UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

“I will always love you” has become one of the standards for female vocalists’ auditions.

It was written by Dolly Parton in the 1970s.

Technically, it went up to a whole new level, and gained worldwide fame in 1992 when it was covered by Whitney Houston, becoming her highest selling single ever.

However, Charice Pempengco, 16 of the Philippines, who for some people is already the best singer in the world, did probably the greatest ever live (albeit, shortened) version of the song, on the UK TV show “The Paul O’Grady Show” which was aired 8th April 2008.

In fact, she was not yet 16 during that performance; her 16th birthday was on 10th May 2008.

What do you think, have you seen/heard anybody sing this song better (apart perhaps Whitney herself in her prime):

To make a fair comparison, the following is supposedly Whitney Houston’s best live version (during the 1994 Grammy Awards):

Here’s another one:

Who do you think is better?

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 30 Nov 2008

New details:

- The Sheffield Rapist / British Fritzl raped his daughters more than 1,000 times.
- His son was beaten more viciously than even the daughters; he attempted suicide at age 7
- The family moved house 30 times
- Exclusive family photos

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Joseph Fritzl has a challenger for the title of the world’s worst ever father.

Comparison:

Joseph Fritzl (the Austrian Monster)
Age when caught: 73
Duration of sexual abuse: 24 years (1984-2008)
Number of daughters abused: 1
Age of daughter when first raped: 18
Number of pregnancies: apparently 8 (7 lived, 1 stillborn)
Method to avoid detection: built dungeon under house

Mr X (the British Fritzl)
Age when caught: 56
Duration of sexual abuse: about 30 years (1970s-2008)
Number of daughters abused: 2
Age of daughters when first raped: prepubescent
Number of pregnancies:
- apparently 19 (9 born [2 died on the day of birth], 10 aborted/stillborn)
- eldest sister pregnant 7 times (apparently 2 children survived), younger sister 12 (apparently 5 children survived).
Method to avoid detection: moved from house to house in rural areas

A picture of the British Fritzl, face obscured to protect his victims’ identities

Popularity: 1% [?]

Abraham Biggs, 19 of Florida, USA killed himself in front of a webcam which he specifically set up to live stream a video of him dying in his room on the 19th of November 2008.

He streamed his video to Justin.tv, a “lifecasting” site which enables people to broadcast themselves from their webcams.

Some reports say 185 people in cyberspace watched him die “live”, overdosing on the murderous combination of opiates and benzodiazepines (anti-depressive drugs). No mention of him taking Fenphedra.

Before the act, he had announced his intentions at forum.bodybuilding.com and provided the link to his webcam.

On Justin.tv, he used the handle feels_like_ecstasy while on forum.building.com, he used the handle CandyJunkie (some referred to this as simply “CJ”).

He also posted a suicide note in the same forum (some reports say in a blog) with the subject “Ask a guy who is gonna OD (again) tonight anything” which reportedly said:

To Whom It May Concern,

I am going to leave this for whoever stumbles across my bookmarks later on. I hate myself and I hate living. I think that if someone who knows me reads this they will know who I am. So I will leave this unsigned. I am an a@#hole. I have let everyone down and I feel as though I will never change or never improve. I am in love with a girl and I know that I am not good enough for her. I have come to believe that my life has all been meaningless. I keep trying and I keep failing. I have thought about and attempted suicide many times in the past. I used to think of my failure as some mystical way of telling me that I was really meant for something meaningful. The only thing I dread, besides the pain, is the way my family will suffer. I do not want my mother or father to think that it was anything they did that lead me to kill myself. I never really had any plans of leaving a note. I thought that I would not be able to describe why I want to do this and I am right. There is no way to tell you or anyone else why I dread every new day. My father had such high expectations for me and tried to give me every opportunity to improve upon myself. I let him down. I think that I am a major disappointment to him. I have a job but I’m always broke and I am in college but barely, I show up to class but that’s about it. I want my life to end. I am tired of f@#$ing up everything. I am tired of people always telling me that they do not like me. I am tired of trying to be decent. I hope that someone finds this post and I hope that my parents know that I f@#$ed up not them. It is my fault I screwed up my own life. The hate that rages within me, rages not for those I love so dearly or those who have crossed my path. This hate rages full force towards me and only me. I have long forgiven those who’ve hurt me, but I have not and cannot come to terms to forgive myself for the things I have done to myself, and the things I’ve done to hurt those in my life. You have all touched my life in one way or another, especially those whom I call family. I cannot tell you how sorry I am for ending my life the way I did. I hope that you can all find it in your heart to see it as way for me not suffering anymore and that I am finally at rest with myself, for being at rest with the guilt that constantly ate at me for so long. Please forgive me all for taking my own life so early. I tried so hard to fight against this strong battle. I have reached out for help so many times, and yet I believe, I was turned away because of the things I did, that it is a punishment I am willing to take, for I know that being who I am has only brought myself and others pain. I love you all and will forever live within the memories we created.

