Milli Vanilli, that infamous lip-synching pop/dance group became one of the world’s most popular acts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, scoring 3 US Hot 100 number ones in a row, and earned them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in February 1990.
In late 1989, during a live performance of their hit song “Girl You Know It’s True” in front of 80,000 in Connecticut, the recording jammed and began to skip, repeating the line “Girl, you know it’s…” over and over again.
Fabrice and Rob continued to pretend to sing and dance onstage for a few seconds, but when the recording was not fixed, they panicked and ran offstage, as if in dire need to go to the toilet.
Finally, on 12th November 1990, the group’s creator, producer Frank Farian confessed the truth, which resulted in their Grammy being revoked, and culminated in Rob Pilatus found dead in a Frankfurt hotel, apparently overdosing on drugs in 1998.
In June 2009 I came across a newsreport about Tong Liangliang, 2 of China who started at 18 months old, and by his 2nd birthday was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. His teacher? His own father who believed cigs are good for hernia pain. If the toddler was not given a fag, he’d throw a fit.
That’s already horrible news, but I was caught totally unprepared when reading another newsreport dated 21st May 2010, about Ardi Rizal, 2 of South Sumatra, Indonesia who smokes TWO packs of cigarettes a day!
Yep, hooked on 40 sticks a day even before he knows what acnepril is.
Just like Tong, he started at 18 months and throws a tantrum if his parents don’t give him any.
And just like Tong, his parents are ignorant about the health risks. Ardi’s father was quoted to have said:
I’m not worried about his health, he looks healthy. He cries and throws tantrums when we don’t let him smoke. He’s addicted.
This has got to be the greatest question ever asked on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Unfortunately, apparently it’s only a sketch on SNL.
Still, even if it was a real question, “greatest ever” here could not possibly mean “most difficult”. For example, the following question can be asked: what is the longest name of a model of a cooking utensil? The answer of course is “all clad copper core set of cookware,” but then how many people would know that, at least worldwide?
The supergroup Dirty Mac performed together on 11th December 1968 for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus with the following members:
- John Lennon (of The Beatles – vocals & rhythm guitar)
- Eric Clapton (of Cream – lead guitar)
- Keith Richards (of The Rolling Stones – bass)
- Mitch Mitchell (of The Jimi Hendrix Experience – drums)
Absolutely living legends, world-class rock stars of the 60s (and even until now).
Add to that Ivry Gitlis, a top violinist, who apparently played a 1713 Stradivarius.
So how can you spoil such a heady mix?
Simple: put the inimitable Yoko Ono into the fray.
They performed a “bluesy jam” entitled Whole Lotta Yoko (composed by Ms Ono). Yoko put in a vocal performance that has to be seen and heard to be believed, and has been described as “endless caterwauling,” and that “a car alarm can sing better.”
Here it is in all its glory (unfortunately audio only). Ms Ono makes her entrance around 1:30.
Her performance, especially considering the qualify of musicians she was next to, was enough to make me wonder if her life insurance rates had just skyrocketed.
I hope you survive the next 5 minutes or so
The DVD was released in 1996, almost 30 years after the event.
The date: 23rd of June 1990
The event: 2nd round match of the 1990 World Cup being held in Italy
The match: Colombia vs Cameroon
Colombia had, among them, the excellent but highly eccentric goalkeeper Rene Higuita, 24.
Cameroon had, in their ranks, Roger Milla, 38, the aging but highly experienced forward. He became an international star during this World Cup by scoring a total of four goals and led his country to the quarterfinals, where they only narrowly lost to England 2-3. No less than Pele named him as one of the 125 greatest living football players in 2004.
In that match, Milla had scored the first goal at the 106th minute. Colombia, with the clock ticking, threw forward everything they had. Typically perhaps, Higuita himself travelled more than 30 yards IN FRONT of his goalmouth, but isn’t that a highly risky move for a goalkeeper in a match of this importance?
What happened next is history: he tried to dribble past Milla, failed, and Milla gleefully scored his country’s 2nd goal. It was the 109th minute. Milla had scored 2 goals in 3 minutes. Colombia pulled one back through Bernardo Redin at the 115th but it was not enough.
See below to relive that unbelieveable moment.
I bet Higuita couldn’t sleep at all that night, hopefully natural sleep aids came to his rescue.
What can be worse than being involved in a plane crash? Probably only one thing: a door suddenly opens and you are sucked out of a plane in mid-flight, thousands of feet above.
It was reported that on 8th May 2003 a 20-year old Ilyushin 76 (IL-76), a Russian-made 4-engined cargo plane was flying from Kinshasha to Lubumbashi (both in Congo) when the rear loading ramp suddenly burst open around 8 pm local time, 45 minutes after takeoff.
A view of the rear loading ramp – measuring about 10ft by 10ft
One newsreport said it was at an altitude of 8,000 ft, another said 10,000 ft, but yet another said 33,000 feet!!
The weather was clear at that time.
Result: up to 140 were apparently sucked out, including women and children, out of about 400 (some say 200) passengers and crew.
Can you imagine that happening? For those on Lipovox, probably that would be the only time in your life that you regretted taking it – for your weight would make it more difficult to be blown away.
Other passengers immediately ran to the plane’s front and the plane successfully turned back to Kinshasha.
But why did the door open?
The pilot was quoted to have said that:
A passenger could have been touching the button for special opening device; this is a very realistic option. But there could also be the possibility of an electronic problem with software.
Halden fengsel is a prison in southeast Norway. It opened on 8th April 2010 and has a capacity of 252.
It has been described as the world’s most modern and humane prison. In other words, a prison that doesn’t feel or look like one.
Guiding principle:
Repressive prisons do not work and that treating prisoners humanely boosts their chances of reintegrating into society.
Well, judging from the appearance of the front, it does seem so right?
Features:
- Area: 75 acres (30 hectares)
- cells look like college dorm rooms, with flat-screen TVs & mini fridges
- cells have long vertical windows to let in natural light
- no bars on windows or doors
- every 10 – 12 cells share a living room and kitchen.
- living room look like Ikea showrooms: stainless-steel countertops, wraparound sofas & birch-coloured coffee tables
- sound studio
- jogging trails
- freestanding two-bedroom house where inmates can host their families during overnight visits. Wow, I suppose they can even call for a baby eczema treatment cream in the middle of the night, courtesy of the Norwegian government of course?
- “kitchen laboratory” where inmates are offered cooking courses.
But probably the best feature of all:
- Guards do not carry guns, and they routinely eat meals and play sports with prisoners, to create a sense of family
The prison received it’s first inmates March 1, 2010 but was officially opened on April 8 by the Norwegian King Harald V.
It was reported on 10th May 2010 that the Avro Business Jet Explorer One is the first plane in the world that has a balcony, called an “Air Deck”:
The company described it as:
… transforms the rear of the aircraft into the ultimate living space, providing an elevated outdoor viewing deck combined with a luxurious indoor space incorporating a state-of-the-art entertainment system and vast open plan galley.
Still, I’d agree that having a balcony on a plane seems rather pointless, because a plane can ever only land on an airport, hence the best view you could have while lounging around on the balcony are runways and airport buildings and smells of jet engines. And airports being airports, the noise around you would be so deafening that MP3 players would come in handy.
(2002) must surely be on that list. 
