Lee Hyori has decided that discretion is the better part of valour, and has withdrawn performances of her single Get Ya!, from her album Dark Angel, which allegedly steals from Britney Spears’s Do Somethin’. [Read More]
Featured Posts - page 275
Korean protests baffle Belgians
I can’t put it better than the Chosun Ilbo’s own headline. One of the more peculiar stories. In fact today’s Chosun is packed with entertaining stories: Britney Spears’s songwriters accuse Lee Hyo-lee of plagiarism; and a sex survey by pharmaceutical company Bayer finds Korean men the most selfish in bed. [Read More]
Koreans and sport #2
Korea has now crashed out of that international baseball tournament, after a 6-0 whitewash at the hands of Japan [Read More]
New book on Kim Ki-duk
For all you fans of this inventive director, there’s a new book out. I’ll post some comments once I’ve read it, but that won’t be for a while as I’ve got quite a backlog to get through. That plus the fact that the English version won’t be available until November 2006, according to Amazon. Update: … [Read More]
New Jeon Ji-hyun vehicle crashes
OK, so it’s not a complete box office turkey, but after one week at the top of the charts, it’s now down to number 4 and predicted to head south quickly. The vehicle, a film entitled Daisy, is a blatantly commercial effort to cash in on the marketability of the My Sassy Girl star outside … [Read More]
Yom Sang-seop: Three Generations
(Archipelago, 2005) Translated by Yu Young-nan. First published in Korean in 1931 as 삼 대 and revised in 1948. Chronicles the lives of an extended wealthy family in Japanese-occupied Seoul. The old order gradually fades, the vultures descend for the pickings, while an underground of nationalists and socialists struggle to make a difference. Recommended. Available … [Read More]
Koreans and sport #1
They’re doing very well in some baseball tournament or other, of which the highlight was beating Japan. The Korean team’s leading player is the star Park Chan-ho. Must feel good to beat the old rivals across the East Sea. Meanwhile, not only the prime minister but now the vice-minister for education have been forced to … [Read More]
BoA not quite top of the world pops
Again, I’m a little slow on the uptake, but megastar BoA managed to make it to number 2 in the worldwide pop charts last week with her new Japanese release “Outgrow”. Others are better qualified than me to comment on the workings of the global pop music industry, but the charts seem to be dominated … [Read More]
Life in the concentration camp – in a musical
I was a bit slow in spotting this, but for politically controversial stage shows, Yoduk Story must take some beating – a musical about human rights abuses in one of North Korea’s concentration camps, written, directed and acted by defectors. See article in the Chosun Ilbo. Other Links: Musical brings Korean horrors home, Charles Scanlon, … [Read More]
Lee Seung-u: The Reverse Side of Life
Peter Owen, 2005, 208pp Translated by Kong Yoo-jung Originally published as 생의 이면, Seoul, 1992 A partly autobiographical novel exploring the life story of a prominent Korean writer growing up in the second half of the twentieth century. [Read More]
Yi Chong-jun: Your paradise
A puzzling story about the struggles of successive managers of a leper colony to improve the lot of the lepers. I think the Complete Review shares my puzzlement. One of the best-selling novels of 20th Century Korean literature, originally published in 1976. Yi Chong-jun: Your paradise. (Green Integer, 2004) Translated by Jennifer Lee, Timothy R. … [Read More]
Yi Mun-yol: the Poet
A novel based on the life of a 19th century poet, Kim Sakkat, exploring his development as an artist against the backdrop of the insurrection by Hong Kyong-rae in the north-west. I was reminded of this book when watching the Im Kwon-taek film Chihwaseon because of its storyline of a wandering artist. See also review … [Read More]
Theatre visit: Ye-Gam Inc – Jump
A highly entertaining mix of slapstick, gymnastics and martial arts. The first half lacked structure, though it served to introduce the different characters in the “family”. Valiant members of the audience were also dragged up on stage. The second half was much more fun, with a comic story-line to hold things together. Knowing references were … [Read More]
Lim Hyung-joo, popera sensation
An article from the Korea Times which I’m posting in full as it seems to have disappeared off their website. Popera Star Lim Sings Colors of Korea in New Album ‘Lotus’ by Han Eun-jung Korea Times, 11 October 2005 Little was known of the boy who walked on stage to deliver the national anthem at … [Read More]
Review: New Korean Cinema (Julian Stringer, Shin Chi-yun)
(Edinburgh UP, 2005) A good selection of articles covering a wide variety of topics. Highly recommended, despite the over-academic language in one or two of the articles. This book’s lively cover, a bracing green colour with a still from Take Care of My Cat, makes it sit well on the bookshelf next to the equally … [Read More]
Six party talks, round 4
Following is a text of the joint statement at the conclusion of the fourth round of Six-Party Talks, as released in Beijing on September 19, 2005 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks Beijing 19 September 2005 The Fourth Round … [Read More]