Beat-boxing Miss Philippines

I don't really pay much attention to Miss World pageants. Really I don't. But occasionally something they produce something fascinating/hilarious/bizarre which is too good to ignore. Case in point is this year's entrant from the Philippines, Quenerich Rehman. Her entry in the "talent" section of the competition is surely a world first.

Sure, she's not the best beat-boxer you've ever seen, but it's better than I could do. And don't we all want our world represented by a beautiful lady who can beat-box? 

Unfortunately she didn't win. That honour went to Miss China, who in all fairness, is hawt. But can she beat-box? I'd have to presume not.

Btw, if you are wondering why her surname is unusual for a Filipino, it's because she apparently has a Pakistani father. If you are wondering why her first name is unusual... it's because she's Filipino. They like that kind of whackiness. It's sometimes listed around the place as "Queenierich", which doesn't make it any less odd.

For more beauty contest enjoyment:

Interview with Miss Universe China. Oh man, this is good.

Facepalm-worthy entrants on The S Factor, Singapore's answer to Next Top Model

Is it OK to laugh at this?

Hot brown news journalists on SBS

I posted recently on the difficulties that non-white models are said to face in the Australian market, after an agency told an Indian-Australian model, successful overseas, that she'd struggle to find work in Perth due to her ethnicity.

So where does that leave all our young good-looking go-getters who happen to have somewhat swarthier complexions?

They could always try out as a journalist on SBS TV. Australia's multicultural broadcaster has clearly taken it upon itself to overcompensate for the lack of ethnic diversity on the mainstream channels' news departments. You would hard-pressed to claim that their selection of faces represents the Australian population. But I ain't complaining. Particularly since the network has been gradually upping the good-lookingness of its on-camera team in recent years.

Of course, SBS has by far and away the best coverage of global news of any free-to-air network in Australia. But this post is not about news, so much as it is a celebration of this oasis of brown hotness in Australia's broadcasting desert.

Janice Peterson (newsreader)

Peta-Jane Madam (reporter & newsreader) 

Auskar Surbakti (reporter)

Yalda Hakim (host, Dateline)

Kathy Novak (reporter)

Anton Enus (newsreader)

Leroy Ah Ben (reporter)

Former newsreader Indira Naidoo, one of the first Indians in a prominent Australian TV role.

See also:

The lack of Asians on Australian TV, and why it matters

The whiteness of the Australian modelling industry

Thanks to reader George for the heads up on this story.

Modelling agency denies racism claims
An Indian-Australian model told by a national modelling agency that her work chances were "limited" because she was not Caucasian, is speaking out against the company in a bid to stop the discrimination continuing.
After living and working as a model in the United Kingdom for two years, Kema Rajandran emailed a short biography and photos to Chadwick Model Agency in Perth on Monday, and was "truly disheartened" at the response she received a short time later.
"We think you are very photogenic and would be suitable for our Casting Division," the email from the academy coordinator read.
"Please note however that as you are of non-caucasian heritage that your work opportunities in Perth would be extrremely [sic] limited."
Ms Rajandran said given the "extremely multicultural society of Australia", she was shocked at the response, and hoped that by her speaking out about it, the practice of culling models based solely on their appearance would change.
Chadwick's Perth manager Tanya Muia said she was "gob-smacked" that the agency could be labelled as racially discriminating against Ms Rajandran, and that they were simply relaying her chances of finding work in a tight Perth modelling market.
"This is just ridiculous. I don't see that this is race related," Ms Muia said. "If we don't feel that she's going to secure work in the Perth market... then we tell [her] about it. We have the liberty to give an honest opinion."
Ms Muia said Chadwick, along with other modelling agencies, provided models based on industry demand and that as such had no control over the "looks" chosen for various campaigns.
"We are not discriminating in any way. We represent every culture out there," she said. "There is a bigger picture here other than just that one line, and yes, we will be changing it. But we have worded it (the standard email response) that way for 10 years. We've never had a complaint."
Equal Opportunity Commissioner Yvonne Henderson said while she could not comment specifically on Ms Rajandran's case, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee either at the workplace or in the recruitment process, based on their race. She said there are some exemptions in the case of artistic performance, however did not believe that modelling agencies would fit into this category.
Ms Rajandran said she was extremely disappointed to learn that her Indian appearance would hinder her employment opportunity, especially given the extensive work on offer in the UK to models of "all ethnicities and cultures".
She said she had previously expressed her thoughts on Australia's predominantly Caucasian-based image, and until she saw this email, thought she might have been exaggerating it in her mind.
"This is not right, and I want to bring it to the attention of Australians," she said. "I'm sure they are going to try and justify it... but it is not an acceptable comment."

