Lee Byung-hun to attend Toronto International Film Festival

Korean actor Lee Byung-hun is set to attend the 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival for the screening of his upcoming Hollywood film “The Magnificent Seven,” according to his management company BH Entertainment on Tuesday.　Starring Lee and American actors Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke, the Western action film -- a remake of the 1960 movie of the same name -- follows seven mercenaries as they fight to protect a village from cold-blooded thieves.　Taking place from Sept

FilmAug. 30, 2016

Ga-in returns as solo artist

Son Ga-in of K-pop girl group Brown Eyed Girls is returning as a solo artist with a new album.　To gear up for her return to the spotlight, the performing artist, better known simply as Ga-in, began unveiling teaser images on her official social media channels this week. 　The upcoming release will be made in two segments. It will be Ga-in’s first full-length studio album since her debut as a solo artist with “Step 2/4” in 2010.  The 28-year-old’s most recent mini-album “Hawwah,” released last Mar

PerformanceAug. 30, 2016

Lost heritage: Quake deals blow to Italy’s art treasures

ROME (AP) -- Within hours of last week’s devastating earthquake in central Italy, members of the national police squad of art experts were already exploring the mounds of rubble in several medieval hill towns.They have photographed hundreds of centuries-old churches with missing roofs, torn-away frescoes or gaping holes where stained glass once filtered sunlight. The quake and several powerful aftershocks dealt the latest blow to Italy’s long-deteriorating abundance of art and architecture.Even

CultureAug. 30, 2016

London's Notting Hill Carnival turns 50

LONDON (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of revelers took to the streets to celebrate London‘s Notting Hill Carnival on Monday, as police made more than 400 arrests during the festival’s 50th anniversary.Feathered dancers, steel bands and earth-shaking sound systems featured in the vibrant celebration of British Caribbean culture, with many festival-goers sporting glittery face paint and waving Jamaican flags.“It‘s excellent! We are loving the free spirit of everyone and we have all been dancing,” s

CultureAug. 30, 2016

Performance artist explores female sensuality

Jeong Geum-hyung conducts CPR on a medical mannequin as if the male dummy were in an urgent life-or-death situation. Her body moves in the fast, yet steady, rhythm required for the life-saving action. The scene, however, invokes a rather erotic image to the audience, who watch the artist perform the action nude.“I don’t intend to cause voyeurism here, but it’s just how things turn out in my performance and that puts the audience in a voyeuristic situation,” said Jeong, winner of the 16th Hermes

PerformanceAug. 29, 2016

Beyonce slays at MTV VMAs

NEW YORK (AP) - Beyonce owned the MTV Video Music Awards by winning video of the year and giving a 16-minute performance featuring her recent hits from “Lemonade,‘” working various stages with strong, layered vocals, skilled dance moves and even an outfit change -- all as the audience watched in awe and cheered her on.Beyonce won the top prize for “Formation,” besting Adele, Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Drake.“First of all I'd like to thank my beautiful daughter and my incredible husband for al

PerformanceAug. 29, 2016

TV shows spotlight new ways of communication

In Spike Jonze’s 2013 romantic science fiction comedy “Her,” a man converses with and eventually falls in love with the feminine voice of a computer operating system.Inspired by the film, tvN’s “My Ear’s Candy,” currently airing Thursdays at 11 p.m., is based on a similar premise: Celebrities tell intimate secrets to an unknown confidante via their cellphone.Until their identities are revealed, the callers are nicknamed “Candy” to enhance the sense of “sweetness,” according to the show’s produce

TelevisionAug. 29, 2016

2PM gears up for new album

K-pop boy band 2PM is currently preparing for a new release. The six-member act is scheduled to announce a new album next month, according to the group’s management agency JYP Entertainment on Monday. 　“The upcoming tracks will demonstrate a new side of 2PM,” JYP Entertainment told local media outlets. 　The currently untitled album will be the group’s first domestic release since its fifth studio album “No. 5,” unveiled last June.  While gearing up for the upcoming album, the group’s members hav

