Millinery Label Urez Kulture Release It's Own Cruise Collection

When it comes to facilitators in Nigeria, no one does it better than Urez Kulture. The millinery brand recently released a lookbook for their Cruise Collection and all the designs are every inch perfect to me.

Speaking on the latest collection, creative designer Ijeure Onwadike, had this to say:

“Many shoppers unfamiliar with the rigid fashion calendar may be unaware of the importance of the cruise collections. A cruise collection sometimes also referred to as holiday or travel collection (collection croisière, in French), is an inter-season or pre-season line of ready-to-wear clothing/accessories produced by a fashion house or fashion brand in addition to the recurrent twice-yearly seasonal collections. Sandwiched between winter and spring, and so called after customers who holiday during the colder winter months, the collections have a practical use for all shoppers looking for something new after the winter, but before the delivery of the spring collections. Originally meant for wealthy customers or “more seasoned jet-setters” going on cruises, these days, they are targeted at customers who are through buying their fall wardrobes and are looking ahead to vacations. It fills that transitional period from January onwards where people are looking to update their wardrobes but aren’t ready to wear spring collections yet. The Cruise woman understands dressing for the season and is well travelled.”

The pieces in this collection are classy, appropriate and captivating. They literally can go with anything. My favorite will certainly be the white piece with feathers on the side and net over the face, Perfect!

See more photos

Review And Swatches For Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Pallette

Whenever Urban Decay release a new eye shadow palette, I know it will be a good one. Their formula is my favourite and I love the brand with all my heart! The new Naked Ultimate Basics Palette*(£38.50) is one of the best UD releases since the original Naked palette came out and I am very pleased to have it in my collection. It's packed with stunning matte colours and perfect for everyday use.

The packaging is lovely, featuring a metallic pattern with a textured 3D design. Beautiful and very sturdy, with a huge mirror inside.  There are 12 all new neutral shades inside, all matte and completely different to the colours in both Naked Basics palettes.

The formula of the shadows is dreamy! I adore it! Nicely pigmented, easy to apply and long lasting (all day with a primer, as always!). Fallout is either non existent or very, very minimal and I like applying the product with quite a dense brush, like the one included.

 The double ended brush is the best one yet in my opinion. It applies and blends the matte shadows perfectly and I have been using it for my smokey eye every day. AMAZING!

 FIRST ROW:
 Blow (light nude demi-matte)
 Nudie (soft pink-nude matte)
 Commando (light taupe-brown matte)
 Tempted (pale brown matte)
 Instinct (medium pink-taupe matte)
 Lethal (reddish brown matte)

 SECOND ROW:
 Pre-Game (pale yellow matte)
 Extra Bitter (burnt orange matte)
 Faith (medium warm brown matte)
 Lockout (rich neutral brown matte)
 Magnet (smoky gray matte)
 Blackjack (warm black matte)

 Top row (L-R): Blow, Nudie, Commando, Tempted, Instinct,  Lethal
Bottom row (L-R): Pre-Game, Extra Bitter, Faith, Lockout, Magnet, Blackjack

Overall, I am simply in love with the new Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Palette! If you are all about a matte smokey eye and always go for a defined socket, you will love this beauty and use it every single day! Even when I use other palettes, I reach for the medium/dark matte browns from Ultimate Basics to add definition and contour the eye. Or even for contouring my nose! Great quality shadows from a brand that never disappoints!

Lipstick Errors You Are Probably Making

Lipstick is an essential part of any polished outfit. It pulls your whole look together, and makes everyone think you actually tried when, in reality, you probably just hopped out of bed and threw on the pair of jeans you left on the end of your bed last night (or is that just me?).

Lipstick application seems easy enough: you just swipe and go… right? Unfortunately, we've all seen it get a little more complicated than that — lipstick on your teeth during a first date, anyone? Read on for the lipstick mistakes you're probably making during your makeup routine, and how to avoid them.

You're applying lipstick over chapped lips

Nothing ruins a gorgeous makeup look quite like cracked lipstick. Avoiding chapped lips starts with drinking enough water (researchers say between four and six glasses a day). If hydration doesn't solve your chapped lip problem, you can try Vaseline, Aquaphor (my personal favorite) or lip balm to smooth your lips before adding lipstick.

You're not exfoliating

In addition to keeping your lips hydrated, exfoliating before applying lipstick is essential.

Gina Brooke, artistic director for Shu Uemura, told Marie Claire, "to gently banish dead skin cells, use a gentle scrub with moisture." Exfoliating removes the dead skin, leaving a smooth and moisturized surface for your lip color.

If you're in a bind, all you need is a little tape and lip balm to mimic the effect of a scrub. Simply wrap the tape around your finger and dab (like you might do to get lint off your clothes), apply the balm and voila! Flakes are gone and you're ready to apply lipstick.

You're not using lip liner

If your first mental image of lip liner is the infamous 90's trend of using lip liner far too many shades darker than lipstick, relax! When done correctly, lip liner is actually an crucial addition to every makeup routine. It "gives you a super-saturated, long-wearing look," makeup artist and founder of Book Your Look Laramie Glen told Good Housekeeping. This means a longer-lasting lipstick look that won't bleed or feather out.

