If you were planning to have a trip to your favorite salon for haircut or whatever, you shouldn't have expected to find a single salon that was open for business. All your friendly neighorhood parloristas were busy watching Miss Universe 2007, haha!
So.. Japan finally won after finishing 1st Runner-up last year. The general feedback though is that Japan should've won last year instead. So the undeserved win was probably concurred by the crown, haha!
And another Asian, Korea, was also in the Top 5 and placed 3rd Runner-Up. And Philippines, for the 3rd time in a row, won Miss Photogenic, thanks to worldwide internet voting.
Wikipedia and www.peyups.com are simply the best sources for inside scoops (read: educated rumors) on big events like these, haha! Here are my random rants and raves, all of which are based on my own opinion alone, since I did watch the pageant. Plus, I have background information from the Wiki and Peyups.
*Korea was my bet. Her answer is good enough for me, but I think her interpreter didn't give her answer justice. And come on! She's mesmerizing! What a coincidence, her Final Question came from a fellow Korean, James Kyson Lee of Ando of Heroes fame, who was introduced as someone from Japan.
*USA was booed by the Mexicans, for pretty obvious reasons. First, USA fell on the floor during the Evening Gown competition and still got an 8.75, whilst Mexico got a 7.85. Gawd, a Thalia-look alike getting a 7.85? I wonder what the likes of Turks & Caicos or US Virgin Islands would get from these judges. Second, there's the political rivalry. We all know how Mexicans feel about immigration policies of the US. Rachel Smith was a good sport though, still smiling and even thanking the crowd, for the obvious lack of love, haha! But I think the crowd pressure took a toll on her answer. She was so nervous that instead of saying 'Mehiko', she uttered 'Mekiho'. The host, Vanessa Minillo, handled the situation politely well though -- "Okay, uno momento, por pabor. She was selected.."
*Yet again, the hype over Miss Philippines, Ana Licaros, was disappointing. Although, I should stress out, Ana Licaros, given her simple but elegant Filipina appeal and her excellent scholastic record, deserved the hype this time. She would've wowed the universe (yeah, even those from Krypton or the Phantom Zone) with her wit. Too bad, the support she gets from Bb Pilipinas Charities, Inc head honcho (or should that be honcha?), Stella Araneta, is quite, hmm, let's just say controversial. Rumor has it that year after year, she gets recycled gowns from Colombia for our delegate to use in the preliminaries, which in translation, is sabotage, hehe. Why not ask Filipina Monique Lhuiller (did I get the spelling right?) design the gown for Miss Philippines? Well, if you ask me, if a Colombian is our national pageant director in the first place, there must be something wrong there.
So we would have to wait another year to see if a Filipina would reign over the universe (how come other galaxies are not represented?). But if you ask me, as long as politics and business are a major factor in the Top 15 (the Miss Universe Organization, co-owned by Donal Trump, also submits scores that determines the Top 15 semifinalists), the Miss Photogenic Award (whether we deserve it or not) is all that we will get. Add the fact that we rarely send admirably worthy delegates anyway. *Sigh*
To Ana Teresa Licaros, as if you will get to read this anyway, haha, you represented our country well. Eh wala eh, lusty, porn-starry model ang hinahanap, ano ba naman laban ng summa cum laude standing mo? Haha!
*I can't speak, read nor write Nihonggo. I got my title by translating "Japan wins" at the first website for the Google results for "online translator".
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