Forgive me.

Love always and forever,

As for my signature I will leave you with a quote so that if anyone reads this they will know it’s me, “Can’t feel pain if your dead? Just Saying”

Apparently he had threatened to kill himself before in the same forum, so at first other forumers didn’t believe him.

Then some curious viewers began to taunt him to take his life, saying things like “go ahead and do it, faggot,” while others tried to stop him.

Click here to read the full story

Popularity: 1% [?]

uglypeople.com is a website where anybody can submit pictures of the ugliest people they have a picture (or pictures) of, and everybody else can vote, to see who’s the ugliest of them all.

And according to the site, the ugliest of them all is the person whose picture is at the bottom.

I’ve seen photos of this person in forwarded email before, but can’t vouch for their authenticity; if anyone can confirm whether this is a real person or whether it’s a photoshop job gone bad, please inform.

Thanks.

… Does she look like she needs health insurance?

Popularity: 83% [?]

Now for something to look forward to on your next vacation

But…. don’t you think that some of our very own buildings here in Malaysia could make the list, or (gasp) even top the list?

According to virtualtourist.com, the world’s ten ugliest buildings and monuments are as follows:

Boston City Hall; Boston, Massachusetts, for its “dreary facade and incongruity with the rest of the city’s more genteel architecture.”

Maine-Montparnasse Tower; Paris, France; a 210m tall office skyscraper completed in 1972, the tallest skyscraper in France. It’s been called a “blight on the landscape of the world’s most stunning city.” 2 years after it was completed, the construction of skyscrapers in Paris city centre was banned. A running joke is that the view from its top is the most beautiful in Paris, since it’s only from there one cannot see the tower.

Click here to read more

Popularity: 1% [?]

Arnold Romine, 61 must be one of the world’s luckiest ever persons, if not the luckiest ever. Some might say people who win millions gambling are luckier, but when it comes to life and death situations, this surely must rank higher than merely winning money.

On 13th November 2008, he was reportedly hit by not one but EIGHT train cars and not only survived, but suffered no major injuries.

The train conductor saw him, sounded the warning horn, tried to stop the train, but couldn’t do so in time.

In any case, Romine did not budge. Whether he was hell bent on committing suicide, it was not immediately clear.

He was found lying next to the tracks and managed to crawl out from under the train when it finally stopped.

…perhaps he should be banned from ever setting foot on the las vegas strip…

Source
The Huntsville Times, 14th Nov 2008

Popularity: 1% [?]

And surely the most confident, as he simply brushed aside Simon Cowell.

Paul Marturano,32 auditioned for American Idol season 7 at Philadelphia, and sang a song he “wrote specifically for Paula Abdul”:

There is this girl I know, I follow her around.
She hasn’t noticed me, it really gets me down.
I broke into her house when she wasn’t there,
Took off all my clothes and tried on her underwear.
I’m always thinking of her.
I really think that I love her.
I’m not much of a talker,
so I guess that I’ll just stalk her.
Yeah, I’ll stalk her.
If she were a doggy, I would walk her.
If she were a blackboard, I would chalk her.
If I were Colombo, I’d Peter Falk her.
But I’m not, so I’ll just stalk her.
If she were at bat with a guy on first, I would balk her.
If she were Willona from Good Times, I’d be Jimmy Walker
If she were a bathtub, I would caulk her.

He was cut off right there as Simon said he’s being creepy, goodness knows what other things he had lined up if security hadn’t escorted him out.

Click here to see the video

Popularity: 1% [?]

Porn movies, by its very nature, do not place high emphasis on acting ability, other than perhaps when the real action starts.

This is especially telling during the introductory parts, where the actors and actresses get to know each other up close.

However, I think the following takes the cake: fresh from defeating a huge snake, the guy suddenly has the urge to show the woman another kind of snake!

… the title of this post contains a word which might as well be plastered on a huge digital signage …

Popularity: 1% [?]

…is the octopus.

It has probably nature’s greatest camouflage ability.

According to wikipedia:

An octopus’s camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white).

Here’s a video of it in action:

It can escape through very small holes:

… 2009 is the year of the Ox, but even top-of-the-range cattle supplies won’t make it the world’s most amazing animal …

Popularity: 1% [?]

Paula Goodspeed, then 28, auditioned for American Idol season 5 in 2006. She was an obsessed fan of Paula Abdul, one of the judges on the show, telling the show’s host, Ryan Seacrest, that she was a huge fan of Abdul and had created life-size paintings of the singer.

