methodwriter85

Alright, as we begin to gear up for the 85th Oscars, I thought I'd start us off with this... 2012 really was great year for films. It's pretty incredible to think just how loaded the Oscar Race is- the only real sure bets are Daniel Day Lewis for Best Actor and Anne Hathaway for Best Supporting Actress. I really wish Bradley Cooper had a chance because his turn in Silver Linings Playbook was just that good. Who are you guys rooting for?

I re-adjusted my thinking on Grafton's dad...now I'm picturing him 50-something, very WASP-y looking. A good looking guy for his age, but not someone who's a 50-something knock-out the way Dylan McDermott or Tim Daly are. Jack Coleman from Heroes and the Office as Mr. Grafton? Jack Coleman has the look of someone you can tell was just a total hunk when they were young, and now has the look of an attractive WASPY 50-something "Daddy". That's how I have Grafton's dad pictured. I gotta say...Jack Coleman aged pretty well, and without looking like he's had work done. (I mean, the work done on Tom Cruise was beautiful, but still- you can tell there was work done.) He looks like a typical 50-something man who aged in a natural, nice way. Good on him. Way too many actors feel like they need to hack their faces up to stay looking young, and wind up looking like freaks a la Meg Ryan. I personally can't wait until I'm fiftysomething, and have wrinkles and fine lines and my life experiences etched on my face. Speaking of another "aged naturally" person...Melissa Leo from The Fighter as Tonto? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ3oY3DpQps

I thought you did a fine job of displaying that, in a teenaged way, in the chapter where Will goes to his first Menlo party. He initially tried to fit in with his Abercrombie outfit into Carter's crowd, but ultimately didn't see much point in trying to get a bunch of assholes to like him, even if it might cost him popularity points. Will rejected the social authority of Carter, because he didn't think the popularity it might afford him to suck up to Carter was worth it. We can't know what Brad was like at 14, but at 17 we knew that fitting in and having the power that being top of social heap afforded him was pretty important. It's not hard to extrapolate from how Brad was senior year to imagine that when Brad was a freshman, he likely kept his mouth shut to the popular upperclassmen about things they did that pissed him off, because Brad didn't want to alienate them, because popularity was important to him. It's not really that way with Will, and you're doing a good job of showing that.

I really liked that you were able to bring in "cutting" into this...it was a hot-button teen issue back in the late 90's/early 00's, and it made total sense for JJ. I think the biggest irony is that while JJ is generally seen as being like the weak kitten by the family, I think when it came down to it, JJ would have had no problem with the family using vigilante justice. I don't think JJ has Will's "white and black" view of the world.

As Adam likes to say, I'm a fan of sports fandom, so I love watching reactions people have to sports. Here's a compilation of funny fan reactions, mainly to the Super Bowl. The first two reactions didn't do much for me, but once we got to the guy reacting to the AFC champ win, it picked up. My favorites were the , and the young 49ers fan going nuts with anger . There's also a funny bit at the end with a Buffalo Bills fan who is so pumped up and talking trash on the Dallas Cowboys...it made me think of Harry Grace. God, that had to have sucked back in the 90's. I only had to watch the Eagles lose in the Super Bowl once. I can't imagine what it'd be like to watch them lose 4 times. (That was also true of the Vikings, right?) Then there's this hysterical clip of Keith Letorneau, who went absolutely batshit crazy while watching the Ravens vs. Broncos game. This video got over 200k views, and because of that, he and his family were flown out to watch the Super Bowl game. I was wondering why the wife didn't post his reaction to the Super Bowl, and that's apparently why- because he was actually at it. That's a pretty damn lucky break- I wonder what his reaction was when the 49ers almost pulled off a comeback victory.

Okay. Not so much on the quiet, but still JJ hasn't really been doing much to break the rules. Compared to Will setting his parents clothes on fire and running off to Hawaii, JJ has been pretty obedient. Bitchy, but not rebellious. No one really cared to look at JJ during that period except for Tiffany, and it wasn't until Will stabilized that JP realized that something was up with him.

