Here's a new "revenue stream" that you can try out, whether you're in PR, or in media, or just particularly shameless: Giving a sob story to publicists and begging them up for free stuff. That's what this guy did:

This was sent out to a whole laundry list of flacks from NYC PR agencies, tourist attractions, various companies, and even the government:

Dear friends, colleagues and fellow publicists,

This is the real letter and why I am reaching out to you guys for help. As you all know i'm engaged and getting married in August. In the last few months my family has been hit hard with medical problems and we have many many bills to pay. My father had a defibulator put into his heart and my mom a few weeks ago had a heart attack. I cant give my future wife the dream wedding she want and since she has been good with it and understands i want to try and give her other stuff. In order to save money on normal items/gadgets, household products or even places to take her out im reaching out to you guys and see if you can help. We helped you guys in the past with either the reviews we have done for [my blog] or my college newspaper, for the charity events we help and promoted your products and finally do any sort of ad or promotional pull for you products or clients. The following is what we are looking for :
books
toys
cd's
electronics
household items/appliances
cute room decor
gift certificate for you place (museum, show, concert, hotel, etc)
and anything else you can think of

Please send all material to the address above. Also let me know if you can or can not help you. We understand if you cant and i hate that i have to ask you guys but we can really use the help right now to help us build our new lives....

Thanks

Direct donation! It could be the wave of the future, for terrible hacks. We're not going to reveal who this is from just yet, because we've emailed him to ask him how it's going. We'll let you know soon! He's a blogger, technically. But not one famous enough to extort anyone, unfortunately! If you got this email (and we know who you are!) and you'd like to share your feelings about it, email us. Fun times in medialand.
[Pic: Flickr]