Author Archives: admin

Open letter to the people of Busan supporting the work of Busan International Film Festival Director Lee Yongkwan

THE ATTACKS ON BIFF Tony Rayns http://filmalert101.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/tony-rayns-writes-open-letter-to-people.html As one of BIFF’s foreign advisors, I’ve spent the past year in London watching events in Busan with mounting disbelief. My incredulity began when Busan Metropolitan City Council demanded that a documentary essay-film … Continue reading

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It’s Time To Stop Ignoring South Korean Abstract Art

Korean monochrome painting, or tansaekhwa, originated in a deep ambivalence about painting. By Barry Schwabsky http://www.thenation.com/article/its-time-to-stop-ignoring-south-korean-abstract-art/  Globalization has been the talk of the art world for years now, but the international perspective is of a shallow sort—a smorgasbord of … Continue reading

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I need you. I want you. I seoul you

I.SEOUL.U: KONGLISH GOES GLOBAL AND THE CASE FOR THIS SLOGAN I need you. I want you. I seoul you…. Yep, this here is the new branded slogan to be used locally and also globally in Seoul’s promotional efforts – tourism … Continue reading

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Embeddedness essay

CONTEXTS AND TRANSFORMATIONS: KOREAN FILM AND VIDEO SINCE 1950 Actors do not behave or decide as atoms outside a social context, nor do they adhere slavishly to a script written for them by the particular intersection of social categories that … Continue reading

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So, what was that inter-Korean crisis about? And who won?

http://www.nknws.org/2015/08/so-what-was-that-inter-korean-crisis-about-and-who-won/ Laydeez and gennlemen! I hereby claim the prize for the Article Most Instantly Overtaken By Events. Any other bidders? There may well be. On Planet Pundit, this goes with the territory. On Monday August 24, with North and South … Continue reading

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Unethical Conductor and the fate of Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/forum/general-discussion/unethical-conductor-and-the-fate-of-seoul-philharmonic-orchestra I am Sang Soo Kim, a playwright, a producer, and culture critic living in Korea. I won the Dae Jong Award (the equivalent of a Korean Oscar) for the best screenplay in 1996.   As an artists, I pursue social … Continue reading

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I watched The Interview with a North Korean defector

http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/23066/1/i-watched-the-interview-with-a-north-korean-defector Lucy Edwards, Dazed, 5 January 2015. By the end of 2014, everybody in the world had said their piece on the controversial James Franco and Seth Rogen film The Interview. Is it offensive? Should it be banned? Is America … Continue reading

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New Stunningly Elaborate Scenes Created Without Photoshop by Jee Young Lee

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/jee-young-lee-update Jenny Zhang Seoul-based artist Jee Young Lee devotes weeks and months to building incredibly elaborate scenes by hand for the sake of taking a single photograph—all without the use of digital manipulation. Confined to the small space of her … Continue reading

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Former North Korean Poet Laureate Says ‘The Interview’ Is As Explosive As a Real Bomb Being Dropped on Kim Jong-un

https://news.vice.com/article/former-north-korean-poet-laureate-says-the-interview-is-as-explosive-as-a-real-bomb-being-dropped-on-kim-jong-un By Katie Engelhart “Who knows?” mused actor Seth Rogen last June while speaking with a Rolling Stone reporter about the eventual release of his film The Interview — a comedy in which North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is assassinated … Continue reading

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North Korea, darkness risible: The ironies of Sonygate

‘Interview’ hacking scandal has all the makings of a Hollywood flick, except the villain may be innocent http://www.nknews.org/2015/01/north-korea-darkness-risible-the-ironies-of-sonygate/ As a movie plot it would be gripping, if far-fetched. A rising young comic, who happens to be Canadian, makes a film … Continue reading

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