Unconventional World Records

At the recent World Championships in Athletics held in Japan, the most anticipated 100m race of the year took place. It was a duel between the world’s greatest sprinters, a clash of titans Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell, both unbeaten this season. Gay clocked the fastest time this season at 9.84 and Powell is world record holder, having clocked 9.77s not once but 3 times since 2005.

Many people expected the world record to fall due to the intense rivalry between the two superstars and the fast track, but what happened instead was Gay, even though he became world champion, did not even equal his personal best and Powell disappointingly faded to finish third. Powell’s excuse: “I just tightened up and panicked. I felt Tyson coming and panicked. During the rounds I felt fine but I made a huge mistake in the final and it cost me the race.”

If Gay’s time is only 0.02 seconds faster than Carl Lewis’ mark set 16 years ago, how fast can humans ever run the 100m?

In April 1996 in El Paso, Texas, Obadele Thompson ran the fastest 100 m race ever, at the incredible time of 9.69 seconds. However, it was achieved with the following wind in excess of 5 m/s, well over the IAAF legal limit of 2.0 m/s, and the mark was not officially recognized. Still, that was the fastest ever time a human has been timed to run a 100m race, legal or not.

Well, how about a legal race then? If we look at the perfect race, i.e. the best 10m splits in history (as of August 2006), the time would come up to be even more incredible: 9.46 seconds (source quoted at bottom):

This list has undergone dramatic change as I have included split-times from Gatlin’s 9.77=WR in Doha earlier this year. Kim Collins’ 1.67 0-10m Minus RT is taken away as it was an estimate split-time that I gave for him in my 2004 Athens OG 100m Final Analysis

Also, with the inclusion of Gatlin’s new best time of 0.85 from 30-40m Mo Greene & Asafa lose their shares of the best split in that section.

Reaction Time [RT] Limit: 0.100

•0-10m: 1.69 [Minus RT], Raymond STEWART [9.96 Tokyo WC 91], Frankie FREDERICKS [9.86 Lausanne GP 96], Maurice GREENE [9.79WR Athens GP 99 & 9.82 Edmonton WC 01] [Note: 1.69, also by Ben JOHNSON 9.79 Seoul OG 88 DQ & Tim MONTGOMERY 9.85 Edmonton WC 01 DQ]

•10-20m: 1.00, Bruny SURIN [9.84 Sevilla WC 99] & Maurice GREENE [9.82 Edmonton WC 01] [Note: 1.00s, also by Ben JOHNSON 10.15 Roma WCH SF 1987 DQ]

•20-30m: 0.89, Maurice GREENE [9.87 Stockholm GP 99]

•30-40m: 0.85, Justin GATLIN [9.77=WR Doha GP 06]

•40-50m: 0.84, Carl LEWIS [9.86WR Tokyo WC 91], Frankie FREDERICKS [9.86 Lausanne GP 96] & Maurice GREENE [9.93 Lausanne GP 99] [Note: 0.84, also by Ben JOHNSON 9.79 Seoul OG 88 DQ & Tim MONTGOMERY 9.78 Paris GPF 02 DQ]

•50-60m: 0.82, Maurice GREENE [9.85 Roma GP 99, 9.86 Berlin GL 00 & 9.87 Sydney OG 00]

•60-70m: 0.83, Donovan BAILEY [9.93 Lausanne GP 96) & Maurice GREENE [9.86 Berlin GL 00, 9.87s Sydney OG 00 & 9.82 Edmonton WC 01]

•70-80m: 0.83, Carl LEWIS [9.86WR Tokyo WCH 91] & Maurice GREENE [9.86 Berlin GL 00 & 9.87 Sydney OG 00]

•80-90m: 0.85, Carl LEWIS [10.03 Roma WCH SF 87, 9.93WR Roma WC 87, 9.97 Seoul OG SF 88 & 10.02 Stuttgart WC 93], Maurice GREENE [9.79WR Athens GP 99, 9.80 Sevilla WC 99 & Sydney OG 00], Asafa POWELL [9.77WR Athens GP 05 & 9.77=WR Gateshead GP 06] & Justin GATLIN [9.77=WR Doha GP 06] [Note: 0.85, also Tim MONTGOMERY 9.78 Paris GPF 02 DQ]

