Archive for the ‘Word Press’ Category

De Doorns quiet as farm workers await word from unions

THE Western Cape town of De Doorns was mostly quiet on Monday as striking farm workers awaited feedback on negotiations they believe their union representatives are conducting with farmers and other parties.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation reported that one of its cars was stoned by striking farm workers in De Doorns on Monday. Its team was interviewing workers at Stofland informal settlement when stones were hurled at the vehicle. No injuries were reported.

Rocks were still strewn across the N1 where it passes through the town after last weeks violent clashes between police and striking workers.

In total, police have arrested 125 people on charges of public violence since the strike started again last Wednesday. No deaths or life-threatening injuries have been reported.

On Monday, striking farm workers in the nearby town of Villiersdorp burnt tyres. Police retaliated by shooting rubber bullets. The clashes reportedly took place in the early hours of Monday morning.

Youths strolling along the N1 on Monday said they were awaiting feedback from union leaders and may start demonstrating again soon.

"We have no work, no money, so we may as well toyi-toyi for R150," one youth said.

The strikers are demanding an increase in their statutory daily minimum wage to R150, from the current R69.

Nosey Pietersen, secretary of the Bawsi Agricultural Workers Union of South Africa, said talks between individual farmers and his union had broken down at the weekend.

The strike was suspended last year following an undertaking that negotiations would continue between workers representatives and individual farmers. The agreement meant workers would "conditionally" return to work pending wage settlement negotiations with their employers. They would be allowed to join any union of their choice, which would then negotiate with farmers.

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De Doorns quiet as farm workers await word from unions

Quentin Tarantino, Don Cheadle use the n-word backstage at Globes

Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

It wasnt an F-bomb that set off a gasp in the press room at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday night, it was the n-word. Quentin Tarantino employed the controversial term in the context of discussing his film, Django Unchained, for which the writer/director won best screenplay. The movie, which employs the slur over and over again in the course of its 165 minutes, has struck controversy in the African American community for its portrayal of a slave-turned-bounty hunter in antebellum Mississippi.

When asked if he was ever shaken by the use of the n-word while making Django, Tarantino responded:

If somebody is out there actually saying when it comes to the word n, the fact that I was using it in the movie more than it was being used in the antebellum south in Mississippi, then feel free to make that case. But no ones actually making that case. They are saying I should lie, that I should whitewash, that I should massage, and I never do that when it comes to my characters.

The reporters in the pressroom were taken aback by his use of the word, but Don Cheadle, who followed Tarantino backstage for his win for House of Lies, used the opportunity to make a subtle point.

When he took the stage, he said: Please no n questions. Black people questions are alright.

Related: Jodie Foster (kind of) addresses her sexuality at the Golden Globes Tina Fey and Amy Poehlers best Golden Globes jokes Read them here! The 2013 Golden Globes: See the winners here! All of EWs Golden Globes coverage

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Quentin Tarantino, Don Cheadle use the n-word backstage at Globes

Word Spreads — Germs Don't — at Virginia's Craddock Terry Hotel

FOREST, Va., Jan. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- When a hotel offers something truly unique to first-time and repeat guests, word spreads quickly. When that offering helps keep germs from spreading, word-of-mouth goes viral in a good way.

That's what happened at the boutique Craddock Terry Hotel in Lynchburg, Virginia, when they started featuring a trio of NanoTouch products in their guest rooms. As the world's first manufacturer of printed, portable, removable, and self-cleaning NanoSeptic touch point products that constantly kill bacteria, viruses, and fungi, Virginia-based NanoTouch Materials is making a splash in the hospitality, travel, education, and food service industries. It started with the popular Craddock Terry Hotel.

Recently named "Best Boutique Hotel" by Virginia Living magazine, forward-thinking executives at Craddock Terry and the development and management firm, Cornerstone Hospitality, added NanoSeptic self-cleaning antimicrobial travel mats on which guests rest personal items like toothbrushes, jewelry, medicines, and more. They also added self-cleaning TV channel guides and coffee maker instruction placards (both frequently touched, but rarely cleaned, hotel room items).

"I'm always looking for hotels that do things just a little differently in their quest to please the guest," said Craddock Terry guest Kevin Thompson, president of Virginia Beach's Thompson Consulting. "Not only did I find the Craddock Terry Hotel an exceptionally cool boutique hotel, I also had a higher level of confidence in the cleanliness of my room, since they took the extra step to provide a self-cleaning surface. I was so excited about this new product that I found myself wanting to send some as gifts to my friends and clients who travel."

