methodwriter85

There's this gay couple I'd been hanging out with. In September, the younger half of the couple hit on me. I turned him down, because I wasn't comfortable with the idea of getting with someone who was in a relationship. I used to cruise, and one time I saw a trick walking down the street with his wife and kids. I turned him down, and that was that. Then in January, I was pretty hammered and hanging out with them again...the younger guy hit on me again, and this time I didn't turn him down. We made out in the basement and he performed oral on me. Although it wasn't real sex, I still felt pretty bad about it.

After seeing Michael Fassbender on the cover of GQ, I thought, "I can see him as Sean as well." http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/michael-fassbender-gq-cover.jpg Hot, but in a non-pretty way.

I'm liking One Direction and the Wanted. It's just funny to see how the rabid fans keep going at each other- you literally cannot look at comments for either One Direction or the Wanted videos without flame wars going on. Anyway, here's prolly my favorite boyband song, ever. Take That's "Back for Good". It's absolute smaltz done so damn well. It hits at all the right heart strings.

Boy bands are aimed at straight girls and gay boys/men. What would be the point of having a boy band strictly for straight boys? http://www.nextmagazine.com/content/return-boy-band There's another article about the possible return of the boy band.

Grant Gustin is hot. He's just not Finnick O'Dair for me.

Yeah, it's really hot in the Tropics, right? Anyway...here's my send-off to you, Mark.

Honestly, the appeal for boybands is mainly just fun- it's easy and simple and familiar. Listening to One Direction, it takes me back to the summer of 1997 when I fell in love with the Backstreet Boys. That doesn't mean I don't listen to music that I can't sink my teeth into, but sometimes I just want something fluffy and fun that I can dance to. Anyway, we can't have a boyband thread without mentioning the late 80's/pre-Nirvana 90's phenom, New Kids on the Block. [media=] [/media] This would be more Private Tim's generation than mine, but man...I remember the cartoon they had. My dad apparently really wanted my sister Christine to be into New Kids on the Block(I'm guessing it's because my sister Jennifer had gotten into sex-crazed hairbands like Skid Row and Poison), so she had the New Kids on The Block bed spread and a New Kids on the Block puzzle. And then Nirvana came and wiped out boybands for about five-six years.

She's 19. A 19-year old woman should not have the same kind of figure she had at 13! In any event...god, Liam Hemsworth is hot. Miley's lucky.

Your son is like what? 16 or 17 now? It's important that you spend time with him before he goes off to college. Have fun.

http://news.yahoo.com/miley-cyrus-liam-hemsworth-engaged-144612948.html Let's hear it for Hannah Montana and Gale Hawethorne!

I totally forgot about this, but then remembered..this one's for you, Ray, R.I.P. *Holds his three left middle fingers to his lips, then raises them in the air*

I guess that makes sense. See, I grew up around the Regina George/Kathryn Merteuil kind of bitch- the girl that would say, "Ooh, I LOVE your bracelet- where'd you get it?", and then make fun of you the second your back was turned. The Heather Chandler/Bitchy Girl from She's All That kind of bitch didn't seem all that realistic, because it would seem counterproductive to be such an open bitch that everyone hated you. If you were going to use people and manipulate them to serve your ends, it would make sense that you'd get people to think you were their friend, and then use all kinds of backhanded compliments and such to shred them emotionally but not to the point that they'd stop talking to you. Right, but considering that this is Mark, he'd probably have a storyline where Beau got a girlfriend because everyone needs a happy ending, and then people would piss and moan at the straight sex scenes. (That's why Poor Man's Son stood out, because Gathan and Will DIDN'T get happily-ever-after true love endings. That's the first time he's ever done that in CAP.)

My problem with that is that I interpreted "Crash and Burn" as being a song promising that you'll always be there for that person, even in the worst of times. That couldn't be further away from what Wade and Mary Ellen have. I did use "Crash and Burn" for a scene that Will and Robbie had in Poor Man's Son, when Will got angsty and Robbie lent him a shoulder to cry on.

I had to agree with that. Nobody's perfect, but you would think Wade would understand why Tim is having reservations. It's not just Tim being puritanical. Especially since at this point in time, there's a lot of growing concern about circuit parties and meth use fueling a resurgence in HIV infections. Not that porn star automatically equals HIV status, but still, people are going to think about it. Beau's straight. I can't see Mark trying to pull off a story with a straight narrator. People couldn't even handle a non-gay narrator with a legitimate female love interest with Gathan.