For the best look, celebrity makeup artist Ramy Gafni suggests adding lipstick before liner. He told Stylecaster, "The lip liner will go on smoother and more easily, and applying lipstick first enables you to see exactly where you need the lip liner."

You're using too MUCH lip liner

I know I just told you lip liner is basically your best friend, but before you go drawing all over your mouth, pay attention!

Despite what you might've heard from (and seen on) makeup maven Kylie Jenner, over-lining your lips is not the way to go. "You want to enhance your lips, not create new ones," makeup artist and founder of Advanced Mineral Makeup Annie Mayo told Stylecaster.

To keep things looking natural, celebrity makeup artist Deanna Melluso told Refinery29 that you should only apply liner in the center of your mouth.

Your lip liner is too dark

This is where the 90's went so, so wrong. Your lip liner should always complement your lipstick, not overpower it.

In an interview with Makeup.com, director of makeup artistry for YSL Beauty Dell Ashley said that when you're using a deep liner, "color in the entire lip — top and bottom. Then, blend your lipstick all the way to the edge of the liner."

For the best look, always aim for a liner that matches your lipstick as closely as possible.

You're using the wrong shade for your skin tone

Just like your foundation comes in different undertones, so does lipstick. Finding the right shade is essential to pulling your look together without washing you out. As celebrity makeup artist Kindra Mann told Bustle, "For yellow undertones, stick to warmer colors and for pink undertones, look for shades with blue or purple tones in them."

According to Mann, those with olive skin tones can wear just about any color, while fairer skin tones should "avoid anything too light or with too much of a yellow undertone." As for darker skin tones, "avoid anything too light or pale on the lips — deeper shades look more naturally flattering."

You're using the wrong shade for your lip size

Yes, this is a thing! Lipstick can actually shrink or enlarge your lips, depending on the shade you use. "Dark, matte shades will make lips look thinner, while light, glossy, shimmery shades make lips look fuller," Gafni told Stylecaster.

So, depending on the look you're going for, you can use your lipstick to your advantage to either enhance or minimize your lips.

You're over-applying

Just like you can use too much lip liner, you can also over apply your lipstick — which leads to embarrassing results, like leaving lipstick residue on your teeth or wine glass.

To avoid over-application, celebrity makeup artist Terri Apanasewicz told Stylecaster, "A good trick to keep lipstick from transferring to your teeth is, after you apply your lipstick put your finger in your mouth, close your mouth around your finger and slide your finger out. This should remove any lipstick that has gotten on the inner part of your lips that touches your teeth."

As for the lipstick-on-your-glass issue, matte shades and lip stains will help keep this from happening. But if a glossy look is your go-to, your best bet is to drink from a straw.

The number of lipstick match-ups are seemingly endless

Whether you're into nudes or brights, matte or glossy, liquid or traditional, achieving a flawless lipstick look is easy with these tips. Stock your makeup bag with your favorite color (and matching lip liner, of course), keep your lips hydrated and you're guaranteed a posh look on the reg.

Victoria Beckham Sets Fashion Industry Record With Her New Children's Collaboration

For the first time ever, Victoria Beckham is trying her hand at children’s wear. But that’s not the only reason we’re amped up for her Target collection, which will debut April 9, 2017, and includes 200 items for ladies and kids in a wide range of sizes. Victoria chose to base her new pieces off the playfulness in her Victoria, Victoria Beckham line. That means a range that’s equally as wearable as it is bold and hopefully splashed with recognizable prints. (We’re sure there will be a few mommy-and-me styles available too.) But before we get to see the clothes, we’ve got every reason to consider the collab’s inclusivity. For the first time ever, every size will be available in stores and online, ranging from XS to 3X for women and New Born to XL for babies, toddlers, and girls. Victoria even plans to sell select designs on her own site, so customers can shop internationally.

“I can reach so many more women through working with Target. It’s not just because of the price point but because of how many stores that they have, located all around America. These are women that I haven’t been able to reach out to in the past, and I always say that I want to empower women and make women look like the best versions of themselves. That shouldn’t be only people who can afford to spend a certain amount of money,” Victoria told Business of Fashion.

Read on for a first look at the new logo and announcement, then check out our predictions for the new pieces you’ll be adding to your closet come Spring. You might want to get in line right now — the limited-edition collection will only be available for one month or until supplies last.

Wow! Check out Chris Brown's closet

The singer shared the photo above and captioned it: "I know why u mad!"

Chris Brown dresses Deadpool for Halloween

He killed it!. He looks awesome

This Amazing Fashion Statements Made So Far In The Lagos Fashion Week Is Wow

The Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Commenced on Thursday October 27th and Nigerians have been storming the venue in some amazing fashion statements. See more photos

The other side of Miss Anambra 2015 saga

The other side of the former Miss Anambra Saga, Chidinma Okeke is that it happened in a place where the following is obtainable:

  Where people are hypocritical and judgemental in nature.

   Where people talk without having the whole facts on ground and are sentimental.

   Where mostly ladies throw her under the bus, are worse off and if the hideous things they do are brought to light......you will throw up literally.

