Peter Hessler details rapid change in China

Between 2001 and 2010, Peace Corps volunteer-turned-New Yorker writer Peter Hessler delivered three entertaining, richly detailed books on China told through his interactions with everyday people.Hessler left China several years ago, moved to Colorado and now lives in Cairo, but his new book, “Strange Stones: Dispatches From East and West,” is a compilation of ground-level short stories mostly about the Middle Kingdom. Fans of his New Yorker work will find most of these dispatches familiar, tho

BooksJune 13, 2013

Julia Sweeney keeps it light, even amid family and personal tragedy

I had spent all of six minutes with Julia Sweeney when I brought up adult braces.They’re the worst, I said. I had them for two years, I said. They’re the worst, I said again ― this time with feeling.It’s an odd thing to say to a person you barely know. Especially a person who lived through cervical cancer, recently lost a brother to alcoholism and nursed another brother through non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which eventually killed him.Adult braces are, quite obviously, not the worst.But Sweeney had offe

BooksJune 13, 2013

A dark journey into Rosemary’s past

We Are All Completely Beside OurselvesBy Karen Jay Fowler (Marian Wood Book / Putnam)The Cooke family at the heart of Karen Joy Fowler’s amazing new novel isn’t so much dysfunctional as it is broken. Some members are present. Others are missing. All of them are struggling. Why? “(W)here you succeed will never matter so much as where you fail,” says daughter Rosemary. The Cookes’ failures ― as parents, as siblings, as human beings ― have left them strangers to each other, incomplete and unhappy.A

BooksJune 13, 2013

Writer inspired by real-life war nurses

The Daughters of MarsBy Thomas Keneally (Atria Books) Thomas Keneally has always been a novelist who writes and lives in the big sweep of epic history.He took on the end of the First World War in “Gossip From the Forest,” the U.S. Civil War in “Confederates,” and the Eritrean War of Independence in “To Asmara.” He won the Booker Prize for “Schindler’s List,” his account of one good German saving lives during the Holocaust. In “The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith,” he told a story of racism and violen

BooksJune 13, 2013

Love and filmmaking in UAE

Love certainly is a universal theme in cinema, but Emirati filmmaker Jamal Salim found it a little challenging to make a romance film in his country.“In my country, an unrelated man and woman may not be alone together,” the director said in an interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul on June 5. “Imagine how hard it would be to make a romance movie without a single scene where a man and a woman are together alone.”Salim, who is also a writer, visited Seoul earlier this month to attend the opening

FilmJune 13, 2013

Dutch duo peddle old bikes as fashion, furniture

DELFT, Netherlands (AFP) ― Two Dutch entrepreneurs have found a novel way to make money out of the thousands of bicycles abandoned in the Netherlands each year ― by turning them into designer fashion items and furniture.Industrial design student Lodewijk Bosman, 25, and Hidde van der Straaten, 28, founded “The Upcycle” in university city Delft in January 2012 to exploit a typically Dutch problem.The Netherlands has more bikes ― 18 million ― than its 17 million population, and around a million ne

CultureJune 13, 2013

Seoul Philharmonic to hold ‘Summer Night Concert’ at Hangang River

The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra is holding a free outdoor concert by the Hangang River on Saturday, featuring familiar tunes ranging from classical to jazz. “A Summer Night Concert with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra,” to be held at Neoreundeulpan in Yeouido Hangang Park on 7:30 p.m., will feature star conductor Sung Shi-yeon leading one of the country’s most prestigious orchestras to present Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”; Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite No. 2; as well as Leonard Bernstein’s Overtu

CultureJune 13, 2013

Works of Gauguin come to Seoul

Masterpieces of the French post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin are on exhibition in Seoul. The exhibition, which runs from Friday to Sept. 29 at the Seoul Museum of Art, is the first-ever comprehensive survey of Gauguin’s artistic career presented to a Korean audience. It showcases about 60 artworks on loan from 30 major museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Musee d’Orsay in Paris and the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum in Moscow.  The exhibition focuses on

