‘American Psycho’ musical looks like a bloody hit

LONDON (AP) ― Is any subject too macabre to make a musical?Not on the evidence of past works including Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” about a homicidal barber, and his presidential killer saga “Assassins.”And now there’s “American Psycho,” an energetic stage adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel about a soulless yuppie serial killer at large in 1980s Manhattan. The book was a savage satire on consumer culture, with antihero Patrick Bateman as punctilious about having the right labels ― fro

Dec. 15, 2013

Religious leaders speak out against NIS scandal

Some 164 Protestant clergymen in the Daejeon and Sejong City area on Thursday held a protest urging President Park Geun-hye to resign over her sloppy measures against the state intelligence agency’s alleged interference in the 2012 presidential election.Calling it a “serious incident that threatens the basis of democracy,” the religious leaders said Park should assume responsibility, apologize and step down. “The reason we are asking for her resignation is not because we assume that she has orch

Dec. 12, 2013

U.S. charity buys up Hopi masks to return to tribe

PARIS (AP) ― A U.S. charitable foundation said Wednesday that it was the anonymous bidder that paid $530,000 for 24 Native American masks in a contested Paris auction two days ago, and will return them to the Hopi and the San Carlos Apache tribes. “These are not trophies to have on one’s mantel,” said Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, director of the Los Angeles-based Annenberg Foundation, which revealed itself to be the secret caller that triggered a bidding war in Monday’s highly publicized auctio

Dec. 12, 2013

Sydney Opera House tiles up for ‘virtual’ sale

SYDNEY (AFP) ― The Sydney Opera House has come up with a novel new way to raise funds and boost the building’s profile by selling “virtual” ownership of the tiles on its tallest sail.On Monday, 125,000 of the tiles went on sale, with Hollywood star Hugh Jackman among the first to put his money behind the initiative which hopes to raise 15 million Australian dollars ($13.7 million).Under the scheme, people can buy a tile online for between 100-400 Australian dollars in a hi-tech campaign called “

Dec. 9, 2013

Statue of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s sister recovered

CAIRO (AFP) ― Egypt said Sunday it has recovered a statue of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s sister looted from the southern Mallawi museum during riots by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.The 32 centimeter limestone statue of Ankhesamon, sister of the famous boy king and daughter of pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled around B.C. 1,500, was stolen on Aug. 14.“The piece is one of the most important in the museum,” said antiquities minister Mohamed Ibrahim in a statement.Authorities have recovered 800

Dec. 9, 2013

Donor offers $5m to help protect Detroit art

DETROIT (AP) ― A former Detroit university professor is pledging $5 million, hoping it will spark a wildfire of private financial support to protect valuable art from being sold to pay creditors in the city’s bankruptcy.A. Paul Schaap said he wants to help the Detroit Institute of Arts as well as retirees whose pensions could be cut as part of the city’s plan to eventually exit bankruptcy. Art purchased over the years with city money could be pursued as assets that should be sold to pay off a po

Dec. 8, 2013

French court allows auction of sacred Hopi objects

PARIS (AFP) ― A Paris court on Friday dismissed an attempt by advocacy group Survival International to block the auction of 25 sacred objects from Arizona’s Hopi tribe that has caused outrage. The sale of the “Kachina” ceremonial masks and headdresses will go ahead on Monday as planned, despite pleas from the Hopi’s religious authorities to cancel the auction.The court battle against auction house EVE echoed another legal saga that erupted in April when French firm Neret-Minet ignored internatio

Dec. 8, 2013

Novelist Manil Suri wins dreaded Bad Sex prize

LONDON (AP) ― An out-of-this-world sex scene invoking stars, supernovas and statisticians has won U.S.-based writer Manil Suri the uncoveted Bad Sex in Fiction Award.Suri, a novelist and mathematician, won the annual British prize for a passage in his novel “The City of Devi,” in which the characters “streak like superheroes past suns and solar systems, we dive through shoals of quarks and atomic nuclei.”The passage climaxes: “In celebration of our breakthrough fourth star, statisticians the wor

Dec. 4, 2013

Analogue film era ends in Korea

The era of 35 mm film in South Korea‘s movie industry has been phased out in favor of digital projectors at major theaters across the nation. Cinecube, the only movie theater which supported analogue film screening, recently replaced its projectors with a digital model. As the arthouse theater opted for a digital system, Korean moviegoers have nowhere to watch latest films on the traditional reel. Cinemate, a film caption company, said it is closing down its business to focus on the digital post

Dec. 4, 2013

Buddhist sect probes boozing monks

The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism on Tuesday expressed regret over a recent scandal in which some of its mid-ranking members were caught drinking at a training center. According to the country’s largest Buddhist sect, its internal audit department has launched an investigation into a recent revelation that 10 monks on Nov. 28 consumed more than three boxes of beer and a box of soju at the Korean Buddhism Culture Center in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province. The facility is intended for the prom

Dec. 3, 2013