Even the ladies that seem to be protecting her interest are making a joke out of it...so why don't everybody mind their own business! 

#LFDW:What I Have Been Waiting For

So for the very first time ever, I will be a real participant amongst the most fashionable, stylish, opinionated and creative individuals in the world (well….actually in Nigeria). It’s Lagos Fashion and Design Week 2016 (#LFDW16) and I am here for the first time!

I am usually very satisfied with watching live feeds and reading all about it on stylevitae.com. But this edition is too huge and my phone’s screen will not be wide enough for me to experience the runway magic, the edgy designs and the beautiful models with waistlines so thin I might need to superimpose at least three to meet my mother’s specifications for ‘child bearing hips’.

This year, I get up close but not too personal with the designers, the models, the influencers, the agents, the photographers and the other one hundred and fifty people whose jobs cannot be deciphered upon initial contact with them.

This is the gathering of the most innovative minds and it’ll be totally worth the wait. As Federal Palace Hotel plays host to this year’s edition of Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week, it will literally shake all weekend long (no reference to the beautiful plus size models about to hit the runway)!

Pay close attention in the next couple of days as big brands will strive to maintain their status, growing designers will get their big breaks, models will become runway favourites and new trends will be set. There will be music, there will be colours and ultimately, an uninterrupted display of eclectic and borderline crazy personal style; the good, the bad and the ones best ignored.

Welcome to the 2016 Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week!

FAMILY ISSUES.

In a family where the husband earns #150,000 every month, and the wife earns #1million every month and they both work in d same company, and the kids are lacking parental care and love. who among them should resign to take care of the kids?
 Your views please.

70% of poor people in the world are female

It is a powerful statistic that speaks to a fundamental injustice in this world. It emerged nearly two decades ago and has been used as a call to action ever since. Over the weekend, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina repeated it on ABC’s This Week . "Seventy percent of the people living in abject poverty are women," Fiorina said. But so far as anyone can tell, that statement has no basis in fact. We reached out to Fiorina’s office and asked for the supporting data. We did not hear back. We went to the World Bank data pages and contacted the bank’s research staff. We exchanged emails with the United Nations Development Programme, and UN Women, an entity focused on gender equality. None of them could point to statistics that would confirm this claim. "I checked with our research colleagues, and we can indeed not verify this figure either," said Nanette Braun, chief of communications and advocacy at UN Women headquarters. It’s a telling admission, given that UN Women references the statistic on its own Web page. Duncan Green, who spent eight years as director of research for Oxfam-Great Britain, the international poverty relief organization, flagged a problem with the statistic three years ago in a blog post on Oxfam’s website . Green is now Oxfam’s special strategic adviser. "Every expert (feminist economists, poverty researchers etc.) I’ve consulted on this agrees the number is dodgy," Green wrote. "Yet people just keep on using it, presumably because its message is one they want to promote." The original statistic dates to at least 1995, when it was mentioned in the United Nations Human Development Report. The report warned about rising disparities. "The most persistent of these has been gender disparity, despite a relentless struggle to equalize opportunities between women and men. The unfinished agenda for change is still considerable. Women still constitute 70 percent of the world's poor and two thirds of the world's illiterates." The 70 percent figure shows up a couple of times in the 205-page report but not in any of the report’s statistical tables. In fact, staff at the United Nations Development Programme said they no longer use it. Experts told us they’re not sure what the real figure is, but that it’s likely lower than 70 percent. "Its not easy to say how many women are poor because data on poverty are typically constructed on a household basis," said Diane Elson, professor of sociology at the University of Essex. In other words, surveys don’t count how many women and men live in each household. Statisticians, some within the United Nations itself, began debunking the 70 percent figure as early as 1998 -- just three years after it gained prominence. Sylvia Chant, professor of development geography at the London School of Economics, pointed us to 2002 data from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. In Latin American countries, by a slight margin, women were more likely to live in poverty in rural areas. But the reverse was sometimes true in cities. "In 10 out of 17 countries, the proportion of men in poverty is actually on a par with or slightly higher than women," Chant wrote in 2008. "Women are nowhere near the level of 70 percent of people in income poverty as popularly expounded." A 2001 analysis of 10 developing countries largely found no statistically significant differences. Where there was a gap, in every country but one, it was very narrow, and sometimes, as in the Latin America survey, men outnumbered women in poverty. Chant said Fiorina’s claim is no more right today than when it first emerged. Green, the Oxfam adviser, agreed. "It was wrong then, and remains wrong," Green said. One note: While we don’t have a worldwide figure, we can use Census Bureau data to come up one for the United States. According to the most recent data, females account for 55 percent of Americans living in poverty. Our ruling Fiorina said that women account for 70 percent of the people in the world who live in poverty. She provided no support for the claim, nor does any seem to exist. We contacted the international bodies that rely on such statistics, and they told us they do not have the data to back up the claim. Independent experts echoed that point. At least in Latin America and the United States, the data suggest a much lower figure. We rate this claim False.

