The Korea Herald

Some vacation spots quietly benefit as travelers avoid Zika

NEW YORK (AP) -- With government officials now warning pregnant women to avoid Miami Beach in addition to Puerto Rico, some sun seekers are desperately scrambling for a Zika-free vacation.And that has left other tourist destinations to capitalize -- quietly.Travel experts say families worried about Zika are now looking to Arizona and Southern California to get some sun, along with cooler weather locales such as New England and Canada.The Zika virus is transmitted by mosquitoes or through sex wit

TravelAug. 25, 2016

Some vacation spots quietly benefit as travelers avoid Zika

Han Kang's award-winning novel hits German market

Han Kang’s novel “The Vegetarian” has received enthusiastic responses from German news media upon being released in the European country, a state-run literary agency said Wednesday.The novel has gotten wide attention from readers in English-speaking countries and Europe since its English translation earned the author the prestigious Man Booker International Award in May. The German-language edition of the Korean novel was released by the Berlin-based publisher Aufbau in the middle of this month

BooksAug. 25, 2016

Han Kang's award-winning novel hits German market

How streaming services are revolutionizing movies

Back when Netflix simply delivered mail-order DVDs, it was still called Netflix, anticipating the day when it would be a big internet presence. The name also forecast its plan to expand into original movies, drawing the type of premium audiences the company wanted to attract.That day has arrived. Last October, the well-received Idris Elba war drama “Beasts of No Nation” became the streaming service’s first theatrical release. In February, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny” arrive

FilmAug. 25, 2016

‘Oldboy,’ ‘Spring’ make BBC top 100 films list

Two films by renowned Korean directors, Park Chan-wook’s “Oldboy” and Kim Ki-duk’s “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring,” have been included in BBC’s top 100 films of the 21st century released Tuesday.Park’s neo-noir mystery thriller ranked 30th place, while Kim’s tale of a secluded Buddhist monastery came in at 66th place. Both films were released locally in 2003 and later distributed internationally.The list, created by the British public service broadcaster, surveyed 177 film critics

FilmAug. 25, 2016

‘Oldboy,’ ‘Spring’ make BBC top 100 films list

Spica returns with strong vocals

During their four-year career, K-pop girl group Spica has spent more time off stage than in the spotlight. 　Now the group has returned with a new single album, “Secret Time,” unveiled Thursday at noon. 　Spica’s first release in more than a year, the album consists of two rhythm-and-blues-inspired tracks, “One Way” and the title song “Secret Time.” 　Written by lead vocalist Kim Bo-a, “Secret Time” was produced by Swedish producers Pontus Frisk, Graciela Chin A Loi, and Andreas Oberg.Although this

PerformanceAug. 25, 2016

America overlooked Riccardo Chailly, but Europe has wisely avoided that mistake

LUCERNE, Switzerland -- The Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly has a reputation, in America, as an also-ran. Over the years his name surfaced as a likely candidate in music director searches for the great orchestras of Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Boston. He got none. But he hasn’t done so badly in Europe. He now heads the world’s most famous opera company, La Scala in Milan, and last weekend he began his tenure as music director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, one of the most prestigi

PerformanceAug. 24, 2016

US judge: Renowned artist did not create disputed painting

CHICAGO (AP) -- A US judge said Tuesday that a celebrated artist was right when he insisted he did not paint a work now owned by a retired prison worker, a finding that likely ensures the piece will now be worth a fraction of the previous estimated value of $10 million or more. The ruling came at the end of an unusual bench trial in Chicago that pitted Scottish-born Peter Doig against Canadian Robert Fletcher, who paid just $100 in the 1970s for the desert landscape painting and had hoped for a

PerformanceAug. 24, 2016

'Miss Saigon' to appear on movie screens before Broadway

NEW YORK (AP) - American audiences will get the rare chance to catch a sneak peek of the new “Miss Saigon” before it opens on Broadway next spring. They just have to go to a movie theater.A filmed version of the musical's live 25th-anniversary celebration in London will make its world premiere on some 175 US movie theaters on Sept. 22, some six months before the same production with the same leading actors lands on Broadway.The show captured the performance at the Prince Edward Theatre in London

FilmAug. 24, 2016

Artday to hold August auction

Herald Artday, a subsidiary of Herald Corp., is holding an online auction from Aug. 26-30, presenting major artworks by modern and contemporary Korean artists.　The art auction will feature numerous works of renowned Korean artists, including Choi Ssang-jung, Lim Jik-soon, Kim Tae, Kim Won, Park Deuk-soon, printmaker Lee Hang-sung and Kim Chang-young, who is known for his experimentation with sand.　Additionally, the event will highlight globally-recognized pop artist Lee Dongi’s 2006 piece “Flowe

PerformanceAug. 24, 2016

Tiny Spanish publisher clones world's most mysterious book

BURGOS, Spain (AFP) - It's one of the world’s most mysterious books, a centuries-old manuscript written in an unknown or coded language that no one -- not even the best cryptographers -- has cracked.Scholars have spent their lives puzzling over the Voynich Manuscript, whose intriguing mix of elegant writing and drawings of strange plants and naked women has some believing it holds magical powers.The weathered book is locked away in a vault at Yale University's Beinecke Library, emerging only occ

