Charlie Sheen show better in Chicago after Detroit flop

CHICAGO (AP) ― After being heckled and booed in Detroit, Charlie Sheen made some changes to his road show Sunday night ― and this time, it ended with a standing ovation.Sheen used a talk show-style format at his Chicago show, with a master of ceremonies asking the actor questions. The interviewer, who didn’t identify himself, kept Sheen on track and gave the actor a chance to make some snarky comm

April 4, 2011

Classical music played to deter loiterers in U.S.

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) ― Just feet from a methadone clinic at a grimy crossroads in Portland, transit officials and police are hoping a touch of class will chase off vagrants, vandals and ne’er-do-wells that loiter near a busy transit stop.Since November, the regional transit department has approved the playing of classical music in an effort to ward off the kind of crimes that happen when people j

April 4, 2011

Artist lights up traditional colors

South Korean artist Lee Kye-song, known as the “painter of light,” is showcasing around 50 oil paintings at his solo exhibition at Insa Art Center in Gwanhun-dong, central Seoul. Lee uses “obangsaek,” or the five traditional Korean colors of white, black, red, blue and yellow, in a very modern way which resembles splashes of LED light. “The paintings on show are very bright, like LED lights. As LE

April 3, 2011

Consuming less, a way to live a healthy urban life

Slower lifestyle can mean healthier, happier life and help protect naturePeople like it when things are convenient and efficient in the city. We are busy, not willing to wait too long and always have too much going on in our lives.But environmental specialist Park Gyeong-hwa asks, “Does our lifestyle really make us happy?”As more of us are relying on machines and fast food, we are also exposing ou

April 1, 2011

EVENTS CALENDER

Exhibitions“The Exhibition of the Great Portraitist’s Work ― KARSH”: About 100 photographs by the great photographer Yousuf Karsh is on display at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. Among its three sections ― “Landscape,” “Portraits,” “Hands” ― the “Portraits” division is notable. Visitors can meet many portrait photos of the famous people from the 20th century, including Audrey Hepburn, Chris

April 1, 2011

American Ballet returns to Moscow after 45 yrs

MOSCOW (AP) ― The American Ballet Theatre has returned to Moscow for the first time since the 1960s and the first time since the defection of Mikhail Baryshnikov, who left Russia’s famed Bolshoi Theatre to bring his luminous star power to the U.S. ballet company.ABT opened a three-night run Tuesday on the new stage of the Bolshoi Theatre, whose company was touring Canada when Baryshnikov defected

March 31, 2011

Korean ballet limbers up for new stages

Korea National Ballet, Universal Ballet fuse ballet with other dances, and plan world toursBallet is hot in Korea right now, and ballet companies are eager to make it even hotter. The graceful dance, which used to enjoyed by only by a small portion of the population because of its seemingly “loftiness,” is gaining popularity among the public both on and off stage. “Giselle,” which in February beca

March 30, 2011

Venture to bring ‘pansori’ to the world

Opera director Achim Freyer leads The National Changgeuk Company’s ‘Mr. Rabbit and the Dragon King’The National Changgeuk Company of Korea has joined hands with Achim Freyer, the world famous German opera director, to introduce “pansori,” or Korean traditional narrative singing, to the world. Freyer, known as one of the best stage directors today, is in charge of the directing and stage/costume/li

March 29, 2011

Website to pay $950,000 after selling Beatles hits

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― A website that sold Beatles songs online for 25 cents apiece before they became legally available has agreed to pay record companies nearly $1 million to settle a federal lawsuit.U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton Tucker signed off on the settlement between BlueBeat.com and music companies EMI Group PLC, Capitol Records and Virgin Records America on Friday. The judge ruled in

March 29, 2011

Exhibition captures Seoul in two different times

Seoul has gone through a lot in the past century, from Japanese occupation to the Korean War, and rapid industrialization to prosperity.Seoul Museum of History is holding two separate exhibitions featuring Korea’s capital in two different time periods that offer a rare glimpse into how the city has been transformed into what it is today.One of the exhibitions, “Seoul 1953-1963” showcases photograp

March 29, 2011

Museum launches culture program for spouses of foreign envoys, CEOs

The Korea Furniture Museum, which hosted luncheon for spouses of G20 leaders during the G20 Seoul Summit in November, launched an academic program on Tuesday for spouses of foreign ambassadors to Korea and expat CEOs to help them discover traditional Korean heritage.While spouses of foreign ambassadors normally spend about three years in Korea, their exposure to Korean culture is relatively limite

March 29, 2011

Hong Ra-hee makes comeback as Leeum’s director

Hong Ra-hee, wife of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, recently returned to her post as director of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. Hong resumed to the post on March 16 and attended the opening ceremony of “Korean Rhapsody,” an ongoing exhibition at the museum, on the same day. “She planned to return in time for the Korean Rhapsody exhibition. But then the earthquake hit Japan and the overal

March 29, 2011

How shy boy became a big photographer

Photographer Koo talks about finding beauty in bric-a-brac as he opens exhibition of his collection of miscellaneous objectsAs a boy, Koo Bohnchang liked to explore his father’s front yard alone rather than playing ball with his friends, a constant cause of concern for his parents. Little did they know that their boy would grow up to be a famous photographer. Koo, who is now 58 and a professor at

March 28, 2011

Glenn Morrissette’s music moves with him, in mobile recording studio

LOS ANGELES ― If the music to the Season 9, Episode 5 installment of Fox’s animated sitcom “Family Guy” had a relaxed feel, maybe it was because of the 104-degree mineral water.Glenn Morrissette helped orchestrate the score after a leisurely soak last October in the natural hot springs in the tiny northwestern Wyoming town of Thermopolis.Morrissette did his work from his recording studio on wheels

March 28, 2011

Team spirit saves TIMF opening

Late composer Yun I-sang’s birthplace holds concerts, master classes, lecturesTONGYEONG ― When the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra abruptly canceled its opening concert for the Tongyeong International Music Festival due to fear of radiation from Japan spreading to Korea, TIMF artistic director Alexander Liebreich said he was quite surprised and could not understand the decision.Despite the short noti

March 27, 2011