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Set Visit: Deadpool - Interviews with Ryan Reynolds, Tim Miller, & more!
Set visits typically lead you to strange, dark places where people tell you their secrets. And, sometimes, they lead to a makeshift tent in Vancouver where the cast and crew of DEADPOOL assemble to talk about the long-awaited adaptation of Marvel Comics' favorite mutant bad boy. Huddled in plastic chairs, armed with our notepads, recorders, and lists of well-thought out questions we rarely get to ask, my fellow journo's and me attempted to pry out as many details about the Merc with the Mouth's first big-screen entry as we could, starting with the two men at the forefront of bringing it to life: Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller. Both men were playful, crude, insightful, genuine, and passionate with what they had to say about DEADPOOL and it's a really fun interview all around. Carve out some time and give it a read. It's well worth it.
After that, we have screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, two guys who stayed the course with the film and offer some great perspective on leaks, inspiration, fucking up Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, pushing the limits of an R-Rating, and much, much more. Both were candid as hell and obviously excited to see thier long-gestating script finally come to life.
Lastly, we talked to Executive Producer John Kelly, answering questions about the challenges of the shoot itself, the budget, shooting on digital, 3D plans and more. All interesting bits about what the head cheeses are thinking in terms of releasing this mammoth foul-mouthed epic next year. Dig in!
Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller
Q: Is the fact that we're in Vancouver have anything to do with the fact that you're from Vancouver?
RYAN: Uh, y'know, the shooting location was not up to me, it was a huge proponent in Vancouver, but it wasn't-the final call was-
TIM: He's totally getting a kickback.
RYAN: Big time kickback. My menacing mother every Sunday that's what the kickback was.
TIM: His mom is very hot. Have you met-?
RYAN: Yeah, Tim said he wanted to hit that!
TIM: I did.
RYAN: That's when I knew I loved Tim.
TIM: It was a very uncomfortable moment.
RYAN: No, I was very comfortable with it. Can I call you dad? Will you be my new dad?
TIM: (LAUGHS) That's a little…
RYAN: Right? That would really fuck up the dynamic out there (BOTH LAUGHING)
Q: Was there a time when the light at the tunnel seemed faintest in getting made?
RYAN: Um, yeah. It was pretty faint after Green Lantern (LAUGHS)
TIM: Through darkest…
RYAN: Yeah, darkest days, brightest…(LAUGHS) Um, yeah, wasn't looking so good then. Honestly, I gotta give credit to Tim there, because Tim sorta kept the faith in a way that I didn't even, I mean there was a time where I just thought this is- I just gotta let it go. It was like the worst relationship I'd ever been in. It was on/off, on/off, y'know. We created this test footage that I thought spoke volumes about the character and what we could do with it and that never saw the light of day. Until Tim leaked it. (LAUGHS) I did not say that in every interview by the way (LAUGHS).
TIM: I did not leak that footage. (LAUGHS)
RYAN: I say that in every interview by the way.
TIM: I did not leak it, I swear!
RYAN: I had the studio here yesterday and I was like 'I'm so glad Tim leaked that footage' (LAUGHS)
TIM: I swear to God I did not leak that footage. I would actually have to give credit to (screenwriters) Rhett and Paul, because literally every other week they would call and say, "Gosh, fuck, this is the best script we've ever written, we gotta do something, what can we do?" And then we would try stuff, like, I wrote at least ten or fifteen "who do I have to-" y'know, to get this movie made . I begged, I pleaded, I did everything.
RYAN: The answer was a lot of people. (LAUGHS)
TIM: But, Rhett and Paul never gave up either. I mean, I really think that they knew this is a great script, it's just one of those things that it's hard to see unless you're a fan of the comic, unless you understand the fans, unless you understand the character, um…I think the public, the non-comic reading public will identify with this, but as a script and a character I think it's a little tricky for non-Deadpool lovers…
RYAN: What was also great is that Tim isn't that intimate with the studio system and so I was privy to some of his e-mails to Jim Gianopolus, I was like "You can't fucking write e-mails like this to the studio head!" But, evidently you can. (LAUGHS) Tim would say just amazing things in those e-mails. He was so passionate about it.
Q: Could you quote one of those e-mails?
RYAN: I cannot at all, not without a very vicious lawsauit (LAUGHS) I think that, in retrospect the studio sorta found that charming in a weird way, because he lacked some of the sorta typical bullshit etiquette that most people have when they're trying to get their movie made.
TIM: And still do. (LAUGHS)
RYAN: And still does. Yeah. Definitely, definitely.
Q: Why were you so passionate about this character. Why does it talk to you?
RYAN: I just think there's nothing else that occupies a space quite like it in any universe, in any comic book universe, and it's been like that for a long time, um, so in a weird way waiting might have served us better than anything, because now's the time for a movie like this in a way that, y'know, five, six, seven years ago might not have been.
Q: Because of the tone, because of the darkness?
RYAN: Well, every comic book movie I go to nobody fucking dies! I mean, like, everybody's getting shot at, it's like an episode of The A-Team, y'know, everyone's shooting the ground- so, we get an opportunity to do this in a way that follows all the scripture that Deadpool's laid out, which is fourth-wall breaking, which is, y'know, that kind of mercenary sensibility and humor and then we also have this opportunity, which is very rare in this world, to do something that's not necessarily for just kids. There's some pretty racy, pretty hyper-violent things that happen in this movie and it's been a lot of fun to shoot.
TIM: But, if you know the character you can see why Ryan as a person would be drawn to that character and then you take that character and Ryan was there writing the script with Rhett and Paul and putting his ideas and then you take a character that's kinda like Ryan and then you put Ryan into his development process and he becomes very much like Ryan until he really IS Ryan and the character, if you knew him, not in this context, but he's very much like Deadpool-
Q: In what way?
TIM: His humor is the same as Deadpool. He's just as immature on a daily basis (LAUGHS) as Deadpool is in the film. He's just-
RYAN: You love it.
TIM: I do love it! It makes me laugh! He's filthy. He's so nasty.
Q: Talk about the costume. Was it always what we're seeing? Were there little tweaks along the way?
RYAN: The costume was tough, it's always tough, I think on any film.
TIM: It's all about the whiskering.
RYAN: Yeah, the whiskering (LAUGHS)
TIM: Ryan sent me this note about the costume when we had it and he's like, "Y'know, I love it except for the whiskering in the crotch" And I had to get out my fashion dictionary to see what actually whiskering was and then I was like, "God damn this guy is like fucking on it with his knowledge of fashion and the costume and stuff." And then, like two weeks later Ryan was like "Did you think that note was from me? That was my wife" (LAUGHS)
RYAN: She was like, there's whiskering around there and I was like "Oo, that's a good word."
TIM: But she was right and we fixed it. No whiskering now.
RYAN: The costumes are tough-that's where I really learned a pretty valuable lesson when it comes to this stuff, I think we all did, which was just never to settle. It was like R&D all the way to the first day of shooting. So, it's tough. You gotta tell people that say it's impossible, we cannot do this in the-the things you're asking for are not possible in the amount of time that we have and you have to just go back to them and say "You're going to have to find a way and just make it happen, because everything depends on this."
TIM: But, y'know, usually in these costumes, I think it's worth noting, usually in these costumes you have a-because nobody is so ripped that it can show up underneath this costume, and so, even Superman and all those guys, have a muscle suit underneath, which is pretty cool, a kind of polyurethane kind of thing and so we had one built for Ryan and then-he's not wearing it. We didn't need it. We put him on it and he looked fucking jacked, yknow-
RYAN: I looked like a house in it. It was like too much-
TIM: But, the funny thing is he IS jacked. It would shame all of the men in this room if you saw him with his shirt off. Even the stunt guys-he's huge, and so- We had this moment when he first was changing into costume and I hear him go, "Tim, Tim come in here for a second." And I said, "Okay." And I go in there and he's got his shirt off and he's like, "Okay, this is as close as we're going to get to being naked together on this entire process." But, I mean, he was just showing me how ripped he was. But, then you put him in the costume and it looked TOO big, so we dropped all the muscle suit and that's all 100 percent USDA Ryan Reynolds underneath. But it looks great because the costume kind of slims him back down, which is to what I think is the quintessential Deadpool. I mean he's not a super strong guy-
RYAN: We wanted a lithe and kind of a little more slippery than the big beefcake kind of thing, so…
Q: Something that's kind of a classic Liefeld character design is the pouches and I notice that you have the pouches…
RYAN: I have the pouches. And I have feet (LAUGHS)
TIM: And the tiny feet and tiny hands. (LAUGHS)
RYAN: The pouches, yeah, the pouches-sometimes they have stuff in them, sometimes not. Our Deadpool has a cell phone at times, so, y'know-
TIM: We missed the Liefeld joke with the little hand thing…
RYAN: Oh yeah! Well, there's still time, technically…
Q: Can you talk about the tantalizing fireside photo that you guys put out. Does this mean it will be a very hypersexualized Deadpool?
TIM: Pansexual! I want that quoted. Pansexual Deadpool.
RYAN: There is some sexuality in this movie for sure. You kinda think, y'know, you have moments when you're shooting where you think, "This is, uh, a little excessive. This is a comic book movie. Are we gonna get away with this?" But, uh, so far so good. Studio hasn't crushed us with anything. They were here yesterday, they were thrilled, they saw some cut footage, y'know, so, so far so good. Y'know, we did a photo shoot for an entire day of just different, completely insane things that Deadpool is doing and there's a lot more to come. They'll be slowly released.
Q: All Burt Reynolds inspired?
RYAN: No, it wasn't all Burt inspired. A little Dolly Parton in there. Got some unicorn fucking. A few things, I'm sure a lot, that will never ever see the light of day. Or, maybe they will if I have anything to do with it…
TIM: He was so happy when they were shooting that day. Like, we had just done the make-up tests before, which are, y'know, quite extensive for Ryan, it's like four hours to get ready and it's like wearing a wet diaper on your face, according to him. And so he was not that perky. And then the next day was the photo shoot and he was like, just, ecstatic.
RYAN: Yeah, and again I'm in the suit, I'm happy. Make-up is tough though.
Q: Can you talk about the make-up and the balance to make it scary and charming?
RYAN: Yeah, the make-up's tough on any character or any person that has to wear that kind of thing, because you have to push yourself through it as much as you can, so everything's a little big bigger and you're really moving your face a lot more. We have Bill Corso, who's an Oscar-winning make-up artist , he did Foxcatcher, and he's a big piece of the puzzle because we specifically, right when we got the green light, we said, we gotta get this guy, we have to have Bill Corso 'cause he could bring this guy to life in a way that no one else could. I say to Bill a lot of times, "You're half my performance." He really is.
TIM: But, I do think that the fans were-there was a lot of relief when they saw the make-up for the first time and they realized we weren't going to pussy out and not do scars and I think, y'know, there wasn't a whole lot, but a little pushing to say, y'know, we gotta do this. And, y'know, everybody wants to see Ryan looking beautiful, and we have that, I think, because it's an origin story. But then, central to this character is this damaged person whose had this horrible thing happen to him and without that it kind of unravels his journey, if you will, and it doesn't work. And, I think, when you see the movie, you'll see that without that we couldn't tap a well of humor around that that really is some of the best jokes in the movie are about just how fucking ugly he is (LAUGHS). T.J. Miller's got some lines that will kill you, I'm telling you now.
Q: Did you guys mostly stick to the script or did you leave some room open for improvisation?
RYAN: Yeah, it's a bit of everything. Rhett and Paul are brilliant so what we have on the page is perfect, I thought, so-
TIM: But T.J. Miller was a wild stallion of comedy…
RYAN: Yeah, he really was, yeah he had the gift that kept on giving. Tim had to reign him in. "Just say the fucking line on the page, man. Once. Just say it once on the page." (LAUGHING)
TIM: But it was great! (LAUGHS)
RYAN: But, the script has been six years in the refinement, so we kinda knew what we wanted there. And then we'd all write some alts, we'd all write, sometimes up to ten alts for one joke, y'know, and then just sort of time allowing we'd narrow 'em down.
Q: Can you talk about some of the other mutants that may make a cameo or any easter eggs your planning or planting?
RYAN: There are some serious easter eggs in this movie.
TIM: Yeah, there's a few in the workshop scene that we've got that, y'know, that are kind of in the background. And Vanessa, obviously, which we don't really reveal as her powers anywhere. Um, but not a lot, y'know-
RYAN: Well, there are. There's a few that are-I think that are gonna be-people are gonna really love, I think, but…yeah.
TIM: You want-go ahead-You tell-
RYAN: No, no, I don't want to give anything away, I have a big mouth, so, I'm gonna, y'know-
TIM: But I think we're staying in our dark little corner of the Marvel Universe in a lot of ways. Colossus is kind of our gateway drug into the rest of the X-Men universe. We have some nice scenes with him. I mean, some big scenes with him. I think he's a perfect straight man. I was so afraid they were gonna make us cut that, um, and change that to someone that wasn't in the other X-men films, but I'm so glad they didn't because he's the perfect straight man.
RYAN: He's also like a real prude in our movie. You put him next to me and he's just constantly vomiting in his mouth.
TIM: There was a time when we were figuring out who else should be in it and, y'know, I was really-we had to cut Garrison Kane out, he was a big one we wanted in there-sequel, maybe, if we get so lucky. We had this moment where it was like, we needed a piece of muscle, I thought it would be nice to have a woman in the film in a strong position and so I went through the voluminous archive of characters that Fox controls and there were a few in there there were really goofy, like Harry Ocelot. I'm serious, there's a character named Harry Ocelot. And I put those on a separate list and said it's a shame we can't use these, like Harry Ocelot and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. And, I thought it was a joke and Rhett and Paul said, "Oh my fucking God we gotta use her. It's gotta be her. It's gotta be her." Which was great in hindsight, but, she is kind of an obscure character.
RYAN: Very Obscure.
Q: Where would you place Deadpool's level of crazy in this movie?
RYAN: Well, it's-when we meet Wade he's pretty acerbic and kind of funny in his own right, but not near the level of Deadpool. Deadpool's just-he has zero ability to stop his mouth, so, y'know, that's referenced a number of times in the script and the other characters just would do anything to get him to shut up. Anything. Except maybe sew his mouth shut. No one's doing that.
Q: Rhett and Paul mentioned that you guys would allude to Wolverine Origins, can you talk about some payback to that?
RYAN: No, it's referenced. I wouldn't-I don't want to get into it, I don't want to spoil anything. It's in there. There's a mention or two.
TIM: It's a little therapy session for Ryan. Inside the movie.
Q: With the costume, you're going with the white eyes, which is a main staple to the character. How did you get away with that when most superhero movies do away with that?
RYAN: Yeah, we, um- the character's ripped right out of the comics, that's what we're going for. You can't promise Deadpool fans in the audience the authentic Deapool and then give him a pair of pretty blue eyes. You have to, y'know, make it look the way it's supposed to look. That's all. We're just doing it that way and it works. We've tested it a number of different ways and make sure that you still feel the expression through the mask and, y'know, I think there's gonna be a little-
TIM: -A little animation on top, yeah.
RYAN: -with the eyes, yeah-
TIM: But it's all based on-so, we'll take Ryan's performance and then we'll just transfer that to a little CGI magic to the mask.
RYAN: It helps to film me without the mask doing all the same lines and then you can just put that on, y'know, and allow it to just-not quite as much, but just allow the mask to move a little bit with the face.
TIM: It helps. I mean, if you saw the tests we kinda did that and it really helps, even if it's subtle. It really makes a difference with the expressions.
Q: With a background in animation with Blur, how was the transition to live action?
TIM: It's extremely painful. Every day I wake up and- (LAUGHS). Y'know, the directing part is not that different and I think running a bigger company had a lot of value to running a bigger- I mean this-basically this production is about the size of business my company does in a year sort of crammed into a six month period, so, I think just managing people and not having them hate you, utterly, a little bit maybe, but not completely, that was a big help. The directing part not so much. I've directed a lot of mo-cap, I've directed a few commercials and it's really-it's kind of the same thing. I mean, it's much better working with Ryan and the kind of caliber of people we have here. That wasn't so much, it's really just the process of live action vs. CG is different. Creativity comes in small, controlled bursts here, which is a little different. It's a process. I like it. I do.
I mean, being able to walk over-like Ryan was doing this-there's a difference between CG and live action. Ryan is running this whole pizza scene in an apartment and it's a three page scene and I could come over and go, "Could you look a little more depressed there and a little happier here and a little doubtful there" and Ryan would just fold that into this into the whole performance in a way that, y'know, if it was an animator, I would've had to wait four weeks to see it and Ryan does it thirty seconds later.
RYAN: I am your plaything. (LAUGHS)
TIM: He is my meat puppet. (LAUGHS) That would be the case if the performance was 99.99 percent there before I opened my fat mouth and, some might say, worse because I opened my mouth. Maybe Ryan might say that.
Q: So, if the film is successful will we finally got to see The Goon?
TIM: (LAUGHS) I don't know if that works that way in Hollywood. I'd like to think it did. Does it? I don't know, I don't count on that. We're still working on it, we just haven't-I know the Kickstarter fans are a little upset with us, but-we did, we finished a version of the film and then we-Fincher and me and Jeff and Eric all got together and we did some rewrites. We don't want to show it until it's-but, an animated film is, y'know-Pixar spends six fucking years on theirs. We've only had a year and a half.
Q: Talk about the soundtrack; Are you thinking music or score?
RYAN: It's been huge for us.
TIM: Ryan is a walking compendium of '80's and '90's music, so we are tapping into that.
RYAN: And not necessarily the good stuff either. (LAUGHS)
TIM: It's a process that needs to be monitored.
RYAN: It's big in the movie. Music is a huge part of it and it's not the kind of typical stuff you'd see-y'know, the driving beats that, y'know, normally accompany action sequences. We might be going the other way with some of it. But, you never know until the end. I mean, look, our budget is like the Craft Services budget on most X-Men movies , so we don't, y'know, we have to sort of spend the money that we have quite wisely in the most judicious places possible, but um-
TIM: I do just want to say for the record, though, that if it looks like in any of the nostalgic use of music that we're chasing Guardians, look at the script that was leaked years ago and it has all these music references and-
RYAN: That's true.
TIM: -Rhett and Paul had it first.
RYAN: I did have a bit of a panic attack when I saw Guardians. (LAUGHS)
TIM: Rhett and Paul got there first.
Q: You guys worked on this for years before you got the greenlight. What was the feeling like when you finally got it?
RYAN: That was the weirdest green light I've ever heard of, because they didn't tell us, they just dated the movie. (LAUGHS) The footage had been leaked and, y'know, this momentum had been building since Comic Con-
TIM: In our minds, really. We didn't know-
RYAN: There was a bit of a fever pitch after this test footage leaked and suddenly we just see that, in the trades, like everybody else, oh, they dated Deadpool for February 2016 and we all sort of look at each other and go, "We're either all making a movie or we've all just been summarily fired." (LAUGHS) We're all kind of calling each other, like, are we, what's-?
TIM: I had like a thirty minute heads up on that from when Ryan did because I literally had a meeting with Emma Watts who runs Fox and I've had meetings before, there just sort of, you check in and you talk about what's-basically, me begging, can we make the movie? And then, this time before I had a meeting at 2 o'clock, she called me and said, "Hey, you're coming over in a little bit, but I'm just wondering what you're doing in February 2016?" And I'm like, "Uhh, nothing." And then she said, 'cause we're gonna-
RYAN: You're watching a movie we hired someone else to direct. That's what you're doing. (LAUGHS)
TIM: So, it was kinda shocked.
Q: Do you guys feel a closer kinship to the fans on this film considering they were so instrumental in getting it made?
RYAN: Totally. They own it. And I don't mean that as anything falsely sincere. Genuinely I feel like we owe this experience to them. It's like, y'know, never in a million years would it have happened this way had it not been for their voice. And, social media in every aspect, y'know? People were writing Fox. It's kinda nice, y'know? I feel like we owe it to them to give them the most authentic Deadpool possible and at the same time we also feel indebted to them for getting this movie made. They greenlit it, really. Fox just dated it.
TIM: But, we're fans, y'know. So we just wanna be true to the original spirit of it. I feel like- we talk a lot about, like, will the fans not like this or not like that, I don't worry about that so much, because I feel like I'm the core demographic wrapped up in one sorta semi-fat 50-year-old package. And it would-y'know-I feel like I got a good compass for what they can tolerate and we are so in the zone. I think they're gonna love it.
Q: What are the chances you take the costume out for a spin in character walking the floor of Comic Con 2015?
RYAN: I'd be lying if I said it hasn't been discussed already. I don't know, we'll see. I feel like this costume will take cosplay to a whole new level, to the sense that, I think that as soon as I walk on the floor people would be like, "That's Deadpool! That's not nylon!" I would much prefer to go with the K-Mart/Wal-Mart version-
TIM: You could to the onesie!
RYAN: Fully! I actually think that's cooler. Also, science is wrong, Global warming is caused by this suit. So, playing in it is not as comfortable as one might imagine. Today is actually the first day that I haven't been passing away while wearing it.
Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick - Screenwriters
Q: As I think everyone knows, the possibility exists that the script might have been online for a little bit, so a lot of us are curious, how has the script changed if at all since that version hit, and what tweaks have of have not been done?
RHETT REESE: I'd say the script is about 70% the way it was still. So it's changed significantly but if you were to read that script and go see the movie you'd have a lot of stuff spoiled. I mean, the same basic movie is there.
PAUL WERNICK: It evolved. You know, we've been on this project for more than 6 years now. We were hired right after Zombieland, 2009. And it went through various iterations and evolutions over the course of those 6 years, including starting as an R-rated draft and evolving eventually into a PG-13 draft over the course of 4 of those 6 years, and then returning back to the R-rated draft near the end. Largely, tonally, story wise, it's very, very similar.
REESE: Yeah. I mean, some additions –Tim Miller, our director, thought that the first draft had a lot of gun fighting at the expense of kind of superhero fighting so he wanted us to introduce another superhero, so we did. Negasonic Teenage Warhead was a pretty recent add for Tim. I'd say it's both different and the same, I know it sounds strange or maybe as an oxymoron. But, again, if you'd read that draft you have a pretty good sense of what you're gonna see.
Q: Was that highly frustrating for you guys, is there any positivity to come out of a leak like that?
REESE: I don't mind leaks myself.
WERNICK: As long as they're well received [Laughs].
REESE: Yeah. But I think a poorly received leak in today's day and age could really kill a movie, I really believe that. And a well-received one –I mean, both our script and the test footage were well-received and I think that helped us in each case. It didn't put us over the top, but it certainly didn't hurt.
WERNICK: It does make us highly suspect that both the script and the test leaked, but neither of which we had anything to do with.
