methodwriter85

Hey, Northface jackets look pretty hot on tall, athletic, preppy guys. What is it with North and South parts of states always hating on each other? In Delaware, Northern Delawareans make fun of what we refer to as "Slower Lower" Delaware, believing that they're all Nascar country music lovin' hicks. There's a distinct difference between the accent in Northern Delaware vs. Southern Delaware...they've got a drawl going on that we don't. Speaking of rivalries...I've always wondered...is it true that Florida and California has some kind of rivalry going on? It would make sense- they're both coastal states with lots of sunshine. Comparing California to Florida? There IS No Comparison State rivalries are fun. Unfortunately Delaware is just too small to have one with another state. Isn't there like massive hatred between Kansas and Missouri, Mark?

Richard Linklater's Boyhood, which was filmed over a 12-year span, is getting ready to be released this year. Here's an article about the process of filming it: He sees flashes of his 'Boyhood' at Sundance It basically seems like a fictional version of Seven Up, focused on one boy. Pretty fascinating concept- essentially seeing a boy every year from the age of 7 to 18. I definitely can't wait to see it, especially because it exists in time, so we'll apparently see references to things like the Iraq War and the Obama administration, as well as go from music like Coldplay's "Yellow" to Daft Punk's "Lucky". I definitely can't wait to see it. Also, the casting director gets some props- the guy they picked really does look like he could be Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke's kid. Plus, he's a contemporary of my oldest niece and some friends I made in RHC at IUP, so it'd be cool to see what a 2000's childhood looks like, as opposed to my 90's one. Finally...out of curiosity, how old were you in 2002, and how old are you now? For most of 2002 I was 16, and I had my 17th birthday at the end of it. Now I'm 28.

I relate to JJ in some ways- the cheerful part, as well as the bitchy petulant child part. For some reason, I also seem to have this deal where I say things that are taken like I'm being an asshole to somebody, although I've been much better about that lately. He's faaarrrrr more focused than I was at his age or even now, though. I was also somewhat effeminate like he was as a teenager, although weirdly enough, I don't read as "effeminate" to people in person anymore.

I'm cheering for Seattle to win because they don't have a Super Bowl ring yet. That's the same reason why I cheered for the Saints at the 2009 Super Bowl.

In retrospect, I think "Not gonna lie" had to have been around in the early '00s...it's the "It's whatever" that I'm wondering about, because I really didn't start hearing it until circa 2007. Whatever has been around forever, but the "it's whatever" seems like a newer thing. And I've talked to Adam Phillips, who was college-aged circa 2001, and it doesn't seem like a phrase he and his co-horts used, because he teased me about saying it. Private Tim, your thoughts? As for the other stuff yeah, I saw Volcano. It came out in 1997 and for some reason they played "Lovefool" by the Cardigans for the movie trailer. I still think it's the height of stupidity to build a subway in a seismically active area that seems to be having considerable earthquakes every couple of decades. Because of Clueless and Volcano, I kinda always wanted to see the Bev Center. Alison Arngrim wrote that before the Bev Center, the area was an amusement park...right next to a bunch of oil rigs. Oh, the 1960's.

Hey, Blue...was saying "Not gonna lie" and "It's whatever" around in 2001? I feel like the former is more mid-2000's slang, and I didn't really hear the latter until circa 2007-2009, with it becoming really popular this decade.

I was testing you on that one to see if the Encyclopedia article I read when I was 10 about San Francisco was right. They said that SFers absolutely resist attempts to shorten the city name...other than the "City" they don't really do nicknames. Pretty funny for me, as I've grown up in the Greater Philly area...people here just generally call Philadelphia "Philly". As for the building codes deal...they do have them now, but between post-World War I and the 1970's, San Francisco "relaxed" their building codes because they were in a big rush to rebuild the city, and that has left a lot of the early to mid-20th century buildings vulnerable. Apparently the biggest problem now is trying to stabilize "soft story" buildings in San Francisco.

I don't think it's necessarily a mistake. Zach has already established that he's not really a team player or interested in being one with the team, and I don't think it's mandatory that every teammate has to travel together for an away game. I was in cross-country, and it was never a big deal for people to come alone or with their friends to a meet instead of going with the team. I think we can just fanwank that because Zach is a star, and because he's got visiting "family", so to speak, they're bending the idea that teammates should travel together for games. In any event, interesting scene- Zach pretty much flat out saying that a future with him means a future in the closet instead of commitment ceremonies and kids they procured courtesy of a threesome with a lesbian, and Will trying to convince himself to be okay with it because he's infatuated with Zach.

