double click each thumbnail for better viewing. Cin Xiao!
MISS UNIVERSE 2008 COVERAGE continued
July 18, 2008 at 11:05 pm (2008, Beauty Pageants, daily dose, miss universe 2008)
Tags: Crystle Stewart, Dayana Mendoza, Jerry Springer, Melanie B., miss colombia, Miss India, Miss Mexico, Miss Puerto Rico, miss universe 2008, Miss Universe finalist, Miss Universe winners, Miss USA falls, Miss Venezuela, Miss Venezuela 2008, nbc, osmel souza, Roberto Cavalli, taliana vargas, Vietnam, zin ciao
chi
July 18, 2008 at 6:53 pm (2008, Chihuahuas)
Tags: amy winehouse, Chihuahuas, valerie
VALERIE: PERFORMED BY AMY WINEHOUSE
This is a late birthday gift to my little baby Valerie..my one year and three month old chihuahua. I love you baby val. This song is captioned as “Valerie”, performed by Amie Winehouse. And here are some facts about the so called “chis”…Read and be interested in having one. Enjoy reading and have fun listening.
The Chihuahua dog took its name from the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. It was first observed there in 1850. Presumably a wild dog, it is the smallest confirmed pedigree dog, but its name is borrowed from the largest Mexican state. It’s the most ancient breed endemic to America, the continent. Statues and paintings of something similar to the Chihuahua appear in Old World artifacts from ancient South American civilizations.
It appears to have fostered a sacred sentiment to them. Like a variety of toy dogs, it has a lifespan approaching 15 years. Chihuahuas can form a strong attachment to their masters that can approach jealousy. It always has a watchful eye on its master. It can be fairly feisty toward other dogs. It tends to be spunky, saucy, and aggressive toward other dogs, despite its small size. The dog weighs 2 to 12 pounds, and it sports a height of 6 to 9 inches. There is a wide variable range of weights. Some Chihuahuas are portable, hand-held dogs.
People in apartments, as well as senior citizens, seem to enjoy Chihuahuas. Keep it safe from predators, birds of prey, and other big animals with a watchful eye when it’s outside. The Chihuahua has bulbous dark eyes, a sickle or scimitar tail, pointy big ears, straight legs, a diminutive frame, an apple-shaped head, and a varied coat of one or more colors. It’s either shorthaired or longhaired. Sable, brindle, fawn, red, cream, ginger, chocolate, tan, blue, and black are coat colors. Teacup, pocketsize, and tiny toy are terms that are misleading, according to the Chihuahua Club of America, because they seem to denote a higher value in terms of money. They have no greater monetary value, however.
They have personalities like Terriers. They’re alert, spunky, vibrant, and vigorous pals. The Chihuahuas have a clan mentality that’s different from a pack mentality. You’ll often find that Chihuahuas prefer to hang out with their own breed. Many owners report fierce jealousy if the master has to deal with other things than the Chihuahua itself. For this reason, the dog seems a little standoffish to some, but it’s really just too small to spread its loyalty too thin. Schoolchildren and toddlers should not handle or mishandle the Chihuahua because they can nip and bite if provoked. Older children find that they’re great pets. Epilepsy, seizures, dental problems, hypoglycemia, bronchitis, and joint problems afflict the poor breed. If improperly socialized, the dog can be really uptight. It needs some attention and socialization as a small puppy to avoid the stereotypical pitfalls of its breed.
The most famous Chihuahuas include the Taco Bell Chihuahua, Ren Hoek of Ren and Stimpy, the odd Chihuahua on Invader Zim, and several more appearances as different characters on Disney programs and various movies.
North Korea’s “Hotel of Doom” wakes from its coma
July 18, 2008 at 6:15 pm (2008, architecture)
Tags: buidlings, hotel of doom, north korea
By Jon Herskovitz Thu Jul 17, 3:56 AM ET (www.yahoo.com)
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s phantom hotel is stirring back to life. Once dubbed by Esquire magazine as “the worst building in the history of mankind,” the 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel is back under construction after a 16-year lull in the capital of one of the world’s most reclusive and destitute countries.
According to foreign residents in Pyongyang, Egypt’s Orascom group has recently begun refurbishing the top floors of the three-sided pyramid-shaped hotel whose 330-metre (1,083 ft) frame dominates the Pyongyang skyline.
The firm has put glass panels into the concrete shell, installed telecommunications antennas — even though the North forbids its citizens to own mobile phones — and put up an artist’s impression of what it will look like.
An official with the group said its Orascom Telecom subsidiary was involved in the project but gave no details.
