UNUSUAL CELEBRITY DEATHS.

Some of you might find what I have below weird or maybe freaky? I found it informative...and a little depressing. Some of your favourite celebrities are dead but do you know how they really died? Some of these celebrities killed themselves in the most unusual manner. Some of them were killed by the most unusual people (Like Marvin Gaye, killed by his own father), some of them died by the most unusual accident and some died by sheer bad luck. Like 7year old Jessica Dubroff, who died trying to be the world's youngest pilot. (She died in a plane she was flying. Why would anyone allow a 7yr old to fly a plane when a sixteen yr old can't drive a car?). Also 5yr old Connor Clapton who fell to his death from a 53 story building. And Donny Hathaday, who threw himself from a 15 story building. Don't you ever wonder why people kill themselves? What manner of pain could they be going through that was so unbearable that they feel the only way to stop hurting is to die? It's a mystery! And may we never understand or experience that kind of pain. Anyway below is a list of some of the world's biggest names and the unusual ways they died. Enjoy it! Or not.


Gianni Versace - clothing designer 1997 --- murdered by serial killer.


Tommy Tucker - musician 1982 --- carbon tetrachloride poisoning sustained
while he was finishing floors in his home.


Tennessee Williams - writer 1983 --- choked to death on a nose spray bottle cap that accidentally dropped into his mouth while he was using the spray. He was 71.


Tupac Shakur - musician 1996 --- murdered in drive-by shooting.


Gig Young (Byron Elsworth Barr) - actor 1978 --- shot and killed his wife of 3 weeks, Kim Schmidt, then shot himself.


Ray Combs - talk show host (Family Feud) 1996 --- hanged himself on the night of June 2, 1996, with bed sheets in his hospital room at Glendale Adventist Hospital while on a 72-hour "suicide watch."


Selena (Quintanilla Perez) - singer 1995 --- shot by the president of her fan club.


Donny Hathaway - singer 1979 --- suicide by jumping from his room on the 15th floor of New York's Essex House Hotel.


Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Baker) 1962 --- drug overdose, probably suicide.




Jessica Dubroff - (age 7) 1996 --- plane crash - attempting to become the youngest pilot to fly cross-country.



Bruce Lee (Li Yuen Kam) - actor 1973 --- died suddenly from a swollen brain.


Anna Nicole Smith. Died Feb 8th 2007. Death a mystery. Still under investigation. Suspicion: Drug overdose


Elvis Presley 1977 --- accidental drug overdose. He died while sitting on the toilet.


Bob Marley - musician 1981 --- brain tumor, at the age of 36.


Marvin Gaye (Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr.) - singer 1984 --- murdered on his birthday by his father.


Brandon Lee - actor 1993 --- shot by a gun firing blanks, while filming the movie "The Crow." His missing scenes were later filled-in by computer animation.


John Lennon 1980 --- shot to death by a mentally ill fan.


Known as "That Fat Guy" on Saturday Night Live, Farley died of a drug overdose at the age of 33. He was found in his pajama bottoms in a pool of his own vomit just inside the door of his Chicago condominium.


William Holden - actor 1981 --- found dead in his apartment. He had been drinking, and apparently fell, struck his head on an end table, and bled to death


Jon-Erik Hexum - actor 1984 --- playfully shot himself with a blank-loaded pistol on the set of TV spy show "Cover Up." The concussion forced a chunk of his skull into his brain; he died six days later.


Elizabeth Hartman - actress 1987 --- fell to her death from a fifth floor window in a bizarre reflection of a character in her staring 1966 movie "The Group."


Phil Hartman (Philip Edward Hartmann) 1998 -- shot by his wife, who then committed suicide.


Owen Hart - WWF wrestler 1999 --- died while performing a stunt in the wrestling ring. He was being lowered into the ring by a cable, when he fell 70 ft. to his death, snapping his neck.


Olivia Goldsmith - author, "First Wives Club" 2004 --- complications resulting from anesthesia during plastic surgery.


Rajiv Gandhi - prime minister of India from 1984 until 1989 1991 --- killed by a bomb, hidden in a bouquet of flowers, which exploded in his hand. Like his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated.


Conor Clapton - son of musician Eric Clapton 1991 --- fell out of 53rd floor window at the age of 5.


John Belushi 1982 --- drug overdose.


Neil Bonnett - race car driver 1994 --- car crash, killed during practice at the Daytona International Speedway.


Diana Spencer - Princess of Wales 1997 --- car crash while eluding paparazzi.


Isadora Duncan - actress 1927 --- accidental strangulation when her scarf caught in car wheel


Salvatore "Sonny" Bono 1998 --- crashed into a tree while skiing.


River Phoenix - actor 1993 --- drug overdose on the sidewalk in front the Viper Club in Hollywood on Halloween.



Bob Crane - actor 1978 --- murdered in hotel room


Nelson Eddy - actor / singer 1965 --- suffered a stroke while entertaining on stage in Miami Beach. He died the next day.


Dominique Dunne - actress ("Poltergeist") 1982 --- choked by boyfriend, John Sweeny. She died after being in a coma for 5 days.


Karen Carpenter - singer 1983 --- heart failure caused by anorexia nervosa, at age 32.



Jack Cassidy - actor 1976 --- died in a fire, while asleep on the couch in his apartment.


Al Capone - Chicago gangster 1947 --- syphilis.


Lucille Desiree Ball 1989 --- died after undergoing heart surgery.

Of all those listed above, whose death was the saddest, heart-wrenching, depressing and the most unbelievable of them all? I think its 5year Connor Clapton, falling off a 53 story building. Where were the adults? That's the saddest way for a young innocent boy to die. May any of our children not die that way. Amen!

