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Zimbabwe Scaring The Crap Out Of All Media [Journalismism]
Amid the jailing of Times reporter Barry Bearak and another foreign journalist, news organizations are rightfully getting scared shitless about covering the nation of Zimbabwe, where elections are believed to not be going well for the ruling government. So CNN took the apparently unprecedented step of airing a segment from an unidentified reporter. The BBC went so far as to blur the face of a male reporter. Huge credit to the networks and others for continuing to file from a country where they have been formally banned; CNN's anonymous reporter said people in the streets are "absolutely thirsty for information" and that much of the information the locals can get is from foreign outlets. After the jump, CNN's anonymous report.
Publisher To Take Out Frustrations On You, Your Bookstore, Entire World [Struggling Writers]
HarperCollins Publishers decided that the book biz is too hard these days so it's going to try and get everyone else to do its job for it. Its books don't sell? That's the bookstores' problem; HarperCollins' new division will take no returns, or at least that's the goal. Writers need to eat while writing? Ha ha, that's what crippling credit card debt is for, losers; the new unit will pay "low or no advances," according to the Times, preferring to only fork out cash when it has made whatever it defines as a profit on a book, an arrangement that has led to bickering and alleged accounting shenanigans in the music and film industries. But at least you get to say you get royalties of a whopping 50 percent! Here, the executive in charge of the new division explains how all this benefits you, the struggling writer. Ha ha, just kidding, here's how he says it makes sense for his company:
"The idea is, 'Let’s take all the things that we think are wrong with this business and try to change them,'" said [Robert S. Miller, the founding publisher of Hyperion], 51. "It really seemed to require a start-up from scratch because it will be very experimental."
This is actually great, because once writers stop getting advances maybe more of them will stop fetishizing words-on-paper-in-a-bookstore and realize there is actually a way to publish your stuff for free to the entire world without giving up most of the revenue. You still need a good editor, but there's no reason he needs to come with a dead-trees publishing company attached.
Rape T-Shirt Could Be Even Bigger Than Abortion T-Shirt [Fashion]
Three years ago, Williamsburg writer Jennifer Baumgardner got her controversial "I had an abortion" T-shirt onto singer Ani DiFranco, pundit Susan Estrich and feminist Gloria Steinem, and now she has new piece of sexual-awareness fashion that could spark even more high-profile interest: a t-shirt reading "I was raped." Baumgardner told the Times the shirt is meant to "force [rape] into everyday conversation" and thus help reduce victims' shame and fear. Her shirt is probably one of the only tees in Williamsburg that the neighborhood's hipsters will never attempt to wear ironically, but it is still going to be controversial. Consider what happened with her abortion shirt:
...the Planned Parenthood Federation of America sold hundreds in a matter of days, but didn’t renew the order when it sold out (the shirt was highly controversial among affiliate chapters).
Plus, the new shirt has already been criticized by some of Baumgardner's friends, who told her "they are really grossed out by the T-shirt," she told the Times.
But it's not like the feminist hasn't taken precautions. She recruited someone else to help her test out the shirt in public venues. She also rejected another design, with "I was raped" in big black spraypaint, as too "harsh" and "shocking." The design she settled on uses the words in small cursive type, as shown at left. She's already selling them on her site Scarleteen for $25.
Michael's Slammed By Waiters Again [Media Hangouts]
Michael's, the midtown "institution" for media types, continues to be accused of abusing waiters. Echoing a server's scathing review last year, two posts on an industry message board said the restaurant's "douchey" general manager likes to yell, cut shifts at the last minute and, best of all, put waiters in "time warp" clothes that make them look like "a complete tool." Also, media people are apparently hell to wait on (go figure). Writer Michael Wolff, who famously boycotted the restaurant after being refused a table, would surely be tickled by the slams. Some of the better dirt:
Love to constantly be criticized, yelled at and/or grilled?
Want to work for a douchey GM with an undeserved sense of
entitlement, who wears a Prince Valiant haircut accessorized with
a treble-clef earring (s**t you not) and takes out his inner
rage over not realizing his own dreams on his waiters by
constantly yelling/cursing at them and generally treating them
like senseless half-wits? Here at Michael's, we can promise
you 7 solid shifts a week and then give you 2.
Armed with a
20 table section a shift...you can haphazardly sharpen your
skills by waiting on some of the most high-maintenance clientele
in NYC!!! We ask that you call in everyday before your shift
so we can tell you whether you're working or not...
Plus, you get to do all of this
while looking like a complete tool in your time-warp pink Polo
shirt, diagonal-striped tie and white apron!! Tre-chic! Only
true gluttons for punishment need apply...
From a reply post:
No shit! I trained at this fucking hellhole two years ago and
Three years ago, Williamsburg writer 
But it's not like the feminist hasn't taken precautions. She recruited someone else to help her test out the shirt in public venues. She also rejected another design, with "I was raped" in big black spraypaint, as too "harsh" and "shocking." The design she settled on uses the words in small cursive type, as shown at left. She's already 
