Miss America 2015 Kira Kazantsev: One Girl, One Cup

If like most of the country, you skipped last night's Miss America pageant, you missed the routine above, which is widely credited with giving Miss New York, Kira Kazantsev, the crown.

She plays with a red cup and sings Pharrel's "Happy."

More here.

Reason on past Miss America contests (really).

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Bootleg.

[Warren]

Whaaaaaa?

[SugarFree]

She looks like Miss Ohio's puppet come to life.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

SHOW ME YOUR TITS!!!

[Kaptious Kristen]

I assume the cup is supposed to be some sort of percussion instrument? Because I couldn't actually hear it.

Nobody beats renowned morning show dingbat Gretchen Carlson for Miss America talent. She stood out among all the boring torch song singers.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

That's actually worse than 2 girls 1 cup.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Did anyone notice she enjoys "street hot dogs"? Heh heh. Street hot dogs.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Is that what they're calling it these days?

[Paul.]

It's what I call mine.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Cocktail weenie?

[Paul.]

*narrows eyes*

You've been looking at my MySpace page again, haven't you?

[Ryan60657]

Anna Kendrick did it better. And without background music.

[Aloysious]

I don't get it.

Granted, I don't watch beauty pageants, but still.

[Paul.]

So what now?

[Fluffy]

I just did a google image search for this girl, and I think a much bigger problem than her crappy talent is the fact that she's not pretty.

What ever happened to Miss America being pretty?

Did they get rid of that portion of the pageant?

[SugarFree]

Fewer and fewer women would ever be in a pageant and of those a smaller slice of them are actually attractive it seems. I could walk out of my office and find three more attractive women than her in under 5 minutes. 2 minutes if it's class change.

[Fluffy]

That must be it.

[Root Boy]

My wife turned this on after we watched the Roosevelt Kburns-amentary last night.

She was saying, what's with all the BBWs?

[Paul.]

The most beautiful girl on the street, depending on the street?

[PapayaSF]

I would say she's pretty, just not Miss America-level pretty. Miss America should be an undeniable 9 or 10. This girl is a 7 or 8.

[Invisible Finger]

Have to agree. I'd rather watch Emily Ekins talk about millennials.

[Paul.]

OT: Seattle Times shills for Ex-Im bank.

But if Measurement Technology Northwest were to land an order from, say, Nigeria or Brazil, it wouldn't make a sale without the Export-Import Bank.

That's because the Export-Import Bank, an export credit agency owned by the U.S. government, sells insurance against deadbeat customers overseas. If Measurement Technology doesn't get paid within 180 days, the bank covers 90 percent of the amount owed.

See if you can spot the moral hazard.

http://seattletimes.com/html/l.....imxml.html

[MegaloMonocle]

IOW, Measurement Technology Northwest has made a business decision not to make any overseas sales without Ex-Im Bank insurance.

That makes the Ex-Im Bank sound a lot less, well, necessary.

[Paul.]

But what if a dodgy Nigerian fellow fails to pay them?

[Tim]

You can get away with a lot if you're blonde I guess.

[The Late P Brooks]

Miss America, Kira Kazantsev?

Sounds like Miss ROOSHYA, to me.

[creech]

Who says American culture is declining into decadence and juvenile artistic "talents?"

[Agile Cyborg]

Nick is hilarious.

[The Late P Brooks]

But if Measurement Technology Northwest were to land an order from, say, Nigeria or Brazil, it wouldn't make a sale without the Export-Import Bank.

Credit checks are hard.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Chase, Citi, BBVA, Barclays, etc. would never be able to coordinate or guarantee credit between two of it's customers. I mean, only a large multinational financial firm with assets in every country in the world would be able to coordinate something like that. Oh, wait...

[Mike M.]

Hate that song. Really nice smile though.

Yeah, I'd hit it.

[Agile Cyborg]

The song or the smile?

[Invisible Finger]

I'd hit it.

/rayrice

[James Anderson Merritt]

I only flipped past the pageant a few times, and didn't see the talent competition. This is a lot better than I had been led to believe. She has a decent voice, and the appeal of this act is not how well she sings, or plays with the cup, but how she turns New York chutzpah into a win. There are probably people on the streets of NYC who make a living doing similar things. They have nerve and presence, and they make it work, just like she did last night. She also made the moment seem happy, like child's play. Indeed, I have seen kids do similar things at recess. She brought their spark of joy at simple play to that little space in the auditorium. For most in the room, it was probably a change of pace and a breath of fresh air after all the tension of the competition (which you could probably cut with a knife).

I do think there were several contestants who seemed to be 10s, and she wasn't one of them. But YMMV. My interest in this year's contest was never that great to begin with, as California was eliminated early on...

[Robert]

That is what comes across in this video: infectious enthusiasm. It's one of the reasons I like coaching children's football.

[Invisible Finger]

I have seen kids do similar things at recess. She brought their spark of joy at simple play t

This is why it isn't impressive.

[James Anderson Merritt]

Sometimes one can be impressed by the contrast inherent in a massive shift in context.Then later, one wonders why. But too late! The NY girl with all the nerve has the tiara and she's not giving it back!

[CE]

America really does have talent!

[New Normal]

Surprised the winner wasn't a black tranny in a wheelchair.

[Hawk Spitui]

If it was, I doubt it would have rated a snarky column by a Reason editor.

[Mike M.]

Truthfully, this is a post that I would expect more from a catty woman than a dude.

[Robert]

It's under that cup. No? Great trick!

[Ted Levy]

Clearly, incredibly beautiful women can get away with anything...

[Invisible Finger]

Get back to me when there's a ping pong ball trick at the pageant.

[Bobster0]

This one is much better from the movie Perfect Pitch.

Look on YouANNA KENDRICK Cup Song Audition - PITCH PERFECT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2mawaBrvFg

[Goateggs]

Loves everything Jane Austin?

Thank God it wasn't Jane Austen. That would be elitist.

[Cyto]

She picked the right song, and the right gimmick to borrow from Pitch Perfect. It worked pretty well, I thought.

Most of the pageant talents I have ever seen are cringe inducing. At least it was karaoke that you could sit through. Well, maybe not all the way through. I turned it off about 3/4 through. It wasn't that good.