Cannabis discovered in tobacco pipes found in William Shakespeare's garden

Forensic testing of 400-year-old pipes suggest playwright might have smoked more than just tobacco

South African scientists have discovered that 400-year-old tobacco pipes excavated from the garden of William Shakespeare contained cannabis, suggesting the playwright might have written some of his famous works while high.

Residue from early 17th century clay pipes found in the playwright’s garden, and elsewhere in Stratford-Upon-Avon, were analysed in Pretoria using a sophisticated technique called gas chromatography mass spectrometry, the Independent reports.

Of the 24 fragments of pipe loaned from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to University of the Witwatersrand, cannabis was found in eight samples, four of which came from Shakespeare's property.

There was also evidence of cocaine in two pipes, but neither of them hailed from the playwright's garden.

Shakespeare's sonnets suggest he was familiar with the effects of both drugs.

In Sonnet 76, he writes about “invention in a noted weed", which could be interpreted to mean that Shakespeare was willing to use “weed”, or cannabis, while he was writing.

In the same sonnet it appears that he would prefer not to be associated with “compounds strange”, which can be interpreted, at least potentially, to mean “strange drugs” (possibly cocaine).

-The Telegraph

Top Scandals That Rocked Nollywood

Here we go...

Ini Edo abortion, husband-snatching and divorce 

In 2008, beautiful Ini Edo was enmeshed in abortion controversy. It was reported by the media that she had aborted a few weeks old pregnancy she had for her secret lover. It could have been a rumour but it really shook the industry.

In 2008, Ruth Okoro, A Nigerian based in the US, accused Ini of snatching her husband, Philip, from her. She wrote the actress, pleading with her to leave her husband for her. For a while Ini Edo denied such relationship. Eventually though, she ended up marrying the man.

Sadly, her union with Mr Ehiagwina Philip. Ehiagwina’s did not last long. Again, the actress got the fall out as many accused her of adultery

Mercy Johnson theft scandal and husband-snatching 

In 2009, curvy actress, Mercy Johnson tasted her first major scandal. She was accused of stealing $ 4000 while she was on Europe tour from the young man that hosted her, Isaac Izoya. After the fuss generated by the scandal, Mr Izoya later exonerated her to make the case die down.

In 20011, Lovely Okojie, another actress, accused Mercy of snatching Prince Odi from her. She released pictures to prove she was really married to Odi. It generated much noise in the industry, especially when the actress fixed her wedding. At a time, the press insinuated that Mercy would call off the wedding, but she went ahead with the most controversial wedding in that year and took ‘a leap of faith’ as she said that time.

Solomon Akiyesi white wedding disruption

It was big news in 2013 after the disruption of the actor’s white wedding. It was revealed that Nollywood actor, Solomon Akiyesi, whose wedding to another woman was disrupted by his legally married wife, Lilian, has actually been married twice, making it his third time of going to the alter in the last ten years. The actor was disgraced in Church when his wife stormed the venue of his wedding to another lady. Today, he is still married to his new wife and the divorce of the others completed.

Uche Jombo’s abortion 

In 2010, it was reported that the talented actress, Uche Jombo, had aborted 6-month-old pregnancy. The news went viral. Uche was devastated and threatened to sue the media organization that ran the story for libel. The story ended up being false.

Nuella Njubigbo-Chikere husband-snatching saga

Last year, Nuella was accused by her colleague, Sophia Chikere, of snatching her movie director husband from her. It generated much noise in the industry due to the peculiar case of an actress, allegedly snatching another actress’ husband. Nuella went ahead to marry Tchidi and now has a baby for him.

Yul edochie is gay 

Yul recently opened up about his gay stalker, Steven Ugochukwu, who wouldn’t let him be. In reaction, the alleged gay stalker opened up on so many details and insisted he was in a gay relationship with the star actor. But Yul had to solicit the help of his colleagues whom the stalker had also disturbed to prove himself innocent. Now, Desmond Elliot is crying out that Steven Ugochukwu is also stalking him. Yul maintains he is not gay.

