According to K-pop group Big Bang, the past decade has been a whirlwind of training, recording, performing and creating. Now, the band members say, they’re able to see the bigger picture. “How to develop our style in the future is one of the biggest things on my mind right now,” said G-Dragon at a press conference celebrating the group’s 10-year anniversary in northeastern Seoul Thursday. “It’s not just about music anymore. I want to do something that can support all the people in Korea and the

PerformanceAug. 4, 2016

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- The Pyeongchang Music Festival & School is still going strong in its 13th year, with its annual classical music festivities kicking off on July 12 under the theme “The Immortal Classics: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Beyond.”It was formerly known as the Great Mountains Music Festival. Organized by classical music stars cellist Chung Myung-wha and violinist Chung Kyung-wha, this year’s event invited top musicians from around to world to perform, while acclaimed arti

PerformanceAug. 4, 2016

CHICAGO (AP) -- The two parks Barack Obama considered for his presidential library are only a mile (1.6 kilometers) apart in Chicago.But the decision to build the museum in a lakeside park rather than in a nearby impoverished neighborhood has left some residents worried the choice was a missed opportunity in the city’s South Side.The Obama Foundation held a ceremony Wednesday to unveil details of the president’s choice of Jackson Park instead of Washington Park. Foundation chairman Marty Nesbitt

CultureAug. 4, 2016

NEW YORK (AP) -- Winnie-the-Pooh and friends Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga and Tigger are celebrating a new lease on their New York City life after enjoying many adventures together.The original toys are looking refreshed after more than a year of much needed repairs by a textile conservator. They went back on display Wednesday at the New York Public Library, where they have resided since 1987.An English boy, Christopher Robin Milne, was their original owner. He received them in the 1920s from his fathe

CultureAug. 4, 2016

SHKODRA, Albania (AFP) - At the age of 16, living in a remote village in northern Albania, Shkurta Hasanpapaj faced being forced into marriage. There was just one way out, and the young woman grasped it: she took the ancient, gender-bending oath to become a “sworn virgin.”At a stroke, her life changed. She renounced sex, married life and parenthood. But in return, she won the right to live as a man and lead her family in a fiercely patriarchal society.Nearly seven decades later, Hasanpapaj prefe

CultureAug. 4, 2016

Fierce blowouts -- straightened hair that has been hot-curled into gentle waves -- are the reason women hightail it to the salon once, sometimes twice, a week, and especially before special occasions. But what if you could get the same look and forfeit those salon trips for up to three months?The trendletSemipermanent-curl processes are the latest hair phenom to give women the just-left-the-salon look every day. Think of it as a Keratin treatment, but instead of bone-straight hair, ends are curl

Arts & DesignAug. 4, 2016

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- Christopher Sayegh holds up two syringes filled with cannabis compound, primed to pump tiny amounts into a pomegranate sorbet or a juicy cut of Wagyu Japanese beef as part of a bold new sensory experiment.As more U.S. states move to legalize the use of recreational marijuana, the California chef is aiming to elevate haute cuisine to a new level.Armed with cooking skills acquired while working at Michelin-star restaurants in New York and California, Sayegh says his mission is

FoodAug. 4, 2016

The all-too-realistic nature of director Kim Seong-hun’s upcoming summer thriller “Tunnel” may leave a bitter taste in the audience’s mouth.Centered around one man’s fight for survival after a tunnel collapse, the film holds a mirror up to societal and political shortcomings that pervade all organizations.  In a short but telling portrayal of protagonist Lee Jung-soo (Ha Jung-woo) before the freak accident, he is an avuncular character who exudes a sense of familiarity. A father, a husband and a

FilmAug. 4, 2016

NEW YORK (AP) - Oprah Winfrey has a new book club pick, Colson Whitehead's “The Underground Railroad,” a historical novel that imagines the network of safe houses and passages that helped slaves escape to free territory is an actual train.Winfrey told the Associated Press during a recent telephone interview that she knew from the first sentence that she would want to share her passion with her audience, an impulse she has relied on with uncommon success for 20 years.“I was blown away by it,” Win

BooksAug. 3, 2016

“The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror” By Joyce Carol OatesMysterious Press (336 pages, $24)When not writing fat, complicated novels that are some of the finest of our time, the ever-prolific Joyce Carol Oates churns out mysteries, often in the form of short stories or novellas. Sometimes those lesser works read like careless afterthoughts; other times, they’re quite good. “The Doll-Master” falls into the latter category. Its six stories are especially bone-chilling because they contain no

BooksAug. 3, 2016

“Three-Martini Lunch” By Suzanne RindellPutnam (512 pages, $27)“Nobody ever became a writer by just wanting to be one.” This terse advice by F. Scott Fitzgerald sets the scene for a compelling exploration of New York City’s Greenwich Village scene in the late 1950s, when beatniks, berets and big ideas gravitated to jazz clubs, and women and minorities could begin to voice ambition without feeling outright derision. (There was derision, but more politic.)Three ambitious young people intersect: Ed

BooksAug. 3, 2016

When Son Ye-jin was a young girl, she would be gripped by fear each time a new school year came around. 　“I used to be very shy. I hated going to a new classroom and having to make new friends, meet new teachers and adjust to a new environment,” the actress said at a group interview at a cafe in Seoul Wednesday. 　Son, 34, has come a long way from those days: She is a prolific performer with 19 films under her belt since debuting in 2000 and widely known for romantic roles in films such as “The C

FilmAug. 3, 2016

“North Korea and the World”By Walter C. Clemens Jr.University Press of Kentucky (443 pages, $39.95)North Korea and its succession of unfathomable, belligerent totalitarian dictators have long presented some of the most difficult challenges to world diplomacy. In his book “North Korea and the World,” published July 22, international policy expert Walter C. Clemens Jr. poses the question, “Can, should, and must we negotiate with a regime we regard as evil?”Clemens, an associate at the Harvard Uni

BooksAug. 3, 2016

There’s a great scene in Jessi Klein’s new book, in which she is backstage at the Emmy Awards last year with her just-won statue -- and her breast pump.“On a professional level, it felt really good,” she said of the win for her work as head writer on the Comedy Central sketch series, “Inside Amy Schumer.”“But for a variety of reasons, last year was one of the hardest years of my life,” she said, alluding to marital strife. “I spent a lot of time suffering and the Emmy did absolutely zero.“There’

BooksAug. 3, 2016