Ok, a few thoughts here. It seems like Chadwick Modelling Agency aren't really the problem; I wonder if this is a case of "shoot the messenger". If they rejected her solely for that reason and without even giving her a go, then obviously they are just perpetuating the cycle - it's all very well to say that the demand is not there for non-white models, but if the agencies don't give them a chance to even be in contention then there's no chance for things to change. But from my understanding, they actually offered to take her on board their casting division, but felt it necessary to advise her that there weren't many prospects for her. Apparently, the email they sent her was a standard format they had been using for 10 years for clients like these. (Which is sad in itself.)

It must be pointed out for context that Perth is not an especially large city; it's population is around 1.6 million, compared to Sydney (4.5 million) and Melbourne (4 million). Thus it's a smaller market for models and there's obviously going to be less work around. In addition, the ethnic mix of Perth is less diverse than either of those two cities, and that has an effect on how accepting the public is of non-white standards of beauty. Yet Perth also has a substantial Aboriginal community, and is one of the few cities in which a non-white person (Sri Lankan-born and extremely fine Karina Carvalho) is the lead anchor on prime-time news on a major channel (ABC).

Some would argue that there is a lot of political correctness at play here. In other words, it's all about the bottom line, and when it comes to non-white models, the market has spoken. Companies do not want their products represented by the likes of Kema Rajandran, so why should anyone try to force them otherwise? The public, who buy the products, identify more with the traditional Western ideals of good looks, and casting non-white models might cost the company money.

First up, this begs the question: do consumers really respond better to models who fit a Western European ideal of beauty?

Let's assume that to at least some degree, consumers have a greater tendency to identify with celebrities and models who look somewhat like them, or at least look like something they could aspire to. Within a country that is about 90% white, that means white models will clearly receive preference, as currently occurs. Yet check out some ad campaigns for major international brands that feature in Australian television and print media, and it's certainly not all white faces. Beyonce Knowles, Halle Berry, Eva Longoria, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Lopez and Aishwarya Rai are common sights in that realm. Yes, they are famous, but clearly their colour is not a significant obstacle to their images being used as a selling point. Which suggests that if the model is attractive enough, she's good enough.

Although you might wonder if the likes of Knowles and Rai had just been aspiring models from Perth rather than global superstars, how successful they would have been. I wonder if it is significant that two of Australia's most successful models who happen to have non-white ancestry - Samoan/Anglo Megan Gale and Portuguese/Chinese Jessica Gomes - were little known in Australia until they found success overseas.

How much does the modelling and fashion industry reflect the general public's ideas of beauty, and how much does it shape them? As a parallel, I would argue that the relative dominance of gay men in the fashion industry has played a factor in promoting female models with a more androgynous look than you might expect if it was more in line with how heterosexual men see women. So in that sense I would say that it is not necessarily reflecting public tastes. Yet it certainly shapes public tastes; our expectations of what women's bodies should look like are seemingly more unrealistic than they were several generations ago. Models considered unusually "curvy", like the aforementioned Jessica Gomes for example, still tend to be thinner than the average woman.

Likewise, if the various industries that use models start to use a more diverse range of them, it will undoubtedly have some degree of influence on the public's notions of beauty. So to say that the industry merely reflects the public's taste is erroneous, since it both reflects and feeds it simultaneously.

Given that Rajandran was obviously able to find work without much problem in England, where the South Asian population is considerably larger than in Australia, one might argue that it simply comes down to the size of the market, and a non-white model is best off promoting herself in a location where there are more non-whites. But is that really where we are at? Do we really only want to look at one kind of beauty?

Interview with Miss Universe China. Oh man, this is good.

