Vietnamese models to attend New York Fashion Week

Photo by Milor Tran. Tuyet Lan (L) and Hoang Thuy(R) will attend in New York Fashion Week 2012 with model Ngoc Thach.

Hoang Thuy, Tuyet Lan and Ngoc Thach will be the first three trailblazing Vietnamese models to catwalk New York Fashion Week 2012 February 13 – 19.

This is the first time Vietnamese models will appear at the event, which takes place twice a year in Manhattan's Bryant Park and features famous designers showing off their latest collections for the upcoming season.

The promising models will showcase the work of noted designers Korto Momolu and Laurel DeWitt.

Hoang Thuy shot to fame when she won Vietnam's Next Top Model’s on January 8 in a special show featuring the attendance of supermodel Tyra Banks.

Tuyet Lan was the runner-up of Vietnam Next Top Model’s first season in 2010 and won the Asian Model Search 2011 contest in Singapore last year.

Ngoc Thach won the Vietnam Supermodel contest in 2010.

New York Fashion Week is hosted by the Council of Fashion Designer of America (CFDA) and is one of the top four global fashion weeks, together with the same events in London, Paris and Milan.

The event features celebrities, models, designers and the press partying and previewing clothes for the spring collection in September and winter collection in February.

Thanh Nien News

New club Saigon FC climbs to second

Saigon FC’s Huynh Kesley Alves (R) celebrates his opener with Antonio Carlos in a match against Da Nang at Thong Nhat Stadium Sunday.

Saigon FC climbed one position to second in the country’s top-flight Super League after a 2-1 fifth round home win over Da Nang at Thong Nhat Stadium Sunday.

Le Huynh Duc, the coach of 2009 champions Da Nang, who won the “month’s best coach” title last month, badly wanted a win on the trip to his hometown Ho Chi Minh City.

However, the hosts with two draws and two wins from the first four rounds of the season were in high spirits and had better control of the match with two goals in the first half.

The visitors from Da Nang City came alive after the break but all they could do was pull back only one goal.

In other action, the Mekong Delta side Dong Thap earned a 3-1 home win over Navibank Saigon at Cao Lanh Stadium while hosts Khanh Hoa beat visitors Kien Giang 1-0 at Nha Trang Stadium.

In early matches on Saturday, 2010 champs Hanoi T&T beat Thanh Hoa 3-2 at Hang Day Stadium to retain their first-place position while 2003-04 champs Hoang Anh Gia Lai defeated Hanoi FC 2-1 at Pleiku Stadium.

Ninh Binh beat Hai Phong 2-0 at home and then Binh Duong, the 2007-08 champs, fought to a goalless tie with reigning champs Song Lam Nghe An at Go Dau Stadium.

With only two draws from the five rounds, Hai Phong is now at the bottom of the 14-club league with just two points.

By Thanh Nien News

Top Vietnam football tournament to be called V-League again

The above logo will not be used for the country's top-flight football tournament from this weekend onwards. It will revert to its old name, V-League.

Vietnam's top-flight football tournament will revert to its original name V-League from this weekend onwards, when the 2012 season enters the fifth round.

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) Tuesday asked the league organizing company, VPF, to effect the change in name from the current Super League back to V-League.

VFF made the decision after it was asked by the General Department of Physical Training and Sports to do so.

The department said it is important that the nation's top tournament indicates the name of the country.

VPF was mooted by leading national football clubs late last year. They criticized VFF for poor management of the country’s leagues and called for a revamp. Once the VPF was etablished with the VFF as a major shareholder, the company named the nation's leading tournament Super League. The earlier name, V-League, was used when the country’s top contests turned professional in 2000.

The name Super League was used in the first four rounds of the 2012 season; and from the fifth round this weekend, it will be called the V-League Eximbank 2012, named after its main sponsor.

VPF chairman Vo Quoc Thang said, “VPF is willing to listen to opinions from authorized agencies, the media and the fans so that the organization of the league gets better and better. Changing the name is not complicated but we need to get opinions from the Board of Directors.”

Nguyen Hong Thanh, General Director of the Song Lam Nghe An football club, the league champions, said a change in the name of the league in the middle of the season will cause losses of money and time for the clubs as well as the stadiums’ organizers because many things like billboards, players’ shirts and tickets will have to be redone.

By Thanh Nien News

Vietnam company begins work on $40-mln airport project in Laos

Work has begun on the first of two airports Vietnam’s Hoang Gia Lai Joint Stock Co. (HAGL) plans to build in Laos, with a total investment of US$40 million, VnExpress reported Monday.

HAGL Chairman Doan Nguyen Duc was quoted as saying that the airport, which will cover 200 hectares of Attapeu Province in southern Laos, is expected to be operational by June 2013.

Between 2013 and 2020 it will be used mainly for small airplanes that travel short distances, like the ATR 72 and Fokker 70, Duc said.

However, by the time construction finishes in 2020, the airport will be capable of handling bigger airplanes like the Airbus A320, he added.

