Lead singer Hyolyn of girl group Sistar is set to release a new solo album next month, which includes collaborations with rappers Dok2 and Jay Park.Hyolyn will be releasing two new tracks in the coming weeks, one featuring rapper Dok2 on Oct. 26 and another featuring rapper-producer Jay Park -- whose new album is out Thursday -- on Nov. 1, according to the singer’s management agency Starship Entertainment.The new album, Hyolyn’s second solo project after “Love & Hate” in 2013, will launch on Nov

After four years in the making, “Pandora,” purportedly Korea’s first film dealing with nuclear disaster, will open in local theaters in December. 　Helmed by Park Jung-soo, production on the 15 billion won ($13.2 million) movie wrapped following more than a year of computer-generated imagery work and five months of filming, according to major local distributor Next Entertainment World.The movie traces a disaster at a nuclear power plant following a massive earthquake, the government’s ensuing res

Director Yeon Sang-ho’s “Train to Busan” won awards for best director and best special effects at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain on Saturday.The zombie thriller had received the grand prize at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival in July. Opened locally in July, “Train to Busan” was a box office hit and holds the record so far as the ninth best-selling Korean film ever. A still from “Train to Busan” (Next Entertainment World) Director Yeon Sang-ho (Yonhap)Di

The 21st Busan International Film Festival, Asia’s largest, wrapped up Saturday with a closing ceremony moderated by actor-singer Kim Min-jong and actress-model Choi Yeo-jin at the Busan Cinema Center after an unremarkable, quiet 10-day run, which saw scaled-back events and a smaller audience than previous years. The New Currents Award, BIFF’s representative competition category which recognizes rookie Asian directors, went to two films by Chinese directors: Wang Xuebo’s debut feature “Knife in

Green Day“Revolution Radio”(Reprise Records)“Revolution Radio” sees Green Day back on the straight and narrow, a dozen potent tunes encasing the punk attitude with plenty of pop hooks. The band shakes off a few years in the wilderness, including personal crises and artistic diversions, with a no-frills collection in which they work from a clean slate without losing their collective memory. There’s no overall concept, nothing really innovative, but there’s room for the topical and ample rawness i

Luck-Key(Korea)Opened Oct. 13Comedy. Directed by Lee Gye-byukA hired killer (Yoo Hae-jin) loses his memory of his day job after slipping and hitting his head at a public bath. He is left thinking he is a no-name actor. His life turns around completely. The Accountant(US)　Opened Oct. 13Action, thriller. Directed by Gavin O’ConnorChristian Wolff (Ben Affleck) uses a small-town Certified Public Accountant office as a cover to do freelance accounting work for criminal organizations. The mathematics

In Gavin O’Connor’s “The Accountant,” starring Ben Affleck, the paper-pushing CPA -- roughly the exact opposite of Schwarzenegger or Stallone -- gets his shot at action hero stardom. If we pull out our calculators, we can deduce that the odds of this are slim. Carrying the one and rounding up, you might even conclude that it’s a patently ridiculous premise. Just imagine the tagline possibilities. “The only thing he knows better than the tax code is his moral code!” “Don’t write him off!” “He’s t

After a scandal involving an adult massage parlor, a public breakup and another very public relationship, singer Se7en has returned after nearly five years with a new, self-produced album.Titled “I Am Se7en,” the retro-funk album reflects who he is now, the 31-year-old singer told reporters at a press interview at his entertainment agency, Eleven 9, Thursday.“I’m particularly fond of this album because I participated in making the melodies, writing the lyrics and the production of every song,” h

Soon-to-air reality program “Society Game” observes contestants divided into two “societies” -- one a democracy, the other a dictatorship -- as they compete in a physically and psychologically draining fight for survival. 　The show is cable channel tvN’s ambitious new project, co-created with global format distribution company Endemol Shine Group, an Amsterdam-based firm that previously rolled out popular shows “Big Brother,” “The Biggest Loser” and “MasterChef.” 　The show’s focus is to observe

A number of the world’s top design experts and IT industry leaders from leading companies such as Pinterest and Kickstarter will be speaking at Herald Design Forum on Nov. 8. In its sixth year, Herald Design Forum 2016 will focus on how fusing technology and business with innovative design led to the success of their businesses.Kicking off the forum this year is Yancey Strickler, co-founder and CEO of the world’s largest crowdfunding service Kickstarter, a platform which allows individuals and b