The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. With a duration of only 45 minutes, it holds the record of being the shortest war in recorded history. The war broke out after Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini, who had willingly co-operated with the British colonial administration, died on 25 August 1896, and his nephew, Khalid bin Bargash, seized power in what amounted to a coup d’état. The British favoured another candidate, Hamud bin Muhammed, whom they believed would be easier to work with, and delivered an ultimatum ordering Bargash to abdicate. Bargash refused. While Bargash’s troops set to fortifying the palace, the Royal Navy assembled five warships in the harbour in front of the palace. The British also landed parties of Royal Marines to support the “loyalist” regular army of Zanzibar. Despite the Sultan’s last-minute efforts to negotiate for peace via the U.S. representative on the island, the Royal Navy ships opened fire on the palace at 9 am on 27 August 1896 as soon as the ultimatum ran out. With the palace falling down around him and escalating casualties, Bargash beat a hasty retreat to the German consulate where he was granted asylum. The shelling stopped after 45 minutes. The British demanded that the Germans surrender the erstwhile Sultan to them, but he escaped to sea on 2 October 1896. He lived in exile in Dar es Salaam until captured by the British in 1916. He was later allowed to live in Mombasa where he died in 1927. As a final act, Britain demanded payment from the Zanzibar government to pay for the shells fired on the country. Some other interesting short wars that either failed to meet the criteria set out for this list, or were slightly longer than those above are: Sino-Indian war, Austro-Prussian war, Neapolitan war, Second Italian war of Independence, the Hundred days war, Spanish-American war.

China has more English speakers than the united states.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. undoubtedly knows more about China than any other presidential candidate. After all, the 51-year-old Republican served as President Barack Obama’s first U.S. ambassador to China before returning in the spring to run for president. He's also been deputy assistant secretary of commerce for Asia, U.S. Ambassador to Singapore and deputy U.S. trade representative. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien. His ties to the region date back to 1979, when he lived in Taiwan as a Mormon missionary, and he first visited mainland China three decades ago. In a July 26, 2011, appearance at Dartmouth College, Huntsman made a surprising claim about China during a question-and-answer session following his speech. When an audience member who had recently traveled to China asked Huntsman for his thoughts about the "huge imbalance" between the millions of Chinese studying English and the far fewer number of U.S. students studying Chinese, Huntsman replied: "Would you like the answer in Chinese or English? It’s interesting to note that the largest English-speaking nation today, or soon to be, is China." Huntsman went on to say he had visited Chinese universities "and I always found that they were keenly interested in English, in our political system, in our economic system, in trying to figure out what makes America so unique. In order to crack that code, they had to master English. So you found lot of students who were very, very interested in learning English." The same enthusiasm, he asserted, was also evident in Chinese high schools and middle schools. Yo, it’s painful enough that our blenders are made in China, but could this mean that even our slang is soon to be imported from Guangzhou? For Huntsman’s statement to be accurate, China, with a population of more than 1.3 billion, would need roughly 300 million English speakers to best the United States, which has the third-largest population in the world. That’s because most, though by no means all, U.S. residents (population 309 million in the 2010 Census) speak English. Then there’s India, a former British colony with a population of 1.2 billion, second only to China. The most popular language in India is Hindi, spoken by 41 percent of the population, and there are 14 other official languages, ranging from Bengali to Sanskrit, according to the CIA Factbook. English is a "subsidiary official language" in India "but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication," the Factbook reported. Asked for substantiation of China’s mega-English status, Huntsman’s New Hampshire spokesman, Michael Levoff, cited a a 2011 "English Proficiency Index" from EF, or Education First, a company that offers language training in more than 50 countries. "Indeed, although it is very difficult to measure the number of people who speak English in each country because of different definitions of proficiency, the British Council estimated in 2010 that India had anywhere between 55 and 350 million English speakers while a report published by Cambridge University Press estimates that China has 250 to 350 million English learners," the EF English Proficiency Index stated. "It appears that China is poised to surpass India in the number of English speakers in the coming years, if it has not already done so." But academic experts who follow the globalization of English said the issue of proficiency cannot be ignored. It’s one thing to be an "English learner," another to be a skilled "English speaker." Put another way, plenty of Americans took four years of high school Spanish and were "learners" at the time, not "speakers." Now they visit Cancun and can barely remember, "¿Dónde está el baño?" ("Where is the bathroom?") David Crystal, an honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales-Bangor, and author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, said by e-mail that he believes "India is still ahead of China at present," and that Huntsman’s use of "or soon to be" is "the operative phrase." Equally important, Crystal said statistics about both countries are "very much guesswork" and he noted that both India and China are cited as "low proficiency" countries in the EF Index. "On the whole, proficiency in India is greater than in China, and English teaching measures are more solid. So I’d be distinctly suspicious of claims being made about China," Crystal wrote. Indeed, a 2006 Cambridge University Press paper by Jian Yang of Seattle University, "Learners and Users of English in China," concluded that China had a "huge English-knowing population of 200-350 million," but that most were not "proficient bilingual users of the language." But, as Huntsman said, interest in English is growing fast in China, and five years is a long time in that context. Victor Mair, a professor of Chinese language and literature at University of Pennsylvania, said by e-mail that English "is widely used" by Chinese companies, that many radio and TV programs are presented in English, and that "the craze for learning English is palpable." A 2009 forum sponsored by the British Council reported that there are approximately 50,000 English language training institutes in China, and that People’s Daily in 2008 said there are about 300 million "consumers" of English language training in China, mainly between the ages of 20 and 40, with another 350 million children of school age offering a huge potential for further growth. But again, those are learners, not necessarily speakers. Mair said he agreed with Crystal about the quality of English in India as opposed to China, but also said there is credence to Huntsman’s claim. "Countless Indians speak the most beautiful English you can imagine, but there are few Chinese who do so," said Mair, who estimates that each country now has around 350 million English speakers. English translations in China are sometimes so notorious that they’ve come to be known as "Chinglish." One often-cited sign meant to say "Be Careful Not to Slip and Fall," but it reads, "Slip and Fall Down Carefully." Mair, who writes about such translations on UPenn’s Language Log blog, recently posted about a Chinese airline’s sign that meant to say "Please wait behind the one meter line" but read "Wait outside rice-flour noodle." So are the Chinese about to eat our lunch when it comes to our native tongue? Would most Chinese with some knowledge of English really understand that last sentence? There is some truth to Huntsman's underlying point that there is tremendous growth in English proficiency in China. But it's important to note there is a significant difference between English learners and speakers. The statistics and our interviews with experts indicate China is still far away from having the largest number of speakers. We rate his claim Half True.