Why do they require candidates make animal noises and sound effects as part of the interview? I don't know, but I'm sure it's the best part of the entire competition. You can see clips of every contestant, but none is as awesome as this one featuring China's entrant, Tang Wen.



PONG CHIUUU!!!!


Like this? Then check out this and this.

UPDATE:

This Miss Universe pageant sure brings out the best in people. I had to add this video of some gay* Filipino guys going completely apesh*t over the pageant. You have to wait til more than 2 minutes in for the real payoff, but it's worth it.


* I'm really just assuming they are gay, but I think you'll agree it's a pretty safe assumption.

Who is the world's hottest leader? (Part 2 - females)

Ok, so it was a while ago now that I ran a poll for the hottest male world leader (which as I speak remains a dead heat between the Prime Minister of Norway and the King of Bhutan). So of course it would be remiss of me, not to mention sexist, not to do the same for the hottest female world leaders.

Only problem is, they aren't exactly thick on the ground, the vast majority of world leaders being male. And a number of them, leadership abilities aside, simply aren't in contention to be called "hot". So I've had to be a bit creative with my selections here, picking someone who has just been voted out, and someone who is clearly the rightful leader of her country.

The poll is at the bottom of the post. If there is someone you think I have missed, please leave a comment!

CRISTINA FERNANDEZ DE KIRCHNER (President of Argentina)
Cristina Fernandez was the First Lady of Argentina before she was President; her husband Nestor Kirchner preceded her in the office. So in other words, she succeeded at what Hilary Clinton failed to do. The 57 year-old is Argentina's second female President and the first to be democratically elected.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI (Prime Minister-elect of Burma)
Ok, so technically the figurehead of Burma's opposition movement is not officially the leader of her country. But she has previously won the 1990 election with an overwhelming majority, and would undeniably win any election held today, if only Burma's military junta would allow her to. In any case, I couldn't hold a poll of attractive female world leaders and not include the elegant Aung San Suu Kyi, a former Nobel Peace Prize winner who looks amazing for someone aged 65.

LAURA CHINCHILLA (President of Costa Rica)
The 51 year-old Chinchilla was elected on May 8 2010 as the first female leader of her Central American nation. There's a clip on Youtube entitled "Laura Chinchilla es muy sexy", so I won't argue. I like her hair.




YULIA TYMOSHENKO (Former Prime Minister of Ukraine)
Tymoshenko was booted from office earlier this year (4th of March, 2010 to be exact) but I'm including her in this list, because, well, she's just too hot to not be on it. I mean, how many other world leaders get photographed posing on motorbikes? She's 49.

MICHAELLE JEAN (Governor-General of Canada)
52 year-old Jean is a true immigrant success story; she arrived in Canada as a refugee from Haiti aged 11, became a journalist and broadcaster, before being appointed governor-general in 2005. Plus she's well hot.

DORIS LEUTHARD (President of Switzerland)
Switzerland has quite a record of female heads of state; Leuthard, elected in 2010, is the 6th in its history. Only tiny San Marino has had more, with 31.

JULIA GILLARD (Prime Minister of Australia)
Migrating from Wales as a child, the 48 year-old Gillard became Australia's first female PM after siezing the reigns of power from her colleague Kevin Rudd. She's highly likely to get voted out very shortly though. Australia also has a female Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, who is the official head of state.


So make your selection! You can vote for more than one person if you like, but not more than once for each.

See also:
Who are the hottest players at the World Cup?

Who is the hottest world leader? (Part 1 - Males)

World leaders are, on the whole, a pretty homely bunch. Which if you are a Freudian, kinda makes sense. Power being the aphrodesiac that it is, maybe some of the uglies decided politics was the only way they were gonna get some real action. (I'm sure they also wanted to make a difference to their country, yada yada...)

But there are some world leaders who are far from ugly. Some that you might even consider very good-looking. But who is the best? Here are some candidates...

(I cover female world leaders here.)

ABHISIT VEJJAJIVA (Prime Minister of Thailand)
He's not the most popular guy in Thailand right now, if the red-shirt riots are anything to go by. But that just goes to show there's more to popularity than looks, which the dashing Abhisit is not short of. Interestingly, the 45 year-old was actually born in Newcastle in England and educated at Oxford. And his wife has the awesome name Pimpen.