Ryugyong Hotel
The hotel consists of three wings rising at 75 degree angles capped by several floors arranged in rings supposed to hold five revolving restaurants and an observation deck.
A creaky building crane has for years sat unused at the top of the 3,000-room hotel in a city where tourists are only occasionally allowed to visit.
“It is not a beautiful design. It carries little iconic or monumental significance, but sheer muscular and massive presence,” said Lee Sang Jun, a professor of architecture at Yonsei University in Seoul.
The communist North started construction in 1987, in a possible fit of jealousy at South Korea, which was about to host the 1988 Summer Olympics and show off to the world the success of its rapidly developing economy.
A concrete shell built by North Korea’s Paektu Mountain Architects & Engineers emerged over the next few years. A proud North Korea put a likeness of the hotel on postage stamps and boasted about the structure in official media.
According to intelligence sources, then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung saw the hotel as a symbol of his big dreams for the state he founded, while his son and current leader Kim Jong-il was a driving force in its construction.
But by 1992, worked was halted. The North’s main benefactor the Soviet Union had dissolved a year earlier and funding for the hotel had vanished. For a time, the North airbrushed images of the Ryugyong Hotel from photographs.
As the North’s economy took a deeper turn for the worse in the 1990s the empty shell became a symbol of the country’s failure, earning nicknames “Hotel of Doom” and “Phantom Hotel.”
Yonsei’s Lee and other architects said there were questions raised about whether the hotel was structurally sound and a few believed completing the structure could cause it to collapse.
It would cost up to $2 billion to finish the Ryugyong Hotel and make it safe, according to estimates in South Korean media. That is equivalent to about 10 percent of the North’s annual economic output.
Bruno Giberti, associate head of California Polytechnic State University’s Department of Architecture, said the project was typical of what has been produced recently in many cities trying to show their emerging wealth by constructing gigantic edifices that were not related in scale to anything else around them.
“If this is the worst building in the world, the runners up are in Vegas and Shanghai,” said Giberti.
I
July 18, 2008 at 6:09 pm (2008, daily dose)
Tags: bored
July 18, 2008, 5:55 and idle
I don’t have much to write today. It was a fine and calm day today. It was my mom’s 53rd birthday. We went to church. We had lunch after and we did some shopping. Well, technically, not me…but my sister and my mom.
I bought a bible. It’s unbelievable but it’s a fact.
We had lunch in Mall of the Emirates. I sat in the atrium after while my mom and sis went strolling for….what else? Clothes with a capital “C”
Me and my buddy Iphone had a great bonding. I watched “The Sweetest Thing” while waiting for them.
SPECIAL QUOTE: Rule no. 10: Thou shall not be afraid.
Hmmmmmmmm……. J what’s with it? I don’t want to discuss further. It was just a quote that I took from the movie which doesn’t really apply for me. Ok!
Be right back darling.
We’ll be having dinner.
MISS UNIVERSE 2008 COVERAGE
July 18, 2008 at 2:54 am (2008, Beauty Experts, Beauty Pageants, Vietnam, miss universe 2008)
Tags: Crystle Stewart, Dayana Mendoza, Jerry Springer, Melanie B., miss colombia, Miss India, Miss Mexico, Miss Puerto Rico, miss universe 2008, Miss Universe finalist, Miss Universe winners, Miss USA falls, Miss Venezuela, Miss Venezuela 2008, Roberto Cavalli, taliana vargas, Vietnam, zin ciao
written an published by: lee bengwic (www.bengwic.com)
I have to admit that this has got “tons” of grammatical errors.
I was in a haste preparing it coz I have to catch the first church mass early tomorrow. I have to finish it in less than 1 hour. For all those “walking dictionary” viewers out there..just calm down. Ten mistakes won’t lead us having “less brain activity”. hihihi… por favor…. this is just an opinion ok? so relax. grab a pop corn and go through it. No violent reactions after. (*winks*)
The bee has spoken. Let us start by comparing how many did I get right as per my prediction list.
MY PREDICTION LIST
Colombia
Mexico
Venezuela
USA
India
Puerto Rico
Australia
Vietnam
Thailand
Korea
Panama
Kosovo
South Africa
Japan
Belgium
* red marks are the unfortunate outguessed ones.
It’s 9 out of 15. Not bad compared to my 7 out of 15 last year. Year by year it keeps on improving. I expect that next year, I will be able to reach a 2 digit score.
