methodwriter85

I'm just purging old demons with that line. I got introduced to Nifty at 13 and I fully believed in it until I was about 21/22. Every time I would hang out with a cute drunk straight guy in early college I kept wondering why it didn't end up with us having sex like it always did in those Nifty stories. I got over it for the most part but I still walk past frat houses and wonder how much secret gay sex happens in them. LOL. I think my favorites were the one when an average guy went to a N'Sync, BSB, or 98 Degrees concert and then embarks on a wild romance with JC Chasvez or something

I believe love at first sight happens when you're a shy yet hot nerd who bumps into the studly seemingly straight college jock on the campus quad.

You kinda wonder if the whole "this is illicit" deal comes to play in terms of Will and Tony's arrangment, and if they'd actually work as a day-to-day real couple. Although really, that can't happen until about 2004, if that happens at all. Part of what drives the heat between them, I think, is the fact that they only see each other sporadically. It'll be interesting to see what happens if Will tries to hang out with Tony more, and if Tony would try to work Will more into his life at Stanford. I'm not sure he would, though. It's harder to do that when we're talking a freshman as opposed to someone in 11th or 12th grade. As for Ella and her Social Queen deal...you can kinda see where it'd all go to her head to suddenly be popular and rich at a school where no one knows that she's the garbage man daughter, but adult perspective would say, "You're a senior. You're graduating in about six months. None of these people are going to give a rip about you once the graduation keggars are done, and you're thowing over actual relationships with life-long potential for them? Seriously?" But of course, most people don't know that at 17. In any event, I do appreciate that Darius wasn't given some perfect, Mary Sue girlfriend. I like Ella being flawed so much better than when Ella seemed like this bland sweetheart.

What I wonder is if Ella is actually a lot like Zach in not really caring about other people, and she was just better at hiding that. I mean, think about it- we only really saw Ella through Gathan's eyes, and it's been established that Gathan is a really shitty people-reader. This is the post Meghan's Law Era, where if Tony got caught having sex with Will he'd become a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. Forget being a professor- Tony would be lucky to get a job bagging groceries. I do think Mark's reflected the reality of the times somewhat- when Stefan was fooling around with JP in CAP they weren't doing much to hide it...same goes for Jake and Sam in Be Rad, because this was before they started cracking down hard on minor sex. In here, both Tony and Jeff try to be pretty discreet and no one really talks about it because no one wants to see either of them end up registered sex offenders. There's a major potential flashpoint with JJ's upcoming 15th birthday on December 7th. Unless they've fixed things by then(which seems incredibly unlikely), Will's going to be faced with either not showing up for JJ's birthday dinner because Jeanine will be there, or going to his birthday and risking Jeanine's wrath. I do think for JJ, if Tiffany starts resuming her chaperone status for him, he's got some great distractions coming up with a Junior Grand Prix in Scotland in December and the US Figure Skating Nationals in Boston in January. That's going to be some good breathing room for him, I believe. I kind of feel like for Jeanine, the best thing for her might be to go back to some relatives in New Jersey and start over fresh with Maddy. I really don't get the feeling that Cody would give a shit if Jeanine bailed for the right coast with Maddy.

From reviews: I gotta disagree. Yes, JJ is a bitch- but active sabotage isn't his style. His style is more along the lines of whining to his mother to get what he wants, or passive agressive bullshit. He doesn't actively try to tear people down just for the hell of it- JJ's just incredibly self-absorbed and growing up in an environment that doesn't allow him to build close friendships the way most of his peers can. Therefore, it's just harder for JJ to emphasize with other people, because he's missed out on so much important socialization. He's pissed at Will and blames him for Jeanine's breakdown, but he wouldn't try to break up Darius's bond to Will. Deep down he loves Will but its covered under all these layers of misplaced anger and resentment. I'm going to guess that Robbie's reaction is his own way of transferring his own guilt at never working things out with his mother. Yeah, that's pretty much how I see Will. Have you ever noticed that back during Be Rad and Man In Motion, Brad was constantly mentioning the expensive brands that he was wearing and we've gotten almost none of that for Will in both Poor Man's Son and Paternity? It's just not something he cares about. I loved the end of this chapter, with Will checking himself out in the mirror and deciding that he was fine dressed the way he was. It was a nice contrast to how Brad pretty much let Claire dress him like her preppy 1980 Ken Doll, because Brad cared about the power that popularity afforded him and needed to be King of the uber-popular crowd. Will, on the other hand, rejected Ella's crowd, or at least rejected playing things on their terms.