•90-100m: 0.85, Carl LEWIS [9.99 Los Angeles OG 84 & 10.02 Stuttgart WC 93], Maurice GREENE [9.79WR Athens GP 99], Asafa POWELL [9.77WR Athens GP 05] & Justin GATLIN [9.77=WR Doha GP 06]

Fastest ever recorded ‘legal’ Reaction Time: 0.100, Jon Drummond [Monaco GP 1993]

Total [Without Drummond’s Perfect 0.100RT]: 9.45

Total [With Drummonds Perfect 0.100RT]: 9.55

Official Split-times:
*Ray Stewart 1.69 0-10m Minus RT
*Ben Johnson 1.69 0-10m Minus RT, 1.00 10-20m & 0.84 40-50m DQ
*Carl Lewis 0.84 40-50m, 0.83 70-80m, 0.85 80-90m & 0.85 90-100m

Video-Analysis Split-times:
pierrejean analysis
*Asafa Powell 0.85 80-90m & 0.85 90-100m
*Tim Montgomery 0.84 40-50m & 0.85 90-100m

My analysis
*Frankie Fredericks 1.69 0-10m Minus RT & 0.84 40-50m

*Maurice Greene 1.69 0-10m Minus RT, 1.00 10-20m, 0.89 20-30m, 0.84 40-50m, 0.82 50-60m, 0.83 60-70m, 0.83 70-80m, 0.85 80-90m & 0.85 90-100m

*Tim Montgomery 1.69 0-10m Minus RT

*Justin Gatlin 0.85 30-40m, 0.85 80-90m & 0.85 90-100m

*Donovan Bailey 0.83 60-70m

*Carl Lewis 0.85 90-100m

Some observations of the above:
- Maurice Greene stands alone as the fastest human at the 50-60m mark, covering 10m in a mere 0.82 seconds.
- Even after all these years, Carl Lewis is still ranked among the fastest 100m finishers in history, equalling the top times for the last 30m of the century race.

Source
hsi.net

Both are from the movie Ibu Mertuaku (My Mother-in-Law), a 1962 film directed by and starring Malaysian silver-screen legend, the late Tan Sri P. Ramlee. The plot revolves around a tragic love affair between Kassim Selamat (played by P Ramlee), a poor musician, and Sabariah (played by Sarimah), the only daughter of Nyonya Mansoor, a wealthy matriarch (played by Mak Dara). The movie starts out as a light-hearted romantic comedy, but during the last half hour turns into a dramatic tragedy.

This film is one of the greatest Malaysian film ever made, containing many evergreen songs and the infamous eye-stabbing-with-forks scene, which has been censored in later editions.

Mak Dara (1907-1970), playing Nyonya Mansoor, the mother in law from hell delivers a flawless performance and steals the show in every scene she’s in. Later, she recalled in various documentaries that upon the release of the film, the impact of her performance was such that random people would stop her in the streets to berate or spit on her.

Here, she utters the immortal line(s):

Click to see the movie clip

The Beatles visited Elvis Presley at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles on Friday, 27th August 1965 during their second US tour. The visit lasted 4 hours during which time they talked, joked and listened to music. They even had an impromptu jam session, unfortunately nobody thought of recording that!

Members of The Beatles told of their experiences in the book The Beatles Anthology. Some selected comments:

John: It was very exciting, we were all nervous as hell.

Ringo: I was pretty excited. We walked in, and Elvis was sitting down on a settee in front of the TV. He was playing a bass guitar, which even to this day I find very strange. He had all his guys around him, and we said, “Hi, Elvis.” He was pretty shy, and we were a little shy, but between the five of us we kept it rolling. I felt I was more thrilled to meet him than he was to meet me.

Paul: He showed us in. I mean it was Elvis. He just looked like Elvis - we were all major fans, so it was hero worship of a high degree. He said, “Hello, lads - do you want a drink?”

John: He had his TV going all the time. In front of the TV, he had a massive amplifier with a bass plugged into it, and he was up playing bass all the time with the picture up on the TV. So we just got in there and played with him. We all plugged in whatever was around, and we played and sang.

Paul: That was the greatest. Elvis was into the bass, So there I was, “Well, let me show you a thing or two, El…” Suddenly he was a mate. It was a great conversation piece for me. I could actually talk about the bass, and we sat around and just enjoyed ourselves. He was great - talkative and friendly and a little bit shy. But that was his image. We expected that, we hoped for that.

John: It was nice meeting Elvis. He was just Elvis, you know? He seemed normal to us. We never talked about anything else - we just played music. He wasn’t bigger than us, but he was “the thing.” He just wasn’t articulate, that’s all.

