[*StarDust*]

The Heck Care Girls of S'pore Web TV

Too smut for their own good?



By Shree Ann Mathavan

BIMBOS or rebels?

They flaunt their bodies online, project themselves without fear of criticism, and court controversy with online antics.

Kiss a girl? Check. Prance about in a tiny bikini while acting clueless? Check. Copy Paris Hilton? Check.

The three Singapore models - Yan Kay Kay, Sonia Krans and Gui Xue Sha - in their 20s, appear in various online videos.

They do as they please and are unfazed by criticism from netizens.

The three are no strangers to controversy. They were in the limelight for S Factor, a reality TV show on Channel 5 that drew flak from viewers earlier this year.

Then as now, the criticism was partly that the girls were portrayed as bimbos.

Some also found their antics outrageous.

Take Yan Kay Kay, 27, who kissed blogger Xiaxue in a widely-circulated video. The clip generated over 150,000 hits since it was posted online about a month ago.

In the video, Xiaxue provides tips on how to set the scene when kissing a girl - from the music, decor, right up to the actual lip lock with Kay Kay.

Some netizens have slammed both women for the kiss. It was labelled a "cheapskate trick to get attention", and just "ugly".

One remarked: "It's so gross. I hate girls making out."

Another wrote online: "Showing this kissing scene is way unsuitable, especially for kids."

Parents were also outraged.

Call her what you will, Kay Kay, a communications and new media graduate from the National University of Singapore barely bats a made-up eyelid.

She told The New Paper on Sunday: "I don't have a lot of time so I won't keep looking at the online comments.

"Most of the comments are the same anyway, just re-phrased saying that I'm fake or slutty."

There's no need to be worked up by the remarks, she said, because the anonymous netizens who flame her don't know her personally.

She claimed her friends and family do not object to her online antics. Kay Kay also features in Chick Vs Dick, a battle of the sexes series on the same website, clicknetwork.tv.

Her mother, 55, a housewife, regularly checks for online updates on her daughter.

Kay Kay believes her mum has already seen the kissing video.

So, why does she have to do this publicly?

For the infamy

"It's not fame," she said, "it's infamy."

Besides, she pointed out, she doesn't earn much money from filming the episodes. She declined to reveal how much she gets per episode.

She claimed she is motivated by a desire to create interesting content.

Wouldn't the videos impart the wrong values to kids?

"We (indicating Sonia, Xue Sha and herself) have never made ourselves to be role models.

"I'm not polluting young minds because there are a million worse videos online that you can easily access."

So, why add to the polluted content?

Even the video sharing site, YouTube, on which the kissing video can be found, chose to issue a warning that the content may be "inappropriate".

YouTube also has a requirement that viewers sign in to verify they are 18 years old or older.

When pressed, Kay Kay conceded that the video should not be made accessible to young children. But, she added, it is up to parents to supervise their children's Internet use.

"If they (can) access our video, they can view much worse than the one we had."

Kay Kay has two younger brothers, 19 and 24, but she isn't sure if they have seen the kissing video.

But she doesn't mind even if they have seen it. "It's fine, they know what I'm like," she said.

Again insisting that she is not a role model, she said: "We have never made ourselves to be perfect or saintly, so if your kids look up to us as role models, then there is something wrong and it is up to parents to do something."

And the person she looks up to?









The scandal-prone American heiress Paris Hilton, who has often been labelled a bimbo.

While Hilton has had her fair share of bad press from a leaked sex tape and drink-driving charges, Kay Kay pointed out that Hilton also has her own album, reality TV shows, perfume and shoe line amongst other endeavours.

She said: "I like that she's super enterprising and that she works hard.

"People like to pigeon-hole her as a skanky girl but she's branched out and has built an empire around her name."

Kay Kay's defiant message to critics: "Keep it coming.

"Better to have criticism than fade into oblivion.

"It's better that they either love me or hate me than be indifferent.

Source: http://www.asiaone.com/News/The%2BNe...02-177420.html

[Uyoku]

i dont think singaporean have a lot complaints compare to prc

[*StarDust*]

Can't figure out 'For-bees' (Forbes) magazine



By Shree Ann Mathavan

CALL us bold, but don't call us dumb.

So goes the retort from the two women in the online series Bored in Bikinis.

Netizens have labelled them bimbos after seeing the bored bikini-clad models, Sonia Krans, 28, and Gui Xue Sha, 23, resorting to silly ways to entertain themselves.

One episode features the two women trying to read business magazines - and not being able to make head or tail of it.

Xue Sha mispronounces Forbes as "For-bees".

Sonia, flipping through another financial magazine, wonders aloud what gross domestic product (GDP) is. She said: "Don't know leh, like shampoo and all that?"

GDP is a measure of the country's economic performance, taking into account the total market value of the goods and services produced in a year.

So where does the shampoo come in?