The youngest pope was 11 years old

One of the youngest popes ever was probably John (‘Octavian’) XII (#131), the illegitimate son of Alberic II who ruled Rome from 932 to 954. Alberic, on his deathbed, coerced influential Romans to promise that they would make sure his son, Octavian, would succeed him as the ruler of Rome and also be appointed the next pope. Octavian became John XII [his step-uncle having been John XI (#126)] in December 955 when Agapetus II (#130) died. John was supposed to have been around 18 years of age at that point. The infamous Benedict IX (#146, #148 & 151), who served an unprecedented three terms as pope, was also quite young when first elected in October 1032. He was the last layman to be elected pope. Though there are those that claim that he was but a teenager when elected in reality he was probably in his twenties. THE TEN YOUNGEST POPES SINCE 1400 The youngest pope elected since 1400 was Leo X (#218) at the age of 37, in 1513. He the second son of the famous Lorenzo ‘il Magnifico’ Medici of Florence was created a cardinal, albeit without it being publicized (though this was prior to the in pectore practice that came to be in 1536) when he was but thirteen. Leo X, a cardinal deacon when elected, also happens to be the last non-priest/monk to be elected pope. It is said that on being elected he told his retinue ‘God has given us the papacy. Now let us enjoy it.’ Alak, this was not to be the case. His papacy was majorly buffeted by the rise of Martin Luther’s Reformation. He would die of malaria close to his 46 birthday. The second youngest, since 1400, happens to be Leo X’s cousin Clement VII (#220), one pope later, at the age of 45. [So there is a 8 year difference between the youngest and the second youngest.] Clement VII’s parents were not married making him the last known pope of illegitimate birth.

Porsche reveals shocking reasons behind Paul Walkers death

It's been two years since "Fast and Furious" actor Paul Walker passed away, but it's just now that new developments have surfaced regarding the wrongful death suit filed by his daughter, Meadow Walker, claiming that Porsche should be at fault for the late actor's death. Based on the new court documents obtained by E! News , Porsche the vehicle brand that the late Paul was riding in November 2013 alleged that the actor "knowingly and voluntarily assumed all risk, perils and danger in respect to the use of the subject 2005 Carrera GT." Furthermore, Porsche stated that Paul was knowledgeable of the situation's hazards. "Risk and dangers were open and obvious and known to him and that he chose to conduct himself in a manner so as to expose himself to such perils, dangers and risks, thus assuming all the risks involved in using the vehicle," the documents read. Therefore, Paul's heir, Meadow, will not be receiving any compensation from Porsche if indeed the court rules in favor of the car company that alleges Paul to be "a knowledgeable and sophisticated user of the car," and is at fault for his own death. After the party of Meadow was informed of the car company's stand, Meadow's attorney Jeff Milam released a statement urging that Paul was not a victim of his own actions. "It is beyond regrettable that Porsche is trying to deflect its own responsibility by blaming the victim -- Paul Walker -- for his own death by getting into the passenger seat of its Carrera G.T." the statement read as quoted by TMZ . Milam further explained that the vehicle from Porsche lacked safety features that could have prevented Paul's death. "If Porsche had designed the car to include proper safety features, Paul would have survived, he would be filming 'Fast and Furious 8' and Meadow Walker would have the father she adored." Previously, Meadow's camp said that Porsche failed to respond to the known unstable history and control issues of the Carrera GT. They believe that it is the car company's responsibility including the result of their inaction, People reports. The car crash's cause in November 2013, with Paul in the passenger seat and friend Roger Rodas who also died, was initially deemed to be speeding. Police reported that the driver was going between 80 and 93 mph at the time of the incident.

