Lim Chang-jung ties knot for second time

Singer Lim Chang-jung on Friday tied the knot with a woman 18 years his junior and pregnant with his child.Their wide age gap inevitably drew criticism, in a country where May-December relationships are still largely uncommon.Now declared husband and wife, Lim’s bride is five months pregnant and due in May.  Lim Chang-jung (NH Entertainment Media Group)Their wedding was a quiet one, held privately at The Raum wedding hall in Gangnam in the presence of only the couple’s close friends and family.

PerformanceJan. 6, 2017

AOA album gets lukewarm reception

AOA made its stage comeback Thursday at cable channel M.net’s M Countdown, but the group’s new album was met with a lukewarm response on Korean music charts.As of Friday, four days after the release of the album “Angel’s Knock,” the seven-member group’s lead song “Excuse Me” ranked No. 68 on the Melon chart and was pushed out of the M.net and Genie charts. It barely made it to the top 100 of the chart by Naver, a Korean web portal operator.  AOA (FNC Entertainment)This marked a stark contrast to

Jan. 6, 2017

Somber stars attend Reynolds-Fisher memorial

Friends and family members gathered at the next-door homes of Debbie Reynolds and daughter Carrie Fisher on a gloomy Thursday in Hollywood Hills for an intimate memorial to mourn the late actresses. The service was held at Fisher’s home and the eulogies were delivered by her daughter, Billie Lourd, and friends, such as Meryl Streep, Tracey Ullman and Stephen Fry, while the 125 guests dined on fried chicken, collard greens and cornbread, according to People magazine. Streep, who starred in the ad

FilmJan. 6, 2017

[Box Office] Latest movie releases

Your Name(Japan)Opened Jan. 4Fantasy, animation. Directed by Makoto Shinkai Mitsuha, a high school girl living in the Japanese town of Itomori, becomes restless from her quiet life in the country and prays to be born a boy in bustling Tokyo in her next life. Miraculously, she wakes up one day to find her body switched with that of Taki, a man working in the city. The two use the situation to change each other’s lives. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story(US)Opened Dec. 28Epic, sci-fi. Directed by Gareth

FilmJan. 6, 2017

In this ‘weird, lost corner of America,’ the beach of your dreams awaits in the remotest national park

Even for a Saturday in the South Pacific, this was a sleepy morning.On American Samoa’s main island of Tutuila and its neighbor, Ofu, villages were still, beaches empty.On the west coast of nearby Ta’u, a battered little fishing boat sidled up to the wharf, and a pale stranger stepped off, looking half-queasy and half-euphoric, a bagged octopus in his left hand.That was me on Day 6 at America’s most far-flung national park.National Park of American Samoa, 4,000 kilometers southwest of Hawaii, is

TravelJan. 6, 2017

[Movie review] Loach film is a searing call for humanity, decency

Just like a Michael Moore documentary, there’s nothing subtle about a Ken Loach drama. The 80-year-old British director and social critic has long been an ardent, insistent, eloquent champion of the more vulnerable members of society -- particularly working-class folks who are trying to do the right thing but just can’t catch a break. Whether he’s exploring homelessness, poverty or other social ills, Loach’s arguments, and emotions, are always crystal clear.Loach has been making movies for a hal

FilmJan. 6, 2017

Mortified Mariah Carey discusses ‘horrible New Year’s Eve’

Mariah Carey says she was “mortified” in “real time” during her disastrous live performance moments before the ball dropped on ABC’s “Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve.”Carey spoke to Entertainment Weekly in her first interview since the show in which she stumbled through her songs. At many points she stopped singing, even while a prerecorded vocal track played in the background.Carey’s publicist blamed show producer Dick Clark Productions earlier this week for not addressing technical difficu

PerformanceJan. 6, 2017

‘Django’ biopic to open Berlin film fest

BERLIN (AFP) -- The Berlin film festival will open next month with the premiere of a biopic about Gypsy-jazz great Django Reinhardt, focusing on his family’s persecution by the Nazis, organizers said Wednesday. The French production “Django” marks the directorial debut of Etienne Comar, a screenwriter and producer behind hits such as “Of Gods and Men” and “My King” and co-producer of the award-winning film about radical Islam “Timbuktu.”“Django” will compete for the Golden Bear top prize at the

FilmJan. 6, 2017

London museum says goodbye to ‘Dippy’ the dinosaur

LONDON (AFP) -- The towering replica skeleton of “Dippy” the dinosaur, a star attraction at London’s Natural History Museum for more than 100 years, made its final appearance Wednesday before being dismantled.The 292-bone plaster cast of a fossilized diplodocus has for decades greeted visitors in the museum’s iconic entrance hall, but is now being replaced by the skeleton of a blue whale.More than 90 million people have seen “Dippy” since it was presented to the museum by industrialist Andrew Ca