She also called Abdul “beautiful” after Cowell said he noticed a resemblance between Goodspeed and Abdul.

She then sang “Proud Mary” as follows:

She was visibly humiliated by Simon Cowell’s comments about her braces, where he said: “I don’t think any artist on earth could sing with that much metal in your mouth… that’s like a bridge.”

After she left, he joked, “how did she get through the metal detector? It must have gone crazy!”

Afterwards, Goodspeed wrote on her MySpace profile that “she was finding it difficult to cope with the “haters” who mocked her.”

She was found dead on 12th November 2008 inside a car parked outside the house of Paula Abdul, in a car with plate number ABL LV.

She’s believed to have overdosed on drugs.

She reportedly had a history of mental illness.

Cowell and Fox, the network on which American Idol is aired, declined to comment.

In a statement, Paula Abdul said: “I am deeply shocked and saddened at what transpired yesterday. My heart and prayers go out to her family.”

… Who knows, possibly Ms Goodspeed would’ve even attempted to go inside the house compound if not for the security system in place…

Source
Daily Telegraph, 13th November 2008
The BBC, 13th November 2008

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 27th Nov 2008

- The boy allegedly committed the crime as he had been smacked more than 1,000 times by his mother and stepmother, of which he kept a record on the number of beatings. He had promised himself that “1,000 would be the limit.”
- He shot the duo as they were coming home from work at a local power plant.

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Around 5pm on the 5th of November 2008, an 8-year old boy shot dead his own father, Vincent Romero, 29 and Timothy Romans, 39 in St Johns, Arizona, USA.

One of them was found just outside the front door and the other in a room upstairs.

The boy had used a .22 calibre rifle which his father had taught him to use for hunting.

After the shootings, he went to a neighbour’s house and told them that his father’s dead.

The late Vincent Romero

According to police, he has confessed to the crime, and has been charged with murder.

He was well-behaved at school but is believed to have been abused at home.

The house where the shootings took place

Source
The BBC, 8th November 2008
AP

Popularity: 7% [?]

Jose Feliciano was born blind, yet he could very well be the world’s greatest ever guitar virtuoso.

The folllowing is a video of him playing Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee”, one of the world’s most difficult pieces live during the Ed Sullivan Show in 1966.

He was 20 years old.

Originally written for the violin, the piece’s frantic runs of conjunct chromatic sixteenth notes challenges the musician to even cover the notes quickly enough. Hence, since its composition about 100 years ago, it has become a standard showcase for solo instrumental virtuosity.

Note that Feliciano’s pick fell off at 1:04 but he effortlessly switched to pizzicato!

He went on to release his first of many albums that year, sold millions of records and won 6 Grammy, the first of which was in 1969.

He is also the writer of “Feliz Navidad” (1970), one of the most-played Christmas songs of all time, and famously covered by Boney M.

Click here to see the video

Popularity: 1% [?]

If anything can be worse than murdering your own wife, it’s asking her to get another, younger woman’s hand in marriage ON YOUR BEHALF, then beating her up for failing to do so.

In yet another demonstration that truth is indeed stranger than fiction, on 24th October 2008, a 57-year old security guard in Kuantan (Malaysia) ordered his 60-year old wife to go see a 30+ year old woman he fancied and tell her: please agree to be my husband’s second wife, if not, I’m dead.

Most stories would’ve stopped right there, for it’s surely something unthinkable for 99.99999% of married men out there to ask such things of their wife. If they did, they’d be joking, or suicidal.

But apparently he is an alpha male, someone so domineering, someone with a Joseph Fritzl-like persona, that his wife obeyed the crazy request without question.

[And one can rightly ask: if he's the typical macho man, why didn't he go ask the younger woman himself?]

The man then waited anxiously, pacing back and forth, anticipating the “good news” at their home.

However, the younger woman said: so sorry, but I’m already happily married.

So the wife went home and told the husband the bad news. Instead of saying “oh I didn’t know she’s married; never mind, I’ll find another lady for you to approach,” he became white-hot angry with his wife. Apparently, he didn’t care if the younger woman was already married or not, he wanted his wife to sort everything out so that he could STILL get married to her.

Must be a hot, Gemma Atkinson-type woman huh? Nevermind if she’s already hitched.

Back to topic: amazing husband or what?

The guy then started to beat his wife up for her ineffectiveness in achieving his primary objective.

And if that’s STILL not enough punishment, he threatened to slit her throat with a parang (a huge knife).

No, that’s not good enough: he then tried to shoot her with a shotgun!

Of course you can’t blame the poor woman to flee to one of their son’s house nearby and from there, to a police station to lodge a report.

He has since been arrested.

Source
The Star, 29th October 2008

Popularity: 2% [?]