methodwriter85

I'm just curious to see how JJ's career will unfold and develop now that it seems like Jeanine is effectively barred from being involved. He won't have that stage mother pushing him anymore. Of course, there's Tiffany, but I can't see Tiffany developing into one- she knows all too well just how much b.s. goes into this sport, given her own experience with USFSA. I think that's why Tiffany has a generally healthy attitude- she wants JJ to do well, but she's not filling his head with Olympic Dreams at 13 like Jeanine and whatever coach at LA Galaxy did. He'll remain a diva bitch, I'm sure, but I got the feeling that Jeanine likely pushed a lot of that "win at any cost" attitude on JJ, whether intentionally or not, and with her effectively gone- will JJ have that kind of attitude, or will he actually develop some good sportmanship where he can handle placing second at the big meets without spitting and hissing like a cat? And sometimes I wonder if JJ actually really loves figure skating, or if he does it because he's great at it and his brothers aren't. That'll be interesting to explore if and when JJ hits that senior elite level. We see JJ's dedication to the sport, like how he'll practice stances in his room for hours on end, but...if you think about it, when has he actually talked about why he loves the sport? I don't know, watching the Olympics made me think a lot about the topic of elite athlete parents. Some seem to have really healthy attitudes; other seem very much like they pretty much forced their kids into it so they could vicariously live through their glory. *cough* Debbie Phelps *cough* I definitely think Jeanine just kind of turned into a stage mother who really would do anything to ensure that her star athlete did best, even if that meant humiliating her other son. And that's not something I think can be completely blamed on post-partum depression, because she was totally on that path by the time Jeanine had that talk to Brad in late 1999 about how JJ hated school and wanted to focus on figure skating full-time because the "O" word was being uttered. U of Delaware has this pretty well-renowned figure skating club, which has coached Olympic-level figure skaters like Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski, and Kimmie Meissner. I remember when I was in 3rd grade, there was this girl who came to class to take standardized tests with us- her parents had her tutored full-time because she was trying to pursue a figure skating career. I'm not sure what happened to her, but man...I just couldn't imagine what that had to be like.

The 1996 Olympic dorms were turned into college dorms.

Sam Mikulak- may not have medaled, but what a class act.

"Tongue Tied" by GroupLove

Going back to Bloodlines, Matt noticed that both Will and Darius were very protective of JJ, largely because of how small he's always been. I think the negative side to that is that JJ doesn't really stand up for himself all that often, because he's always had Will and Darius around to do it for him. It'll be interesting to see how and if that changes, because competitive sports aren't an easy place to be if you don't have much of a backbone. I kind of figure that the diva bitch from hell act is his main defense mechanism, because from accounts it's not exactly roses and sunshine backstage.

Well, Mark, that was kind of the point. As for Westie's point, I get it- I just kind of feel like a student who worked with a professor over a long-term project, and then the professor announced a new subject instead. Thus throwing away the research I did on the project. In any event, I wasn't being that serious, just joshing with Mark. The only character I'll ever draw a firm line in the sand with is JJ, and I've been good about that. I might rant but then I'm done when it comes to Will and the other characters. Over in reviews: Well, I do think JJ will probably be better at not doing the "I'm the Shit" routine with fellow skaters, at least those who he percieves as on his level like Evan and Shane. But you're right; he can't learn too much, or else there won't be too many places for you to take JJ as a character. I'm betting his major life lessons will come when the Olympics roll around in '06 and '10 and the realization that he'll never be an Olympic Gold medalist sets in. From the previous chapter: That's the major difference I've noticed between Teenaged Brad and Teenaged Will. Brad seemed like, for the most part, all about the power that being the most popular guy at Gunn High School gave him, especially at the beginning of Be Rad. He cared about helping people if they were right in front of his face, like Mouse, but for the most part, all Brad really cared about was surfing, controlling Gunn High School's social scene, art, and pot. Whereas, while Will is obviously going to be popular given his good looks and chill attitude, Will doesn't really definine himself or think of himself in terms of being Social King...he just is who he is. He wants to be seen as cool, but it's nowhere near his top priority. Will's more of that guy who was popular in high school because he was a genuninely likeable guy who was nice to everyone, whereas Brad was more along the lines of that guy who was popular in high school because he threw great parties at his big mansion and crossing him would lead to social ostracism. And I think like Tonto, Will has a stronger sense of civic responsibility- being interested in saving marine life, his volunteer work, trying singlehandedly to end homophobia in figure skating, etc etc. I can't see Brad rushing to 2010 Louisiana to try and save wildlife drowning in oil or Brad leading a Prop 8 protest, but I could see Will doing that, easily. It'll be interesting to see how Will's black-and-white view of the world either changes or stays firm as he navigates his teens and twenties.

