Monday 17 June 2013
Nigella Lawson Choked; K.Z. Snow Rant; Gay Celebrities
Posted on 08:25 by Unknown
(Update Below)
Nigella Lawson, international celebrity known for cookery, was choked by her husband. And when you read about it you'll be just as stunned and appalled as I was. According to the following links, this not only happened in a public restaurant, but also in front of more than a few people.
Onlookers told the tabloid, owned by the Mirror Group Newspapers, that the pair were having a heated fight during which the star was reduced to tears.
The TV chef appears terrified as her 70-year-old husband firmly placed both hands around her throat and then appeared to squeeze on several occasions.
He reportedly at first used his left hand, then both hands as he grasped at her neck on four occasions, the paper reported. Lawson then jerked her head back several times.
He then pinched her nose before he pushed both hands in her face.
The story devolves from there, it is being investigated, and there are cringe worthy photos to go along with it.
But the part that doesn't make sense to me is that there were so many "bystanders" nearby watching and no one...not one...did one single thing to stop this from happening. Did he have to pick her up and throw her through a window to get someone to say something? One Sunday I was standing in line at one of those large drug stores where they sell everything from medications to turkey dinners with dressing. And a kid about eleven or twelve years old was standing in the next line waiting for the cashier to ring up his sale. When all of a sudden a woman with a cell phone pressed to her ear jumped in front of the kid, put her back in his face, and placed her flip flops on the counter.
As this woman continued to talk on the cell phone, the cashier blinked and the poor kid's jaw dropped. I exchanged a quick glance with the cashier, and then I tapped the woman talking on the cell phone on the shoulder and told her the kid was there first. She hesitated for a moment, but when she saw my expression she backed up and let the kid go first. The kid and the cashier smiled at me and then the cashier went on to ring up his sale. The woman continued talking on the cell phone.
I normally mind my own business and I'm far from being a confrontational person, but when I see someone being abused or mistreated it's hard not to do something. And how those people could just stand by and watch someone get choked passes me by. You can read more here, and here.
K.Z Snow Rant
Update: The post to which I linked has been removed by blogger, K.Z Snow. I have no idea why, but I do have screen shots. The Beyonce links and other links are still up.
Update II: In fairness to multi-talented author and blogger K.Z. Snow, and in light of the fact she removed the post to which I linked, I have also taken down the quote from her blog post and removed the FLOTSAM. All other links remain valid.
In a recent blog post, an author I don't know at all, K.Z. Snow, ranted about how authors deal with and tend to "photoshop" their public images. She began the rant with a link to an article about a Beyonce image that seems to have sparked controversy. I wish I could post the Beyonce image here, but I can't for copyright reasons. I do suggest you check it out, though. And this is the reason why.
It's a highly exaggerated image of Beyonce that's almost a caricature of her by designer Roberto Cavalli. And it's done in the typical way most fashion designers create their images. There's a reason they do this. My brother in NY used to work for the infamous fashion designer, the late Mollie Parnis. At the time he was fresh out of Drexel University's school of fashion design and he was hired as Ms. Parnis' personal assistant. I remember his sketches and how all of the designers he knew sketched in this exaggerated way. You see it's not photoshopping, not exactly. Photoshopping is when you see a photo of seventy year old Martha Stewart on a magazine cover and she's hocking her brand and trying to look like she's thirty years old. What Cavalli did with the Beyonce image is considered an art form in the fashion world and it's not about the model. The model is just a vehicle that wears the design, and the design is the focus and the art form. The design is the ART. If you study this in depth you'll see that every single designer (and fashion house) has its own look and the sketches of their designs are distinct...and usually highly exaggerated and over the top. Some of my favorites (and I have a few hanging in my home I found at auction in NY) from the 1950's almost have an abstract, post modern feel.
I often get frustrated over the way the media tries to force certain images on us, especially this painful need for us all to be thin and perfect. I also know the difference between classic fashion design and photoshopping. But I digress. Ms. Snow's rant was more about how public author images are often exaggerated and "photoshopped," and the post talked about how authors do this by using words like "award winning, critically acclaimed, and bestselling."
Quote Removed.
There you have it, verbatim. As I said, I know nothing about Ms. Snow, other than what I've seen on comment threads like this one.
Gay Celebrities
This is one of those web sites I find hard to believe. Could they be right? I suppose so. I just don't like it when someone assumes something without having actual proof. A lot of the celebrities on the list have come out, but not all...as far as I know.
It used to be a Hollywood sin, especially if you were an A-list male celebrity, to be gay, to come out of the closet. Girls, the majority of them straight, paid big money to see male movie stars, such as the late James Dean and Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift, all confirmed gays, kiss their on-screen (female) counterparts. Not each other. (That was left for the wrap parties).
A big problem with this topic is that there's still shame associated with being gay in so many places a lot people can't come out of the closet, and it's not just celebrities. I know more than a few people in real life who live quiet unassuming lives and they can't come out either. And until the shame associated with being gay disappears, that's not going to change.
You can read more here. In a way, articles like this do more to diminish gay men and women than they do to help them.
Photo of Madonna Sketch attribution.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment