Stolen Van Goghs on show in Naples

NAPLES, Italy (AFP) -- Two Van Gogh masterpieces stolen in Amsterdam in 2002 and recovered last year in Italy will be on show in Naples from Tuesday until Feb. 26.The brief exhibition at the Capodimonte museum has been organized as a thank you to the southern city for the local police‘s role in tracking down the two small but hugely valuable and historically significant oil paintings.The works had gone unheard of from the time they were stolen in a daring raid on the Van Gogh Museum until they t

PerformanceFeb. 7, 2017

Vibrant Tate show traces of David Hockney’s artistic journey

LONDON (AP) - It’s not often an artist finds himself occupying 12 rooms of London’s leading museum of British art and the front page of populist tabloid The Sun. But David Hockney is unique. For curators of a major retrospective opening this week at Tate Britain, Hockney is an innovator whose 60-year career has taken in sketching, painting, printmaking, photography and digital iPad experiments. His depictions of sun-dappled Los Angeles swimming pools and wooded Yorkshire hills are among the best

PerformanceFeb. 7, 2017

Hottest tickets at the Berlin film festival

BERLIN (AFP) - The Berlin film festival, one of Europe‘s top cinema showcases, gets under way Thursday, bringing a parade of stars to its famed red carpet.Nearly 400 movies will be screened during the 11-day gathering. Here’s a preview of highlights from the Berlinale, now in its 67th year, that are already generating buzz.Portraits of the artist Right from opening night, the festival will throw a spotlight on biopics and documentaries that explore famous creative lives. Etienne Comar‘s debut fe

FilmFeb. 7, 2017

Actor So Ji-sub to begin Asia tour in April

(Yonhap)South Korean actor So Ji-sub will kick off his fan-meeting tour of Asian countries in Taipei in April,  his agency said Tuesday.The Asia tour titled "Twenty: The Moment" will begin in the Taiwanese capital on April 2 and take him to Seoul, Jakarta and Hong Kong, 51K Company said. It said the actor prepared various onstage events to better communicate with his fans.Schedules and other details of the forthcoming tour will become available via his official Web site at sojisub.com.The model-

TelevisionFeb. 7, 2017

6 Korean films to be screened at Berlin fest

Six Korean films, including award-winning director Hong Sang-soo's latest movie, will be screened at the Berlin International Film Festival set to kick off this week. (Finecut)Hong's "On the Beach at Night Alone" will be featured in the main competition category, while five others will be shown in noncompetition sections."On the Beach" is Hong's 19th feature film and third foray to Berlin after "Night and Day" (2008) and "Nobody's Daughter Haewon" (2013). It will be Korea's first film to advance

FilmFeb. 7, 2017

Films drift into alternate realities of dreams and games

Two sci-fi thriller films set to hit theaters this month take place in the alternate realities of dreams and games.“Lucid Dream,” opening Feb. 22, stars Go Soo as a journalist whose specialty lies in exposing corruption inside big companies. To recover his kidnapped son, the character uses his ability to remain conscious in a dream state to retrace his memory back three years to the time of the incident.The film also introduces various notions related to the mystery of human sleep, including col

FilmFeb. 6, 2017

Entertainment agency stocks plummet as China reacts to THAAD deployment

The value in stock assets held by Korea’s entertainment industry leaders has plummeted in the wake of the Chinese government’s response to the anticipated US anti-missile system deployment here.Lee Soo-man, the founder of S.M. Entertainment and its former president, saw his S.M. Entertainment stocks sitting at a total 103.77 billion won ($91.3 million) as of market closing on Friday, according to Chaebul.com. This represents a 44.3 percent drop from the 186.2 billion won he recorded a year earli

PeopleFeb. 6, 2017

Apple Music gives nod to Zion.T and G-Dragon’s ‘Complex’

Singer-producer Zion.T’s song “Complex,” from his recent album “OO,” was selected among the “Best of the Week” by the US’ Apple Music on Sunday.“Complex,” a moody tune that sings about personal insecurities, features rapper-producer G-Dragon of K-pop group Big Bang.Every week, the “Best of the Week” list selects new tracks released by artists from around the world. Also listed among the 50 songs were Eminem’s “No Favors” and Imagine Dragon’s “Believer.”  Album cover image of Zion.T’s new album “

PerformanceFeb. 6, 2017

Lady Gaga delivers a show big on flash and inclusiveness

NEW YORK (AP) - Lady Gaga dropped from the top of Houston’s NRG Stadium to open her halftime show and dropped the mic at the end, offering a program that delivered high-energy hits and an inclusive theme.With the nation on edge politically, the NFL had little taste for a show that would ruffle feathers, as Beyonce did in some circles last year with the Black Power messaging of “Formation.” Gaga was patriotic from the start, opening with snippets of “God Bless America” and “This Land is Your Land

PerformanceFeb. 6, 2017

Dutch city unveils ‘largest ever Mondrian painting’

