National Museum features some 200 relics from Mayan civilizationKnown for their calendars, art and astronomical systems, the Mayan civilization (B.C. 1500 to A.D. 1500) in Mesoamerica is one of the most fascinating civilizations. Without using any metals or wheels, the Mayans built the well-known ceremonial platforms for religious rites, as well as pyramids, temples and colossal royal palaces. They had their own fully developed written language as well as sophisticated astronomical observatories

Korean-Canadian director Yi speaks on her work, connection to her rootsFilmmaker and journalist Yi Sun-kyung grew up in a Canadian city where her family was one of only a half-dozen Korean households in town. That small community was what shaped her view on Korea as a little girl. It was the world where she was pressured not to be a reporter, but a teacher or a nurse. For many years, she tried to stay away from it as much as possible. “There was competition and gossip,” the filmmaker told The Ko

Pierre Rigal’s ‘Theatre of Operations’ to be performed by nine Korean dancersFrench dancer and choreographer Pierre Rigal thinks any war is full of contradictions. It’s a situation where acts of sacrifice and destruction contradict one another. Soldiers are told to be brave and often asked to give up their own lives, while ordered kill the enemies. And bravery, too, is almost a contradiction in terms. “Courage means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die,” English writer Gi

Piano and dance lessons no longer just for kidsFor many Koreans who grew up in the 80s and 90s, taking piano lessons was something that they had to do grudgingly as kids. After the rapid economic development in the 60s and 70s, purchasing musical instruments, especially a piano, was considered a symbol of wealth in Seoul’s newly emerged middle class. Their kids would be sent to the private piano studios to take lessons after school. All the kids in the country were taught the same repertoire, wh

Movie fans, those with too much time on their hands, love to ponder the imponderable.Why did America flock to see “Ted”? How did Tyler Perry build an empire by donning a dress? What is new about “The Hunger Games,” other than its haven’t-seen-many-movies audience?And why isn’t Jeffrey Dean Morgan a star?In an era when Hollywood has all but given up that Leo DiCaprio’s voice will ever change and has cast its net far afield looking for macho leading men ― Gerard Butler from Ireland, Jason Statham

One Last Thing Before I GoBy Jonathan Tropper (Dutton)Drew Silver is one of modern literature’s more pathetic losers. And that’s before he discovers an aortic dissection is about to kill him.The good news for Silver ― which is what everyone, even his daughter, calls him ― is that surgery can save his life. There’s a bit of bad news, and part of it is that the procedure would be performed by Silver’s ex-wife’s fiance. The other is that Silver, who is 44, doesn’t want the surgery.The sad-sack hero

Joe Posnanski moved to State College, Pa., to write a much different book.Posnanski, a former Kansas City Star sports columnist, imagined his biography of Penn State University’s heralded head football coach Joe Paterno would be about the man who, as Posnanski noted in a USA Today column last week, “always said ... that winning ... wasn’t what mattered. And yet, he won more games than anyone.” The book he was writing was based, after all, on full access to the coach and his records.And then ever

SNU professor back with another advice book for youthIt seems like Seoul National University Professor Kim Ran-do still has a lot of advice to give to young people, even after the success of his first collection of essays, “You are Young, Because You are Suffering.”The consumer science professor recently published another advice book, which is also written for 20-somethings in the country. While his former best-selling book specifically targeted university students, the new one, titled “You Beco

Kang Full’s Web-based comic book series made into filmCountless films in the past have featured a serial killer, but Kim Hwi’s latest thriller based on Kang Full’s 2008 webcomic takes a refreshingly different approach.For the sake of suspense and excitement, many noir-thrillers do not reveal the identity of the killer until the very end. But in “Neighbors,” it is clear who the criminal is right from the beginning. He in fact kills his own neighbors ― including a middle-school girl ― living in hi

Veteran actress Son Sook stars in monodrama ‘What I keep till the Very End’Among the many short stories late author Park Wan-suh wrote, her 1994 piece “What I Keep till the Very End” is considered as one of her most personal works.The story was written largely based on the author’s painful loss of her son in a car accident in 1988, just three months after his father’s death. He was 26 years old at the time and was attending a prestigious medical school in Seoul.The novella is now being staged as