Oh, another thing Blue...do you remember people saying "Not gonna lie" back in 2001 California? I first started hearing it around 2005, but Delaware tends to be a few years behind the curve. Anyway, interesting stuff. I think Los Angeles probably benefits from its suburban sprawl, and the bulk of the buildings there being built throughout the mid to late 20th century when standards were strengthened. San Francisco is screwed by the fact that it has so many tall buildings due to the denser population, and all those post-World War I to mid-20th century buildings that were built under relaxed building codes. You can retrofit and stuff, but still...I imagine liquefaction is still going to be an issue when the next big one hits 'Frisco. Although seriously...I don't know if I'd be willing to ride the subway in Los Angeles. I did have an interesting conversation with some Cali people though...they were telling me how much they liked seeing brick buildings on the East Coast, because they don't build a lot of brick buildings in California due to the earthquake threat. Interesting cultural difference, I think.

This week is the 20th anniversary of the Northridge Earthquake. Any memories of this one from our Cali posters? It wasn't quite as notorious as the World Series Quake in '89, but it did seem to do a lot of damage.

The first two links worked fine for me. Hmm.

Chapter 68 -When Zach and Will have some fun in a bathroom stall. "Closer" by NIN Michael Fassbender. That man is pure sex. He just looks like someone that would be mind-blowing in bed. -When Will and Zach have oral sex in his Durango in a park. "Faded" by SoulDecision -When Will mentions how much sex they've had, and they begin to talk, and Will comes to a realization that Zach is never going to come out of the closet, not even to himself, for his love of "the show." "What I Did For Love" from A Chorus Line

I think the biggest thing I remember was the Blizzard of 1996. Things were crippled for like a week.

Chapter 67 -At the A-Ho party. "Halloween" by Da Boy Tommy I like to think that Blue just got up and dance around to this shit. Pretty great remix. I remember it being a showcase dance song at my high school for Halloween '02. -When Wade and Matt argue a bit at the the A-Ho party. "Barely Breathing" by Duncan Shiek

And on the flip side, if we're talking about walking the walk, I don't really think Will gets that all up into people's business about who they're dating. He might make snide remarks to Wade about Matt, but he doesn't tell Wade not to date him. He's never tried telling any of his siblings about who they should date, even when he doesn't like their love interests, like Ella. And he was initially skeptical about Hank, but he didn't try and stop Jeanine from dating her.

That's pretty astute, and I have to say that I agree with you. Will doesn't fully trust Zach- he trusts Zach to be honest with him about how much of a dick he can be, and he trusts that Zach will probably screw him over at some point, and he figures that he'll enjoy his time with Zach until Zach gives him a reason not to trust him. I think the relationship is happening because Zach can be totally honest about himself with Will (such as Zach can be), and Will likes that this relationship keeps him sleeping with one eye open. It appeals to him after the humiliation of his failed relationship with Tony where he trusted him completely and believed Tony hung the moon.

My friend Josh. He's 23, and since he was about 10 or 11 years old, he's been dealing with the complications from his heart transplant. He should have graduated in 2013, but he had to drop out in fall 2012 to deal with hodgekin's disease. Then he couldn't come back for fall 2013. Now it looks like he can't come back at all, and he's planning on coming back down to pack up his apartment, because health-wise it's better for him to try and finish his degree closer to home. While he's not back-on with the lymphoma, he's apparently become some kind of medical mystery with his doctors, which means that they won't clear him to go back to University of Delaware. It's so fucking unfair. This is a guy who spent a night in a hospital with this dude who broke his neck after making an ill-advised late night dive in a pool. I stayed with them as well. Josh is a pretty easy and empathetic guy to talk to- and he has a large amount of people that really care about him as a result. He doesn't deserve this. He deserved to have graduated with his friends from college, not try and finish things up on online courses. And then on a selfish level, I'm really pissed off that he can't come back, because I really needed a friend like him around that I could talk to in person. Josh is one of those friends that you know bring out the best in you, and that you can talk deep shit with. I don't really have too many of these in person these days. It just sucks. This guy is 23- he shouldn't have to be constantly dealing with ailing health all the time.

Man, people don't seem all that excited by 90's boybands. Oh, well.

I didn't buy Wade's behavior at the party. That was something Brad would do, not Wade.There's no way Wade would have gotten into a screaming match with Matt at a public party- he's constantly aware of the fact that people are watching him, especially now that he's the Patriot Senator's son. Even if they were outside, you can't tell me that people wouldn't have either heard or seen from the windows, and given that it's a sorority party, there's going to be people outside milling about taking smoke breaks and the like. I did, however, like how Tony got called out by Wade. What an idiot. He basically had it made because of the Schluters/Cramptons, and he threw that all away.

