Korean film Oldboy (올드보이) at Row House Cinema from Friday.

Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville will show the 2003 Korean film Oldboy (올드보이) from December 26 through January 1. 올드보이, the 21st-century classic not to be confused with the 2013 Spike Lee remake, is summarized in a 2005 Roger Ebert review:

A man gets violently drunk and is chained to the wall in a police station. His friend comes and bails him out. While the friend is making a telephone call, the man disappears from an empty city street in the middle of the night. The man regains consciousness in what looks like a shabby hotel room. A bed, a desk, a TV, a bathroom cubicle. There is a steel door with a slot near the floor for his food tray. Occasionally a little tune plays, the room fills with gas, and when he regains consciousness the room has been cleaned, his clothes have been changed, and he has received a haircut.

This routine continues for 15 years. He is never told who has imprisoned him, or why. He watches TV until it becomes his world. He fills one journal after another with his writings. He pounds the wall until his fists grow bloody, and then hardened. He screams. He learns from TV that his blood and fingerprints were found at the scene of his wife's murder. That their daughter has been adopted in Sweden. That if he were to escape, he would be a wanted man.

. . .

When he suddenly finds himself freed from his bizarre captivity 15 years later, he is a different person, focused on revenge, ridiculously responsive to kindness. Wandering into a restaurant, he meets a young woman who, he knows from the TV, is Korea's "Chef of the Year." This is Mido. Sensing that he has suffered, feeling an instinctive sympathy, she takes him home with her, hears his story, cares for him, comes to love him. Meanwhile, he sets out on a methodical search to find the secret of his captivity. He was fed pot stickers, day after day, until their taste is burned into his memory, and he travels the city's restaurants until he finds the one that supplied his meals. That is the key to tracking down his captors.

Showtimes are available online. The theater is located at 4115 Butler St. (map).

Pittsburgh Pirates win bidding for Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have won the bidding for Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang (강정호). From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Their posting fee was $5,002,015, as reported by his team, the Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization, and the Heroes accepted the bid Saturday.

The Pirates have 30 days to negotiate with Kang’s agent, Alan Nero of Octagon. If the two sides reach an agreement, Nexen receives the posting fee. If not, Kang cannot be posted again until next winter.

Kang, 27, hit .356 with a .459 on-base percentage and 40 home runs in 117 games for the Heroes this season, though those impressive offensive numbers came against lower-level competition in the KBO.

Pirates scouts, among those from many other teams, were seen at Korean Baseball Organization games throughout 2014. If Kang signs with the Pirates and makes their roster, he will be the second Korean player in the team's history after pitcher Chan-ho Park, who would set the record for wins by an Asian player in the Major Leagues during his late-2010 stint in Pittsburgh. Relief pitcher Byung-hyun Kim never made it out of spring training in 2008, while several others have played in the Pirates system.

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter at Hollywood Theater, March 27.

The Hollywood Theater in Dormont announced today it will show the 2014 film Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter on March 27. A summary from the Sundance Festival homepage:

Kumiko lives in a cluttered, cramped apartment in Tokyo with her pet rabbit, Bunzo. She works as an office lady, robotically preparing tea and fetching dry cleaning for her nitpicky boss. But on her own time, she obsessively watches a well-known American film on a weathered VHS tape. Rewinding and fast-forwarding repeatedly, she meticulously maps out where a briefcase of castaway loot is buried within the fictional film. After hours of intense research—convinced that her destiny depends on finding the money—Kumiko heads to the United States and into the harsh Minnesota winter to search for it.

The American film stars several Japanese actors, including Rinko Kikuchi, and will debut in US theaters in March 2015.

"Dress Designs Reflections of Visit to Pitt Nationality Rooms".

Speaking of the Chinese Nationality Room, a Pittsburgh Press article from December 31, 1944 followed dress designer Dorris Varnum [sic] to the Cathedral of Learning to profile "a delightful collection of dresses" inspired by her visit to Pittsburgh. "[T]he dress expressing her notion of the Chinese Memorial classroom" is pictured on the right.

Smooth rayon jersey was the fabric chosen for the print, and black designs are splashed against grounds of pale jade green, lotus blossom and Ming blue.

The black designs could be taken to express one conception of plum blossoms seen on the carved doorframe of the classroom. These blossoms, which grow out of snow and ice, blooming before the winter is past, are Chinese national flowers.

Very appropriately, this bright dress makes its bow during a season of snow and ice.

"Classical Piano in Performance: The Piano Music of Quentin Kim" at CMU, December 16.

Pianist Nathan Carterette will perform the works of Quentin Kim (김정권) on December 16 at CMU's Kresge Theater (map), to mark the release of the former's CD of Kim's music. From Carterette's site:

To announce the release of my CD recorded last year in Busan, Quentin Kim is coming to Pittsburgh to attend a once-only concert featuring his solo piano works.

The event will be at Kresge Theatre in the Fine Arts Building on the campus of Carnegie-Mellon University, Tuesday December 16 at 2 pm. This event is free and a reception follows.

Included will be his great Sonata in g# minor, Lilies: A Ballad-Fantasy, Springtime Glances, Variations on an Ancient Korean Melody, the Prelude and Fugue in c# minor (dedicated to myself), and other short works.

Please note, elsewhere on Carterette's site and on other event listings the start time is 3:00 pm (map).

Japan Times profiles Pittsburgh Pirates trainer Kiyoshi Momose.

On December 6, the Japan Times profiled Kiyoshi Momose, a Nagano native who works as a trainer for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Momose speaks Japanese, Spanish, and English, and was the strength and conditioning coach for the Major League Baseball squad that toured Japan in November.

