The Korea Herald

How the media can defang poisonous political discourse

PHILADELPHIA ― Following the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D.-Ariz., Saturday in Tucson, many people asked: Did the violence of U.S. political rhetoric have anything to do with this? Did a gunman try to kill Giffords because there is so much toxic language, such hate in our political discourse? And if our discourse is toxic, what should change in the way we talk, the way we disagree?No one

Television Jan. 12, 2011

Universal Music gives recordings to Library of Congress

LOS ANGELES ― There’s good news, more good news and some nebulous news for anyone interested in the nation’s musical heritage in Monday’s announcement that Universal Music Group is donating a cache of some 200,000 vintage master recordings to the Library of Congress for preservation and digitizing.They include Bing Crosby’s original recording of “White Christmas” and thousands more by Louis Armstr

Performance Jan. 12, 2011

‘Moon Over Manifest,’ ‘Amos McGee’ win book awards

LOS ANGELES ― “Moon Over Manifest,” Clare Vanderpool’s story of a girl in Depression-era Kansas who investigates a hidden past, was awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal on Monday as the American Library Association presented its top honors to books for children and young adults at a ceremony in San Diego. The book, for 9-to-12-year-olds, is the debut from Kansas-based author Vanderpool.The top aw

Books Jan. 11, 2011

At CES, three directors ponder film’s future

LAS VEGAS ― At the International Consumer Electronics Show, the massive annual expo in Las Vegas devoted to the hard sell of high tech, it’s just assumed that the next big thing is always better than what came before. That’s why director Oliver Stone managed to sound lonely in a crowded room Saturday when he suggested that, for cinema, the future just doesn’t look so bright.“Watching my children a

Film Jan. 11, 2011

At CES, three directors ponder film’s future

Fans, rescued miner fete Elvis’ 76th birthday

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) ― Hundreds of Elvis Presley fans, including Chilean miner Edison Pena, gathered at Graceland to sing “Happy Birthday” on the late rock ‘n’ roll icon’s 76th birthday.Pena, the guest of honor at Elvis’ birthday party, cut into a 1.2-meter-high cake fashioned to look like stacked television sets as fans cheered both the singer and the miner outside Elvis’ longtime Memphis home

Performance Jan. 9, 2011

Fans, rescued miner fete Elvis’ 76th birthday

Tourist town at the tip of Baja California keeps rocking in a good way

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico ― While the rest of Mexico is in turmoil, the good times keep on rollin’ at Cabo San Lucas.Landing at the tourist destination at the very southern tip of Baja California, it seems like you’re in a parallel world. Here’s an Applebee’s, a downtown mall, a Home Depot and pristine beaches as far as you can see.With only 4 percent unemployment, Cabo is safe compared to much of th

Travel Jan. 7, 2011

Tourist town at the tip of Baja California keeps rocking in a good way

NYC sees record tourism in 2010, after 2009 slip

NEW YORK (AP) ― New York City hosted a record number of visitors in 2010, a sign that the Big Apple’s tourism industry is bouncing back after a decline the previous year when travelers everywhere tightened their budgets amid the recession.Mayor Michael Bloomberg said 48.7 million people visited New York last year, surpassing the city’s 2008 record of 47 million.The increase shows the city’s travel

Travel Jan. 7, 2011

Dairy farmers switch focus to artisanal cheese

GREENVILLE, Illinois ― Throughout their 170 years in Southern Illinois, the Marcoot family has adapted.The original settler, Martin Markut, was a schoolteacher before he made the arduous journey from Switzerland to the heartland of America. Over the years, Martin’s descendants changed the spelling of their name, mechanized, industrialized, moved from the Highland area to Greenville, downsized and

Food Jan. 7, 2011

Dairy farmers switch focus to artisanal cheese

Bodyguard: Jackson doc said to hide vials

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― As Michael Jackson’s lifeless body lay on a bed in his palatial mansion, a bodyguard obeyed a frantic doctor’s instructions to bag up medicine bottles and intravenous bags and shield the Jackson children from seeing their father ― all before being told to call emergency services, court testimony revealed Wednesday.Alberto Alvarez said he was the first security guard to reach Jac

Performance Jan. 6, 2011

Bodyguard: Jackson doc said to hide vials

More producers make green cleaning solutions

LOS ANGELES ― Maybe 2011 is the year a clean start means returning to Grandma’s scrubbing ways and getting down on hands knees with simple baking soda and vinegar. Or maybe it means staring down that supermarket aisle of cleaning products and making better choices about the dizzying selection of powders and liquids that claim not only to clean but also to be healthy for people and the planet. Sust

Arts & Design Jan. 6, 2011

More producers make green cleaning solutions

The King is dead, long live the King’s hair

CHICAGO ― Collectors and auctioneers are getting flush off the lavatories of the rich and famous, which isn’t just a play on words. It’s also a chance to make a bunch of money by selling somebody else’s toilet.If recent months have taught us anything, it’s that dead celebrities’ stuff can hold great value. Among the memorabilia sold since June: John Lennon’s toilet ($15,000) and Marilyn Monroe’s c

Performance Jan. 6, 2011

World tour in Palm Springs

LOS ANGELES ― Few events straddle the glitz and grit of world cinema quite like the Palm Springs International Film Festival. That’s thanks to the affair’s wildly divergent aims ― to be the U.S.’ definitive, highbrow showcase for international movies, and the Coachella Valley’s starry, hard-partying answer to the Golden Globes.Both objectives will be served at the 22nd annual festival, which opens

Film Jan. 6, 2011

Far East Movement breaks new ground for Asian-American rap

SEATTLE ― You can’t escape the song.“Like a G6” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart and is still riding high at No. 14. The song is by the Far East Movement, reportedly the first Asian-American group to reach the No. 1 spot.“We don’t feel like we deserve (to top) any type of list,” said Kevin Nishimura, aka Kev Nish. “So many people have come before us and broken down the door. We are just honored

Performance Jan. 5, 2011

Far East Movement breaks new ground for Asian-American rap

N. Korea flaunts laptops, football skills in Moscow art show

MOSCOW (AFP) -- A ponytailed worker taps on a laptop and rosy-cheeked children sport baseball caps in a rare exhibition of contemporary North Korean art that is now on display at a trendy Moscow gallery.The exhibition, titled “Water Still Flows Under Ice,” addresses themes such as World Cup football, new technology and Western fashion. It is running at Winzavod, a brick-walled former factory that

Performance Jan. 5, 2011

New edition removes Twain’s ‘offensive’ words

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) ― Mark Twain wrote that “the difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter.” A new edition of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “Tom Sawyer” will try to find out if that holds true by replacing a word considered a racial slur with the word “slave” in an effort not to offend readers.Twain scholar Alan Gribben, who is working with Ne

Books Jan. 5, 2011

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