42 posts tagged “miss new zealand”

After the ANZAC Day service, we had morning tea. Some of the Miss New Zealand contestants came in after they had their hair and make-up done. Two veterans, Richard and Ken, loved the attention they got—especially Ken, who said, ‘I’ll have to start saying my prayers earlier tonight.’
   I was snapping away on the cell, though I missed the one where some of the present-day soldiers from Linton were getting food and froze when a few of the girls got theirs, bending over to do so. I was told by one of the pageant folks that the lads stopped and forgot they were holding their own food and drinks. I would have, too, probably.

   The ladies have a chat over morning tea.    Two real characters, Richard (wiping his mouth) and Ken, loved the attention—and Ken was a real charmer with the ladies!    Miss Horowhenua, and eventual runner-up, Priyani Puketapu, spots my cellphone poised to take a shot.    A general shot and you can see the plate with the sausage rolls has had good business.    This was the last van-load of contestants to depart. I don’t know what the sergeant is saying here but was there a love connection? (I love the fact that this Mazda van has the slogan ‘Home of Holden’ on the tailgate!)

I can say that my ANZAC Day was unique. I have done the odd service, but this was the first time I marched in an ANZAC Day parade, with the Miss New Zealand contestants, in the town of Levin last Saturday. We began outside the library and went to the cenotaph for the service. The girls had to leave early because of make-up and hair appointments, but we oldies stayed on for the duration and put our poppies down at the memorial.

[Cross-posted at Lucire] We finally have images of Katie Taylor, Miss Universe New Zealand 2009, from the night itself, rather than photographs taken casually during the days I was there. We’ve distributed some from this series to media today.

Photo credit: Paul Whiteford/Southern First National via JY&A Media

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Photo of Katie Taylor by Paul Whiteford, featured at Lucire

I know some people reckon beauty pageants are dead (or want them to be), but here are the most-searched keywords or phrases at the Lucire ‘Insider’ blog, beating Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s new Chanel ad.
   Lyndon at Scoop tells me he’s seen the same pattern there, and the Miss New Zealand item has had to compete with political and swine-’flu news.
   As Kiwis make up a small portion of Lucire’s total audience, this is a huge but very pleasant surprise.

Today (so far)
miss universe new zealand 2009
miss universe new zealand
miss new zealand 2009
miss universe nz 2009
katie taylor miss universe
katie taylor miss nz
miss universe new zealand katie taylor
miss world 2000
jean-pierre jeunet chanel
aucklander katie taylor

Yesterday
miss universe new zealand 2009
miss universe new zealand
katie taylor nz
katie taylor miss new zealand
miss universe nz 2009
katie taylor miss nz
katie taylor miss universe
aucklander katie taylor, 22
miss new zealand 2009
katie taylor miss universe nz
katie taylor new zealand

[Cross-posted from Lucire] The search for the next Miss Sweden has begun.
   My own affiliation with this pageant—Fröken Sverige to use its name in its native language—began six years ago, and I am happy to say this year I will be far more involved. I will let the publicity machine talk about my role in due course. (I will remain a judge at Miss New Zealand.)
   But for now, let me announce that the pageant is open and accepting entrants. The winner will go on to Miss Universe 2009 at Atlantis Paradise Island, Nassau, in late August.
   After protests grounded the pageant in Sweden some years ago, it was retooled to reflect modern women, though during the past year, Miss Sweden was, according to the organization, a ‘dormant project.’
   It continues, ‘The Board of Directors have spent this time evaluating and collecting impressions and inspiration from around the world—all in order to further develop the concept.
   ‘During this time intensive pressure from various channels and interests have shown that Miss Sweden is missed and more and more people have raised their voices asking that the pageant continue. Just now, when in these somewhat darker times, it is more important than ever to brighten up the world with hope, engagement and all the positives that Miss Sweden represents. We think it is important that we once again place in focus sound role models who create faith in the future and trust in one’s own abilities.’
   The role-model angle is important and it is one I have always borne in mind, ever since I began judging beauty pageants in 2007.
   I have always said to entrants that the interview is ‘80 per cent’. While the points don’t add up that way, judges place a great deal more on the entrant’s intelligence and initiative far more than we are given credit for.
   It may be fairer to say that after an interview, I can usually pick who could win with 80 per cent certainty.
   In New Zealand, interviews can last 20 minutes with each candidate. After speaking with a former Miss Israel, Gal Gadot, who is in the new Fast and Furious film, I understand that she was subjected to eight to ten minutes per judge—and there were eight to ten of them.
   Sweden, too, has a very involved procedure when it comes to interviews—if it didn’t, I doubt that the first winner of the retooled pageant, Josephine Alhanko, would be a young woman with two masters’ degrees with an ambition to get a doctorate.
   For those who wish to be a part of one of pageantry’s most successful competitions, Miss Sweden is now accepting applicants at www.frokensverige.se.
   In the words of my friend, Panos Papadopoulos, the initiator of the pageant and the man behind Panos Emporio, ‘For those who are interested in participating the recruitment of the New Miss Sweden is an adventure that proves that one can conquer the world with the right attitude. New Miss Sweden gives endless possibilities for talented young women to realize their dreams. One year of important and inspirational work awaits. Everyone else can take joy from this fairy-tale of success and be a part of the festivities that surround it.’

Above: Rhonda Grant, representing New Zealand at Miss International, with Japanese students prior to a national costume parade.

[Cross-posted from Lucire] It was nice to hear from nutritionist Rhonda Grant, one of our Miss Universe New Zealand runners-up, who represented her country at Miss International in Macau.

