Bruno Mars performs his new hit song, “Locked Out of Heaven,” from his sophomore album, Unorthodox Jukebox, on the Semi-Finals results show. He and his band entertained the screaming crowd with a dazzling laser show and high energy music. These fans weren’t locked out of heaven. You can get the single on or amazon.
In director Sarah Kim’s short film “Ode to a Christmas Tree”, Ben (5) and Borah (8) decide to get rid of their aging Christmas tree when they are left home alone one January day. However, the trees large size poses a problem. It’s too big to simply throw away, they must get creative in disposing of it. Soon, the living room is covered with fir needles, and the children fall into a slumber, thinking about the incident.
Rapper Doc Whisper released the music video for his single “Born Loser” off his “Under The Radar” album. In the video, you get a sarcastic peek into his loser way of life from getting his car and his clothes stolen to failing in school. Society may label him as a loser, so he flipped in a sarcastic tone. Even with all the negativity that happen in life, you can transform your life. He imparts some advice to you on how to turn your life around. It’s not how many times you fall down that matters, it’s how many times you get back up.
North Korea is isolated and hungry, bankrupt and belligerent. It is also armed with nuclear weapons. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are being held in its political prison camps, which have existed twice as long as Stalin’s Soviet gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. They are clearly visible in satellite photographs; North Korea insists they do not exist. Very few born and raised in these camps have escaped. But Shin Dong-hyuk did.
Born in a prison camp, Shin Dong-hyuk describes how three generations of a family are incarcerated if one family member is considered disloyal. During a 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper, he talks about his time at the notorious Camp 14 unlocking the secrets of the world’s most repressive totalitarian state. Shin knew nothing of civilized existence – he saw his mother as a competitor for food, guards raised him to be a snitch, and he witnessed the execution of his own family. Shin’s life and remarkable escape offers an unequaled inside account of one of the world’s darkest nations and a riveting tale of endurance, courage, and survival.
You can read about his harrowing journey in the NY Times bestseller “Escape from Camp 14” available here. Since it was published in March 2012, Escape from Camp 14 has been a bestseller in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Malaysia and Singapore. It has been or will be published in 20 languages, including Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
North Korean prisoner Shin Dong-hyuk escaped after 23 brutal years at Camp 14
Shin Dong-hyuk’s Odyssey told by author Blaine Harden
Rapper Ruby Ibarra dropped her first official mixtape “Lost in Translation“. Her 13 track album is packed with collaborations with the likes of Bambu, Prometheus Brown (Geologic of the Blue Scholars), BRG, and Viddy V. Production from 6Fingers, LuvJonez, Emperor Bohe, Danny Dee, and more. Whether she on the track solo or with a fellow artist, Ruby keeps it LIT on the joint. She cover topics from falling in love to tapping her Filipino roots to helping listeners build self esteem. There’s something for everyone. Here’s the track listing:
1. Fallin’ Down
2. Like This
3. Boom Bip
4. Bosses (The Cypher) Feat. Viddy V
5. Guess Who
6. Dance (The Movement) Feat. Bambu
7. Nonconceptual
8. Just Got Found Feat. BRG
9. Game Up
10. Set It Off
11. You Tell Me
12. Come On Yall Feat. Prometheus Brown (aka Geologic of the Blue Scholars)
13. LIT
You can listen to and download the tracks FREE below or here.
Hipster emcee Awkwafina put her own spin on Mickey Avalon’s joint “My Dick” off the Harold and Kumar 2 soundtrack. For her parody “My Vag,” she puts her twist with a focuses on the female genitalia. Her vag is better than your vag. Apparently, her vag is also 50 times better than a penis. Rapper Gucci Mane approves of this video by liking it on YouTube. (Previously, comedian Margaret Cho also made her own version entitled My Puss.) You can download the song on or amazon.