Assignmint hopes it can act as a middleman between freelance writers and publishers, helping put payment and billing into the cloud. … Read More
Damage Control? Obama’s Psy-Op Commencement Speech
Categories: Controlling the Herd, Editor’s Choice, Videos and MediaTags: commencement, Obama, ohio state, propagandaPresident Obama gave the commencement address at Ohio State University yesterday, May 5. He took that opportunity to try and get a message across to the new graduates.(Read more…) … Read More
Wikipedia moves women to “American women novelists” category, leaves men in “American novelists”
Wikipedia editors have started quietly moving female authors out of the “American novelists” category and into a newly-created sub-category for “American women novelists,” with the intention, it seems, of creating an”American novelists” page comprised entirely of men. There is currently no corollary sub-category for “American men novelists.”As American (woman) novelist Amanda Filipacchi explained in the New York Times on Wednesday, the process has so far affected women writers whose last names begin with A or B, but others have been moved as well:Continue Reading… … Read More
“American women novelists” segregated by Wikipedia
Wikipedia editors have started quietly moving female authors out of the “American novelists” category and into a newly-created sub-category for “American women novelists,” with the intention, it seems, of creating an”American novelists” page comprised entirely of men. There is currently no corollary sub-category for “American men novelists.”As American (woman) novelist Amanda Filipacchi explained in the New York Times on Wednesday, the process has so far affected women writers whose last names begin with A or B, but others have been moved as well:Continue Reading… … Read More
The Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review Roundup
Several technology writers who reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S 4 agree that the device is good, but not great. Many felt the new software features were gimmicky and cumbersome. … Read More
Gay filmmakers defy Boy Scouts ban, help scouts get cinematography merit badges
Filmmaker and Eagle Scout Todd Bieber recently recruited friends and colleagues from the industry to help him serve as a cinematography merit badge counselor for his old Boy Scout troop, teaching the scouts how to write, storyboard, shoot and edit movies. Many of the volunteer counselors in the day-long tutorial in filmmaking were openly gay writers, directors and entertainers, as Bieber is quick to point out in the video he made about the experience.According to recent reports, the Boy Scouts national organization is set to drop its ban on openly gay scouts, but will continue its policy against gays serving in leadership positions. Which is a pity, really, because the verboten openly gay volunteers that assisted Bieber provided a movie-making experience that was, per one scout’s account, “the most fun” the troop ever had.You can see Bieber’s video documenting the experience, as well as the final product, the movie “The Attack of the Mutant Scouts,” below:Continue Reading… … Read More
“Cooked”: Michael Pollan takes kitchen duty
Much food writing is little more than a gaseous substance that collects around recipes and advice. I like to cook and make most of my own meals, but I have no patience for the touchstones of foodie literature, like M.F.K. Fisher, with her preening sensuality, or the imperious fussiness of Richard Olney. Nigella Lawson’s phone-sex cooing makes me grind my teeth. Just cut the mystification and razzamatazz, and tell me how to make a decent lentil soup, already! While we’re at it, I also hate celebrity chefs and rhapsodic restaurant reviews. Especially during a week like the one we’ve just had, most food writing manifests a serious disorder of perspective, and its perpetrators come across as more navel-gazing and trivia-obsessed than the most self-involved memoirist.Apart from flashing my curmudgeon credentials, I’m trying to say that in this department, my bar is set pretty high. There are three food writers I will listen to. Two are true cooks (not chefs): the peerless Mark Bittman, who understands what does and does not matter about how we cook and eat, and Martha Stewart, who — say what you will! — taught me everything I know about baking. (Julia Child seems delightfully down-to-earth, but I’m not very interested in French cooking.)Continue Reading… … Read More
