methodwriter85

I'm pretty sure Stefan is "49" by now. Like this woman I know who only puts "32" candles on her birthday cake every year. Probably my favorite retroactive birthday choice ever. It's so in-character for Stefan to never admit that he's having a birthday party for himself.

"Glee" Star Cory Monteith passes away at the age of 31 I'm seriously shocked and saddened by this. I first took notice of Cory Monteith when he was on the show Kyle XY around 2006, and I was really happy about the success he found on Glee. I found his story of struggling against drug addiction really inspirational...but...I guess sometimes demons can't be overcome. What a waste of such a beautiful and talented young man.

I think it's easier to be understanding over Tony because he's not even really in the story that much. His behavior is obnoxious, but it's not taking over the whole story. And he's got the good-will from being the legacy of a character that a lot of people liked. (Although that really didn't do Marcel any good, did it? LOL.) I think 28 seemed older back then. Remember, this is before people started spouting "30 is the new 20!" Although it's probably more of the fact that the investment banker probably overdressed in his suits and the like instead of dressing in t-shirts and shorts, so his age stood out more. Age in the gay community is a weird, weird thing. It's like you're only allowed to exist until you're 30, and if you're over 30, you have to do whatever you can to compensate for that, especially if you don't want to be a Bear or a Daddy. I remember watching this Logo series called "Pretty Hurts", and they showed this guy who was in his early 40's, oohing and ahhing over his face injections that he believed made him look "26 again." I thought that was sad, because I believe wrinkles add a lot of character to a person's face...I can't wait to get my own. I'd rather look in my late 30's than look midl/late 20's. Which would be funny in terms of Stefan. I mean, part of Stefan's whoring around when he was a teenager was out of necessity. Part of it was just that Stefan was a plain slut. I'm pretty sure Stefan's number would have well-exceeded even Will's at that age. I don't think Mark's decided on a soulmate for Will yet. If Will were more like Matt's age, he might have, but I think he's keeping the options open for Will. Especially if Will winds up narrator for 5 or more stories. It's easy to let a character have a happily-ever-after and ride off into the sunset if you don't plan on building a whole lot of stories around him, but I get the distinct feeling that Will's going to wind up narrating a lot more 2000's(even 2010's) stories.

Thanks for that. He's skinnier than I normally like, but I just adore Colton's look. Total hottie pretty boy, but with some quirks to his look that keep his face really interesting and distinctive. Colton Haynes is an interesting case. He did a photo shoot for XY magazine kissing what was rumored to be his real-life boyfriend, but then he ran screaming into the closet when he moved into acting. Which is sad, but the reality of the image that a teen hearthrob has to project. Anyway, Nora Kirkpatrick (The Office, Greek) as Ella? I have her pictured as an Amazonian blonde type.

Great choice, Tim!

Thanks. I remember when I first stated doing music recs for Be Rad, I tried not to have any songs that were any older than 3 years. Being that I was stuck in the musical wasteland that was 1980 American music, I had to break that rule by the end of the story. Henceforth, I try to keep the bulk of the music contemporary to the story's time period, but throw in a few oldies as well.

Okay, Marcel wasn't THAT bad. He was just a bit boring.

Chapter 21 -When Will verbally eviscerates Tony in an email. "Points of Authority" by Linkin Park -When Will and Kai have some early morning fun. "Crystal Blue Persuasion" by Tommy James and the Shondells -When Will writes Tony the second email, with a bit more contemplation. "Hemorrhage" by Fuel

Which would actually make a lot of sense, because Sam in 1968 came off as such a fine, upstanding guy. It seemed like JP blamed Sam's transformation in Be Rad to the fact that he failed to get tenture, but it's entirely possible that Sam cheated on JP all throughout the 1970's. It's possible that he only got caught because Sam started checking out his stepson's friends instead of people outside of the inner circle. You? A scathing response to someone? Wow, I really can't imagine it. That reminds me a lot about the storyline in Cross-Currents, where Andy sleeps his way through the girls of his high school while not committing to anybody, because on some level he got burned deep by his first girlfriend, Stacey. He knows how he gets when he's really attached to someone, so he tries to avoid it. I think Will is similiar to Andy in that sense.

