[Travel Bits] Round up of travel news from around the world

Busan Fireworks FestivalThe annual Busan Fireworks Festival gearing up for its 12th year, kicking off its festivities October 22 along Gwangalli Beach.Along with its breathtaking fireworks display show, the festival will feature a myriad of diverse events, including live music and street performances. The annual festival is one of the city’s biggest and most popular events, attracting more than 1 million national and international visitors every year.Although in the past the festival has been he

TravelJuly 15, 2016

[Around the hotels] Round up of hotel events and news

Summer Family package at Lotte City Hotel JejuLotte City Hotel Jeju is presenting its Summer Family package starting at 280,000 won.To help families traveling with kids make the best out of their stays, the package offers various discounts and amenities including a one-night stay in a standard family twin room, a meal for 2 adults and one child at the hotel’s buffet-style restaurant C’cafe, deluxe chocolate from Hershey’s Kisses, free parking service at Lotte Mall’s Gimpo Airport branch, and mor

TravelJuly 15, 2016

Why are second films so hard to get going for women, directors of color?

As a first-time director, Anna Rose Holmer is in an elite group. Her movie, “The Fits,” about an 11-year-old tomboy trying to fit in, was one of the fewer than 1 percent of submitted features that Sundance Film Festival programmers chose last year, an acceptance rate tougher than that of an Ivy League college. She received some of the best reviews of the festival and secured a distribution deal, a manager and an agent.And yet, amid this success, Holmer, 31, now faces what is possibly the greates

FilmJuly 15, 2016

[Home Cooking] Saewu Naengchae (Shrimp Salad with Hot Mustard Dressing)

This shrimp salad with cucumber and Korean pear is lightly dressed with a hot mustard (gyeoja) sauce, which is a classic Korean salad dressing. The hot mustard gives a flavorful, spicy kick to the salad. I used hot mustard powder in this recipe, but you can use gyeoja paste in a tube (yeongyeoja). I stacked the salad ingredients for presentation, but you can arrange them on a plate anyway you want. This crisp and refreshing salad can be an elegant starter or a light meal on a hot summer day!  2-

FoodJuly 15, 2016

Maestro Chung questioned in defamation probe

Maestro Chung Myung-whun was questioned by the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office Thursday morning regarding his alleged involvement in the ousting of former Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra CEO Park Hyun-jung in December 2014. “I believed what my colleagues of 10 years had told me,” Chung told reporters outside the Prosecutors’ Office, in reference to the 10 SPO members who had filed charges against former CEO Park over allegations of sexual and verbal harassment. After a months-long investigation b

PerformanceJuly 14, 2016

Psy’s ‘Daddy’ most viewed K-pop music video on YouTube in 2016

Four years after his global hit “Gangnam Style,” Psy continues to hold his position as one of K-pop’s biggest names.“Daddy” from the singer’s seventh album “Chil-jip Psy-da” gained the most global views of all official K-pop music videos on YouTube from November 2015 to June 30, the company announced on Thursday. The video has recorded over 170 million views so far. Psy’s award-winning hit “Gangnam Style” still maintains its spot as the most viewed video on YouTube of all time, accumulating over

PerformanceJuly 14, 2016

‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Veep’ vie for hotly contested Emmy nods

LOS ANGELES (AP) - “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson may want to practice looking surprised and humble before helping to announce this year’s Emmy contenders on Thursday morning.He and the critically acclaimed comedy series could be getting a lot of TV academy love if voters keep pace with the medium’s increasing diversity.The Emmy Awards have done a better job than their big-screen counterpart, the Oscars, at embracing more of the varied people, programs and platforms that make up the small-scr

TelevisionJuly 14, 2016

[Herald Review] Not much left alive in ‘Train to Busan’

Director Yeon Sang-ho’s apocalyptic thriller “Train to Busan” is something of a cross between Bong Joon-ho’s dystopian film “Snowpiercer” and the zombie flick “World War Z” starring Brad Pitt.In the movie, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival’s Out-of-Competition category in May, viewers are presented with a racing train on which an outbreak of a virus causes those infected to instantly turn into flesh-devouring zombies. Passengers fight for their lives, compartment by compartment, as the

FilmJuly 14, 2016

Multimedia artist Kang Ik-joong to light up London’s River Thames with ‘Floating Dreams’

South Korean renowned artist Kang Ik-joong said Wednesday he will be exhibiting a large-scale installation art piece on the River Thames, London, in September.“Floating Dreams,” the centerpiece art work for the yearly riverside festival “Totally Thames,” will consist of 500 miniature paintings drawn by South Korean seniors who had to flee their hometown across the border during the 1950-1953 Korean War.The three-story-high lantern sculpture (11-meters long, 10-m wide and 10-m high), will be illu

PerformanceJuly 14, 2016

By letting camera roll, film gives rare view of North Korea

NEW YORK (AP) -- The conditions placed on director Vitaly Mansky for shooting a film in North Korea were severe. For what was ostensibly to be a “documentary,” North Korea would supply the script. The state would choose the subjects, too, as well as the location of all scenes. He would be accompanied at all times by several state officials who would control the production. And North Korea would have final say on any footage that was used. Yet even in these impossible circumstances, Mansky manage

FilmJuly 14, 2016

Ai Weiwei’s refugee life jackets in Vienna palace pond

VIENNA (AFP) - Visitors to Vienna’s Belvedere Palace were confronted Wednesday with 1,005 refugees’ life jackets drifting in the baroque pond -- courtesy of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei.The installation, entitled “F. Lotus,” consists of 201 rings each holding five life jackets -- retrieved from the Greek island of Lesbos -- arranged in the letter “F” and floating like lotus flowers.Ai, who in February this year attached 14,000 life jackets to the columns of a Berlin concert house, said tha

PerformanceJuly 14, 2016

[Herald Interview] Gaon’s modern take on Joseon royal cuisine

The kings of the Joseon era (1392-1910) tucked into a total of seven meals daily and each one involved meticulous planning. The day would begin with a medicinal herbal soup early in the morning, followed by breakfast, lunch and dinner with light meals and snacks between the three meals. All the meals were carefully planned and prepared by court doctors and kitchen staff, who regarded King’s food as an important part of national politics in the kingdom, which existed more than 500 years before Ko

FoodJuly 14, 2016

Grand Hilton kick-starts early bird Oktoberfest sales

The Grand Hilton Seoul is gearing up to host its annual Oktoberfest, marking the 10th anniversary of one of the city’s largest beer festivals. The festivities will kick off on Sept. 3 at the hotel’s convention hall. It will feature unlimited Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier and Weihenstephaner Original Lager on tap, along with traditional German food including Bavarian white sausage, schweinshaxe, Black Forest ham and a wide choice of buffet dishes – much like Germany’s original Oktoberfest. This

FoodJuly 14, 2016