BooksAug. 24, 2016

Korean literature magazine becomes more inclusive

Launched by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea in 2008, List: Books from Korea originally examined the Korean publishing industry through the eyes of Korean authors, critics, translators and publishers. The magazine has now been revamped and relaunched as Korean Literature Now to better represent its identity as a literary magazine, with the aim of offering a global perspective on Korean literature.The summer issue released on Aug. 19 features international voices, including an interv

BooksAug. 24, 2016

Korean literature magazine becomes more inclusive

Making of a ‘liberal icon’ charted

“Bobby Kennedy” By Larry TyeRandom House (608 pages, $32)Unless you were old enough to remember the mid-1960s it might be hard to grasp the considerable impact the Kennedy family, particularly Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the widowed first lady, Jacqueline, had on both the popular imagination and political discourse in the United States -- and, arguably, the world. Everything they did seemed to be news, even if it was just Jackie sporting a miniskirt in public (Fall 1966 and “cautious housewives o

BooksAug. 24, 2016

Extraordinary characters brought to life

“The Muse” By Jessie BurtonHarper Collins (352 pages, $27.99)“The Muse” asks a lot of its readers, in the best of ways. It asks us to pay close attention, given the unexpected paths that wander variously through time, race, global politics and art history. Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean immigrant in 1967 London, and a typist at an art gallery for the enigmatic Marjorie Quick, who insists on being called only Quick. Why? It’s one of many mysteries that deepen when “Rufina and the Lion,” perhaps a

BooksAug. 24, 2016

Extraordinary characters brought to life

Imagining surrealist battle against Nazis

“The Last Days of New Paris” By China MievilleDel Rey (205 pages, $25)Page for page, there is no one generating more utterly unfamiliar ideas than author China Mieville (“Perdido Street Station,” “The City and the City”) -- and the glossary of monsters in his latest novel, “The Last Days of New Paris,” could support a full book for every entry. There’s so much absurd beauty among the fauna in this story of surrealist art come to life in Nazi-occupied France, in fact, that the author’s subtler po

BooksAug. 24, 2016

Imagining surrealist battle against Nazis

Harry Belafonte weighs in on Nate Parker and his new film

NEW YORK (AP) -- Harry Belafonte says it's unfair that Nate Parker’s shining moment with his film “The Birth of a Nation” is being overshadowed by a 17-year-old rape case. But the iconic performer and activist adds that he’s not clear about the facts and wants to look more into the story that’s been dominating entertainment headlines.Belafonte said in an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday that he saw Parker’s upcoming Nat Turner slave rebellion drama and was wowed by the project. He

FilmAug. 24, 2016

Harry Belafonte weighs in on Nate Parker and his new film

Wonderland in Jeju reveals full lineup

The complete lineup of the second event in the Wonderland in Jeju music festival series was revealed this week.The upcoming festival is scheduled to feature rock band YB, hip-hop duo Dynamic Duo, singer-songwriter Dean, rapper Beenzino, along with 10 more groups. 　Founded last month, the series brings together both prominent and up-and-coming musicians across various genres, including hip-hop, electronic dance music, rock, and more. “Our goal is to create a cultural festival that embodies the s

PerformanceAug. 24, 2016

John Park to hold first solo concert

Korean-American musician John Park is scheduled to hold his first solo concert in October. 　“I hope this concert will be an opportunity for me to show the audience different sides of me,” said Park in a statement released by his management agency Music Farm earlier this week. 　After making his first television appearance on the ninth season of the popular American music competition show “American Idol” in 2010, he was crowned the runner-up in Mnet’s similar program “Superstar K2” later in the ye

PerformanceAug. 24, 2016

Bochco’s book: He rewrote TV’s rules and lived to tell it

NEW YORK (AP) -- For viewers who rejoice in TV’s artistic upsurge, one virtuoso perhaps more than anyone can be credited for elevating the medium from its bygone “boob tube” status.Steven Bochco flinches at the mention of his half-century writing and producing TV. Could it really be that long? But his list of credits documents his legacy. Consider: the breakthrough hits “L.A. Law” and “NYPD Blue,” the pioneering half-hour dramedy “Doogie Howser, MD” and the groundbreaking legal drama “Murder One

BooksAug. 24, 2016

Bochco’s book: He rewrote TV’s rules and lived to tell it

‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author offers insight on Trump's appeal

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) - For pundits and politicos baffled by the appeal of a wealthy New York businessman to the struggling white working class in Appalachia and Rust Belt mill towns, J.D. Vance's book “Hillbilly Elegy” is offering some insights.It’s a vivid, deeply personal tour of the stark world he grew up in, set mainly in this southwestern Ohio city hit hard by the decline of its dominant steelmaking company, but also in his familial eastern Kentucky hills region. They are places where, for

BooksAug. 24, 2016

France sued over control of Titanic artifacts

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The bankrupt US company that controls thousands of artifacts salvaged from the ill-starred Titanic has sued the French government to be allowed to sell some of them.Premier Exhibitions filed the suit in a Florida federal bankruptcy court to press the French government to clarify it has no interest in the artifacts that would prevent their sale.The suit, made last Wednesday in Jacksonville, came after the judge in the case last month denied Premier permission to sell some of th

CultureAug. 24, 2016