methodwriter85

Australian soap actor Luke Mitchell as Hot Jeff? Given where Mark went in terms of Ryan's looks, I felt like I needed a guy who had more of an narrow, triangular face paired with a totally slammin' bod. And that wicked little half-smile works for me as Hot Jeff. Both Hunter Parrish and this guy were apparently in the running for the part of Finnick in the Hunger Games, so I figured it was appropriate. LOL.

In any event, I do think the Bush II era had this certain feel and vibe to it- there was this major sense of entitlement and feeling like there were no consequences. Mark talked once about how the 80's had this immense feeling of greed to them- I think that's somewhat what happened in the '00's. Not quite in the same way, but it was the era where people bought their McMansions and Hummers and shopped at lifestyle centers while being extremely maxed out on credit, with the belief that real estate prices were going to continue to rise, until they suddenly didn't. I'd consider the 2000's as being like another Gilded Age- on the surface there was prosperity, but it was all a house of cards that came tumbling down.

I kinda figured Claire was because of Stefan's constant joking about how she dresses like the Young Republican club of Palo Alto. Ace has a personality that just reads to me as Republican, for some reason. He definitely strikes me as someone who would've supported Ronald Reagan back in the '80s. Tony also strikes me as someone I can see as a Republican...you did say he was from a pretty conservative suburb of St. Louis, his family leans towards conservative Catholic types, and if Tony were a Republican type it'd make a lot more sense that he's so deeply closeted. I also kinda figured that you can't have this entire family as Democrats, so there'd have to be at least a few Republicans in there. The Danfields can't be the lone Republicans in this story, right? It'd be boring if they were all of the same political affiliation, especially when the Republican/Democrat culture wars heat up during the insanity of the Dubya Years. The rhetoric just got nastier and nastier. It really is going to be fun to see how you have the Dubya Administration shade the feel of CAP. I did think you did a great job of capturing the optimism, boom times, and energy of the Clinton Years, so it'll be interesting to see what CAP feels like when The Dubya Years/9/11 alters the mood of the country. I can imagine Brad and JP cringing with these gems: "There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002 "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur." -George W. Bush, discussing the decline of the French economy with British Prime Minister Tony Blair "I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region." -George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002 "My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It begins here because for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times. From that alliance has come an era of peace in the Pacific." -George W. Bush, who apparently forgot about a little something called World War II, Tokyo, Feb. 18, 2002 "It's amazing I won. I was running against peace, prosperity, and incumbency." -George W. Bush, June 14, 2001, speaking to Swedish Prime Minister Goran Perrson, unaware that a live television camera was still rolling.

