PARIS (AFP) ― Veteran Hollywood actress Jane Fonda, returning to the screen in a French film about a band of friends in their 70s, said making the movie was on her “bucket list” of things to do before she dies.Set for release next Wednesday, “Et si on Vivait Tous Ensemble” (Why Don’t we all Live Together?) tells of a group of friends who decide to move in together, to share the joys and challenges of old age.It is Fonda’s first French film since the 1972 release, “Tout Va Bien,” by the New Wave

Film Jan. 15, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Movie and TV studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is creating a Hollywood powerhouse focused on young adult audiences with its purchase of Summit Entertainment, maker of the teen hit “Twilight’’ series, for $412.5 million, which the companies confirmed Friday.The cash and stock deal brings the “Twilight’’ franchise ― which has grossed more than $2.5 billion worldwide since the first movie blew out of the gates in late 2008 ― under the same roof with Lions Gate’s upcoming four

Film Jan. 15, 2012

KTO chief stresses high-quality tourism, upgrading of the country’s imageWhile an ardent promoter of “long vacation culture,” President Lee Charm of the Korea Tourism Organization has yet to settle his winter holiday plans. With so many things he wants to accomplish in 2012, the final year of his three-year term, it may be a while before Lee maps out plans for another trip around Korea, the country he cherishes so dearly. Lee, a lover of mountains, took a two-week trip around the nation last sum

Travel Jan. 13, 2012

Office workers choosing ‘learning, meeting, resting’ over eating at lunchFor many Seoulites who often find themselves working nights and weekends to survive in the city of excessive competition and gloomy unemployment, lunch break is like a blessing to endure the long, tiring day. Feeling the one-hour break is too precious to waste on eating and gossiping with co-workers, a growing number of people here are coming up with different ideas to make the time more worthwhile. “I recently had three bl

Culture Jan. 13, 2012

Held just before the Lunar New Year holidays, the 2012 Korea Travel Expo will be offering special gift and travel ideas for visitors, the Korea Tourism Association said.Some 400 local government organizations, travel agencies and related groups are participating in the largest travel expo in Korea, held under the theme “Artistic Landscape of My Country” this year. The Jan. 12-15 event will be held at COEX in Samseong-dong, southeastern Seoul with the opening day broadcast live on TV. Aimed at dr

Culture Jan. 11, 2012

This year is the best time for shopaholics, K-pop fanatics and foodies to check out Korea, CNN’s travel and culture information site reported, selecting 12 topevents and projects lined up in 2012 to lure overseas travelers. With 2010-2012 designated as “Visit Korea Year,” the country is offering exclusive discounts and promotions designed to make Korea more attractive to tourists. The coupons, train ticket discounts of up to 30 percent, free shuttle buses and hotel deals “won’t wait around forev

Culture Jan. 11, 2012

Actress Song Hye-kyo has fully funded the publication of a new Korean handbook for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, according to a Korea promotion expert.Song, one of the most popular Korean actresses who also starred in U.S. indie-film “Fetish,” has decided to cover the cost for the production of a new guidebook to help Korean tourists who visit the world-renowned museum, Sungshin Women’s University professor Seo Kyoung-duk said. Seo helped in creating the new booklet which has been on dis

People Jan. 10, 2012

Lee Kyung-kyu reveals panic attack experiencesBehind his boisterous, lively persona hides an anxious man with constant fears of death, sickness and depression; Korea’s top comedian Lee Kyung-kyu said during a Sunday variety show that he suffers from panic disorder.Lee, 52, is one of the most popular entertainers in the country, currently hosting KBS 2TV’s “Qualifications of a Man.” During Sunday’s show, Lee revealed he has been suffering from constant panic attacks for the past year and started

Television Jan. 9, 2012

In the shadow of Mount Everest and its magnetic lore, a cross-border route with a grand name, the Great Himalaya Trail, is being touted as an epic, untapped alternative to the bucket-list trek to base camp on the world’s highest mountain.Trekking this trail is an odyssey, not a routine vacation, and even promoters admit that it’s more a theory or consumer product for an untested market than a continuous path. Instead, it’s a web of paths, many unmapped and barely connecting, that meander east to

Travel Jan. 6, 2012

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) ― Items as small as a hairpin and as big as a chunk of the Titanic’s hull are among 5,000 artifacts from the world’s most famous shipwreck that are to be auctioned in April, close to the 100th anniversary of the disaster.Nearly a century after the April 15, 1912, sinking of the ocean liner that hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic, a New York City auction is being readied by Guernsey’s Auctioneers & Brokers.That auction house has garnered headlines in the past by selling

Culture Jan. 6, 2012

BERLIN (AFP) ― A drama set around the French Revolution starring German-born Hollywood actress Diane Kruger as Marie Antoinette will open next month’s Berlin film festival, organisers said Wednesday.“Les Adieux a la reine” (Farewell My Queen) by French director Benoit Jacquot will kick off the 62nd edition of the Berlinale, as the event is known, on Feb. 9, the festival said in a statement.The period drama features Kruger, previously seen in “Inglourious Basterds,” Lea Seydoux, who appeared in l

Film Jan. 5, 2012

LONDON (AP) ― She’s a double Oscar winner with a knack for accents, but Meryl Streep says playing Margaret Thatcher was a challenge ― although her own experience helped her understand the struggles faced by Britain’s first female prime minister.Streep is transformed into the divisive politician who reshaped Britain in “The Iron Lady,’’ which had its European premiere in London on Wednesday, just across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament.“It was extremely daunting, because I’m from Ne

Film Jan. 5, 2012