I could see Will getting pissed off at JJ for whining about how the Junior Grand Prix season got cancelled because of 9/11, and Wade becoming pensive when his plans for Riley's 1st birthday are shot to hell because no one is in a mood to celebrate that week. The same would probably hold true for Will's 15th birthday, where he'd want to travel to somewhere cool but everyone's freaked out about traveling. I can't see any situation where Darius is going to avoid hearing racist comments post-9/11. Hell, I got racist comments from people who thought I was middle-Eastern at a track meet in early 2002, and I'm filipino. For people who actually are middle-Eastern I imagine it was a lot worse. It would be interesting if that would drive Darius to enlist as a soldier to prove himself as an American. I could also see Ace enlisting himself- there were people who walked away from easy, cushy lives out of 9/11 furor like Pat Tillman. Gathan, though, is probably going to have a lot of friends who enlist in the war, if he doesn't do it himself. But anyway...there's still 10 months to go in a pre-9/11 CAP. I kind of wonder if the reason why Mark had so many stories set in 2000 was to try and create a protrait of pre-9/11 America, and to contrast the chaos that would occurr after.

I'm a TV junkie, I like acting, and I like interesting faces, so I've got a rolodex of actors in my head. Although with Lucas Till the only thing I've ever seen him in was the Taylor Swift video...but him being a Disney guy worked for me as well, because I figured that JJ needs to look like someone who'd belong in a Disney film. (Like a male Tara Lipinsky- angelic looking blonde who's a total bitch.) Also, GA author Adam Phillips had a thing for him and posted about Lucas at his group. Colton Haynes came to my attention in a t.v. show called the Gates, where he played a jocky teen werewolf. (Yeah, I know.) Colton is so hot it hurts. It's a lot of fun doing this, although frustrating that Mark's never commented on my choices for either Darius or Claire. I mean, seriously though- how is Gail O'Grady not an absolute dead-ringer for Claire? A lot of times I'll hit it in dead in the eye, like with Zachary Hayes looking like Liam Hemsworth or John looking like Colton Haynes, but sometimes it'll take a while...it took three years to find a Cole.