By Jarrett Bell Tony Romo's security as the Dallas Cowboys' quarterback is now etched in money. The team and its star player struck a six-year, $108 million contract extension today — $55 million is guaranteed — that answers any questions as to whether the franchise would stick behind its much-scrutinized signal caller. "Absolutely, we feel that we can win a championship with Tony," Cowboys Executive Vice President Stephen Jones told USA Today Sports, while also confirming details of the contract, which takes effect in 2014 and is scheduled to run through 2019. "We wouldn't be doing all of this if we didn't think we could win with him." Romo, who turns 33 next month, received a $25 million signing bonus. Set to earn a base salary of $11.5 million for 2013, Romo was scheduled to carry a $16.8 million salary cap number for this year. But the re-worked contract lowered his cap number by $5 million for the upcoming season. "Tony has always considered himself a Cowboy for life," Romo's agent, R.J. Gonser, told USA Today Sports. "Now it's a reality." And at a high price. The wow factor with Romo's megapact — the new money averages $18 million per year — compared to an $11.25 million average salary in the previous contract — is that the guaranteed portion exceeds the $52 million in guarantees that Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco secured from the Baltimore Ravens with his six-year, $120.6 million record contract earlier this month. No doubt, Romo benefited from Flacco's fortune. "Any contract, especially for a quarterback, influences the market," Jones said. The talks with Romo included an added element of intrigue: the possibility that he could have walked as a free agent next year. Under his previous deal, a renegotiated contract executed in 2011, the final three years could have been voided without the option for the Cowboys to keep Romo's rights with a franchise tag provided he was on the roster through the end of 2013. Jones, though, contends that it was not an issue. He said that he was never concerned the talks would collapse to the point that Romo would leave. Gonser said he didn't sense it would come to that, either. Gonser led a team of CAA agents that included Ben Dogra, Jimmy Sexton and Tom Condon. "Any time you're dealing with your quarterback, or another key player like that, it takes time," Jones said. "It's not a thing where you sit in a meeting for a couple of hours and get it done. You have to work through some things. It was just a matter of finding comfort for both sides and getting a fair deal." Of course, for Romo, there's an added value — or burden — attached to being the face of arguably the NFL's most high-profile franchise: the man is a magnet for debate. Heading into his 11th season, Romo has evolved from undrafted free agent to one of the NFL's most productive passers. He owns franchise records for career passing yards (25,475), touchdowns (174) and 400-yard games (4). But detractors can point to one particular statistic — playoff wins — as an indicator that committing to Romo for the long haul includes an element of risk. At least one member of the quarterbacking fraternity was taken aback by Romo's windfall. Donovan McNabb issued a tweet today revealing his shock at the money his former NFC East counterpart is now making. (It's worth noting Romo's lone postseason victory came at the expense of McNabb's Philadelphia Eagles following the 2009 season in what turned out to be McNabb's final playoff appearance.) @donovanjmcnabb Tony Romo 6 yr 55 million dollar extension. Wow really, with one playoff win. You got to be kidding me But Jones scoffs at such talk when weighing Romo's value. "It's not all on Tony's shoulders," Jones said. "He has to do his part, but the team around him as to play better, and we also have to coach better." Jones and his father, team owner Jerry Jones, have never wavered publicly in their support of Romo — a high-profile target of frustrated Cowboys fans. Father and son have repeatedly defended Romo in the wake of late-season collapses that have become the team's pattern in recent years. "We've always looked at him as a great quarterback," Stephen Jones said. "He wants to win a championship as much as anybody. But it's on all of us." The playoff prospects will be addressed soon enough. What Romo's contract does immediately is help the Cowboys operate under the $123 million salary cap, providing needed room for more maneuvers. All offseason, the Cowboys have been one of the NFL's most cap-strapped clubs. And they still aren't equipped to go on a spending spree like they did in 2012 for players like cornerback Brandon Carr. "We said all along, we weren't going to be a player in free agency this year," Jones said. "We did that last year." *** Congratulations to our esteemed Adam Phillips and the rest of Cowboys Nation. It's nice to have some consistency there, and Tony Romo really has proven to be good for the Cowboys. I've been so pleased with his performance every year. I'm so glad he's not going anywhere. Here's to hoping that the Cowboys have Tony Romo as their QB for many years to come.

All this gay marriage debating has me wondering about Will, and his place in the context of the push for gay marriage in the 2000's and 2010's. The gay marriage debate really heats up in 2004, with the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts and the Bush administration coming down hard on it...the 2004 election also coincides with Will's freshman year of college. I really can't see a scenario in which Will doesn't get involved with the political issues that were big in '04 like the possibility of a gay marriage ban consitutional amendment and the invasion of Iraq. I also also remember those propaganda commericals that were running with the possibility of the draft getting reinstated because of Dubya's War for Oill. I got why 2000 was kinda pushed off the sides, but there was a hell of a lot more bitterness by '04 (Iraq, the surplus that became a deficit, the NYC anti-Republican Party riots, the comparisons of Bush II to Hitler), and Will's 18 by the time that election comes around. 2003/2004 will be an incredibly interesting time period for Mark to write about. 'Cause if Will really is the Tonto Incarnate, I just can't see him standing back and not getting involved when issues that affect him like gay marriage bans start to come up. It'd be interesting if, even if Tony comes out of the closet, Tony still doesn't believe in allowing gay marriage because the Pope said not to. I had a gay conservative friend debate to me why marriage should remain between a man and a woman and that gays shouldn't adopt kids...it does happen. I can totally see Claire dropping out of the Republican Party and voting for Obama by the time '08 comes around, because of what a horrible president Bush Junior was, although I can see Ace remaining steadfastly loyal to the Dubya in chief until the very end. I can also see, when Prop 8 comes around, Will and JJ hitting some kind of major schism because Will wants JJ to pose in the "No H8" campaign, and JJ's reluctant to do so, because of his need to appeal to conservatives in order to maintain sponsorships. That could be a really interesting conflict.

