Vietnam to host Miss Earth 2010

Miss Earth Beauties

The organizer of the Miss Earth pageant, Carousel Company, signed a memorandum of understanding on January 28 with Vietnamese sponsors to hold the Miss Earth 2010 pageant in Vietnam this November.

The announcement came midst a ceremony at Legend Saigon Hotel in HCM City. In attendance were Ramon Monzon, Chair of Carousel, and Lorraine Schuck, Carousel’s Executive Manager, plus Vietnamese organizers, including Nguyen Cong Khe, Chairman of the Thanh Nien Media JS Company, Nguyen Quang Thong, editor-in-chief of Thanh Nien Newspaper and Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman of Vincom Group.

Why has the Miss Earth board decided to organize the pageant in Nha Trang this year?

Ramon Monzon: 2010 is the tenth anniversary of the Miss Earth pageant. This is a big event, so we want to bring it outside the borders of the Philippines. Many countries wanted to host the event, such as Indonesia, Cambodia and Miami (USA), but we choose Vietnam because of the favourable conditions for the pageant, from finance to locales and hotels.

How many people will come to Vietnam, including Carousel’s organizing board and contestants?

Monzon: Our organizing board numbers around 30 members. They will go to Vietnam in groups to make surveys and to cooperate with Vietnamese partners to advertise the event. We are responsible for inviting and bring 90 contestants from around the world to Vietnam.

The Vietnamese organizing board will be in charge of accommodations, travel inside Vietnam for Carousel’s members and the 90 contestants over a three week period. Vietnam will also take provide to life insurance, health insurance and security for the contestants and the organizing board.

What are the duties of Carousel’s organizing board?

Monzon: We will support our Vietnamese partners in terms of stage design, sound and lighting. Carousel will also invite five prestigious foreign jurors for the finale.

This is a good chance for Vietnam to advertise its image internationally via TV channels in the Philippines, US, Europe and even the Middle East.

We will shoot a video clip about Vietnam to show on the final night and Vietnam can use the image of Miss Earth to market tourism. In 2007 Vietnam successfully organized a sub-competition of Miss Earth in Vinpearl Land (Nha Trang), so I strongly believe that it will be no problem for Vietnam to host Miss Earth 2010.

I and the Vietnamese organizing board are planning to sign the official contract for Miss Earth 2010 in late February 2010. According to our plan, Vietnam will host the Miss Earth in even-numbered years from now until 2020.

Featured Article: Vietnam to host Miss Earth 2010 originally appeared on Look At Vietnam on 29 Jan 2010.

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My Jakarta: Sharita Sopacua, Former Miss Universe Netherlands

Jakarta Globe

Sharita Sopacua

Sharita Sopacua has been busy since winning the Miss Universe Netherlands beauty pageant in 2005. Her victory took her to the finals of the Miss Universe contest in Bangkok and since then she has graced the pages of fashion magazines in her native Netherlands, as well as the United States and Indonesia.

The daughter of a Dutch mother and an Indonesian father, Sharita tells us about studying Balinese dance and why skin whiteners have got to go.

What made you decide to come to Indonesia?

When I first came here about two and a half years ago, it was to do PR work for Garuda. Eventually I got offered an arts and cultural visa to study Balinese dance. But I broke my foot, so I had to leave. I went back to Holland for a bit and then to New York for a couple of years.

How is Jakarta compared to New York?

Quite different. For one, New York’s way more organized. Here, people say shooting is at 2 p.m. and then it starts at five. New York’s also a big city, but at least I could walk around there. Here I can’t, and when I try to, I get harassed the whole time. Plus, New York is a global center of fashion. But Jakarta is growing.

How do you like living in Jakarta?

It’s a love-hate relationship. The traffic’s terrible, of course, the malls soon get boring and for an outdoors person like me there’s not much to do. That’s why I sometimes need to escape to Ambon or Bali. Actually, I have just visited Maluku, where my dad’s family is from. I did some swimming and diving and also did a photo shoot and interview for a book. But everything’s available in Jakarta, I love that.

How does Jakarta compare to other Indonesian cities?

It’s definitely got the biggest fashion scene. There’s a lot of money and that helps. But you can’t buy good taste. Lots of rich people here will buy something by Louis Vuitton or Prada just to show off their wealth without caring whether it actually looks good. For artists, Bandung is much better. Jakarta’s mostly a business city.

How easy was it to fit in here?

Actually, quite difficult. For one thing, I have fewer female friends here. It’s as if I intimidate Indonesian women. Also, Jakarta’s very cliquish and there are hangers-on who are only interested in you because you’re famous. But I live with a good friend and his family and they’ve introduced me to some very nice people.

Do you ever hang out with other models?

Not really. A lot of them view me as a rival, and frankly, I can’t really talk with them on the level that I’d like. In Holland, most models are also students. Some girls here are bright, but most seem shallow. Forget talking about anything serious.

Do you have any favorite places here?

I often go to Senayan City because it’s so close by. It’s not that I like malls, but I just need somewhere to go. My gym’s there, and there’s a restaurant there called Portico that I like; you can sit outside, which is a nice change of pace. There’s also a very nice place called Social House, in Plaza Indonesia. It’s sort of a lounge restaurant. And I like going to the yoga studio. Other than that, it’s mostly work.

