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FUTURE BOY Conan is a famous Japanese sci-fi animation created in 1978, set in a future dystopia in which humanity is destroyed due to the abuse of highly developed technology. The protagonist, Conan, rescues his friend from a city run by high technology, eventually liberating the city and re-integr
Review
Kim Yeon-soo
2024.04.03 15:50
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THE QUOTIDIAN is often taken for granted. Lee Kyung-jun’s photo exhibition, One Step Away, turns this notion around and showcases the extraordinariness of the ordinary. The exhibition explores the city views of New York and Seoul captured from a step away. From the bustling city to the verdant peace
Review
Park Hye-lin
2024.03.05 12:28
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A FILM that uniquely, perhaps even radically, portrays loneliness as a cheerful human condition is Call Me Chihiro. In addition to doing so, it addresses the place of sex workers in our society. The compelling and intriguing storyline, as well as the underlying message, make up for the often lacking
Review
Lee Young-bean
2023.12.05 10:37
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“WHAT IF you were to live as someone else?” This is a question everyone has pondered at least once. The musical What If begins the show by addressing this possibility. The tendency to imagine life as someone else is often prompted by dissatisfaction with one's own life and envy of the other’s seemin
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Park Hye-lin
2023.12.05 10:17
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BENEATH THE extravagance of a global culture lies the arduous struggles that the diaspora have faced. We often neglect the transcription of the diaspora’s immigrant life, blinded by the separation of time and space. Jung Yeon-doo, one of the most prominent performance and media artists in Korea, foc
Review
Shin Jung-yeop
2023.11.05 19:24
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MESOPOTAMIA WAS the first city to appear on Earth. On the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, civilization took place, communities formed, writing systems were introduced, and ancient Mesopotamia was built. Although this civilization ended millions of years ago, it formed the foundation enabli
Review
Park Hye-lin
2023.10.10 23:02
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ALTHOUGH HOME is often regarded as the place you were born and raised, the concept of one’s true home is much more complex. Home is a place of comfort and strong bonds. However, this may not be the case for all; some people are still treated as foreigners in their own birth countries. Barriers creat
Review
Park Hye-lin
2023.09.03 17:32
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ART MAY not change the world, but it can change the way we see the world, says the celebrated street artist JR. Prominently known as the owner of the largest gallery in the world, the world’s streets are his exhibition, where every passerby is a visitor. The JR: Chronicles held at the Lotte Museum A
Review
Lee Jae-hyeon
2023.06.08 01:05
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“THROUGH SONGS and stories [one can] learn about the world, and about the people who live in it”—such is the sentiment of Korean American author Axie Oh’s novel The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea. A retelling of the Korean folktale The Tale of Shim Cheong, Oh’s novel expands the original story of fil
Review
Brooklyn Hollander
2023.05.04 12:48
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INTUITIVELY, ONE would identify North Korea—a rogue state embodying dictatorship and violent repression—as antithetical to the United States, the epitome of freedom and robust democracy. However, to the eyes of a North Korean defector who desperately escaped from destitution in North Korea and from
Review
Lee Jae-hyeon
2023.04.04 22:28
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EVERYONE WANTS to live a good life; a life that is healthy, happy, meaningful, and fulfilling. Yet, to most people, the notion of a good life is intangible and enigmatic, difficult to grasp, and out of reach. The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study on Happiness sheds light o
Review
Lee Jae-hyeon
2023.03.07 22:03
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SHAPED LIKE a stable, a square stage greets the audience as they file into the theater. A pale blue light encompasses the area with an ominous glow, and the minimal set design with the prop of two simple stools that promise potential. Sure enough, the tiny space is all it takes to transfer the audie
Review
Park Jin-seo
2022.12.07 03:40
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HAVE YOU ever wondered what it would be like to have God appear before you in a time of dire need? In his book, The Stranger in the Lifeboat, Mitch Albom presents an answer to this question. Following his candid and straightforward writing style, Albom describes how ten people stranded in a lifeboat
Review
Park Jin-seo
2022.11.03 19:30
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BLUE IS often regarded as the color of tranquility, intelligence, and freedom. It can be connected to the divinity of the blue sky, or the sign of global peace on the United Nations flag. At times it is a color of melancholy or even solitude. The enticing nature of the color blue to many people arou
Review
Park Jin-seo
2022.09.03 14:46
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SITTING IN the dark while the spotlight shines on the actors on stage, the role of the audience has always been to “observe” rather than “participate.” The play Shear Madness challenges this notion by incorporating the audience within the plot. The story takes place in a hairstyling salon where, wit
Review
Park Jin-seo
2022.06.10 00:19
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“MY PROJECTS usually come from a very personal place, a place with a mix of emotions, a place of love, fear, and isolation,” are Alex Prager’s introductory comments as you walk through her first solo exhibition at the Lotte Museum of Art in Seoul. In her showcase titled “Big West,” Prager walks the
Review
The Annals Staff
2022.05.06 22:10
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“GETTING LOST inside a canvas” does not have to be taken figuratively. On the eastern side of Jeju, the Bunker de Lumières is a mediatic exhibit that projects the works of the greatest artists. Their masterpieces come to life in front, behind, and even underneath its viewer. Part of the larger “Lumi
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Laura Senior Primo
2021.12.06 01:32
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THE CLASSIC Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice has been spun on its head—in the musical Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell reinterprets the world of the gods into a satire against capitalistic greed during the Great Depression. The underworld has been transformed into a grimy factory, with Hades as its de
Review
Kim Na-yoon
2021.10.31 21:43
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JUST TWO days after its release, the Korean Netflix series D.P. topped the domestic Netflix charts. Released last August, the drama follows the story of Ahn Jun-ho, a soldier who is transferred to the deserter pursuit (D.P.) squad. As a D.P. soldier, Jun-ho works with Sergeant Park Beom-gu and Corpo
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Jung Ye-won
2021.10.31 21:43
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ELECTRIC GUITARS blaring, profanities spewing, wigs swishing: is this a drag show or a rock concert? No, it is Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a musical that has once again captured the attention of Korean audiences with its fusion of rock music, queer themes, and new cast, despite being its 16th year ru
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Jung Ye-won
2021.10.10 00:25