PerformanceAug. 29, 2016

MC Mong returns with new album

Korean hip-hop artist MC Mong is returning to the scene with his first full-length album in two years. 　The 36-year-old will be releasing his seventh studio album, “U.F.O,” next week, but has no concrete plans to make broadcast appearances, according to his management agency DreamT Entertainment on Monday.　“For the past two years, he has dedicated his heart and soul into perfecting the upcoming album,” DreamT Entertainment said in a statement. “It boasts (the) witty lyrics and charismatic melody

PerformanceAug. 29, 2016

In North Korea, a hard-boiled (and fictional) cop keeps watch

NEW YORK (AP) -- The hero, a police inspector, prowls a city known more for its political malevolence than its street crime. If you read the local newspapers, you could think it’s a city with almost no crime at all. There have been no murders reported there for years, no bank robberies, no muggings, no rapes. The city is Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, which has long hidden so many realities beneath layers of propaganda and isolation. The hero is Inspector O, a policeman who knows those rea

BooksAug. 29, 2016

Actress Tang Wei gives birth to daughter　

Chinese actress Tang Wei gave birth to a healthy and beautiful baby girl, the actress revealed on her Instagram on Saturday. 　Tang, wife of Korean filmmaker Kim Tae-yong, uploaded a photo of herself with the Chinese caption, “To everyone, today I gave birth to a 3.41kg baby girl. She is very healthy.” 　According to local media reports, Tang gave birth at a hospital in Hong Kong.　Tang and Kim married in 2014 on the remote Swedish island of Faro. The two first met while filming “Late Autumn” in 20

FilmAug. 28, 2016

‘Tunnel’ tops box office with 6 million viewers

“Tunnel,” depicting a man’s struggle to survive in a collapsed tunnel, has topped the local box office chart for 18 days since its release, attracting more than 6 million cinemagoers, according to the Korea Film Council on Sunday. 　The film, which was released on Aug. 10, sold 6,026,910 tickets Sunday. It attracted 1 million viewers within the first three days of its release and 3 million within six days.  A scene from “Tunnel” (Showbox)　The film, directed by Kim Sung-hoon of the 2014 hit “Hard

FilmAug. 28, 2016

[Herald Review] A celestial night with Mahler

　Upon hearing about the choir’s careless preparation for the world premiere of his Eighth Symphony, Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, known for his drive for perfection, threatened to cancel the entire performance. 　　　Presenting the same vast work at the Lotte Concert Hall last Thursday, conductor Lim Hun-joung proved himself a worthy heir of Mahler’s demand for excellence.　　　Bringing together eight soloists, the 141-member Korean Symphony Orchestra, and 850 choral members under his baton, Lim in

PerformanceAug. 28, 2016

Unconventional Korean desserts at Atelier DoSuHyang

None of the Korean-style desserts at Atelier DoSuHyang, located in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul are what one would expect to find at a traditional Korean rice cake shop. While there are “injeolmi” -- rice cake made by pounding steamed glutinous rice flour into sticky submission -- and “yaksik” -- glutinous rice treats customarily seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and honey -- neither are the kind commonly found at rice cake shops in Korea. Absent are the more recognizable rectangles of injeolmi coate

FoodAug. 26, 2016

[Weekender] Korea’s budding winemaking scene

YEONGCHEON, North Gyeongsang Province – Popular wines in Korea are mainly sourced from countries such as France, Italy and Spain, but recently, locally produced Korean wines have been carving out their own share of the market.Korean vineyards started to venture into winemaking in the late 1990s and benefited from an unprecedented wine boom driven by the hit Japanese wine-themed comic “The Drops of God” in the early 2000s.Vineyards on the island of Daebudo on the west coast jumped into winemaking

FoodAug. 26, 2016