Q: What made you guys decide to put a less known characters like Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Angel Dust, when those are characters that are barely in the comics anyway?
REESE: Yeah. Well, a lot of the bigger characters are spoken for, so when you go to get someone like Colossus, there are a lot of approvals and it has to fit into the larger X-Men universe and what the X-Men franchise is planning on doing with Colossus and who are you gonna cast and all those issues come in to play; it becomes a little bit of a quagmire sometimes, we did get approval for Colossus. But with Negasonic Teenage Warhead Tim actually gave us a pre-approved list, he's like, "You can use any of these names" and we looked down the list and there were names like Bizarre, Tar Baby was a character, like, "I don't think we'll be using Tar Baby" But anyway, on that list it just popped, this name Negasonic Teenage Warhead.
WERNICK: It almost didn't matter what her powers were, we just loved the name so much.
REESE: And she is so minor that very few people know her, which is actually good for us. Usually you have the opposite problem where people know them too well so whenever you do anything even slightly off book everybody jumps down your throat. But with Negasonic, nobody knew who she was anyway so we got to map an entire personality onto her, new powers onto her, kind of anything we wanted which was nice.
WERNICK: And thematically I think it works that some of these lesser known characters are in Deadpool, because it's just they feel like Deadpool, these kind of off-kilter, lesser known characters feel more Deadpool.
REESE: And we are part of the X universe, and that is important. Simon Kinberg is our producer and he kind of minds the store in regards to the X universe, so we are fitting into the larger timeline, we need to recognize that. I mean, we have things like the Blackbird's in the movie, we reference Professor X in the movie. So Deadpool is very much of that world and I think sooner or later we'll cross over into that world. I mean, we're not sure when that would be. Probably, if I'd have to guess, we would do a standalone sequel before he entered the actual ensemble movies, but I think at some point it will cross over and it needs to fit.
WERNICK: He even jokes in the movie about being part of an ensemble movie, Deadpool does.
Q: There's been a lot of talk that Hugh Jackman is leaving Wolverine after the Wolverine sequel, and there's a lot of talk that after Apocalypse Fox might reboot or something with X-Men because of contracts. Are you sort of aware of that have you had that conversation about a reboot coming, does it still exist?
REESE: I think that anyone who's in those other movies we can refer to them by character and not get into a problem, if we start talking about specifics of timelines and plots, that's where it gets dicey for us. So we've tried to be a little generic, we talk about Professor X but it's not in any sort of so specific that it could come into conflict with a potential movie or a potential reboot. We're not sure ourselves where it's going, I'm not even sure that there exists the exact plan, but we're just trying to be in a place where we can be flexible not matter which way it goes, if that makes sense.
Q: Do you guys go into the first Wolverine movie at all, referencing, going back to or away from it?
WERNICK: Yeah, very much. Obviously I think it's pretty well known that they fucked up Deadpool and Wolverine.
[All laugh].
WERNICK: So we have our fun with it. Deadpool obviously breaks that fourth wall in the comics, he breaks it in the movie. This is an origin story, partly an origin story, partly a story in the present of revenge and then redemption. So we do have our fun with the Wolverine movie and how Deadpool was portrayed, and yet we completely disregarded it and done it hopefully better than they did.
Q: What is more important to you and what combination can we expect?
WERNICK: It's pretty outrageous and hopefully fairly funny. I'd say comedy to action…
Q: Like Green Lantern type of humor?
WERNICK: Let's hope not.
[All laugh].
WERNICK: What would you say?
REESE: Yeah. I mean, really it all flows from the character. The character is very irreverent, he's very edgy, he's very silly, he's borderline psychotic, and I think all of those flow right into the tone. We love this tone, we were really given a gift when we got to write this character and all the other characters in a way become straight men to Deadpool who's the lunatic in the middle. Usually the straight man is in the middle and the lunatics are around them, and with Deadpool it's the lunatic in the middle and the straight men are around him. It's just a joy to write, it really is, it's a joy to write. And we think it'll be very faithful to the Deadpool you know. I don't think anyone's gonna watch this and go, "Oh this isn't the Deadpool that I've read on the page" I think they're gonna feel like, "Ok, this is pretty much the quintessential look at what he's like and what drives him and why he is funny even".
Q: So he's totally crazy.
REESE: Well, no, he's not insane. It's not the hearing voices, we're not doing that, he's not schizophrenic or anything, but he is as Ryan [Reynolds] says, in a highly militarized shame spiral. So he's very insecure, he is very vain, hates the way he looks, and the comics had given us the lead way to break the fourth wall, so in a way he's just strangely omniscient, he can talk about the fact that he's in a movie, he can talk about things that the character wouldn't know and everyone around him is kind of like, "What are you talking about?"
WERNICK: For example, he's stubbing though a People's Magazine sexiest male alive, Hugh Jackman 2011's sexiest male alive People Magazine, so, you know. Is he insane? He's not insane.
REESE: Yeah. We're not pushing him quite as far as some of the later comics do in terms of his sheer insanity. We figured we had time to do that, hopefully with sequels we have time to do that.
Q: What characters came very close to being in this film?
REESE: We had some that were in that are now out. Garrison Kane was in and is now out, Wire was in and is now out.
WERNICK: Both budgetary.
REESE: Both for budgetary reasons. I'm trying to think… Cable, you know, there was a lot of pressure to put Cable in this movie just because he is associated with Deadpool and they have an interesting fun relationship. Our feeling was we just better get Deadpool on his feet before we introduce Cable. Anyone else?
WERNICK: No.
REESE: I mean, I though. We really took some people off the table, most of the X-Men we took off the table. Colossus was the one we wanted to fight for because he's a real goody two-shoes and a real rule follower, and we thought he was a good foil to Deadpool. He's just this sort of square jawed, metaphorically and literally, but he's also a square and that's pretty fun to play opposite Deadpool.
Q: I imagine there were numeral processes to getting Colossus, did you guys have a backup plan if you couldn't get him?
REESE: I don't think we, thankfully, got that far. We kind of put him in there with the hope that we could use him and then it just worked out.
WERNICK: Sort of like how we wrote it with the hope that it would stay R-rated. When we started we did say like, "Well, are they ever gonna make an R-rated Deadpool movie?" and Ryan, God bless him, was like, "Go with God. Write it the way it should be written and we can kind of figure it out beyond that" So same sort of thing, we just wished and it came through.
Q: Some movies go just pure over the R-rated line and some movies go really far with R, what are you guys doing?
WERNICK: We may have to appeal for an R rating as opposed to an NC-17.
REESE: Yeah. I mean, we have all the things I think that make a movie R: Language, Sex, and Violence. And so I would say we're a reasonably hard R, though that's certainly in play if it gets too gory and it might turn some folks off, we have to find the right line.
Q: A lot of Deadpool's sense of humor is from pop culture references, how do you make sure that you reference pop culture things but also that you're not making a joke about something that people will roll their eyes about in a year?
REESE: Boy, that's such a good question and it's so hard to me. Interestingly this script is 6 years old, so one of the things we decided I think was, it's ok if someone in the audience doesn't get a specific joke, and Family Guy has always committed to that idea. Like, you know, we'll make a bunch of jokes, you'll get maybe 7 out of 10 but 3 you won't get, maybe somebody else will get or maybe it'll inspire you to look that person up on the internet. They'll do jokes that are pretty obscure for a modern audience, but they do enough, the quantity is enough I think that any particular one if it makes somebody grunt or feels like yesterday's news, that's ok in the larger scheme. I do think we need to watch the really popular trends, like the jokes that just get beaten down by other movies and other TV shows, but some stand the test of time, some jokes are so timeless like, I mean, Justin Bieber, we'll probably be able to make jokes about Justin Bieber and if it's a funny joke it'll still work.
Q: Do you have any sort of end credit or post-credit scene, where you guys approached to write anything like that?
WERNICK: There is a post credit thing that if hopefully comes together, It's gonna be phenomenal.
REESE: We're planning it. It's one of those ones that's gonna require some doing, so iit may not come together, and if so, I don't know, we'll either do a plan be or none at all. I think we should have one, I mean, we really feel like we should have one.
Q: It's Deadpool.
REESE: Yeah. Right. Exactly.
Is there a Stan Lee cameo?
REESE: Stan Lee is in the movie.
WERNICK: In a way you've never seen him before.
REESE: Yeah. Did you guys see that recent Stan Lee cameo, the video on YouTube? It's pretty funny. The Stan Lee School for cameo acting.
WERNICK: We could…You guys want the spoil or not?
REESE: No? No, no. No spoiler.
Q: How much was Rob Liefeld involved in the script?
REESE: Rob wasn't that involved in the script but he's been incredibly involved once the script was done in helping us get it to fruition. Just pushing and nudging and kind of generating enthusiasm on the fans and on the studio. He's so passionate and such a cheerleader, just such a positive person and a positive force. I think, truly, that if it hadn't been for his –Obviously most importantly if it hadn't been for his character none of us would be here, but also just his tireless passion and enthusiasm means a lot. In a business where people can get cynical and beaten down and tired, he never gave up and it really helped the movie.
Q: Being in the film for 6 years, having different iterations, going back and forth, is there a period in time where the light at the end of the tunnel seems the faintest?
REESE: Yes. There were some really low moments. One of the lowest moments was when we turned in the script on the day The Avengers came out, a Friday, and The Avengers made what, over 200 and some million dollars opening weekend? And we thought for sure, "How do you read this script as an executive on that particular weekend and not greenlight this Monday morning?" and instead we got the word on Monday morning that Fox was gonna kind of rethink, given the success of The Avengers, rethink Deadpool possibly within the context of an ensemble as opposed to by himself, and we just went, "Ugh!" so that was a low moment. What were some other ones?
WERNICK: I mean, pretty much every moment from the time when we turned in the script to the time they greenlit the movie was pretty low. Just because we're so immensely passionate about it, and not able to understand how a movie like this, a Marvel movie, in a space with a little bit of oversaturation but yet this is an apple to everyone's orange in terms of it being hard R and being this character that the audience has never really seen a superhero like this, I don't think, kind of a self-loathing antihero.
REESE: It's funny, greenlight decisions come down to people, people make the decision, obviously. But maybe not so obviously in the sense that you need that right combination of people, and it wasn't until we had Jim Gianopulos, Stacy Snider, Emma Watts, and Simon Kinberg, that group of people, to come together and say, 'Ok, now's the time." And we're really lucky in that retrospect that I didn't get made in a previous iteration because it might have been PG-13, or an executive who was doing it maybe because they thought the market was didn't really get it. I think we finally got the right combination of people at Fox who just supported us 1000%, and I think because of that we're all gonna get the Deadpool we always hoped for.
WERNICK: Yeah. It all ultimately worked out. But if you were to track the email chain from Rhett, myself, Ryan, and Tim, over the course of 5, 6 years we all never gave up. We pushed, and pushed, and pushed, and sent emails where we over step boundaries all the time in term of like, Jim Gianopulos got it like, 'Please we're grown men, we're begging".
REESE: And we had some angels on our shoulder too, this movie had some very quiet unsung heroes. One of them was Jim Cameron, who's a friend of Tim Miller, and read the script at a key moment a few years back. He said he would read it and we were like, [Sarcastically] "Oh yeah, he's will read it." And literally he read it that night and got back to us the next morning.
WERNICK: He was procrastinating I think on Avatar 2.
REESE: But he read it and he went to Jim Gianopulos and he got it on the radar in a really big way. David Fincher was another guy who was a big help for us, he's also a friend of Tim's, and he loved the script and he pushed forward with the executives at certain key moments. Having guys like Fincher and Cameron pushing certainly didn't hurt and we very well might not be sitting here if it hadn't been for those two guys.
WERNICK: The ultimate angel on our shoulder really was Simon Kinberg. When he came aboard it really did kind of move what was delayed to blazing superhero speed and "let's make this movie".
REESE: Yeah. I mean, I think Simon in a way was probably most responsible, just his understanding of comics, his understanding of this character.
WERNICK: And the trust that Fox has in him.
Q: Have Cameron and Fincher been on set at all?
REESE: No, they're so busy. But their enthusiasm really helped us, I can't say that enough, it really helped us.
Q: So you guys think Deadpool will have his own standalone sequel before being part of an ensemble?
REESE: Just a guess.
Q: Have you guys given any thought to what a second standalone film would look like?
REESE: Not really because we're trying not to jinx it. I think what we're discovering in this process is that we've really fallen in love with these characters, and by these I mean Weasel, Blind Al, Dopinder who plays the taxi driver, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Colossus. So I think there will be momentum to keep as many characters from the original as possible because they seem to be working out so well.
WERNICK: It's like this fucked up dysfunctional family that kind of all works, and so we'd love to keep the core together if we could.
REESE: And not overpopulate it. I think some movies get overpopulated, I mean, obviously there would be a new villain. It would be fun to get Cable involved, that's not a promise, that's something that we will explore certainly. But I think we're just in love with this particular ensemble, kind of like a TV ensemble, they're fun beyond episode 1, episode 2, sometimes many seasons the same ensemble could work, so we'd like to play with these guys.
WERNICK: And it also bares mentioning too, a word about Ryan Reynolds. This is a pretty well known fact but when we developed this script to write it, we outlined it very seriously and we did that with Ryan. So it was really the three of us, Paul, Ryan and I, and I think sometimes people make the assumption that the start is just the start, he just shows up and he does his job and that's it; and he was so instrumental. When we first pitched Deadpool to him, it was not an origin story, interestingly, because we thought origin stories were old-fashioned, and Ryan was the one who said, "No, it needs to be an origin story" and so I think it was kind of his choc but then our peanut butter in the sense that we decided to kind of do a modern story and an origin story and link them with the sort of five-year flashbacks. But when we wrote the script we would send pages, 10 to 20 at a time, to Ryan and he would give us his notes and his feedback as we were going. So I just can emphasize enough how important he was to the writing process and really this is not just Paul's and my script, it's Paul's, mine, and Ryan's from a long, long time ago. And I just wanna make sure that everyone gets that because he really deserves that recognition.
John Kelly – Executive Producer
Q: Was this scene conceived to be shot in the rain or was that something you had to adapt to?
JK: We wanted it to be gloomy and sort of dark, and I think these are good days to do that, but when it's raining it's sort of hard for continuity because you've got some scenes without the rain coming down. Most of the time if there's a light rain coming down you can't really see it if you've shot it the right way. It's things like this big tractor outside, if rain is coming down like a little waterfall that's what catches your eye rather than the actual rain in the air or something. There's challenges, hopefully it stops or you get this big forty by sixty truss systems we've got hanging by construction cranes and you try to at least cover some of the working area.
Q: Are you staying close to the universe of the comic or are you just inspired by it and telling a different story?
JK: Very close I believe, as much as we can. I think a lot of those things, Tim, Ryan, and the writers probably can get into more, they've spent years getting this movie made, I came on about 8 months ago. I do shows from show to show for Fox and so Fox called me up and said 'You're doing Deadpool,' and I said Great! That's when I went down and met Tim, he'd been on this for years, the writers had been on this for years, so they've been very patient in trying to see this get made.
Q: What's been the biggest challenge for you?
JK: I think it was at first trying to keep what Deadpool looked like, it was let's keep that at a priority, until we got to the overpass that you've probably already seen photographs on the internet now. Sort of figuring out when we were going to release the first looks and when those were going to be sent out by Fox. But it was really how do we find a place that we can be on top of an overpass and find the grit that we want and sort of make this world be as close as we can to what people are expecting.
Q: Where are you sitting with the rest of the X-Men films, the old ones and the current ones?
JK: I'll let Tim and the writers answer that one. There are certain questions I'd like those guys to ask and answer.
Q: Talk about where you are in the production schedule and how many days is the shoot, stuff like that.
JK: We are 48 days right now, in terms of planned shoot. We've got second unit for about fifteen days. We're about sixty percent of the way through. We go from here to the flight deck, which you'll see, in theory you sort of see it in these pieces right here. So there's an aircraft carrier of sort up against where this river is that you don't see, that we'll sort of build in, and what you guys will go and see is the actual flight deck for the top of that. So we're intermingling this set and the next location that you're going to go see, and so we've got 4 weeks left.
Q: Talk a little bit about, obviously this is not one of those $100 million X-Men movies, it's a little more intimate if you will. What's been the biggest challenge in terms of trying to accomplish the scope and scale with the budge tyou guys have?
JK: I think we've done a really good job at doing what we wanted to do with the money we have. Knowing that we had a certain amount of money we actually went in there and looked at what we had in the script and the plan and made it work. I would say most of what Tim wants in this as a director, I hope he's getting, because we've come up to Vancouver. You get a really great deal In Vancouver in terms of rebates on special effects, rebates on all the local crew. I would say 95% of the crew here are local. Our idea was how do we make this as big as we can with the money we have and where can we make that movie, and that became Vancouver. We got the overpass, the city let us shut that down, that became a big savings for us rather than having to build it we got to shut down the freeway for two weeks. It was really trying to bring in as few people as possible, use all of the really talented resources here and sort of what you're getting for the same amount of money for a bigger show you're getting all the services and quality that you would expect on something a little more expensive. We're very excited, we haven't cut much out of the show at all so we're very excited about hopefully saving money and putting more in visual effects and getting a bigger and better show for everybody.
Q: What's it been like working with Tim since this is his first feature?
JK: He's a sweetheart. He's wonderful. Really sincere guy, I've worked with a lot of different directors. He loves this character, he loves X-Men, he's a comic book guru. He owns a company called Blur Studios and I went there, that was my first meeting with him, and he's got this book shelf that's probably three meters high and maybe five meters wide and it's got thousands and thousands of comics, that just sort of sits at this warehouse loft place. He loves the story, he loves the world of X-Men. He's one of their biggest fans in terms of filmmakers. I think you'll get a lot more out of this movie because he is who he is, and I think it will be true to the universe of who Deadpool is. Good guy though.
Q: We see that Colossus is going to be added in later. Can you talk about the characters surrounding Deadpool in the movie?
JK: I'll let Tim talk about that, I don't want to take all the thunder just because I'm first. I can talk about … What Can I talk about? I can talk about Rhett and Paul, they've been on the show for five, six years. You'll meet them. You'll love them. They also did Zombieland. Great guys, very involved, they're on set daily. Ryan is very involved too, he's one of our producers as well. So you've got a group of filmmakers that are here to make a really great movie and we've all sacrificed a little bit here and there in order to put it on the screen, which is the best way to make movies, rather than taking it away from the screen. I'm very happy to be a part of it, I had other shows and this one is the most interesting. I think it has the biggest potential for a surprise for everybody, I think people will see this and really get excited that it's not the normal comic book hero sort of movie.
Q: You mentioned second unit, how much is second unit shooting throughout the movie and who is your second unit director?
JK: Rob Alonzo is our second unit director and he's got 15 days of second unit, we start those tomorrow actually. It's starting or continuing some of the action fights we have, a lot of action in the show. So we've pretty much got him non-stop, you try to make a second unit group work consecutively. We'll start or finish in first unit the action sequences and they'll come in and either add to it or start off the choreography and we'll come in and finish it with our actors. There's a lot of fighting, a lot of action.
Q: What is the most complex scene to pull off for you?
JK: I think anything you have to do with a 3D character, I'm learning a lot about that because I haven't done a lot of those kind of movies. With Tim and our VFX guys, I think you just see how much time it takes to shoot fights when you have one person real and the other person is in the virtual world. Gina Carano is sort of fighting herself and then fighting a stand in and then fighting some pads. It's an interesting process. You shoot it again and again to make it look great but assembly wise it looks wonderful.
Q: Can you talk about the tone of the movie, is it pretty consistent with the test footage?
JK: I'll let Tim talk about that, I'm not going to take away all the thunder.
Q: What's it like working with Ryan?
JK: Great, absolutely involved. Just really serious about making it right and making it good. Sometimes you get on these shows and it's so long and everyone's tired and everyone will just say "It's good enough, let's move on," and here it's never good enough, we got to make it better, and that was the one thing right from the time I started the show, Ryan was involved with texts, emails, conversations all the times. He loves the character, just so into it. Any job that you come to work and everybody is excited about the work that you do, whether it's making movies or making cookies, it just makes it so much more enjoyable and so much more rewarding because everyone is invested in the same thing to make a great product, a great movie, a great story. I've been on a lot of sets, and this is enjoyable. A lot of happiness, a lot of hard work, a lot of rain, but it's really about let's make the best Deadpool movie we can.
Q: You shot on film or digital and why?
JK: We shot on digital and I think that's pretty much where we're going. I haven't made a movie on film in about five or six years, I don't miss it. For me, giving people hard drives and capturing an unlimited amount of footage as needed and being wasteful in terms of letting it run, compared to film where you have a thousand foot mag and you would run out of film so you were shutting down every time on a film where you're watching film count. It's a whole different world. You get far more options in terms of the digital. You get it back immediately and that night you get home you can see dailies, or the next day see dailies of what you shot where sometimes it's a day and a half or two days on film. I don't miss films. Any of you guys carrying film cameras or all digital?
Q: Are you shooting in 3D?
JK: 2D. At this point there are no 3D plans for this film.
READ INTERVIEWS WITH MORENA BACCARIN, ED SKREIN, GINA CARANO, BRIANNA HILDEBRAND, MAKE-UP DESIGNER BILL CORSO, and STUNT COORDINATOR/VISUAL EFFECTS' JOHN ROTHBART / ROBERT ALONZO HERE!
DEADPOOL blasts into theaters on February 12th, 2016.


