Aigul MYRZATAI
ALMATY, Nov 3 (THE GLOBE)
Sex sells, at least that is what several owners of tourist businesses hoped when they called a press conference to present Kazakhstan�s first �Miss Tourism� to the press on Wednesday in the Hotel Jetisu.
Some ten journalists came exactly at 11 a.m. as requested. They drank coffee and juice and waited. At noon. having drunk everything and smoked all the free cigarettes, they began to protest.
Nervous organizers said they were sorry that Miss Tourism had not come but they expected her soon. The organisers explained that perhaps the new Miss was a �prima donna� and did not hurry. No one seemed surprised that the Kazakhstani beauty Asel pretended to be a �lady� and to achieve authority and fame coming at the last moment.
This again proved the popular saying �dukes arise from dirt�. In Shaw�s England a great lady could be made from a cleaning maid, but Kazakhstan is not England. Asel could hardly be a Kazakh �Pygmalion�.
The press conference to launch Kazakhstan�s tourism into the big leagues was decidedly little league. When this reporter asked Miss Tourism, �Do you study?� the beauty answered, �At the Pushkin Humanist University.� Thinking she might represent Kazakhstan in intellect as well as beauty, this reporter then suggested, �If you are a humanist, name at least one symbolist,� she replied, �From the University?�
Trying to help, we asked if she might know Baudelaire. She shook her head no. Everything was clear. Miss Tourism and perhaps this effort to invite cultured Europeans to Kazakhstan had chosen an empty symbol.
ALMATY, Oct 29 (THE GLOBE)
Last Saturday night two hundred and fifty masked men and women invaded Almaty�s Rahat Palace to dance, dine and drink their way to a US$6,750 contribution for feeding the county�s poorest residents. Employees and managers from companies in Kazakhstan attended the the annual Halloween Charity Masquerade Ball to help the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society build and operate soup kitchens and deliver food parcels.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society said the money would be spent to continue work funded by last year�s ball. The soup kitchens provide elderly and homeless people with hot meals.
Many of the party goers competed for prizes donated by the event�s sponsors. Sponsors included ABN Amro Bank, Almaty Herald, Arthur Anderson, AEA Clinic, British Airways, DHL, Hyatt Regency, JV Inkai, Kart-Inn, Mobil Oil Kazakhstan, Ogilvey and Mather, Phillips Electronics, Philip Morris, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Texaco and Globalink.
Timur PANKOV
ALMATY, Nov 4 (THE GLOBE)
Dolph Lundgren grew up in Stockholm, Sweden, where he attended the Royal Institute of Technology. Spending time abroad in the U.S. on various academic scholarships, he attended Washington State University and Clemson in South Carolina. He received a master�s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney, Australia in 1982 (where he bused tables and worked as a bouncer at Icabod�s Cafe) and the next year was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to MIT.
While on his way to Boston to continue his studies, he stopped in New York City and there his life took a radical turn. He met with noted drama coach Warren Robertson, and decided to give acting a try. After beating out 5,000 hopefuls and winning the role of Drago opposite Sylvester Stallone in �Rocky IV,� Lundgren went on to star in many feature films.
Previous to getting the coveted role in �Rocky IV,� he auditioned for a role in �Rambo: First Blood Part II.�
A world-class athlete and winner of several international karate competitions, Lundgren took up martial arts at 14 and has achieved his second-degree black belt in karate (he�s currently training for his third-degree black belt) and in 1980 he became a master in European kickboxing. His accomplishments in the sport include being the captain of the Swedish full-contact karate team and the winner of the European Heavyweight Full-Contact Karate Championship in 1980 and 1981, as well as the Australian heavyweight division title in 1982. titles. Lundgren�s lifelong interest in physical fitness led to his 1987 release of an exercise video called �Maximum Potential,� based on his own daily workout.
Lundgren was selected by the U.S. Olympic committee to serve as the Team Leader of the 1996 U.S. Olympic pentathlon team. He was responsible for administrative coordination and planning between the U.S. team and the USOC, and is also actively involved in promoting the image of this sport. �Over the past few years, my involvement with modern pentathlon has grown from pure interest to an opportunity to raise the visibility of the sport, increase recruitment of young talent and make sure that this event, originated by the founder of the Olympics, Baron de Coubertin, will remain in the Games,� Lundgren said.
Lundgren recently announced the formation of Thor Pictures, which produced the dramatic thriller �Pentathlon.� He is also a founding member of the theater group, Group of Eight, which recently performed �Another Octopus� in New York City.
November 5, 1911 Calbraith P. Rodgers arrived in Pasadena, California, completing the first transcontinental airplane trip in 49 days.
November 6, 1976 Benjamin L. Hooks was chosen to be the new executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, succeeding Roy Wilkins.
November 6, 1977 39 people were killed when an earthen dam burst, sending a wall of water through Toccoa Falls Bible College in Georgia.
November 7, 1916 Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress.
November 7, 1917 Russia�s Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.
November 7, 1929 the Museum of Modern Art in New York City opened to the public.
November 7, 1940 the middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state collapsed during a windstorm.
November 7, 1998 John Glenn returned to Earth aboard the space shuttle �Discovery,� visibly weak but elated after a nine-day mission.
November 8, 1923 Adolf Hitler launched his first attempt at seizing power with a failed coup in Munich, Germany, that came to be known as the �Beer-Hall Putsch.�
November 8, 1950 during the Korean conflict, the first jet-plane battle took place as US Air Force Lieutenant Russell J. Brown shot down a North Korean MiG-15.
The Kosteyev State National Museum. Exhibition of S. Kalmykov, I. Itkind, and V. Eifert�s works, and Rudolf Nuriev�s painting.
From 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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