Over the last two decades, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has become known as one of popular culture’s great visionaries. He’s channeled his wild, restless imagination to create dark worlds of fantasy and horror, crafting beautifully rendered stories that function as modern fairy tales. Del Toro is interested in innocence and evil, and his tales are populated with winged, multi-limbed creatures and human monsters.His new book, “Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsession

When we think of John F. Kennedy, we can’t help but bring to mind images of his assassination, but if there’s anything surprising about the 50th anniversary of his killing, it is the books that look back at his life.That may be because there’s no new ground to be broken on the assassination, although Life magazine’s magnificent “The Day Kennedy Died” (Life Books: 192 pp.) does offer a lavish retrospective that takes us through the tragedy, ending with the president’s funeral. There is perspectiv

The AbominableBy Dan Simmons(Little, Brown and Company)Since Dan Simmons’ new novel of mountaineering, lengthy technical explanations, Nazis and the occasional yeti is titled “The Abominable,” you should know at the outset that it is not a horror story. Indeed, defining the book at all seems to have eluded the publisher, who billed it as a “thrilling tale of high-altitude death and survival set on the snowy summits of Everest” ― but be advised that the characters aren’t even kitted out and in th

The annual Seoul Book Festival kicks off its sixth edition on Thursday, offering special book-themed programs including talking sessions with cartoonist Rhie Won-bok and author Kim Jin-myeong.Hosted annually by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the three-day event will be attended by Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and authors Seong Seok-je and Han Soo-san, among others.Among the featured authors, cartoonist Rhie Won-bok will talk about his latest book, the last installment of his popular series, “Fa

More than 10 years have passed since the release of filmmaker Kwak Kyung-taek’s record-breaking gangster film “Friend” in 2001. Its highly anticipated sequel was finally unveiled to the press on Monday, ahead of its scheduled release on Nov. 14.Loosely based on Kwak’s personal experience growing up in Busan, the 2001 movie dealt with four teenagers and their friendship and betrayal. The sequel features one of the four high school kids from the original, Jun-seok, who used to be the leader of the

Following Festival du film Coreen a Paris, a film festival exclusively featuring Korean cinema which kicked off Oct. 29, screenings of Korean films are taking place in three other European countries.In Spain, Centro Cultural Coreano en Espana (Korean Cultural Center Spain) is hosting the sixth annual Spain Korean Film Festival in Madrid, from Nov. 11 to 29. The festival is a retrospective of famed director Lee Chang-dong, who also served as Korea’s Culture Minister from 2003 to 2004. Viewers wil

This year the global hit “Wicked” celebrates its 10th anniversary, a milestone achieved by only 10 other Broadway musicals in history. In Seoul, the milestone is being celebrated by the premiere of its Korean production, performed in Korean by an all-Korean cast. The upcoming run, opening at the Charlotte Theater in Seoul on Nov. 22, is the fifth foreign-language production of the Broadway show. “I think people respond to Wicked globally because they all have a bit of Elphaba and a bit of Glinda

Director Han Jae-rim’s period drama “The Face Reader” swept six awards at this year’s Grand Bell Awards on Friday, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor.The film tells the story of a man who can tell one’s personality and future by looking at their face, and gets involved in a coup d’etat led by the Grand Prince Suyang, who later became king Sejo, in 1450s Joseon. The drama was a huge commercial success, drawing more than 9 million viewers.Song Kang-ho, who

It’s been more than 15 years since actor and theater producer Song Seung-whan’s famed nonverbal play “Nanta” premiered in Seoul in 1997, becoming a megahit over the years. Song, now 56, has put together another foreigner-friendly, nonverbal show. And it deals with, in Song’s own words, “one of the most universal events in human life” ― a wedding.The show, titled “Music Show Wedding,” premiered in Seoul last year, and went through a major revision for its second run this year. The latest version,

When Lee Mi-na opened her spa, “SPA THE EL” in southern Seoul in 2011, she had one goal. On top of facials and body massages, the former TV personality wanted to offer treatments for the mind. The spa specializes in special services such as color therapy and counseling, which aid in improving mood and reducing the risk of depression. Lee, who spent many years in the television industry, says she was severely depressed in high school. “I am the kind of person who cares about what others think abo