Momose is one of several Japanese nationals currently working for MLB clubs as trainers, video coordinators, scouts and, of course, translators. He is one of the more versatile because of his skills in leading exercise and stretching sessions with the players and his language abilities. He has worked stints at the Pirates Academy in the Dominican Republic and has accompanied Pittsburgh scouts to Japan to serve as their advisor and interpreter.

Pirates scouting director Tyrone Brooks said, “Kiyoshi has been a valuable member to our organization these last 14 years, thanks to his ability to be a such a great asset with our major league staff and players, our Latin American players in educating them about proper strength and conditioning methods and in assisting our efforts to make inroads in scouting Japanese baseball.

“His ability to communicate in various languages makes him such a rare commodity, and we thank him for his efforts. His personality and work ethic is so greatly appreciated.”

Pittsburgh receives delegation from Sister City Wuhan; Mayor Peduto to visit in 2015.

Pittsburgh received a delegation from Wuhan, China, on Friday, according to a December 12 release:

The delegation will meet [Friday] afternoon with Chief of Staff Kevin Acklin, Innovation & Performance Chief Debra Lam, Chief of Urban Affairs Valerie McDonald-Roberts, Chinese entrepreneurs, and community and education leaders from the Pittsburgh region. Michele Heryford, the Managing Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Pittsburgh will be presenting on the educational exchanges. Renee Piechocki, Director of the Office of Public Art for the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council will be presenting on the public art scene in Pittsburgh as well as giving the Chinese delegation a public art tour. Other community groups have also supported the planning and welcome for the delegation, including The Idea Foundry and the Pittsburgh Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

And mayor Bill Peduto will travel to Wuhan next year:

The city announced [on Friday] that Mr. Peduto will travel to Wuhan, China, next year to deliver "a keynote address on urban transformation" at a conference in the central Chinese city of 10 million that straddles the Yangtze River.

Pittsburgh and Wuhan have been sister cities since September 1982. A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from March 29 of that year mentions some of the similarities between Pittsburgh and "China's steel capital":

The central China city also has a geographic similarity to Pittsburgh--it, too, has three rivers.

Art of Origami: Holiday Edition, downtown, December 20.

"Little Christmas Wreath", by Jeannie Fletcher.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Downtown & Business branch will host "Art of Origami: Holiday Edition" on December 20.

Just in time for the holidays! Join us for an interactive workshop on the art of Origami.

Origami is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding where flat sheets of paper are transformed into simple or elaborate sculptures and arrangements.

Bring in your holiday gift wrap paper for neat holiday themed sculptures!

The event is free, and runs from 2:30 to 3:30 pm at 612 Smithfield St. (map).

Seoul National University of Science and Technology president receives Distinguished Alumnus Award from Pitt.

Seoul National University of Science and Technology president Keun Namkoong (근남궁) received a Distinguished Alumnus Award on December 12 from John Keeler, Dean of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of International and Public Affairs. The GSPIA website has a profile on Namkoong, who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1989.

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語) and From Up on Poppy Hill (コクリコ坂から) at Row House Cinema from tomorrow through December 18.

Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville will present the GKIDS Animation Festival from December 12 through 18, including two animated films from Japan and Studio Ghibli: 2013's The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語) in its Pittsburgh debut and 2011's From Up On Poppy Hill (コクリコ坂から). The movies will be shown in Japanese with English subtitles.

A.V. Club provides a summary of The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語):

A humble bamboo cutter named Okina (translation: “old man”) happens upon a glowing stalk in the grove near his house. When he investigates, the shimmering tree blossoms reveal a baby nested inside. Believing this discovery to be a gift from the heavens, Okina brings her home to his wife Ouna (“old woman”), with whom he begins to raise the child as their own. Dubbing her “Princess” Kaguya, Ouna and Okina marvel at how rapidly the girl begins to grow, racing from infancy to pre-adolescence in a matter of days.

While Kaguya busies herself with a normal childhood, making friends with the local kids and bonding with an older boy named Sutemaru, her adopted father becomes distracted by Kaguya’s value to him—the bamboo shoot from which she was born begins producing gold. As Kaguya transforms into a teenager, Okina relocates their family to the capital city, where the girl receives lessons on how to be a proper woman, and is celebrated as a rare beauty. When five aggressive suitors come calling—followed by the emperor himself—Kaguya begins to feel trapped, things falling apart as she imagines a different life for herself.

It goes on to say the film has "some of the most beautifully expressive animation that Ghibli (or anyone else) has ever produced".

Wikipedia provides a brief summary of the latter:

Set in 1963 Yokohama, Japan, the film tells the story of Umi Matsuzaki, a high school girl living in a boarding house, Coquelicot Manor. When Umi meets Shun Kazama, a member of the school's newspaper club, they decide to clean up the school's clubhouse, Quartier Latin. However, Tokumaru, the chairman of the local high school and a businessman, intends to demolish the building for redevelopment and Umi and Shun, along with Shirō Mizunuma, must persuade him to reconsider.

And the Pittsburgh City-Paper adds, in a review of the film when it was last here in 2013:

The film's small story is set against a larger cultural one, as Japan transitions from the sorrows and hardships of the last generation's wars to being a modern world power. Nearly every scene contains visual cues that show Japan's mish-mash of old and new, while the story illustrates this new generation, caught between the nostalgic pull of the past and the responsibility of leading this new Japan.

Showtimes are available at the theater's website. The theater is located at 4115 Butler St. (map).