I loved that Corbin finally gets his Nicholas Sparks movie moment with Mike, and he completely trashes it. Then a couple of scenes later, he's playing the whole, "I'm so together at 20 compared to your barely legal teenaged antics" with Lee.

www.funnyordie.com/videos/7a77b32244/the-adventures-of-pete-pete-20th-anniversary-reunion

Chapter 93 -When Will finds JJ cut up like a Christmas ham. I've gotten jokes about this song since I was 5 years old. I'm sure JJ has, too. -When Will and JJ talk at the end of the chapter, and Will tries to convince JJ that he doesn't need the coach like he thought he did. Jam God, why couldn't I have been in college during the Grunge Era like Private Tim was? What a great era of music.

I really liked you bringing up "cutting" into this. "Cutting" was very of the time, to the point that at least two t.v. shows did episodes about this issue. I had friends in middle school and high school in the late 90's/early '00s who were cutters, and I think JJ is pretty strong candidate to get into that. Cutters are usually people who are in a lot of pain, but can't verbally express it, so they harm themselves instead. I tried cutting myself when I was 11 or 12, but I couldn't do it. My self-harm method was instead occasional bouts with binging and purging from 11 to 18. I also loved how JJ just can't really see what love is- he repeatedly goes on about how he loves his coach because he was going to take him to the Olympics, but nothing else about what made the coach so damned loveable. The line about how JJ's coach may have loved other boys but he loved him the best also spoke volumes. I think in a couple of years, when JJ's 17 or so, it'd be interesting to look at how he recovers from this and realizes what actual love is. Will's reaction to this has been pretty in-character, I thought. He believes in black and white, and what they set up definitely fell into "black". It was nice differentiation from Brad and Will. My final thought...the family was so concentrated on all of Will's big yelling and acting out; that they failed to see what was going on with JJ, who was the quiet, obedient one. That seemed like a very true-to-life family dynamic, where the family assumes that the quiet one who isn't breaking rules is okay while they wring their hands over the rebellious ones. I know Mark only has one sibling and one child, so I'm really impressed at how well he's been writing the dyanmic of when you have at least 3 siblings.

Nah, my guess would be one of Mitt Romney's sons.

Good point. See, that's the reason why I'm hoping Mark holds off on giving Will a "forever" love, because if he does that, Will either has to go off into the sunset with his happily ever after and not really be used again, or Mark has to blow up that happily ever after for the next story, which could then really irritate and alienate fans. It might work better if he has both Will and JJ (and John) playing the field in their 20's instead of settling down into partnerships. Of course, I realize that I probably contradicted myself, but eh. It'd be nice to see monogamy, but I also get why we probably won't ever see it. It's a soap. "Happily ever after" means a write-off for the characters, not something sustainable. Of course, this would be different if Mark plans on ending the story sometime when the Will/JJ/John trifecta reach their early/mid-20's in the mid/late 2000's, but I'm starting to get the distinct feeling that we'll be following Riley's adventures as a teenager in the 2010s when it's 2035, and Mark's going to be writing this from his retirement home while I'm planning out my 50th birthday American road trip, and Private Tim is gearing up for his 58th birthday.

I meant a main protagonist and his boyfriend/girlfriend. I can't think of any protagonist who was able to be in a committed monogamous relationship. Brad and Robbie had a 14-year run of monogamy, but then that got blown apart for Millenium. (Which is actually why I think a lot of people had a problem with that storyline, because there weren't many examples of monogamy in the world of CAP.) I do think it would be interesting for Mark to go into that sometime. I remember George Michael said once that because gay men can't get married, they don't view monogamy in the same way that straight people, hence all the open relationships. But the feeling that I'm getting, especially with current twentysomethings, is that gay guys are becoming more interested in monogamy and committed relationships because of gay marriage and civil unions happening, as opposed to the way things were even a decade ago when the "circuit boi" Queer As Folk image ruled. Kyle Kessler, a character from Adam Phillips's sublime Cross-Currents story, had this great monologue about how so many gay men only live for the next trick, and how he was the odd man out for actually wanting something real and lasting. That scene was set in 1998...I think things have changed, at least a little bit.

