One does not casually read “Beowulf.” It takes commitment. It also takes a good translation, and few were better at that than Oxford don J.R.R. Tolkien, better known now as the author of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.His son, Christopher, has finally, and reluctantly, published Tolkien’s version of “Beowulf.” As he says in his prologue, his father wrote the translation in 1926 before he went to Oxford as professor of Anglo-Saxon. He would continue to study the poem for decades and lecture on i

Enduring CourageBy Tish Wells(St. Martin’s Press)In “Enduring Courage” John F. Ross aims to revive the memory of World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, who was also an early racecar driver of renown, and the creator of now-defunct Eastern Air Lines.“I spent a lot of time reading about Eddie Rickenbacker, his buddies, the kids, the flyboys,” said Ross at a book gathering, “and the early American air service over northern France flying against the real pros, the Germans, the Flying Circus. You

LOS ANGELES ― Contestant No. 9 took the stage wearing satin gloves and a billowy chiffon gown. She had 35 seconds at the mike:“To be happy in life,” Gail Stebbins told the audience, “you have to learn to adjust to the things you can’t change.”When she lost her teeth years ago, she got new ones. When her hair fell out, she began to wear wigs. And when her bosom headed south, she gave it a lift with a little padding.It’s not exactly the kind of thing a beauty queen cares to admit. But Stebbins was

AKRON, Ohio ― Factory-built homes have long suffered from an image problem.But it’s time for that image to change, representatives from the industry say.Tim Williams, executive director of the Ohio Manufactured Homes Association, thinks people may be surprised by the homes if they see them.“People think they’re just trailers,” he said. “If they see it, I think they’ll realize the benefits” in terms of affordability and quality.These aren’t the shoddily built tin cans of old. They’re well-constru

LOS ANGELES ― Susan Renaker Nikas still remembers the duck that saved her parents’ ceramics business nearly 70 years ago.The tiny bird was white and seemed to be gliding on a lake, designed on a whim by her mother. As an afterthought, her father added it to an order sheet for the dishware that the couple had been selling, somewhat steadily, despite a few nagging production problems.The duck, however, changed everything. Customers snapped it up.“From that point on, they decided to make animal fig

Westerners face a lot of unfamiliar forms of etiquette when they come to Korea, but the most familiar, and perhaps the hardest to get used to, is the subject of a new exhibition in Gwangju.Martyn Thompson’s collection of photographs and sculptures looks at the Korean bow, depicting it in stages to expose the details of the action.The photographs show figures performing traditional full bows in stages, each stage superimposed on top of the others. The overall effect gives the impression of a mech

Summer is slowly slipping across the city, and the Seoul Shakespeare Company’s sultry take on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is ready to usher her in.In the well-known tale, four amorous young Athenians free themselves from the stale city streets and head for the forest in pursuit of true love. But they encounter much more than their hearts originally desired as they enter the realm of the fairies in this sexy and subversive production directed by Seoul National University drama professor Raymond S

With a surging interest in artisan food, a desire for the simple life and a common hankering for hard-to-get foods from home, a few expats here might daydream about running a farm. For most, it stays that way.But former university teacher Doug Huffer took the plunge. Now he spends his days cutting growth from nearby hedges and riverbanks to feed to Stella, Sarah and Bianca and the rest of his small milk herd.The goats’ Italian names are a hint at the farm’s origins. Huffer’s wife went to school

Korean exhibition at Venice Architecture Biennale sheds light on the history of architecture in South and North Korea since the 1950-53 war

The National Museum of Korea’s revamped Unified Silla section, which opens to the public Tuesday, displays an undisputed new star: a larger-than-life Buddha statue made of cast iron. Placed in a spacious room right in the middle of the hall, the statue overwhelms visitors with its mystic beauty and half-smile. The exquisiteness of this artifact, which dates back to the late eighth or early ninth century, however, went unnoticed until recently.  Iron seated Buddha (National Museum of Korea)“This

GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province ― Yi Young-hoon, director of Gyeongju National Museum, is one of the few who breathe fresh air into the otherwise dull local museum scene. Through a series of exhibits on royal tombs of the ancient kingdom of Silla, he brought to the spotlight a slew of long-forgotten relics from the backroom of the museum. “Rediscovery of relics from our own storage rooms is what I emphasize to most to my staff here,” Yi said at his office in the museum last week. “The concep

Conservators bring ancient relics back to life with technology

Beer poured just right is the perfect thirst quencher for hot summer’s day

Pop musicSeoul Jazz Festival 2014: Every year the annual two-day Seoul Jazz Festival features a wide variety of musical acts, from legendary jazz musicians to popular contemporary figures. This year’s headline artists include Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice, jazz-pop musician Jamie Cullum, jazz pianist Eddie Palmieri, the Jack DeJohnette Trio and R&B soloist Eric Benet as well as local bands Jang Kiha and the Faces and Urban Zakapa. The 2014 Seoul Jazz Festival will be held at Seoul Olympic

The Diamond Princess Cruise ship is one of the three cruise ships deployed in Asia by Princess Cruises for the 2014-2015 season.At first glance, the Diamond Prince ― set to sail from Busan to Japan ― looks like a high-rise building placed horizontally. A staff member hints that the ship is longer than the length of the South Korea’s tallest 63 building. The ship, one of the 17 cruise ships owned by U.S. cruise line Princess Cruises, was on a 10-day cruise to Japan. It was anchored in Busan on th