The sun will surely shine on the Rose Parade Monday in Pasadena, Calif., thanks to the Sunshine Daydream rose, the 2012 All-America Rose Selections award winner.The yellow rose will be among 20,000 roses on the Garden of Imagination float created by Bayer Advanced. The company makes some of the best rose products I’ve ever used, especially its 2-in-1 systemic rose and flower care product.Roses on the float include a riot of color in various shades of red, orange, yellow, gold, white, light orang

Jan. 2, 2012

After long days discussing America’s obesity problem, Melinda Sothern has had enough of windowless conference rooms.“I need to exercise,” she says, pausing to review her plans in the San Diego Convention Center lobby. She plans to rent a bicycle in Coronado, California, and ride, fast and far.Sothern, 55, is a woman who practices what she preaches. And one of her messages about obesity is aimed at women like herself: mothers.Fat mothers. Thin mothers. And especially mothers-to-be.A leading fitne

Jan. 2, 2012

VIENNA (AP) ― Andy Warhol stopped by for a cup of his coffee. So did princes, paupers, playwrights, poets and untold thousands for whom a visit to Vienna was unthinkable without a cup of steaming brew served by the bow-tied little man with the perpetual dancing smile.In this city of more than 1,900 cafes, Leopold Hawelka was an icon, as much part of Cafe Hawelka as its tables ― scarred by burned-out cigarettes, their marble tops worn smooth by the elbows of four generations. He served tourists,

Jan. 1, 2012

Many couples and mothers-to-be believe 2012 will be luckyPlanning to wed sometime next winter, 27-year-old Jeon Hye-seong said that she would choose December 2012 rather than wait until 2013. “I heard that 2012 is supposed to be lucky, being the black dragon year. Given that I get to choose sometime in the winter, why not choose the lucky year?” said the bride-to-be. “Although, it seems that there are so many special years, like the golden pig year which passed a few years ago, that I sometimes

Dec. 30, 2011

Consumers likely to react to hyper speed, hyper connectivity by seeking slower paceThe year 2012 promises to be a tumultuous one, with general elections and a presidential election taking place within eight months of each other. The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has introduced an additional element of uncertainty.While it would be difficult to predict the outcome of the elections or the state of South-North relations, many forecasts have been made concerning major trends that affect o

Dec. 30, 2011

Pianist Paik’s ‘romance’ with Brahms Paik Kun-woo“Brahms-Intermezzi” (Universal Music)Paik Kun-woo’s second album on Brahms is more evidence that this Korean musician’s fingertips can bring back to life almost any composer.Filled with 13 pieces chosen among those written in the latter half of Johannes Brahms’ life, the album will serve as a gift for any fan of the German composer.Playing through the intermezzi, capriccios and romance pieces Op. 76 through Op. 119 (in random order), Paik has tran

Dec. 30, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Almost two centuries before there was a man named Obama in the White House, there was a man named Obama shackled in the bowels of a slave ship. There is no proof that the unidentified Obama has ties to President Barack Obama. All they share is a name. But that is exactly the common

Dec. 30, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― Hanging around outside The Public Theater next week could turn you into an unanticipated actor.An hour or so before the group known as the Gob Squad hits the stage with its new offering for the Under the Radar Festival, four members will hit the streets armed with video cameras to create their new work, “Super Night Shot.”They’ll initiate and film some “comic and surreal adventures” that “celebrate unexpected encounters with strangers,” according to the group, a British and Germa

Dec. 29, 2011

Up to 1.71 million people will receive aid from the government for cultural activities and a foundation for artists’ welfare will be set up next year, as part of efforts to resolve the cultural divide among different social sectors, the Culture Ministry said Thursday. The ministry released its plans for the New Year as Minister Choe Kwang-shik briefed President Lee Myung-bak along with other cultural organization chiefs.Some of the plans for 2012 include increasing the number of people who recei

Dec. 29, 2011

 WASHINGTON (AP) ― Forrest Gump’s oft-imitated line, “My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get’” will be immortalized among the U.S. treasures in the world’s largest archive of film, TV and sound recordings.The Library of Congress on Wednesday announced that 1994’s smash hit “Forrest Gump’’ starring Tom Hanks was one of 25 films chosen to be included this year in the National Film Registry.The oldest reels are silent films both from 1912. “Th

Dec. 29, 2011

Korean pianist Shin Soo-jung and baritone Bahk Heung-u will both receive medals from Germany, noted for the contributions they made in spreading German music in Korea, according to the German Embassy in Seoul. Shin, 69, will be receiving the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, while Bahk, 50, will be honored with the Cross of the Order of Merit during a ceremony on Friday, the embassy said. Veteran pianist Shin, formerly the dean of the Seoul National Univer

Dec. 28, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― Helen Frankenthaler, an abstract painter known for her bold, lyrical use of color who led a postwar art movement that would later be termed Color Field painting, died Tuesday at her home in Connecticut, her nephew said. She was 83.One of Frankenthaler’s most famous works is “Mountains and Sea,” a 1952 painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which she created by pouring thinned paint directly onto raw, unprimed canvas laid on the studio floor. Frankenthaler’s

Dec. 28, 2011