methodwriter85

Holy crap, if JJ were real, he'd have his phone ringing like crazy right now. I know I'd be spooked if I was in his position. R.I.P. to the victims of the Tomahawk crash in Virginia, which apparently included members and coaches of the U.S. Figure Skating Association.

For what it's worth, I do think Mark is trying to ease Jeremy into a place where he doesn't act like a whiny 13-year old. His general character arc plans for Jeremy has been about putting him into uncomfortable places and seeing him grow up a bit from that even as Jeremy whines about doing it. Which makes me really appreciate the moments when Mark actually lets JJ have fun, like dancing at the club or when JJ goes "what the fuck" and does his interpretative dance at the Met when he fails to get Will to go along with his bet with Bellona. I get that he's not everybody's cup of tea, but as someone who knows what it was like to be a VERY socially awkward and immature young adult with a knack for saying the wrong things and pissing people off, I really gotta feel for him. Jeremy also serves as a great foil for Perfect Golden Boy Will, as well. It's like Cal and Aron from East of Eden. (Mark has said he's not much of a movie person but it's a really good movie and I can definitely see the parallels of Cal/Aron and JJ/Will.)

No, no, no, no...Blue was from East L.A. He hasn't posted here since 2016, so if you missed him, it's understandable. Very proud Hispanic dude who worked in the Piggyback Railyard and he and Private Tim would kind of go at it. I enjoyed reading their interactions because it was like watching two very different subcultures of Greater Los Angeles society interacting with each other. Private Tim is from the OC. At least, I think he was. I could be wrong, but he definitely seemed to talk about the OC like he is actually from there. I think he might have mentioned having family ties to Pasadena as well.

I feel like I can speak on the behalf of the entire Arbour team when I say that we really, really enjoy your commentary and reactions. I just wish Blue was still around. The whole "conservative Orange County lawyer dude" v. "liberal East Los Angeles Latino blue-collar worker" dynamic between you two was really fun to watch.

I mean, yeah. Jeremy is just learning how to have a filter instead of just blurting whatever mean shit is on his mind. That's progress, y'all. As someone who was considered a really immature brat at the age of 18 (to the point where I had several sitdown talks with various people about how much they couldn't stand my behavior) I feel a lot of sympathy for Jeremy. And I think I get where his head is- he wants to be more mature and "better" (because everyone is telling him that he needs to be) but he doesn't quite get that you can only get there by actually getting there and doing it. A few words or a letter of apology is a start, but Jeremy's got years of work ahead of him. Although hey, by the age of 25 Jeremy might actually wind up a pretty cool dude, if I do say so myself.

I mean, he really doesn't. If anything he reveled in tattling on people. He's a bitch with no filter, but never been a liar. Mark has a thing about the characters not being liars, at least the ones we follow the POV's of.

What's weird for me is that Will is acting like Jeremy is this master manipulator who gets whatever he wants, but he's just not. Jeremy's bag is throwing a tantrum until someone gives in, and if they don't Jeremy folds. This is Jeremy folding because he knows he can't win against Will. Jeremy is a bitch, but he's always been a transparent one and he's never been a good liar.

I was right on the chestnut brown hair, then. Hmm.

Well, my Private Tim fancast is Michael Landon's openly gay director son, Christopher Landon, if that helps. For some reason I get the feeling that Private Tim and Christopher Landon probably had similar experiences and ran in similar circles as queer Los Angeles kids in the 90's.

Yeah, I'm rethinking my fancast for Tim's husband MattyK, who I originally fancasted as the delightfully weird yet hunky Gabe Basso of The Night Agent fame. I'm not sure I'd call Gabe Basso nerdy. Weird, yes. But nerdy? I'm not sure I could see MattyK building a stone fence just for the hell of it. I think I'm still bang-on with my Xolo Mariduena fancast for their son, though. (Miguel from Cobra Kai.)