Chole Moretz from Kick Ass and Dark Shadows as Marie Hobart: I can totally see Marie rocking the "blazer with derby hat" hipster look at some point in her life. I feel like Marie is someone who has the conventionally pretty blond girl look to her, but she dresses with a bit more quirk than the .

Seriously though, how freakin' cute is Max Theriot? Even scowling I just find him so adorable. I think it's too cute when babyfaced guys try to hide it behind a beard.

Have a nice birthday!

God, how freakin' hot is Max Thieriot? He does the troubled yet sensitive bad boy deal so incredibly well.

After watching the Bates Motel...I kind of like Freddie Highmore as Allistair. (If you want a geekier-looking guy than my first pick, Logan Lerman.) I think he'd also be good as a circa 1977 Mark Arbour in On The Mark. (He's 20 but pretty much looks 15.)

Damn, that in itself would have made a great ending to the story. Great job as always, Adam.

A young, openly gay marine does a Q&A session with his straight marine friends. I figured you guys would get a kick out of this. Q&A With My Straight Marine Friends It's incredible when you realize that just two years ago, you couldn't have even made this video without blurring this soldier's face. I like to think that in ten years, teenagers and twentysomethings are going to be flabbergasted that Don't Ask, Don't Tell even existed.

I'd really like to see July 4th, 2001 at Claremont. Mainly because it's the last 4th of July before America is irrevocably changed, and mainly because I'm guessing that given Claremont's history of sending off kids to war, we'll see a pretty significant amount of Claremont youth going off to fight in The War on Terror. I'm also interested in seeing if the ambitious plans for Claremont are working. Maybe the 4th of July celebration can be in conjuction with the opening of the Shoppes At Claremont Factory?

Still, he's REALLY setting off the gaydar here. He wouldn't be the first gay guy to have had a girlfriend at one point in his life.

RIght. It'd be interesting to see the community college environment...it's definitely a lot different than the typical 4-year college environment. I think Jeff would have to attend community college for at least 2 semesters, meaning that the earliest he'd get to USC would be about the spring 2002 semester. And yeah, Sharon, I think JJ has waaaayyyyyyy too much growing up to do before I'd even entertain the idea of him as a narrator. 2003 when he's 17 and Evan Lysacek has moved to El Segundo, yeah. Not now. It's just interesting how JJ seems to parallel my own childhood in some ways. At 15, I was completely and totally obnoxious. It took me until I was 17/18 before I started behaving better.

I agree completely. I don't think he's going to be in the place of mind to be a fun and sexy narrator for at least a couple of years. At 17./18...yeah, I can see a story. But not when he's 15 and a largely asexual kid dealing with the trauma of losing his mother to insanity and having been forced to become sexual when he wasn't ready to be. Dating will always be dramatic, but I'm not sure how dramatic his school issues would be. Menlo is not a school where being gay is a big deal, so something like Patrick's story In The Perks of Being A Wallflower wouldn't work. So much of high school drama is based on the fact that you have no real perspective outside of that world, thus things such as "Who will I sit with at lunch?" become of big, earth-shattering importance. Will's already been emancipated, already played the popularity game and decided to do things his own way instead, and he seems to be setting himself up with Marie's crowd, who seem like a pretty chill crowd. Matt's high school angst storylines worked because he was a closeted kid who had the pressure of being King of the A-Crowd, and it was important to him until they ditched him when he got sick. Brad was similiar, and his outing was dramatic because it was 1980 when the world "coming out" wasn't a very common phrase in college, let alone at high school. I think the only real high school angst I can see Will having is involving his dating life, but other than that...Mark's written Will as a guy who doesn't really sweat academics because he's genius-level smart, doesn't have to worry about people liking him because he's hot, and doesn't have to worry about being bullied for being gay because it's 2001 and a liberal area. So where exactly would his high school issues and conflicts come from? Sometimes people just have a good and relatively easy time in high school, and Will at this point seems like he'd be one of those people.