As a guy who had mostly straight male friends in college, I really have to agree with that. In my experience, it was the girls and queeny gay guys who tended to hold grudges. Will's only real grudge is against his mother, and that's for a very good reason. I think it makes sense to check in on Will a few times to see how he's adjusting, but in general starting Will off on another frontburner storyline would feel extraneous. The emancipation was his climax; everything after for this story is more of dealing with the fallout. I think Westie's reaction was rooted in his intrepretation that Mark's trying to start to some new big "Mean Boys at Menlo" A-storyline with this chapter. I don't think Mark's really trying to do that- I thought the chapter was more about having Darius and Will make up, show that Will is going to stay Will no matter who he's around, and that Darius made a huge-ass mistake with Ella. But I can see why Westie would think that, and I can see why Westie would be turned off on the idea. I'm a huge fan of teen angst stuff, but Will isn't really suited for that kind of storyline. Now, if we were talking John or JJ, it would work well, but it would be incredibly hard to suspend my disbelief that a guy who mainly gravitates towards college/20-something people and who just battled his way into a 4-year early adulthood would somehow give two shits about who controls the social scene at his high school. That kind of "newbie challenges the school Alpha Male" storyline only works with a character who has totally absorbed himself into the social scene at his school, and Will simply does not come off as someone who would. Will re-affirmed my intrepretation of him at the end of the chapter when he was totally unrepentant to Ella about the damage he might have done to both their social standings. As for the 9/11 stuff...Mark's said the boards that he's thinking about doing 3rd person narration for the 9/11 story, which could be interesting. As someone who's birthday is going to fall that week, it'll be interesting to see Will's reaction...there's also a chance that JJ could be in Bulgaria when 9/11 hits for a Grand Prix, so we could get some internation stuff. His career is going to take some hits because the Junior Grand Prix gets cancelled for the rest of the '01-'02 season, although that might just make JJ switch to skating as a senior. Wade's from D.C., so that will be interesting, plus if John Carullo is around, we know he's from Jersey so there's a good chance he's from close to NYC. Carullo gives off more of a NYC-Jersey vibe instead of a Philly-Jersey vibe(don't ask me why, he just does), so that could be interesting, as well. As for me, school got cancelled that day because of the promixity to places people thought might become targets, like Dover AFB, the Delaware Memorial Bridge, Philadelphia in general...etc etc. Being 90 minutes away from D.C. and three hours away from NYC was pretty nerve-wracking, let me tell you. People at my high school were freaking out and our cell phones didn't work. I'll never forget getting driven home...the absolute silence in the skies was deafening.

And that's understandable, and believe it or not, I'm with you in wanting to get more to Wade's side of the story. Mainly because Will as a character isn't suited to the kind of teen angst stories that Mark wrote with Brad and Matt, for the reasons I enumerated in my previous post. Poor Man's Son-era Will would have been, but not now. You can't have Will fight to have his independence at 14 while battling grown-ups, and then turn around and do a "Mean Boys" storyline with Will trying to sabotage the Homecoming King because Will as he's written just simply isn't going to care about high school social games. And you can't play Will like a wide-eyed freshman discovering new things, because he's experienced way more than the average 14 year old guy. He's had way bigger fish to fry than to even care all that much about whether or not snotty high school students like him. I feel like Will's story arc in Paternity is essentially done. He's got his independence and he's made his peace with Brad. There's JJ and his mother, but that can wait for another story. Adding some "Mean Boys at Menlo" storyline would feel tacked on, but I'm not sure that's what Mark is doing. It feels like this chapter was more about demonstrating that Darius and Will still have each other's back, that Will isn't going to change who he is for anyone, and that Ella isn't the bland sweetheart that we thought she was. I mean, as you guys all know, I love teen angst stuff(Matt's was probably the best), but I don't think it really makes sense with Will because, as Mark has constantly written, Will's more like a college-aged guy who just happens to have a 1986 birth year. It would make sense at this point for the story to shift more towards Wade.

Then don't focus on those reviews. Focus on the ones that are thrilled that CAP is back. Don't you ever apologize for writing four years of fantastic soap.