I do like how there's this stark difference between the Danfields, who's wealth likely goes back to the 17th/18th century tobbacco plantations, and the Schluters, who are "newer" money. (They were always small-town affluent but not someone to reckon with on a national level until the Post World War-II era.) The Schluters are much more conspicous about throwing around and spending money, whereas we really haven't seen that from the Danfields. Everything that Wade has spent significant money on either involved child custody arrangements, or investments. I think it makes sense though that as people who probably have been involved in Virginia politics since the days of John Smith, they're acutely aware of public image, whereas the Schluters kind of just do what they want, for the most part.

If he does, that'd be a rather hilarious call-back to Brad's tailing of Robbie in Man In Motion. Ultimately, I don't think Will would- that would violate his "live and let live" attitude. I thought it was kind of weird that someone who grew up a coastal area wouldn't be big into seafood. I grew up in the Chesapeake Bay/Delaware Bay area and there's a major focus on seafood here(especially with crabs) that I noticed wasn't really around in the Western P.A. area. (Which isn't a costal area.) But then I saw Will's earlier comment that it's a karma thing, which I liked. What a fantastic little character quirk. Mark's gotten better at adding little touches like that. Finally, I love that Tony's issues go beyond just not wanting to be gay. As Will's realizing, even if Tony were openly gay, he'd still be a shitty boyfriend who'd feel a need to have a mistress on the side. That's the ugly side of the Italian machismo that Will finds so hot. It also makes me think that Jake was sooooo not the first secret mistress that Sam had.

Wade's family doesn't strike me as people who'd buy a private jet even though they could afford it. They'd probably be old-school fiscally conservative types. If you've noticed with Wade, he's much less likely to "splurge" on things- other than his big dinner for the hockey team, we haven't seen Wade spend lavishly on things that weren't solid investments. I'm guessing that's because the Danfields usually don't, in stark contrast to how the Cramptons and Schluters buy fancy cars left and right for their friends. There is a shot that a Danfield could find themselves at Dulles Airport on 9/11, I think...

I kind of wish I had grown up in California then, because the UC system sounds like an absurdly easy system to get into, barring Berkley. Damned true. Check out the "Racism is alive and well" montage from USA Big Brother 15: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok9c5Sv9xPc The thing that you've got to keep in mind is that racism isn't something you can reason with or put some kind of logic to. For example, in the comment about how Candice couldn't be seen in the dark...Candice Stewart isn't really all that dark. She's not. But that doesn't matter to a racist. The same deal- it doesn't matter if Darius isn't that dark and isn't praising Allah. All that it takes is someone with a prejudice to be put in a situation where they can push their hate onto someone, and having people who sit around and do nothing (or laugh and join in) when that happens. CBS is editing out a lot of the racist stuff from their broadcast, but the feed has caught some really incredible stuff. Anyway...back to the thread...I really do wonder if Mark will have some characters get seriously injured in 9/11. It'd be interesting to see a character deal with a traumatic brain injury...that's a place Mark's never gone before. I'm also thinking that it'd be interesting if we lost a character that hasn't been in the story for awhile.

I'm the "keeper of ages" so to speak, and we have Darius's birthdate set as January 19th, 1982. He's currently going into his sophomore year, and should graduate for the spring 2004 school year. Although it is possible for him to graduate a semester or a year early, taking him into the first year of the Iraq War. But since Darius is a transfer to UCLA, that seems really unlikely he could graduate early. (Although that in itself had me scratching my head...didn't his first-semester grades at Santa Clara suck? Why would have UCLA taken him?)

It's not about it being an active history of discrimination. It's about it being the very real anti-Middle Eastern sentiment that crossed throughout the United States after 9/11. It's also not about whether or not Darius is involved with Islamic culture. It's about the fact that ignorant people make snap judgements about who someone is based on how they percieve the color of a person's skin (and it's been established since Man In Motion that Darius is not seen as white, not even his Uncle Nick who called him the n-word), and treat them accordingly. If you're "ambigious" racially in this country, you're open to a lot of assumptions from strangers about what you are. I've been asked if I'm black, Korean, Chinese, Mexican, Puerto Rican, etc etc. And Mark's even reflected that with Darius, because in nearly every time Darius has been described by a protagonist, the protagonist wonders what Darius's ethnicity is. That's why I picked an ethnically ambigious guy for Darius.

I'm going to re-iterate Matt Bomer for Lou. Can't yinz just SEE him as a chic gay TV news reporter in Toronto? The man was just born to wear a suit and look the part of a fashionista.