BORUT PAHOR (Prime Minister of Slovenia)
Something about 46 year-old Borut Pahor just says "movie star" to me. Maybe it's the startling blue eyes, or that look in the second photo that just says "You know you want to vote for me."

GORDON BAJNAI (Prime Minister of Hungary)

Speaking of striking blue eyes, this guy's got quite a pair. The 42 year-old Bajnai has the sort of reassuring good-looks that obviously make him a seductive option at the Hungarian polls.

HENRI, GRAND DUKE OF LUXEMBOURG
His full name is Henri Albert Gabriel Felix Marie Guillaume. But you can call him Henri. The 55 year-old Grand Duke sports the kind of look that would be at home on Days of Our Lives.

BARACK OBAMA (President of the USA)
Big ears or not, the 48 year-old part-Kenyan Obama is quite the looker. And he's got an undeniable sense of style and cool about him that few politicians ever have. I mean, he's not necessarily cool by most standards, but by politician standards, he's wayyy cool.

HASHIM THACI (Prime Minister of Kosovo)
Thaci is the 42 year-old leader of the world's newest nation (although its nation status is still widely disputed). I think he is not an amazing looking guy generally, but when he smiles, as in the first photo, what a great set of gnashers!

JENS STOLTENBERG (Prime Minister of Norway)
For some reason I feel like the 51 year-old Stoltenberg should be playing a doctor in some British drama series. He also vaguely reminds me of the Fonz.

JIGME KHESAR NAMGYAL WANGCHUK (King of Bhutan)
He may look like a Hong Kong teen film idol, but the 28 year-old Oxford-educated Khesar presides over the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

JOSEPH KABILA (President of the Democratic Republic of Congo)
The 39-year-old former guerilla fighter assumed the Presidency of the war-torn Congo after the murder of his father Laurent Kabila in 2001, making him one of the youngest-ever world leaders at age 29. His birth name is actually Hippolyte Kanombe Kazemberembe. Hippolyte is not exactly the sexiest name a bloke can have, but try to look past it. I included the second picture because I know some of you folks love a man in uniform.

JOSE SOCRATES (Prime Minister of Portugal)
I feel like there's a little bit of George Clooney and a little bit of Dustin Hoffman in the 52 year-old Portuguese PM, whose actual name is Jose Socrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa. Nice hairstyle too.

MOHAMED NASHEED (Prime Minister of the Maldives)
The 43 year-old PM of the Maldives is widely regarded as a champion of environmental causes, and is the only world leader I know of to stage a sitting of parliament under water, an in attempt to raise awareness of the plight of his tiny island nation in the face of rising sea levels. Most politicians look a bit geeky, but Mr Nasheed has got the hot-nerd thing going for him; he kind of looks like a handsome accountant.

VLADIMIR PUTIN (Prime Minister of Russia)
There are few world leaders who love to be photographed topless as much as Mr Putin, who still cuts a fine figure at age 57. The fact that he is a former KGB operative who could probably kill you as soon as look at you is either creepy or sexy, depending on your perspective.

RAFAEL CORREA (President of Ecuador)
47-year-old Correa is one of the new wave of democratic socialist leaders reigning in South America. Apart from his obvious ability to rock a party (see the first picture above), my favourite thing about him is this quote from Wikipedia:
"In response to Chávez's comparison of US President George W. Bush with Satan, Correa said it was unfair to the devil."

XANANA GUSMAO (Prime Minister of East Timor)
He may be 63 years old now, but Jose Alexandre (Xanana) Gusmao still looks the goods, just as he did as a young man (second picture). Those are some great eyes. Plus he is a former freedom fighter who spent 6 years in jail for his struggle. Which is kinda hot, I guess.


So now over to you - who is the hottest? You can vote for more than one if you like, but please don't vote for any candidate more than once.

Remember that this is a purely superficial poll and is not about the leader's policies or ideology. It's strictly about the looks here.

If you think I've missed anyone, leave a comment and let me know!



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Who are the hottest players at the World Cup?