It's "domestic" and "product" - must be something used at home, Sonia explains to Xue Sha on the show.

Other episodes see the girls tanning in the heart of Orchard Road in their bikinis, or trying to figure out gym equipment, or squeezing into a cardboard box.

The nine-episode series has been online since the middle of this year although production halted two months ago, as Sonia needed time off for personal reasons.

Netizens have griped that the show demeans women. They have posted numerous nasty comments on the show'swebsite.

Remarks include "stupid", "disgusting", "a disgrace to Singapore" and "lame".

Sonia, who has been modelling for five years, said: "I can't be bothered with the comments, although sometimes my friends tell me about it."

For the record, she said: "I am not a bimbo. I do think I'm street smart even though if (sic) I'm not book smart. "I'm smart enough to not let all these comments get to me."

Both Sonia and Xue Sha stopped schooling at Secondary 4.

The show isn't scripted. It shows them as they really are, said Xue Sha.

But she admits the silly bits are emphasised through editing.

What of the nasty comments? Xue Sha dismissed them: "These people are all keyboard warriors, hiding behind the computer to criticise us.

"If they think we are really stupid, why do they keeping coming back to watch us?"

The episode which has the girls tanning in Orchard Road garnered about 64,000 hits and has an even wider audience on video-sharing site YouTube, with about 148,000 hits.

Xue Sha, who is of Chinese-Korean heritage, pointed out that she has not depended financially on her housewife mum and businessman dad, both in their late 40s, since she was 19.

The Chinese national lives here while her father and mum alternate between living in Korea and China. On average, Xue Sha claimed she earns about $5,000 to $6,000 a month from commercial modelling jobs, filming and advertorials on her blog which won the best modelling blog award at the Singapore Blog Awards this year.

Said Xue Sha: "Maybe I'm average, but I'm definitely not stupid."

Are they doing a disservice to women with their ditzy behaviour while wearing very little on the show?

Xue Sha said: "I don't think it's a bad stereotype of women. If you have a good figure, you should show it off, right?"

But she added: "When girls who are 16 or 17 write or message me to say they want to be like me, I tell them to concentrate on their studies first, because they are still so young."

Both women say that though their parents don't watch the show, their families have been generally supportive of their other endeavours, like S Factor which featured the bikini-clad participants competing in various challenges such as wrestling matches.

Sonia, who is of Dutch-Chinese heritage, said her ambition isn't to become famous, but to enjoy her work.

She said: "I did the show because I enjoy trying new things, and for me the filming is fun. It doesn't feel like work."

She added that the show is meant to be entertaining and for people to have a laugh - even at her expense.

Xue Sha said: "You need me and Sonia in your life to make your life more fun."

Source: http://news.asiaone.com/News/The%2BN...02-177421.html

[*StarDust*]

"It's not everyone's cup of tea"



By Shree Ann Mathavan

THE videos of girl-on-girl action and babes in bikinis might typically look like the creations of a man.

But the person behind the videos of Yan Kay Kay's kiss with blogger Xiaxue and the Bored in Bikinis series is Ms Gillian Tan.

The 29-year-old is behind production house Munkysuperstar Pictures and clicknetwork.tv, the online video network which streams a variety of shows.

Ms Tan's production portfolio includes the local reality TV shows S factor and Eye for a Guy. The latter show won the Best Reality Programme category at the Asian Television Awards in 2005.

Having her shows slammed isn't new to Ms Tan. S Factor, for instance, was talked about earlier this year.

Like the series Bored in Bikinis, it was accused of making its bikini-clad contestants look like total bimbos while battling it out in various challenges.

But Ms Tan does not intend to stop producing such shows.

Ruin image

She said: "There are people who complain about how shows like these ruin the image of women and I understand that it's not everybody's cup of tea."

Nevertheless she claimed that "a greater majority" of people enjoy watching such shows.

The video of Kay Kay and Xiaxue's kiss garnered over 150,000 hits on the clicknetwork.tv website.

It was also circulated on video sharing site, YouTube, which broadcasts to an even wider audience, getting over 155,000 clicks.

Videos like that and Bored in Bikinis are done for entertainment, stressed Ms Tan.

She said: "As long as people are watching, we'll keep producing.

"I suppose it (the kissing video) is popular because people like it or are interested in the content.

"Anything controversial tends to attract more views in general."

Does she feel it is demeaning to women?

"Not at all," retorted Ms Tan. "If you are confident and secure in your own abilities, you shouldn't be too worried about people being influenced by our shows and changing their opinion of women."

Some parents are concerned that the girl-girl kissing video may impart wrong values to impressionable children.

YouTube has a warning that the content may be "inappropriate" for some users. It also requires viewers to sign in to verify they are 18 years old or older.

The clicknetwork.tv website does not have that requirement.

Ms Tan is married, but does not have children. Her husband, 38, works in the IT industry.

