PrivateTim

Despite the incredible accuracy of Wikipedia, I think Orange County was already pretty popular as one of the top tourist destinations in the U.S. No one I knew talked about "The OC" other than to mock it the way we mock "hipsters" now. Schwartz was clueless about Orange County when he wrote The OC, he wrote it from an outsiders prospective with his preconceived ideas and biases. They say "write what you know" and Schwartz's lack of knowledge was glaringly obvious. The Real OC, by way of contrast was accurate in showing one slice of one town, but teens in La Habra and Westminster wouldn't have recognized half of what went on as being "real" and not the Real OC, which is a much more complex place.

I've never seen any Californian dressed like that. They be laughed out of anyplace I go.

Of course it is fair. What was going on with the assistant coach had nothing to do with wins on the field. Penn State did not have a competitive advantage in the same way that a school that allows players to be paid does. The NCAA was way out of their jurisdiction here which is why they had to reverse their decision. They had an indefensible position. The bigger question is why didn't the prosecutors prosecute the administrators and coaches who knew, including the assistant who saw the abuse, didn't stop it and didn't call the the police directly right then and there.

I hope the Grangers insist on Mary Ellen being seen by an OB/Gyn in the UK, I still don't believe she is great with child. I feel badly for JJ, if I was him I'd go find Jeff Gillooly to punch her in the stomach.

Who's 38?? No one I know.....

I get that there needs to be a storyine, but I can not see any pressure that anyone could bring to make Alex marry Mary Ellen if he doesn't want to. Even in the peerage I don't think shotgun weddings are a thing in the 21st century. Glad that JJ and Alex seem to be in a good place. Why didn't Darius just kick Will in the balls? And Darius can apply for the SEALS, but Brad certainly has the juice to get his application rejected.

Ummm, if JJ wouldn't admit it, how do you know it? I don't recall any textual references to Alex's title that would suggest that was what JJ found attractive. I do seem to recall some passages where Alex physically turned JJ on.

I never thought of Isidore as a "high powered" business woman. She ran a successful construction company, but she wasn't a hard bitten Leona Helmsly nor even a Martha Stewart. I can't imagine Claire conforming to what her in-laws would want, Claire as always been very independent. As to "neo-conservatism", you obviously have no idea what it means. The 1980s was the ascent of classical conservatism in the Goldwater/William F Buckley tradition. In the 1980s the neo-conservatives were still the Straussians, the anti-Soviet left, largely Jewish and mostly Democrats. Marie at 16 has no idea what she wants any more than any other 16 year old.

British blue-bloods have always been interested in American green-bloods. The American gets status, the Brit gets to put a new roof on the country house.

For those interested, here is the Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) Library at the University of California San Diego, near Geisel's home in La Jolla.

I am going to go on record and say I don't believe Mary Ellen is preggers for a lot of reasons, just two of which are 1) I think a woman as active as she is would either be on the pill or using other devices and 2) Alex is not so stupid as to not wear a raincoat.

I have a very hard time believing that that skanky 'ho Mary Ellen isn't on birth control. I also think that Will “don’t fuckin’ tell me how to live my life” Schluter is once againa raging hyocrit. It is none of his damn business what Darius does and certainly not his place to call out Darius in front of the family.

Will ain't Tonto. Will is the hypocrit in change. "Don't tell me how to live my life or tell me I am stupid for doing it and don't call me vain because I think I know better than people with much more life experience than my sheltered, cloistered Malbu/Palo Alto billionaire scion life at 16, but let me tell you based on my life experience how wrong and stupid you are."

Oh jay-sus, hearts 'n flowers....... how did I tune into the Hallmark Fuckin' Channel

The exact point I signed in today to make. If you have been with 24 people in one town, you do not have a secret. And that is a good thing? What will someone as self centered as Zach be like when his dream is crushed? And when he blames Will for it? What strange little fantasy world do you live in? Many people's lives and careers have been destroyed by rumor. Also, a rumor is when a few people start talking about something, 24 prople who can talk about what happened is a whole different story. Just ask Bill Cosby what it is like when someone 30 years in your past says something publically (or Tiger Woods).

I know for a fact that 14 year old kids, especially gay ones, in backwards towns in Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, Delaware, et al were not only using CU See me, but ICQ, AIM, AOL Chat Rooms, Gay.com, PlanetOut, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger and many more programs to chat and exchange pictures and even video with each other and do live chats. Zach may not have gone on a cam knowingly, but many gay kids were unwittingly broadcast. There was a famous case around this time of a 15 year old that was doing cams shows and he made so much money that it attracted the attention of the police who raided his house and confiscated his computer. The teen fled to his father, who was living in Mexico, and when the father found out how much money the kid was making, he started to facilitate the shows. It all came crashing down eventually. I don't recall the name and I can't come up with a good enough search string to find the story, but I'll keep trying. Point being, there was a hella lot going on back then.

Just my two cents, but I would never reveal personal information to someone who could later use that information to hurt me. I wouldn't have told Wally and Clara dick.

Uh not sure what you were doing in 1999, but CU See Me and Logitech cams were all the rage. I think I know people who still have vids from then.

I was actually very disappointed in Will after Robbie's memorial since it wasn't really about taste in men, he still didn't like Zach at that point, it was more about being horny. For someone that family is supposed to mean so much to, I thought he overlooked the damage that Zach did to John and to John and Will's relationship rather too easily.

I can remember that for most of the years of this story Zach has been a shithead. The author has chosen to highlight Wally's blindspot on Zach's football prowess, but Zach was not an endearing character when we first met him and still isn't a candidate for citizen of the year. He is the second or third most self centered character in the story. If Will had written off Zach and kicked him out of his room after Robbie's memorial instead of having sex with him Streak would have been a paragraph, not a story. Despite some things he has done okay, like keep his grades for the last year, Zach has several years of screw-ups to live down.

I like that JJ is dipping is wick finally, I just wish it had been Alistair. I liked that character and thought/think he'd be good for either Will or JJ. If Alistair turns out to be gay he is not someone who was ever going to hide it. I don't buy that Wally's actions are him trying to make Zach better or that he is acting out based on how his father was, Frank was raised by the same father. I get that Wally has to be the literary device he is to move the story. I think in real life any father would have figured out by now what a great player Zach is and have been more supportive. I knew nitpicking fathers of friends who were top athletes, but even as bad as they were at their worst, they still knew when they did well.

Will is still a shithead, disrespectful little cunt. Frank should have backhanded him. I'm just sayin'

It would behoove UP to sit down and read Kelo v. New London.

Seriously? KPCC? Socialist radio for SoCal? I am sure they would have preferred the SROs and the urine scented alleys before DTLA began its turn around 15 years ago or so. Palmer started building quality housing in DTLA while people were still fleeing. He is part of what fuled the renaissance.