PerformanceJune 13, 2013

‘The Bling Ring,’ ‘Man of Steel’ fail to meet expectations

“The Bling Ring”Given that the film currently ruling the box office is about Americans encouraged by their government to indulge their homicidal urges one night a year ― we’re talking about “The Purge’’ ― it’s tempting to hail the clueless young burglars in “The Bling Ring’’ as veritable humanitarians. After all, they’re not out to kill or even hurt anyone. All they want is your designer shoes, your cute tops, your Rolex watches, your cash. And if you’re not a hot young celebrity they’ll leave

FilmJune 13, 2013

Sistar dominates charts with ‘Give It To Me’

Sexy four-member girl group Sistar has returned to the music scene with their second full album, “Give It To Me,” with most of the songs sweeping the local music charts. The 11-track album was released on Tuesday and as of Thursday afternoon Sistar’s lead track “Give It To Me” still sits at the No. 1 spot on all the major local music charts. Eight tracks, including “Bad Boy,” “The Way You Make Me Melt” and “Summertime,” made it into Naver’s Top 10 real-time music chart while six ranked on the Da

PerformanceJune 13, 2013

‘Snowpiercer’ to open in Korea on Aug. 1

“Snowpiercer,” the highly anticipated English-language film debut of director Bong Joon-ho, will hit local cinemas on Aug. 1, its Korean distributor CJ E&M said Wednesday. The opening will be the world premiere of the film starring international stars such as Tilda Swinton, Chris Evans, Ed Harris, Jamie Bell and Korean actor Song Kang-ho.The film will later be distributed by Weinstein Company and other distributors in the U.S., France, Japan, Russia and elsewhere. “Snowpiercer,” based on French

CultureJune 13, 2013

[Photo News] Futsal and World Cup

PeopleJune 13, 2013

2013 lineup of hottest Hollywood celeb visits in Seoul

A growing number of Hollywood stars make trips to South Korea to promote their films or boost the image of global brands. In 2013 alone, a dozen well-known celebrities flew to the country, and here‘s a list of the top figures. 1. Fanning sisters (Jan. 5)Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning were the first Hollywood celebrities to visit Seoul this year. The sisters reportedly came to Seoul to promote local jewelry brand J. Estina, which is also promoted by figure skater Kim Yu-na. Other than their prom

FilmJune 13, 2013

Picture compares Obama and Xi with ‘Winnie the Pooh’

A picture that compares U.S. president Barak Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping with Disney’s cartoon characters Winnie the Pooh and Tigger went viral on the Chinese microblog Sina Weibo, British media reported on Wednesday.The picture showing the leaders posing perfectly in sync with the animated characters was initially uploaded by a user and gained huge attention online as influential Chinese bloggers shared it.But the website removed the picture for its “inappropriateness to go public.” It

PeopleJune 13, 2013

After School puts on a new color for 6th album

Girl group After School released on Thursday its sixth album together with a music video of its title song “First Love.”In the music video, the eight members of the group dance along to the funky and groovy melody, singing about unforgettable first love. Seeking to shed their established image, After School put on a sentimental look, accentuating each singer’s sorrowful vocals.After School partnered again with famed Korean producer and songwriter Brave Brothers -- the creator of “Because of You”

PerformanceJune 13, 2013

Foreign songwriters enhance the K-pop sound

Lee Hyo-ri has finally marked her return to the music scene after a three-year hiatus. The K-pop diva’s fifth album “Monochrome” not only highlights Lee’s quest to become a singer-songwriter but also her new retro sound with the help of foreign composers.Including the lead single “Bad Girls,” 12 out of 16 tracks were by songwriters from abroad. Critics are seeing her album more fitting for Lee than any of her previous releases, escaping her hip-hop sounds one tracks like “Chitty Chitty Bang Ban

PerformanceJune 13, 2013

Agency strives to regain hallyu’s luster in Japan

Hallyu has grown much in Japan since 2004 when Korean melodrama “Winter Sonata” hit the jackpot there. The drama achieved record ratings on a state-run NHK, heralding the spread of the Korean Wave. In the decade since, hallyu has evolved in many respects, generating billions of won in revenues. But experts say the current state of hallyu is “just enough to maintain the status quo.”“The Korean Wave has not died in Japan, but it did not show any sign of growth in recent years,” said Kwon Ho-young

June 13, 2013