Morning Meme: Bilbo Baggins Has Been Found, Bryan Singer Seeks a "Giant Killer," and Zach Woodlee's Secret To Choreography

On October 13, Seventeen year old Terrell Williams of Beverly Hills hung himself in his closet just hours after being slammed into a wall by five students at his high school who proceeded to break his ribs. He was out, and had a boyfriend named Daric. It crosses all races and socioeconomic groups.Update:It has come to our attention this report may not be completely accurate. It is still believed that a gay 17-year-old named Terrell Williams committed suicide, but the picture and location are in flux. We'll bring you more as we have it.

The New Civil Rights Movement has done an excellent roundup of opinion on the causes of the recent rash of gay teen suicides, and it’s really worth a read. It begins with a new survey showing 65% of Americans lay at least part of the blame with church messaging.

A bunch of casting has come out for The Hobbit, and from the mouth of Peter Jackson himself. Martin Freeman will play Bilbo. A bunch of names I don’t recognize are cast, and Being Human’s Aidan Turner is going to play a dwarf named  Kili. Aiden Turner is also mentioned for the Elf King, so I’ll assume they mean the hunky Turner from All My Children.

I get really confused with all this sports stuff, but reports say that Gareth Thomas is planning to jump back to a rugby union team instead of going on with a rugby league team like he’s been playing for.

A Detroit prosecutor is proposing a law that would toss parents into jail for missing parent teacher conferences. It’s more complicated than that, and it’s a three strikes law, disability tolerant and grades dependent. I think it’s awesome.

I think Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is trying to make a point that if history were rational, gays would rule the earth, but they drifted a little off the target.

Parent company Viacom has bought the time that Ted Olsen isn’t using to fight Prop 8 to appeal their lawsuit against YouTube.

Juan Williams, the NPR analyst who went on The O’Reilly Factor and professed a fear of Muslims was fired by NPR (who has well publicized rules about expressing opinions, including banning staff from the Colbert/Stuart rallies, so this isn’t a surprise to him). Palin and Huckabee want NPR’s government funding stripped. Williams’ been hired by Fox News for $2 million/year. I wish my job search went that well.

Physicists have discovered how fast a dog must shake from side to side in order to dry themselves. It varies by size of dog. The more you know.

Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant Killer has gotten the greelight. The role of Jack is the hottest property for a young actor in Hollywood. Other roles, like the voice of the giant are up in the air, though Stephen Fry had dinner with Singer today.

CBS has given full season orders to all five of their new shows, including the hunky, bromantic Hawaii Five-0, and the gay inclusive $#*! My Dad Says.

Mel Gibson will not be playing a tattoo artist in The Hangover 2. Despite director Todd Phillips’ belief that he could do it, “I thought Mel would have been great in the movie and I had the full backing of Jeff Robinov and his team. But I realize filmmaking is a collaborative effort, and this decision ultimately did not have the full support of my entire cast and crew.” I guess Jodie Foster was wrong about Mel being the most beloved man in Hollywood.

Sesame Street’s head writer explains how they manage such viral video success. He also clarifies that Katy Perry’s costume in the too hot for Sesame Street video was her own, not something Sesame Street supplied because it was shot in Los Angeles.

The Pentagon has restricted use of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell pending the appeal. It now takes a service chief to authorize discharge, in coordination with Secretary Gates to insure uniformity. That might restrain the Marine Commandant, who is extremely anti-gay.

Nurse Jackie has hired Gbenga Akinnagbe from The Wire for next season. Is it wrong that I’m hoping he plays a love interest for Thor? I might watch again.

From the comments of yesterday’s Meme, we get a grateful Chris Colfer who mostly gives his stock answers for an interview, but he really does give you the feeling that he’s completely aware what a difference he’s making in young gay teens’ lives. He understands what that means.

It’s sad that a plane crashed, but kind of awesome it was because a crocodile escaped and caused a stampede. And someone did survive, and has a cool story.

Carrie Fisher’s superpower is the ability to turn men gay. “I do have this superpower. It’s not called upon very often but yes, I can turn men gay. I actually turned one of my ex’s gay. Apparently, I turned him gay by taking Codeine. I told him I never read that warning on the label. I thought it said something about ‘heavy machinery’ not ‘homosexuality’.” If she takes requests, I'd like to put in for Ben Cohen.

It turns out that there’s a lot of water on the moon, if we can figure out how to get to it and use it.

Gays in the military: It’s a choice! A choice to serve that should be honored.

Dancing With the Stars in Israel is pairing lesbian contestant Gili Shem Tov with a female partner for their upcoming season.

Will & Grace’s Eric McCormack is going to play a neuroscientist in TNT’s Perception series. He’s going to play a socially inept genius who helps the FBI solve cases.