Stella Damasus snatches Doris Simeon’s husband

This story may sound like a typical Nollywood story, and it indeed is true. Pretty Stella was accused of snatching a colleague’s husband, Daniel Ademinokan, from Doris Simeon. The accusations were true. Both Daniel and Stella now lives in the United States while Doris is in Nigeria with the children she has for Daniel.

People tag her husband snatcher. But the actress defended herself and maintained that Daniel was never snatched.

Tonto Dikeh s*x for N5m scandal

In 2012 was trailed accused of prostituting herself to one Mr Taiwo Afolabi. It was alleged that the man paid her N5m just to sleep with her. Although the actress later denied it, the story did not die away for a long time. Tonto however turned a deaf ear to all the stories. She has neither confirmed nor deny the story

Foluke Daramola husband-snatching and juju 

Busty actress, Foluke was accused by her estranged friend, Bukola of being fetish and using Juju on her current husband Kayode. Funny enough, Kayode soon chased his wife away and married Foluke. Bukola claimed she accompanied Foluke to the native doctor that did it for her. The actress later threatened to sue her estranged friend, Bukola for libel. Foluke remains married to Kayode.

Cossy Orjiakor s*x with dog and HIV scandal

Cossy was once said to have slept with a dog and also has HIV. All this stemmed from a photo of her sleeping with a dog. The picture turned out to be a screen shot she taken from a movie she featured in.  It’s not that Cossy cared though.

Jim Iyke N15m debt and jail

It’s not an understatement to assert that Jim Iyke is the most controversial Nollywood actor. Jim has found himself in lots of controversial situations. He was involved in a N15M debt mess few years back as one Alhaja Habib Abubakar effected his arrested for duping her. The court later asked Jim to pay back the money in installments.

Source: DailyIndependent

Etcetera – “We Are The World’ By African Stars Is The Worst Track In Human History”

Over-sabi writer, Etcetera is back with another one of his articles.

The failed singer turned critic has now said that ‘We are The World’ by African stars is the worst combination of voices in human history.

Here’s why: –

Well, I think I’m finally safe to write this article, since I’ve set up my e-mail software to automatically filter out any messages containing swear words.
Sincerely, I don’t know if there’s any song that made me change the TV station faster than this one. If I didn’t, I’d have been doomed to have a group of adults with hideous and unsync voices chanting, “ we are the children” over and over in my head for the next six months.

And that certainly isn’t all that’s wrong with the song. Michael Jackson would probably be spitting and cursing in his grave right now, like a pregnant woman with whitlow on her ten fingers and toes. What the heck were they thinking changing his beautifully composed piece of art to the most insipid crap ever written?

I’m going to tell you this for free; don’t listen to We Are The World by African all stars unless you’re trying to get a bone out of your throat. That is only when the song would be useful.

We know that African music isn’t made up of the best singers anymore, but honestly, how did they think that they could fill up a seven-minute song with nothing but monotonous chanting of the same feeble chorus over and over again?

The humorous highlight of the song is Kcee’s ridiculous line “There’s a choice we making, we saving our own lives.” Never has the word (saving our own lives) meant so opposite. And the only choice that could have been made by the organisers was not to have included Kcee in the song. He was even off key for Christ sake. Kcee, your hilarious accent is to be commended.

Luckily I could warn the rest of you who haven’t listened. Kcee is the first reason this is the most repulsive rendition of this song ever.

There were other worse vocals like Sean Tizzle’s, but Tiwa Savage sounded like a two- year- old being dragged out of a toy store. She should know when to keep the vibrato off her voice. And For a minute I thought Banky W was going to faint. Whoever chose the key to this song should have been reminded that most Nigerian singers are all about auto-tune and can’t hold their notes.

