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Special Features
Will 1st Impressions Last?
by: Kis
5/16/2004
Miss Costa Rica Nancy Soto and
Miss Sweden Katarina Wigander
This section of the competition is all about
impressions, using the first few days' photographs. It is to identify those who
deserve to be invited to the next round and of course, to see whether the Miss
Universe Privilege Card holders need to activate those cards! Just the
photographs. No airbrushing. No stats, no numbers, no checking the ladies'
written interviews, no politics.
"So, Shandi, Tanushree, Ana Karina? Ladies, ladies, ladies? Don't swipe
those MU Privilege Platinum cards just yet! And Eri, please, drop that Miyako
Miyazaki mask. Now! A famous Japanese chef is apparently on the board of
judges, so you're safe. And who told Gabriela that she could wear an evening
gown on the day of her arrival? A bit too quick off the mark, isn't' it?"
The top ten in my first preliminaries (remember: just impressions):
COME ON DOWN, MISS....
PARAGUAY,
Yanina Gonzalez
Regal, classy and extraordinarily sexy! Her looks combine the steamy sexiness
of an Amazonian queen, the aura of unattainability of a Vassar College or an
Assumption undergrad and the serenity and freshness of an Oriental goddess --
"No, Miss Japan. It's not you we're talking about so stop grinning like a
cat." Ms. Paraguay's beauty leaps out of the photographs grabbing my
undivided attention. She looks like an absolute corker with her hair down just
as she looks devastatingly beautiful with her hair up. She is undoubtedly one
of the best beauties South America has to offer this year. If not THE best.
US of A,
Shandi Finnessey
I just have to hand it to this lady. There's really nothing extraordinary about
her but for some reason I can't resist taking a good look. Twice. Three times.
All right, Four! Is it the blond Morgan Freeman hair? No. [Oh. It's Morgan
Fairchild.] Is it that brown, Macy's french-ruche curtain she was wearing on
arrival? No. Those twinkled, smiley eyes? Probably. Whatever it is -- and no,
it's not those highly questionable thighs, either -- her overall Hollywood
D-List look commands you to pay attention to her. But seriously, those eyes are
captivating.
PHILIPPINES,
Maricar Balagtas
Naomi Campbell on the runway, in Paris, can easily manage a Galliano or a
McQueen orange-on-tan number. But at Ms. Universe; in the middle of the
morning; right at the lobby of the Marriot? Only a girl endowed with an
arresting beauty like Ms. Philippines can pull off such a stunt and get away
with it. Short, yes, but she's well proportioned and she does look so
impressive as to command attention. And she knows it too!
Small-But-Perfectly-Formed, Miss Shorty can have that orange-chocolate cake and
eat it too while waving all the way to a lot of people's top 15 list. Do I hear
the Bolivian yelling, "Get Shorty!!??"
SWEDEN,
Katarina Wigander
Straight from Mariscal Sucre International; hardly any make up on; wearing
denims. And horrors of horrors -- is that a plastic shopping bag she's
carrying? The Bolivian & the Swiss may be towering over everyone in the
photograph but my eyes are fixed on that blond doll with the odd, exciting
Scandinavian looks. "See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the Swedish
queeeeennnn.."
COSTA RICA,
Nancy Soto
She looks like a reject Raquel Welch to me at times. But! But! But! Comparing
her to that legendary beauty can only mean one thing: Miss Costa Rica is a
stunner. And she can go top 15 in my own private Miss Universe.
Miss Germany Shermine Sharivar and
Miss Ethiophia Ferehyiwot
Abebeul
GERMANY, Shermine Sharivar
She's no Claudia Schiffer but she has that polished, mixed-race-yet-classical,
subtle-but-unmissed look about her. Like Yanina from Asuncion, Shermine is
a regal gal but she's edging dangerously closer and closer to that borderline
as more and more delegates arrive and freshen up.
UKRAINE,
Oleksandra Nikolayenko
Blond, brown, mousy, jet black, brunette: she can get away with any color. It's
probably her cheekbones or the Miss World connection that makes me look at her
again. And again. Or it's probably the fact that she has the audacity to opt
for the dark-haired, cultured look and leave the Barbarella impression to Ms.
USA? Or is it to Ms. Venezuela? Yes, it's Ana Karina trying on those leather
boots!
MEXICO,
Rosalva Luna
Yes, yes, yes, I know, I know. She resembles someone who fell flat on her face
on a cake of make up on her arrival day! But what can I say? Her looks simply
reach out to me. Probably the tortillas I had for lunch today!
ETHIOPIA, Ferehyiwot
Abebeul
Yul Brynner in The Twelve Commandments: "I present to you, Ethiopia." Along
with the Somalis, the Ethiopians are some of the best looking women in the
world. Always long limbed with beautiful deep set eyes. They have straight,
aquiline noses with cheekbones rising up to their foreheads when they smile to
show those beautiful teeth. This year's representative is a good specimen. She
is truly the African Queen!
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO,
Danielle Jones
I initially thought she was just your usual, run-of the-mill, pretty
Trinidadian. She looks like a pretty Sunday school teacher in her initial
photographs, actually. Then out comes the photograph of her standing next to
Ms. USA! Both of them looking pretty in the photograph but, T&T more than holds
her own. Actually she looks absolutely stunning!
THERE. I AM PRETTY SURE THE LINE UP WILL CHANGE AS AND WHEN........
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