So Dayana won. As I have said in my prediction blog: Once Miss Venezuela, always Miss Venezuela. It was a well-deserved win. Dayana nailed the final question when she was asked whether which have it easier, men or women: “Actually, God made men and women different. But the big difference between women and men–it doesn’t matter what kind of life they live–is that men think that the faster way to go to a point is to go straight. Women, no. The faster way to go to a point is to go through curves and fixing every curve,”Miss Venezuela answered international judge Louis Lacari.
The best one so far. I have to give her an “A” for that.
Taliana, my old time bet since the pageant started, had a great answer as well. The bell was a curse when it reached its ”ding dong”. The judges got disturbed and pulled her scores down during the final interview. “Startstruck by Jennifer Hawkins? maybe not!”
In comparison to Dayana’s answer….ahhhhh!!!!! hmmmmmm..that’s a no brainer.
Dayana’s answer was straight to the point. She was not so fluent in English, but she made a very remarkable response.
Tali’s was a mediocre. Dayana edged her and finished a well deserved end held in Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam last Monday.
The second, third and fourth runners-up were Miss Dominican Republic, Miss Russia and Miss Mexico, respectively.
Let’s do it one by one and I’ll share you my inside thoughts about this year’s pageant.
The stage was gigantic and class. It was massive. Colorful. They had an energetic set of dance performers also.
The opening number was hideous. The Opening number song was very common..”EVERYBODY’S GONNA LOVE TODAY”..Give me a break . That was lousy and I cannot even call it a production number. Nothing great about it so far. The individual national costumes were eye catching. It was very long and I started to get bored staring at it.
Melanie B. was oozing hot. Well, I always liked her ever since she started in Spice Girls while Jerry Springer was too old to host a pageant. Come on..this is not Ms. Grandma Universe! He is corny and tried to be funny but it didn’t work out so far. He made a grand entrance riding something like a “scooter”…that was…………ooow…never mind. I prefer to keep my mood in its normal status, but it really sucks!
So, the top fifteen were announced in random order. Let’s see.
VENEZUELA
KOSOVO
MEXICO
VIETNAM
SOUTH AFRICA
AUSTRALIA
JAPAN
DOMICAN REPUBLIC
ITALY
COLOMBIA
RUSSIA
HUNGARY
CZECH REPUBLIC
USA
SPAIN
Did I hear it right? Hungary? I hope the judges weren’t “hungry” when they selected her to be in the spot. I hope they had a better explanation. The rest deserves to be in their individual spots. Even if I heard so much that many were surprised about Italy and Russia’s inclusion in the list…I favored the preliminary judges in selecting them, they have the guts and they can both pull the trigger.
So where is Simran and Ingrid. This is not a mock up dress rehearsal show right? Then I was convinced that they weren’t really in the final 15. What went wrong? Whatever it is, I guess it would be reasonable. Blame it to the prelim judges. Esha must be so pissed about Miss India’s exclusion on the finalist. Hihihihi….. A great strategy can accompany a great jinx.
Ingrid???? Somebody must have pepper sprayed her gown once again. This time, it was successful. It worked out and she failed to secure a spot in the final 15. Just an opinion.
So I was going through my list. I was shocked. How could I forget Miss Dominican Republic in my list? How can I afford to overlook such beauty? My God…she is a bomb. Almost……perfect. She even looks better than Amelia Vega in some angles.
The swimsuit competition started. So who was that singer? She was scary. I thought it was CHER. It was a “0” performance for me. My niece can even dance better than her. And what’s with the blonde hair? Sorry if I am so mean, but does she want to replace Miss Albania?
Grrrrrrr….Blonde and not so beautiful.
The one who has got the best Swimsuits for me were Tali of course, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico and Dominican Republic. Miss Spain looked like a villain in a “telenovela”. I didn’t like her because of that. She tried to look sultry…ended up looking cocky.
Top 10 were announced.
Kosovo
Australia
Spain
Mexico
Colombia
USA
Dominican Republic
Russia
Italy
Venezuela
Comment: Miss South Africa deserves to be in the top ten in replacement of Miss Italy.
Miss Thailand won the Best in National Costume Award. So what happened to Miss Philippines?
Miss El Salvador bagged the Miss Congeniality award. It’s better than having nothing at all. Ooopsss..Sorry.
The evening gown competition started. Ok. So, everybody was calm and feeling elegant that moment. I was not informed that Crystle’s ambition was to drop her feet down and fall on her ass. Drop off the rumors about her intentionally doing it…come one..that is absurd! who would waste her time preparing for a once in a lifetime event and just screws it with a bouncing plot like this. Hell no. In fairness to her, she almost dropped her jaw when she just realized (What the f*ck was that?) She tried to hide it, but that 15 minute fame is a “make or break” situation…in that case..she failed to recover from that fall.