She does not feel the episode promoted soft porn or lesbianism.

She said: "People kiss all the time on television and in the movies. I don't think it's pornographic."

Source: "It's not everyone's cup of tea"

[*StarDust*]

Even the way they talk seems slutty: Mum of 3



By Shree Ann Mathavan

SHOCKING. Disgusting.

These are two of the stronger adjectives used by parents reacting to the screen kiss between model Kay Kay and blogger Xiaxue.

One mum who watched the video with The New Paper on Sunday said the website would definitely be off-limits for her kids.

Ms Peggy Wong, 42, who does sales in the cleaning and sanitation industry, said: "The kissing is too much. If my kids wanted to watch this video, I would tell them 'no'.

She has two daughters, 17 and 12, and a son, 16.

She said of the two women: "The way they talk seems slutty and it would be a bad influence on young children."

Mrs Y Cheng, 47, a homemaker and mother of three teens, was "disgusted".

"To me it's a bit like porn," she said.

Like Ms Wong, she said younger kids who are easily influenced, may try to copy the actions they see online.

The problem with the Internet is that parents like her end up feeling "helpless" over how to police access, Mrs Cheng said.

She added: "Porn and objectionable content like this just seems to get easier and easier to access."

Ms Wong and Mrs Cheng weren't too bothered with the Bored in Bikinis series.

Said Ms Wong: "It's more about comedy here, and if you go to public pools, you'll see girls dressed this way."

Nevertheless she said parents should be mindful of the language and terms used.

For instance, Xue Sha refers to skinny dipping twice in the first episode. Said Ms Wong: "That's a bit too open for me."

On the kissing video, Mr Lim Soon Hock, chairman of the National Family Council said: "I am concerned about the blatant portrayal of such behaviour as fun and frolic, without any second thought to societal values.

"Singapore is not ready to accept such overt display of sensational or sexual behaviour, be it in public or in new media."

He said the best thing parents can do is to counsel and educate their children on the ill effects of the Internet.

Internet content providers like clicknetworktv.com are regulated under the Class Licence Scheme of the Media Development Authority (MDA).

They have to comply with certain conditions and an Internet Code of Practice.

Ms Ginny Goh, head of media content and standards at the MDA, said the videos were not in breach of the Internet Code of Practice.

"But we recognise that some members of public may find some of the content on the site undesirable or inappropriate," she said.

Ms Goh explained that the MDA adopts a "pragmatic and light touch" towards regulating the Internet.

This approach is complemented by active industry co-regulation efforts and public education, she said.

Internet Service Providers like SingNet and StarHub are required to provide Family Access Network (FAN) services which are optional network filtering services that parents can subscribe to.

These filtering services can prevent children from accessing undesirable content.

Source: Even the way they talk seems slutty: Mum of 3

[Emolisher]

Some girls just wanna grab all the attention on themselves

[DarkWind]

hmm... well... they seems to enjoy the attentions... don bother if it's good or bad.... lol..

[PECTOPAH]

who are these no-names?

[larrenV2.003]

Maybe a little lesson on this south park vid featuring Paris Hilton as a spoilt rich whore will know wat happens when young girls think is okay to act like that ....

http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103894

Fortunately most of our girls thinks maturely than the 3 mentioned above

[burntheplanes]

gotta agree with her about the keyboard retards. just talk talk talk like they have to guts to do what they do.

[Emolisher]

Originally Posted by burntheplanes

gotta agree with her about the keyboard retards. just talk talk talk like they have to guts to do what they do.

Well..Doing things that normal ppl dun dare to do doesnt make it right, there is a thin fine line between this..Cant believe you agreed with those bimbo making this kind of statment

[blahblahblah]

If there's something wrong with their actions legal actions would have been taken against them instantaneously. If you are conservative, doesn't mean ppl have to follow suit. With internet readily assess, porn websites is boundless and people are yet flaming those models calling them indecent, inappropriate or even label them as porn. children maybe watching real porn at home for goodness sake.

[uglybutadorable]

Saw the kissing video, and it is really disgusting to see when the two girls were making out, especially with a bad kisser like Xiaxue.

In anyways, those videos are only for entertainment purposes for those who are really bored. And I think they are harmless as long as we can differentiate from things we shall or shan't do.

[christmas_]

totally attention seekers.

[VMGTI]

I think they just wanna be themselves rather than pretend to be someone they were brought up. Most of the people around us, are anyway. They, at least are daring enough to appear bimbo. But, are they really one? I doubt. However, i thought the attention drawn to these articles simply show how easy is it to agitate majority of the singaporeans.. interesting, really and i bet this show has a sociological element to it.

[Voodoo Vince]

Sorry, who are they?

[JACx3]

Saw the video. Kaykay is hot tho

[ParamountAssets]

Only Xiaxue looks ugly. Kay kay is the centre of attraction