Traditional dance troupe goes experimental

The National Dance Company of Korea is keeping up its efforts to reinvent its performances by making them more approachable and new.Following last year’s “Scent of Ink,” its collaboration with celebrated fashion designer Jung Ku-ho, the troupe ― known for specializing in traditional Korean dance ― is showcasing three experimental projects this month.“Scent of Ink” was a tasteful, modern interpretation of traditional dance, featuring the “four noble ones,” the four plants believed to epitomize Ko

PerformanceJan. 2, 2014

Brave Brothers to celebrate decade anniversary with 10 monthly releases

Rapper and record producer Kang Dong-chul ― best known by his stage name Brave Brothers ― has announced that he will be releasing a special collaborative album in commemoration of his 10th anniversary of his debut. As one of the country’s most famed producers, Brave Brothers has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry and is behind some of K-pop’s biggest hits including Lexy’s “Wipe My Tears And Put On Make Up;” Big Bang’s “Last Farwell;” Son Dam-bi’s “Crazy” and “Saturday Night;”

PerformanceJan. 2, 2014

Rain looks to create storm with ‘Rain Effect’

Singer, dancer, actor and all-around entertainer Rain has finally made his much-awaited return to the local music scene in full force with the release of his sixth studio album “Rain Effect” on Thursday, just six months after being discharged from military service. Coming nearly four years after his last mini-album “Back to the Basics,” which featured the hit track “Love Song,” and more than five years after his previous full-length studio album “Rainism,” the hallyu star was originally schedule

PeopleJan. 2, 2014

Musician to lead gugak center

Kim Hae-sook, a performer of the gayageum or the 12-string zither and professor, has been named to lead a state-run center for Korean traditional music, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Thursday.Kim, 60, will assume the post of director general at the National Gugak Center for a two-year term. She is the first woman to hold the post since the organization was founded in 1951.“New director-general Kim is an acclaimed performer and scholar in various fields of Korean traditional mu

CultureJan. 2, 2014

Centuries of Baghdad poetry

Baghdad: The City in VerseBy Reuven Snir(Harvard University Press)Baghdad is a city that looms large in the American imagination. In 2003, at the start of the last Iraq war, it was occupied by U.S. troops. In the years that followed, thousands of U.S. citizens (soldiers, contractors, officials and journalists) passed through Baghdad.My own memories of the city are of its heat and light and the brokenness of its buildings and the kindness of its people. I lived there in 2003, briefly, as a report

BooksJan. 2, 2014

Bridget Jones in the age of Twitter

Bridget Jones: Mad About the BoyBy Helen Fielding(Knopf)When a character like Bridget Jones is so beloved that she becomes something of a virtual best friend, it’s devastating to loyal, emotional readers when she just up and disappears for 13 years. (It was only two years between “Bridget Jones’ Diary” in 1998 and “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason” in 2000.)After such a long wait, it’s a grand delight to find that author Helen Fielding’s third Bridget romp is every bit as engaging, hilarious an

BooksJan. 2, 2014

‘Faithful Scribe,’ a keen insight into Pakistan’s past, present and future

From the first pages of his debut book, “The Faithful Scribe,” journalist Shahan Mufti gets personal.He imagines a dinner party in which you, the reader, ask where he’s from, and after hearing him reply, “Pakistan,” you ask him why the country is such a mess.Mufti, who grew up in the United States and Pakistan, attempts to answer that question and many more by probing his own family history to better understand the roots of the world’s first Islamic democracy.He artfully weaves stories of his an

BooksJan. 2, 2014

‘Mother, Mother’: powerful trip through mom-daughter angst

Feeling overwhelmed by all the, you know, cheer in the air this time of year? Wishing for a little doom, a little gloom to balance things out? Have I got the book for you, and I mean that in a most complimentary way to the author.Koren Zailckas’ fiercely disturbing “Mother, Mother” is, under no circumstances, a book that you should read when you’re feeling depressed, or you’re kind of hating your mom, or you feel the need for some light chick-lit. It is, however, one of the most profound and ins

BooksJan. 2, 2014

Koreans’ favorite delivery food: fried chicken

Fried chicken was ranked No. 1 among people’s favorite delivery foods, beating the long-loved noodle dish jajangmyeon, according to a survey released Wednesday.The state-run Korea Rural Economic Institute polled 3,200 households nationwide, using self-report questionnaires or questions asked through household visits, to find out people’s ordering-in preferences. The poll showed that 42.4 percent of Koreans favor fried chicken, followed by Chinese delivery meals at 21.5 percent and pizza at 16.6

FoodJan. 2, 2014

Rain says his girlfriend Kim tae-hee is rock

Actor and singer Rain expressed his fondness toward his girlfriend, actress Kim Tae-hee, in a recent interview. “My girlfriend is someone I can rely on and trust when I am down,” said the 32-year-old star, who just released his 6th album, titled “Rain Effect,” on Thursday.“We are on good terms, but we cannot go on dates frequently as both of us are too busy. We are keeping in contact by phone.”He drew a clear line between love and work, however. “I don’t want love to be mixed with work. I don’t

PerformanceJan. 2, 2014

Dongdaemun Design Plaza creates futuristic Seoul scape

Dongdaemun, one of the largest commercial districts in Korea, will have its new face revealed with the opening of the latest masterpiece by star architect Zaha Hadid, in an ambitious Seoul Metropolitan Government project to establish a design and cultural hub in the capital. The Dongdaemun Design Plaza and Park will be unveiled in March amid anticipation that the new flashy building and its adjacent public park will attract citizens much like Korea’s first sports stadium originally located on th

Arts & DesignJan. 1, 2014

[Herald Review] Revisiting Roh Moo-hyun

Though director Yang Woo-seok’s latest film “The Attorney” specifies in the very beginning that it is “fiction,” it is hard to separate Song Woo-seok, the protagonist of the film and a fierce Busan-based lawyer in the 1980s, and the late President Roh Moo-hyun. Starring Song Kang-ho, of “Snowpiercer” and “The Face Reader,” who is undoubtedly one of the most famed and respected actors today, the film, which hit its 5 million viewers mark in just 12 days of its release on Monday, revisits Roh’s ea

FilmJan. 1, 2014

Lee Seung-gi and SNSD’s YoonA dating

It has been revealed that popular TV personality and singer Lee Seung-gi and Girls’ Generation’s YoonA have been seeing each other for the past several months. On New Year’s Day both of the stars’ agencies confirmed rumors that the two were dating after local online news media Dispatch released several photos of YoonA getting into Lee’s car on a number of occasions since October. The two have reportedly been dating in secret since September.“Lee Seung-gi and YoonA’s feelings for one another are

PeopleJan. 1, 2014

Pope asks if people helped others in 2013

VATICAN CITY (AP) ― Pope Francis used his year-end prayer service on Tuesday evening to urge people to ask themselves a tough question: Did they mainly spend 2013 promoting self-interests or helping others? That’s what we all should consider as New Year’s celebrations get under way, the pontiff said as he led the service in St. Peter’s Basilica to give thanks, a Vatican year-end tradition.“Let us courageously ask ourselves: How did we live the time (God) gave us?” Francis asked in his homily. “D

PeopleJan. 1, 2014