I do wonder if there's ever going to be a gay couple that is successfully monogamous in this story. I do hope that happens with at least one potential couple in this new generation. I think Will thinks that he could be successfully monogamous, but he's destined to be a slut. I could see JJ, if he were really in love and committed, being able to.

So, I was thinking of this post because of some jokes made while I was hanging out with my friend Mike. This one guy there kept saying that this guy Trent graduated from college in 2006. I thought it was for real, and was like, "Oh, cool- you graduated in '06...let me think of people that went here when you were here." Trent replied, "No, I graduated in 2011. Matt is just calling me old because I won't go out as much anymore." So. People who graduated college in 2006 are apparently old now. I graduated in '10, but that was because of a series of circumstances, and I was a freshman in college when the class of '06 graduated. I mean, I get that people who started college in 2007 would not look at people who graduated in '06 as peers, but that made me feel old. Then again, when I was 22, I didn't think 28-year olds were young, so I guess it makes sense. I stopped thinking of myself as a "youth" when I turned 24. I like to think of myself at 27 now as "youngish", and my current definition of not-young is over 35. Still, that was kind of weird, because I had a fair amount of friends who were seniors in 2006 when I was a freshmen. I mean, of course the guy was drunk, but it was just kind of funny and made me think of your quote, Blue. As a minor quibble, it's ridiculous that I'm 27 and recently got carded to see an R-rated movie and get carded for alcohol all the time, but I was told by my play director Stan(who's about the same age as Mark) that I'll really appreciate looking younger than my age someday. It's a familiy trait- aside from one of my sisters, my entire family looks much younger than they are. It's annoying now, but I guess when I hit my 30's and I still look cardable it'll be nice.

"All this time"? Norway happened only about six weeks ago in CAP-time. Just sayin'. I can't see Will being okay with whacking off family enemies like JP and Brad are. I just can't. He's got way too strong a sense of right and wrong for the murky "greyness" of what his father and grandfather deal in. I mean, Will could change, but I feel like if Will's being set up as the next Tonto, that's going to be a strong, core characterstic. He might grow up to see some grey, but not when it comes to going all Sopranos.

Well, like I said, Max isn't exactly wholesome looking in real life, even as a teenager. But I'm wasn't that set on him anyway. I'm kinda surprised that his features aren't round. I totally pictured him with rounded features, like Mike Vogel. (Of course, he doesn't look 14.) I'd think Cam Gigandet, but Cam Gigadet has this old look to him...he had it even when he was in his early 20's as Volchok on the O.C. Hot, but not boyishly good-looking, which I think Ryan would be. Do you have any idea yet on an Allister? 'Cause I still think it should be Logan Lerman. Seriously. Watch . The kid even wears a suit in it. And his somewhat stilted, surprisingly deep voice is exactly how I picture Allister's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMS7Y65gkB0 Mark, tell me how that's not Allister, sans glasses. I felt like that scene right there embodied who Allister is as a person- someone who really cares about people and goes out of his way to be good to people, even when he's not getting much back. He is the quintessential example of the guy that's short and small and gets picked on, but then grows up to be pretty beautiful and attractive. (I've liked Logan Lerman ever since he was the brainy prodigy on the short-lived WB show Jack and Bobby...I'm glad to see he's transitioning well to more adult roles.)

In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I'd post one of my favorite 80's love songs. According to the director of Adventureland, this song was major make-out music during the summer of 1987. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URZe0y3fKrU

Private Tim really should think about becoming a politician.

I think this conversation should be concluded by yourself, myself, and Private Tim dancing around to "Everybody's A Little Bit Racist". Now, that's enough of that. Let's all hug it out, and then go on a burn ride down to the beach. :2thumbs: (That was the awesome part about going to my high school- you'd hear people break out into Broadway musical songs.)

Cool. In that picture he does kind of have a rough, blue-collar feel to him. I kinda like Max Thieriot circa Nancy Drew as Ryan: He is of course, about 24 now and looks completely different, but at this point I could see him as a good, 14-year old Ryan. There are photos of him at about 14/15 wearing tank tops that I thought about posting here, but honestly those pictures kind of creeped me out, so I'll just go with his Nancy Drew look.