Paul: It was one of the great meetings of my life. I think he liked us. I think at that time, he may have felt a little bit threatened, but he didn’t say anything. We certainly didn’t feel any antagonism.I only met him that once, and then I think the success of our career started to push him out a little, which we were very sad about, because we wanted to coexist with him.

From another source, John Lennon’s account is reproduced here in its entirety:

We’d tried to meet Elvis during our first tour of the States in 1964, but couldn’t make it because of his commitments and ours. But when we came in the summer of 1965 we found we’d be in Hollywood at the same time Elvis was filming there.

And that’s how we met Elvis on the night of Friday, August 27, 1965. It still took three days of planning to set up the get together in Elvis’s house–which we hoped would be a secret. But the fans and the press still got wind of it and were there in their hundreds trying to get in, and although we were used to crowds, the thought of Elvis and the Beatles being together at one time just blew the minds of some of the people.

(more…)

Elvis Herselvis (real name Leigh Crow), a self-confessed lesbian, is the world’s most controversial Elvis impersonator.

According to wikipedia:

(more…)

We’ll never know for sure how many Elvis tribute artists are in the world, but experts reckon that the number has not reduced, but rather has reached an all-time high.

According to The Naked Scientist in December 2000, “There are now at least 85,000 Elvis’s around the world, compared to only 170 in 1977 when Elvis died. At this rate of growth, experts predict that by 2019 Elvis impersonators will make up a third of the world population.”

Well, I guess 2 billion Elves (not Elvi) won’t do any harm.

Shawn Klush, of Pittston, Pennsylvania was on 17th August 2007 named the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist, in the first-ever competition officially sanctioned by Elvis Presley’s estate to see who is the best Elvis impersonator in the world.

Wearing a replica of Elvis’s 70s era white jumpsuit, Klush captured the imagination of the sell-out crowd at a Memphis concert hall with 2 songs: “Viva Las Vegas” and “You Gave Me A Mountain.”

He defeated 9 other hopefuls, including veterans Trent Carlini and Donny Edwards. In a true indication of Elvis’s enduring international appeal, the finalists included a Canadian, a Norwegian and an Englishman.

It was not an SMS concert, but rather judged by a panel, which included Joe Moscheo, a vocalist who performed regularly with Elvis in Las Vegas. Contestants were judged on performance, appearance and “respect for Elvis.”

The cash prize of USD5,000 might not seem much, but the marketing value of the first-ever endorsement from Presley’s estate could prove to be priceless.

Preliminary rounds of the competition took on an American Idol-esque quality as regional contests were held to find the 10 finalists.

Source
Yahoo News

It happened on the evening of 26th June 1977 at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis. 18,000 fans were in the audience.

The set list is:

- Also Sprach Zarathustra [The theme from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is Elvis’ usual entrance theme. This theme has been used by several others, possibly most famously by Ric Flair, the WWE wrestler]
- See See Rider
- I Got A Woman/Amen
- Love Me
- Fairytale
- You Gave Me A Mountain
- Jailhouse Rock
- It’s Now Or Never
- Little Sister
- TeddyBear/Don’t Be Cruel
- Please Release Me
- I Can’t Stop Loving You
- Bridge Over Troubled Water
- [band introductions]
- Early Morning Rain
- What’d I Say
- Johnny B. Goode
- I Really Don’t Want To Know
- Hurt
- Hound dog
- Can’t Help Falling In Love
- Closing vamp

Pictures from that concert, courtesy of elvis-in-concert.com:

Click for more pictures, videos and the concert review

Some movies are done only for the fun of it. Hence, amateurish mistakes are common. But others are of a totally different category - they are done to be sold and to gain profit; they are commercial products. That means, as consumers, we have certain expectations to its quality.

Hence, I’d like to read what you have to say about this particular scene of a local (Sabah, Malaysia) movie entitled “Jovitah” produced in 2004. It has the worst editing in a movie I have ever seen.

The bottom line is, would you buy it?

