Exhibition“Christian Marclay: What You See Is What You Hear”: Three of U.S. artist Christian Marclay’s labor-intensive media works are on display at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art’s Black Box in Hannam-dong, central Seoul. It is the museum’s first “Black Box Project” which aims to introduce world-renowned media artists to the Korean public. The exhibition runs through Feb. 13 at Leeum, Samsung Museu

The Be All And End All (U.K.)Opened Jan. 6Comedy. Directed by Bruce Webb. Fifteen-year-old schoolboys Robbie and Ziggy are best friends living in Liverpool, England. One day, on the way back from summer camp, Robbie faints and is hospitalized. Soon he gets diagnosed with a fatal heart disease. Robbie has one last wish, which he asks his best friend Ziggy to help him fulfill ― to lose his virginity

 As director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu remembers it, he and Javier Bardem first met at “The Losers Party.”It was Oscar night 2001 and Inarritu had just been overlooked by the academy ― for the first time. The then-38-year-old filmmaker celebrated the defeat of his “Amores Perros” by drinking copious amounts of tequila with Sean Penn and Bardem, two men who would later serve as unlikely muses for

Modern Middle EastTablet & PenEdited by Reza Aslan(W.W. Norton, $35)The West’s perception of the Middle East as mysterious, exotic and savage has changed little since the days of Napoleon more than 200 years ago.The new anthology “Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes From the Modern Middle East,” edited by University of California, Riverside creative writing professor Reza Aslan, aims “to provide a d

The national traumaThe WoundedBy Lee Chung-joonTranslated by Jennifer M. Lee(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)The Korean War (1950-1953) left both physical and psychological wounds to its people. Lee Chung-joon’s “The Wounded” explores the national trauma that continues to haunt individuals who suffer from their memories of the war, and other “hidden” existing traumas that cannot be identified.A spritless ar

This past fall I put out a call to readers: Send me your favorite mysteries set in other countries, written by international (e.g., not American) writers.I’m glad I asked ... I think. Already the most popular literary genre in America, mysteries may be taking over the world. I got more than 70 nominations ― writers and books set in locales from Cuba to China to Iceland to Australia. Wherever crime

At a garage studio in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Eagle Rock, Lisa Pearson is publishing books with the skill of a craftsman, framing the printed word as a work of art.One volume, “Torture of Women,” features a red cloth cover with an embossed title resembling scar tissue. Inside, images of the female body are overlaid with matter-of-fact accounts of women who have suffered torture. “Fascist p

Lotte Hotel JejuThe hotel offers “Private Villa Suite Package” through the end of February. The package includes a one night stay in a luxurious private villa suite, breakfast in room for two persons, a mist from the U.S. spa cosmetics brand EI Solutions (worth 130,000 won), blueberry cheesecake, fruits, four tickets to the ice rink, and two welcome drink vouchers to be enjoyed at the romantic Pun

 GREENVILLE, Illinois ― Throughout their 170 years in Southern Illinois, the Marcoot family has adapted.The original settler, Martin Markut, was a schoolteacher before he made the arduous journey from Switzerland to the heartland of America. Over the years, Martin’s descendants changed the spelling of their name, mechanized, industrialized, moved from the Highland area to Greenville, downsized and

Customers may find the name of one of Garosugil’s latest gastronomic additions misleading. Dubbed Serial Gourmet, this rustic chic restaurant sounds like it specializes in delicate fare served in dainty portions. Nothing could be further from the truth. The newly-minted establishment doles out hearty American classics like Louisiana-style sausage and New England boiled dinners (a beef or ham and v

A man carries a lamb on a motorcycle in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan6, 2011 (AP Photo) 

News reports from many countries, including Korea, recently cover the rapid spread of “super bug,” which produces the NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1).These bacteria are resistant to most potent antibiotics and their resistance can be easily transmitted to other bacteria through the gene transfer. And the bacteria’s worldwide spread is becoming a big threat to public health.Other than th