Most Popular
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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Bae Doo-na shares portraying Korean identity in Hollywood's 'Rebel Moon'
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S. Korea votes in favor of Palestinian bid for UN membership
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[From the Scene] Monks, Buddhists hail return of remains of Buddhas
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Medical schools granted enrollment quota flexibility for next year
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Yoon offers first one-on-one meeting with opposition leader next week
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France rejects opening Paris flight routes to T'way Air, deals blow to Korean Air merger
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Chinese man behind drug scam targeting teens nabbed in Cambodia
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[Graphic News] French bulldog most popular breed in US, Maltese most popular in Korea
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Iran fires air defense batteries in provinces as sound of explosions heard near Isfahan
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Author, playwright Gore Vidal dies
Gore Vidal, the author, playwright, politician and commentator whose novels, essays, plays and opinions were stamped by his immodest wit and unconventional wisdom, died Tuesday, his nephew said Tuesday.Vidal died at his home in the Hollywood Hills at about 6:45 p.m. of complications from pneumonia, said Burr Steers. Vidal had been living alone in the home and had been sick for “quite a while,’’ he said.Along with such contemporaries as Norman Mailer and Truman Capote, Vidal was among the last ge
Aug. 1, 2012
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Finding her place in a sitcom world
The Next Best ThingBy Jennifer Weiner (Atria)Ruth Saunders’ dreams are about to come true, and she’s due for good luck: “I was a woman who’d lost her parents, who’d survived a dozen surgeries and emerged with metal implants in my jaw, the right side of my face sunken and scarred, and an eye that drooped.”Ruth’s dream involves a sitcom based loosely on the story of herself and the grandmother who raised her from age 3, and in Jennifer Weiner’s capable hands, the novel is a knockout. Perfect comic
July 27, 2012
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How humanity threatens itself
The Fate of the Species: Why the Human Race May Cause Its Own Extinction and How We Can Stop It, By Fred Guterl (Bloomsbury)Consider if you dare the case of bioengineers who’ve implanted a microchip into the brains of certain research beetles, a chip which connects to the beetle’s nervous system and sends tiny pulses of energy that make the beetle “behave,” to turn left or right, zig and zag, do loop-de-loops and otherwise respond to various commands. What’s the point? Imagine a million of these
July 27, 2012
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‘The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy’
It can take years to bring a single film to screen. It took over eight years to bring the massively popular Batman trilogy into theaters.“The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy,” takes you through those eight ― and more ― years as you learn about the whole process, from concept to conclusion.A beautifully artistic photo book, it’s a worthy addition to any film student or Batman reader’s collection of “making of” books. Coming from a background in smaller films, director Christopher Nolan
July 27, 2012
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Red and blue pair up to travel the country
The 2008 presidential campaign had many unexpected consequences: It spawned the tea party movement, the Palin family reality show dynasty and the career of Meghan McCain, daughter of the Republican nominee.During Arizona Sen. John McCain’s ill-fated White House run, Meghan spent a lot of time on the road on his famous “Straight Talk Express.” A newly minted Columbia University graduate, she was among the first political offspring to exploit the possibilities of a campaign blog.Pictures of her ju
July 27, 2012
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Kim to launch foundation for Dokdo sovereignty projects
Singer Kim Jang-hoon, known for his activism to reinforce Korean sovereignty over Dokdo, announced on Thursday he plans to found a foundation for his future Dokdo-related projects. The projects consist of building a Dokdo-themed cultural space “Dokdo Land” and providing support for Dokdo research for academic scholars, he said. “I’ve been working on the Dokdo project for a while,” said Kim during a press conference in Seoul on Thursday. “And I thought it was necessary to form a foundation to ke
July 26, 2012
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‘Alchemist’ author plays with reality in new book
SAO PAULO (AFP) ― Celebrated Brazilian author Paulo Coelho released his latest novel Wednesday, “Manuscript Found in Accra,” examining “values that span time.”It is Coelho’s 22nd offering ― previous works, including “The Alchemist,” “Veronica Decides to Die” and “The Zahir,” have sold over 140 million copies in 73 languages.The novel plays with fiction and reality in telling a story about a Greek sage known as Copta, who features in a manuscript discovered by an Englishman centuries later.“Disti
July 26, 2012
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An irreverent guide to things Korean for expats
Why do Koreans ask me whether I have eaten when saying hello? What happened to my personal space on the subway? Why do people take their shoes off when entering a home? How Confucian is Korea? Why the dull car colors? When Kim Hyung-geun started the advice column “Ask a Korean Dude” in SEOUL Magazine he never anticipated the scope and size of questions that streamed in from expatriates around the country. Many foreigners were confused by the quirks and customs of Korean culture and were hungry f
July 26, 2012
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Korean lit published in bilingual edition
A 15-volume series of modern Korean literature has been published in a Korean-English bilingual edition, its publisher Asia Publishers said.It took five years for the publishing company to release the series, which includes Oh Jung-hee’s “Chinatown,” Choe Yun’s “The Last of Hanako” and Jo Jung-rae’s “The Land of the Vanished.” Titled “Bi-lingual Edition Modern Korean Literature,” the series is divided into three different sections: “Division,” “Industrialization” and “Women.” While the series’ “
July 26, 2012
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New Zealand author Margaret Mahy dies