Seriously, that is one eventful six-month period in his life. I hope Will gets at least a couple of months of normality before Mark starts injecting insane drama into his life once again. Just let him be a kid enjoying his 9th grade year at Menlo for a bit. I do enjoy Will as a character, but having him as a front-burner in three straight stories would be a bit much, no? Mark didn't even do that for JP or Stefan. The other thing is that if you give Will another story right after this one, you've got to completely undo the good place that Will's currently at, and I'd like him to enjoy his happy ending for at least the duration of another story. That's a reason why soaps, when they were good, didn't keep even their lead characters on front-burners all the time. And you also run the risk of running out of fresh stories to give the character if they're always kept on front-burners. That's what happened with the Sonny/Carly/Jason trio on General Hospital, who were kept front and center all the time for the 2000's.

Damn. I'd be 37. (It'd actually be 37 and 2 months. My birthday is December 7th, same as JJ's.) So you really think it'd take us until February 2023 to reach December 2005 in CAP, huh? I wonder what things will be like... I'll have completely gray hair by then, when I'm 37. Still struggling to pay off my student loan bills, but content in a small apartment with good friends while living in a medium-sized city...possibly a college town. No husband or kids, but I'll be okay with that, despite the nagging from my sisters who have 5 kids between them and can't possibly understand not wanting to start a family. How do you guys picture yourself in 2023? Personally, I see Blue as a content 39-year old with a husband and 2.5 kids in a nice Los Angeles suburb, you know the whole white picket fence deal. Sharon is a contented grandmother chasing around happy toddlers in her house during weekend visits. Mark at 60 is semi-retired and spends his off-time traveling the world and writing. Maybe on a small personal yacht? Tim at 46, I bet, will have written several books about being a gay Conservative in California. Maybe he'll join city council or something.

Here's a letter, written by an Iraq War veteran named Tomas Young under hospice care, to Dubya and Dick. His body has been ravaged by paralysis and resulting complications that he's decided to go off his feeding tube and "fade away" instead of the conventional suicide. The Last Letter Pretty powerful stuff. It saddens me to think of how many lives were destroyed because of Haliburton war complex, and how so few of us gave a crap about what was going on over in Iraq because we were more interested in important things like Britney Spears Meltdown '07-'08 or buying McHouses in McSuburbs we couldn't afford to take advantage of that red-hot real estate market of the early/mid- '00s. I didn't personally know anybody who died in the Iraq War, but the school upstairs from mine was rocked by it in '05 when an English teacher's son died...I think he would have been just about Adam's age now if he had lived. I did have an acquaintance I'll call Mike who was there. He was Mr. Funny Class Clown in high school, and he was our best runner. He had some jerky qualities to him, but Mike was overall a nice guy. Mike joined up with the army after he graduated from high school to pay for college. He didn't get hugely maimed in the war...he just lost a pinky or something or something like. But I'll never forget one night I ran into Mike at a bar...I think it was probably '08 or '09. Mike was so fucked up drunk that he could barely stand...I remember saying to him, "Dude, please don't die in Iraq." (In my defense, I was 22 or 23 and very drunk, so tact wasn't easy to come by.) Mike looked at me, and said, "I honestly don't care if I die." I will never forget that. Ever. Seeing this guy who had been so damned full of life and jokes at 17 turn into this alcoholic who could look me straight in the eye and say he doesn't care about dying shocked the hell out of me, and it made my own problems like whether or not I could pass math class seem so small in comparison. I've followed his postings on FB and it seems like he's gotten his life together- he's sober and has a girlfriend, from what I've gleaned...but god, what he must have gone through to have gotten to the point he was at a couple of years ago. Mike got a second chance and did well with it...it's just such a damn shame that this 33-year old guy is basically already done with his life. Tomas Young truly is a sacrificial lamb to the Hailburton war complex that gripped the world during the Dubya Years.