Click to see the video extract

Eddie Murphy plays multiple characters in one of the most hilarious dinnertime scenes in movie history in The Nutty Professor (1996), where all social taboos are broken in a mere few minutes. The dialogue is fast and furious, so here’s a transcript of that particular scene courtesy of script-o-rama:

- There’s nothing Iike being with family!
I am hungry. Come on now.
- Carla, where are you from? - Chicago.
- Oh, Chicago! We have family there. - Windy City, huh?
I was workin’ on a skyscraper in Chicago once and my lunch blew off the 7th fIoor.
Yeah, I figure your fat ass would remember somebody’s sandwich flyin’ off a building.
- Oh, baby, eat some bread.
Miss Purty, are you and Sherman havin’ relations?
- That’s a good question. - Uh, no, Grandma.
It’s not like - like that. We’re colleagues.
- Oh. - We just work together.
That’s how it start out - colleagues.
Me and your grandfather were colleagues. Next thing you know he’s on top of me in the shed, pumpin’ and a-sweatin’.
- It’s not like that. - Will you hush up?
You never brought a girl home. The least you can do is let us talk to her.
Yeah, I’d like to get to know her a little better myself.
Ain’t nothing wrong with havin’ relations. Don’t be ashamed of that.
Relations is beautiful. When I was young I used to always have relations. Every night, if a nice gentleman bring me flowers and candy, take me to a movie, show me a lovely evenin’, then I would take him home and give him hot, lovely relations. Relations is a beautiful thing. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Especially two young peopIe.
- That blowhole. - Cletus!
- Sometimes when I’m alone, I relate to myself. - I can relate.
- Oh, Mama. - I don’t wanna hear this shit whiIe I’m eatin’.
- Cletus! - I’m gonna kill you later.
- Carla, do you like children? - Yes. Oh, that’s wonderful.
I can’t wait for Sherman to bring me home some grandbabies. I know you’re gonna enjoy making them babies. Got those childbearing hips.
- Baby’ll pop right out.
Your family got any money? I ain’t payin’ for no big-ass wedding.
I know a wonderfuI minister. What religious background are you?
I still got my wedding dress. If you want it, I’ll take it in. You’d look so lovely in it. It’s white, though. Can you wear a white wedding dress, young lady? Now, Sherman, you can wear a white tuxedo. ‘Cause you know Sherman - Sherman has never had relations.
Mama, you gonna embarrass my baby.
- I hope you got a strong back. - Oh, look at my baby blushin’.
When you get all that man, and release all that that’s been built up… for years - Just wantin’ and wantin’ and wantin’! Whoo! Might make your head blow off.
Pop goes the weasel!
I got my own self hot tellin’ that story.
Pop goes the weasel, ’cause the weasel say “”pop”"!
You gonna get married here or in Chicago?
Do you cook? ‘Cause somebody’s got to feed my Sherman.
Yeah, I know a wonderful church down there on Main Street, but they won’t marry you if you’re a lesbian.
Not that I have anything against lesbians. I love lesbians.
- Lesbians is cooI. - There’s nothing wrong with a little bingo. A little cunnilingus ain’t never hurt nobody.
- Why is it the woman always gets the choice where they’re gonna be married? - Tradition.
Tradition, my ass! I ain’t gonna pay for everybody flyin’ to no Chicago!
- You know how much plane tickets cost? - You cheap bastard.
We’re gonna have to drive down there.
I’m not driving over to Chicago.
* Sherman gonna have relations *
- My baby’s not gettin’ married-
There you go again, poppin’ off gas in front of this lovely young lady.
We’re trying to have a meal. Put that brake on this gas.
I hope your ass turn into a frog.
- Don’t nobody want to hear your flatulence, Cletus Klump.
You’re such a disgrace!
- I stopped hoIding my gas a long time ago. - You spoiled the dinner!
- Say one more word-

Watch the video

The title of the world’s ugliest fish is a toss between 2 contenders.

First up is Lasiognathus Saccostoma, which has been called “a grotesque among grotesques” and “has an overbite to end all overbites.” It’s surprisingly small, only 3 inches long. Nature has equipped it with a fishing rod, complete with lure and three bony hooks! Its precise function is as yet unknown, but undersea explorer William Beebe was reported to have said way back in 1930 that “it might be cast swiftly ahead, when the hooks and lights would so frighten any pursued fish that they would hesitate long enough to be engulfed in the onrushing maw.”

The other contender is Himantolophus Groenlandicus or footballfish, which has been described as having a face “only a mother could love.” It is apparently the first deep-sea angler ever found - that was back in 1833 at 22 inches long - still the largest on record. As with the other fish, this one also has some kind of “fishing rod” contraption built-in.

Click to see its picture