text:
Sam has grown much in those two years.
Only a couple weeks left in the comic, folks. Dang.
@Driftingwolf - It's causing her physical pain NOT to
@Zombie Sperm - Haha, doesn't rhyme but gets the point across
@Stevarooni - Hopefully. :)
@qazox - Time for approximate rhyme.
@Ultimate the Hedgehog - Don't worry, she won't. :)
@SnowTheHedgehog - Sam would tell him outright.
Give in to those urges because that poem was dumb.
roses are red,
violets are blue,
trip you need,
to be euthanized.
Honestly, I don't think Coco would mind. "You lovable goofball. *sigh*"
Roses are red,
Oranges are orange,
Dammit, I can't rhyme
anything with orange.
Don't cry, Sam.
I'm actually more worried about Tripp, er... tripping up when he speaks.
somewhere in the universe, reality is starting to tear
@Author Jakes
(I know this isn't the correct lyrics)
I just snapped reality.
Oh, there goes gravity.
Oh, there goes rabbity...
What we didn't know: Sam actually wanted Tripp to marry her. Irony much: Everybody wants the geek.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Today I welcome Roy Hudson to Immortyl Revolution! He's the author of a new thriller, Relic. Roy has graciously offered to sponsor a giveaway and share a Halloween experience and a short tale.
Giveaway: Leave a comment and contact email and you will be entered to win an ebook of of Roy's Halloween Tales! Deadline to enter is 10/31/12 at 11 p.m. EST. Winner will be chosen by random drawing.
Giveaway: Leave a comment and contact email and you will be entered to win an ebook of of Roy's Halloween Tales! Deadline to enter is 10/31/12 at 11 p.m. EST. Winner will be chosen by random drawing.
'Halloween is my favorite time of year and always has been. I guess it's because horror is my genre of choice. It may also help that my sister is Wiccan and I lived in a haunted house for years.
In October of 2000, I decided to talk to the spirits residing in our home by use of a Ouija board, and since nobody was around who wanted to help, I planned to do so alone. Everyone warned against this, but I was determined.
Halloween arrived, and I went to the laundry room to get some clean clothes... only to discover that the room was flooded. I blamed the ghosts immediately. We called a plumber, who had to dig a hole in the front yard to snake the drain.
The plumber left without covering the hole, and so small children who came into our yard for tricks or treats kept falling in. It was nice to see that, even though I was scared out of my solo Ouija discussion, the ghosts had a sense of humor.
I have a collection of Halloween-related shorts and poems, some scary, some not, available now on Smashwords.com for 99 cents. Below is a very short story from the collection.
"Halloween Prop: A 5x5 Short Story," by Roy Hudson
The truck was dragging something. It looked like human corpses. I yelled, "Great Halloween props!" And then it hit me. I was the next "prop."
Also available now, through Firefly & Wisp Publishing, is my Halloween-related novel Relic. Get it for Kindle for only $2.99!
RelicGenre film actor R.L. Simmons is finally getting the acclaim he has worked for, with an award nomination and spots on talk shows to promote his new mainstream film; but when an accident disfigures him, he feels his life is over. Things turn around for him when he falls in love with actress Julie Hawkes at a Hollywood Halloween party, and things seem fine... until a stalker with a score to settle comes to spoil their happiness. Can Julie's love heal the actor's mental and emotional scars?
You can find Roy Hudson online at his website:
On Facebook:
Or on Twitter:


