methodwriter85

Bryan Craig (the new Morgan Corrinthos on General Hospital) as Noah? I remember you said you pictured Noah as good looking, but with a very disproportionate nose, which is true of this guy. The hair's not really period, but eh.

JJ isn't actually younger than Will. He's actually 9 months older than Will. JJ's just a late bloomer so he seems younger. Other than that, good points. You gotta love the life of a soap opera teenager.

I don't think that's quite true about Marie- Marie has been described as being an eclectic young woman who has an eclectic taste in friends. Marie doesn't strike me as someone who gives a shit about becoming Homecoming Queen of the school. Wasn't it kind of a sticking point between Ella and Marie that Marie didn't want anything to do with the uber-elite crowd at Menlo, and Marie didn't dress head-to-toe preppy? (At the time, that probably would have meant Abercrombie and Fitch and Tommy Hilfiger.) Then again, you can be a pretty bitchy queen bee of any social group. The high school social scene tends to be way more complicated than it is on t.v., where it's the quarterback/head cheerleader "ruling" over and torturing the poor nerdy types. More often than not, high school was made of little cliques where people did their own thing and didn't really bother much with people outside of their social group. The real bullying and terrorizing came within their own social groups, as seen in Mean Girls, and what we've seen in Marie's bitchy behavior towards Noah. I do like that Mark's approaching high school this time around much more differently this time as opposed to Brad at Gunn or Matt at The University School...it's less a feeling of "needing" the social power that comes from being at the top of the heap. Brad and Matt both really liked and needed the power of being Mr. Popular, and Brad especially seemed to think of his "friends" as his personal chess pieces to move around. Brad and Matt would have likely befriended Carter as part of the idea of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer...Will flat out refuses to pretend to like people he can't stand.

This is sooooooo far ahead, but I was watching the Ender's Game trailer and thought, "Asa Butterfield as Riley Danfield at age 12?"

Delaware to Become 11th State with Gay Marriage Pretty cool. I honestly thought that this wouldn't have happened until I was at least in my mid-30's. I remember back around 2004, I was a camp counselor visiting the Delaware Legislative Hall with my middle school charges. We brought up gay marriage, and one of our tour guides said that with the gay marriage ban in our state it'd take a long time for that to happen here. Pretty incredible how fast things changed. I am in no way thinking about marriage for myself, but I'm glad that it's an option on the table now, without even having to leave the sate. In practical terms, it'lll be really good for the gay tourism segment at Rehoboth Beach. Anyway, I've met more than a few gay couples with families, so I'm excited for them.

Of course, we gotta qualify this analysis by remembering that in terms of Brad's kids, Darius went all the way through the public school system and graduated from Malibu High, and JJ and Will attended public school through 8th grade. Of course, it's not that JJ and Will would have been interacting with kids from the ghetto at Malibu Middle, but they still would have interacted with people that weren't at the same income price point. It's possible that's why Will is not quite as cocooned in priviliege and more empathetic than Marie and John are. I agree that Will knew fully and exactly what he was doing there. I think JJ probably didn't, but he also knew that his brother needed to someone to stand behind him, and did it out of reflex. I also get the feeling with JJ that he's never been as tightly bond to the family's protocol as Darius and Will are, so he didn't have the framework for fully understanding the significance of what they were doing. It was like when JP was going off on JJ, and he almost didn't seem to care all that much. That's a very good point. It's not to say that our generation isn't materalistic...but there was something just incredibly greedy about Mark's generation where it really did seem to matter what labels you were wearing. Will is such a great example of how things had changed- not just in terms of the coming out narrative, but in terms of how peers related to each other. Yes, we had Mean Girls and Mean Guys, but there was also this strong sense of Do Your Own Thing, and a stronger sense of social activism. (Of course, that volunteerism was pretty much becoming expected or even mandatory in high school probably ushered that in.)

God, 13 through 15 are such incredibly bitchy ages. I wouldn't go back there for anything. I think Marie will be fine, but she's suffering through "everything is about ME and MY feelings" teenaged mindset right now. I'm a little disapointed in Claire, though. This feels really out of character for Claire to be that out-of-touch with what's going on. I loved Will pointing out about how Claire and her kids never show up for the Claremont events. Given that JP, Nick, and Brad have been busting their asses off to create a revival, and that Tonto's grand message was noblesse oblige, I can totally get why that bothers him. My guess is that Claire and her kids have firmly trended towards the Hobart side, and didn't do the Claremont events because they're too busy with Hobart Bay Area events. Finally, I loved that seven months ago, JJ and Will couldn't stand to be in the same room together, but now they're to the point where JJ backs Will up without even thinking.