At the start of “12 Years a Slave,” a nonfiction account of his experiences as a slave published in 1853, Solomon Northup expressed pleasure at the burgeoning number of books, newspaper articles and other writings that had started to sprout alongside his own memoir.“Since my return to liberty, I have not failed to perceive the increasing interest throughout the Northern States, in regard to the subject of Slavery,” Northup wrote. “Works of fiction, professing to portray its features in their mor

Critical MassBy Sara Paretsky (Putnam)There must be something inspiring about dating a classical musician: Since private investigator V.I. Warshawski took up with double bassist Jake Thibaut in 2009’s “Hardball,” her creator, author Sara Paretsky, seems to have renewed creative energy, evident in pages that almost seem to turn themselves.The considerable action of “Critical Mass” (the title refers to nuclear physics, not getting together a crowd of reviewers) is set off when Warshawski is asked

Richard Kadrey’s new novel, “Dead Set,” gave me nightmares. And I can’t stop myself from telling him ― even though the bestselling horror author dresses in black, has intimidating tattoos and the watchful bearing of an assassin. He’s reluctant to take off his dark glasses.“Cool,” he says, stirring his coffee in the dim daytime light of a Los Angeles bar. “It’s an experiment.” “Dead Set” (Harper Voyager) is far less violent than the bestselling Sandman Slim series he’s known for: “There’s fewer b

When readers follow Bill Bryson on a literary amble, they never know exactly where they might end up ― just that they’ll probably be happy to have tagged along.His past journeys, along the Appalachian Trail (1998’s “A Walk in the Woods”), into the life of Shakespeare (2007’s “Shakespeare: The World as Stage”) and the rest of the universe (2003’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything”), to name a few, put him in rarified territory. He’s popular enough to automatically appear on best-seller lists,

By Claire LeeKorean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi thriller “Snowpiercer” opened in 300 theaters nationwide in France on Wednesday, about three months after its Korean release.No other Korean film has ever secured such a large number of theaters in France, according to the movie’s producer CJ Entertainment. The dystopian sci-fi, which features an international cast that includes Tilda Swinton, Song Kang-ho and Ed Harris, tells the story of a post-apocalyptic future in which the surviving humani

A recent report released by the government revealed that the nation’s major multiplex chains, including CJ CGV and Lotte Cinema, have been discriminating against movies that are not produced by their subsidiaries.According to the report released by the state-run Korean Film Council, theaters are required to open tickets for all the films they screen at least a week before the release. Industry heads agreed to cooperate on the matter by signing the “Declaration of Cooperative Growth for Korean Fi

The right ring finger. ... No, “THE LEFT RING FINGER!”It’s minutes before sunrise at Westchester’s Kerlan-Jobe sports medicine clinic and Johnny Knoxville has very nearly, accidentally, authorized orthopedic surgery on the wrong hand. His uninjured hand.A clinic administrator taking down Knoxville’s information shakes her head in disbelief.Within the hour, the co-creator and breakout star of MTV’s cultishly beloved series “Jackass” ― and a trio of spin-off movies that have a combined gross of mo

Art house film director Jeon Kyu-hwan’s drama “The Weight” is finally hitting local theaters next month, a year after the movie won the Queer Lion prize at last year’s Venice International Film Festival.The film, which is Jeon’s fifth feature-length film, tells the story of a hunchback mortician and his transgender sister. It is the first Korean movie to win the prize at Venice, which is given to the best film with LGBT themes.Actor Cho Jae-hyun, who plays the mortician, won the best actor prize

Media artist and filmmaker Park Chan-kyong grew up in southern Seoul, living in modern apartment complexes. He was raised Catholic by his parents, even serving as an altar boy as a youngster.It wasn’t until his university years that he became interested in Korea’s local shamanism. He majored in fine art at Seoul National University, and worked as a media artist and art critic ever since. “Up until college, I think I wasn’t too comfortable with the whole concept of it,” Park said during an interv

After “Swan Lake” and “Onegin,” leading ballet company Universal Ballet is presenting something a little different this month: they call the piece “This is Modern.”The piece is a collection of four different modern ballets: “Black Cake,” by Dutch choreographer Hans Van Manen, Spanish dancer and choreographer Nacho Duato’s “Duende” and Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian’s “Petite Mort” and “Sechs Tanze.”Compared to classical ballet, the show is said to highlight the different dance styles and flair