Tom Cruise considered catholic priesthood until he was kicked out of the seminary

Before Tom Cruise was a Scientologist, he was as devout a Roman Catholic as was his now estranged wife, Katie Holmes. And just in time for Cruise’s 50th birthday and just as his third marriage was unraveling, the priest who recruited him for the seminary more than three decades ago mailed him a photo. “I found an address online in Los Angeles,” says Father Ric Schneider of the Order of Friars Minor. “Probably an agent, I guess.” Father Ric took the photo of Cruise at the age of 14, when the man who is now the most famous of Scientologists was still among the best of Catholics and known by his family name, Mapother. Not that Father Ric was sending Cruise a message. The priest just thought the star might enjoy this captured memory of him in earth shoes and an unbuttoned shirt, standing beside another boy by a pond. A smiling Cruise is holding a radio-controlled boat the boys built in the hobby shop at St. Francis Seminary just outside Cincinnati in Mt. Healthy, Ohio. “A cute little kid,” Father Ric says. Cruise, like most of his classmates at St. Francis, attended the seminary more for the education than out of any serious thought of becoming a priest. But they had all shared the devout routine of those headed for ordination. “You went to daily Mass, you went to morning prayer, you went to evening prayer, you prayed before meals, you prayed after meals,” Cruise’s classmate Don Weller recalls. “He was well indoctrinated ... For him to totally shut himself off was just amazing.” Cruise went to the seminary after hearing Father Ric give a talk at St. Raphael the Archangel school in Louisville, Ky. Cruise’s mother had moved there with her son and three daughters after leaving his father. The departure had been preplanned, with the mother instructing her children to have their bags packed and hidden but ready. The father is said to have followed his family to Louisville and sought a reconciliation that was not forthcoming. The couple divorced shortly after Cruise’s 13th birthday. The next step for Cruise was to have been his father’s alma mater, St. Xavier High School, in Louisville. He saw an alternative when Father Ric ended his talk at St. Raphael’s by asking if anybody was interested in attending the seminary. Cruise—then still Mapother—expressed interest. Father Ric visited the boy’s home and spoke to the mother. “Nice home, nothing fancy,” the priest recalls. The priest administered the usual IQ test to determine if a candidate was likely capable of college-prep-level studies. “He just made it,” Father Ric says. We're sorry. This player is not enabled for access without key As with all recruits, Father Ric drove Cruise up to the seminary on a Friday to get a firsthand look. Cruise attended class on Saturday and stayed there through Sunday, when Father Ric drove him back home. Cruise liked it well enough that he decided he wanted to enroll. He did not strike Father Ric as somebody likely to become a priest. “It was pretty obvious,” Father Ric says. “I think he went there to get an education. I didn’t get a sense he was serious about the priesthood or the religious life.” The priest adds, “He might just have wanted to get away from it all.” In the fall of 1976, Cruise joined 67 other freshmen at the seminary. The Superior, the friar in charge, was Father John Boehman. He remembers Cruise as “basically a good kid” who was always smiling, but also “one of the ones more likely to get into trouble.” “If he could trip somebody or do something like that, it would be right down his alley,” Father John says. Cruise hardly seemed the stuff of a future movie star, with modest stature and in sore need of an orthodontist. One of his snaggled front teeth was chipped. “His teeth were different than they are today,” Father John notes. Cruise was not among the top students in academics. The instructor who appeared to make the biggest impression on him was Father Aubert Grieser, former chaplain to the New Mexico School for the Deaf and a passionate musician who prized three small stones he took from Beethoven’s grave and whose own compositions included a four-movement Mass, “Wa Ma Wa Ta,” that blended Gregorian chants with pop sounds. Father Aubert, the speech and drama teacher, would get students up on the stage and push them to overcome whatever was inhibiting them from letting go. “I think he did more for Tom Cruise than maybe anybody else did at that time to help him,” Father Hilarion Kistner says of Father Aubert. “He could just bring somebody out of themselves, get over their inhibitions and act and sing.” At St. Francis, Cruise played soccer and basketball for the Saints, where his teammate Weller remembers the future star could sometimes be “a little bit of a jerk. He was overcompensating for his height and his musculature. The upperclassmen kept him in his place.” Cruise shared with the others the bonds of working, playing, eating, and praying together, as well as sharing a dormitory and living under a code that was strict, though not harsh. But he did not seem to form any deep friendships. “I don’t think he was particularly close to really anybody,” Weller says. “Basically more of a loner, I guess.” But even then, Cruise showed the cockiness that would animate many of his starring roles. “That’s what he was as a freshman in high school,” Weller says. “He had that kind of persona. But he wasn’t big enough to make it stick, and he kind of became a little bit of a whipping boy.” Weller goes on to say, “He was always trying to prove something.” Cruise did not return after his freshman year, enrolling instead at St. Xavier’s in Louisville. The friars and his seminary classmates were not surprised, as whatever calling he had seemed decidedly secular. The only reason for leaving he has ever voiced was, “I started to realize I love women too much to give all that up.” Weller stayed and in a sign of changing times his was the last class to graduate before the seminary closed. Weller says that the boy they knew as Mapother left his former classmates with no sense of where life might take him. They were astonished when he began to appear on screen, with a new name and new teeth but that same cockiness, now big enough via the magic of film to make it stick. “We were stunned: ‘Oh my God, that’s Mapother!’?” Weller recalls. “None of us had any idea that’s what he’d grow up to be.” When the speech and drama teacher Father Aubert saw Risky Business, he suggested to a TV interviewer that Cruise had lost a little too much inhibition. “Tommy was such a fine young man,” Father Frank Jasper recalls Father Aubert saying. “And now it’s disgusting. He’s making these dirty movies and jumping all over the furniture in his underwear. It’s totally disgusting!” The classmates might have understood if such attitudes had combined with general changes in society to nudge Cruise into lapsing from his faith. Total rejection was something else. “With only 68 people in the whole class, you got to know everybody pretty well,” Weller says. “To see him go over to Scientology was really kind of a shocker.” Just before the Cruise-Holmes break-up, Weller attended a St. Francis Seminary reunion, the shuttered institution being among those that have escaped any public manifestations of the sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the church. Father Ric put on a slide show during a pizza party. The long-ago photo of the two boys holding the radio-controlled boat flashed on the screen. “Somebody said, ‘Oh, there’s Tom!’” Father Ric recalls. Afterward, he decided to mail a copy to Cruise. And, by the kind of fortuitous chance for which Franciscans have a knack, it should have arrived just as the star was arriving at a bleak 50th birthday. His wife had slipped away from him with their daughter just as his mother had slipped away from his father with him. Holmes fled after taking full measure of what it might mean for a child to be raised in Scientology rather than in the faith that she and the seminarian turned star shared before they met. Her escape was managed by her father, who, along with the rest of her family, remains a prominent fixture at Christ the King parish in her native Toledo, Ohio. As for Cruise, he should know that in the true spirit of his former faith, he retains the very best wishes of all the friars.

