BERLIN (AP) ― Actor Shia LaBeouf hit the Berlin Film Festival in memorable style Sunday, first walking out of a press conference for the film “Nymphomaniac Volume I” and then wearing a paper bag over his head at the red carpet premiere. The actor posed for photographers in a stylish tuxedo ― and a paper bag with eyeholes and the words “I am not famous anymore” written across it. LaBeouf has frequently used the statement on his Twitter page, and he was identifiable by a tattoo on his hand. The un

Original crew looking for Korea’s ‘triple threats’

For New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert, silence in the audience is not always the same. “There is a difference between a silence that is focused and a silence that is merely dutiful,” Gilbert said in a press conference hours before a concert Thursday in Seoul. “With the Korean audience, I have always sensed an energetic concentration.” And that seemed to be the most accurate description of the mood last week inside the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall, where the American conductor l

The internationally popular America pop/folk singer John Mayer will be making his way to Seoul on May 6 to put on his first concert performance in Korea since he made his musical debut more than 10 years ago. The upcoming concert event is the 14th installment of the Hyundai Card Culture Project series, which in the past brought acts such as The Killers, Keane, John Legend, Ke$ha, Jason Mraz, Kraftwerk, Mika and Damien Rice.After an appearance at the annual South by Southwest showcase in Austin,

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Musical moments that capture the attention of a national audience ― and beyond ― never seem to be in short supply. Last week, Bruno Mars set a ratings record with 115 million people watching his Super Bowl performance. A few months ago, the talk was about Beyonce’s surprise album. And there’s still discussion of That Miley Moment at the MTV Video Music Awards. But moments that spark a musical revolution? A dramatic altering of the pop culture landscape? A true moment for histo

 Actor Lee Seo-jin has revealed that Taecyeon, a member of K-pop idol group 2PM, is an extremely heavy drinker.Lee talked about the singer’s drinking capacity during an interview with the KBS program “Entertainment Weekly,” which aired on Saturday.“We recently had a boozy gathering with actress Kim Hee-seon. And I and Kim were knocked down by Taecyeon, who drinks really well,” Lee said. Lee and Kim are co-starring on the MBC-TV drama “Wonderful Days,” which touches on the values of family, the g

 Venus Talk (Korea)Opening Feb. 13Comedy. Drama. Directed by Kwon Chil-in. Shin-hye (Uhm Jung-hwa) is a capable TV producer and a single woman in her 40s. She used to date her co-worker, the current chief of their TV network, but he left her for a younger woman who also happens to be Shin-hye’s junior colleague. She has two best friends, Mi-yeon (Moon So-ri), a housewife who is not satisfied with her sex life with her rather docile husband, and Hae-young (Jo Min-soo), a single mother who wants h

 B.A.P grounds itself with ‘First Sensibility’B.A.P “First Sensibility” (LOEN Entertainment)Up-and-coming K-pop boy group B.A.P has returned to the music scene with its first studio album “First Sensibility,” packed with colorful sounds and powerful hip-hop beats.Following a series of successful singles, the new album proves that the six-member group is quite solid, having established a unique style characterized by a mixture of rap and steady vocals. However, the group still has room for progre

This is a different sort of Kate Winslet than we’ve come to expect.In “Labor Day” ― a romance, a drama, and a woman’s fantasy of what men, perhaps, should be ― the British actress plays Adele Wheeler, a fragile, frightened single mother too wary of the outside world to even get in the car and drive to the market.The year is 1987, the place a small New Hampshire town. Adele’s 13-year-old boy (a very good Gattlin Griffith) has assumed many of the domestic responsibilities. There’s even an Oedipal

MBC’s hit reality show “Real Men” will add four new faces, including actor Chun Jung-myung and boy band Super Junior-M’s Henry, while three of its original cast members will drop. “The four new cast members are actor Park Geon-Hyeong, singer K. Will, Super Junior-M’s Henry and actor Chun Jung-myung,” the TV channel said in a press release Friday. “The new recruits will submit themselves to the training center for new army recruits in mid-February before joining the existing cast members on the s

BURBANK, California (AP) ― Jay Leno has said goodbye to “The Tonight Show” before, but not like this. The comedian became tearful and choked up Thursday as he concluded what he called the “greatest 22 years of my life.”“I am the luckiest guy in the world. This is tricky,” said an emotional Leno, stepping down for the second and presumably last time as host of TV’s venerable late-night program. Jimmy Fallon takes over “Tonight” in New York on Feb. 17.Leno shared that he’d lost his mother the firs

‘Pompeii,’ ‘The Monuments Men’ and ‘12 Years a Slave’ to open in Korean theaters

MILWAUKEE (AP) ― Violin virtuoso Frank Almond was walking to his car after an evening performance at the Wisconsin Lutheran College when someone jumped out of a van, shocked him with a stun gun and seized the rare and extremely valuable Stradivarius on loan to him. The robber got back into the waiting vehicle, which sped off. Almond, who had been knocked to the ground, wasn’t seriously hurt. But he was devastated by the loss of the violin, which was crafted in 1715 and has been appraised for ins

ROME (AFP) ― Striking, skeletal forms of Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti are juxtaposed with corpulent neo-classical and baroque Italian masterpieces in a new exhibition in Rome exploring the evocative power of the human body. Forty Giacometti gems, including his famous spindly “Walking Man” in bronze, have been scattered around the permanent collection at the Villa Borghese Gallery in the Italian capital, dotted in among classics such as Bernini’s “David” or Canova’s “Pauline Borghese.” The c

Korea’s chief rock band YB is set to debut in the United Kingdom and the United States with its signature single “Cigarette Girl,” according to the band’s management company on Tuesday.YB, which recently signed with the former manager of American hard rock legend Guns N’ Roses Doug Goldstein, will unveil the English version of “Cigarette Girl” on Feb. 18, marking the band’s first official international appearance under a foreign management agency.“Cigarette Girl” was originally sung by veteran K