Right now, how pleased are you with your decision to move here?

At first I regretted it. I kept asking myself what I was doing here. I felt like an outsider, and the inequality bothered me too. Every time I drove to the mall and saw kids dodging traffic to beg, I felt depressed. But after a couple months, I adapted. It helps that I love the food and the typical Indonesian is a wonderful person.

What’s your pet peeve about Jakarta?

The obsession with white skin. It’s as bad as the Western obsession for tans. The skin whiteners Indonesians use contain mercury. Basically, you harm yourself and you make your face look like a mask.

And then there’s this craze for green or blue contact lenses. Models here even list their eyes as green. No, darling, they’re brown. But it’s improving. I was one of the Jakarta Fashion Week poster girls, and I’m quite tan.

What do you see yourself doing after modeling?

Right now, I’m focusing on presenting. I have this offer right now for a Southeast Asian travel show, and I’ve got a movie offer; I just read the script, but I’m not sure about it. I’ve been modeling for 10 years now. It’s been a good career, but it’s time I tried other things too.

Featured Article: My Jakarta: Sharita Sopacua, Former Miss Universe Netherlands originally appeared on Jakarta Globe on 20 Dec 2009.

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The Importance of Miss World (Or Not)

Miss World 2009

The Armando LaGrande Column
Panorama.gi

Let it be faced: Winning the Miss World is positive news, it's a great thing, but are we over-playing the importance of it?

It's a question that had to be asked by someone, and that someone is me, because I ask those kinds of questions.

I know we are not accustomed to winning anything internationally. We could win the Eurovision song contest, the World Cup etc, but we are not allowed to take part in those events, oh dear, I wonder why, are they afraid of us?

We have to be thankful to the Miss World org for letting us in - in the same way that others in a similar boat to Gibraltar are also allowed in.

But now that we have won, we must not think that Miss World is the Queen of Gibraltar, let alone the whole wide world.

Who was the winner before Gibraltar? Who knows, or who knew, until our own won and the previous Miss Hit had to crown our own. So that's how most of us got to know that Miss Russia had won last time round.

Indeed, indeed. And in the year she spent raising cash in 50 countries, did you hear anything about her good work? I am sure you did not.

Did you ever in those 365 days see anything that made an indelible impression in your mind about Miss Russia in BBC, ITV, Sky or wherever? Of course, you did not.

And what makes you think that anyone in the world is now going to see Miss Gib doing anything in her travels?

Few will, except ourselves! We will indoctrinate ourselves with the notion that Miss Gib is a world hit because we hear about it ourselves in our own little town, in the same way, I suppose, that everyone in Miss Russia's town heard about their goddess.

But who else? There might be something in some of the countries she visits, but I fear that none will be earth shattering - and none is likely to transcend frontiers.

So we are in for a year where there will be this and that item of non-news occupying our time, although it will be for domestic consumption. But not for the world, unfortunately.

It is not that Miss Gib will not do her very best. We know she will. It is not that, when asked, she will not say she is from Gibraltar. And when asked where is this Gibraltar she will duly provide the answer.

We wish her well and we know, as I have just said, that she will do her best. Not only that but she is bound to have a great time, which she fully deserves for having won the title.

But like Miss Russia, which after a year, there was nothing of her in the main news channels, the same will happen to our own. What a pity, but there you are, or are you not there?

Featured Article: The importance of Miss World (or not) originally appeared on Panorama.gi.

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Miss Universe nude magazine cover fails to appease Photoshop critics

Jennifer Hawkins

Miss Universe 2004, Jennifer Hawkins, poses nude and un-Photoshopped on the cover of February's Australian Marie Claire. The fact that that's a story is in itself is an indicator that the magazine biz has a divide to bridge with some readers. But even Marie Claire's best efforts to present a woman in the raw has prompted a backlash -- apparently Hawkins is too beautiful.
Hawkins was clear about what she hopes readers will see: "I'm not a stick figure -- I thought it would be great to tell women to just be themselves and be confident."

Yet the cover sparked criticism from Marie Claire readers. One writes: "She wants to make [women] feel more comfortable about how they look, gee thanks, I now feel worse! I'm a size 10 and I still have more rolls than her!" Another: "If anything is going to have me running to the toilet with my finger down my throat it's a picture of Jennifer Hawkins naked."

Marie Claire's editor told The Age the obvious: That Hawkins was selected for the cover because she was Miss Universe. "Jennifer sells magazines and she creates awareness. If Marie Claire had chosen to put on their cover an ordinary women, say myself or a friend of yours, it would not have created the awareness it does."

Meanwhile, BOLSHIE radio's Bianca Dye joined with those who see Hawkins as an improper female body-image role model. "I'd love to put the challenge out for her and I to do a photo shoot just sitting next to each other with no airbrushing whatsoever,'' she said.

Dye has yet to receive a response.

Featured Article: Miss Universe nude magazine cover fails to appease Photoshop critics originally appeared on Dscriber on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:54

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