hollywood actor woody father was a contract killer

Charles Harrelson was born on July 23, 1938, in Huntsville, Texas , the son of Alma Lee (née Sparks) and Voyde Harrelson. He was married to Nancy Hillman Harrelson, Jo Ann Harrelson, Diane Lou Oswald and Gina Adelle Foster. Harrelson worked as an encyclopedia salesman in California and as a professional gambler. In 1960, he was convicted of armed robbery. Harrelson's son, Woody Harrelson (born July 23, 1961), became a well-known television and film actor. According to Woody, his father disappeared from the family's home in Houston in 1968, leaving his wife Diane to raise Woody and his two brothers. Woody lost track of his father until 1981, when news broke of Harrelson's arrest for the murder of Judge Wood. During an interview in November 1988, Woody revealed that he visited his father regularly in federal prison, though he still harbored mixed feelings for him, saying "my father is one of the most articulate, well-read, charming people I've ever known. Still, I'm just now gauging whether he merits my loyalty or friendship. I look at him as someone who could be a friend more than someone who was a father." [3] Murder of Alan Berg Defended by Percy Foreman , Harrelson was tried for the 1968 murder of Alan Harry Berg (no relation to the Denver talk radio DJ Alan Berg , later murdered by white supremacists). [4][5] On September 22, 1970, he was acquitted by a jury in Angleton, Texas .[6] The murder is chronicled in the memoir Run Brother Run by the victim's brother, David Berg. [7] Murder of Sam Degelia Prior to the Wood murder, Harrelson was tried for the 1968 murder-for-hire killing of Sam Degelia Jr., a resident of Hearne, Texas . Harrelson was paid $2000 for the murder of Degelia, a grain dealer and father of four who was killed in McAllen, Texas . [8] His first trial ended with a deadlocked jury, [8] although Pete Scamardo was also tried in the case, found guilty of being an accomplice to the murder,[9] and sentenced to seven years probation. [10][11] Harrelson was retried in 1973, convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. [12] In 1978, after serving 5 years, he was released early for good behavior. [12] Murder of Judge John H. Wood Jr. Shortly after Harrelson was paroled in 1978, he was implicated in another murder. On May 29, 1979, U.S. District Judge John H. Wood Jr. was shot dead in the parking lot outside his San Antonio, Texas , townhouse. [13] Harrelson was convicted of killing Judge Wood after being hired by drug dealer Jamiel Chagra of El Paso . Wood — nicknamed "Maximum John" because of his reputation for handing down long sentences for drug offenses — was originally scheduled to have Chagra appear before him on the day of his murder, but the trial had been delayed. [14] Harrelson was apprehended with the aid of an anonymous tip and a tape recording of a conversation that occurred during a visit from Joe Chagra to his brother Jamiel Chagra in prison. Harrelson claimed at trial that he did not kill Judge Wood, but merely took credit for it so he could claim a large payment from Chagra. Harrelson was sentenced to two life terms based largely on Chagra's conversation with his brother from prison. Both Harrelson and Joe Chagra were implicated in the assassination, and Chagra received a ten-year sentence. Jamiel Chagra was acquitted of the murder when his brother Joe refused to testify against him. Chagra was represented by future mayor of Las Vegas , Oscar Goodman , then a public defender. In a plea bargain, Jamiel Chagra admitted to his role in the murder of Judge Wood and to the attempted murder of a U.S. Attorney . Jo Ann Harrelson was also convicted of conspiracy and perjury. [15] In 2003, Chagra recanted his previous statements, and stated that someone other than Harrelson had in fact shot Judge Wood. [16] His son, Woody, then attempted to have his father's conviction overturned in order to secure a new trial, though without success. [17] Chagra died in July 2008 of cancer.[18] Allegations of involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy In September 1980, Harrelson surrendered to police after a six-hour standoff in which he was reportedly "high on cocaine". [19][20] During the standoff, he threatened suicide and stated that he had killed Judge Wood and President John F. Kennedy. [19][21] In a television interview after his arrest, Harrelson said: "At the same time I said I had killed the judge, I said I had killed Kennedy, which might give you an idea to the state of my mind at the time." He said that the statements made during the standoff were "an effort to elongate my life." [22] Joseph Chagra later testified during Harrelson's trial that Harrelson claimed to have shot Kennedy and drew maps to show where he was hiding during the assassination . Chagra said that he did not believe Harrelson's claim, and the AP reported that the FBI "apparently discounted any involvement by Harrelson in the Kennedy assassination." [23] According to Jim Marrs in 1989's Crossfire , Harrelson is believed to be the youngest and tallest of the "three tramps" by many conspiracy theorists .[20] Marrs stated that Harrelson was involved "with criminals connected to intelligence agencies and the military" and suggested that he was connected to Jack Ruby through Russell Douglas Matthews, a third party with links to organized crime who was known to both Harrelson and Ruby. [21] Lois Gibson, a well-known forensic artist, matched photographs of Harrelson to the photographs of the youngest-looking of the three "tramps". [24][25][26] Escape attempt and death USP Florence ADMAX , where Harrelson was transferred after his escape attempt On July 4, 1995, Harrelson and two other inmates, Gary Settle and Michael Rivers, attempted to escape from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary using a makeshift rope. A warning shot was fired at them from the prison's tower, and the trio surrendered. [27] Harrelson was subsequently transferred to Supermax prison ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado . In a letter to a friend, Harrelson wrote that he enjoyed his life inside the maximum security facility, writing that "there are not enough hours in a day for my needs as a matter of fact... The silence is wonderful." [28] He was found unresponsive in his cell on March 15, 2007, having died of a heart attack ; and an autopsy showed he had severe coronary artery disease .[2][29] His Federal Bureau of Prisons Register number was 02582-016. [30]