On one hand, it sucks. On the other hand, it'll be really, really good for all the new tax-free shopping centers they're putting up in Delaware. So wait though...sales taxes can apply to things like memberships and the like? That's crazy. I didn't even know that was possible- so you're saying like if I joined a gym in a state that had sales tax, I might have to pay a sales tax for that membership? And if I did, would it just be for the initial purpose or every month?

Chapter 7 -When Will tells Stefan about his romantic weekend with Tony, and the two analyze what this all means. -When Will realizes that Erik and Carter are still invited to Bastille's Day, and his friend is not, and slams the family for their snobbery and materialism. -When Will and JJ discuss at the end how horribly bitchy Marie's been. "Jaded" by Aerosmith

True. Sleeping with a Crampton or Schluter boy and having a conversation about how you're down on your luck can get you anything from a really nice car up to a 5 million dollar trust fund. Noah could have gotten so much more than three Abercrombie polo shirts if he had decided to get all gay with Will. Although...I'm getting an inkling with Will that he's not going to be quite along the same lines of his grandfather and father in terms of giving nice cars to his sleeping partners. The deal with Noah was about making reparations, and Will seems a bit more wary about people only wanting to be his friends to mooch off him than either JP or Brad in their youth did. Which makes sense, because the Cramptons/Schluters seem to be much more infinitely wealthy than they were a generation or two ago. They haven't really met up against the "proud" blue collar mindset, where taking gifts like that is just not something you're supposed to do. We got an inkling of that with Wally and Clara- it would be stupid for them to turn down having their kids's college education funded but they haven't really taken much personally from Robbie, as well as Noah's mother not being cool with her son being given three 70 dollar shirts, but no one has ever flat out refused.

That does happen, although in Gathan's case, he got the money while he was the protagonist. That kind of feeds into rule 27, which is... 27. The Cramptons and Schluters have an endless supply of money, and can constantly blow money on extravagent gifts for people who are simply just nice to them. I did get the feeling that the Danfields are probably much, much more conservative with their money. Wade does some generous things, but not to the level of the Cramptons and the Schluters.

I kind of figured that was more of a side, artisanal business, probably complete with a charming bed and breakfast. The winery can't be THAT big, if Roger were able to handle it himself, and it's now landlocked by development.

Trevor St. John on One Life to Live looks like how I would picture Brian, had Brian made it past 26/27. I've been watching the online reboot of One Life To Live on Hulu, and I kept thinking, "Trevor really does have a CAP look to him, doesn't he?"

All the talk about domesticity, and Will not really being used to it, made me think about Tony. He strikes me as someone who'd have a traditional view of raising kids in the suburbs with a white picket fence and cheering them on at Little League Baseball games...even if/when he comes around on being gay, Tony still strikes me as the kind of gay that would want to do that with his husband. I'm not sure I could see that with Will...it depends on how much of Brad's jet-set/corporate honcho lifestyle he wants to have. I can see Will with kids circa 2013, but I'm not sure I can see Will giving his kids the "colonial in the suburbs/soccer dads" upbringing that I'd see Tony doing. I think that's one of the interesting things about the 2000's- you started seeing young gay guys expressing the idea of having kids and raising them in the suburbs with car pools and soccer teams like their straight counterparts, as gay marriage and gay adoption started to become legal. The whole "circuit boi" image of gays in the media really started to change by the end of that decade. With Tiffany, I get the feeling that she'll definitely prefer the jet-set lifestyle with Riley. Being JJ's coach basically means she's choosing to take Riley around the world with her as she helps JJ chase the Olympic dream. I think if Wade could choose, he'd like the domestic bliss life for Riley, but it's pretty much impossible because of who they are. They're basically like the Kennedy family. I wonder what Ace and Cass did with Courtney...he doesn't really seem like he's part of the inner-circle of the Schluter Enterprises...Ace does strike me as a guy who'd settle down with a full-time mom type.

