Like so many gay people, I look forward to the Miss Universe tilts each year with the religious fervor of a saint. Alright, maybe not as fervent as for Charmed or Survivor, but excited all the same. Amazingly enough, I am excited for the yearly Miss U as much as my sister is excited for UAAP. Talk about baliktaran.
Lately, I have been enamored with the Miss Earth pageants.
It has yet to approximate Miss U in terms of glamour, to say nothing of the prizes at stake. Nevertheless, Miss Earth is a joy to watch.
Part of my fervor for the Miss Earth pageant has to do with a little bit of ethnocentrism. You see, the company that owns Miss Earth is not based in America or Europe, but right here in the Philippines.
In other words, Miss Earth is a Philippine pageant. Carousel Productions, a Manila-based company led by Ramon Monzon and Lorraine Schuck, owns it.
Miss Earth prides itself as a reworking of the concept of beauty contests. It gets its candidates to promote environmental awareness and take part in preservation campaigns. On top of the customary beauty and brains, Miss Earth is clearly on the lookout for an environmentalist’s goodness.
(By promoting environmental awareness, Miss Earth probably meant longer question-and-answer portions. Just kidding.)
I had always thought the works of the winning Miss Earth contestant represent little more than symbolic efforts to protect the environment. Yet when I watched her grueling schedule on TV, I thought to myself, gee, they must really mean business. In fact, organizers put up the Miss Earth Foundation in 2004 to institutionalize the pageant’s environmental cause.
Since its first pageant in 2001, Miss Earth has risen to become one of the world’s “Big Four” beauty competitions. In fact, it now ranks the third-largest in the world, a factory of beauties to rival those in Miss Universe and Miss World.
My only reservation is that the Philippines has been host of the pageant since 2001. It has never been held outside the country. On the brighter side, such arrangement has showcased the country’s tourist spots for seven years in a row now. Still I am not impressed by the telecast at all, with its gazillions of ads and cheap titles.
The 2009 Miss Earth would be aired live from Boracay in November.
Lately, I have been enamored with the Miss Earth pageants.
It has yet to approximate Miss U in terms of glamour, to say nothing of the prizes at stake. Nevertheless, Miss Earth is a joy to watch.
Part of my fervor for the Miss Earth pageant has to do with a little bit of ethnocentrism. You see, the company that owns Miss Earth is not based in America or Europe, but right here in the Philippines.
In other words, Miss Earth is a Philippine pageant. Carousel Productions, a Manila-based company led by Ramon Monzon and Lorraine Schuck, owns it.
Miss Earth prides itself as a reworking of the concept of beauty contests. It gets its candidates to promote environmental awareness and take part in preservation campaigns. On top of the customary beauty and brains, Miss Earth is clearly on the lookout for an environmentalist’s goodness.
(By promoting environmental awareness, Miss Earth probably meant longer question-and-answer portions. Just kidding.)
I had always thought the works of the winning Miss Earth contestant represent little more than symbolic efforts to protect the environment. Yet when I watched her grueling schedule on TV, I thought to myself, gee, they must really mean business. In fact, organizers put up the Miss Earth Foundation in 2004 to institutionalize the pageant’s environmental cause.
Since its first pageant in 2001, Miss Earth has risen to become one of the world’s “Big Four” beauty competitions. In fact, it now ranks the third-largest in the world, a factory of beauties to rival those in Miss Universe and Miss World.
My only reservation is that the Philippines has been host of the pageant since 2001. It has never been held outside the country. On the brighter side, such arrangement has showcased the country’s tourist spots for seven years in a row now. Still I am not impressed by the telecast at all, with its gazillions of ads and cheap titles.
The 2009 Miss Earth would be aired live from Boracay in November.
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