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Fine Chynna
Chynna
Chung After
only two years in the game, Jamaica, Queens native Chynna is making a name
for herself in the modeling and motion picture industries. Although
she has yet to star in a flick, she has landed some spots as an extra in
some well-known box office hits. Most
recently, Chynna has appeared the critically acclaimed “25th Hour” and
“Brown Sugar.” Aside
from her movie appearances, you may recognize her from photos featured in
magazines like The Source. Chynna
got involved in modeling after people she knew encouraged her. “I
never liked the way I look in front of the camera.” Models
of Queens disagrees with her take on the way she looks and apparently so
did Derek Jones who heads up the Southeast Queens based modeling agency
Black Cartel that represents her. If
you haven’t seen her in a fashion mag or on the big screen you may have
the opportunity strolling along Continental Avenue and Austin Street in
Forest Hills – a favorite Queens destination, Chynna said. Chynna
is currently focused on her career that involves working for a Manhattan
organization that plans corporate events and she’s really interested in
planning a five-city concert tour for the summer. Her
favorite artist of the moment? Another
sensation from Jamaica, Queens – rapper 50 Cent. Queens’
Secret Treasures Online
There’s
a website out there that’s popping up ads all over the country
advertising, among other things, some of Queens’ most well-kept secrets.
The
site, iMar.com, is an eBay-like open market in which people buy and sell
their “experiences” and skills as services. Typical “experiences”
offered for sale include neighborhood tours by community board members and
former police officers, movie screenings with film experts and concerts with
jazz gurus.
The
services include everything from basics like typing and computer lessons, to
more unusual things like housesitting and line-standing for people too busy
to do those things themselves.
According
to iMar, the site is “establishing the de facto platform to mobilize this
fragmented army of sellers
– a huge pool of time-rich, cash-poor individuals (e.g. college
students, actors, models, etc.), as well as experience and knowledge rich
people (e.g. retirees, passionate hobbyists, teachers, etc.) – to make
their livelihood doing what they love.”
It
seems like there’s a good number of time, experience and knowledge-rich
people in Queens, as there are no fewer than 19 “experiences” being sold
on the site that take place in the borough.
Most
of the experiences focus on the diversity of Queens and its status as one of
the City’s less toured boroughs.
The
“QNS NYC Urban Adventure Safari,” for example, promises to let buyers
“visit 123 countries without a passport and still be back for
theater!!!”
The
Elmhurst-based tour takes people, among other places, to the Queens
Boulevard Wendy’s where parts of the film Coming to America were filmed.
The
“Back To The Future” 1964 World’s Fair tour takes buyers on a stroll
on the grounds of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, including Shea, the
Unisphere, the former New York State Pavilion and the Queens Museum of Art,
which features the Panorama of New York, “a mind-boggling sight.”
In
“Flushing, Queens: East Meets East,” Queens Botanical Gardens
Gardner-in-Residence Erin Moriarty gives buyers “a better understanding of
the plants and produce fouind in Flushing.”
There
are over a dozen more Queens “experiences” available on iMar.com, and
the site is waiting to host more sellers, too.
Queens lovers, log on!
Watch
Out, Lucy!
City Councilmember Allan Jennings says he has a “Chinese heart.”
And
in an attempt to reach out to his Chinese constituents, he ran an
advertisement depicting himself with his Taiwanese ex-wife and his current
Chinese girlfriend (extra points if you catch the foreign policy controversy
here). If
you date them, they’ll vote for you, or someone will, right? But
Jennings’ plan may have backfired. Many Chinese Americans have complained
about the ads. Then
his ex-wife came forward accusing him of domestic violence. Whew! If
he really wanted some good press, he could have just looked in the phone
book. One
Asian American sweetheart, Lucy Liu, is a native of Queens. Who
knows? Maybe Lui, with her love for adventure sports and her daredevil
stunts in movies like "Charlie’s Angels," could have handled the
errant councilman. Fan
Sues Liza Minnelli
Astoria-based
G&I Construction made international news this week when word got out
that it filed a lawsuit against Liza Minnelli last week. G&I,
which specializes in high-end residential renovations, allegedly did about
$250,000 of work on Minnelli’s upper-east side apartment, and the diva
still hasn’t paid $138,000 of it. Minnelli’s
attorney said G&I didn’t complete the work. G&I
isn’t taking calls from the media, and the company’s attorney, Leonard
Catanzaro won’t reveal any of G&I’s “confidential” details. Catanzaro
did admit, however, that he is a fan of Minnelli’s. And his mom is an even
bigger fan. Catanzaro
specializes in construction disputes and says he never expected to have such
a high profile case. When asked whether he would ask Minnelli for an
autograph if he ever had to depose her, Catanzaro joked that he would. “And
I think I’ll invite my parents to the deposition,” he said. Catanzaro
says these cases usually end in a settlement, but he says people like
Minnelli don’t always go down so easy.
“The wealthier they are, the harder they fight,” he said. Not
A Bad Night
That
Oscar-winning son of Queens, “The Pianist” star Adrien Brody,
took more than just a gold statuette away from the Academy Award ceremony
recently. According
to reports, Brody asked Nicole Kidman for her phone number, and the
Best Actress revealed her digits to the Best Actor. Apparently, Brody deftly
programmed the number of the former Mrs. Tom Cruise directly into his cell
phone. Not
bad for one night’s work: Brody gave a shout out to his serviceman pal
from Queens, made out with Halle Berry before millions of jealous
viewers and might now get a date with Nicole Kidman to boot.
Oh,
and he won an Oscar, too.
E-MAIL your items to: conf@queenstribune.com
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