According to Duc, the Lao government also licensed HAGL to build another airport in Huaphanh Province in northern Laos; construction on the second airport will start next year, VnExpress reported.

thanhniennews.com

Vietnamese horror film hits theatres

Ngoi Nha Trong Hem (House in the Alley), a horror film about terrible secrets occurring in the house of a young couple whose marriage is heading for a break-up, will be screened at local cinemas on February 14.

Produced by US-based Coco Paris LLC, the film was directed and written by overseas Vietnamese Le Van Kiet, who graduated from the University of California , Los Angeles.

Kiet began to write the screenplay at the end of 2010 when he was staying in HCM City.

"The idea for the movie came out of an old two-storey house in a small valley in District 3 which I rented when I stayed in Vietnam ," Kiet said.

The movie features the life of a young couple, a housewife and a businessman, after they lose their first child.

The wife, Thao, is in such grief that she keeps a coffin of the child's corpse in her bedroom. Day by day, she becomes depressed and obsessed that her child is stolen from her.

Her husband, Thanh, tries to help his wife, but his efforts lead things out of control.

The couple are forced to fight against strange forces in their house.

Producer Tran Trong Dan said the movie shows that a sudden event can destroy people's lives.

"People need love and strength to put their life together again," he added.

Film stars actress Ngo Thanh Van and actor Tran Bao Son play the leading female and male roles.

"Thao is a complicated character," said Van, who starred in Dong Mau Anh Hung (Rebel) and Bay Rong (Clash).

She said the role is a challenge for her after two years of not filming.

Although House in the Alley has not been shown in Vietnam , it has received invitations to join several US film festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival in New York , Seattle International Film, Fantastic Festival in Houston, and Hawaii Film Festival.

The film's director and producer are continuing to cooperate in making another horror film Bay Cap 3 (The Level-3 Trap).

The film is about a group of young people from HCM City touring Da Lat and encountering strange situations there.

Dan said he has always wanted to make a film in Da Lat where he was born and grew up. The film is expected to be released later this year.

dtinews.vn

Athletes to compete in 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Champs

Four Vietnamese athletes will take part in the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Champs, to be held in Hangzhou, China, from February 16-19.

Duong Thi Viet Anh

The team coached by Duong Duc Thuy includes Duong Thi Viet Anh (high jump), Tran Hue Hoa (triple jump), Nguyen Thi Phuong (3,000m run) and Nguyen Thi Thuy (400m run). The team’s medal hopes are mostly on Duong Viet Anh, who has made good progress recently.

Top sprinter Truong Thanh Hang will not join the event because she is preparing for the Asian All Stars Athletics Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan in June to collect points for a berth at the 2012 London Olympics this summer.

dtinews.vn

Culture Ministry to consider photo scandal of Miss Vietnam 2006

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST) has stated that it had never announced to withdraw the Miss Vietnam title of Mai Phuong Thuy.

The Ministry said that it would assign a specialized agency to check Thuy’s photos before making the final decision.

The Ministry said that the photo shoot featuring Mai Phuong Thuy in ao dai are controversial works. Many people said that the Vietnamese traditional ao dai was abused to inappropriately show off the beauty of woman body. However, many photographers said that the photo shoot is “sexy,” not “erotic” and “it is unnecessary to restrict the creativeness of artists.”

The Ministry seems to be sympathetic with the Miss Vietnam 2006 because she took the photo shoot when she was only 20. However, the MoCST’s spokesperson, Mr. To Van Dong, said that the beauty queen should not make public these photos.

According to the Ministry, the “scandal” is a valuable lesson for beauty queens in using ao dai in photo shoots.

Mai Phuong Thuy’s ao dai photo shoots, which were taken four years ago, appeared on an online newspaper on February 3. The photo collection captured Thuy donning a sleek and transparent white ao dai in different sexy poses.

The shoot, 10 black and white photos of Thuy, accessorized with Vietnamese “non la” (cone hat) and symbolic lotus flowers, was done by photographer Quoc Huy.

A number of netizens have strongly criticized the photos, saying Thuy’s too erotic poses damaged the traditional and beautiful image of ao dai. Some said she only used the dress to show off her body’s curves.

However, another group of commentators praise Thuy’s body, arguing that the photos have captured the delicate, gentle and fragile image of Vietnamese women.

Thuy on February 8 sent an official apology to her fans for the controversial photo shoot. Thuy, in her apology letter, wrote that she was too young when she modeled for the shoot and her lack of modeling skills have probably sent the wrong message about the purpose of the photos.

“The whole team and I only aimed for aesthetic values in the photos. If we failed to deliver the message, we should really learn from the experience and improve ourselves.

“We certainly do not intend to tarnish the image of traditional ao dai and Vietnamese women. I apologized for all the inconveniences caused when you see these photos. I hope to have your sympathy and another chance to contribute to the community,” she wrote.

Mai Phuong Thuy in the controversial photo shoot:

dtinews.vn