Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue (U.K.)Opened May 5Animation, Adventure, Family. Directed by Greg Tiernan. On the Island of Sodor where Thomas lives, a new Search and Rescue Center is being built. Greedy Diesel, thinking he is better than the “steamies”, decides to take the Jobi logs to the rescue center himself and races down the tracks with the Jobi logs. Thomas sees that Diesel is going to

Film May 6, 2011

LOS ANGELES ― As she has crisscrossed the country tirelessly promoting her latest directorial effort, “The Beaver,” Jodie Foster has been keeping in touch via text with Mel Gibson. When the star of your film is also your close friend and Hollywood’s leading persona non grata, the messages can get a tad awkward.“Mel said, ‘I will be dragged through gravel for you,’” Foster said in Beverly Hills. “H

Film May 6, 2011

KANSAS CITY ― Turning your body into that of a god is a weird process.Chris Hemsworth knows. Once he was tapped to play the title character in “Thor,” the Australian actor threw himself into a body-building regimen that would transform his solid but unspectacular physique into one worthy of a Marvel superhero.“I don’t naturally have the kind of weight Thor has,” Hemsworth said. “I ate tons of prot

Film May 6, 2011

Lotte Hotel SeoulThe hotel’s buffet restaurant La Seine is offering a “Very Special Culture Package” to 100 guests, on a first-come first-served basis, until May 31. Priced at 300,000 won, the package includes buffet dining for two (worth 180,000 won), two VIP seat tickets to the musical “Mozart” (260,000 won), one bottle of premium wine (150,000 won) and two tickets to the Karsh exhibition. The h

Travel May 6, 2011

Two prints by artist Choi Young-wook will be sold through “social shopping” for the first time in Korea, a mobile art application provider said Thursday.Culture media company artday, which runs the mobile application “artday” on both Android and Apple smartphones, said two versions of his internationally-popular print work “Karma” will be sold both on the application and the company’s website at w

Performance May 5, 2011

Minister Choung says hotels without should not be granted ‘five-star’ gradeCulture Minister Choung Byoung-gug said on Tuesday local hotels should not be granted a “five-star” rank if they do not have a restaurant specializing in Korean cuisine. Korean hotels are rated differently from those in the West, being rated by the number of mugunghwa, or Rose of Sharon they are awarded. Top hotels in Korea

Culture May 4, 2011

Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc, or the Little Singers of Saint Marc, is set to start a tour hoping to give Korean audiences a flavor of the 2004 French hit film “The Chorus”. Founded in 1986, the choir recorded the entire soundtrack of “The Chorus,” nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category in 2005, with the song “Look to Your Path” earning a nomination for Best

Performance May 4, 2011

Korean 24-year-old pianist to hold debut recital at Lincoln Center in N.Y.NEW YORK ― When pianist Joyce Yang was asked last minute to replace a sick Lang Lang three months ago, she had to decide whether she could stay up for more than two days ― the time needed for a flight to Buffalo, a rehearsal and the concert.She said yes.“I knew how difficult it would be. And the scariest part was that I hadn

Performance May 2, 2011

Flowers on easy, quiet walking paths in Seoul lead you to spring scentsSeoul is one of the busiest and largest cities in the world, with famous tourist spots almost always packed with people and cars. But it is not impossible to enjoy budding leaves, blooming flowers, a gentle breeze and the warm sun on quiet and not-so-steep walking paths in Seoul, away from the city bustle. As spring quickly pas

Travel April 29, 2011

The Korea National Opera Company is to perform opera “Les Dialogues des Carmelites” by 20th-century French composer Francis Poulenc in Seoul in May, the first performance of the opera in Asia.First premiered in Paris and Milan in 1957, the opera is based on historical events which took place at a monastery of Carmelite nuns in Compiegne during the French Revolution.“This piece takes us to the ulti

Performance April 24, 2011