Yes, like the Murano: And the Residences At Ritz-Carlton:

Kristen Stewart Joins "Epic Romance" Remake of 1984 If you don't know who Kristen Stewart is, here's a primer: I personally think KStew's capable of good work and I've liked some of what she's done, like Adventureland and the Runways. It'll be interesting to see what she does. I'm really excited for Nichols Hoult though- I think he'll do a great job as always.

I really like the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tower:

Comcast has just announced plans to build a new tower in Philadelphia, which when you add the spire will become the first tower in Philly to go over 1,000 feet. It's expected to become the tallest building in the United States outside of Chicago and New York City. I think it's pretty exciting. Philly's skyline finally seems like it's moving ahead again. We're finally getting a supertall skyscraper! The backstory to this is that until 1987, there was a gentleman's agreement that no building in Philadelphia was allowed to be taller than the 547 foot city hall, because it was believed that it'd be "bad luck" for a building to be taller than the statue of William Penn atop the skyscraper. That obviously stunted skyscraper growth in the city, but in the past 25 years, the city has really begun to get a nice skyline going. Nothing to rival Chicago or New York City, of course, but it's great to see that Philly's done a great job rebounding after the decay of the late 20th century.

It's not a technical one, but I bet anything JP sees Riley as his great-grandchild because he's basically adopted Wade as a grandson. It's why I'm counting Riley as the start of the next CAP generation. (Well, that and because Matt was supposed to be a father to Riley, but we haven't really seen that.) I think it's funny that the story is representing the polar two sides of senior year- the senior who is already done, already moved on, and just marking the days until graduation, and the senior who is desperately clinging on and doesn't want to let go. It's funny- my good friend in college was the former- Steve was so done with college and so ready to move on with his life that he didn't even bother showing up to graduation. It was like prying teeth to try and get him to go to a college party senior year. I was more like the latter, trying to make the most out of senior year and trying really hard to enjoy it, but I don't think I was as attached as Matt seems to be. I did a 5th year of college, and while it was "senior year"...really, my senior year was 2009, and I didn't feel all that attached to the class of 2010. The bulk of the people that I had partied with when I was a sophomore/1st year junior had already moved on, particularly the Skid Row Crew. I remember being at a bar graduation weekend, watching this one bro-type crying for like 10 minutes straight after the last set with his buddies. It totally baffled me, but then again, like I said, I was a 5th year and ready to be done. I did cry the night before my graduation from grad school, though. That was a toughie. I would be serious money that Blue fell in the "Wade" category when it came to his senior year. Which, from what I understand, was truncated.

Alright...the Boyband Era. Let's get started. 1. 2. It's actually debatable if you can really call Hanson a boyband, because they actually played their own instruments and the like, but I'm including them because they had a big influence in bringing pop music back to the U.S. 3. I call this, "The Video That Jumpstarted Puberty For Me." Brian Littrell was my first major celebrity crush. 4. 5. 6. " I crushed on Brian Littrell, but I was tooootttttttalllllyyyy obsessed with Nick Lachey once 98 Degrees hit. Totally. I had a picture of him in my diary and everything. I used to follow 98 Degrees fanfiction and everything. 7. 8. 9. " 10. "Misery" by The Moffats This one I'm hesitant about, because I don't know if I really consider the Moffats a boyband, but apparently they were, and this is a song that I used to have teenaged angst to, so I'm going with this. 11. " 12. 13. Again I was obsessed with Nick Lachey. 14. 15. 16. I have no idea where I heard this one from, but I remember it anyway. Kinda weird. And what it is with this era and spiky blond tips? 17. 18. "Here We Go" by N'Sync 19. Rich Cronin was such a beautiful guy before cancer ravaged him. R.I.P. 20. Well, Aaron Carter was kind of a boyband in himself, wasn't he? Dear god I remember 8th grade girls who wouldn't shut up about him. Me? I thought he was too young and blond for me even when I was 14. LOL. 21. When I was 16-ish and saw this video, the video was silly because they looked like middle schoolers. Now that I'm nearly 30 and watching this, I want to laugh my ass off because they all look about 10. Jesse McCartney...he sure did grow up nice though, didn't he? 22. 23. God, Kristen Dunst was really everywhere when she was a teenager, wasn't she? No wonder she got "exhausted". 24. 25. 26. The double entendre of this song wasn't lost on me when I was 15. 27. 28. 29. 30. I love the irony of this song- about how pop was never fading out, yet pop imploded in the following year of the 2002 in the U.S. Boybands and pop stuck around the U.K. and other countries, but it died in the U.S. until the Jonas Brothers came around circa 2006-2007...I think it's largely because 9/11 really changed the mood of the country. Also, likely because the people that supported the late 90's pop explosion had grown up and were more interested in hip-hop by the time they were in high school/college. Also, seriously, I loved Nick Lachey sooooo much. Finally...damn, check out how baggy all the pants are. Seriously, it's hilarious.