The Korea Herald

‘American Sniper’ makes box office history

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” blasted into first place with a massive $107 million on its debut weekend at the North American box office, a record for a January opening, industry figures showed Tuesday.The war drama, based on the true story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, has racked up six Oscar nominations, including best picture and best actor for star Bradley Cooper. But the film ― on its first weekend in wide release ― also triggered a heated online debate about patriotism,

FilmJan. 21, 2015

‘American Sniper’ makes box office history

Redford return lights up Sundance Festival

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― The annual Sundance Film Festival opens Thursday in the Utah mountains with its usual selection of quirky, independent movies ― and its iconic founder Robert Redford back on the big screen.The 78-year-old, who famously named the festival after 1969 classic “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” will make a rare appearance in front of the camera in “A Walk in the Woods,” based on U.S. travel writer Bill Bryson’s book.The film is among about 200 movies to be screened from Jan. 2

FilmJan. 21, 2015

Calligrapher to fashion world’s inviting hand

PARIS (AFP) ― His hand is steady and sure as it delicately traces the contours of the biggest names in the world of style: the celebrities, the magazine editors, the clients. Nicolas Ouchenir is a calligrapher, a member of a rarified profession whose ink appears on the must-have invitations of Europe’s fashion shows.He may not personally meet all the VIPs attending the catwalk parades. But his personalized flourish to them, deliberately evoking the elegance of times past is carried close in thei

Arts & DesignJan. 21, 2015

Calligrapher to fashion world’s inviting hand

Style (re)solutions: 6 steps to up your fashion, beauty game

Where there’s a resolution, chances are there’s a style solution to help conquer it.Before you let winter doldrums and self-defeat drown your goals for the new year, check out some of these simple beauty and fashion tips for looking and feeling your best in 2015.If you want to ...Get in shape: Weight loss tops the list of most-common resolutions each year and often is among the most commonly broken ones, too. What you wear ― and how you wear it ― can help you look more slim and trim. Opt for tai

Arts & DesignJan. 21, 2015

Style (re)solutions: 6 steps to up your fashion, beauty game

Actor Ryu Si-won divorces his wife

Actor-singer Ryu Si-won's five-year marriage ended on Wednesday as a local court ruled in favor of his wife in a divorce suit, judicial sources said.The Seoul Family Court ordered Ryu to pay 30 million won ($27,700) in alimony to his wife surnamed Cho, recognizing the actor's responsibility in the marriage's demise, they said.The 42-year-old actor was also ordered to give 390 million won or 15 percent of the property that he accumulated during the marriage to his wife, according to sources.The c

TelevisionJan. 21, 2015

Book Club a magnet for Korean writers

When it started out as a simple reading club, Barry Welsh had no idea that his book club would become a forum for Korea’s most famous authors.But 3 1/2 years since it started out, the Seoul Book Club has hosted not only expat writers but literary luminaries including Kim Yong-ha, Hwang Sok-yong and Gong Ji-young.The book club meets again on Saturday, this time for a discussion with Ko Un, one of Korea’s best-known poets and an occasional tip for the Nobel Prize in literature.He will be discussin

Expat LivingJan. 20, 2015

Talk to remember ’forgotten’ figure in Korean history

There is one enemy of the state whom Seoul has not paid enough attention to according to a former senior adviser to the head of South Korean national security. Ra Jong-yil, a former ambassador and a professor at Hanyang University, will be giving a lecture for the Korean branch of the Royal Asiatic Society on Kang Min-cheol. Kang, who Ra calls a “forgotten terrorist,” was one of three North Koreans sent in 1983 to assassinate then-South Korean President Chun Do-hwan in Myanmar ― a plot that fail

Expat LivingJan. 20, 2015

Belly dancer’s ‘Shake Shop’ readies for final shows

Belly dancer Eshe Yildiz is set to hold the 19th “Shake Shop” club night in Hongdae on Saturday. Eshe founded the monthly event in 2013 and also dances with the Eshe and Navah troupe. She says she feels blessed to have had the opportunity to meet everyone who has been involved.“I can’t believe all of the talented Seoul indie bands we’ve been able to work together with. It’s been such a fun and amazing experience to collaborate with so many amazing acts,” she said. Shake Shop 19, which runs at Fr

Expat LivingJan. 20, 2015

Seoul mayor to hold meeting with European residents

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon will host a meeting with European nationals living in the city at the Seoul Global Center in late February. Over 375,000 foreign nationals were living in Seoul as of the end of September, making up more than 3.7 percent of the city’s population. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has released a survey for expats through which it hopes to set the agenda for the public meeting. The survey, which can be found here or via Korea4Expats.com asks participants to state their pur

Expat LivingJan. 20, 2015

Giving Back gears up for annual fund-raiser

English-teaching charity Giving Back is running its annual fund-raiser in Itaewon next week.The Jan. 31 event will feature live bands and a raffle, and the money raised will help fund classes for underprivileged children run by the group’s Korean and expat volunteers.Barry Smith, who volunteers for the charity and is married to Giving Back founder Yvette Jeong-hwa Park, said that the group had grown over the years and now has five classes in Seoul and one in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province. The Yangju