text: Hello everyone, Right off the bat, I'm a newb at everything graphic arts related, so please be patient. My father, however, is a graphic designer with TONS of talent (see www.palmdalewater.org/ www.anatomorphex.com/ or www.jtmedia.com for examples) and I'd like to get him something graphics related for christmas. For some reason I was thinking fonts. He has not updated his fonts since switching over to OS X and thus I feel it may be time to get him up to snuff in this area. However, I have no clue what to get, or even how to go about finding something to purchase. Would I be better of looking for a fonts package, or is OS X sufficient? Should I look into a font creator program, or is that a bit of overkill? Any basic knowledge I should have before searching? Are font purchases even a rage anymore, or am I really out of the loop? If not, got any other christmas present suggestions? Any form of guidance would be greatly appreciated!


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Tony Dungy: Thank YouJanuary 14, 2009
The National Football League is a great sport, but it is also a business. It is a demanding and sometimes, very ruthless business. Great careers have been made and broken because of the brutal nature of this game. Arguably, it is the head coach of a football team that feels the most pressure from all sides.
When everything goes right, the head coach receives all the praise and glory. When everything goes south, it is the head coach that takes a lot of the blame. It is during these tumultuous times, when you see the real character of the leaders of our favorite football teams.
That's why Tony Dungy's retirement from the Indianapolis Colts and the NFL was bittersweet.
Dungy's merits as a coach are impressive on its own. He has been a head coach for 13 seasons—the first six with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the last seven with the Colts. He owns a career record of 148-79. His postseason record is 9-10 with both the Bucs and the Colts, but he led Indianapolis to a Super Bowl victory two years ago over the Chicago Bears.
He became the first black head coach to win the Super Bowl, and he is the only coach to have 10 consecutive playoff appearances. He has coached and developed many great players. Several of his assistant coaches over the years have gone on to become head coaches in the league such as Mike Tomlin, Lovie Smith, and Herm Edwards.
However, Dungy's tremendous accomplishments are only overshadowed by the social and spiritual impact he has made in the game, as well as society.
Tony Dungy is a class act. Soft spoken, calm, cool, and collected. It is said that he has never yelled or uttered a profane word. It is hard to believe that about anyone but after having the privilege of watching the man operate on the sidelines for the past 13 years, I cannot doubt the validity of that claim.
He is unflappable in the face of adversity. Before his Super Bowl victory two seasons ago, he faced tough criticism for his early playoff exits. He helped turn Tampa Bay into a perennial playoff team that was led by an elite defense. A year after he left for Indy, the Bucs won the Super Bowl under Jon Gruden, finishing the job that Dungy left behind.
The Colts became a powerhouse under Dungy, dominant during the regular season but they always seemingly met early exits in the playoffs, always as a top seed.
Tragedy struck Dungy and his family in late 2005 when his son James committed suicide. There is no question that the death of a child is the worst thing any parent could endure. Nobody would've questioned Dungy if he decided to leave the game after that terrible tragedy.
Except that he didn't. He showed a tremendous amount of courage and strength. If he was suffering, he disguised it masterfully. He had faith in a higher spiritual sense, possibly with the faith that his son was in a better place.
Everyone rallied behind Coach Dungy from his players, fellow coaches, media, and fans. The depth of support would not have been nearly as universal and prevalent if it were not for the type of man that Tony Dungy is.
Don't get me wrong, it would be unfathomable to not sympathize the death of anyone's children. Dungy lives in the public eye, continues to adhere to his strong beliefs and is an ideal model of morality which are the reasons why he gained so much support. Who wouldn't rally behind him?
The sign of any great coach is how well his players respond to adversity.
After a game in which the Colts were simply destroyed at Jacksonville during the 2006-'07 season, Dungy calmly stood before his team without a shred of anger in his eyes or voice. He told his struggling team that everything was going to be okay and that they weren't done yet.
Inspired by their head coach's undying faith, the Colts played possessed and thrived in their new found role as underdogs, all the way to the championship.
It is that very faith that makes Dungy far more special than just his mere talents as a football coach. Dungy is a deeply religious, family man. He has made many contributions in the community both in Indianapolis and Tampa Bay, where he is still revered for bringing the Bucs to prominence.
He is very well-respected by opposing coaches, players, league executives, media, and fans. He is beloved by his players. It is reported that several players were still hoping that Dungy would change his mind about retiring before his news conference on Monday.
No matter what he does in his post-football future, there are no doubts that he will succeed and continue to uphold the same high moral standards that have characterized him as a man, football coach, husband, and father.
I am not a religious person, not even remotely, and I do not intend to be any time soon. However, it doesn't take a religious person to see the profound impact that Dungy's faith has had on his career. Mostly all of his players were saddened to see him go but at the same time, they had to be happy knowing that he went out on his own terms.
Dungy epitomizes class, that is not an understatement. Over the years, it somehow never felt right rooting against a Tony Dungy led team despite the fact that the New York Jets are my favorite team. So suffice to say, I was ecstatic when he and Peyton Manning finally silenced their critics by winning the Super Bowl.
Winning that long elusive Super Bowl has firmly cemented his football legacy. It is impressive and inspiring to know that Dungy has stayed true to his beliefs despite the harsh nature of this business.
But Tony Dungy should be remembered most as a great role model who is has inspired countless people, this writer especially.


