Thursday, May 20, 2010

Irina Pavlova – new top figure at NBAs New Jersey Nets

Today many Google readers were checking for the Irina Pavlova on the Search Engine. Who is that Russian lady, capturing so much of attention? You would be surprised, but the interest came from the sport breakthrough news.

The new owner of the New Jersey Nets, Russian Mikhail Prokhorov, has appointed Irina Pavlova as president of the company that will oversee his ownership of the Nets and their new stadium he’s building.

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“She will work closely with the management structure of the Nets to create all conditions necessary for successful development of the team,” he said.

Pavlova has extensive experience in business and finance. She earned an MBA from Stanford University, worked as a financial analyst with Prudential Investment Corp. and became Russia’s first employee for Google. She lived in Moscow and Washington as a child. She’s fluent in Russian, English and Spanish.

Prokhorov, a billionaire who is Russia’s richest man, immediately fired the club director and has promised to revive the last-place Nets and bring them to the top in the nearest future. His company, Onexim,  described Pavlova as the “perfect bridge between Russia and the United States.”

“She will establish the company’s office (in New York) and cooperate closely with the Nets management to ensure they have everything they need to build a championship team,” Onexim said in a statement.

Pavlova will coordinate the development project in Brooklyn that is to become the Nets’ new home. The long-delayed arena is expected to open in 2012. Prokhorov agreed to buy 80 percent of the Nets and 45 percent of the arena project from developer Bruce Ratner last year.

In the recent interview to The New York Times, Mikhail Prokhorov announced “America, I came with piece!”

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I should also confess that I was not successful to find online any pictures of Irina Pavlova, neither in English, nor in Russian publications. 

Monday, May 10, 2010

Scandal Pictures of the Miss 2010 Contestants

Miss USA scandal pictures search string captured the top listing in the Google Hot Trends today, after TMZ.com reported that there has been considerable controversy over the promotional photos for Miss USA contestants. All the photos authorized by the pageant. The Miss USA pageant airs tonight. 

The Miss Universe Organization has released a set of black-and-white pictures of the Miss USA 2010 contestants that are very sexy and causing a bit of an uproar.  According to TMZ, traditionalist fans are making “tons of calls” complaining about how “provocative” the photos of the Miss USA 2010 contestants are.

The Miss Universe Organization defends the photos, noting that the pictures are “tasteful and very sexy.”  Tasteful the photos might be, but it is most likely the “very sexy” that many find so objectionable.  Pageant representatives told TMZ: “You can have brains and be smart and still be sexy.”  Many would agree that intelligence is a form of beauty and be quite attractive in a sexy sort of way.

The black-and-white Miss USA 2010 pictures may simply be a pushback from the political correctness –where intellect has been championed over pulchritude — that seems to have been pervasive in the beauty pageant sphere for the past decade or so.  There have been various movements to discontinue certain portions of the contests, including the bikini contests, because some believed that it objectified women, placing too high a value on the sexuality and the physical beauty of the contestants.
Of course, the sexy Miss USA 2010 photos may simply be a very smart and timely promotion by the Miss Universe Organization, which is owned by Donald Trump, a man who knows more than a little about promotion.

The upcoming Miss USA 2010 Pageant will be shown on NBC May 16 at 7 p.m. EST.  The sexy pictures of the contestants can be seen and rated at MissUniverse.com.

Review the selected images to give you impression what is all about. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge a pic.


So, do you really think that these pictures are inappropriate? Is not Miss USA pageant not about the beauty? I personally do not see anything wrong in “the big picture” and in any of these photos in particular. Beautiful ladies and professionally made shots!

UPDATE
So, as you see, there are no clickable pictures in the post. My picture host decided that the pics are inappropriate for the public gallery storage, so just thumbs could be seen. So, the media perception is clear. I am still not convinced, however....