liam payne of one direction has a phobia of spoon known as koutaliaphobia

We can all safely say that there are some quite bizarre phobias out there in the big wide world. One of them being Koutaliaphobia Koutaliaphobia is defined as the extreme and often irrational fear of spoons. It is definitely one of those phobias that come under the bizarre heading, but, it is real! And one person that suffers from this phobia is none other than One Direction star, Liam Payne. Liam revealed and admitted back in September 2012 that he has a fear of spoons by saying, “In restaurants, when I don’t know where the spoons have been, I can’t use them. But I can use all the other cutlery.” After explaining to Liam that he does not know where the rest of the cutlery has been either, i.e. knives and forks, he replied, “I know, I’m a bit strange”.

Jackie chan reveals that his father was a spy and his mother was an opium smuggler

Action star Jackie Chan revealed a huge family secret on CBS’ “The Talk” on Tuesday (Oct. 22): His father was a spy, and changed their last name to go into hiding. Chan didn’t even know his father’s real profession — or their real last name — until recently. “I was totally shocked. One day I was driving a car with my father and suddenly my father turns around and says, ‘Jackie, I’m very old. I might not get up next morning. I have a secret to tell you — you are actually not Jackie Chan. Your name is Fong,'” Chan says. Before his father could continue, Chan called his friend who is a documentary director, and had his father filmed for three years as he told his story. According to Chan, someone bought the rights to the movie, and it is going to be made. “I thought I was an only child but I found out there was two brothers on my father’s side and two sisters on my mother’s side,” Chan says. “My father’s job was a spy. After he was shot he escaped from China to Hong Kong, and escaped from Hong Kong to Australia, hiding in the American Embassy for 40 years. All those years, I thought he was just a cook.”

Reasons Why You Need To Wake Up Early

Here are various reasons  which will convince you to set your alarm for 6 a.m. tomorrow.

1. More productivity
Getting up early gives you a kick start for the day ahead. Besides allowing you more hours for your work, it also boosts your speed. Studies have suggested that when a person gets up early, he is more energetic and takes lesser time to do a task that would take more time otherwise. He is also more adept in taking better decisions, planning and achieving goals.

2. Mental fitness
One very significant benefit of waking up early is reduced stress level. When you rise early, it eliminates the need to rush in the morning. You can then start your day on an optimistic note and such positivity often stays with you throughout the day.

3. Better sleep quality
Early risers often go to bed early. Getting up early is not something that should be followed irregularly but it needs to be established as a routine in your life. This translates into better sleep quality as your body’s internal clock adapts to your new sleep routine.

4. Bigger scores
A research conducted by Texas University has identified that students who were early risers scored better grades than those who were late to rise. Their GPAs were higher than the latter. One can link it to an enhanced productivity and quality of sleep.

5. Brighter world
Getting up early instills you with positivity. A research has suggested that people who got up early were happier, not just for a short duration but overall in life.