Nah, I don't think that's necessary. Just send JJ back to Harvard-Westlake for his 10th grade year and continue the friendship he has with Alistair and by extension, Will. I'm sure any tutor they get JJ would impress upon JJ the importance of education, and I think from a character-standpoint, JJ will eventually come to the realization that he needs a balance so he doesn't end up like Shane. Going back to school and proving that he CAN do the work would do wonders for his self-image, I think. I did like the parallels drawn to Billy also dying at 15, although I was wondering if Mark was going to kill off JJ at 15, it makes sense that it was Shane instead. Shane kind of serves as the mirror to JJ, to show him where he could've gone without people like Will to give a shit about him. Of course...JJ doesn't turn 16 until three months after 9/11, so the "family member dead at 15" could still happen with him.... Because Jeff would wind up a registered sex offender if the wrong people found about it? I did find it ironic that given all the instances of statutory rape encounters in CAP, the one time someone's called out in it, it wasn't even actually statutory rape because the age of consent in Ohio is 16 and Kristin Hendrickson was 17. In Will's case, the age of consent is 18 in California, and he's hooking up with guys that are at least four or five years older than him, which is just out of the range of leniency that a judge might have taken on a guy he got with. I do like Jeff and I think when Will's 16 and he's 20, it'll be less of a big deal. Will's incredibly lucky that "sexting" isn't going to become popular for another five or six years, or else he probably would have gotten a LOT of people in trouble with that. (Possible future storyline with Courtney Clerrault, Ace's daughter?) Hey, I'm curious to see if you could figure this out...if you average out how time has passed in CAP years vs. real years since Mark stopped having full-year jumps with Bloodlines...when JJ hits his 20th birthday, about how old will I be? (We have the same birthdate, only he's currently 15 years and 1 month old and I'm currently 27 years and 3 months old.) I wanna say 32.

As someone who doesn't have a father/son bond...I'm really glad you gave me a little insight into what one is like. Thanks, Mark.

Chapter 100 -When Will reflects over what an awesome bond the one between father and son can be. "Over the Rainbow"/"What A Wonderful World" Medley by Israel

On March 20th, 2003, the United States began their combat operations in Iraq, as part of Bush Junior's "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War. I would like to take a moment and dedicate this song to all the people who were personally effected by this war. I still remember the start of the Iraq War like it was yesterday. I was in 10th grade. Sometime before, I took part in a student walk-out that protested the upcoming war. At 9:11 a.m., during my French class, I walked out of class and met the protesters. We stood at the corner of DuPont Road and Lancaster, holding up signs that said things such as "Drop Bush, not Bombs" and while chanting slogans such as "To Hell With This Oil War Shit!" It wasn't a lot of people...maybe 20-30 people at most, and in the long run it didn't mean much...we didn't even get media coverage. But there was just something about being a teenager who was absolutely convinced they held all the answers to the world's problems. It was a great moment...one that got broken up when our dean came out and threatened to expel us from the school if we didn't go back in by lunch. So after the protest ended, I ran through my school courtyard for one lap, while yelling something along the lines of "Peace in Iraq!" or something. Then when I got back to class, my English teacher Mrs. Swann, who was involved in protests back in the 1960's, berated the total lack of organization and media coverage in our protest. It really disapointed me that the Iraq War didn't lead to a major hippie movement like in the 1960's...I was really hoping for that. But my peers cared more about downloading "My Humps" ringtones on their phones than whether or not people were getting slaughtered over in Iraq.