SAN FRANCISCO ― If the restaurants I sampled on a six-day jaunt to San Francisco are any indication, the food scene there is on fire. Every meal I had was noteworthy. Either I was very lucky or there’s a whole lot of good cooking going around there ― and I got to sample only one of the newish places in the East Bay, an area that is coming into its own.What are the chances of picking six really goo

Travel April 15, 2011

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) ― Marketing executive Peggy Noe Stevens sticks to basics when savoring Kentucky bourbon ― no splash of water, just ice, stacked.For the uninitiated, that’s one ice cube at a time, followed by equal shots of bourbon. Then she lets the whiskey settle before sipping.Stevens, a former whiskey industry executive, is a bourbon aficionado and founder of a new group called Bourbo

Food April 15, 2011

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Movie-goers flocked to see what is billed as the world’s first 3-D porn film as it opened to packed cinemas across Hong Kong on Thursday, with some screenings selling out completely.Loosely based on a piece of classical Chinese erotic literature, the $3.2-million Cantonese-language movie “3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy“ features orgies, swinging and some very graphic sex scene

Film April 15, 2011

ROME (AFP) ― It’s safe to say that the Emperor Nero ― the subject of a major new exhibition and archaeology trail that opened in the Roman Forum this week ― has always had something of an image problem.He has gone down in the history books as the man who had his domineering mother Agrippina killed, kicked his pregnant wife Poppaea to death and ― as legend would have it ― played his lyre on a hill

Performance April 14, 2011

Joseon-period manuscripts return to Seoul on loan 145 years after they were looted by the FrenchThe first batch of Korea’s ancient royal books, looted by the French army in the late 19th century and kept by France until recently, arrived in Seoul on Thursday afternoon, their ownership still remaining in the hands of France.The 75 books of “Uigwe,” or manuscripts for royal protocols created during

Culture April 14, 2011

Landing fresh from a performance at California’s Coachella music festival, Swedish indie pop band The Radio Dept. are to play their first ever Korean gig next week. The band, whose music was featured in Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette,” are excited to play for their fans here, singer Johan Duncanson told The Korea Herald by phone from a recording space in Stockholm, in the midst of rehearsals fo

Performance April 14, 2011

ISLAMABAD (AFP) ― The United States has turned to oversized puppets in its newest attempt to win hearts and minds in Pakistan, funding a $20 million remake of popular children’s TV program Sesame Street.The U.S. show that popularized characters like Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and the Cookie Monster is being remade for a Pakistani audience, to promote “shared values and ideas” said USAID’s educatio

Television April 13, 2011

ZELIV, Czech Republic (AFP) ― Religious belief may be on a sharp decline in the Czech Republic but the Zeliv monastery has found a new role as a spiritual refuge while it recovers from its own decades of turmoil.Today’s pilgrims to the monastery tucked in a picturesque valley outside Prague include businessmen, managers and artists ― even a 1970s pop star ― who come to follow the steady rhythm of

Travel April 13, 2011

Brides’ choice of wedding gowns inspired by what others wearNEW YORK (AP) ― When Kate Middleton walks down the aisle this month to marry Prince William, watching would-be brides almost certainly will home in on her dress.Bridal industry insiders expect her gown to be copied many times over as soon as the public gets its first glimpse.Some wedding dresses leave a legacy beyond the next-day knockoff

Arts & Design April 13, 2011

LOS ANGELES ― Daniel Catan, an opera composer and librettist whose works including “Il Postino” and “Florencia en el Amazonas” have been praised for their lyrical romanticism and humane generosity of spirit, died suddenly Saturday in Austin, Texas. He was 62.Catan’s death was announced by the Butler School of Music of the University of Texas, where he was a visiting artist. The cause has not been

Performance April 12, 2011

ANCHORAGE, Alaska ― Who knew those blue-black clusters of crowberries mingled into blueberry patches across the Chugach range could be the key ingredient in an expensive, antioxidant-packed, wrinkle-fighting serum?That’s right. Look out, Oil of Olay. Forget Vitamin C and green tea. Make room for beauty products made with the essences of crowberries, fireweed and Arctic sage. Arctic plants are tren

Arts & Design April 11, 2011

SAN JOSE, California ― Fawn Lee had big dreams for her family. She would enroll her three young children in the best schools, drive them to soccer, piano, swimming and dancing.Since moving from Vietnam with her parents and 11 siblings when she was 4, Lee had worked hard to create her opportunities. Cum laude graduate from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California. A job she loved at Seagate. A husb

People April 11, 2011

Despite lackluster imperial porcelain sales, Hong Kong auction sets new recordHONG KONG (AFP) ―Sotheby’s said Saturday it sold a record HK$3.49 billion ($447 million) worth of Asian and Chinese art, fine wines, watches and jewels at its eight-day Hong Kong auction.The auction house offered 3,600 lots in eight categories in what its Asia CEO Kevin Ching described as the “most successful Hong Kong s

Performance April 10, 2011