Aashish Gadhvi reviews Korea v Serbia at Craven Cottage on 18 November Two years ago Fulham’s Craven Cottage played host to a friendly match on a chilly winter evening between Korea and Greece, which went down a success. The stadium was full of crazy Korean fans singing and chanting throughout the match as Korea walked … [Read More]
Year: 2009 (page 5)
Sulki Yu at the Wigmore
News of an upcoming recital at the Wigmore featuring talented Korean violinist Sulki Yu. PLG YOUNG ARTISTS Monday 30 November 2009 at 7.30pm Sulki Yu violin Chiao-Ying Chang piano Zalas Trio Carlota Amargós violin Beatrix Graf clarinet Nikolaos Stavlas piano PROGRAMME Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 3 ‘Ballade’ for solo violin Edwin Roxburgh: Sonata for violin and … [Read More]
Kim So-Ock at the Wigmore
Tuesday 1 December 2009 – 7:30 PM Wigmore Hall Performers So-Ock Kim violin Sunwook Kim piano Programme Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Op. 96 Chausson Poème Op. 25 Elgar Violin Sonata in E minor Op. 82 Ravel Tzigane About this concert Both natives of South Korea, So-Ock Kim is a previous gold medallist … [Read More]
Bird flu boosts sales of lucky pants
Bird flu boosts sales of lucky pants, says the Chosun Ilbo http://bit.ly/2zCuwR #. “With the H1N1 flu alert raised to the highest level, more people are buying underwear for their parents to prevent them from catching a cold,” says a department store spokesperson quoted in the article. “Red underwear looks warm and is traditionally said … [Read More]
An unforgettable Tea Tour
I really wish I didn’t have a day job. This trip, in May 2010, has got to be one of the most appealing prospects for a holiday that I can think of, particularly if you tack on a few days in Seoul first to take in Korean’s intangible cultural asset #1, the ancestral rites at … [Read More]
Woojung Chun’s library of mysteries
LKL completes its coverage of Korean artists at the 2009 Venice Biennale. If you browse the shopping streets of Venice, among the numerous tourist outlets selling carnival masks, murano glass and designer clothes, you might find one or two shops selling well-crafted model book-cases: too big for your average dolls house, but nevertheless covetable. Something … [Read More]
Breathless: can there be any escape from the cycle of violence?
Breathless (똥파리) is Yang Ik-june’s debut feature, in which he is also lead actor, and the film has deservedly won numerous awards. As the film opens, a man is beating up his girlfriend in the street. To the rescue comes Sang-hoon, played by Yang, who subdues the offender only to turn to the woman and … [Read More]
Korean and the Transeurasian languages: similarities that make a difference
More info about this Friday’s talk at SOAS: Friday, November 20th, 5pm, room G50 (main building) Dr. Martine Robbeets, University of Mainz Korean and the Transeurasian languages: similarities that make a difference Abstract: The term “Transeurasian” refers a group of geographically adjacent languages, stretching from Japan in the East to Lithuania in the West, that … [Read More]
Presenting Korean Culture 3: Communication is key
I have now, alas, given up asking the KCC to send me monthly details of their upcoming events. They have a monthly news-sheet available at their front desk, they know I like to be emailed a copy of it as soon as it is available in draft, but it never happens. They know my communication … [Read More]
Korean photographers in Uncertain States
Two Korean photographers, Jo Seong-hee and Park Ju-young, are currently participating in Uncertain States, a group show at Photo-Space Gallery, 530 Commercial Road, London E1 0HY (Near Limehouse DLR). Jo Seong-hee has been loitering in the City and Canary Wharf taking night time photographs of the cityscape, pasting them together in what initially seems a … [Read More]
Insadong Scandal – a fun caper movie
Insadong Scandal is like Thomas Crown Affair, only slicker and with more twists. Highly recommended # and a suprise highlight of the LKFF2009, with Uhm Jung-hwa on sparkling, even sizzling, form. [Read More]
“Asia! Asia!” – Stephen Epstein at SOAS
Stephen Epstein had a busy week last week giving lectures in Cambridge, Oxford and London. He is on a lecture tour of Europe, using the trip as an opportunity to test various chapters from his forthcoming book with a critical audience. Friday’s lecture at SOAS focused on the portrayal of some of Korea’s Asian neighbours … [Read More]
Remembering Murder: from “Memories of Murder” to “Mother”
Colette Balmain examines Bong Joon-ho’s Mother as a thematic evolution of Memories of Murder, shifting from a procedural to an intimate, arguably incestuous, study of devotion. By portraying the mother’s desperate quest for her son’s innocence against a corrupt, commodity-driven community, the film serves as a searing allegory for modern South Korea and its buried historical traumas. [Read More]
The curious case of Jong Tae-se
Aashish Gadhvi analyses the so-called defector in the Northern ranks. North Korea’s qualification for the 2010 World Cup has brought about many questions in international football. Not least of all, the desire for more information about the team. Most of all, who are these guys? The mystery surrounding the team is pretty much the same … [Read More]
Aigoo! Yu Hyun-mok, master of Korean realism, is so depressing
When asked to look back at his career, Yu Hyun-mok, one of the four greatest directors from the golden age of Korean film, said that he was proud of two achievements: That he was always an innovator; That he never filmed a melodramatic love story. In the latter achievement lies the key to Yu, as … [Read More]
Bamboo and Blood: Inspector O is back on form
James Church: Bamboo and Blood St Martin’s Press, 2008 After Inspector O’s slightly disappointing second outing, James Church is back on form with the third novel in the series, Bamboo and Blood. In another fast-paced story, set against the backdrop of the North Korean 1997 famine and the US-DPRK talks in Geneva, Inspector O is … [Read More]