[Weekender] Korea’s mountain playgrounds

It’s hard to say exactly how many mountains there are in Korea, partly because there are so many of them. Former Korea Herald columnist Gary Rector notes, “There’s no real way to delineate a mountain (here) since they all run together in ranges. Some mountains even have more than one name, depending on where you look at them from.” Most are part of the Taebaek Range, along the east coast, and its many offshoots.The country is so rugged that even the capital city has no fewer than a dozen peaks,

TravelOct. 24, 2014

Serving up Korean food with a sexy twist

It is clich to say that life takes interesting turns, but for celebrity chef Judy Joo, that may very well be the best way to describe the path that life has taken her.The Korean-American who now lives in London began her career on the fix income-trading floor at Morgan Stanley upon graduating Columbia University with an engineering degree. She enjoyed her success but her heart was not in it. It was the fine dining that she was introduced to as a high-earning Wall Street trader that kept tugging

FoodOct. 24, 2014

Calendar

Classical musicThe Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra: Maestro Mariss Jansons will conduct his Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in two concerts at Seoul Arts Center. On Nov. 18, the world-renowned orchestra will perform Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” and Mussorgsky’s “Pictures At An Exhibition” (arr. Ravel). The program for the next day consists of Strauss’ “Don Juan” and “Der Rosenkavalier Suite (The Knight of the Rose)” and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. Tickets run from 60,000 w

CultureOct. 24, 2014

Box Office: The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol, The Golden Era, My Love My Bride

The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol (Korea)Opened Oct. 23Documentary. Directed by Lee Sang-ho and Ahn Hae-ryongThe documentary “The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol” (a.k.a. “Diving Bell”) addresses issues on the April 16 sinking of the Sewol ferry, which claimed more than 300 lives, particularly issues about the use of a marine rescue equipment called a diving bell, which was largely seen as a failure. Investigative journalist Lee Sang-ho takes the camera to Paengmok Harbor, Jindo Island, to doc

FilmOct. 24, 2014

Hasbro in high spirits over prospects for film based on Ouija board

Hollywood has a fascination with turning classic board games into movies.There was “Clue” and “Battleship,” and now “Ouija” is about to hit theaters this week. Filmmakers are working to get “Monopoly,” “Candy Land” and “Risk” off the toy store shelves and into cinemas.The big studios hope to cash in at the box office as these familiar titles resonate with grown-ups and teenagers alike who played the games as children. And, for toy makers like Hasbro Inc., it could help boost sales of games that

FilmOct. 24, 2014

Eyelike: Opera‘s Kaufmann turns to lighter fare

Opera‘s Kaufmann turns to lighter fareJonas Kaufmann“You Mean the World to Me”(Sony)Is there anything Jonas Kaufmann can’t do? The great German tenor has long since conquered the worlds of grand opera and classical recital. Now he turns his talents with equal success to lighter fare, on an album of German operetta and film songs from 1925-35.Those years marked a period of tremendous cultural creativity until it was brought to a screeching halt by the ascension of the Nazis, who forced many of th

PerformanceOct. 24, 2014

The ultimate bathing experience

For travelers who have a bit of time to check out Hungary, thermal baths, the biggest and most famous in Europe, are the snapshot of society and the people there. Asian countries like Korea and Japan also share the culture of thermal bathing. While taking a hot spring bath is now more favored by elderly people for special occasions in Asia, there are no age, gender or social barriers at Hungarian baths. During my weeklong stay in Hungary, I visited two most famous thermal baths in the country: t

TravelOct. 24, 2014

Hidden treasures of Hungary

Aside from the bustling capital city of Budapest, Hungary is still little known to many Asian tourists who are frequent travelers to European cities.With the aim to reveal the country’s hidden treasures, the Hungarian Embassy to Korea recently offered a group of Korean journalists a rare opportunity to look around several small cities there. In reflection of the agency’s strong will to show more about the country, the weeklong schedule was packed with diverse but brief programs, but it was long