Due to interest and demand from guests like Thompson, the hotel's lobby store now carries a travel kit for use in other hotels, as well as on nightstands, airplane tray tables, cruise ships, restaurants, and other areas where invisible germs are often present. Priced at $10.95, the kit includes a jumbo travel mat stored in a convenient tube ideal for carrying toothbrushes and other small travel items.

Branded with the Craddock Terry Hotel logo, the popular travel mats are packaged in 'the new clean' crystal-clear tamper-evident envelope, assuring guests that the mat has not been previously used. Craddock Terry management encourages guests to take it for use elsewhere in their travels or at home. Thus, the mat also serves as an ongoing reminder of the hotel's value-added service, while concurrently extending its brand.

"In our industry, as in most others, perception is reality," says Kimberly Christner, president and CEO of Cornerstone Hospitality. "If people perceive that public surfaces aren't clean, then there's a problem that needs to be solved.

"NanoTouch addresses that problem, while delivering on a hotel's brand promise," Christner continues. "The reality is, few people are going to lay personal items on a vanityeven in a high-end hotel. Guests are going to use a towel or something else they perceive as being a clean resting area. NanoTouch provides our properties a proactive way to deliver a feeling of safety and security to our guests."

The Craddock Terry's hotel director, Todd Swindell, says the use of NanoTouch also sends a 'green' message along with enhancing the hotel's 'clean' image. He says, "In today's world of growing eco-consciousness, we're always looking for ways to reduce the use of water and electricity, as well as limit the use of detergents that might impact the environment. By using the NanoTouch travel mats on the vanity, it's one less towel we have to washincreasing the sustainability of our property."

In addition to the portable products used by Craddock Terry, NanoTouch also has a line of facility touch points including door push pads and handle wraps. And with the increased frequency of hotels providing guests with complimentary use of iPads and Kindlesitems that were personal but are now sharedNanoTouch has developed antimicrobial sheaths for these devices that will be available early first quarter 2013.

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Word Spreads -- Germs Don't -- at Virginia's Craddock Terry Hotel

Globes: Tarantino Shocks Press Room with N-Word (Listen)

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, winner of Best Director of a Motion Picture for Django Unchained, poses in the press room during the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 13, 2013 in Beverly Hills

*By now it should be obvious that Django Unchained director Quentin Tarantino has no problem with folks taking offense at his liberal use of the N-word either within his movies, or while discussing his films in interviews.

Still, the press room at last nights Golden Globes appeared taken aback when the director, who won for best screenplay, began dropping the N-bomb again.

Addressing the unending conversation over the 100-plus times the characters in the slavery-themed spaghetti Western used the racist term, Tarantino himself uttered the phrase, to audible gasps from the scribes in the winners room. [Listen below.]

They think I should soften it, that I should lie, that I should massage. Tarantino said, referring to writers and filmmakers such as Spike Lee, who have criticized his use of the slur in the film. The films setting of 1860 antebellum south, he said, made that impossible, as did his artistic integrity. I would never do that when it comes to my characters, the director added.

He also pointed out that slavery is still going on across the globe go to Malaysia and even in the United States, the legal system has a bias against African Americans. Drug laws put so many black males in jails, he said. The way private and public prisons trade prisoners back and forth. Its like they are not even hiding it anymore.

Listen to his remarks below.

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Globes: Tarantino Shocks Press Room with N-Word (Listen)

'Real L Word' film considered

AP / Jill Goldstein

Showtime execs eyeing 'The Real L World' documentary

Jan. 14, 2013, 7:18 AM EST

WENN

Showtime network bosses have revealed plans to turn reality series "The Real L Word" into a documentary film.

Bing: More on 'The Real L Word'

The cutting-edge docu-series recently wrapped its third season on the premium cable network, and thanks to its success, Showtime executiveshave expressed interest in delving deeper into the lives of its stars.

During the Television Critics Association press tour on Saturday, Showtime entertainment president David Nevins said, "I want to change up the show and probably not continue it in exactly the same form. I've been ... exploring sort of 'L Word' culture, lesbian culture in places outside of New York and LA, places where the subculture is not so defined and it's maybe not so easy."

Hecontinued, "And I think we'll do a 'Real L Word' documentary. We did the scripted show, did an ensemble reality show, and now it's probably going to become a stand-alone documentary this year. But I think it's an important franchise for us. It could be one-part, be two parts. They're diving in doing research right now."

"The Real L Word" is a spin-off from Showtime's successful scripted drama "The L Word," which ended its six-season run in 2009. Network execs decided to continue the storylines but focused on featuring real women in the unscripted "The Real L Word" series.

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'Real L Word' film considered