methodwriter85

Due to Warm Bodies, this song is on constant repeat in my head.

I was watching "Warm Bodies" last night, and they played this in a scene. Absolutely awesome. Talk about a great 80's flashbook song.

I'm not going to say it was the only reason, but I thought it's been made pretty clear that JJ's lack of a paternal figure left him vulnerable and needy for older male attention.

Five years from this point, JJ and Will are going to be off into their college years exploring their world. But five years ago, JJ and Will were just 9 and 10-year old little boys who probably begged and pleaded for the latest Supersoaker for Christmas or something like that. That's the interesting thing about being at that age- you really are caught in-between 10 and 20. I thought Will was softpedaling on Robbie a little bit by reassuring him that JJ's trauma had more to do with him needing to win than him desperately needing a paternal figure in his life, but I thought that was kind of necessary. You can't really kick a dog when he's lying down, and Will saying to Robbie, "You and Dad kind of ignored JJ while paying more attention to Darius and me" would have been just that.

What got me about this chapter was the push/pull moments you have when you're growing up...you want to be taken as a mature, emerging adult who is not a little kid anymore, but every so often you have these moments when you just really, really need to act like a little kid again. I thought that Will and JJ waking up people for Christmas was a great moment, and it really gave us insight into what Will and JJ's relationship was like before Will turned into the precocious gay sex stud and JJ turned into a diva bitch. I mean really, for all intents and purposes Will and JJ were basically twins growing up. There's only a 9-month difference between them. It was nice to see a glimpse of the tight bond they had to have had when they were little.

Another late 90's/early 00's trend that Mark missed...the wifebeater. Man, on the right guy the look could be so hot. It seems like these days college guys are mainly leaning stripped tank tops or neon tank tops. I miss the simplicity of late 90's fashion. Will, Matt, and Ryan seem like they should be the type to be rocking that look.

Okay, bite your tongue, Andy. 90's children rule! Anyway, Clueless. The movie spawned off so many trends. "And so if the government could just get to the kitchen, re-arrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians. And in conclusion, may I please remind you that it does not say RSVP on the Statue of Liberty." I think Clueless was a case of coming at exactly the right time- the economy was starting to boom in 1994-1995, Kurt Cobain was dead, and teenagers were sick of grunge.

Hey, when did RVCA become popular in California? They're hitting hard here now, which means I'm betting they hit hard in California about four, five years ago. There's no way Will isn't going to wear RVCA at some point. This brand currently seems as popular as Quiksilver and Billabong were with guys Will's type back in the early 2000's. Oh, hey Mark...one trend I realized you haven't written in yet that should be around in 2000-2001 would be puka shell necklaces. I just realized that Will should have been wearing a puka shell necklace, or hemp choker, with his Abercrombie and Fitch outfit. I think it'd be funny to see Brad react to it, because I remember that line in Be Rad where Brad laughed as he thought about how he used to wear puka shell necklaces and how passe they were now, in 1980. I actually still have my old puka shell necklace, although I haven't worn one regularly since about 2006. Leather cuff bracelets were also really popular in this time period. Guys in the 2000's really seemed to wear more accessories than 90's guys did. Flip-flops are also going to become, around 2003, de facto footwear for people. I thought the bit where everyone's harrassing Will about his flip-flops was hilarious, because I did remember that in 2000, flip-flops weren't nearly as popular as they became later in the decade.

Tommy. All the way.

This was the ultimate in 90's soap: So many great bits from Melrose Place...some of my favorites were: 1. The time Kimberly sent off a bomb 2. The time Kimberly ripped off her wig to show a gnarly scar 3. The time Sydney almost joined a cult 4. The great Amanda/Allison fights 5. The time that Allison's stalker shot himself on the phone 6. The time Antonio Sabato Junior showed up as Amanda's crazy ex-husband 7. The time that Kimbery stole Jo's baby and breastfeed him ala The Hand that Rocks the Cradle 8. When Brooke Davis drowns in the pool 9. When Kimberly's alternate personality Betsy gets Peter locked up in the loney bin 10. When Sydney and Jane fight in the swimming pool...while Sydney is wearing their grandmother's wedding dress

I was 8-9 years old when I watched My So-Called Life. My family wasn't exactly strict with me when it came to shows... You can't mention 90's teen drama without showing this: This is more Private Tim's generation than mine, but damn it, this was a great show. The reboot doesn't even come close. "Donna Martin Graduates!"

And here's another "Child of the 90's" memory of mine... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KsqDCPKA2w Dear god, watching that intro just makes me miss the 90's so much.

That's craziness you didn't have Pogs. Hmm. There are a lot of 90's child videos on YouTube, but the soundtrack on this is awsome.

