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www.groovekorea.com / March 2014 18 A selection from our editors MuST READS mUST reADS Expat superstars Page 36 Korea takes SXSW by storm Page 52 Fine art with a function Page 84 Monkeys and machetes Page 82 home brewers lead the push toward better beer Page 66 Expat performers rub shoulders with Korea’s celebrities, but it’s not all partying with rock stars. Getting to that point requires countless sleepless nights and days of planning, networking, auditioning, scripting, rehearsing, filming, traveling and, simply put, enduring. Four rising foreign entertainers reveal the world of Korea’s entertainment industry. Each year, hundreds of thousands swarm to South by Southwest in Austin, Tex- as, to experience film, comedy and, most famously, music. Ever since Korea’s entrance in 2007, SXSW has been seeing a Korean Wave of its own. The 14 bands making a splash this year aren’t treating the opportunity as a one-off — they’re using it to dive into the U.S., the center of rock. Samantha Thomas may be an art teacher by trade, but she could also teach you a thing or two about multitasking. The Iowa native is the founder and director of operations at Global Arts Therapy, a multinational NGO set to launch this month that uses art projects as the basis for sustainable community development. Once limited to those with an uncanny spirit for peril and excitement, Sumatra is slowly joining the ranks of must-see Indonesia: Show-stopping scenery, volca- noes and orangutans dot the landscape of this isolated corner of the world, not to mention more than a few indigenous tribes. Quirky and wild though it may be, sticky Sumatra is no longer just for daredevils. The beauty of the east coast Page 90 Inspired by lonely places, Glen Sundeen traveled day and night to witness Ko- rea’s eastern coast in its earliest daylight hours — on Christmas morning, no less. For this month’s Capturing Korea, he shot one of the ROK’s most popular tourist destinations: Seoraksan and the nearby city of Sokcho. “Okay, put in the hops now,” her instructor commands. Christine Pickering takes a beginner home-brewing class run by Seoul Homebrew, a supply store for home brewers. Instructor Jonathan Wilson assures them that their brew will taste more like the red rye ales they are nursing and less like the ancient medic- inal potion they can smell before them.
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