Actor and singer Jang Keun-suk released a single in Japan on Wednesday, according to his public relations agency Y Tree Company. Titled “Darling Darling,” this is Jang’s first release in Japan in five years since hit song “Let Me Cry.” Jang plans to unveil two additional singles in the next two months. “My new song captures how I feel when I meet my fans,” said the 28-year-old in a statement.   An established solo artist in Japan, Jang has released one single and three full-length studio albums

PerformanceAug. 10, 2016

“Not Pretty Enough: The Unlikely Triumph of Helen Gurley Brown”By Gerri HirsheySarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (500 pages, $27)If there’s nothing more American than a rags-to-riches story, then Helen Gurley Brown was truly an All-American Girl. The author of “Sex and the Single Girl” and later editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, writes biographer Gerri Hirshey, began life as “a very poor and traumatized child of the Depression,” the fatherless daughter of a miserable mother, a skinny

BooksAug. 10, 2016

“American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst”By Jeffrey ToobinDoubleday (384 pages, $28.95)In modern media culture, news stories blow up, consume us and then, in a matter of months, devolve into trivia, pop-culture reference material and, in the end, a footnote.Take the 1974 kidnapping of heiress Patricia Hearst. The case dominated America’s consciousness for most of two years, especially after she announced she had joined her captors, a homegrown terroris

BooksAug. 10, 2016

“The Woman in Cabin 10”By Ruth WareScout Press (340 pages, $26)Laura Blacklock is a writer for a British travel magazine. When a dream assignment lands in her lap — covering the weeklong inaugural cruise of a five-star “boutique” ship with just 10 swanky cabins for passengers pursuing the Northern Lights in the Norwegian fjords — she leaps at the chance.But the poor girl is off to a rough start. Her flat is broken into just before she leaves for the trip, and her encounter with the masked burgla

BooksAug. 10, 2016

In the early 1990s, Robert McKee had a revelation that would change the course of his career and influence the lives of tens of thousands of other writers. At the time, he’d written “Abraham,” a four-hour biblical miniseries, for TNT and had sold several unproduced screenplays.“I looked at ‘Abraham’ and thought, ‘I’m a good writer, but I will never be Ingmar Bergman,’” McKee said. “The creative explosion is not happening. It’s professional, it’s actable, it’s entertaining. But I want to be the b

BooksAug. 10, 2016

"The Inseparables"By Stuart Nadler Little, Brown and Co. (352 pages, $27)The best fiction illuminates life’s realities, and Stuart Nadler spotlights the fact that we all skate on a very thin edge between joy and sorrow, respectability and shame, life and death.Or, as Henrietta tells her granddaughter, Lydia, in “The Inseparables,” you can be sitting next to a window in a restaurant having a perfectly nice lunch and, “A bird could come through the window right at this instant and impale you.”One

BooksAug. 10, 2016

Fresh from a tour of the U.S., Seoul-based melodic punk band ... Whatever That Means is gearing up for the Korean launch of its new record.The split 7-inch “Blowing Minds and Melting Faces” was recorded with U.S. punk rockers Burn Burn Burn. The first launch was in Seattle, with Burn Burn Burn as part of the band’s U.S. tour this month.It was their second U.S. tour, so knowing the venues made it easier to ensure the shows were good -- except perhaps one.“We’ve never had a tour where we don’t end

Expat LivingAug. 9, 2016

YG Entertainment has finally launched a new K-pop group, following its debut of 2NE1 seven years ago.  The four-member group BlackPink made its official debut Monday with the electronic dance music songs “Whistle” and “Boombaya,” which are part of its single album “Square One.”In less than a day, the two debut tracks not only dominated local music charts, but also topped those in Hong Kong, Finland and Indonesia, among other countries. Within two hours of their release, music videos for the song

PerformanceAug. 9, 2016

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) -- Dozens of paintings and other works of art from the estate of comedian Garry Shandling will be offered for sale at a show in New Mexico this week.Organizers of the annual Objects of Art Santa Fe say this will be the first public viewing of Shandling’s collection, which includes Navajo rugs, Southwest furniture and pieces by Mexican artists Francisco Zuniga and Alfredo Ramos Martinez.More than 40 of Shandling’s personal pieces from his California home will be offer

PerformanceAug. 9, 2016

Crowned the “King of Opera,” the legendary Placido Domingo will make his way to Korea this October in what is being billed as the 75-year-old’s last performance here.The 12-time Grammy-Award winner was one of the original Three Tenors and is inarguably among the greatest operatic artists of modern times. Domingo is scheduled to perform at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. Concertgoers are going to have to break the bank a little for possibly the last chance to see the legendary

PerformanceAug. 9, 2016

Spectrum Dance Music Festival, one of the most-anticipated music events this fall, has announced its performance lineup.Organized by S.M. Entertainment and DreamMaker Entertainment, the festival brings together 64 teams across the genres of K-pop, electronic dance music and hip-hop for a two-day concert. Its lineup includes performance artists from all over the world including K-pop group SHINee, American DJ Kaskade, rapper Zico, Asian-American hip-hop group Far East Movement and Dutch DJ Brenna

PerformanceAug. 9, 2016

British singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae will hold a solo concert in Seoul in October.Best known for her award-winning song “Put Your Records On,” Rae is returning to Korea less than six months after her performance at the Seoul Jazz Festival in May. She will perform tracks from her third studio album “The Heart Speaks in Whispers” -- her first full-length production in six years after “The Sea.” Released in May, the new album, which has influences from funk and soul, chronicles her journey

PerformanceAug. 9, 2016