When was CAP ever NOT a soap opera? The story started off with a young gay guy hitting a cop over the head with a fire extinguisher so he could take his trick for a romantic interlude down at the future gay destination Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, but not before a shopping spree at the best department stores in Philadelphia. One thing I will agree with is that I don't think typical high school angst stories are going to work with Will, save for "I'm a gay guy among all these straight couples at my school" angst or "I'm working my fucking ass off to get into my choice college" angst. Those stories worked with Brad at Gunn High and Matt at The University School, because both really needed and wanted the social power that came with being top dog at their respective schools. High school angst is often rooted in just how insular it is, and how you can't really see past the b.s. because it's your entire world. That's why every little thing in high school just seems so important and matters so much. I just can't see Will having that kind of viewpoint, where he sees his high school as his world to try and rule, because he doesn't have the same kind of power-hungry instinct that Brad and Matt have about expecting people to follow them without questioning it. And it doesn't make sense to play Will as the wide-eyed freshmen getting introduced to the world of ragers by cool and intimidating juniors and seniors a la The Perks of Being A Wallflower, because there isn't an ounce of naievte left in Will. I mean the dude has stripped in European clubs and has gone to more than one college rager- a simple high school party isn't going to move him that much. Will looks, acts, and basically feels like an 18-year old, so he's going to see these guys as his peers, not people to look up to. I mean seriously- why would a guy who just blackmailed his family into letting him become an adult four years early then turn around and let high school fashion edicts dictate how he dresses? That's what I loved about the end of the chapter- Will flirts with the idea of being an Abercrombie drone because he thought he was friends with Ella and therefore wanted to make friends with her crowd, until he realized that Carter's an asshole and Ella's turned into kind of a bitch. Then he went back into Will mode and completely refused to play by their rules while not caring if it kills his social game because it's just not Will's deal to be Social King the way it is with Matt and Darius. Speaking of Darius...man...what a great catch he got there. *rolls eyes* Seriously, I would have loved to have seen either Claire or Kristin there so they could have ripped Ella a new one for not having Will's back.

Chapter 66 -When Will gives himself a pep talk in the mirror, leading to sexytimes with a college guy named Pat. -When Will finds himself in the middle of a fight. -When Will's unrepentant to Ella about pissing off the captain of the varsity polo team and potentially wrecking both their social standings. "The Way I Am" by Eminem I got sick of how overexposed Eminem was back then, but he really was one of the best things going on in the musical wasteland that was pre-9/11 music. I can see why every straight teenage guy in 2000 was into his music. Remember Eminem wannabes?

I'm really looking forward to this movie called The Silver Linings Playbook. Based on a pretty awesome book by Matthew Quick, this movie follows Pat(Bradley Cooper), a thirtysomething man trying to rebuild his life after a mental breakdown led to a stint in a mental institution. Divorced but determined to get his wife back, Pat moves back in with his parents where he obsessively works out and reads books in a constant quest for self-improvement. When Pat meets a grieving widow named Tiffany(Jennifer Lawrence), he strikes up an unconventional friendship with her while learning some life lessons along the way. The book was really good, and I'm reading a lot of good movie reivews for this. I can't wait for this to come out.

This is a decade off, but hey. I know "That's pretty chill" would be already be getting said by 2000, same with "klutch". Sick seems likely. Of course, "Facebook me" wouldn't be getting said, and I'm not sure "Moodle" is a reference that would work in 2000. But generally I think this nails the vocal cadences of 2000's/early 2010's teenagers. Like I was with Harvard-Westlake, I'm kind of surprised at how casual these kids dressed. I thought they'd all be uber-preppy. I bought way too much into the East Coast preppy private school stereotype- Tim's right, it really is a completely different mindset for West Coast private schools. I mean, they don't even wear uniforms.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

Yeah. It's shitty no matter what and if I had it do all over again I would have gone to community college first, but you've got to make the best with your life choices. Another example of the good "new"- I know people who've said they're in the same amount of debt that I am for just undergrad. As in people actually took out 60 to 70k in student loans just to get their B.A. in English or something like that. So the good news is that I have so much debt, but at least I have two degrees to show for it. The other possibility is that I could fake my own death and move to Canada.

Not the most flattering photo, but a happy life moment for me nonetheless: I'm standing on a cliff in the Tennessee wilderness, as part of a spring break trip to build nature trails. I'm seriously afraid of heights, so that was a great life moment. I was also in Chattanooga, and absolutely loved it there:

Since we're going to see the Danfields for Thanksgiving, it'd be fun to speculate some more on how they look (We have Wade settled, and by default Wade's dad settled because they're supposed to look like each other, to the point that Wade used to hate looking into a mirror.) I like Joshua Bowman for Beau: I have Beau pictured as being swarthier than Wade(with a hint that he just might not be the Senator's son), with happy puppy dog eyes and a "I'm cool and happy with everyone" kind of smile. Joshua Bowman has that in spades. As for Beau's girlfriend,I'm picturing her like Bianca Lawson from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Vampire Diaries: Bianca Lawson's always just had a bitchy look to her, and I think it'd be hilarious(and fitting) if Beau's girlfriend was a complete and total bitch, but he was completely blind to it.

