The Korea Herald

Getting some shut-eye at the movies

What do you do when you are desperately in need of a lunchtime nap after a night of burning the midnight oil, or, as the case may be, drinking the night away.　If you work in Yeouido, Seoul's financial hub, and have 10,000 won ($8.70) to spare, you could make a dash for the Yeouido CGV where the movie theater chain transforms its Premium Theater into a cozy sleep nook during lunch hours, Monday through Thursday. The interior of the Premium Theater at Yeouido CGV (CGV)　“Plenty of office workers vi

CultureMarch 31, 2016

Fashion mogul accuses designers of 'enslaving women' with Islamic styles

PARIS (AFP) -- Former fashion mogul Pierre Berge lashed out Wednesday at designers creating Islamic clothing and headscarves, accusing them of taking part in the “enslavement of women.”　The French businessman, partner of the late fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent, took aim at the wave of big fashion chains that have followed the Italian designers Dolce & Gabbana in catering specifically to the Muslim market. 　“I am scandalized,” he told Europe 1 French radio.　“Creators should have nothing to do

Arts & DesignMarch 31, 2016

3 key pieces to make your spring wardrobe sing

Neck scarves　Recently spotted: Hedi Slimane started showing scarves on the spring 2015 Saint Laurent runway. Models wore thin scarves tied around their necks in an effortless, rock ‘n’ roll manner. Now, they're being worn as thicker bandannas and thin, silky versions tied in bows, often paired with chokers and reinforcing the neck and shoulder areas as the focal point of the body that’s in fashion at the moment. Lanvin, Gucci and Rodarte included a lot of neck scarves in their spring 2016 runway

Arts & DesignMarch 31, 2016

3 key pieces to make your spring wardrobe sing

New 'smart' bottle helps uncorked wine keep longer

NEW YORK (AFP) - A US startup says it has created the world's first “smart” bottle which can keep wine as fresh as the day it was uncorked for up to a month.　The Boston-based Kuvee company said in a statement that the industry “has been slow to innovate beyond the glass bottle and cork.”　Kuvee’s specially designed bottle with its intricate valve system “prevents oxygen from touching the wine, so wine stays fresh for up to 30 days after opening,” said company founder and CEO Vijay Manwani, in a p

FoodMarch 31, 2016

SIWA’s fund-raising gala goes fashion-forward

Seoul International Women’s Association will be hosting its Annual Charity Gala on April 9 at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul. Themed “An Evening in Shangri-la,” the event includes a cocktail reception, silent and live auctions and a four-course meal in aid of three charities -- Agit Sintesi, New Light Community and the Rainbow Community. And to keep guests fashion-forward, there will be a fashion show featuring award-winning Korean fashion designer Heill Yang’s couture brand of womenswear an

Expat LivingMarch 30, 2016

SIWA’s fund-raising gala goes fashion-forward

Grannies grab the mic on ‘Tribe of Hiphop’

A group of elderly women with an average age of 65 are transformed into hip-hop rappers. This is the premise of JTBC‘s new hip-hop competition show “Tribe of Hip-hop.”　In the latest television show banking on the growing popularity of the genre, older celebrity women will be paired with well-known hip-hop artists and engage in rap battles. The elder rappers will deliver the stories of their lives with the help of their young mentors, explained show producer Song Kwang-jong at a press conference

TelevisionMarch 30, 2016

Grannies grab the mic on ‘Tribe of Hiphop’

Writer to host tour of Korean War battlegrounds

History writer and journalist Andrew Salmon will run a tour to one of the Korean War’s most notorious battlefields next week under a Royal Asiatic Society tour.Salmon will guide the group around the hills that surround the Imjingang River, where the British Gloucester Regiment was wiped out holding back a Chinese assault.The attack was part of the largest communist offensive of the war, and though the Glosters were eventually overrun, their actions blunted the assault sufficiently for U.N. force

Expat LivingMarch 30, 2016

Busan seeks sellers for Together Day flea market

Busan Foundation for International Activities is seeking participants for its Global Flea Market on May 21.The event is part of the Busan Global Gathering, an annual outdoor festival that attracts scores of expat and multicultural organizations each year.This year, the gathering is being held in line with Together Day on May 20, a nationwide event to promote multiculturalism run by the Justice Ministry.The global flea market will be held at Dasom Madang in Busan Citizen’s Park, near Bujeon Stati

Expat LivingMarch 30, 2016

Tour to introduce highlights of Buan

The Gwangju Interntaional Center will conduct a tour to Buan in North Jeolla Province on April 23.The trip to the coastal area will make its first stop at Chaeseokgang, a group of stratified cliffs that gets its name from its resemblance to a place from Chinese legend.After stopping for lunch -- mussel porridge and spicy seafood stew – the group will head to Naesosa Temple, which has been around since the seventh century. It is famous for its Goryeo-era bell and its central building that has int

Expat LivingMarch 30, 2016

Global center to offer onsite counseling in Hyehwa

Seoul Global Center will offer an onsite counseling session to advise expats in the Daehangno area Sunday.Advisers will offer consultations on legal, labor and immigration issues, among others, in front of the Catholic Youth Center near Hyehwa Station Exit 1. The center is close to the Filipino Market that runs on Sundays.The consultations will be available in English, Filipino, Mongolian and Thai. The session will run from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, contact (02) 2075-4136. (paulkerry@

