|
....January 19, 12:53 AM |
| She Has It All
Yuan-Kwan Chan Long Island City Age: 29 Height: 5’ 2" Weight 95 lbs Stats: 32-24-34 Don’t even think of trying to label Yuan-Kwan Chan. This former Miss Chicago Chinatown who works as a Web site manager for the United Nations, played competitive piano for 13 years right up until college, where she went from William & Mary to spending a year studying abroad in Manchester, England, to grad school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern to… You get the point, right? “I’ve been doing the modeling in earnest for about three years, on a part time basis,” Chan said. When she was younger she did some work for Nike and MTV, but various commitments pulled her in different directions – all until she landed in Chicago and decided to compete for the Miss Chicago Chinatown. “There were three reasons I did it,” Chan said: an exploration of her Chinese American identity; after years on the piano competition circuit she would stand to brush up her competitive skills; and she wanted to be able to polish her public speaking skills. From that experience, Chan had been with a very good friend who was doing acting and modeling herself. She became interested, and realized she could probably do it as a hobby as well. “It gets me away from sitting in front of the computer all day,” Chan said of the modeling. She has worked as a live window model in an Upper East Side Japanese tea boutique, has done photo shoots and has even taken on some acting roles, including some short films, and a “Law & Order” episode. Chan moved to Long Island City less than a year ago, and loves the convenience of getting to her favorite parts of Manhattan, as well as the cuisine of Flushing. “My family loves buffets, so they love to go to East when they visit,” though she admits that her favorite place so far has been Ocean Jewel Seafood Restaurant, known throughout the city for its spectacular dim sum. |
| ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Whitney’s Wonders
For Piola Bass, the greatest love of all may be the one she has for Whitney Houston.
The 24-year-old from Jamaica was the successful bidder on two items when the diva’s personal effects were auctioned off from a storage warehouse in New Jersey last week. Bass, who said she was inspired to go into the music industry by listening to Whitney at age 7, is now a music agent and manager. She plans to put Whitney’s white leather and acrylic “throne” in her office, and is thrilled to have paid $550 for Whitney’s traveling backstage vanity, replete with cosmetics and even an old bottle of Gatorade. It seems Whitney wasn’t just saving all her love, but also her sport drinks as well. |
|||||||||
| Fence’s Post
According to the Canadian news site C-NEWS, Danial Rangkar, 25, of Nassau County, got in trouble with the law when a Queens man browsing his online pawn shop saw his stolen GPS for sale on eBay.
Rangkar was selling goods over the internet under the name “nydannysjewelry,” according to the site, and as soon as the jilted customer called in a report, Rangkar’s home and Queens pawn shop were turned upside down by police investigators. The theft victim verified it was his GPS by the serial number. An eBay spokesman told C-NEWS that members selling stolen goods have their accounts cancelled, though as of press time the fence was still operating on the site, though a note said he was “no longer a registered user.” |
|||||||||
| Ella: A Queen from Queens
One of the all time greats of jazz has received a distinctive honor, as last week the USPS circulated a 39-cent stamp of Ella Fitzgerald, the songstress who lived much of her life in Queens.
A new addition to the Black Heritage stamp series, the Fitzgerald stamp is based on a 1956 photo of the first lady of song, and was revealed to the press and public at a ceremony at Lincoln Center. Ella Fitzgerald, who moved to Queens from Virginia at a young age, grew up in Cambria Heights and eventually moved to St. Albans. The jazz great was discovered at a talent contest at the Apollo Theatre, and rose to meteoric fame and 13 Grammy wins singing the songs of Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter. |
|||||||||
| Dreams Become Nightmare?
With no punches pulled, Jamaica, Queens-born actor Obba Babatunde, known for his character work in films and television, was actually one of the original cast members and creators of the Broadway musical “Dreamgirls,” recently converted into a film and gaining considerable Oscar buzz.
So is he cashing in on his creation’s good fortune? Hardly. “The original cast sold our rights to any creative credit or future compensation for $1, with the exception of what the union afforded us to share in a limited first class production of the musical,” he said in a recent BlackVoices.com interview. “This would seal our fate as it pertained to the rights to any future profits derived from movies, television, etc. made from or based on the show we help shape and mold,” he continued. “This is a strange and all too common fate for blacks in the entertainment industry.” But Babatunde is not bitter. He turned down an offer to take part in the film version, and suggested that if people enjoyed the movie, they should go see the play. |
|||||||||
| | |||||||||
| |||||||||
You
can reach us by e-mail at conf@queenstribune.com Fax to Conf (718) 357-0972 Or you can reach us by mail: "Confidential" 174-15 Horace Harding Expressway Fresh Meadows, NY 11365 |
|||||||||
