Jae-Ha Kim

South Korean rapper PSY’s “Gangnam Style” video has more than 200 million YouTube views and counting, and it’s easy to see why. No Korean language skills are needed to enjoy the chubby, massively entertaining performer’s crazy horse-riding dance, the song’s addictive chorus and the video’s exquisitely odd series of misadventures.

What a difference two months make. For the past dozen years, PSY has been a popular rapper and entertainer in Korea. Then in July, he uploaded his video for “Gangnam Style” on youtube.com, and the song went viral to the tune of more than 161 million views. Katy Perry, Britney Spears and Nelly Furtado tweeted about the song to their followers. “Gangnam Style” charted at No. 1 on the iTunes Music Video Charts, topping Perry and Justin Bieber and cracked the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 64. PSY is now represented by Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun.

When John Grogan wrote Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog, he knew he had written a good book. But he didn’t realize he had written a book that would become a phenomenon. The tale of Grogan’s naughty, but lovable dog, not only has spawned a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, but also a series of children’s books starring the irrepressible Labrador Retriever.

The story goes that actress and comedienne Judy Gold began her stand-up career on a dare. She was a student at Rutgers University, 6-foot-3 and funny. It seemed like a no brainer. More than two decades later, the 46-year-old entertainer is still going strong with her brand of sardonic, witty humor. An Emmy-winning writer and producer on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” Gold can next be seen in the “Stand-Up 360″ comedy showcase, which is being released theatrically this summer across the country.