The event of the month, and possibly the event of the year (hope I’m not speaking too soon), is Korea Rocks (see under Music listings below). But there are some pretty good exhibitions this month as well. And then Moon So-ri is in town too. Oh, and there’s the London Book Fair too. Let me … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 94)
“This bad movie is more fun than anything else”
“In a bad movie week, this bad movie is more fun than anything else” – the FT’s verdict on GI Joe: Retaliation. The first one was such fun and such nonsense that really you’ve got to go and see this one too. [Read More]
LLGFF Festival Film Review: Leesong Hee-il’s White Night trilogy – seek it out if you can
It was not so long ago that writing an article on queer cinema in Korea was a real struggle, for want of source material. Adam Hartzell does an excellent job in his 2002 Film Journal article Queer Pal for the Straight Gal, referencing films such as Wanee and Junah, Bungee Jump, Memento Mori and others. … [Read More]
The Good Friday transatlantic K-blog meetup
9 o’clock in the morning on the Good Friday bank holiday at a Hammersmith coffee shop might not seem the likeliest place for a K-blog meetup. But Roy Ghim, from the Tavern of the Taekguk Warriors, a US-based Korean football site, had just arrived at Heathrow and was on his way into town. And as … [Read More]
The President’s Barber – an awkward film that’s difficult to categorise
Lim Chan-sang’s The President’s Barber (효자동 이발사, 2004) was the first KCC screening of 2013, in which we will be seeing films featuring four actors each of who will be coming to London for a Q&A. The first three months feature Moon So-ri, who will be in London for a screening of Hong Sang-soo’s Hahaha … [Read More]
Ten years of The Marmot
There’s a nice feature on Robert Koehler of The Marmot’s Hole in the Joongang Ilbo (along with a couple of other bloggers too), marking 10 years of the blog’s existence. Here’s to the next ten. Links: Korea by blog – Creating an expat blogosphere, Korea JoongAng Daily, March 19, 2013 [Read More]
DramaFever hosts fan choice awards for K-Drama
UK netizens possibly won’t make much use of DramaFever as their episodes of K-Drama series are limited to IP addresses in the Americas. But K-drama fans wherever you are may want to participate in their fan choice awards for K-drama, which are open for voting until the end of March. This is the first year … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Bae Chan-hyo – Punishment, at Purdy Hicks
Tomorrow is your last chance to see the first public showing of Bae Chan-hyo’s Existing in Costume series, this particular project bearing the subtitle Punishment. Earlier in the series, Bae has focused on fairy tale characters, or aristocratic western women, each time with Bae dressing in immaculate costume to pose for his self-portrait. In Punishment, … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Ceramics by Lee Chang-sook and Kim So-yeop at Mokspace
Mokspace has done it again with an exhibition of affordable pieces which are a pleasure to look at. And with the current exhibition the pieces are a pleasure to handle as well. And useful. Kim So-yeop’s stoneware in particular begs you to pick it up and turn it in your hands. The rough texture and … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Lotions and potions in old Joseon
The current exhibition at the KCC gives us an historical overview of the methods used by Korean womanhood to beautify themselves. Clearly it’s not possible to exhibit the original ancient cosmetics themselves, but the containers used to store them have survived: from Silla and Baekje kingdom earthenware powder bowls and oil jars, via beautifully inlaid … [Read More]
Kim Yu-na wins again
Congratulations to Kim Yu-na on regaining her world figure-skating championship title in effortless style. Sadly, her next big contest, at the Sochi Winter Olympics, will be her last. “The reigning Olympic champion looked as if she’d never been away, with an exquisite and elegant performance that left the audience spellbound. The crowd was on its … [Read More]
It’s The Sun that broke the news
Possibly the oddest outcome of the extremely odd encounter between Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong-un is that it is through an interview that the American basketball player gave to Britain’s favourite tabloid The Sun that the news is broken to the world that Kim Jong Un has a baby daughter. Source: NK News [Read More]
What can be had at McD’s in Korea
First, the Potato Party story, which was first broken by Rocket News, in which a crowd of kids bought $250 worth of fries at McDonalds and set about them with gusto. “Stop causing trouble, you brats! Get out of here!” an attendant is reported to have said. The story even made it into the Guardian. … [Read More]
Is this for real? I’m so dead!
“A fine for a person who exposes his or her skin is too much. Is this for real? I’m so dead!” Lee Hyori is said to have tweeted in this week’s non-story. Park Geun-hye’s cabinet approved a revision on 11 March that regulates certain “inappropriate” social behavior such as stalking and public indecency, which includes … [Read More]
Kim Young-ha: Black Flower – an imaginative re-telling of a fascinating byway of Korean history
Kim Young-ha: Black Flower Originally published in Korean as 검은 꽃 in 2003 This edition Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2012, 305pp, Translated by Charles La Shure Black Flower tells the fascinating story of a thousand or so Korean emigrants who sailed from Jemulpo (now Incheon) in 1905 in search of jobs in Mexico, and ended up … [Read More]
Nah Youn Sun on reducing an audience to tears
LKL’s favourite jazz singer, Nah Youn Sun, fresh from singing at Park Geun-hye’s inauguration talks to the JoongAng Daily about her career, about her new album, Lento, which will be released in the UK in April, and about singing Arirang to foreign audiences: To my surprise, audiences, regardless of their nationality, shed tears while listening … [Read More]