methodwriter85

Chapter 1 -When Will and Wade ride on their horses, and discuss their plans for the summer of 2001. What a great summer song. -When Wade tells Will about his beloved horse. "Wildfire" by Michael Martin Murphey -When Will gets his ass kicked for sleeping with Kyle. -When Will decides to cut Kyle off because the drama just isn't worth it.

National Geographic is airing a 3-part documentary mini-series starting tonight that follows the cultural, racial, and political trends of the 1980's. As a nice touch, it's being narrated by Rob Lowe, former 80's hearthrob. National Geographic's The 80's- The Decade That Defined Us I'm so excited. I just simply adore that decade. The bright colors, the fun music, the outrageous fashions, and the then-impressive explosion of high-tech. The 80's just look like they would have been so much fun to have grown up in. Since the late '90's I've been into 80's nostalgia, and I think at this point- with the 80's being three decades ago, we should start getting some interesting perspectives on them since the 80's are no longer recent history. More time for research and proper reflection, I think. Here's the commercial: I loved I Love the 80's on VH1, so I'm so down for this.

I like the idea of there being more than one or two points of view. That's what defined 9.11 for me- it was such a human story, with many different points of view that everyone can remember where they were when it happened.

What I find really interesting about JJ is that he, geneticially and upbringing-wise, should be a major slut like the rest of his family. I mean, he was the result of an uncle banging his crackwhore niece. But the combination of delayed puberty and being in a sport that mandates a Disney-friendly image kept him pretty innocent, until he was forced to be sexual with his coach. And then despite what happened with his coach, he's still pretty much expected to keep his mouth shut about what happened and still go on to be very much the clean-cut, Disney-friendly figure skater who would never admit to even having straight pre-marital sex, let alone the kind of sex that was illegal in Texas until 2003. I think at 15 and with him lagging behind it'll be okay, but at 17/18 when he's finally in full-gear puberty wise, it's going to be difficult. I love that JJ stands in contrast to Will, who's very much that guy who started having an active sex life in junior high because he had the body of a guy several years older- I hope we can keep that going for the time being. It's incredibly realistic and very true to life with guys who were in the 12 to 16 age rage- the guys like Andy in Cross-Currents who were basically built like adult men by age 14 and thus got plenty of play, and the guys like JJ who were ignored by their peers because they still looked 11. Anyway, I'll be interested in seeing what characters eventually find themselves in Iraq. I don't think Matt or Wade would go, but I could see Gathan, maybe Darius. Historically, Claremont fits the profile of the kind of town that sends off a lot of their young to war, so I'm assuming there will be a fair amount of Claremonters in The War on Terror/Operation Enduring Iraqi Freedom.

Australia really is the land of beautiful men, isn't it?

I can't picture Flacco as being gay. No self-respecting gay man would ever let his unibrow get that bad. Aaron doesn't ping, either. I'd love it if Tim Tebow finally came out as gay, but I suspect that man will stay in deep denial for a long, long time. I wonder if it'll be any quarterbacks.

The problem with Will finding his "forever" soulmate at 14 is that Mark clearly wants to use Will for more stories, and while monogamy is nice, it's not very good for a soap. Note that Brad/Robbie and Matt/Wade weren't allowed to have another story until they came close to breaking up.

Nah, not until he grows up and matures a bit. I also can't really see him being a narrator in the near future because being narrator means you've got to engage in a lot of sex, and I think he's going to be largely traumatized and asexual for awhile. Finally, could you try to cut JJ at least a little slack? He's a 15 year old boy who essentially lost his mother, was abused by the only strong male model in his life, and didn't tell anyone because he desperately wants to hit the top of his sport. It's not like he was just another spoiled brat rich bitch. There were reasons behind it.

I'm going to admit, I always thought you were an American Ex-pat and therefore didn't actually live in England during Thatcher's rule. I agree with Sharon. She may not be my cup of tea, but you can't deny she got things done.