I refuse to fear the Zombie apocalypse, if said zombie looks like Nicholas Hoult: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgBVW7L7DzI

Contrary to what you probably think about me, I wasn't born in some small Delaware town where I spent all my life. I was born in the Phillipines,and lived in Spain, Louisiana, New Jersey, Texas, Delaware, Maryland, and Western Pennsylvania.Yeah, that's a real "narrow" band of existence. And in terms of my actual life, I've been friends with punks. I've been friends with jocks. I've been friends with Conservative Christians, wiccans, and atheists. I've been friends with affluent kids who have lovely memories of their trips to Europe, and friends with kids who were poor like me. I've known military guys, and I've known people who were peaceniks. I've been friends with people who worship at the altar of Corporate America(as Delaware IS the Corporation state), and those who were into Occupy. I've been friends with frat boys, and friends with theater types. At graduate school I was hanging out with both 19-year olds, and with thirtysomethings who had families. If there's one thing I haven't lived, it's a "very narrow life", because I've always lived with a curiousity about people, and their stories, and have always loved getting to know people from all different walks of life and places. And again, I'm not saying that you haven't experienced discrimination. I'm saying that as a person who reads as "racially ambigious" to a lot of people, there are certain experiences that I've experienced(and what Blue experienced) that you haven't lived. Just like I haven't had the experience of being bisexual in a gay community that constantly says "bi now, gay later". Finally. Think about what you said. Your response to my idea of John dating a beautiful, hot chick who looks like Amber Stevens(who's got that Beyonce kind of look that guys my age are going wild over) was to post a picture of a white blonde girl, on the grounds that John is shallow and immature. So a shallow and immature guy is only going to find blonds hot, because it'd take a mature and understanding guy to even want to touch a black woman? Is this what you're saying? Thank you. That is what I'm trying so hard to get across, and something that I don't seem to be able to convey. THIS is the mindset that people who don't immediately read as "white" or "black" run into. They'll just make assumptions and go from there. So what bothers me about Private Tim is going on about is that I'm apparently making assumptions about his life despite the fact that I've lived some "narrow life" apparently, is the idea that it's pretty much an assumption for a guy who is not brown, Persian, whatever to make the statement that Persians(or people mistaken for Persian) didn't experience racism(or even subtle racism) post-9/11. How exactly would you know that? I don't claim to know what it's like to be a sexy bisexual water polo player who grew up in Los Angeles and eventually became an attorney. That's not my sphere of experience, like this sphere of experience isn't Private Tim's.

Mark also grew up in 1970's California, a time and place that was very free in terms of how sex and drugs were viewed by people. There was no AIDS, cocaine wasn't addicting, parents were incredibly permissive because they were busy divorcing and having Key parties, and people just wanted to have a good time. I think had Mark grown up in Puritan times, he probably would have at least "played" the part in public. Although I don't get the feeling that Mark's a complete "my folks can be traced to the Mayflower" WASP like Wade Danfield, so you're right about that. My guess is that he descends from the wave of immigrants that hit the mid-Western area in the mid-1800's and helped build the great cities of Chicago and Detroit. (Well, Detroit is not so great anymore.)

I'm really confused by it, too. It's just bolstering my idea that it's really hard to explain to people what it means to be neither white nor black in America, and the kind of experiences you have because it. My feelings on this subject are actually pretty close to the surface right now. I was actually pretty irritated on Saturday night by some douchebag at the local frat boy club I went to who referred to me as"That Chinese guy". There are times where I seriously just want to write "I'm flipinio" on my forehead and be done with it. Matt also noted on how dark Darius is. From chapter 6 of Bloodlines: I think Mark's been pretty clear throughout the entire saga that Darius does not pass as white. I do think the times that Mark's touched on racism has been pretty good, like when Matt dealt with his own racism because he figured Columbine had to have been some inner-city school or when Brad learned that it's racist to say "Japs". The kind of blatant racism you saw during the Jim Crow era doesn't happen that much anymore, but there's still a lot of subtle racism around. I'm sure when anti-Arabic sentiment gets stirred up post-9/11, it'll be good.