BNN: Stay in the Closet, E-waste, & Carrie Bueller’s Babies
And now another episode of Been there, Now here, Never imagined! In this post, I share my thoughts on three identities—the gay, the designer, and the celebrity.
As a reminder, the goal of BNN is to: isolate three identity issues that are happening right now and place them in either the B, N, or N. In 25 years, I feel like I grew up learning a very specific social code (Been there!), I am now learning an alternative to that code (Now here!), yet I will never experience another kind of code (Never imagined!).
Let’s see what we have for this post!
Been there: Gene Simmons thinks homosexuality is one step closer to boinking pigs.
Rock legend and celebreality star Gene Simmons expressed that Adam Lambert, the famed runner-up of last season’s American Idol, has “killed his career” by coming out of the closet. My pig comment reinterprets what Gene said on FOX-Philadelphia when he stated, “Mostly he [Adam Lambert] should shut up about his sexual preferences. We, America, the rest of the world, really don’t care. I mean, if the story becomes ‘I prefer farm animals to, you know…,’ who cares? Be quiet about what you do indoors and go out there and sing.”
We all know the age-old bigoted thought: if a man wants to marry another man, then what’s stopping him from marrying his dog. To another generation, homosexuality is beastiality. Celebrities have also been pronouncing their homosexuality on the cover of the top American magazines for the past decade and a half. Gene’s comments are tired—surely around, but definitely something your rickety grandmother would say.
Now here: Designers are responsible for controlling E-waste.
Leslie Kaufman of The New York Times wrote about the various laws and actions that the government and normal folks are passing and pushing to control the amount of waste caused by electronic gadgets like televisions and computers. One interviewee “hoped the strict recycling would eventually prompt manufacturers to rethink their designs”.
I wanted to be a designer for a long time, but at no point did I ever feel a responsibility for the after-life of the product. At this moment in history, we’re obsessed with the environment. Not only are materials chosen for their aesthetic and functional properties, but now they need to be considered for their environmental impact. Good luck, designers, you’ve got some biology and chemistry books to read!
Never imagined: Carrie Bradshaw and Ferris Bueller give a celebrity baby photo away for free!
Without fanfare or possible millions of dollars in return, celebrity couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick released a totally normal looking baby photo of their new twin daughters. I can’t confirm that the photographer wasn’t paid millions of dollars, but the unceremonious debut speaks volumes.
For the last five years, the demand and asking price for celebrity baby photos have gone through the stratosphere. Being identified as an A-list celebrity means the paparazzi hounds you so the world can follow you. I didn’t think I’d see the day when a top celebrity avoids charging a bazillion dollars for pictures of the newest arrivals. Thanks for shifting that perception, Sarah Jessica. Celebrities are human, too!
