From the category archives:

Retail Therapy

Thanks to Saharial for pointing out that Play.com has a few bargains right now. Here’s a selection of some of the Korean films on offer, starting with the cheapest:
£1.99

Once upon a time in High School
Typhoon special 2 disc ed

£2.99

Doll Master

£3.99

Arahan
Memories of Murder
The Host
City of Violence (2 disks)
The Ghost
Musa the Warrior

£4.99

3-Iron
The chaser

£5.99

The Host 2 disc special [...]

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Han Style in a necktie

14 August 2009 Retail Therapy
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We’ve all seen modern reinventions of the hanbok, maybe worn by a western celebrity. We’ve seen t-shirts and other items of female clothing and accessories adorned with hangeul, Korea’s script. But, short of wearing hanbok – which maybe is not the thing to wear at chic cocktail parties in Primrose Hill – what is a [...]

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It’s finally happened: Housemaid on DVD

30 July 2009 Kim Ki-young
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It had to happen eventually. It’s been at the top of every Korean film buff’s most-wanted DVD release for longer than we can all remember. They’ve been working on polishing up the print and subtitles for rather too long. Versions of the film have been available at film festivals for a while – we saw [...]

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Recent music award winners

12 April 2009 K-pop rock and indie
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March was a month in which two separate music awards were announced. Here are the winners.

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Nom Nom Nom gets DVD release

20 February 2009 Film
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Kim Ji-woon’s The Good the Bad and the Weird makes it to DVD, in both Korean and International cuts.

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President’s Last Bang gets uncensored DVD release

13 February 2009 Events news
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Im Sang-soo’s film gets a UK DVD release with its controversial documentary footage reinstated.

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Sandglass the best TV drama ever?

12 February 2009 Retail Therapy
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A run-down of the top Korean TV dramas, as voted on by the experts.

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DVD bargains to be had

24 January 2009 Film
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A quick post to tell people about the YesAsia end-of-year sale

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Books for your Christmas shopping list

14 December 2008 2008 year-end posts
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For those pondering what to buy your loved ones for Christmas, a few suggestions from the many books published this year

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Olympics opening ceremony

19 August 2008 Retail Therapy
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For sports fans, admirers of spectacle and connoisseurs of lipsynching techniques, the footage of the Olympics opening ceremony has been released on DVD. I didn’t see the ceremony, but can imagine that aspects of it must be rather like Pyongyang’s mass games.
The DVD is available from YesAsia and other good stores:

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The wait is over

3 July 2008 Film
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At least in part.
No student of Korean film can call his or her education complete until they’ve seen some films by Kim Ki-Young. Until now, none of the films have been available on DVD.
Alas, no Housemaid yet, but this new four-film boxed set includes Goryeojang (a.k.a. Burying Old Alive) (1963), Chungnyeo (a.k.a. The Insect Woman) [...]

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Seasonal gift ideas

3 December 2007 2007 year-end posts
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As there are only 3 weeks left, here are some thoughts for solving some of your gift dilemmas:
Book ideas
James Church’s second novel in the Inspector O series: Hidden Moon. The first one was a corker. The second one: a bank robbery in Pyongyang, in broad daylight, by men in silk stockings? A lively scenario for [...]

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Halloween specials at Tartan

21 October 2006 Retail Therapy

Pick up the Whispering Corridors DVDs for £6.66 each over at the Tartan website. If you can find them. Boy, is their website dire.
OK, to help you out, here are the links

Whispering Corridors
Memento Mori
Wishing Stairs

Other horror stuff (R-Point, Phone) is similarly priced.

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