   The competition took in some very interesting places: Tokyo, Kyoto, Macau and Hong Kong.
   ‘The best part for me was the whole cultural exchange thing: getting to see three other countries, meet girls from 63 countries, and make some really nice girl-friends who I can’t wait to visit,’ she said. Continued at Lucire.

[Cross-posted at Lucire] Doug Rimington has a few behind-the-scenes shots from Tuesday’s shoot with Miss New Zealand Samantha Powell. I snapped one to finish off a roll of film myself, which is below. This was shot in pretty dark conditions, f5·6, 1/30 sec, on my Voigtländer Bessamatic. Rebecca Connor, the reigning Miss Wellington and a top-five finisher herself at the national competition, is doing the make-up on behalf of her own business, About You Artistry. It’s very lucky of us to have two beautiful women in the same frame. (This is a scan, and our office scanner is doing a few funny things, so please bear in mind that the original print is a tad sharper.)

[Cross-posted at Lucire] The weather is delightful today, but we had to wait till the late afternoon (i.e. after working hours) to see any sun yesterday during Miss Universe New Zealand Samantha Powell’s shoot. She was already suffering from food poisoning so she wasn’t in the best health, but was an absolutely wonderful sport despite our dragging her out. Douglas Rimington photographed, having flown back from Sydney, and Rebecca Connor of About You Artistry (and Miss Wellington 2008) did her make-up. Simon Wolyncewicz assisted us. Some of our behind-the-scenes shots are below.

[Cross-posted in Lucire] We’re preparing to shoot Samantha Powell, Miss Universe New Zealand 2008, on Tuesday. Photographer Doug Rimington is flying in from Sydney tonight and I collect him at the airport in a BMW 120i Cabriolet that the company has lent to me; and the Tissot Fabulous Garden watch has arrived, delivered personally by Griffiths McKay & Buckleigh’s Lynette Kopu. Our one is prettier than the one featured in Lucire this month: it has a gold face, and the watch is nicer in the metal, but the price is the same (NZ$775). No word from the press person at an Auckland label whom I called last week, so it looks like Starfish (our first choice) will be supplying both dresses for Sam.
   Not that I know what the photos will look like, but there is a good chance the next New Zealand-edition cover will be shot by a Kiwi.

It’s quite easy to work out the agenda of the mainstream media when it comes to an article like this, trying to harm Samantha Powell’s chances at Miss Universe tomorrow night.

• Personal aggrandizement of the journalist, or, if not the journalist, then the newspaper editors or management trying to look like they can set agenda. (The part about Val Lott hanging up the phone, I understand, is total fiction—so if something so minor is untrue, can we trust the rest?)
• Trying to cause a split between pākehā and Māori when in fact there is none. Fact: the photograph of Samantha Powell doing the pukana was actually published in mid-June—and even ran in a rival newspaper here! There were no complaints from anyone, Māori or any other group, until the Herald made it a race issue yesterday. Or the Herald is trying to play catch-up because it missed the photos a month ago and was desperate for a fresh angle.
• Racism: come on, the headline is clearly poking fun at Māori and the pukana. I don’t appreciate the newspaper doing that, and I would say my Māori friends would be more upset at that than the Herald’s false defence of the haka. Like a newspaper owned by Australians and the Irish really understands Māoridom.
• Implying that two beauty queens are at odds with one another. False. Samantha Powell is in communicado for the most part in Nha Trong, Vietnam, and I severely doubt Miss World New Zealand, Kahurangi Taylor, would risk criticizing another pageant for fear of damaging her own chances when she goes to Miss World.
• Tall-poppy syndrome. (The newspaper failed there: the judges decided their top 15 last week.)
• Lack of patriotism: you would never drag the All Blacks down a peg the day before a big international. And places like Venezuela treat Miss Universe with greater fervour than we treat a rugby match. But an absence of supporting New Zealand is understandable, since The New Zealand Herald is owned by a company listed on the Australian exchange and in turn owned in part by a company based in Dublin. Pity: their business pages are good, so it’s a shame some of these others are dragging them down.

   My views about the appropriateness of Samantha Powell’s haka are at the Lucire blog. I agree that Māori culture should be defended. But you couldn’t really call it a haka. She just did a few moves. It would be like a Caucasian donning a lion mask and moving two metres and calling that a Chinese New Year’s lion dance.
   As I said in Lucire: ‘I know of no Māori who, while rightly guarding against improper use of their culture, would deny a chance for it to be promoted or be rendered so “untouchable” to those who came later to Aotearoa. In fact, one kaumatua I spoke to says it is our duty, regardless of our ethnic origins, to be promoting Māori culture when we are abroad. 
   ‘Sometimes, because we have not been immersed in the culture, we err. It is to be expected. And, when the one who errs is not of our own race, we forgive and we educate, but we do not criticize.
   ‘All New Zealanders should be proud to propagate Māori culture as the alternative would be to ignore it and pretend we are mere facsimile of Great Britain, as many Kiwis did 50 years ago.’
   I’d hate to see us head back to those monocultural times—though it looks like the Herald wants that to happen by running a story like this.
   Since the newspaper has been shifting a lot of its work to Australia, I imagine an Anglicized monoculture makes it easier to take more editing work away from Kiwis.
   Any time you see a story about over-sensitive Māori getting upset about the way the culture has been portrayed, think again about the agenda.
   All the Māori I know put mana first and actually see this as an opportunity to reach out and educate in order to promote their culture. 
   A big fail for the Herald. Sam’s still going to wow the world tomorrow night.