Here's a great tune from '03 that I can't wait to incorporate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km_8JLt6MPA 2003 really has to be one of my favorite music years. Can't you just picture a 19-year old Blue dancing his ass off to "Satisfaction" at a California night club?

On Day 8 (which was Friday, July 5th) and Day 9 (July 9th), I worked on the inventory for my 4th box. This particular box was mainly the files of paperwork from the parades, going from the 1980's to the 2000's. I had a conversation with the museum leader about the box- he agreed with me that it wasn't really necessary for me to inventory each and every single piece of paper, so I did the inventory by the folder. Some of the paperwork was pretty tedious(I found memos about catering the event from 2005 to about 2007), but there were some pretty cool things about the guests and the participants of the parade. I also found some newspaper clippings- some going all the way back to 1984. I'm guessing that the person who donated the collection joined the Memorial Day Committee around the mid-80's, since none of the paperwork goes further back than the mid-1980's. The photos do, but not the paperwork or the newspaper clippings I've found. It was for the most part one of the easier boxes to go through, because a lot of the files had already been labeled with dates. You guys have no clue how useful that is for future archivists.

Yeah, that's where I know him from. I thought the Conrad Boys was an interesting case of a movie that was decent but could have been much better if the director/writer realized that he shouldn't have cast himself in the lead. Boo Boo (his real name is Nils), the love interest, and the father were all pretty good actors, but not really the case with the director. The kid sure did grow up nicely: Great combo of sweet face with rockin' body. He just looks the part of a very nice surfer guy, especially with that long hair. If you wanna feel old, Tim, he's about 19 now. That people born in 1994/1995 are now old enough to be in college weirds the hell out of me. (He would have been born the summer before your senior year of high school, Tim, and when I was about to enter second grade.) The summer of 1994 doesn't feel like it was 19 years ago, but it was.

It's possible that my view of the time is shaded by the fact that I was in 9th grade, and my friends were emo kids who liked to bitch about how awful life is. Also by the fact that 9/11 effectively ended the boyband/Britney and Co. pop explosion in the U.S. and by that time we were sitting around and whining about life to Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, and Dashboard Confessional. I did think it was funny though when people were saying that American society would become "deeper" as a result of 9/11...and then in 2002 The Osbournes became the hot new cable show.

You can't even go to community college for 500 dollars a semester. I really wish the government would do something to prevent colleges that recieve federal funds from raising the prices, but I get that's a pipe dream. As bad as it was for me, I think about how bad it will be for college students a few years down the road.

Me, too. By the way, the flights didn't come in from Europe- Flight 11 (North Tower) was Boston to Los Angeles, Flight 175 (South Tower) was Boston to Los Angeles, Flight 77 (Pentagon) was Dulles, Virginia to Los Angeles, and Flight 93 (Shanksville) was Newark, NJ to San Francisco. The Shanksville one was of particular interest to me, because I had a grad schoolmate who worked at the 9/11 Memorial site there. Do any of them fly commericial? It seems strongly implied that they all use private jets. I do think John Carullo would make sense as a possible victim as well, especially if he was working as a summer internship or something in NYC. (He might have graduated from Stanford at this point- I don't think it's been explicitly said that John was in Matt and Wade's class.) I also wonder about possibly of having people who aren't killed, but are seriously injured by it. How would Will react to being paralyzed or maybe blinded, even if temporarily? Or how would Matt handle brain damage, especially given that he's in his senior year at Stanford? That's something Mark's never really covered in CAP. There was Fitz in CAP, but he killed himself before we could see how he coped with living a disabled life. And if Mark does go with having people there, the PSTD issues should be interesting. We got some of that with Will after his kidnapping, but I would imagine that the PSTD stuff would be even more intense if our characters are actually at the site. It's going to be really interesting, given that Mark can't really do a "happy" ending here like he normally does. America was in a funk for a pretty long time.

I can see what you're saying here...for me, it wasn't so much the lyrics(he IS pretty green when it comes to doing original music), but the beautiful visuals of the videos as well as the storyline that got me.

Kai? My orginial thought was Taylor Lautner, but Taylor has too much of a frat bro look to him. Kai needs a sweet, exotically pretty face.

I really thought you'd have a much more enthusastic reaction to this song.