Some cool teen advice images:
Gayheart
Image by newneonunion
My friend Bryan and i were bored and decided over a series of emails to imagine what ol Mel might be up to next, post Apocalypto success… and then I got the overwhelming urge to draw mel gibson and the lot. And so it was.
Feel like reading? Good.
It’s been a wild 2006 ride, but poor Mel Gibson can’t seem to catch a break. He goes out and creates the moviefilm to end all moviefilms – murky Mayan languages, relentless jaguar action, and the stunning fall of a savage civilization – and yet he still won’t get a sniff of Oscar if Hollywood heavyweights get their way. Drunk with green after his hit ‘Passion of the Christ’ and eager to stay away from the Jack Daniels, he’s better off just burying himself in the business of making more moviefilms. That’s why his Icon Entertainment is already elbow deep in the collection basket and scouting locations for the ‘Redemption of the Mel’. We uncovered an internal memo of projects now on the board. Here’s what we found:
Gayheart
The long-awaited musical sequel to the classic ‘Braveheart.’ Starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, the film follows the adventures of Robert the Bruce’s kilted troops, their precedent-setting ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy and how they fought, sang and danced their way to winning Scottish freedom. William Wallace’s spirit hovers over the battlefield directing troops on to the gayest triumph of the Medieval era.
Mad Mel 2: If I was anti-semitic, this is what I said
Considered by some his true confession, Mel presents this “hypothetical” reenactment of his ‘alleged” greatest hits with the Malibu police. Includes heart-stopping car chases, epic monologues, and comprehensive cavity searches. Filmed in slur with English subtitles.
Apocalypso
A heart-stopping mythic action-adventure set against the turbulent end times of a once-great Bahamas cruise ship calypso band. When a teetotalling honeymooner (Mel, of course) finds his idyllic existence brutally disrupted by a drunken rendition of ‘Day-O’, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear, oppression, and Anna-Nicole Smith, and where a harrowing end awaits.
Nuns on the Run VIII
Mel teams up with Michael Richards (a.k.a. Kramer) to don habits and play for laughs as they flee the media, paparazzi, Al Sharpton, the Anti-Defamation League, Sinbad, Lenny Kravitz and an entire crew of currently out-of-work Wayans and Baldwins.
The Fashion of the Christ
Mel presents the fabulous fads of the Biblical Era. Hear his take on the Mary’s cutting edge “thou shalt not fornicate” henna tattoo and his compelling story of how abstinence and low-slung toga belts became instant classics among the Holy Land’s teens. Extra features include Mel’s “What Not to be Caught Dead In” Crucifashion Guide and advice on how to accessorize pink leotards during on-stage crucifixions.
What Men Want Women to Want
Mel plays an aging actor imparting the hypnotic pick-up secrets of Scientology to the young students of a quiet, little pissant, redneck, podunk, jerk-water, green-horn, one-horse… Moooun-taaaain Toowwwwn! Follow his couch-hopping antics as he sweeps the ladies off their feet and whisks them away for a wonderful life of silent births, helicopter no-fly zones and L. Ron Hubbard conventions.
Lethal 3oz. Weapon
Mel gets unhinged again as Danny Glover looks helplessly on. When a group of terrorists led by Samuel L. Jackson set barbarous stingrays loose on a Hooters Air Toledo to Vegas flight, Mel quickly mixes up a deadly concoction from various TSA-approved 3 oz. liquids in their quart-size, zip-top, clear plastic bags that will save the flight and avenge all tragic stingray deaths. Crikey!
University of Maryland School of Public Policy Hosts 2010 Election Analysis November 3
Image by University of Maryland Press Releases
WHAT:
Election 2010: What Happened and What It Means
WHEN:
Wednesday, November 3, 2010, 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE:
Atrium – Van Munching Hall: School of Public Policy, University of Maryland
BACKGROUND:
Hosted by the Saul I. Stern Professorship in Civic Engagement, three top public policy experts will offer their analysis of the just-concluded mid-term elections in the state of Maryland and across the United States.
The experts include:
Stern Professor of Civic Engagement I. M. "Mac" Destler is a scholar who specializes in the politics and processes of U.S. foreign policymaking. He is co-author, with Ivo H. Daalder, of In the Shadow of the Oval Office (Simon and Schuster, 2009), which analyzes the role of the President’s national security adviser from the Kennedy through the George W. Bush administration. His American Trade Politics (Institute for International Economics, 4th edition, 2005) won the Gladys M. Kammerer Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book on U.S. national policy. Over 100,000 copies of this book are now in print, including Japanese and Chinese translations. Other recent Destler works include Misreading the Public: The Myth of a New Isolationism (Brookings Institution Press, 1999, with Steven Kull), and Protecting the American Homeland, (Brookings Institution, 2002 and 2003, with co-authors).
William Galston is a political theorist who both studies and participates in American politics and public policy. He was Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the first Clinton Administration (1993-1995), Executive Director of the National Commission on Civic Renewal (1998-2000), and founding director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). He has served as chief speech writer for John Anderson’s National Unity campaign, as issues director for Walter Mondale’s presidential campaign and as senior advisor to Albert Gore Jr. during his run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and again during his 2000 presidential campaign. He serves on the boards of numerous organizations, including the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and the National Endowment for Democracy. The author of eight books, Galston is currently a College Park Professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and The Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution.
Jeremy Rosner is one of the world’s leading consultants for political parties, candidates, governments, NGOs and corporate leaders around the globe. He specializes in using sophisticated public opinion research to help leaders and organizations worldwide design and implement winning political and communications strategies. His work as a pollster, campaign consultant, strategic adviser and expert on international affairs focuses heavily on the transitional countries of Central Europe and Latin America, and has been cited in many publications around the world. Since joining Greenberg Quinlan Rosner in 1998, he has directed public opinion research and provided strategic advice for dozens of leaders, governments and campaigns in the U.S., Europe and Latin America, as well as for major corporations and issue organizations.
MEDIA:
Media coverage is welcome. Please RSVP to Catherine Dowd-Reilly at the School of Public Policy.
Directions. Parking is available in the Mowatt Lane Parking Garage on the top two levels, in numbered spots. Pay stations are located by the elevators.
CONTACT:
Lara Brown de Fuenmayor
Assistant Dean for External Relations
School of Public Policy
University of Maryland
2113A Van Munching Hall
College Park, MD 20742
301-405-6429
larafuen@umd.edu
Behind the Rainbow
Image by mtsofan
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. That’s PFLAG.
The group borrowed a room in a public library, taping the inclusive rainbow flag over the window, both to identify the purpose and to provide privacy for those attending.
We talked about the merciless social environment of high school and where teens can go for support. A parent wondered what she might have done to cause her son to become gay. The conversation turned often to religion, and the condemnation that folks have endured within the worshipping environment. The leaders had planned to view a video, but decided that the conversation was too fruitful to stop.
I’m glad to have attended tonight. As a matter of fact, there was one other clergy person, and the wife of a pastor, present. Of course, I participated in the discussion, but I wouldn’t have had to in order to make a difference. It was enough to have the presence of clergy who wouldn’t criticize parent or child. That was a message in itself. We believe that God is love.
One more experienced mother of a lesbian daughter gave the best advice, in the end, to the less-seasoned in the group. Do three things, she said.
First, love your kid. Second, love your kid. And finally, love your kid.