Japanese textbooks from the late 19th century, written and published by the country’s Culture Ministry at the time, indicate Dokdo as Korean territory, the Independence Hall of Korea announced on Tuesday.The state institution said the textbooks ― mostly from the 1880s and some from the early 1900s ― prove that Japan’s current claim over the islets is false. Japan has been arguing that Dokdo has always been part of Japan’s territory, even before it officially named the islets Takeshima and placed

The first show of the upcoming outdoor opera “La Boheme,” initially scheduled to be performed at the Amphitheater at Yonsei University tonight, has been moved to Thursday due to Typhoon Bolaven, which is expected to reach Seoul today, its local production company ADL said Monday. The second show of the run, which is slated to be held at the same venue on Sept. 1, will be held as scheduled. The powerful typhoon could be the strongest storm to hit Korea in a decade, according to Korea Meteorologic

Market share of homegrown movies rises to nearly 80 percent over the weekendKorea’s homegrown films are doing better than ever at the box office, with its market share rising to nearly 80 percent in the past weekend.The top four movies at the box office from Aug. 26 to 27 were local films, according to the Korean Film Council. The films are director Kim Hwi’s thriller “Neighbors”; Kim Joo-ho’s period comedy “The Grand Heist”; Choi Dong-Hun’s star-studded blockbuster “The Thieves”; and Kim Dong-w

SIBF’s third edition more accessible, features contemporary balletThe venue has been changed, so have the repertoire and programs. This year’s edition of the Seoul International Ballet Festival kicked off on Thursday, with many contemporary performances from diverse troupes added to its usual classical repertoire.During its last edition in 2010, the festival took place at Seoul Arts Center’s Opera Theater, which is considered the best and one of the most expensive dance venues in Korea. This yea

Singer Psy, who returned to Seoul on Saturday from his trip to the U.S. where he met American pop star Justin Beiber’s manager Scooter Braun, is to make another visit to the foreign country next month. “Nothing has been set in stone,” the singer said about his career opportunities in the U.S., upon his arrival at Incheon International Airport on Saturday. “I think there will be a lot of fun events in future.”Psy, whose title track of his latest album “Gangnam Style” has received sensational revi

Carnage (France, Germany, Spain and Poland)Opened Aug. 16Comedy. Directed by Roman Polanski. Two pairs of middle-class parents meet to discuss why one couple’s child broke the front teeth of the other couple’s son. Though both parties try to remain “civilized” and “well-mannered” in the beginning of the meeting, they end up becoming childish and even attacking each other while drunk. Starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly, the film is an adaptation of celebrated

Boy, it sure looks like Dax Shepard is doing all his own crazy, gonzo stunt-driving in “Hit and Run,” the car-chase comedy he wrote and co-directed.“All me, 100 percent,” he says.You know how you can tell? Look in the eyes of his co-star and off-camera fiancee, Kristen Bell. Yeah, she’s in the car with him in those scenes. And no, she wasn’t scared.“Dax has always been in to off-roading, so I’ve logged many hours with him in the car doing crazy tricks,” Bell says. “I know how capable he is behin

Kill DecisionBy Daniel Suarez (Dutton)The most interesting characters in Daniel Suarez’s new techno-thriller, “Kill Decision,” are a trained pair of ravens who hover over the good guys as guardian angels.That’s unfortunate.There are a lot of big ideas in this novel, which warns against a future where machines make even the ultimate decision ― to kill ― without human intervention.And I’m sure Suarez’s book will find many fans among tech heads and futurists. But his audience would be much larger,

If author Tina Folsom let big publishing stand in her way, she never would have become a millionaire.In 2010, after more than 30 literary agents and publishers rejected “Samson’s Lovely Mortal,” the first in her series about lusty vampires, the San Francisco romance writer decided to self-publish her book on Amazon.com.Today, Folsom, 46, has made it e-big. She has generated at least $33,000 a month since December 2010 selling her full-length books, novellas and short stories online. In November

The 78th PEN International Congress to feature North Korean writers, human rights issuesThree Nobel Prize winners in literature will be in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, next month to discuss human rights, literature and media at the upcoming 78th PEN International Congress. Orhan Pamuk, Wole Soyinka, and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio will give lectures about their literary works along with renowned local poet Ko Un, PEN International Korean Center announced on Wednesday. No previous editio