Expat LivingMarch 30, 2016

Must-see arts performances this summer

With summer just around the corner, Seoulites may be looking for the best ways to escape the scorching heat and bask in the sights and sounds of riveting performances. 　Luckily for them, there are many events in store for them this summer – from vocal to dance and classical. 　Andrea Bocelli　Returning for his first concert in Korea in six years, the internationally praised blind Italian classical crossover tenor Andrea Bocelli will perform a solo show in Seoul on May 1. Italian opera tenor Andre

PerformanceMarch 30, 2016

Myanmar pagoda re-clad with gold blocks as devotees look to gain spiritual credit

YANGON (AFP) - Teetering on bamboo scaffolding, expert craftsmen are busy attaching blocks of gold to a Buddhist pagoda in downtown Yangon, burnishing one of the city's major landmarks and racking up spiritual credit for devotees.　The five-yearly renovation at the Sule Pagoda sees the monument shed its weather-damaged frontage. It is re-clad in several hundred solid gold plates -- each costing around $1,100 -- and thousands of squares of gold leaf.　The cost is significant in the impoverished Sou

CultureMarch 30, 2016

Myanmar pagoda re-clad with gold blocks as devotees look to gain spiritual credit

Why green ogres keep bringing Jeffrey Katzenberg back to Paris

When Jeffrey Katzenberg needs green ogres, talking penguins or kung-fu-fighting pandas, he heads to an old brick building in Paris.　For 25 years, the head of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. has made his way to the elite photography school Les Gobelins in Paris’s 13th arrondissement in search of animation skills with a distinctly French touch. Building on the country’s age-old tradition of fine art and graphic novels, Les Gobelins has spawned Oscar-winning animators and last year topped a ranking o

FilmMarch 30, 2016

Author writes that rape in her novel came from her life

NEW YORK (AP) -- The author of the best-selling novel "Luckiest Girl Alive" posted an essay online Tuesday saying that the gang rape in high school her character suffered was based on an assault in her own life.　Jessica Knoll, writing on a website for young women that's co-managed by Lena Dunham, said that since the book came out last year she has deflected questions about similarities between herself and the protagonist, TifAni. 　"I’ve been running and I've been ducking and I’ve been dodging be

BooksMarch 30, 2016

Weezer, Panic! at the Disco to headline Pentaport fest

American bands Weezer and Panic! at the Disco will be headline acts at the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival this year, performing alongside big names in the Korean indie scene such as the Koxx and Peppertones. 　On Tuesday, the festival’s website announced the first lineup of bands slated to appear at the event, which is one of Korea’s largest annual rock festivals. It will take place from Aug. 12-14. 　The first lineup features six bands, including Korean indie band We Are The Night and rising Eng

PerformanceMarch 30, 2016

Weezer, Panic! at the Disco to headline Pentaport fest

Swedish DJ Avicii announces final tour

STOCKHOLM (AFP) -- One of the world’s top DJs, Avicii, says he will quit touring at the age of 26, having told fans “the music industry will never be the same again.”　In a lengthy message posted on his website Tuesday, the Swedish house DJ announced he would hang up his headphones after his 2016 tour.　While he will continue to make music, he has decided “this 2016 run will be my last tour and last shows,” the message said.　“Two weeks ago, I took the time to drive across the U.S. with my friends

PerformanceMarch 30, 2016

Woody Allen’s 'Cafe Society' to open Cannes film festival

PARIS (AFP) - Woody Allen’s Hollywood love story “Cafe Society” will open the Cannes film festival in May, its organizers said Tuesday.　The movie starring Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg tells the story of a young man who goes to Los Angeles in the 1930s in the hope of working in the film industry.　The 80-year-old New Yorker has already opened Cannes -- the world’s leading film festival -- twice with “Hollywood Ending” (2002) and “Midnight in Paris” (2011), his love letter to the French capi

FilmMarch 30, 2016

Haunted Mansion comic book unearths history behind the Disney ride

Early in the first issue of Marvel Comics’ “Haunted Mansion,” a new one-off, five-issue series inspired by the Disneyland staple, readers encounter a ghost. This is expected. After all, as Haunted Mansion lore tells us, there are 999 of them living inside the manor.　Only this ghost isn’t of the grim, grinning sort, as described in the attraction’s popular song. This ghost is all bones and menace, with a foreboding cape and a sword flailing wildly.　It’s the Haunted Mansion Disney aficionados know

BooksMarch 30, 2016

Haunted Mansion comic book unearths history behind the Disney ride

Red Riding Hood packs heat in US gun group’s reinvented fairytale

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Here is Little Red Riding Hood, rifle slung over her shoulder, confidently striding through the forest. Now we see her granny, taking aim with a shotgun at the Big Bad Wolf.　What’s that? You don’t recall your favorite Brothers Grimm characters packing heat? 　Then you must not have read the versions of classic fairy tales that have been reworked by the National Rifle Association, to help empower children by teaching them that well-armed citizens -- even in the world of storybo

BooksMarch 30, 2016

Red Riding Hood packs heat in US gun group’s reinvented fairytale

Behind the scenes of CIA briefings

“The President’s Book of Secrets” 　By David Priess　PublicAffairs (384 pages, $29.95)　On Aug. 6, 2001, the third day of his August vacation in Texas, President George W. Bush welcomed two visitors into the living room of his ranch house.　Steve Biegun, the executive secretary of the National Security Council, was filling in for National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. Michael Morell was a CIA analyst assigned to brief Bush daily on intelligence developments. He handed Bush the President’s Daily

BooksMarch 30, 2016