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) -- Dutch officials unveiled Friday what they called “the largest Mondrian painting in the world” to celebrate the Netherlands’ best-known abstract artist, who helped found an influential art movement a century ago.The replica “painting” made from thin stick-on plastic sheets features Piet Mondrian’s famous design of straight black lines and striking red, yellow and blue blocks and has been displayed on the sides of the city hall in The Hague. “The Hague’s city counci

PerformanceFeb. 6, 2017

Rodin Museum fetes sculptor with passion-themed installation

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Auguste Rodin’s sensuous piece “The Kiss” will, fittingly, form the core of an installation at Philadelphia’s Rodin Museum centered on the theme of passion to mark the 100th anniversary of the French sculptor’s death.“The Kiss,” in marble, portrays a couple forever locked in an amorous embrace. The new installation’s marble, bronze and plaster casts feature pairings including men and women, mothers and children, a woman clutching a dead lover -- and others that are playful, a

PerformanceFeb. 6, 2017

Art star Anish Kapoor wins $1m Jewish prize

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor was named on Monday as this year's winner of the million-dollar Genesis Prize, awarded for commitment to Israel and Judaism, organizers said.British-Indian Kapoor “is one of the most influential and innovative artists of his generation,” they said in a statement.He won the prestigious Turner Prize in 1991 and was knighted in 2013. “Kapoor will use this award, and the global platform provided by the Genesis Prize, to raise awareness of the plight of ref

PerformanceFeb. 6, 2017

Black Sabbath say last rites on touring in homecoming

LONDON (AFP) - Black Sabbath, the pioneers of heavy metal, ended their last-ever tour with a final concert in Birmingham, their home town where it all began nearly 50 years ago.The godfathers of the genre bowed out on Saturday with a farewell show at the 16,000-capacity National Exhibition Centre Arena in the central English city.Guitarist Tony Iommi, singer Ozzy Osbourne, bass guitarist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward got together in 1968 and created a sound filled with the brooding menace

PerformanceFeb. 6, 2017

'Fabricated City': Losers' thrilling rebellion against irrational world

In this dystopian city reminiscent of George Orwell's "1984," everyone is under complete surveillance by a Big Brother-type villain. He effortlessly manipulates criminal cases and distorts facts, utilizing his connections to those in power, CCTV footage, IT technology and vast amounts of private information of citizens that he gathers in a panic room. (Yonhap)Set in a futuristic Seoul, "Fabricated City" offers a glimpse into the gloomy future in a society controlled by an omnipresent, totalitari

FilmFeb. 6, 2017

Actor Park Hae-jin's wax figure to be unveiled in Hong Kong

A wax figure of the popular Korean actor Park Hae-jin will go on display in a global museum of wax dolls in Hong Kong from next month, his agency said Monday. (Maadame Tussauds Hong Kong)The actor will unveil his wax figure in a ceremony at a "hallyu" themed exhibition room of Maadame Tussauds Hong Kong, Mountain Movement said. Hallyu refers to the Asia-wide popularity of Korean pop music, TV shows and films.There are wax dolls for other hallyu stars such as Bae Yong-joon, Kim Soo-hyun, Lee Jong

TelevisionFeb. 6, 2017

Actress Kim You-jung meets Taiwanese fans after recovering health

Actress Kim You-jung met with fans in Taiwan last week after recovering from stress-induced shock she experienced late last year, her agency said Monday. (Sidus HQ)Kim, star of KBS 2TV's hit period show "Love in the Moonlight," met up with some 600 fans at the ATT Show Box in Taipei on Saturday, according to Sidus HQ.The series told the story of a crown prince who ruled the country in his ailing father's stead. Kim starred as a woman disguised as a eunuch opposite to the prince played by Park Bo

TelevisionFeb. 6, 2017

'Confidential Assignment' wins second weekend at box office, tops 6 mln in attendance

Hyun Bin (left) and Yoo Hae-jin star in “Confidential Assignment.” (CJ Entertainment)A Korean comedy-action film about an inter-Korean secret police mission ranked No. 1 for the second weekend at the local box office, giving it a 19-day cumulative audience total of over 6 million, data showed Monday."Confidential Assignment" topped the chart for the Feb. 3-5 frame with slightly more than 1 million viewers, according to the real-time based box office tally from the Korean Film Council.Released on

FilmFeb. 6, 2017

Korean webtoon readership growing, themes need diversifying: report

Korean webtoons -- online comic strips -- have in recent years become the basis of various successful drama series, including “Cheese in the Trap” (2016), “The Girl Who Sees Smells” (2015) and “Misaeng” (2014). Rich in themes and offering timely commentaries on Korea’s current societal issues such as job unavailability and lookism, webtoons are now read by over 10 million readers here out of the country’s 50 million population, according to a report released Friday by the Korea Creative Content

CultureFeb. 5, 2017