The older generation used to criticize the Beatles, so you're right. You know what's really funny? You go on YouTube videos for late 90's pop like N'Sync and the Backstreet Boys, and you'll get comments from people lamenting how good music was back in the late 90's/early '00s. When it actually was 1999/2000, people complained about how horrible music was!

Chapter 44 -MaryEllen's theme song.

So we finally meet Mary Ellen. God, I'm getting Bitty flashbacks. I kind of wondered though...wouldn't a politician's daughter know how to fake being nice in order to get people to love her, a la Kathryn in Cruel Intentions or Regina George in Mean Girl's? I'm kind of surprised that it seems like she doesn't have a group of people who worship her. Teenaged girls who want to be popular and adored are incredibly good at making it seem like they're nice while being complete bitches. No one in college is ever that openly bitchy.

I'm liking the Wanted, a lot. Such a club beat to them.

According to other copies of that video, it was for the Spring 2012 Sociology 167 class. So it was actually a class project.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCP2oGdl-c4[/media] Rue...*sobs* Seriously though, if Mark sends any of Gen 4 to Cal, he's going to need to add a lot of Asian characters. Cool.

I enjoyed this cover.

He would actually make a pretty woman, it seems like. Crazy story..

So...it looks like we're going with Kristin? Good choice, Mark.

Good point. I wonder if we're going to see how JJ is handling the work load at the school as balanced with his training...it'll be interesting if HW calls in Brad and Robbie to tell them that JJ might be better suited elsewhere. I don't think JJ's a dumb kid, but he doesn't strike me as all that concerned with anything else but skating. It wouldn't surprise me if his grades weren't good. Norway does seem like a good opportunity for us to get to know JJ better...I wonder if we're going to cover how JJ deals with school(and if he's actually doing well) on that trip. I was thinking about how Mark is depicting Will's friendships vs. how he depicted Brad's friendships as a teenager...here's a quote from Tim in the archived Be Rad thread that made me think about something... The thought that I have, and the main difference that I'm seeing...it seemed like Teenaged Brad treated his friends more like they were accessories in his awesome life as the Prince of Gunn High School instead of actually treating them like friends. Brad enjoyed the power that being on the top of the popular heap of kids gave him more than he seemed to enjoy being friends with these people, and it was very much a "you're either with me or you're not" deal with Brad. Brad's popularity seemed entirely based on his good looks, preppy 80's wardrobe, and the fact that he threw gnarly parties at his mansion, rather than people actually liking him as a person. Will seems more along the line of the popular kids who were popular because they were genuinely well-liked and knew how to be a good friend. Will doesn't come off as calculating or power-hungry as Brad was...sure, Will wants to be seen as the cool guy, but he doesn't make friends with people purely as a power move to maintain some top power position in the social hierarchy of Harvard-Westlake. I really like the difference here.

Right. That all makes sense. Like I've said before, I tend to put myself in the shoes of a 14-year old me whenever I get to Will's parts, because I relate to Will as a peer. That's why I tend to react that way - I don't put myself in the shoes of an adult for these parts. I've been working my way through why exactly this chapter bugged me so much, and I came to the basic realization that it pissed me off so much that this kid gets rules bended for him because of his family's money and influence. The adult part of me realizes that connections are important, and that considering the field I'm getting into, soliciting donations from well-heeled patrons with an interest in history will be something I'll eventually need to do. After all, I grew up in a state that was essentially built on the noblesse oblige of the du Pont family. But the teenaged part of me, the part that gets brought out because we're in 2000 in the story, really hates the unfairness of it. The logical, mature part of myself gets it. The whiny, jealous brat who doesn't understand why his friends can go off to Europe and have brand-new shiny Ipods while he can't doesn't get it. Plus, I also had a steady diet of getting to hear about the viewpoint of Appalachian coal miners for the past two years while living in Western PA, so I've taken on a proletariat viewpoint lately. In any event, this was a pretty good chapter, and a nice development of Ryan and Will's friendship. You've actually done a pretty damn good job of developing that friendship- it comes off as deeper than the one that Brad had with Lark in Be Rad.