PARIS (AP) ― The first full day of Paris’ frenzied ready-to-wear shows mixed up iconic fashion veterans like Dries Van Noten with a whole new sort of fashion player: H&M. It may be a tricky ride ahead for the main street shop, which is now attempting to walk the snooty high fashion runway. Yet the company, which has still not been allowed on the official Fashion Week calendar, put on a buzzy show-spectacle replete with strobe lights, plasma screens and Jessica Alba which may go some way in shutt

One More Thing: Stories and Other StoriesBy B.J. Novak(Alfred A. Knopf)The guy from “The Office,” as most people think of B.J. Novak, has written a book ― a fun and unusual one. Though “One More Thing” is subtitled “Stories and Other Stories,” only a few of the 63 pieces are stories in the usual sense. Many are fables, some are comedy monologues, others are nearly prose poems. A few are two-line koans. Almost all 63 of them are smart, quick and funny.Many revolve around taking a common phrase an

North of BostonBy Elisabeth Elo (Pamela Dorman Books)Scent pervades Elisabeth Elo’s debut outing: expensive perfumes, the tang of fishing boats and the coppery smell of blood.The thriller stars Pirio Kasparov. She’s a descendant of Russian parents who bought their Beacon Hill bona fides, but who feels more at home among Boston’s dockworkers and fishermen.Pirio is heir to a perfume house founded by her parents. Her mother, who died when Pirio was only 10, took the secret of her signature scent to

Over the last 14 years, Malcolm Gladwell has produced one bestseller after another. His books are so buzzworthy their titles become catchphrases, like “Tipping Point” and “Outliers.”Gladwell leads readers spellbound through stories that develop into counterintuitive insights into modern life.His newest book is “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants” (Little, Brown; $29). The book was inspired by a 2009 story Gladwell wrote in The New Yorker about a girls’ basketbal

Is it too much to compare Kem Nunn to Raymond Chandler? Both have used the loose frame of genre to write enduringly and resonantly about the dark side of the California dream. For Nunn, this has meant an exploration of boundaries, both actual and metaphorical; his last novel, “Tijuana Straits” (which won a 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize), traces the shifting landscape of the physical borderland.At the same time, there is also a willingness to take risks, to play against expectation, which mar

France is the most popular country for travel in the world, data showed on Wednesday. South Korea came in at 25.According to data portal World Statistics, France had the most tourists last year at 81.4 million. About 9.8 million travelers visited South Korea.After France came the United States with 62.7 million visitors, followed by China, Spain and Italy with 57.6 million, 56.7 million and 46.1 million, respectively.By Lee Shin-young, Intern reporter (sylee@heraldcorp.com)

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stepped up its efforts to end the controversy over the safety of monosodium glutamate, known as MSG, by distributing a leaflet aimed at promoting awareness on the proper use of food additives.To dispel the widespread perception among Koreans that MSG is poisonous, the government said, “MSG, allowed in Korea, is not harmful to the human body as its safety had been already verified based on scientific studies.”In recent years, concerns have mounted in Korea ove

Sedentary behavior or sitting too much has been linked to an increased risk for health problems such as heart failure and earlier death, HealthDay News reported. (flickr)A new study published by Dorothy Dunlop, a professor of medicine at the Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, showed that older adults who sit too much are more likely to be disabled or contract illnesses regardless of their exercise habits.Dunlop evaluated the exercise habits of more than 2,000 men and women, a

Among the wealth of websites and other online resources for learning Korean, Talk To Me In Korean is steadily carving out a niche.Sun Hyun-woo set up TTMIK with two co-workers in 2009 to teach people around the world how to speak Korean.“Today, there are eight full-time workers in the office and we have made huge progress since then, especially since the Korean Wave started (booming) around 2010.” According to Sun, more than 1.5 million people are learning Korean with the help of TTMIK, measured

In the days before brick and mortar construction, villagers in the Philippines would help their neighbors by lifting and carrying entire houses from place to place. This tradition, known as bayanihan, is at the heart of the Filipino spirit of cooperation and community. And this spirit, according to Eva Marie Wang, president of the student organization Pinoy Iskolars Sa Korea, made itself obvious in the weeks following Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the central Philippines on Nov. 8, 2013, and affe

Eumin Productions, a professional English-language production company will perform its first musical, “A Familiar Story,” in Seoul this weekend.Danny Hwang, the artistic director, founded Eumin at the beginning of the year, with a crew of 35 people.“We are a family-friendly theatrical company with our own concept of edutainment, combining full-scale fun for old and young with an educational background,” said Hwang. “A Familiar Story” is about young siblings Rion and Sam wishing to hear a bedtime

HONOLULU (AP) ― The Honolulu Museum of Art has discovered two paintings from late 16th-century Korea in its collection, including one that’s been called an “earth-shattering” find.“This is like discovering a lost Vermeer,” said Shawn Eichman, curator of Asian art at the museum, referring to the Dutch master, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.  The paintings are from the estate of Richard Lane, an art collector and dealer. Lane, who lived in Japan for about 50 years, helped catalog the museum

South Korean publisher Urim Books exhibited books written by pastor Lee Jae-rock at the New Delhi World Book Fair 2014, from Feb. 15 to 23 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.Alongside participants from 25 countries, Urim Books presented “The Message of the Cross” by Lee, author and senior pastor of Manmin Central Church, with copies translated into 56 languages including English, Hindi, Tamil and Nepalese. Five other Christian books by Lee, “Spirit, Soul and Body(1),” “Heaven (1,2),” “Hell” and “The P