That fall has totally changed her future. She could have easily crowned herself and would have the rarest chance of answering any of the final questions. Poor girl. I love her from the start. She reminds me of Wendy Fitzwilliam. It was not her fault though. Blame it to the beads down her gown. The panel of judges gave her a dropping 8.050 mark in the evening gown competition which lead to his exclusion to the Final Five. Russia could have been ousted and she’ll definitely get the spot.
Here are my views regarding their evening gowns.
· Kosovo – SO….PROM LIKE
· Australia – VERY COMMON
· Spain – VERY MERMAID
· Mexico – OOOLALALA…BEAUTIFUL
· Colombia – SO COMPLICATED BUT CLASSY
· USA – NEED TO EXPLAIN?
· Dominican Republic – VERY NATIONAL COSTUME
· Russia – VERY OXANA FEDEROVA
· Italy – NO COMMENT
· Venezuela- SHE SHINED IN YELLOW
We are almost there. So, top the five finalists were announced. Miss USA crosses her finger till it bleeds. (I hope I’ll be in…I hope I’ll be in…) Let us see.
Miss Colombia
Miss Venezuela
Miss Dominican Republic
Miss Mexico
Miss Russia
USA must have been so disappointed.
Final questions were rolled out.
Miss Colombia was star struck by Jennifer Hawkins. She stammered. She delivered it well but she got caught by the bell when it rang while she was still conversing.
Venezuela’s answer was perfect. She nailed it. That is why she deserves to receieve the 18K white and yellow gold crown, which was valued at $120,000.
Dominican Republic’s answer was so “Miss Universe”. It was not from the heart. Somewhat like her. She answered it from the nose.
Miss Mexico tried to answer in English but failed to impress the judges..including me.
Miss Russia: I was surprised. She gave a very good answer. It made me convinced that she should be in the top five.
MORAL LESSON: Don’t say Cin Xiao if you are planning to give a very long answer. CIN XIAO girls. If only there is a “part 2″.
SCOOP: Roberto Cavalli? What’s with the flirty question? But I loved it. The way he uttered the word “satisfyyyyyyy”. OMG. So gay! (*winks*) but it was cool.
Dayana won of course. No doubt. Nobody even questioned it.
Prior to that Riyo Mori had her final walk on her own version of the “tux”. I was reading some blog, questioning what she wore. Come on…she looks fabulous. Admit it! Sometimes, we need to see and accept the reality that there are people who look good in what they wear. She looked so class…not a trying hard mannequin as every other reigning queen looks like. So all sourgrapers out there…..chill out!
Rounding up. Here is the summary of scores. (Swimsuit/Evening Gown)
THE FAIREST FIVE
Winners in Order
1.) Venezuela – Diana Mendoza (9.697 / 9.327)
2.) Colombia – Taliana Vargas (9.829 / 9.433)
3.) Dominican Republic – Marianne Cruz (9.036 / 8.983)
4.) Russia – Vera Krasova (8.471 / 8.414)
5.) Mexico – Elisa Najera (9.429 / 9.071)
Semi-finalists
6.) Kosovo – Zana Krasniqi (8.264 / 8.120)
7.) Spain – Claudia Moro (8.200 / 9.150)
8.) USA – Crystle Stewart (8.050 / 9.207)
9.) Italy – Claudia Ferraris (7.729 / 7.671)
10.) Australia – Laura Dundovic (7.557 / 7.814)
Quarter-finalists:
11.) Czech Republic – Eliška Bučková (7.386)
12.) Hungary – Jazmin Dammak (7.229)
13.) South Africa – Tansey Coetzee (7.133)
14.) Japan – Hiroko Mima (7.100)
15.) Vietnam – Lam Thuy Nguyen (7.050)
Everybody was happy with the result. Including me. Dayana looks “everything” that I can imagine from A to Z.
She was a fox in yellow.
She had the “x,y and z” factor.
She is Miss Venezuela redefined. I am so glad that Osmel’s touch is back. The Powerhouse of Beauty is sooooo “on” once again. Who will be next? I hope they will not send another Jictzad Vina.
Cheers. See you all in Miss Universe 2009, where we share different thoughts but with a common aim.
“To see beauty deep within”
You can download the full video through my website www.bengwic.com/downloads/missuniverse2008.mp4 (620 MB) and will be available for download until next week. Experience the pageant once again and enjoy viewing it through your IPOD and IPHONE. Just bear with the Vietnamese dubbers. Enjoy the show!