I always thought the initial characterization of JJ- the cheerful energetic puppy dog- was based on how I was when we first started interacting at Adam's group. I think that was just a holding pattern until JJ developed an actual personality when you decided to go "ice skater bitch" with the help of Daisy's input on the piranhas JJ would be swimming with. You also added a dash of Jan Brady, aka Middle Child Syndrome. Personally JJ as he is now reminds me of Blair from Gossip Girl, Blair from The Facts of Life, and a little bit of Erica Kane from All My Children. The typical spoiled rich bitch but every now and then you see flashes of heart, especially if there's someone around to humble them.

Chapter 47 -When Jeremy makes the grand gesture. "Jealous Guy" by John Lennon -When Will invites a massively uncomfortable Jeremy to meet his suitemates. "Popular" from Wicked Will really is just Galinda-coded while Jeremy is so Elphaba.

Mark has taken a "two steps forward, one step back" approach when it comes to maturing Jeremy's character. Like Kris for example. Jeremy feels empathy for Kris's situation, but then goes ahead and makes it all about him when Jeremy realizes that he's also in the same boat. Lol

This is, from what I've discussed with Mark, exactly what Mark was going for with this meltdown. You hit the nail on the head.

I've always maintained that it'd be interesting to see Matt (who's a finance bro) react to the Great Recession of 2008.

LegalEagle talks about the California Wildfires from an insurance payout standpoint. It's going to be bad. Really bad. I wonder if there's any way they can repurpose dead malls in the Los Angeles area like for shelters. Maybe the completed floors of the Graffiti Towers could be put to use? (Probably not but eh.)

Mark has publicly announced that he intends on kinda doing a prequel about JP set in the late 80's that will eventually replace A Summer Love.

Honestly? Thor bores the shit out of me and I really hope he's one of those college friends you drift apart from pretty early on.

It's a tough situation. I think they were shocked that Jeremy had the explosive reaction he had, because in all honesty, Jeremy's not very close to Brad and Jeanine was always the parent he was closest to. (Will went to Brad, Darius went to Robbie, and Jeremy went to Jeanine.) I think they might have figured that Jeremy would have a somewhat blase reaction to it. If I'm playing shrink, though, I think Jeremy's reaction was this bubbling mix about the rejection of his biological father, the truly nasty origins of how he was conceived, and feeling justification of, "Okay, so this is why I've never been Brad's favorite son- I never had a chance to be because I'm not really his son!" Then this got directed towards Will, the Golden Boy who couldn't be anything but Brad's son, and then the nastiness came out of Jeremy's mouth. And damn is Jeremy paying for that. Also, just general Theater Kid theatrics. Having gone to a performing arts high school, I've known and met a ton of kids like Jeremy. People hit their limit when dealing with kids like this and Jeremy is learning that lesson the hard way.

It looks like the firefighters were able to save Calabasas, Hollywood, Encino, and Brentwood!

I think Private Tim appreciates that as much of a snobby stuck up ass Jeremy is, he still pretty much obeys the rules that are set in front of him and doesn't overindulge in partying. Jeremy tipping over the Claremont model is probably the most rebellious and destructive he's ever been. Anyways (because I think we could all use some lightening up), this clip of Nicholas Alexander Chavez after some pretty obvious sniffle snacks is pretty hilarious. https://youtube.com/shorts/TUFYZBYbPqk?si=dtINN1Nu7xc_u3-5

Okay, so for an illumination for the current pace of the series...JJ and I were both born on December 7, 1985. He's not quite 19 and I just turned 39. 😂 There was a point though where the lag between current CAP time and current Real time was only 11 years.

I have never, ever suggested you pick up the pace or try to suggest boring years we can skip over like 2006 or maybe 2013-2015.

If I remember right, it's three adjoining houses and Darius basically took the one Robbie had. NOT Glendale! As a mall lover I'm hoping the Americana and Glendale Galleria are okay.

That's super depressing though. I can't imagine what it's like seeing your city burn down like that. Supposedly what happened to Pacific Palisades makes any previous Los Angeles wildfire look like nothing. I did kind of wonder how Malibu Colony is faring.