This is wayyyy ahead, but damn, I really want Riley and Madison to end up childhood sweethearts when they're 12 years old in 2013, since they're not going to be raised as brother and sister. It'd be so classic soap, with an updated 21st century twist. Could you imagine the heart attack that La Danfield would have if her precious first-born grandson was dating the daughter of a crazy lesbian Jersey chick and an aging gay circuit boi from a nobody Mid-Western family? Meanwhile, 26-year old Will and 27-year old JJ can chuckle about the hormonal exploits of their pubescent half-sister, while JJ teases Will about his own mishaps at that age, such as stripping in an Italian club. Then Will shoots back at JJ about his current exploits and unwillingess to settle down, before the two go back into the dinner that Will and his husband are throwing. I kinda see Will at his mid-20's being largely settled down and thoroughly domesticated, because he sowed his wilds seeds so much in his teen years. Conversely, I see JJ as being someone compensating for the fact that he sacrificed his childhood for the Olympic dream, so he basically treats his mid/late 20's as the adolescence he never really had, with lots of partying and flings. Darius and his wife (I don't think it will be Ella) would probably be on at least his 3rd child by 2013 with a 4th on the way, and living comfortably in a Los Angeles suburb. He and Will dogpile quite frequently on Jeremy for not being settled down the way they are, but in a loving, brotherly way.

I kind of modeled him after a hybrid of a frat boy, and a hipster.

Damn, I'm excited. The second video is the video intro that they're going to play before the Jurors come in, so it looks like us 12 were just in the jury box before coming into the deliberation room. Pretty cool, right? (Although they really need to photoshop over the Delaware state seal, as this is supposed to be in New York.) This has probably been the most intense theater experience I've ever had so far...but in a really good way. From having every line and movement scrutinized to having our director throw a fit and buy a new water cooler because some of the actors refused to drink from the old water cooler, it's been one great learning experience. It's been such a stark contrast to the student one-act play showcase I was in last year. I'm used to the experience of being able to say a line, and then leave the stage when I'm not in a scene. With 12 Angry Jurors, you have to stay in the scene the whole time, even when you don't have lines. I had the Guard part back in a 2006 college production, so I pretty much had a few lines and wasn't on stage much. This time around, I'm Juror 12, so it's been a completely different experience. I'm forced to stay into character during the length of the entire play, which has been pretty stimulating as an actor. Anyway, we open for a preview on Thursday, so wow...this is going to be a pretty exciting week for me.

It'd be cool if JJ, Tiffany, and Riley were in Bulgaria for the Junior Grand Prix that was taking place from September 13th to 16th. I like the idea of some of these characters being out of the country.

I'm sure it does...but...doesn't it make you kind of a shitty person to take advantage of someone who's so drunk they can't stand?

I don't know though, Tony is a legacy character. You can't really count out a legacy character when it comes to a soap. I'm assuming that when 9/11 comes around, some of Gathan's cousins will sign up for the army. I can't see there not being at least a few Hayes boys ending up in the War on Terror. As for JJ, it'll be interesting to see what happens when he gears up for the 2001-2002 season. With Tiffany being his coach now, she'll have to move to Los Angeles...or she could just commute. The jet comes in handy, I suppose. I could see some mild tension with Wade over Tiffany going to Los Angeles with Riley, but I could also see that tipping UCLA Law School into favor with Wade, as Wade's entering his senior year of college and law school is just around the corner. I would like to see JJ go back to Harvard-Westlake for his 10th grade year...JP and Brad could probably pull some strings, and it'd be nice to see JJ redeem himself a little bit and prove that he can do the work. Plus, I really like Allistair and I think he'd be a good influence on JJ, so I hope we can keep HW in the story. It'd also be cool if Will made friends with a guy who was in the Straight Edge movement of the late 90's/early 00s...it ws basically teenagers who didn't believe in drinking, drugging, or having promicious sex. It'd be a nice counterbalance to Will's drinking and sex teen shenanigans.

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.)