CultureJan. 6, 2017

French maestro conductor Georges Pretre dies at 92

VIENNA (AFP) -- French maestro Georges Pretre, the preferred conductor of legendary opera singer Maria Callas, died Wednesday aged 92 after a career wielding the baton for many of the world’s top orchestras.The Vienna Philharmonic, where he regularly conducted, said on its Facebook page that it was mourning “our charming and dear honorary member Georges Pretre with whom we have performed for 50 years.”Pretre died in Naves in southwest France where he owned a chateau, the town’s Deputy Mayor Brig

PerformanceJan. 6, 2017

2PM to hold farewell concert before military service

K-pop boy band 2PM will be holding its last concert before its members enlist for their mandatory military service, the group’s agency JYP Entertainment announced Thursday. The concert, titled “6Nights,” will take place at the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium at Seoul’s Olympic Park, JYP said. 2PM released its sixth LP “Gentlemen’s Game” in September last year and its members have been focusing on solo activities and their acting careers since then. The concert will mark 2PM’s first return to the s

PerformanceJan. 6, 2017

Koo Hye-sun paints fear, uncertainty in ‘Dark Yellow’

In the art exhibition “Dark Yellow,” actress Koo Hye-sun’s color of choice symbolized the contradictory nature of fearing what had once been a source of inspiration.“My favorite color used to be yellow, but my feeling toward it has changed with age. I used to think having a dream is only natural, but not anymore. ... After I’d grown up, the yellow started to take on a darker shade,” she said during a press preview. “The most terrifying thing in the world is to have a dream,” is the theme of the

PerformanceJan. 6, 2017

Julia Baird's biography gives the English monarch a beating heart

“Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire” by Julia Baird; Random House (696 pages, $35)Queen Victoria dominated an age and inspired a word, “Victorian,” to capture the spirit of her time. We tend to see her as a prisoner of that age: dour, unsmiling, repressed; in short, rather Victorian. Julia Baird wants to liberate her from that straitjacket.In her zestful biography, “Victoria the Queen,” Baird, an Australian journalist and columnist for the International Ne

BooksJan. 4, 2017

David Bowie interview collection shows man behind legend

Tributes lie beneath a mural of singer David Bowie by artist Jimmy C in Brixton, south London on Jan. 12, last year. (AP-Yonhap)“David Bowie: The Last Interview and Other Conversations” by David Bowie; Melville House (208 pages, $16.99)The introduction of “David Bowie: The Last Interview and Other Conversations” begins: “David Bowie gave a lot of interviews ... until he didn‘t.”Quirky, well-spoken and charming, the iconic music legend who died of cancer in January at 69 left behind a trove of in

BooksJan. 4, 2017

Big Bang chosen among Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30’ musicians

Korean boy band Big Bang has made it to the Forbes’ list of the world’s 30 most popular musicians under the age 30 for this year.The members were the only Koreans on the US economic magazine’s “30 Under 30 Music Class of 2017,” which was unveiled on the magazine‘s official website Tuesday. K-pop group Big Bang (YG Entertainment)The list includes many of the singers, songwriters, managers and entrepreneurs revolutionizing the modern music business, such as the popular American R&B singer Gallant

PerformanceJan. 4, 2017

‘Guardian,’ popular but controversial

In the popular TV drama series “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God,” the male lead is, quite literally, a god. 　Based on the Korean folklore of dokkaebi, a higher spiritual being roughly translated as goblin, the drama series features actor Gong Yoo as Kim Shin, a warrior born centuries ago who, after being impaled with a sword, is transformed into an immortal dokkaebi with endless wealth. Korean dramas have notoriously favored near-perfect male leads -- attractive, intelligent, heirs to vast fo

TelevisionJan. 4, 2017

Original ‘idols’ ride nostalgia back to mainstream... kinda

The 90s-nostalgia is back in full swing as mega stars of the bygone era are either preparing, or have already returned, to the mainstream K-pop scene dominated by teen boybands and girl groups.S.E.S., cited by many as one of “first-generation” girl groups, released “Remember - 20th Anniversary Special Album” on Monday to commemorate its debut in 1997. The group was one of the first all-female groups to gain nationwide popularity, and is a forerunner to the parade of girl groups that dominate the

PerformanceJan. 4, 2017

Year on, Bowie remembered as engaging until end

NEW YORK (AFP) - When David Bowie walked unassumingly into a cozy New York jazz club to hear Donny McCaslin play, the saxophonist admits he wasn’t well-versed in the rock icon’s vast discography.Bowie, who had a vision for the rhythmic underpinning of what would become his final album, met McCaslin in person a week later and soon emailed him to propose a collaboration.“Blackstar,” Bowie’s 25th studio album, showed the legendary rocker experimenting until the end, crafting a style of hard jazz as

PerformanceJan. 4, 2017