And usually, this leads to procreation. CAP lesbians are lining up to do procreation the good ol' fashioned way, instead of the turkey baster way. There's been some interesting discussions on TWOP about the media depiction of lesbians- that there's this myth propagated in the media that lesbians cannot be exclusively attracted to females, and that the "right man" can persuade a lesbian to have sex with him. Here's an article that explains that position: I'm Not The 'Media Lesbian' : Media portrayals trivialize lesbianism I remember when the U.S. version of Skins had the lesbian teen character decide to have sex with a male character- maaannnn, the complaints were pretty bad.

Thanks. I kind of went for a "female" theme in this chapter, with Le Tigre and the Indigo Girls being lesbian bands. I'll always associate "Downtown" with Girl Interrupted, one of my favorite movies from the turn-of-the-millenium.

I loved the Tribeca bit. It's weird to think that because of gentrification, Brooklyn is now the hot spot to live in NYC instead of Manhatten, instead of Brooklyn being the place you wanted to escape from ala Saturday Night Fever. I loved the domestic scene- it made me wonder how Tiffany intends to raise Riley. I don't think Tiffany strikes me as someone who wants a simple, quiet domestic life. Maybe that was another reason she wasn't right for Jeanine. Conversely, I think Wade WOULD want that for Riley, but who they are would make that impossible.

Chapter 6 -When Hank and Will navigate through New York City, and Will takes in the sights of the Big Apple. -When Hank takes Will to New Jersey, and Will witnesses the nice family bit that they've created with Maddy. -When Hank and Jeanine decide to take the condo in TriBeCa, the trendiest neighborhood in New York City.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvinAPPfyAQ Hee. I didn't even watch that show, but I Love the 80's had a segment on Dallas, and the "It was all a dream" deal was mocked endlessly. From what I understand, because they did that, they had to break away from Knots Landing, which was the spin-off, because on Knots Landing one of the brothers had named their kid "Bobby" in memoriam, similiar to how Will was named after both his dead uncle and his dead grandfather. I had no clue that the Dad from Step by Step was such a hunk when he was young before I saw old Dallas clips. I'm more of a Dynasty fan, though. I mean, really, what's not to love about two rich broads bitchslapping each other while wearing over-the-top 80's fashion?

Westie's bit in the 9.11 thread made me think about this thread...I thought I'd bump this up. He made an incredibly great point- that typical soap opera rules don't necessarily apply to CAP, and that made me think about how the CAP Saga does indeed have a separate set of rules. 23. No one locks the doors when they're hooking up with people, even when it's two figure skaters who need to maintain the appearance of being straight-as-a-board and thus must be extremely discrete. I totally can't believe we forgot this one. 24. CAP kids and parents are completely and totally comfortable talking about their sex lives with each other. Or hell, a kid could walk in on their parent having sex with someone young enough to be their kid and not cringe at all. I wonder if that's the French influence coming in.

Very true. And there have been some soap conventions that Mark hasn't followed- namely, with the exception of Aaron, when peope die, they stay dead. Such a good point to make!

Well, we got The Box, which was basically one long flashback to the 1940's...that's why I said more of a 50-year span.

I think with the online revival of One Life to Live and All My Children, legacy soap characters are on my mind right now. I do think it's cool that because it's a fictional 50-year span and not a real one, Mark doesn't have to wait in real-time to reap his own legacy characters on his soap.

Of course. We're just looking way down the road, and considering a soap's propensity to put legacy characters together. After all, Brad did end up with Robbie, and they are both legacy characters. Having Brad's son and Brad's ex-stepfather's son end up married would be a modern twist on a classic soap trope, one I could see being hard for Mark to resist doing. It's probably a big part of the reason why the pairing happened in the first place. It's similiar to why people were kinda digging the idea of Brad's son and Jack's son becoming a couple...that deal kind of crashed and burned, but I'm not totally counting John out. He's only 13. I figure when the dude catches up to Will's maturity level, it might be interesting to explore that again. I think on Days of Our Lives, they're actually having a gay legacy romance between Will Brady and Sonny Kiriakis- I think it's the first of its kind, which is pretty cool. Legacy romances can be pretty fun if done well...it's why I'm glad that Mark is apparently not having Riley and Madison raised as siblings, so it's possible to eventually hook them up if Mark keeps on doing CAP for a very long time. It's also why I'm glad Mark didn't give both Tiffany and Jeanine twins and make Robbie and Brad fathers again...it would have been too many kids on the canvas who are the same age and related to each other.

2001 was when I really started following music, as a by-product of starting high school and hearing what other people were raving about, so it's easier doing music for this year than 2000 was, which was kind of a weird transition year.