text:
Anne Wyllie
Thursday 22 September 2016
Molecular surveillance of pneumococcal carriage in the Netherlands
Promotor: Prof. dr. E.A.M. Sanders
Date: 22 September 2016
Time: 14.30 h
While Streptococcus pneumoniae is a frequent coloniser of the upper respiratory tract, colonisation is a pre-requisite for disease manifestations including otitis media, pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD; meningitis, bacteraemia, sepsis). The pneumococcal capsule is its greatest virulence factor with structural differences producing over 90 different capsular types (serotypes). High rates of morbidity and mortality from pneumococcal disease, particularly in infants and elderly, makes S. pneumoniae one of the most clinically-relevant pathogens. Vaccination of infants with conjugated polysaccharide vaccines (PCVs) against pneumococcal disease was introduced in the Netherlands in 2007. Monitoring the vaccine-induced changes to pneumococci in both carriage and disease has been essential in all age groups to assess the direct and indirect (herd) effects of vaccination and when new vaccination strategies are being considered. However, unlike in children, pneumococcal carriage in elderly is rarely detected by the current gold standard method: visual detection following the culture of a nasopharyngeal swab.
Broadly, this thesis aimed at improving the understanding of S. pneumoniae in context of health versus disease. This was in particular reference to asymptomatic pneumococcal carriage and in regards to the vaccination of infants with PCVs. Ultimately, the focus of this thesis was to improve the detection of S. pneumoniae circulating in all ages. Since vaccine-serotype disease was still occurring, we hypothesised that hidden reservoirs of pneumococci existed which the current gold standard detection method was not controlling for. Therefore, we investigated alternative sampling sites in the upper respiratory tract for improved pneumococcal detection. Thereafter, we validated existing molecular methods for pneumococcal detection and serotype determination in polymicrobial samples from the extensive carriage studies already being conducted in the Netherlands. This was a truly unique study setting, where molecular detection was directly compared to the culture-based gold standard, on a large scale.
This thesis first presents a new method for application in both the clinic and surveillances for distinguishing S. pneumoniae from phenotypically similar streptococci which may impede pneumococcal identification. Following, we show that the current gold standard pneumococcal detection method does indeed under-estimate carriage prevalence. This was particularly pronounced in adults and elderly, unveiling a larger than expected reservoir of pneumococci. Additionally, the co-carriage of multiple serotypes was also under-detected by the gold standard in all ages, an important consideration for understanding serotype replacement following vaccine-implementation.
From the expertise gained in our carriage surveillances comparing culture and molecular methods, our findings suggest that the pneumococcal niche changes as people get older. This has important implications for future surveillances on pneumococcal carriage - one single standard for all age groups is insufficient for sensitive pneumococcal detection, namely in adults and those at high risk the elderly. Therefore, we present new recommendations. For infants, nasopharyngeal swabs remain sufficient but saliva (and oropharyngeal) samples should be collected from older individuals. All samples should be culture-enriched and evaluated by molecular methods for sensitive detection. Furthermore, saliva from all age groups provides a sensitive sample type for longitudinal surveillances and could also be applied for the detection of other bacteria or testing of antibody levels.


