Tia
Home: Elmhurst
Age: 24
Height: 5’5”
Weight: 100 lbs.
Stats: 32-26-34

    “When I’m in front of the camera, the whole world seems to disappear,” says Tia, an Elmhurst resident.  “I get into my zone and become a totally different person. It’s almost like acting in still motion.”  In her first year of modeling, Tia is already enjoying her work in fashion, figure arts, and internet modeling.  Although she is too short for the runway, Tia says one of her goals is to appear in magazines.

    Tia says her favorite part about living in Queens is the borough’s abundance of delicious restaurants, with cuisines like Spanish, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Italian.  “I live in the heart of Queens, and can’t find myself living anywhere but here,” says the graduate of Thomas Edison High School in Jamaica. “At one point I lived in Brooklyn for half a year and I got homesick.”

    Also employed as a freelance web designer, Tia says one of her greatest passions is music, and she may want to become a talent scout, “because there are many bands out there that need to be heard.”  

No ‘Hoochie-Mamas’
in Queens

    A recent appearance by one of Queens’ own on a nationwide reality television program showed America that, contrary to what shows like "All in the Family,"  "The Nanny" and "The King of Queens" might suggest, our women are a class act.

    In the late-night dating show "elimiDATE," four pretty girls spend the evening with one handsome guy who, as the night goes on, eliminates the girls, one by one, who don’t suit his fancy.  At the end of the night, a traditional couple remains. Consider it a kind of "Survivor" for the singles scene.

    In one recent episode, one of the girls introduced herself by – unlike her three competitors – noting what part of the country she’s from.

    “I’m Tina from Queens and I go to Towson,” the girl with short blonde hair in jeans and a button-down shirt said.

    Tina then further distinguished herself from the other girls, who did a suggestive dance with their date in a restaurant and talked about their sex life openly.  Tina refused to do either, much to the guy’s – and the girls’ – dismay.

    “I think I’m gonna be the first one to get eliminated because I’m not a hoochie-mama,” said Tina, who looked quite uncomfortable – even disgusted – during the five-way date.

    Our girl Tina was actually the first one to get eliminated.  But she wasn’t given the boot before getting her own digs in.

    “I don’t like guys who take a long time to get ready and come out with their tight shirts and muscles bulging,” Tina said.

    The show is broadcast weeknights on CBS at 1:35 a.m.

King of Queens

Actress Leah Remini, who stars in the CBS comedy “The King of Queens” as a wife in Queens, is getting hitched soon.

Her publicist Samantha Hill issued a statement that the 32-year-old actress was “completely taken by surprise” and “was crying and so excited” when Remini’s boyfriend – musician Angelo Pagan – proposed to her on Christmas Eve in an L.A. restaurant.  Remini and Pagan plan to marry in the summer. 

 “The King of Queens” is a sitcom based on a Queens couple who go through the trials and tribulations of married life.  Remini – on the show – is married to a deliveryman from Queens. 

Another “King of Queens” star is on the move.

Actor Derek Luke has taken his show from the Queens-based sitcom to the big screen.  The 28- year-old star of  "Antwone Fisher" — the film that marks the directorial debut of Denzel Washington — paved his own way in the business, appearing on the sitcoms “Moesha” and “The King of Queens.” 

According to a news source, Luke is now working on one film with Lawrence Fishburne and Eriq La Salle, and another with Katie Holmes of Dawson’s Creek fame.

Queens continues to spawn.

Spy At Fenway?

    There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that the addition of power hitting outfielder Cliff Floyd will help the New York Mets improve on their pathetic 2002 season, during which they finished in last place and disgraced our borough’s baseball fans.

    The proven home-run hitter comes to Shea Stadium after the Boston Red Sox – led by 29-year-old General Manager Theo Epstein – decided not to re-sign Floyd when he became a free agent in the off-season.

    On the surface, the move doesn’t seem suspicious. But a little known fact about Epstein’s past raises some question about the youngest GM in baseball history.

    Epstein was born in New York City, and his father Leslie at one time taught English at Queens College in Flushing – the same turf where the Mets play their home games. Although a Boston Red Sox spokesperson had “no idea” where the Epstein family lived while Leslie was teaching at QC, he did confirm the family's  Queens connection.

    Could it be that Epstein’s stay in New York has tied his loyalties to the boys from Flushing Meadows instead of the boys from Fenway?

    Considering that he spent about five years of his life in New York and the rest in Brookline – about a mile from Fenway Park – probably not. But Mets fans can dream, can’t they? They need all the help they can get after last year.