BANKE MESHIDA WEDS SWEETHEART

Heard the happy news today. Our very own Banke Meshida got married to her sweetheart of over 8years, Olanrewaju Lawal on the 10th of February 2007. Congratulations to the happy couple. See the way she's smiling? Very happy bride.

I remember the first time I met Banke was at a 2000 fashion show for Tiffany Amber in Lagos. She was supposed to do do the make-up for the models and I remember refusing to let her touch my face. I hadn't heard or seen any of her work before so I was skeptical of her abilities as a make-up artist. I remember going to the bathroom to do my make-up while she was working on other models. When I came out of the batahroom after doing my make-up, I couldnt believe what stared back at me. Over 5 well made-up models. Banke had transformed this models into beauty queen material. I couldn't believe it. Everybody she had made up was looking stunning. I remember going back to the bathroom to wash my face of my make-up. After that, I went to join the queue of models waiting to be turned into someone beautiful. I'll never forget that day. She's one of the best make-up artist to emerge from this part of the world. Congrats Banke. By the way, your hubby is cute!

PARKINSON DISEASE

I saw a friend I hadn't seen in a long time yesterday and looking at him I knew he wasn't well. His whole body was shaking and he couldn't hold on to anything for long. I couldn't believe what he had reduced to. At first I didn't know what was wrong with him, thinking he was shivering with cold would have been a stupid thing to think, because I've shivered from cold and it wasn't that bad. I eventually summoned the courage to ask him what he was suffering from and he said stroke. Stroke I wondered? I've seen a few people with stroke and his symptoms were different. Then his friend said to me that he wasn't suffering from stroke, that the doctor told him he was suffering from thesame illness that mohammed Ali is suffering from, but couldn't remember the name. Parkinson disease I thought. I'd never met anyone with it and I had absolutely no doubt that was what my friend was suffering from. It was a sad thing to see. Anyway, I went digging to find out more about the disease and this is what I found. Thought to share it with y'all.

THE MAN WHO DISCOVERED PARKINSON DISEASE
The disease was first described in 1817 by James Parkinson (1755-1854), an
English physician; but at that time very little information was known about its complete characterization.

CHARACTERISTICS
There are many characteristics of the disease and many of the classic ones are used by clinicians to help diagnose the disease (as there are no special tests used to diagnose the problem, Parkinson's disease is diagnosed by symptoms and presentation.) Many people have a lack of facial expressions as if they are without feelings or emotions. There may be a monotone voice or even a drooling of the mouth. Other classic signs of Parkinson's disease include pill rolling (pronation/supination of the forearm and flexion of the fingers) as well as cogwheeling, which is most noticed with passive movements of the limbs. Later in the illness, many patients lose the ability to perform the simplest of tasks; falls then become the rule rather than the exception as the patient deteriorates

WHO CAN GET THIS DISEASE?
You might be asking yourself, "Who can get this tragic disease?" Anyone can, of course, but men are usually more prone to be afflicted with Parkinson's disease than women. So, move over women -- you are potentially safe! The ratio between men and women, actually, is almost 2:1. The mean age for the disease is said to be in the 6th decade of life, although there have been reported cases of the disease in the young, up to five percent, between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-nine. If you are looking for a link between Parkinson's disease and your genes, forget it. Only about five percent or so of patients have a family history; in fact, it is believed that all of what causes the disease arises after birth and has nothing to do with your genes. So, you cannot blame your parents or grandparents.

CAUSES
So, what causes this tragic and degenerating disorder? doctors aren't very sure. They do know that the problem is caused by a decrease in the available dopamine in a part of the brain referred to as the substantia nigra, which is part of the brainstem. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, which means that the chemical is needed by the brain in order to carry out functions affecting the transmission of nerve impulses; in this case, referring to impulses which result in body movements.

THE TREATMENT
The treatment, would be to find a way to replace the dopamine in the brain, which is accomplished (theoretically, and with some success in most patients) with a medication called levodopa, which is marketed as a combination drug, carbidopa-levodopa. In a time when Sinemet (or levodopa) was not yet available, many synthetic anticholinergic medicines were used, such as benzotropine, for example.

Sinemet is probably the most commonly used medication to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease; and as noted previously, the medication is marketed as carbidopa-levodopa. Dopamine, in and of itself, in entirely ineffective in the treatment of the disease as it does not cross the blood-brain barrier -- in other words, dopamine, if administered by mouth, will not enter the brain, where it is needed. Levodopa, theoretically, is transformed into the active form, dopamine, within the basal ganglia, that area of the brain that encloses the substantia nigra. By giving the patient extrinsic dopamine (in the form of levodopa), one is providing the patient with an adequate amount of dopamine, hence the required levels of the neurotransmitter is present and, again theoretically, the symptoms should get better.


These are some well known figures who have had this disease

Pope John Paull II


Katherine Hepburn



Yasir Arafat



Johnny Cash (Musician)



Richard Pryor (Comedian/Actor)



Mohammed Alli (Boxer)


Michael J Fox (Actor)

Do you know anyone with this disease? It's a tragic and sad thing to happen to anyone. Unfortunately, this disease just doesn't go away. My sympathies to Kunle and his family. May you put this disease to shame and live longer than it expects you to. Amen

OLUCHI'S SWIMSUIT PHOTOS! IS SHE HOT OR WHAT?

Our very own Oluchi Onweagba Luca in the new edition of Sports Illustrated Magazine. Oluchi is doing great things in the fashion/modeling industry in the US. Kudos to her.