Tuned an octave lower than the viola and an octave higher than the bass, cello is said to be the instrument that most resembles the human voice.For former child star and actress Lee Jae-eun, the instrument serves as a metaphor; it prompts her desire to find her “own voice” as an individual, after almost 30 years of living her roles. “My life has been all about pretending (to be someone else),” the 33-year-old actress said during a press showing of her theater debut “La Dame au Violoncelle” (The

Performance June 6, 2013

A 21-year-old college student from Daegu won Miss Korea 2013, the annual national beauty pageant, at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul on Tuesday. Yoo Ye-bin, who is majoring in clothing and textiles at Gyeongsang National University, won the Miss Korea title after competing against a total of 20 finalists.“I would like to be someone who focuses on her inner beauty,” Yoo said after being crowned, bursting into tears.The winner said she had no plans to break into the entertainment in

Performance June 5, 2013

Korean-born actress Kim Yun-jin will be featured in U.S. fashion magazine InStyle’s upcoming issue, according to her local agency Zion Entertainment. The actress, who is best known in the U.S. for her role as Sun on the American TV series “Lost,” is currently starring in ABC drama series “Mistresses,” which premiered on Monday. Based on the 2008-10 British series of the same title, the series features the lives of four female friends who are all having extramarital affairs. According to her agen

Film June 4, 2013

Broadway musical “American Idiot,” an adaptation of punk rock band Green Day’s seventh studio album of the same title, will be staged for the first time in Korea, according to its local promoters.The one-act, sung-through musical premiered on Broadway in 2010. Green Day did not appear in the production, though its songwriter and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong occasionally played the role of St. Jimmy, one of its three young protagonists.  The musical was nominated for a number of Tony Awards in

Performance June 4, 2013

Korean moviegoers will have the opportunity to see some of the latest Chinese films for the first time in the country, as the 2013 Chinese Film Festival kicks off this month.The festival brings 11 films this year, including nine that have never before been shown in Korea. Already, this year’s lineup is creating much buzz especially because of its closer “A Wedding Invitation,” which is a Chinese remake of Korean director Oh Ki-hwan’s 2001 tearjerker “Last Present.”“A Wedding Invitation” is also

Film June 3, 2013

Actor and director Yoo Ji-tae says it is his own “taste” that draws him to the films that feature society’s isolated, rather than ones that deal with the wealthy or powerful.His feature directing debut reflects that very taste telling the story of a young, abused migrant woman in search of survival and dignity. Titled “Mai Ratima,” the romance won the Jury Prize at this year’s Deauville Asian Film Festival. “I think I’m particularly interested in stories of women who go against the odds,” Yoo sa

Film June 2, 2013

Since the early 2000s, Seoul Selection has published about 70 English-language books on Korea and its culture. Here are some of the picks from their books.“The Voices of Heaven” by Maija Rhee DevineOne of the latest publications by Seoul Selection, “The Voices of Heaven” is an engaging account of the Korean War (1950-1953) from a young girl’s perspective. Korean-born American Maija Rhee Devine, wrote the novel based on her real-life experience going through the war, as well as her family secrets

Books May 31, 2013

“Now You See Me” is like seeing a magician pull a rabbit out of a hat and then showing you how the trick is done, only to learn the bunny’s dead. Everything’s going reasonably well until the disappointing end.The big trick of “Now You See Me” is the criminal ways of a group of illusionists ― played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco ― brought together by a mysterious stranger to pull off a series of impossible crimes. Their first trick is to rob a bank in Paris with

Film May 31, 2013

Walter Mosley grew up in Los Angeles and experienced firsthand what he considers one of the most crucial events in 20th Century American history: the 1965 Watts riots.But it wasn’t hearing screaming police sirens or spotting bodies in the streets or men jumping out of windows with arms packed with loot that had the biggest impact on the renowned mystery writer.It came from watching his father, Leroy Mosley, drinking and seeming upset.“I’m not scared,” Leroy Mosley said. “I want to get out there.

Books May 30, 2013

InfernoBy Dan Brown (Doubleday)Last Monday afternoon, Amazon posted a tease on its Kindle Facebook page reminding fans that the “year’s most anticipated thriller” was set for release the next day.There was skepticism amid the responses, as some wondered if Dan Brown’s latest, “Inferno,” could live up to the hype. The answer is yes!The latest chapter in the life of Harvard professor Robert Langdon is a compelling and suspenseful tale filled with twists and turns. (Advance copies of the book were

Books May 30, 2013

German fantasy writer Ralf Isau grew up listening to his father’s stories and harmonica. “I think that’s how I developed my love for the fantasy genre,” the writer said in a press conference in Seoul on Monday. “When I was a child, my art teacher wrote on my report card that my paintings have ‘a lot of fantasy elements.’”The 57-year-old writer, famous for his friendship with the late German author Michael Ende (1929-1995), visited Seoul this week to promote the recently released Korean edition o

Books May 30, 2013

Florist Yu Seung-jae says she loves all kinds of flowers, but it seems she’s developed a special attachment to peonies. “Peonies are very special,” Yu says, after giving a flower arrangement class at Bicena, a stylish restaurant specializing in modern Korean cuisine in Hannam-dong, Seoul. “Not everyone likes flowers. I’ve in fact met people who don’t like them. But it is very hard to find people ― regardless of whether they like flowers or not ― who don’t find peonies beautiful.”It is a warm Wed

Performance May 29, 2013

We’ve seen her dance “Swan Lake” and “Giselle,” pulling off her strict, purest ballet techniques. But this Friday, Kim Ji-young, the long-time famed principal dancer of Korean National Ballet, will groove to techno music onstage, clad in white pants and sporting oversized sunglasses.“I hear my choreographer wants me to look like a robot of some sort onstage,” the 34-year-old dancer tells The Korea Herald at Arko Arts Theater in Seoul, Monday. She just got back from Mokpo, South Jeolla Province,

Performance May 28, 2013

Korean director Moon Byoung-gon on Sunday won the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes International Film Festival, which ran May 15-26, for his film “Safe.” Moon is the first Korean to win the honor.“I am bewildered and didn’t know if I would win a prize,” the 30-year-old director was quoted as saying after the awards ceremony in France. “I am all the more happy to receive this award because I had no expectation that I’d win.”The 13-minute short is described as a grim portrait of a man addicted to g

Film May 27, 2013

The idea came screeching into director Justin Lin’s fuel-injected imagination in 2009: a fiery escape scene featuring a muscle car that crashes out of an airplane during takeoff.In production at the time on “Fast & Furious” ― the fourth installment of “The Fast and the Furious” franchise that has grossed $1.6 billion in worldwide box office since 2001 ― he commissioned digital “pre-visualization” artists to mock up a rendering even though the stunt did not fit the movie he was making and was too

Film May 24, 2013