JYP GOT7 releases first music teaser video

GOT7 unveiled a teaser video for their upcoming album’s title track “Girls Girls Girls” on Monday. The video features the seven members skating through the city on “Wheelman,” a unique foot bike suited to their carefree concept. The boy band members range in nationalities, including non-Koreans. The group is also planning a simultaneous overseas debut after rising to the attention of famous international record labels. The new boy group specializes in martial arts performances called “tricking,”

PerformanceJan. 13, 2014

[Photo News] Little Choo goes swimming with her father

In the episode of variety TV show “Superman is Back” aired on Sunday, the infant starlet Choo Sa-rang, daughter of former Korean-Japanese K1 fighter Choo Sung-hoon, swims with her father during their trip to Osaka. Capture from KBS 2 TV(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

TelevisionJan. 13, 2014

[Graphic News] K-pop fans around the world

The number of K-pop fans around the world surpassed 9 million last year, according to a recent report by the Korea Foundation. The number stood at 9.28 million, up 2.58 million from 2012. Fan clubs came in at 987, up 204 from a year ago. By region, the Asia-Pacific had the greatest number of K-pop-loving fans at 6.8 million, while Africa and the Middle East together reported the most significant surge. The combined number of fans in Africa and the Middle East tripled to 60,000, with countries li

Jan. 12, 2014

Exhibition shows men’s bags’ evolution from practical carryalls to style items

Men’s bags have become more than a practical means of carrying belongings. They are now much more like accessories, fashion statements or reflections of a man’s identity. In step with changing perceptions about the nature of men’s bags, the Simone Handbag Museum on the trendy Garosu-gil in Seoul recently opened a small exhibition to examine the relationships between men and bags. “Bags have become a style accessory, no longer a practical carrier. I think bags are one of the fashion items with wh

Arts & DesignJan. 12, 2014

Cologne Phil to present rarely performed ‘Alpine Symphony’

Richard Strauss’ “Alpine Symphony” is rarely performed because of the demands it makes on an orchestra ― for starters, it requires 125 players. So far, no foreign orchestra has played the grandiose 50-minute piece here. That is why so many Korean music fans are thrilled about the upcoming concert by the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra.The Germany-based orchestra will hold its first concert in Korea on Feb. 15 at Seoul Arts Center, with the program consisting of the “Alpine Symphony” and Mozart’s

CultureJan. 12, 2014

Kick Kennedy calls her stage debut ‘magical’

NEW YORK (AP) ― The storied Kennedy family has produced a president, ambassadors, an attorney general, senators and plenty of congressmen. But not a professional actor. Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy hopes to change that. The 25-year-old granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy is making her professional stage debut off-Broadway this month in, of all things, a Greek tragedy. Kennedy plays the title role in “Antigone,” the Sophocles play about a young woman willing to die in order to defend her family’s honor

PerformanceJan. 12, 2014

Spike Lee’s ‘Oldboy’ gets Korean release this week

The American remake of famed Korean auteur Park Chan-wook’s iconic 2003 film “Oldboy” is finally arriving in Korean theaters, after suffering a box office disappointment in the U.S.Directed by Spike Lee, whose works include “Do the Right Thing” (1989) and “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Kills You” (2011), the film stars Josh Brolin as Joe Doucett, the American version of Park’s Oh Dae-soo (played by Choi Min-sik back in 2003), who becomes imprisoned in a hotel room for 20 years without even knowing

FilmJan. 12, 2014

Chili Peppers to join Bruno Mars at Super Bowl

NEW YORK (AP) ― Bruno Mars will have help from the Red Hot Chili Peppers when he performs at the Super Bowl next month.Mars announced Saturday that the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will join him as part of his halftime show at the National Football League championship game. Super Bowl halftime performers often have collaborators. Last year, Beyonce had Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams from her Destiny’s Child days join her onstage, and two years ago Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. joined Madonna for h

PerformanceJan. 12, 2014

Somerset Palace Seoul to celebrate Orthodox New Year with cultural event

The Somerset Palace Seoul is hosting a special “Orthodox Christians New Year’s Event” for those looking to spend the New Year in Slavic tradition. Orthodox Christians traditionally celebrated the New Year holiday following the Julian Calendar ― which corresponds to Jan. 14 of the Gregorian calendar this year ― participating in festive ceremonies and wishing each other good health and prosperity throughout the year. This tradition continues to be celebrated in many Eastern European nations includ

PeopleJan. 12, 2014

Announcer Jung In-young flaunts her curves in men’s magazine

The January edition of men’s magazine Maxim, featuring announcer Jung In-young on the cover, was sold out as of Friday, according to news reports. “Most of the January edition is out of stock both online and in-stores. This is only the second time this has happened,” an official from Maxim was quoted as saying. The magazine sold out in May 2012 for the first time, when the editor herself modeled for the cover. Jung posed for Maxim in a tight dress, flaunting her curves. She is currently hosting

TelevisionJan. 12, 2014

Calendar

Exhibitions“Re-Atta, Part 1: On-Air Project”: Photographer Atta Kim, whose innovative, striking photographs have received much attention in the global art community, returns with a solo exhibition in Seoul. Kim presents new images to wrap up the “On-Air” project that won him worldwide attention, as well as his previous works such as city images taken with long exposure and introduce another ambitious, philosophical project that overlaps 10,000 snapshots of a city into one. The extensive survey o

CultureJan. 10, 2014

Box office: Miss Granny, Blue is the Warmest Color, Finding Mr. Right

 Miss Granny (Korea)Opening Jan. 22Comedy. Drama. Directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk. Oh Mal-soon (Na Moon-hee), a 70-something grandmother, lives with her son and his family. She is controlling and shameless, and has a difficult relationship with her depressed daughter-in-law. She is proud of her son, who is a university professor, and that she managed to raise him by herself against all odds. One day, Mal-soon’s daughter-in-law gets hospitalized after suddenly collapsing, and doctors strongly advise

FilmJan. 10, 2014

Eyelike: TVXQ marks 10th anniversary with ‘Tense’

 TVXQ marks 10th anniversary with ‘Tense’TVXQ “Tense” (KT Music)K-pop legend TVXQ has returned to the music scene, celebrating the 10th anniversary of its debut with its new album, “Tense.” Although the duo has managed to produce an album that explores a wide range of musical genres, it has yet to overcome the void left behind by the three original members who left and formed a separate group, JYJ, in 2010.The album begins with “10 Years,” which notably fuses lyrics from former hits by TVXQ incl

PerformanceJan. 10, 2014

Leo is charismatically loathsome as ‘Wolf of Wall Street’

Leonardo DiCaprio’s most charismatic performance ever anchors Martin Scorsese’s robust and raunchy low lifes-of-high-finance comedy “The Wolf of Wall Street.” This is their greatest teaming, a veritable “Citizen Kane” of the post-“greed is good” era ― three hours of cocaine and orgies and high-living by the sorts of gauche gamblers who brought that age, and the world economy, to its knees.It is Scorsese’s “La Dolce Vita,” a manic, coke-fueled stock market “Goodfellas” following the rise and epic

FilmJan. 10, 2014