Beauty pageants

Final Miss World 2011 Preview

Featured image The Miss World pageant is tomorrow at 5 p.m. GMT–which is slightly unfortunate, as that will be something like 10:00 in the morning, Central Time. It will be televised on the E! network. Miss World is a frustrating pageant in several respects. I’ve already complained about the pageant web site’s awful photography, but that isn’t the only problem. The site hasn’t been updated adequately, and, while some of the contestant »

Debating Miss World, With Illustrations

Featured image Beauty pageants and debating are two of my favorite things. My youth was misspent–not, unfortunately, due to too many beautiful girls, but rather because I devoted an inordinate amount of time to competitive debate. These two interests collided Friday night, as 122 Miss World contestants descended on Cambridge University, and in particular the Cambridge Union Society, which bills itself as the world’s oldest debating society. The topic of discussion was »

Correction!! Correction!!

Featured image We work fast, and every once in a while we make mistakes. Usually they are minor, but if we become aware of an error, we try to correct it promptly. Still, now and then–very rarely–we make a really serious mistake. Something that goes to the heart of a post, and could endanger our credibility with readers. On those extraordinary occasions–I can think of two–we do the equivalent of Drudge’s rotating »

Miss World: A Good Pageant, In Spite of Itself

Featured image This web site’s pageant coverage has focused on the two great international competitions: Miss Universe and Miss World. Donald Trump, for better or worse, owns Miss Universe, while Miss World has remained in the same British hands for decades. Both pageants have their strong points; Miss World not only has a talent competition–long ago abandoned by Miss Universe–but has a system of preliminary contests where the winners of the talent, »

Miss Angola!

Featured image The Miss Universe pageant came to a stunning conclusion tonight as Miss Angola, Leila Lopes, was crowned the winner. We highlighted Miss Angola in our first post on the pageant, with this photo: The contest was a tough one, as the top 15 were, in my opinion, as good a group as has ever been seen on a pageant stage. There were some surprises in the top ten; most notably, »

Catching Up With Miss Universe

Featured image With the finale of the Miss Universe pageant just two days away, news has been pouring out of Sao Paulo. Not all of it has been good–you probably already know the story of Miss Colombia, who borrowed a leaf from Britney Spears and Sharon Stone–not, unfortunately, a fig leaf. We’ve noticed that pageant news is much easier to keep up with these days than it used to be. When we »

Miss Universe: The Bikini

Featured image I do mean to do a serious post or two before the end of the day, but, having just a moment free for now, here is something that may brighten your day, especially if you are a guy–the official Miss Universe video on the bikini: »

Miss Universe–One Week Away

Featured image The finale of the Miss Universe pageant is a week from tonight on NBC. It will take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We began our annual preview of the pageant here. I noted several of my favorite contestants, but didn’t get past the letter “B.” I may have to ditch the alphabetical approach. With the contest drawing near, there are lots of sources of information. At the top of the »

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Featured image As of today I am on vacation until Tuesday. I intend to take a break from the news as well, so if I post at all it will probably either be photos of the North Woods or news of the impending Miss Universe pageant. (Some duties, after all, cannot be shirked.) The Miss Universe finale, if you haven’t been following it, will take place on September 12 in Sao Paulo, »