See, I always thought that commerical was hilarous. Because who hasn't experienced looking at a guy, thinking he's a total hot boy, and then he talks and peals drop out?

If you're interested, here's a short article from 2006 that talks about the difficulty of being openly gay in figure skating. http://www.outsports.com/olympics/2006torino/kimfigureskating.htm It's a pretty interesting environment for JJ to grow up in- on one hand, being from a family that has so many openly gay and bi men. On the other hand, he's pursuing a sport where anything but a heterosexual, straight-arrow public image would cost him sponsorships and contracts. Some really interesting conflict there. That's because it really would be a shame to lose the HW crew that you spent so much time building up. Well, from what I understand, because Will's maintaining a 4.0 and selflessly volunteers at the Mission(where he used his contacts to buy a fake I.D. and get roofies) that automatically makes him an upstanding young man who deserves all of the accolades that he's given by the adults, save for the big meanies like Jeanine and Brad.

So, I'm thinking now that Jeanine seems like she's likely blackballed from doing anything else with JJ's career, Claire will step up and be his chaperone at events. I think Tiffany will come to as many events as she can, but she does have a baby to take care of. Claire seems like a great candidate to accompany him to events for the rest of this season, as well as the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons. Do people over 18 still get chaperones, Daisy? It kind of seems like a sport that protective over image would likely still have legal adults getting followed around.

He could have retired at his peak, but eh- he decided to go for the record, and he pulled it off. Why begrudge him that? It's like a nice victory lap and a thank-you to all his fans. It's not like Michael's embarrassing himself- he's just not the dominant beast he was in 2008. Anyway, Conor Dwyer. Hell, yes. He so looks like a preppy frat boy. And let's also hear it for Team USA taking gymnastics for the first time since 1996! I remember the '96 Olympics, so it was cool to see Team USA stand on the top of the podium again.

Or JJ can wind up being someone who doesn't fit into either "gay" or "straight". It'd be funny if that's the one thing he winds up having in common with his hated Gathan. I agree completely. I see JJ ultimately moving off to NYC or maybe Europe, but Will feels like he's an L.A. boy for life. And his HW friends have been pretty awesomely depicted. Mark has done such a great job of writing them; I'd hate to lose them, too.

It's going to be interesting when Evan begins to skate with JJ at El Segundo, starting in 2003.

I liked that JJ was only making out with Evan, not having sex. I like that Mark's taking it slow with JJ in regards to things like sexuality; it makes a nice contrast to Will's very precocious sexuality. JJ's taking slower steps into adulthood, as opposed to Will's headlong rush into it. You're really attached to the idea of Will being in LA and at HW, aren't you? To be honest, so am I. I've loved Will's HW friends and it'd be a shame to lose them. The impression that I've gotten from people is that SoCal people generally don't do well in NorCal, but we'll see what happens if/when Will decides to go to Palo Alto and Menlo School.

Chapter 55 -When Will catches JJ and Evan Lysacek making out. Probably my favorite tune out of the late 90's/very early 00's pop craze. I've used this in pretty much every story since Bloodlines, save for The Box. I'm glad I got to use it for a JJ moment. I'm sure he likes Mandy Moore and the 90's teen pop craze, too. (He sure as hell doesn't strike me as someone listening to Pennywise or Pantera, that's for sure.)

From reviews... In thinking about it, I can't really see Billy's fate awaiting JJ, at least not when JJ is still so driven to see himself at the 2006(possibly 2010) Olympics. He's got an image to protect, and a drive so strong that I can't see him being as easily led as Billy was. That was Billy's downfall- he couldn't say no to peer pressure, and rode in a car with guys that were so completely blitzed that they couldn't drive. I can't see JJ putting himself into that kind of situation, because any partying JJ does will be behind tightly closed doors with people he trusts not to blab things to the media. When 2006 comes and goes without any Olympic medals to show for it, THEN I can see JJ possibly heading into some risky behavior. But for now, JJ's life is pretty well regulated, without any room for self-destructive behavior. For now. Watching the Olympics really emphasizes just how much these elite athletes pour their entire selves and being into this sport. I think the ego deflation will be good for him, but you gotta realize- JJ over the past two years has sacrificed so many things- going on family trips, school days, extracurricular activities, friendships, social events- all for the chance to be the best. This is a really high-pressure and competitive sport where someone can just like *that* go from being the odds-on-favorite to not even placing. Not the same sport, of course, but seeing Jordyn Weiber, crying her eyes out, really made me think about just how much these people sacrifice, and often never realize their dreams. JJ's entire sense of self-worth is tied up into being a figure skater, which will lead to some interesting things down the road, because we know going into this that JJ will never reach the pinnacle of figure skating. Yeah, his ego is over-blown...but...what else does JJ really have that he's good at, as opposed to his brothers who are good at nearly everything they try?