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We'll be getting the guildsite ready on 4/26 and 4/27, 10am – 4p. Please plan to attend either day (or both if you're feeling particularly helpful and available). Pack a lunch, we'll break midday. Cleaning supplies, gloves, bags, rakes, tree trimmers, rags, paper towels, etc. would be helpful. This is also the last weekend for early checkin. The office is open 9-4. ID badges required after 4/25 to access the site!
Required LORE make up classes will also be available 4/26, they start at 10a.


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"Give the gift that Santa can't give, a pap smear." Fuck, I already mailed my Santa letter! I hope he'll at least send the condoms that look like candy canes. Those should really be sold year round.
There's a Jewish one too. "Give the gift that will light up her menorah." Why do these ads sound so sexual? Like this woman, who is frankly a little too excited about her boyfriend's prostate exam.


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Fantastic Walking tour of Dublin!
Come and see the Fair City!
Welcome to the great old city of Dublin! Now, this is the tour for seeing Dublin. If you only do one touristy activity in Dublin, make it the Fantastic Walking Tour of Dublin.
So what's so fantastic about the 'Fantastic Walking Tour of Dublin'?
It's simply not a normal walking tour…
We'll hobble along the cobbles of Temple Bar & Trinity College catching the cadences of Irish accents cascading through the streets. Stand by the River Liffey and tilt your nose to inhale the hops wafting from the Guinness Brewery. Marvel at the fascinating Irish (Gaelic) language.
Can you see it with your mind's eye?
In the courtyard of Dublin Castle, our footfalls will echo through the castle's 800-year history. At the GPO on O'Connell Street, the crowds gathered for the Declaration of Irish Independence & the passions of poets and Irish freedom fighters throughout the centuries were born anew.
Can you feel it?
On this 3hr walking tour of the city centre, you'll discover the main sites, become immersed in the history, and experience the life, songs and stories of Ireland's capital city.
Welcome to Dublin!
See all these fantastic sites!
The bohemian Temple Bar quarter
The oasis that is the serene campus of Trinity College
Dublin Castle
City Hall
Christchurch Cathedral
Ha'penny Bridge
The GPO
The Spire
James Joyce statue
O'Connell Statue
the impressive Old Parliament building
Only €8 per person!*
Want to experience the 'Fantastic Walking tour of Dublin!'?
Pub Crawl
Savour the sweet tastes of The Capital
Pubs! That's one of the main reasons people visit Dublin.
Many visitors to Dublin quickly grow weary of the artificial 'Dublin pubs' to be found in Temple Bar. There, you will find one particular element lacking: actual Dubliners!
On this tour, I'll be bringing you to some of the best pubs in Dublin; pubs that you can't find on your own; pubs that you could happily spend years frequenting.
The pubs we'll experience will be of many different varieties:
Pubs with rare Irish beers, some of which are unavailable outside Ireland, others are unavailable outside the pub;
Pubs with authentic traditional Irish music;
Pubs that epitomise James Joyce's Dublin;
and just pubs where you can get a great Guinness.
I don't want you to arrive hungry, only thirsty!
We'll stay and have a drink in no fewer than 5 pubs.
Learn the secrets of Guinness connoisseurs - how to ensure you get a flawlessly poured Guinness. I'll tell ya what makes an Irish pub unique. You'll hear of Brendan Behan and his legendary reputation, as well as drink in exactly the same pub in which he often drank.
Prepare to become a Dubliner!
Only €7 per person!*
Want to experience the 'Pub Crawl'?
The Black Tale Tour
The history of Dublin is as dark as Guinness itself.
Meet your tour guide - John Brien, a worker at the Guinness Brewery. The year is 1911. The city is alive with horses and carts, shoeless newspaper boys, screeching rusty wheels, determined street performers and balladeers.
From the mid-1990s until 2007, Dublin knew good times. Before then, there were mostly bad times! Horrendous times! Whiskey and spirit-drinking cursed the nation. This was a Dublin where 50 people shared a toilet and 1/3 of Dublin families lived in a single room. A Dublin where well of over a thousand prostitutes loitered the streets. And right beside one of the gates to the ancient city was an abandoned brewery which a man called Arthur Guinness purchased in 1759.
And the tale of that Dublin is blacker still!
Join John Brien on his way to work from St. Patrick's Cathedral, through the Liberties, to the brewery itself. Listen to him retell of the Dublin you never knew existed:
The characters, like Zozimus, the blind balladeer who was as much a part of Dublin as the river Liffey.
The myths and facts of Guinness
The rebellions and the loyalists
The fires and the waters
The perpetual poverty and the fleeting wealth
The hunger and the drunkenness
The piety and the prostitution
The contradictions of Dublin life were as plain to be seen in front of your eyes as the white and the black of a pint of Irish stout.
Welcome to auld Dublin!
Tour finishes at Guinness Storehouse
Starts at St. Patrick's Cathedral (entrance to park, Patrick St)
Only €13 per person!
Want to experience the 'Black Tale'?
DEPARTS EVERY : Tue 8.00pm | Wed 8.00pm (May 8th - 31st October '13)
Contact garvan.rushe at gmail.com to confirm your place!
(Nearly!) All of Dublin City in less than 5hrs!
For those lacking in time, but not in enthusiasm
If you fancy yourself as a bit of an Ernest Shackleton, then you'll truly love, this EXPLORATION of Dublin city.
We'll do a nice loop of the city centre, taking in every main site (as well as many minor ones)in Dublin.
Naturally, we'll pick up some grub along the way and, depending on your tastes, habits or appetites, we'll finish in a pub!
As well as (nearly) all the sites, I'll inform you of the legacy of Dublin and Ireland, aiming to complete your understanding of Irish history and Irish culture, and, of course, we'll have great 'craic'(fun, laughs) along the way.
I take pride in my tours. My goal is to ensure that during the tour, you will acquire a knowledge and wisdom unmatched even by most Irish people, as well as a fascination with the people and the city that can't be simply picked off the street or from a book!!
See all these fantastic sites!
Temple Bar - the bohemian cultural quarter
Trinity College - the oasis in the heart of Dublin City
Dublin Castle –
City Hall – one of the finest examples of Dublin's 18th-century architecture
Christchurch or St. Patrick's Cathedral
Ha'penny Bridge – famous icon of Dublin
The GPO – the heart of the 1916 Rising
James Joyce statue
Daniel O'Connell Statue
Old Parliament Building
Georgian Dublin – one section of the city preserved in its glory for 200 years
Leinster House – the seat of the Irish Parliament
National Gallery
The Spire – the trophy of our Celtic Tiger
The Quays
St. Stephen's Green
Only €13 per person!*
Want to experience '(Nearly!) All of Dublin City in less than 5hrs!'?
Other types of tours:
Day Walking Tours:
1. Fantastic Walking tour of Dublin
2. Georgian Dublin
3. Castle and Cathedrals Tour
4. Irish Independence Tour
5. Songs and Stories of Ireland
6. Ireland's Golden Age - Ireland didn't have the Dark Age!
Evening Walking Tours:
1. Northside Haunted Tour
2. Southside Haunted Tour
3. Literary/Musical Pub Crawl
4. Special Irish Beers Pub Crawl
1. Howth
2. Mount Jerome Cemetery – Dublin's Pere Lachaise.
Bus Tours:
1. Boyne Valley Tour
2. Wicklow Tour
Not yet convinced? Why not find out what other people have said about Garbhán's tours: Testimonials
Contact to arrange a tour garvan.rushe at gmail.com or Skype me.
*Price per person applies only to groups of thirteen people or more. For groups of twelve or less, the tour prices are as follows: 'Fantastic Walking Tour of Dublin' - €99; '(Nearly!) All of Dublin City in less than 5hrs!' - €160; 'Pub Crawl' - €90. Child discounts are available.