TravelOct. 24, 2014

Stuffed popovers and blue velvet cake at Melting Shop

Expect the unexpected at Melting Shop, a brand-new restaurant helmed by the duo who created the restaurants Tastingroom and Miki Creole. Situated in Seoul’s Sinsa-dong near Dosan Park, Melting Shop held its soft opening on Oct. 15 and is slated to hold its grand opening on Nov. 1.At the new establishment, popovers, flatbread and cake are remixed into fresh, fun eats that are as tasty as they are unconventional. “We decided to do something completely new,” said Melting Shop director Kim Ju-young,

FoodOct. 24, 2014

Around the hotels

Lotte Hotel Seoul invites Michelin-starred Korean chef Lotte Hotel Seoul’s Mugunghwa is hosting Hooni Kim, owner-chef of the Michelin-starred Danji and the acclaimed Hanjan in New York. The celebrated chef has been invited to present the creations he serves at Danji and Hanjan. The lunch menu, priced at 95,000 won, includes New York-style cold spicy sea bream soup with seaweed and fumet sherbet, Korean beef tartar with natural pine mushroom, butterfish simmered in soy sauce or Hooni Kim-style sp

FoodOct. 24, 2014

A pie to remember

Sunday mornings other Minneapolis families went to church; we picked up bagels at the Lincoln Del. That’s how I knew we were Jewish.Dad ordered a baker’s dozen, sliced lox and cream cheese. Also Max’s half dills, whitefish wrapped in paper and a block of gritty halvah. I helped by gazing into the glass case. It was cold, bright and packed with astounding confections. I was mesmerized by the frog cakes, cut to reveal raspberry smiles.Once, the woman behind the counter lifted out a chocolate-cover

FoodOct. 24, 2014

2NE1 Minzy’s sister debuts

Gong Min-young. (Sony Music)Gong Min-young, the older sister of 2NE1’s Minzy, debuted Friday as a singer with her first album “Rebirth.”The album consists of eight tracks, most of them self-composed contemporary Christian music. Gong tried an unconventional music style by mixing religious songs with contemporary genres such as jazz, hip-hop and rhythm and blues, her agency Sony Music Entertainment said. Track titles such as “Let’s Party,” “Go!” and “Turn It Up” contain her modern take on Christi

Oct. 24, 2014

First-generation K-pop idols reunite for EP

S (SM Entertainment)Group S, a trio of first-generation K-pop singers, released an EP on Friday after an 11-year hiatus.The group, which debuted in 2003, consists of vocalists of popular boy groups of the late 1990s: Kangta of H.O.T, Shin Hye-sung of Shinhwa and singer Lee Ji-hoon. Their latest EP “Autumn Breeze” has five songs, which are composed and produced by Kangta. The title track “Without You” is an acoustic pop ballad sung in harmony by the three vocals. The song tells the story of a cou

Oct. 24, 2014

Shin Hae-chul still in coma

After collapsing from a sudden cardiac arrest on Wednesday, rock star Shin Hae-chul remains in critical condition at the Seoul Asan Hospital’s intensive care unit after undergoing surgery. According to representatives from the singer’s agency, KCA Entertainment, Shin’s three-hour operation to resuscitate his heart went well. However, it remains to be seen whether he can pull through. “His blood pressure has returned to a safe level, but his pupils are unresponsive and he still remains unconsciou

PerformanceOct. 24, 2014

Bernhard Schlink: Two Koreas should be the victors

The biggest mistake Germany made during reunification is that one side was the victor, while the other was the defeated, according to a prominent German writer and thinker. German novelist Bernhard Schlink, the writer of the award-winning 1995 novel “The Reader” and many other works that shed light on the theme of the past, guilt and postwar generation of Germany, says if he could give advice on Korean reunification, it would be to respect each other. “You two (North and South Korea) will be the

BooksOct. 23, 2014

[Herald Interview] Deriving 21st-century questions from classic masterpiece

Continuing on the Shakespeare theme after the much-hailed production earlier this month of Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette,” the Korea National Opera is presenting another Shakespeare play-turned-opera ― Giuseppe Verdi’s “Otello.” For the production, which will be staged next month at Seoul Arts Center, the state-run company has brought in British stage director Stephen Lawless, who in previous works has displayed a balance between traditional and nontraditional approaches to the classic opera reper

CultureOct. 23, 2014