Expat LivingJan. 20, 2015

Keeping Nam June Paik’s legacy alive

No one better predicted how mass media and the Internet would shape our lives today than Nam June Paik. In 1974, the visionary Korean artist came up with the term “Electronic Superhighway,” coined from the U.S. interstate highway system to foretell the Internet’s complex network. A pioneer in video art, Paik had so many new ideas that had never been thought of. But to visualize them, he needed technological assistance. Enter Lee Jung-sung. For over 20 years, the electronics technician worked wit

PerformanceJan. 20, 2015

Gucci salutes France in first post-Giannini show

MILAN (AP) ― The fashion curtain call is part of the ritual of the runway show, with each designer’s personality reflected in that final bow.Some, like Miuccia Prada, appear in the doorway for a nanosecond. Donatella Versace walks a good 10 meters out to salute the crowd, while Giorgio Armani stands perfectly lit in the darkened stage entrance. Monday was to be Frida Giannini’s last bow as creative director at Gucci’s menswear after a decade at the Florentine house ― but that was not to be. The

Arts & DesignJan. 20, 2015

Gucci salutes France in first post-Giannini show

Robinson, Chast, Piketty among U.S. book critic prize nominees

NEW YORK (AP) ― Novelist Marilynne Robinson, economist Thomas Piketty and cartoonist Roz Chast are among the finalists for National Book Critics Circle prizes.Nobel laureate Toni Morrison will receive a lifetime achievement award, while National Book Award winner Phil Klay has won the John Leonard Prize for the best debut release of 2014, the short story collection “Redeployment.”Leonard, who died in 2008, was a reviewer for the New York Times and other publications and a founder of the book cri

CultureJan. 20, 2015

Amazon to produce, acquire original movies

Amazon is getting into the movie business.Amazon Studios announced Monday that it will significantly expand into movie production by acquiring films for theatrical release and early-window streaming through its subscription service, Amazon Prime Instant Video. A key part of the new venture is to shrink what’s historically been a three-month window reserved for theaters, instead getting movies to its website four to eight weeks after theatrical release.Roy Price, vice president of Amazon Studios,

FilmJan. 20, 2015

Amazon to produce, acquire original movies

I wanted to quit music: Jung Yong-hwa

Jung Yong-hwa. (FNC Entertainment)Jung Yong-hwa, a member of K-pop group CNBLUE, said Monday that he had gone through difficult times and wanted to quit music. “People do not know this, but I have been through rough times in the past few years. There were times when I wanted to quit everything,” the 25-year-old singer-actor revealed, without giving more details. The remarks came during a showcase in Seoul on Monday to unveil his first solo album “One Fine Day,” a day before its official release

PerformanceJan. 20, 2015

4Minute to return in February

4Minute. (Cube Entertainment)K-pop girl group 4Minute will stage a return in February. The group announced it through its official Facebook account Tuesday, posting a link to a 3-D motion graphic clip on YouTube. Titled “4Minute ― REVAMPED,” the clip depicts a purple orb surfacing from underwater, heralding the group’s return to the local music scene. As the orb levitates, the overlying music transitions from mystical to dramatic. The suspense escalates until the orb explodes, revealing the numb

PerformanceJan. 20, 2015

Beastie Boys’ bills exceed $1.7m in Monster Energy suit

NEW YORK (AP) ― The Beastie Boys want to force the maker of Monster Energy drink to pay nearly $2.4 million in legal fees and costs so the rappers’ $1.7 million jury award is not dwarfed by expenses in a copyright violation case, lawyers say. A Manhattan federal court jury awarded the group most of the $2 million it requested at a June trial, but that was not enough to cover costs that lawyers said were worsened by the actions of the Corona, California-based Monster Energy Co., the musicians’ la

PerformanceJan. 20, 2015

Singer Kim Jang-hoon probed for smoking on Paris flight

Kim Jang-hoonINCHEON (Yonhap) ― Pop singer Kim Jang-hoon has recently been investigated for smoking aboard a home-bound plane from France, prosecutors said Tuesday.Kim was accused of smoking a cigarette on Thursday in a toilet of a Korean Air flight bound for Incheon International Airport, South Korea’s main gateway, after leaving France’s Charles de Gaulle Airport.On Monday, the 50-year-old singer, who is well-known for his donations to charity groups and other good deeds, was summarily indicte

PerformanceJan. 20, 2015

Singer Kim Jang-hoon probed for smoking on Paris flight

Hwacheon's ice-fishing festival draws more than 800,000 visitors

The ice-fishing festival under way here has drawn more than 800,000 visitors in just nine days since its opening last week, organizers said Monday.According to local officials who organized the annual event, the number of visitors to the 2015 Hwancheon Sancheoneo Festival surpassed 185,000 on Saturday alone, hitting a new daily record. On Sunday, the number was estimated at 155,000.Of the total visitors so far, the number of foreigners was estimated at 15,000, including 1,400 on Sunday, accordin

TravelJan. 20, 2015

Chung lays out conditions for contract renewal

Conductor Chung Myung-whun on Monday laid out preconditions for his contract renewal as music director of Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Speaking at a press conference at the ensemble’s rehearsal room in Seoul, the conductor revealed that, contrary to media reports, he hadn’t agreed to stay on. “I am currently without any contract,” said Chung, whose three-year contract expired at the end of last year. Talks over a possible renewal had been delayed for weeks due to an internal dispute at the orch

PerformanceJan. 19, 2015

Chung lays out conditions for contract renewal