ShantytownBy Cesar Aira (New Directions)The Argentine writer Cesar Aira is a master of dark and forgotten places. Like his late countryman Jorge Luis Borges, he writes narratives that feel like fables. He is the author of 80 books, most of them novellas, only a handful of which have been translated into English.At a slim 128 pages, “Shantytown” recounts a story set in a slum, or “villa miseria,” as they’re known in Buenos Aires. I lived within earshot of such a Buenos Aires shantytown not long a

BooksDec. 5, 2013

Crooked NumbersBy Tim O’Mara (Minotaur)Tim O’Mara gives the academic mystery ― too long mired in the machinations of university politics ― a fresh view by imbuing it with elements of the police procedural. Instead of the usual disagreements and one-upmanship among professors and deans, O’Mara’s intricate plot delivers an exciting look at the inner workings of the education system and the economic boundaries that separate people.The difference is O’Mara’s unusual hero ― Raymond Donne, a former NY

BooksDec. 5, 2013

John Lewis does not usually smile for the camera. Paradoxically enough, he laughs when this is pointed to him during a telephone interview. “A lot of people tell me that,” he says.On the flyleaf to “March: Book One,” the graphic memoir authored by Lewis, Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell, there is a photo typical of Lewis, a civil rights icon and Georgia congressman. The Capitol dome at his back, he faces the camera with a dogged expression as if the photo session were just one more thing he h

BooksDec. 5, 2013

Ex-Smithsonian curator Cho Chang-soo has been posthumously awarded the Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit, one of the highest cultural honors in South Korea. Cho died at age 83 in 2009 after dedicating the majority of her life to introducing Korean history to the American public. She began working in the anthropology department of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 1965 as a museum specialist in Asian ethnology. She later joined the Asian Cultural History Program at the Smithsonia

PeopleDec. 5, 2013

PeopleDec. 5, 2013

PeopleDec. 5, 2013

NEW YORK (Yonhap News) ― The United Nations, in conjunction with the South Korean government and Samsung Electronics Co., launched a new in-house assistance center on Wednesday that can improve the international organization’s accessibility to disabled people.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; U.N. General Assembly President John Ashe; President of the Youth Section of the World Federation of the Deaf, Jenny Nilsson; as well as Kang Seong-ju, a director general at South Korea’s Ministry of Scie

PeopleDec. 5, 2013

U.S. Ambassador to Korea Sung Kim will receive the inaugural Korean-American Club Award on Monday.The club is a research society and social group of former and current Korean correspondents to the United States. Pong Du-wan, also known as “David Pong,” former news anchorman of the now defunct TBC-TV, heads the club.The award recognizes Kim’s accomplishments in the continued development of Korean-U.S. relations and the strong alliance between the two countries. Kim served as a Special Envoy in th

PeopleDec. 5, 2013

Jung Dong-ha, the vocalist of South Korean rock band Boohwal, announced Thursday that he is marrying his girlfriend of eight years.“Next year, I will tie the knot with my girlfriend who has waited and supported me for more than eight years,” the 33-year-old singer said on his official online fan page. In the letter titled “Promise,” which was addressed to his fans, he said, “This year was a blessing, thanks to my fans supporting my dreams with me.”The singer said he is planning to hold the weddi

PerformanceDec. 5, 2013

Kimjang, the tradition of making and sharing of kimchi that usually takes place in winter, was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list on Thursday. The listing will allow Korea to not only preserve the annual household tradition and the community spirit that goes with it but also to promote kimchi on a global scale.The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage made the decision during the UNESCO general assembly at Baku, Azerbaijan

CultureDec. 5, 2013

South Korean singer Min Kyung-hoon, the former member of rock band Buzz, has been discharged from military service, the local media reported Thursday.Min had a small gathering with his fans in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, the location of the unit he served in for 21 months. The 29-year-old signer plans to work on his solo album after a period of rest. Min made his debut in 2003 as the main vocalist of Buzz, which rose to stardom with many hit songs. He continued his career as a solo singer after t

Dec. 5, 2013

K-pop group Girls’ Generation turned heads on Wednesday by making No.5 on Time magazine’s list of “Top 10 Songs of 2013” with "I Got A Boy."“The nine-woman, South Korean group Girls’ Generation is a ridiculously effective hook machine, and a major phenomenon in Asia,” the magazine said. While the group enjoys gigantic popularity here and in most parts of Asia, it is still a relative newcomer on the world pop stage. The group, which unexpectedly took “Video of the Year” at the first-ever YouTube

PerformanceDec. 5, 2013

The calm yet thought-provoking images of Hiroshi Sugimoto, one of the most acclaimed artists in contemporary photography, are on exhibit at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art from this week through next year.Known for long-exposure photographs intended to capture layers of time and space, Sugimoto presents his photographic series on seascapes, theaters, portraits and lightning done over the past 40 years, beginning in the 1970s, at his solo exhibition in Seoul. As meticulous and patient as he is with

PerformanceDec. 4, 2013

PARIS (AFP) ― From the royal diadem worn by Kate Middleton at her wedding to an outsized maharaja’s necklace, hundreds of glimmering treasures go on show this week in a major Paris exhibit on Cartier.“Jeweler of Kings and King of Jewelers” was how England’s King Edward VII dubbed the house, half a century after Louis-Francois Cartier founded what would become the world’s largest jeweler in 1847.It was certainly to Cartier that the Maharaja of Patiala turned when he travelled to France early last

CultureDec. 4, 2013

Girls’ Generation member Yoona looks dead-set on channeling her inner Stooge with her latest television series, KBS’ “Premier and I” (working title). In the upcoming rom-com, which is slated to start airing next week, Yoona plays Nam Da-jeong, a gossip rag journalist who ends up posing as the prime minister’s girlfriend. The premise is straight-up fiction, a plot that gives the 23-year old K-pop idol plenty of room to exercise her funny bone. Judging from the teaser that ran at the drama’s press

TelevisionDec. 4, 2013