A brief round-up of recent hallyu and nationalism stories. Rain’s producer, Park Jin-young, says the word “Korean” should be removed from “Korean Wave”. “I don’t understand why the Korean wave is taken as the rah-rah material,” Mr. Park said. “Now is the time to overcome nationalism, but instead we are intensifying that sentiment.” Park has … [Read More]
Year: 2007 (page 24)
Kia Cee’d gets the thumbs up
The consensus among the motoring journalists is that Jeremy Clarkson might have to start revising his views on Korean cars (1). Korean cars in the UK have the reputation of competing on price rather than quality. But all this seems to be changing with the Kia Cee’d. From the FT this weekend: This is the … [Read More]
The Leeum Art Gallery, Seoul
A brief walk from Hangangjin subway stop (line 6) near Itaewon is the Leeum Gallery, set up by Samsung. No expense has been spared on the building itself, with prestigious foreign architects engaged to build it, and an impressive collection of artworks. The building itself is very spacious, and has three main sections. Older artworks … [Read More]
A meeting with Bloody Cookie
By Anna Lindgren In 2005 I came across a band making music unlike anything I had previously heard coming out of South Korea: Bloody Cookie. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get an interview with Bloody Cookie’s lead vocalist, Binna (right). Some years ago, Binna decided she wanted to launch a girl … [Read More]
Welcome to two new contributors
Firstly, my apologies to Peter Corbishley for not welcoming him earlier. Peter kindly did the write-up of the Korea Business Reception while I was on my travels, and I hope he will contribute again in the future: he’s a loyal follower of the various Korean cultural events in London. And welcome to Anna Lindgren from … [Read More]
Celebrity news round-up: January 07
Rain, LKL’s man of the year 2006 has started 2007 on a low-note with a speeding ticket in Hong Kong at the start of his gruelling tour. He also underwhelmed one reporter at a Singapore press conference who found him just a little dull. This wasn’t a reflection on his performance on-stage (and I’ve yet … [Read More]
West, Philip and Suh, Ji-moon: Remembering the “forgotten war”
The Korean War through Literature and Art (M.E. Sharpe, 2001) An interesting and approachable collection of papers addressing how the Korean war is represented in the arts of the different countries involved. Chapters address Korean film, visual arts, and poetry, and also how the war impacted the lives and work of six Korean novelists. For … [Read More]
South Korea 1, Greece 0
It was a lacklustre first half, in which neither side looked like scoring. Greece were the more impressive side, but that was not saying much. They were first division, Korea were second division, and we were all expecting a bit of premiership sparkle. Fortunately, though, the half slipped by very quickly. As I had been … [Read More]
Welcome to Dongmakgol playing in London
Sorry for the late notice, but it’s on at the ICA right now. It’s also been quite widely reviewed in the press over the weekend, which suggests a wider release is on the cards. Check out allocine for some of the reviews. [Read More]
Uhm Jung-hwa #9: Prestige
Uhm Jung-hwa: Prestige (2006) After all the high jinks required to get this album off the ground, my expectations of the music to be enjoyed therein were low. They were triumphantly met. There’s nothing terribly objectionable about anything on this album, but then there’s nothing terribly arresting either. The thing which most sticks in the … [Read More]
Kim Young-na: Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea
Kim Young-na: Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea (Hollym, 2005) A brief but action-packed overview of twentieth century Korean art history, which can be read alongside Kim’s other book covering the same period, published by Lawrence King. While her Lawrence King book is a collection of essays focusing on particular subject areas, the Hollym book … [Read More]
January statistics
It’s the end of January and I’ve already hit some of my objectives for the year. From here the only way is down. So what happened in January? A link from the Marmot, firstly in a post following that Korea Times piece, and now I’ve made it into his blogroll. Visitor numbers were looking good … [Read More]
Song from the roof-top
Bada Song’s Installation Piece at “So-Called Life” exhibition, Camberwell College of Arts, 11 January – 9 February 2007. Review by Beccy Kennedy The photographs and installation art works displayed in the foyer of the Camberwell College of Arts for “So-called Life” are challenging of our expectations of the exhibition space and also perhaps of our … [Read More]
February events 2007
In London / the UK Jump returns to the Peacock Theatre, London The Red Devils take on Greece in a friendly at Fulham on 6 Feb Grain in Ear, the Chinese / Korean film co-production, shows at the Chinese film festival on 7 Feb Ballet Black (including Korean dancer So-Yeon Kim) finishes its brief run … [Read More]
Kissed by the Devil
First the Iranians, now an Algerian. A gent (or maybe a gal – one shouldn’t be sexist about this) who goes by the name of cRu$ty paid me a visit and placed a picture of a skull with a very fetching blue rose, together with the above motto, where my home page should be. Have … [Read More]
The Spirit of Kahoidong
Bukchon (북촌), a genuine old part of Seoul, a haven of peace preserved between the two major palaces. A little bit of old Seoul carefully preserved and nurtured, saved from the twenty-first century metropolis below. Stroll around the quaint streets of Kahoidong, one of the most protected parts of Bukchon, and if you’re not looking … [Read More]