"Word has it that Viacom permalancers will be barred from their holiday party tonight over concerns that there will be protests/disturbances related to the decision to slash benefits and salaries," an insider tells us. "The organizers of the holiday party are concerned about the bad press and potential for outbursts." Bad press! Outbursts! We are shocked! "Employees are afraid to contact Viacom security to find out of (sic) this is true." We were less (slightly) afraid, but when we got through to MTV's security desk and asked whether freelancers would be allowed at tonight's holiday shindig, a security guard, sounding more than a little cranky, said "I have no idea," and promptly hung up on us. Cheeky! Not like we can blame the guy, what with the headache he's got in keeping all those rowdy sticker-making, t-shirt-screening non-employee "employees" in line. So? What's the haps? We're sure Viacom wouldn't do something this stupid—oh, wait.

Was MTV trying to get away with snowing contractors into signing away benefits by just sort of, you know, not mentioning it and hoping for the best? "We were distributed the paperwork and told that we were to fill it out because MTV was changing payroll companies. There was no mention of the insurance change AT ALL," says one freelancer, who was not pleased to learn of the change in her work conditions from the Internets. Full memo after the jump.

Here's what we hear from what we believe has truly become the Viacom sweatshop. (One Viacom permalancer estimates that almost 50% of the staff are contract workers at this point.) A 50-hour workweek will now be standard, at least at MTV Digital (which means no overtime until after 50 hours, and no overtime at all for higher-level people, like producers and segment producers), and all will go from a day rate to an hourly rate. Healthcare, which was offered to permalancers after a staggering year of service, will now be offered only to employees who have worked 1,280 hours (25 of those 50-hour workweeks) in any one division. And that's the catch: Get transfered, as often happens, from VH1 to MTV or the like, and you start over on that clock.

You've seen one Google office, you've seen them all. But Brier Dudley of the Seattle Times had a column to write, so he ate some free food and turned in yet another dutiful profile of the lavish cafeterias in Google's Kirkland office. The outpost of Google is mostly notable for being a stone's throw from Microsoft and Amazon.com's headquarters, whence it's poached countless engineers with free food and other soft benefits.

Doree and Nikola headed to the Puck Building last night for a Paris Review fundraiser. Their account, and photos, follow.
There are certain ways that one announces one's place in the social pecking order. Dalton or Spence. Summers in Nantucket, winters in Palm Beach. Really all out is the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For those truly interested in becoming a part of the literary establishment, there is the Paris Review and its annual gala. Most parties for the quarterly literary journal take place at its offices in Tribeca and are generally attended by the expected assortment of nattily attired lower-level publishing types and a couple of famous writers enticed by the free drinks or the comely assistants who drink too many of them. But the Revel, as the annual benefit is called, is an entirely different animal. Tickets started at $500 and one was welcome to purchase a table for $50,000, which is the annual salary of two assistants.