A trendy haircut, eyebrow piercings and a tattoo sleeve on his arm -- nothing about online personality Lee Pyung’s current appearance betrays the fact he was born under a totalitarian regime. But he was, Lee reveals in his live webcast series, 23 years ago in the city of Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea. Lee made it to Korea in 2004, after bribing North Korean border guards, crossing into China, being imprisoned there, hiding in the Mongolian plains and being picked up by the Natio

Bon Iver“22, A Million”(Jagjaguwar)Some weirdness pervades the release of “22, A Million,” the third album by Bon Iver -- symbols, images and liner notes that feel like they're fraught with meaning. Some of it might be nonsense.But then there’s the music.An adventurous journey in sound, “22, A Million” is never dull. Altered voices, the familiar falsetto of Bon Iver's mastermind, Justin Vernon, and acoustic and electronic shape-shifting stretch the conventional boundaries of song.The album “is p

The Net(Korea)Opened Oct. 6Drama. Directed by Kim Ki-dukHumble North Korean fisherman Nam Chul-woo (Ryoo Seung-beom) accidentally crosses the maritime border into South Korean waters when his fishing boat is caught in strong tides. Bacchus Lady(Korea)Opened Oct. 6Drama. Directed by E J-Yong Elderly sex worker So-young (Youn Yuh-jung), who frequents parks to pick up old men seeking her services, begins getting requests for a different type of service from her aging clientele. Asura: The City of M

The very best Tim Burton films feature a charismatic weirdo at the center of the story who is either preternaturally innocent (Edward Scissorhands, Pee-Wee Herman), or charged with the protection of innocence (Batman). Enter Miss Alma LeFay Peregrine (Eva Green) into the canon of Burton heroes of this type. She’s the headmistress of a Home for Peculiar Children, which is a sort of mashup of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.“Miss Peregrine’s Hom

BUSAN -- The opening ceremony of the 21st Busan International Film Festival was held quietly, without its usual display of fireworks, but to enthusiastic applause in a packed outdoor theater at the Busan Cinema Center on Thursday evening.　While some 160 prominent filmmakers and actors graced the red carpet,  including veteran Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki and Japan’s Watanabe Ken, many hard-hitting celebrities were noticeably absent due to a Korean film industry boycott of the event following dispute

BUSAN -- The 21st edition of the Busan International Film Festival, Asia’s largest, kicked off Thursday amid a number of complications both unexpected and long-standing -- outdoor facilities damaged by Wednesday’s Typhoon Chaba and local filmmakers’ ongoing boycott over BIFF’s artistic autonomy.Sets at BIFF Village, the venue on Haeundae Beach which was to host many of the festival’s outdoor events, were almost completely destroyed when the typhoon swept through the southeastern tip of the Korea

“Whether the cow is brown, black or spotted, its milk is all white,” Kim Dong-ho muses in “White Milk,” included in his newly published compilation of translated poems “Belly Button Disc.”The book comprises 56 selected poems originally written by Kim in Korean and co-translated into English by Kim Won-chung, professor of English literature at Sungkyunkwan University, and poet-translator Ko Chang-soo. 　In his work, 82-year-old poet Kim examines life’s mysteries and the world from a Taoistic persp

Over an election season dominated by blatant flip-flops and lofty claims, there is one position that Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump has stood by firmly: He hates the media.But his strong and often times brutal disdain for reporters is surprising, given that in his four decades in the public light, no one has been able to take him down. Not a single newspaper article has prevented him from getting this close to the presidency, and for that he should be thankful.Because Trump has

NEW YORK (AP) -- Nearly 50 years have passed since police raided New York’s Stonewall Inn, touching off protests on Christopher Street that fueled the LGBT movement.To mark the moment, the popular bar and haven for homeless youth, sex workers, trans people and others in search of community and self was designated a national park in June by President Barack Obama.It’s against that backdrop that longtime resident of the Greenwich Village neighborhood, famed photographer Mark Seliger, decided on a

Tate Taylor’s “The Girl on the Train” may be technically set in the Westchester suburb of Ardsley-on-Hudson, but its cocktail of commuter trains, marital infidelity and alcoholism make its proper setting Cheever Country. The unhappy, martini-stained lives of New York suburbanites have long been a rich vein for writers like John Cheever, Richard Yates and Paula Fox. “The Girl on the Train” is the trashier, paperback version. Its old-school title may suggest Hitchcock or maybe Fincher (who himself