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ― Beloved New Zealand children’s author Margaret Mahy, who wrote more than 120 books and earned acclaim at home and abroad, has died at the age of 76.She died Monday after being diagnosed with cancer, her cousin Ron Mahy said.Mahy’s best-known books include “A Lion in the Meadow,’’ “The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate’’ and “Bubble Trouble.’’She won the Carnegie Medal for outstanding children’s writing twice and in 2006 won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for her lif
July 24, 2012
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Relationships of three hapless souls
TumbleweedsBy Leila Meacham (Grand Central Publishing) I love it when a book starts like this: “The call he’d been expecting for twenty-two years came at midnight when he was working late at his desk. … The name of the caller appeared in the identification screen, and his heart did a flip-flop.”Middle-of-the-night phone calls from people you haven’t heard from in nearly a quarter of a century almost always bode well, at least if you’re in the hands of a talented author.In this case, you certainl
July 20, 2012
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Stranger’s arrival sets tragedy in motion
Heading Out to WonderfulBy Robert Goolrick (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)“Brownsburg, Virginia, 1948, the kind of town that existed in the years right after the war, where the terrible American wanting hadn’t touched yet, where most people lived a simple life without yearning for things they couldn’t have…” Into this small town one day arrives Charlie Beale, a stranger from parts unknown. He has a suitcase full of his things ― which include a set of high-quality butcher knives ― and a suitcase
July 20, 2012
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Chris Colfer of ‘Glee’ mines childhood fascination to write ‘The Land of Stories’
When Chris Colfer was just 20, he‘d already been named one of GQ magazine’s men of the year, having sung and acted his way into the hearts of America as Kurt, the high-pitched, openly gay brunet who is unabashedly himself on the hit TV show “Glee.” Colfer‘s star had risen so fast in the year he’d starred on the Fox comedy that a literary agent asked him to pen his autobiography -- an endeavor Colfer had the good sense to decline because it was so premature.Instead, Colfer offered “The Land of St
July 20, 2012
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Q&A with U.S. Rep. John Lewis about new book, ‘Across That Bridge’
There’s a photograph of President John F. Kennedy sailing on his beloved Victura on the wall of U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ 19th-floor office that bares this quote: “One man can make a difference and every man should try.” It is one of many pearls of wisdom scattered about the elder statesman’s Atlanta office, but it is this single sentiment that beats throughout “Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change” (Hyperion, $22.99), Lewis’ latest book on his life and the civil rights movement
July 20, 2012
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Thrill of competition, agony of life
GoldBy Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster)TV producers who create those biographical segments on Olympic athletes could only wish that Chris Cleave wrote their scripts.In “Gold,” Cleave fashions a life-and-death story of two female cyclists, long entwined athletically and personally, competing for a single spot on Great Britain’s Olympic team.Cleave’s earlier novels include the bestseller “Little Bee.”“Gold” feels like a marriage of “Wide World of Sports” with Lifetime television; that’s meant as a
July 13, 2012
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Another winner from bestseller author
Shadow of NightBy Deborah Harkness (Viking Books)The ingredients for an enthralling historical fantasy can be deceptively simple: All you need are Elizabethan England, magic and witches. Add to this heady draught a liberal infusion of vampires and daemons, spice with a bit of romance and a dash of time travel ― just to kick up the action a notch ― and one’s imagination reels with the possibilities. Or at least it should, because Deborah Harkness’ “Shadow of Night” can show you just how potent su
July 13, 2012
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Garcia Marquez foundation refutes dementia claim
The head of a foundation created by Colombian Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez refuted claims from the author’s brother that he is suffering from dementia.“I will not argue or comment on interpretations of Gabo’s private affairs and health, but I assert there is no medical diagnosis of senile dementia,” the director of the New Journalism Foundation, Jaime Abello, wrote on Twitter.“Please, enough messages of solidarity: Gabo is not insane. He’s just an elderly person who has lost
July 13, 2012
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Margaret Atwood, author of dark tales, nurtures budding teenage writers
Margaret Atwood has always been one step ahead. The recent to-do over the use of the word “vagina” on the Michigan state House floor, for instance, would fit right in with the world she imagined in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which was published back in 1985.So maybe other adult novelists should take note of Atwood’s latest move: She’s jumped into the frenetic teen writing site Wattpad (www.wattpad.com). “I look forward to exploring the ways Wattpad connects people to reading and writing, and may hel
July 13, 2012
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Kurt Andersen concocts tale of woman seeking to reveal her radical past
The public intellectual has become a rare creature in America, but Kurt Andersen has helped keep it from going extinct. He co-founded Spy magazine, was editor of New York magazine and now writes pieces like Time’s 2011 person of the year story, the Protester. These days, though, he mostly splits his time between hosting “Studio 360,” broadcast weekly to 160 NPR stations, and writing the occasional bestselling novel. His newest book, “True Believers” (Random House: 447 pages, $27), came out Tuesd
July 13, 2012
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American prodigy shares studying skills with public
A famous American child prodigy has published a book exclusively in Korean to share his study skills with the public. Sho Timothy Yano, who last month became the youngest person to graduate with an M.D., from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago at the age of 21, said in his autobiography that it is important for one to have a purpose when studying. “What I would hope to tell students with my book is to think about why they are studying,” Yano said during a press conferen
July 11, 2012