SACRAMENTO, California -- When Anne Miranda goes shopping for new clothes, she has to remind herself not to reach for a size 16.Now a slim size 6, Miranda said she still sees herself “as a fat person” despite losing nearly 34 kilograms three years ago. Adjusting to her new figure has been difficult at times, she said. So has keeping off the weight.“It was like Christmas every morning, putting on clothes and having them fit or even be too big,” she said of the period following her drop in weight.

FoodJune 16, 2016

Actor Ma Dong-seok, singer and actor Seo In-guk and singer and actress Choi Soo-young are set to star on the OCN’s first Friday-Saturday TV series “Squad 38.”“Squad 38” centers on a task force that uses the extraordinary measure of “white swindling” to collect taxes from those who evade large tax sums.In the upcoming comedy-drama series, a fair-minded tax collector (Ma Dong-seok) becomes frustrated with injustice and recruits “Squad 38,” a task force to swindle the tax evaders. After a clever sw

TelevisionJune 15, 2016

Harvard University’s oldest a cappella singing group, the Harvard Krokodiloes, made its way back to a Seoul stage Tuesday as part of its 2016 summer tour of Asia. 　The 12-member all-male Kroks performed their one-night solo show at the Mirae Asset Center’s West Tower on the KF Gallery Open Stage, coupling the nostalgic sounds of barbershop vocal harmonies with cheeky, innocent humor. 　Founded in 1946, the Krokodiloes is a group of chic tuxedo-sporting undergraduates who perform songs from the Gr

PerformanceJune 15, 2016

Award-winning translator Deborah Smith said Wednesday that staying faithful to the spirit of a text was her priority. And the spirit that she tried to preserve in Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian” was one of “tenderness and terror at the same time, never too far one way, always this very perfect balance,” said Smith at a press conference held at the Seoul International Book Fair on Wednesday.“The style was so controlled, restrained, without being cold and indifferent, and so those two things were the

BooksJune 15, 2016

Following the sudden departure of maestro Chung Myung-whun after his 10-year tenure as Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra music director last December amid a police investigation into a defamation suit brought on by the SPO’s former CEO against Chung’s wife and allegations of embezzlement, finding Chung‘s replacement is the orchestra’s top priority, said SPO CEO Choe Heung-sik. 　Choe first took rein of the city’s controversy-riddled orchestra on July 1 last year, and after nearly a year at the beleagu

PerformanceJune 15, 2016

BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) -- "Finding Dory" isn't just about a little blue fish looking for a home. The long-awaited sequel to "Finding Nemo" also reflects the journey of the woman behind the gills, Ellen DeGeneres. Like Dory, DeGeneres had been feeling a little lost 13 years ago, when she first voiced the happy little fish with short-term memory issues. DeGeneres had publicly come out as gay a few years earlier, and had the title character on her namesake sitcom do the same. It was a cultu

FilmJune 15, 2016

Korean actor Lee Min-ho has been named the most influential Asian film industry figure at a movie awards ceremony hosted by Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, his agency said Wednesday.Lee was chosen as the “Asian Cinema Pioneer” at the inaugural Weibo Movie Awards Ceremony held in Shanghai on Monday night, MYM Entertainment said.Winners were selected based on an online vote of 100 million Weibo subscribers who are film fans, according to the organizer. Lee Min-ho (Official website)Lee ca

PeopleJune 15, 2016

LONDON (AFP) – London’s Tate Modern museum will this week unveil a vast pyramidal extension providing extra gallery space for the millions of guests who pour through its doors each year.The modern art museum has been a roaring success since it opened in 2000, with more than 5 million people now annually visiting the former power station, whose silhouette looms over the south bank of the River Thames.This is more than twice the number of visitors originally planned, leaving gallery-goers jostling

PerformanceJune 15, 2016

“The Truth Beneath” tries a little too hard to thwart expectations at every turn. Director Lee Kyoung-mi had previously said she wanted to “avoid the typical” in this film. The result is a plot that lacks logic, characters that are frenzied but hollow, and a jarring mix of genres.　Lee, whose 2008 comedy “Crush and Blush” received favorable reviews, has returned with a thriller starring actress Son Ye-jin as the harangued heroine. 　Son, known primarily for detailed romantic portrayals, and Kim Jo

FilmJune 15, 2016

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gregory Rabassa, a translator of worldwide influence and esteem who helped introduce Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Julio Cortazar and other Latin American authors to millions of English-language readers, has died.A longtime professor at Queens College, Rabassa died Monday at a hospice in Branford, Connecticut. He was 94 and died after a brief illness, according to his daughter, Kate Rabassa Wallen.Rabassa was an essential gateway to the 1960s Latin American “boom,” when such authors a

BooksJune 15, 2016

Andrew Bacevich studied at West Point and Princeton University and served in the U.S. Army for 22 years. He is well qualified to bring the reader a broad, informed perspective on the subject he addresses -- the U.S. military’s role in multiple presidents' largely unsuccessful efforts to bring a widely varied, very different region under American hegemony. “America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History” accomplishes this feat.The American military, apart from a series of self-hagi

BooksJune 15, 2016

The truth is out there, and it may set you free, but can you really handle the truth? And, maybe, just maybe, every turn of events is really a conspiracy in disguise with a bit of truthiness. These and other pop culture axioms that have made their way into the lexicon of common speech are part of the foundation of the 11th novel by international best-seller Brad Meltzer.With “The House of Secrets,” Meltzer launches a new thriller series that will delve heavily into historical conspiracy theories

BooksJune 15, 2016

Singer-artist Cho Young-nam, who has been in hot water since May over allegations he hired a ghost painter for several years to create his paintings, was indicted without detention on fraud charges Tuesday, according to the Chuncheon Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. 　Cho is accused of allegedly having two ghost painters create his paintings, well known for motifs of Korean folk card game Go-Stop, from about five years ago and selling them without informing his buyers of the fact. His manager was als

CultureJune 14, 2016

The Millennium Seoul Hilton’s flagship international buffet and all-day-dining restaurant Cafe 395 is serving up Singaporean fare prepared by guest chefs from Singapore until Sunday.　Junior sous chef Koh Kwee Huat and chef de partie Pang Cheah Sing of the Orchard Hotel Singapore -- an affiliate of Millennium Seoul Hilton -- were invited to Seoul to showcase some of Singapore’s most iconic dishes at Cafe 395. Orchard Hotel Singapore’s chef de partie Pang Cheah Sing (Orchard Hotel Singapore)　“We w

FoodJune 14, 2016

A colossal 19th-century map of the Korean Peninsula will go on the block at an art auction in Seoul on June 28.　The map of the Korean Peninsula “Daedongyeojido,” which measures 3.8 meters by 6.7 meters in total, was made by geographer Kim Jeong-ho in 1861.　The map is one of some 20 remaining Daedongyeojido maps and one of the three known colored versions to date. Maps of Daedongyeojido, translated as the great map of the East, are housed at museums and public institutions in Korea, including Kyu

CultureJune 14, 2016