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About two years ago I started to not want to leave my apartment. It wasn't that I wanted to stay home, I just didn't want to go anywhere. I've always handled my shitty moods and stuff with wanting to go out, seeking out places where there are lots of people and preferably alcohol involved. I used to go to pubs several nights a week. I made stupid jokes. I got drunk. I made out with strange people just to see if I could. I studied hard, I worked hard and partied even harder. I was fun to be around. It wasn't always so fun to be me; especially not when I ended up going home with people I really shouldn't have gone home with, like a friend-turned-fuckbuddy's brother. Oops.
But then I got fed up. I started having more panic attacks (not knowing that was what it was, of course), my stomach started acting up; I had to call in sick for work because I threw up in the morning when I realized I had to go there. Basically, my body was like "WTF dude, you need to calm down". And gradually, going out started losing it's charm. It was more pain than it was worth. I rather stayed at home, reading, internetsing, just doing nothing.
At first there was no problems with keeping in touch with my friends, they came over and played video-games, or had coffee, or just hung about. It was nice.
But recently, I've started noticing we're drifting apart. They don't call me, and I stopped calling them when I realized they had so much going on they almost always had to turn me down when I suggested we'd hang out. It sucks. I know I'm probably not the most fun person to be around right now, seeing as all I do is play the Sims, chat online or take walks with the dog, but I thought we had a friendship that relied on more than getting drunk together. It just doesn't happen much right now, basically. I can't tell them stories of all the stupid things I did while drunk, or at all, because my best ones they've already heard or saw happening; and I don't do stuff like that anymore. I'd really like to spend time with them still, and if they'd just ask me, I'd probably tag along on stuff they do. But they don't ask me. Or they ask Boyfriend if WE want to do stuff, and when he says he can't but they should ask me, nobody asks.
I don't want to whine, I don't want pity, I just want my fucking friends back. I know I could just pick up the phone and call, but it sucks hearing them say they don't have time to see me. I'd like to have some dignity left.
And then I saw them all today on the yearly picnic/soccer-thing. And I realized we don't have that much in common anymore. They still lead the kind of life I did two years ago, and I sit around and do nothing. I guess these things happen. People grow apart, move, get married, have kids and stop being friends. But it sucks so bad.
And I miss them. I miss the me I was with them, too.


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Auburn Middle School is scheduled to open to students on January 7, 2014.
Auburn High School and Blacksburg High School opened to students in September 2013.
On July 8, 2011, the Montgomery County School Board approved a comprehensive agreement
with Branch & Associates, Inc., for the construction of Auburn High
School and Blacksburg High School, and the renovation of the current
Auburn High School for Auburn Middle School. Since this date, MCPS has
been working diligently to plan and develop designs for these
buildings. MCPS will cotinue to post project information updates via
the supporting documents and FAQ webpages. The Skanska website for all project is available online here.
Montgomery County Public Schools does not discriminate in its programs and activities for reasons of race, religion, color, gender, national origin, disability, age, or on any other basis prohibited by law. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies:
Director of Human Resources and Assistant Superintendent for Operations
750 Imperial Street SE, Christiansburg, VA 24073
(540) 382-5100


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Broadway Ball
Hello, Judy, Well, Hello Judy, sang the Patel Conservatory Ovation singers, channeling Carol Channing in a musical salute to Straz Center CEO Judy Lisi who celebrated her 25th year at CONGA!, the Broadway Ball. Video accolades from industry colleagues during dinner on Morsani stage Saturday called her "a class act" and "an Italian mimosa," and would cast her as the leading lady in the Unsinkable Molly Brown. All appreciated the "package deal, husband Ernie."
Broadway agent Steve Schnepp emceed the 30th anniversary, black-tie fiesta themed for the season opener On Your Feet! by Gloria and Emilio Estefan who provided the entertainment, the Caliente Band. Another 150 guests arrived for the After Dark party when the band moved to Silbiger Lobby for desserts and salsa dancing. Auctions, STARs scholarships and prize drawings added $400,000 to the $4 million the annual gala has raised to date.
Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture & the Arts
Artists and actuaries, muralists and MBAs, singers and CEOs, all convened to honor five Impact Awardees at Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture & the Arts' annual dinner Oct. 17 at the Renaissance Hotel International Plaza.
Bealsville's folk artist Ruby Williams, known for colorful paintings of piano-playing cows and veggies, earned a lifetime artistic achievement award, "for uplifting so many lives," said co-chairwoman Lorna Taylor. Arts patrons Neil and Gianna Gobioff's micro-grants have macro effects on community projects through the foundation of the late Howard Gobioff, one of Google's first software engineers. Attorney/musician Peter Zinober makes it his personal mission to "spread the gospel of the arts." The arrival of Maestro Michael Francis seeded the Florida Orchestra to "open up and blossom."
Co-chair Stephen Gay announced seven teen "Stars" scholarships in memory of his partner, Charles Hounchell, "that makes 60 since 2008," he said. Save the date for next year, Oct. 18, 2018, said executive director Susana Weymouth.
Starting Right, Now
A 10-year progress report by Starting Right, Now founder Vicki Sokolik counted 200 high school graduates since she began to mentor one homeless youth. Now the organization fills two residences with nearly 100 students working to become stable, educated, employed adults. Three formerly homeless youth told their intense stories at the annual Lend a Hand luncheon Oct. 12 at Higgins Hall, each crediting Sokolik for the love and resources that let them survive.
"The SRN model will soon be exported to a North Carolina franchise," said board chairman Matt Silverman who received the Lotus Award, along with 10 -year board member, Susan Guttentag for their unwavering commitment. The Chris Sullivan Foundation earned the Soul Award for its support and once again, the Triad Foundation matched the first $75,000 raised while the Columbia restaurant once again donated and served lunch to 600 guests.
USF Women in Leadership & Philanthropy
Actor Grace Byers, USF '06, credited her alma mater for her "trajectory of success" speaking at the 12th annual Women in Leadership & Philanthropy Fall Symposium. The star of Fox TV's hit series Empire lent her name to her power lunch talk, "Finding Your Grace," following six female-led panel discussions Oct. 20 at the Hilton Tampa Downtown. This year's Lifetime Achievement award goes to arts advocate Ann McKeel Ross '79 and the Community Leadership award to Debbie Sembler.
"Put self on a shelf," said executive director India Witte asking the 900 guests to fund scholarships for students like Katherine Garcia whose words helped the event collect $255,000. Save the date: Author Jeannette Walls will keynote the Oct. 19, 2018 symposium.


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Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.
Vintage photos of:
October 1940. Pie Town schoolchildren in a community musical program. 35mm Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee. View full size. Another view is here.
It's Kenneth McKee, better known as Pop McKee. He still lives in Pie Town. Find recent picture of him (now in his seventies) by searching "Kodachrome project"
The boy third from the left (front row) in the above photo is fifth from the left (front row) in this photo.
I yield to your authority, but the boy shown in this photo is not the one who is "third to the left" in the Pie Town photo on your kodachrome project website. He is a different boy in overalls, in the center of that photo. Look carefully at their hair and the labels in the center of the overalls' bibs. One of the two identifications must be in error.
Also, his name is there given as "Kenneth McKee," so there is a typo somewhere.
is Kenneth Mackie. His portrait, taken in Pie Town on Kodachrome in 2006, appears on my "Kodachrome Project" home page:
Those well-scrubbed, fresh-faced children are delightful. The little boy in suspenders reminds me of myself at that age. They didn't have elastic waistbands for boy's pants at that time and I had to wear suspenders to keep my pants up. Or bib overalls like the little boy to his left.