Here's a tune from the Disco Era... "You Make Me Feel" (Mighty Real) by Sylvester, 1978

Well, he wasn't going to keep it forever, of course, but I figured he wouldn't get to the kind of sexual development and active sex life that Will has until he was at least around 17. I think that's the most interesting thing about the 12-16 age group- so much of what happens to you is based on how developed you are. Hot, very developed guys like John and Will get attention and interest that can lead to all sorts of temptation, while the late bloomers like JJ tend to not have that much happen to them until they finally "bloom". Although sadly, in JJ's case, his being a late bloomer is precisely what attracted his sicko coach to him. I will say though that the contrast of sexual development between JJ and Will has been pretty interesting, and not something you've done before, which is good. I think left to his own devices, JJ would have been the type of high school kid who was relatively chaste with his partners- satisfied with hand-holding and making out, until he got towards the end of high school/ start of college. Sometimes kids just aren't ready until they're older, and I think JJ would fall into that group instead. I do think when JJ gets to that stage, it's going to cause conflict, because he's expected to repress his sexuality and present the Disney Virginal Image that skating demands. I think for now, he'd be okay with it, because I think given his trauma and his relatively immature sexual development JJ's not exactly going to chase tail like a typical Crampton/Schluter guy, but that'll probably change in a few years. I think it's not much of a stretch to ask a 15-year old with the body of a 12-year old who's very focused on his career to present that image, but ask a 20-year old JJ with what will likely be a hot 20-year old body to still project that kind of image and I think it'll be really hard to do so. I feel like most people hit the peak of their sluttiness in their early 20's. LOL. Anyway, I wonder exactly what height JJ is supposed to be, and if he's about to have a growth spurt or not. I see him as 5'2" or 5'3"- I think the average height for a guy his age should be about 5'7", so that would still make him short enough that he'd get teased all the time. Will's already 5'10", right? And I figured that Darius should be about 6 foot.

I thought it was pretty interesting how Will's optmistic, "I'll blackmail you guys into being cool with openly gay skaters" deal was replaced with a more realistic viewpoint about what would happen to JJ's career if this ever got out and JJ found himself branded as "gay". JJ wouldn't be blacklisted, but I'm betting he'll have significantly lowered scores at his competitions, and I'm seriously doubting that sponsors are going to come calling. Even though it sucks, JJ would no longer be seen as an innocent, virginal figure skater if his name got linked to this scandal. I really liked how JJ's innocence and purity was contrasted against Will and John Hobart's more horny, sexually precocious teenaged antics. It pisses me off that he no longer really gets to have that.

Alright, let's hear it for the former Blue Hen, Joe Flacco! Woo-hoo! http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/ravens/2013/01/28/joe-flacco-delaware/1871301/ And we will fight, fight for Delaware...fight for the Blue and Gold...and when we hit that line let foes beware...

The song's called "Til I Collapse".

That's a really nice thought, but tabloids and the like aren't exactly known for their discretion, and the son of a famous movie producer getting molested by a well-known, Olympic-medaling coach would not be something that you could hush them up about to keep low-profile, lawsuits be damned. And it's not like the coach is like a football coach who teaches dozens of people- he's a figure skating coach, which means he likely only coaches maybe 4 or 5 people at most. If his coach's name got out, then people would automatically connect JJ to this coach. We've talked to Daisy about this, and she didn't find the storyline, or the need to keep things from going to court, to be all that impossible. This was her feedback: Anyway...I was filled with a lot of trepidation about this storyline, because I feel like I'm JJ's character guardian, but Mark's handled it pretty well. This was pretty well-done. I definitely thought it was better than the one Mark had about Brad getting molested in The Land Whore. This felt more grounded in realisim, and the signs were a lot better placed here. I liked how it's been noted that JJ has been acting more and more child-like...I think that's probably because being forced into becoming a sexual being before you're ready to would probably make JJ want to cling more into being a child and less interested in doing teenaged antics like Will and Darius.

I don't think Mark's going to linger again in a year as much as he did for 2000- I thought the point of having three stories set in 2000 was the fact that he really wanted to set up a base for this new generation, and then build from there. I'm thinking 2001 is going to go by a lot faster, and i wouldn't be shocked if we skipped over 2002 and went straight to 2003 and the Iraq War. (And consequently, when Will and JJ are entering their last year of high school.)

That's a good choice. I also recomend that you listen to Eminem's The Eminem Show Album. Eminem was huge with guy's Will's age back in 2000-2001. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1xXYeNrW9k

Alexander Ludwig from The Hunger Games as Carter? If this were the 80's, he probably would have been typecast in Billy Zabka-type roles. I do think it's funny that he's got the SoCal accent even though he's Canadian...I think his IMDB page said he goes to USC, so I'm guessing he just picked it up there.

This isn't technically gay, but come on.

I don't count getting raped as having sex. I still see JJ as a virgin, because what happened to him I do not count as him losing his virginity. But you're right...I think by his 20's, JJ could probably get to the point where he's okay with getting with older people. I'm just not seeing it when he's still a teenager. I can't see him taking on Will's modus operandi of wanting guys in their 20's while ignoring guys his own age. I think JJ's going to have this need to forge connections with people his age, partly because of the rape and partly because he doesn't really get to socialize much with kids his age. Anyway, I pretty much figured that they'd want to keep this quiet. There's no way they can let this go to the media vultures. JJ's career would be destroyed.