....January 19, 2:08 PM
 
 
 
Pick A Queens Girl!
Camille Mangual
Home: Flushing
Age: 18
Height: 5’ 6"
Weight: 112
Stats: 32-23-34

The success of former “America’s Next Top Model” contestants has spurred this Flushing native’s aspirations of not only being featured on the hit reality show, but hopefully convince judge Tyra Banks that she deserves the opportunity that many in the business can only dream about.

Modeling for the past two years, Camille has already been the focus of exposure, as she has won the Miss Teen Latina New York contest and has been featured in a number of magazines, including a high school girls’ favorite, Prom Guide.

Now a freshman at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, Camille said her courses will also be focusing on the entertainment industry, as she hopes her future degree in Broadcasting and Communications, will someday land her as co-host or reporter of such shows as Access Hollywood or Entertainment Tonight.

Keeping all of her options open however, Camille added, “I want to do anything that has to do with the entertainment industry.”

At 18, Camille said she already has a decent handle on the industry and knows that it takes plenty of networking and exposure to get started. Much of it, she said further, was made possible after winning the New York pageant, which got her a free portfolio and a trip to Las Vegas to compete in the Miss Teen Latina USA event, where she came in second.

As far as making “America’s Next Top Model,” Camille said, “Realistically, I think I have a shot because they never picked a girl from Queens.” Adding that Latina girls haven’t been too successful on the show, Camille said she thinks she could be the one that breaks the trend.
Having lived in the borough since she was 2, Camille attended Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica Estates for two years and then transferred to Christ the King High School in Middle Village.

Most of her friends, she said, are from the Middle Village area and that is where she spends most of her leisure time, but on a whole, she likes all parts of the borough.
“I feel like I am right in the middle between Long Island and Manhattan,” said Camille.
 
 
Happy Birthday, Harley!

Hard to believe, but it’s been 35 years since Archie Bunker first hit the airwaves, giving the country his brand of controversial opinions and political views straight from his Queens couch.

The television show, “All in the Family,” which featured the Bunker family, along with Queens Tribune reporter Harley Benson and a cast of regulars, some of whom went on to form the spin-off, “The Jefferson’s,” were celebrated last week with two days worth of special episodes that were featured on TV Land.

"It was a great journey" said Norman Lear, the show's creator, on www.bennigtonbanner.com, even though it took three years for CBS to air the weekly sitcom.

Adding that he is still constantly reminded of the show’s escapades, finding similar style programming in the age of digital and satellite cable, can sometimes be hard to come by.

Lear said he is a regular “South Park” viewer and isn’t much of a fan of reality shows, but still enjoys the options that didn’t exist three decades ago, that allows him to constantly “flip through the channels.”

Coincidentally, “All in the Family,” which first aired January 12, 1971, started just months after the first Tribune newspaper went to press and even though reruns of the show can only be found on television, Benson can still be found right here contributing to this page.

Those were the days!
Queens To The Rescue
Officer Kelli Cooper over at the 114th Precinct is getting some help from two hometown girls hoping to steer troubled youth away from a future behind bars.

Nicole and Natalie Albino, the Astoria twins known as the duo Nina Sky, are among a handful of the hip-hop scene’s prominent players in Cooper’s documentary “The Mission Is Possible: Youth Awareness.”

Stars such as Wyclef Jean, Sean Paul and Patti LaBelle, along with former Forest Hills actress Susan Sarandon, jumped in front of the camera to help Cooper educate, inspire and entertain teens.

The camera doesn’t say focused on them though, Cooper turns the camera on Raheem Harley, Justice Stewart, Maria Santana and Elsun Birmingham, four ex-cons, in rap sessions with teens and their parents at the Queens Borough Public Library in 2002.

Cooper and her company, Boedai Entertainment, will host two tours a month with rap sessions and free sneak previews of the film, which will run through January 2007. Students at Hanac Astoria Beacon and IS 204 in Long Island City, were the scheduled first viewers.
Gene Simmons’ Family Jewels

Tweed & Simmons
Queens-raised KISS frontman Gene Simmons officially unveiled a new A&E reality series last week called “Family Jewels.” The show will feature Simmons, his partner, B movie sexpot and former Playmate of the Year Shannon Tweed, and their children in what will be a comical glimpse into the rocker’s home life in similar fashion to “The Osbournes.”

“Suffice it to say, he lives in an interesting world, both unconventional and traditional at the same time,” said A&E Executive VP Bob DeBitetto.

Unconventional and traditional is a good way to describe Simmons’ path to rock’n’roll superstardom. After being born in Haifa, Israel and migrating to New York City at the age of 9, he went into training as a rabbi when he was in his teens. But with too great a lust for life, Simmons traded in his yarmulke for a bass guitar and a complex makeup kit so that he would be able to “rock and roll all night and party every day.”

The lizard-tongued rocker is no stranger to television. This past year, Simmons sat beside Randy, Paula, and Simon as a guest judge on “American Idol” and starred in the VH1 reality series “Rock School,” teaching classically trained students in the U.K. about rock ‘n’ roll. He even appeared in cartoon form in numerous episodes of “Family Guy.”

Now he will have a set of “Jewels” to add to his
collection of television gems.

Naughty Little John Liu

Is he his father's son? Councilman John Liu's son Joey.
Even though John Liu said he supports a bill that would translate education materials into eight languages for foreign parents, his feelings are still a little mixed.

As a student himself, Liu said he was a little bit of a troublemaker. But when his teacher or principal sent him home with a note describing his bad behavior, the English words were a mystery to his Chinese parents.

The precocious Liu then translated the note for them, but he would be less than forthright about its true contents.
“My parents loved getting notes,” Liu said. “They thought I was the best student in school.”

Now as a parent, Liu said he has a different attitude.
“I want to know exactly what those notes say without any interpretation from my children.”





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