since the

PerformanceJan. 1, 2015

A journey through the life of violinist Cho Jin-joo

The beginning, youth, searching and reminiscing ― these are the four stages of life that the young up-and-coming violinist Cho Jin-joo is looking to explore in her upcoming solo concert series as a Kumho Art Hall resident artist.The 26-year-old will perform four solo concerts this year, with each concert dedicated to one of the aforementioned stages of life. From her trials and tribulations after moving to the States to develop her musical gifts, to the pangs of youth, joys of love and reminisce

PerformanceJan. 1, 2015

Stage, screen actor Herrmann dies at 71

Edward Herrmann, the towering, melodious-voiced actor who brought Franklin D. Roosevelt to life in films and documentaries, won a Tony Award and charmed audiences as the stuffy dad on TV’s “Gilmore Girls,” died Wednesday. He was 71. Herrmann died at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital of brain cancer, his son, Rory Herrmann said. The actor, who had been hospitalized for several weeks, was surrounded by family members including his wife, Star, and his three children, his son said.“He was full of kn

PerformanceJan. 1, 2015

Jun Ji-hyun beats Kim Soo-hyun in SAF

Actress Jun Ji-hyun outshone actor Kim Soo-hyun, her costar in “My Love from the Star,” in the drama category of the SBS Awards Festival 2014 held at Coex in Seoul on Wednesday. Jun, 35, won the Grand Prix with “My Love from the Star,” one of the greatest hits for her and the television broadcaster alike. The SAF recognized the hallyu actress for her outstanding acting and the drama’s stunning ratings and popularity at home and overseas. Prior to the award ceremony, some drama critics had sugges

TelevisionJan. 1, 2015

Kate DiCamillo, rock star of children’s literature

On a hectic Saturday before Christmas, writer Kate DiCamillo stands in front of a buzzing crowd of toddlers and children at the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is dressed in her usual black top and jeans, and her white-blond hair curls around her watchful face. Some of the kids sit cross-legged on the floor; some perch demurely on chairs or on a parent’s lap; some peer around the edges of bookshelves; some bat absently at furry puppets that hang from a display.DiCamillo is used

BooksJan. 1, 2015