I like the distinction of how Will is a control freak with himself, but doesn't try to control over people, whereas Brad is all about total control. That makes so much sense in how Will is so laidback in one way and such a control freak in another wau. Also, I kind of liked Robbie and JJ being lumped together as work-a-holics...maybe JJ will wind up bonding a little with his Dads?

The bad news is that my student loans are due on December 18th. The good news is that according to the longer 25-year repayment plan I picked, I don't have to pay any money because of how little money I made in 2011. The plan I'm doing bases how much you have to pay on how much money you made. I mean, obviously I'm going to still put money in rather than just let the interest run wild, but if I had gone with the standard 10-year plan I'd be looking at 700 dollars a month in payments. The bad thing about this is that I'll see much higher interest back dollars in this and take longer to pay, but the good news is that if I get a job and start making decent money I'll be able to start making more than the minimum payment. Also, you're allowed to switch repayment plans, so that helps. I've got a pretty frugal life planned ahead for me- no house, no kids- so I should be able to swing that. I would like to be paid off by the time I'm 50. Then I'll work for 5 more years until I hit the retirement age of 55. When that happens, I'll retire, buy a trailer, and travel the North American continent. I'll start by visiting a 78-year old Mark Arbour in St. Louis, who can regale me with tales of greed in the corporate world in Reagan-era America, to research my future 1980's history book. I want to become the Ken Burns of 1980's Americana by my late 50's.

I was thinking about the chapter again, and another thing I really liked about this chapter was the observation that while Brad and Will are both control freaks, Brad's a control freak about other people, while Will's only really a control freak about himself. I thought that was a pretty astute distinction, and one I can see- going back to Be Rad, you can tell that Brad really, really liked bossing people around, and that was evident in the way in which he ruled Gunn High School's social scene. Whereas Will is just about doing his own thing and not being told what to do, and as such he doesn't really try to control other people the way his dad does. I really like how Mark's given Will a lot of similiar Brad qualities, because nature does set a lot of traits, but at the same time, Will hasn't felt like a redux of Be Rad. That was my biggest fear going into the Will stuff- that Mark would just recycle Brad's storylines with younger models like long-running showrunners tend to do. But Mark hasn't done that, and I'm really glad that he's creating different dynamics for this generation than he did for Brad's. I like that Will isn't about being a Tryant Social King like Brad, or a fashion plate like Brad, and even the touch that Will is more of a math/science kind of guy while Brad was written as being strong in English/history. (I would bet that Will likely got that from Jeanine, which would probably piss him off to think that, LOL.)

I'm really shocked that Private Tim hasn't shown up here to tell us all the times he's been personally invited to all of these fabulous homes.

Happy birthday!

Good points, Tim. I know what the environment is of an elite charter school, but not that of elite prep schools. We all have our worlds that we understand- you understand elite private schools; I understand the environment of mid/late 2000's colleges as well as performing arts schools and math/science charter schools. We've even got someone who understands the world of competitive figure skating and has been consulting Mark on how to write JJ's figure skating drama. How great is it for Mark that he's able to incorporate the viewpoints of people with a myriad of experiences and perspectives into giving CAP a sense of what the mindset was for a given era? His biological mother was Bitty, but Jeanine pretty much has acted as Darius's mother since he was 3 because Bitty was caught up into the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980's. That's actually been a pretty consistent thread throughout all of the CAP- it's not blood that makes a family, but how you interact with each other. Which makes it all the more interesting that Jeanine is so close to her adopted sons but can't stand her biological one.