There isn't a single male U.S. athlete that's out. Kind of crazy.

Academics are notorious for staying around far later than they should, so it wouldn't surprise me if JP in 2012 at the age of 76 is still teaching at Stanford.

Jake Dalton...great set of eyes on him. And the dimples are nice.

Funny "One Thing" parody...an older guy gets just a little bit too much into a certain boyband from the UK. I loved the Wanted reference at the end. LMAO. On a shallow note, the cute twinky brunet they had in the white henley shirt and khakis? In a New York minute. God, I love Key of Awesome.

The other time Will felt like a real character and not Mr. Golden Boy Prince was when he was explaining to Tony all the interesting marine biology stuff. By having Will be in the right all the time, it's hard to think of him as anything but Mark's fantasy 14-year old son. Seriously though, aside from thinking he was life partners with John Hobart when he wasn't, when has Will ever been clearly in the wrong? Even when Will trashed his parents house and ran off to Hawaii, we were supposed to feel sympathy for him and believe that Brad and Robbie deserved it, and everyone fell over themselves trying to make Will feel better about himself. I still like and enjoy Will's character, but not as much as I did before the Hawaii escapade because it became, like you said, a sexed-up Parker Lewis with Family Problems, and less about an openly gay teenager enjoying his accepting friends in early 2000's California. From Tim's review: I don't know, I kind of feel like Brad's character integrity took a major hit with Millennium, and has never quite recovered. I kind of feel like in order to make Will the hero, Brad had to serve as the villain of some sort. Not to the extent that Jeanine has, but Brad needs to do things that piss off Will over and over again in order to demonstrate Will's reasons for rebelling against him. Before Millennium, Brad and Robbie had a solid 15-year partnership and had raised three happy, healthy sons. Then that all just went to shit somewhere and somehow, to the point where neither of their two youngest sons relate to them anymore.

Well, technically this would have been in the mid-90's as If It Fits took place in 1995 and the legal adoption process probably would have occured in late 1995/early 1996, but yeah. Will's black and white view of the world makes a nice foil to JJ's view, which I think is more grey. I don't think JJ would do absolutely anything to get ahead in his sport, but I bet he'd do a lot, and he'll probably get more grey the further along in the sport JJ gets. Still, I think at JJ's absolute core, he wants to win because he's the best, not because his rich daddy bribed the judges or his rich grandpa had someone taken out. I do imagine that, if Will stays involved with figure skating as a spectator, he's going to be likely to start pushing against the whole "figure skaters can't be openly gay" deal, and probably pushing JJ to push against that as well. Whether JJ goes along with that, or he goes with the status quo will be interesting as the decade unfolds. Also, I think Will is totally going to get into environmental rights. If he's really the next Tonto, I think some kind of activism has to be in his future, because fighting for what's right was a huge part of Tonto's personality. I think the Gulf Oil spill would be a nice thing to cover. He'll be 23, so just out of college and full of that early twentysomething idealism. I can totally see him sending a bunch of angry Tweets and pictures in Louisiana while trying to help. I can also see him getting involved in Prop 8 protests and "No H8te" campaigns, but his love of the ocean and marine biology would make me think he'd be more inclined towards protecting that. His black-and-white view of the world would be a perfect fit for environmental activism. Well, you gotta keep in mind this is from Will's viewpoint, a 14-year old who can't view the grey in situations yet and has (fairly and unfairly) marked his parents as the enemy. Of course they're going to seem like big bad monsters to him. But it kind of feels like, barring the Tony freak out incident and the realization that John was not his life partner, Will has more often than not always been right about things. It kind of feels like Mark's written Will as his Golden Boy character who can do no wrong, which is fine but I find it hard to relate to. Will was at his most enjoyable to me when he was having fun with his Harvard-Westlake friends and just being a teenager.

I knew about Betamax because I am a historian, and the 1980's is one of my favorite decades.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

I don't think I'm doing a selection for this chapter, but just picture heart in your head. LOL.

No, I was just raised on Television Without Pity, where we critiqued t.v. shows for fun.