Jesus Christ, what is happening to music? This is easily the worst combination of voices in human history. Only the most despicable revisionist historian could possibly claim that this song is anything close to good. It’s nothing more than a hideous irritation festival from the individual who sold the idea to the sponsors.

 While writing this article, someone suggested that maybe vocals wasn’t the criterion for selecting the artistes. REALLY? Are you kidding me? Then they should have gone for the kill. Artquake should have been in there somewhere, Or perhaps even Daddy Showkey. A number of you are probably thinking “hey, come on, I kinda like that song.” Of course, every lover of today’s Nigerian music will surely like the song. This is the musical equivalent of Agege bread: it’s meant to be packed with so much artificial crap that it’s bound to appeal in some way to Nigerians.

No matter how musically credible you are, no matter how much cutting-edge indigenous songs you listen to, whether you snore in baritone in your sleep or not, this song is a shame. It is the kind of rendition that makes today’s Nigerian music uncool. If you have listened to it, the fact that the singers were trying too hard to sound like the original version should have made you turn off your TV in disgust. If you haven’t, download it right now. I dare you to try to make it through the first 10 seconds. It is the ultimate endurance test.

-Information Nigeria

Chris Brown shows off his $165,000 Rezvani Beast sports car.

He has a love for fancy cars and Chris Brown took the opportunity to showcase that fact on the set of his new music video.

The singer was spotted on set in Los Angeles filming the visuals for his new single, Liquor, but it was the Rezvani Beast that caught the eyes of those nearby.

Chris, 26, was seen sitting inside the $165,000 sports car before hopping out and posing at the camera while he leaned against the impressive super car.

The singer could be seen sporting a red beret and matching trainers which he teamed with a black jacket and grey jeans.

He also sported reflective shades before he later removed the jacket to reveal his shredded white top and expensive jewellery.

The singer has been keeping busy with work after it was claimed that singer has plans to counter Nia Guzman's efforts to take full custody of Royalty, their one-year-old daughter.

This report came one day after it was revealed on the same site that Nia had petitioned the court to restrict Chris to only supervised visitation with his daughter.

Chris' new claims against Nia - which will be part of an official opposition filing from the Kiss Kiss singer - were reported on Monday.

Three points on which Nia had specifically objected were to be refuted: that Chris might put Royalty in harm's way, that he or his friends might use drugs in her presence, and that violent acquaintances of the singer might endanger the girl.

Sources cited in the new report said that Chris had increased security after a recent break-in and denied Royalty had ever been exposed to either drugs or violent individuals.

It was not specified as to when Chris' opposition filing would be submitted, and Royalty remains in her mother's primary custody for the moment.

-Mailonline 

Ice T, Coco Have Doctor Prove Her Butt Is Real: "This Is Purely Medical"

All natural! Coco Austin has been "haunted" by rumors that her famous backside is fake, so the new daytime talk show host and her costar/husband, Ice T, enlisted a celebrity plastic surgeon to visit their new syndicated show, Ice & Coco, and prove once and for all that it's real.

"I don't naturally let men touch on my wife's butt, but I want you to inspect her booty right here on television," the Law & Order: SVU star instructs Dr. Chris Johnson.

Adds Coco, "You've got to really inspect it, because I know it's real!"

Johnson obliges, saying, "This is purely medical."

Cracks a protective Ice-T, "I hope so!"

It turns out that the first-time mom to be, who announced on Monday, Aug. 3, that she and her hubby are expecting a baby girl together, is all natural.

"Based on anatomy and the muscles — there are three muscles there, I can feel them all. There's not an implant there. I don't feel fat injected," Johnson says. "I can certify that this is a real, natural butt!"

The doctor tells Us Weekly of the appearance, "What an awesome experience! I am the envy of every man and some women in the world. One of the highlights of my career. I got to go where only Ice T is allowed to go."

Ice & Coco airs weekdays in syndication on Fox Television stations.         

-US Weekly