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Want to become a featured bride or vendor on Vancity Bride? You can submit an application on our contribute page, or contact us for more info!
Win a Boudoir Photoshoot with Jennifer Williams
Boudoir photos are a popular wedding gift that a bride gives to her future husband; however, it's not just a gift for your partner, it's also a gift for yourself. A session will boost your self-esteem and will make you realize that you, too, can be quite a vixen, worthy of being on a centerfold of a magazine.
Enter Jennifer Williams…
Jennifer Williams is a Vancouver-based photographer who specializes in boudoir. Her passion is bringing the model out of the everyday woman. I am a big fan of her work, all her images are tasteful, but at the same time, will still leave a man hot and bothered. According to Jennifer: "A boudoir session with me is an experience that will change the way you see yourself."
I'm happy to announce that Jennifer is giving away some prizes to 2 lucky Vancity Bride readers!
The Prizes
The first winner will get:
30-minute photoshoot at Jennifer Williams' Photography Studio
10 fully retouched hi-res images of their choice on DVD
Hair and makeup and additional shooting time may be booked for an additional cost. Extra images, prints and albums may be purchased a la carte.
Total prize value is $350
The second winner will get:
$100 gift certificate – valid towards any regular boudoir package (See her packages here.)
Must be redeemed by December 31, 2011
This gift certificate cannot be combined with any other offers, promotions or discounts.
Winners are requested to bring their own jewelry, lingerie and accessories to the shoot.
How to Enter
There are two ways to enter:
- Leave a comment under this blog post. (Stuck on what to say? Write out what kind of lingerie you'll wear or what kind of props you'd like to use during your shoot! See her Facebook page for some inspiration.) – 1 entry
- Follow @boudoir_studio and @vcbride on Twitter and tweet the following sentence: – 1 entry
"I want to win a #boudoir photoshoot with #Vancouver #photographer @boudoir_studio from @vcbride. http://bit.ly/qQHZb8″
Contest Rules & Conditions
- You must be 19 years of age or older and a Metro Vancouver resident to enter.
- The winners must schedule their shoot to occur before January 31st, 2012.
- The session will take place at Jennifer Williams' Photography Studio, parking charges must be paid by the contest winner, if any.
- Each person can have a maximum of 2 entries. For blog entries, you must provide a valid email address, and for Twitter entries, I must be able to send you a message if you win.
- The contest will run for one week from Monday, October 31st to Sunday, November 6th. Entries will be accepted until midnight on Sunday, November 6th.
- The winners will be drawn randomly and announced on my blog, Twitter, and Facebook page on Monday, November 7th .
- I will contact the winners, if I don't get a response within 24 hours, a new winner will be randomly drawn.
- There will be no prize substitutions and it cannot be redeemed for cash. If the winner chooses to forfeit the prize, no compensation will be given.
Update – November 7, 2011
I've picked the winners (using Random.org) and here are the lucky ladies!!
@rita_leung – photoshoot winner!
Jan – $100 gift certificate winner!
Congratulations to the both of you! And to everyone who entered, thank you for participating! There will be more contests to come so be sure to check back Thank you Jennifer Williams for sponsoring such a great contest. Remember, Christmas is coming soon so if you still wish to have a sexy surprise for your spouse, give Jennifer a ring! Be sure to check her Facebook page, boudoir blog, and follow her on Twitter. She is constantly posting new amazing photos of fabulous looking women!
All photos courtesy Jennifer Williams
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I absolutely love ms williams' work. She makes all of her subjects look like goddesses!!
I would LOVE to win a shoot with her
I would wear nothing but his dress shirt… like in Mr & Mrs Smith.
I would love to have a boudoir session with Jennifer Williams. She clearly knows how to draw out a woman's inner sex kitten while at the same time keeping everything classy and leaving much to the imagination. Vavavoom!!!
Im scared to comment on this post as im actually scared I will win..but I need this. I was to scared to do it before my wedding and now Im pretty sad about it…i just kicked butt and lost 15 pounds so i think this might be a little more fun now Christmas is coming up…we are newlyweds..and broke! :p So this would be an absolutely amazing opportunity!
Beautiful, beautiful work. I would be ecstatic if I won this!!
I would go out and buy some great lingerie for this shoot!
I would just love to surprise my fiance with something like this
Your work is amazing and if I win it would be like a dream…
Ive always admired Jennifer's work. Love to wear nothing but a bedsheet and my fave set of lingerie in a boudoir shoot.
I love the pics when the gal is wearing her mans button up shirt. Thats probably how I would go!
A sexy guitar would be a fabulous prop!
I'm getting married next summer and was going to put together a boudoir album for my fiance as a wedding gift! Got some nice lingerie and heels, just need the perfect photographer, and Ms. Williams' work is always stunning!
What lovely work! I would love to win, this was something I had been considering but couldn't currently justify spending the money on it when we already are paying so much for our wedding photography. Save the money on the shoot and spend it lingerie shopping!?
very nice photography!
I've always been curious about getting one of these done, but too scared. Jennifer Williams photos are so classy and tasteful that I'm dying to get one done! I love the dresser pictures too.
I would love to win I love her photos!
I met Jennifer at the Lovestruck Bridal Show. She showed me her work and I have since become a big fan… I am working hard to get that uber sexy body to have my boudoir session with her… I have this french maid lingerie given to me by one of my bff's on my engagement that I would like to wear… can't wait!
I would like to recreate Jennifer Anistons famous pose. It's flattering and tasteful even though she is nude. As for lingerie I prefer lace but I'm going to let my fiancé pick it out. I plan to wear the highest heels since I can only wear flats under my wedding dress. If I win I won't share the pics till our wedding day. It will be one of my gifts to him.
I would love a shot looking away with some lace boyshorts and nothing else.
I'd love to win a prize like this. Would make a great gift for hubby-to-be.
My fiance would love this!!!
Winning a session would be a dream come true for my partner. Your work is amazing and I would love the chance to feel beautiful and sexy
This would be a perfect Christmas gift for my husband!!! I know he would LOVE it!!
Jennifer's work looks amazing! I'd love to win a shoot
Jennifer's work is stunning- I just know my fiancé would lose his mind if I started off wearing his favorite transformers Tshirt and it ended up on the floor! haha …too much fun! <3
I love Jennifer's work! Even before we got married I was thinking about doing a boudoir shoot and now that we are, it would make the perfect birthday and/or christmas gift (since they're both in december!) It'll also give me a reason to wear the cute santarina lingerie I have again!
It would be totally out of my comfort zone, but he would love it. I would wear one of his dress shirts…yowza!
Great Giveaway! I've been thinking about a boudoir session with Jennifer for a while now and then this came along… Had to jump at the opportunity. Her work is so tasteful and she makes all the women look like models. Love…
I would LOVE to win this!!!
Some sexy leopard print shoes will do nicely for a session with Jen!
Wow, this is super amazing and I can't believe how affordable your prices are! If I won, I'd probably go shopping to find a creative and sexy outfit… Maybe a sexy masquerade theme!
Your commentWow, how exciting!! Jennifer does such lovely work. She is really able to capture the beauty and sensually in the shoot!!
It would be such a gift to have the opportunity to do something like this. I would wear some Hanky Panky booty shorts, a lace bra and some cowboy boots….. but it seems that my fiancé prefers the lingerie on the floor anyway
Jennifer Williams Boudoir is the best, love her work so much!! She really knows how to make a woman feel and look sensational in their photos!!!!! I admire her talent enormously!
Jennifer is AMAZING!!! I would love to do a before and an after boudoir shoot after I reach my weight loss goal!
I've done a shoot with the wonderful Carol Ann photography and I have to say I was nervous at first, but it was so much fun. I would love to do another shoot. I've never felt so beautiful!
Wow Jennifer's work is amazingly beautiful! i would love to win a photoshoot with her!
If I would win i would wear my guys fav baseball jersey and some sexy panties..and I also love the 50s pin up girl look too! These photo's are a wow Jennifer.
i would love to win this! great present for hubby to be and it would give me great self confidence:)
First time I've come across Jennifer's work, and not only would I LOVE to have a session with her, I'd love to style one of her clients! xxoo


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The Teams
Under the direction of an expatriate Country Director, and assisted by an Operations Director and an Administrative and Financial Director, the management team includes Afghan managers (Provincial Coordinators, Department managers, agronomists, veterinarians, social workers), and 4-5 expatriates (project managers, technical advisors, coordinators...).
A Monitoring and Evaluation department, directly linked to the Country Director, brings support to analyze the impact of the programs, to conduct feasibility study for new projects, and to capitalise MADERA's experiences.
The goal is to gradually transfer responsibilities to MADERA's Afghan team. In total, MADERA field teams in Afghanistan make up around 250 people.
At HQ, in France
The HQ (office in Paris), is made up of aGeneral Delegate. Sometimes an intern joins this team. The General Delegate ensures MADERA's relationships with French and European public institutions, donors, and other French and European organizations of International solidarity. The office in Paris is the link between the team in the field and the Board of Directors, guides the organization to different meetings in France, as well as informing members of the board and the public.
Representatives and leaders of Madera meet several times a year for different purposes (General Assembly, Board of Directors and the Executive Office). They define the main areas of
intervention, raise awareness in Europe on the situation in Afghanistan and finally perform technical, strategic and operational support to the field mission.


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Beyond Social Media Show, Episode 47 Worst Digital Cases LA Times' Website Relaunch Includes Sample Tweets NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's Twitter Fest Goes Horribly Wrong PayPal Executive Leaves Company After Inappropriate Tweets Chicago Transit Authority's Twitter Q-and-A Goes Off The Rails Best Digital Cases Amazon's Hashtag Commerce NFL Draft & … [Read more...]
Female Console Gamers
GIRL GAMERS BY CONSOLE Intepret LLC LISTEN To The Daily Numbers podcast [MP3] 21% of women gamers had used an Xbox 360 in 2011. That compares to 17% who did so in 2009. 16% used a PS3 in 2011. Compared to 12% in 2009. 44% of female gamers preferred genres other than casual, exercise and music/rhythm. THOUGHT: The video game industry just keeps expanding and … [Read more...]
Square Card Case & Geofencing
VIRTUAL WALLETS G+ Infographic LISTEN To The Daily Numbers podcast [MP3] By 2015, the value of all mobile transactions is expected to reach $670 billion. THOUGHT: The rapid adoption of mobile payment systems will depend almost entirely on how easy they are to use. We discussed Near Field Communications for our inaugural Daily Numbers podcast and the concept of … [Read more...]
Online Behavior On Cyber Monday
I take a look at online behavior for Cyber Monday eShopping activities, including search and social media behavior. Cyber Monday Online Behavior found at YouTube from estrategy. … [Read more...]
Search Engine Behavior For Black Friday
I take a look at Black Friday-related search behavior in this podcast. Black Friday Search Behavior found at YouTube from estrategy. … [Read more...]
The One Big Thing: An End To Input Devices
The One Big Thing you need to know about this week is Microsoft's 3D video camera for the Xbox 360. We are on the verge of realizing the vision of ubiquitous computing, the idea that computers are tools that we use, not devices that we focus our attention on. Eye glasses are tools that enhance, improve and extend your sight but when you're wearing them, you look through … [Read more...]
Mobile Commerce – iPhone Or T-Mobile G1?
Google Android Phone G1Originally uploaded by JoeyPeter As you probably know, gentle reader, I have been agonizing over whether to get the iPhone to replace my current HTC Wizard Windows Mobile phone or wait for the Google Android phone. The deal-killer for the iPhone thus far has been its lack of copy and paste functionality. Well, it appears it's crunch time. With the … [Read more...]


text: Do you want to make your own simple ruffle skirt? I made my skirt essentially a size 2T around the waist. The skirt is long though, reaching about calf lenth on my toddler. I made it long on purpose. Since my older daughter is so thin it actually fits her and reaches about knee length on her. So by making it long I basically made a skirt that they could both wear. If you want it to be a true 4T, just add an inch or two in the elastic at the waist. BASIC SKILLS NECESSARY basic sewing skills SIZING / FINISHED MEASUREMENTS 2T/3T, with instructions how to modify for a 4T