Vanessa Lopez
Queens Village
Age: 25
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 135
Stats: 34-28-36  

You may recognize Vanessa from the newsstand – she has appeared on the cover of Jive: The Spicy Side Of Romance magazine twice – or from the music videos for Busta Rhymes’ “Get Outta Here” and Murder Inc.

Vanessa has been modeling for two years and how she made it to the top is an unusual story.

One day while stopping at a White Castle restaurant in Queens Village — “I was wearing sweat pants and a sweat shirt,” she explained — Vanessa met Derrick Jones of the Southeast Queens-based Black Cartel Modeling agency. The rest is history.

Videos, magazine covers, runway shows, and a gig as hostess for Courvoisier were to follow.

Vanessa attended Springfield Gardens High School , Jamaica High School and currently works a bartender at the Skylark Bar at Farmers and Merrick Boulevards. In her downtime Vanessa enjoys unwinding at Tony’s Sports Bar in Jamaica .

“I see myself doing something major,” she said.

Jones, Black Cartel’s founder, said she’s ready for the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Lopez aspires to be like her modeling idol, Cindy Crawford.

“I used to have every picture of her,” Vanessa said. “She has a mole and so do I.”

Alphabet Soup

The Long Island City Business Development Corporation had its annual luncheon and trade show with a whole shebang of about 100 exhibitors, a fanciful meal and a talk by Deputy Mayor of Economic Development & Rebuilding Dan Doctoroff on the future of Long Island City . 

It was a spectacular event …planning must have been particularly thorough. However, the seating list for the annual luncheon revealed a unique approach to organization. The attendees were alphabetized – not by their last name – but by their first.

LIBDC certainly demonstrated thinking outside the box by getting about a dozen “Johns” to be listed in a row.

There is no humor in death – usually. And certainly, longevity is a serious subject for America 's aging population.

However, when the current issue of the "Journal of Longevity" with a feature story on James Coburn showed up at our office the same day as Coburn's death, we couldn't help but wonder at the irony.

The tough guy who seemed almost invulnerable in "The Magnificent Seven," and "In Like Flint," succumbed last week after being the subject of an article detailing his successful battle against rheumatoid arthritis.

Tony Soprano, A Mets Fan?

It’s hard to think that anyone could still be a fan of the Mets following their abysmal finish in this past season, but it seems that America ’s favorite TV mob boss might have an affinity for the bad news baseballers from Queens .

During a recent episode of HBO’s smash hit “The Sopranos,” the character Tony Soprano asks “How about them Mets?” to break the ice before a tryst with his Uncle’s one-legged nurse.

The question may not indicate that the character of Tony is a rabid fan of the Amazin’s, but it is clear that the show’s producers are fans of Queens .

Parts of the show are filmed at Long Island City ’s Silvercup Studios, the largest independent, full-service film and television production facility in the northeast, and only a few stops on the “John Rocker” 7 train away from Shea Stadium.

Maybe if the Mets start getting as many hits as the whacks that take place on “The Sopranos,” they’ll latch on to some more fans.

If not, fugheddaboudit.

Two Weeks Notice

Lights, Camera, and Off-Screen Action?

“Two Weeks Notice,” an upcoming film featuring A-list stars Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant brought the two to Queens this year, QConfidential has learned. Part of the romantic comedy was shot at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City early this year.

Rumor has it that they had a steamy off-screen romance, though both Grant and Bullock denied the buzz, according to reports.

The film is about a neurotic attorney played by Bullock who decides to call it quits – thus the title – on her boss, played by  Grant, who is a charming yet self-absorbed, irresponsible tycoon. And according to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is about whether it is ever too late to say “I love you.”

Production began Feb. 25 and wrapped up in May in New York City , and the film is set to release on Dec. 20 of this year.