methodwriter85

42. Garden State. Nice cult film of the time. I was 17 in '03, and I remember that's when I really started listening to indie music like Death Cab for Cutie and The Shins. I'm sure The O.C. and Garden State had a big influence on that.

Day 27, March 6th Today I continued working on Box 2. I found an envelope of newspaper clippings- the envelope was a big manila envelope with "Philadelphia Convention July 1958" on front, so we kept the envelope. I also found a 50th Anniversary Gettysburg Commission memo, which was great because there's a photo of the 50th Anniversary Gettysburg camp out displayed in the museum. I told my adviser about it, and she copied the letter and eventually intends on displaying the copy. That was a personal connection, because in 2004 I went to Gettysburg as a Union re-enactor. I've been excited for the 150th anniversary in 2013 since then. It's amazing to think there's only one year. Day 28th, March 7th I found a pretty cool 1914 tourist map of Washington, D.C. It was in a great shape. We decided to house the map in a different folder, and weighted two boxes on top of the new housing so that the document would flatten out.

I figured he might experiment with it for a few years, but you got a point. I can see JJ so clearly loving New York City, but not really Matt. It would be nice to have some of them around, but eh- it is the 2000's, and communicating via cams and like are going to become super-easy. Plus, I can really see JJ liking the challenge of setting up a life by himself in an area where he doesn't have much family, or two brothers that constantly overshadow him... So where do you see Matt ending up then, Mark?

Right, I just think it would be interesting to have Matt working in Wall Street, up to the point where the financial meltdown happens. I get the feeling JJ's ultimate destiny would be New York City, so it'd be cool to have some people there with him.

Actually, I mean if Wade gets into Columbia, Matt could work at Wall Street or something. Although that does beg the question- if Matt isn't getting a degree in business, what is he getting his degree in? Economics?

Chapter 20 -When they try to deal with the fact that Carl is in no way down for the count. -When Wade lists the schools he wants to go to. I think I like the Georgetown Fight Song the best. It's got that Southern boy swagger to it. -When Carl gets voted off the team. "If I were ever to pass you along in life again, and you were laying there, dying of thirst, I would not give you a drink of water. I would let the vultures take ya, and do whatever they what with ya. With no ill regrets. I plead to the jury tonight to think a little bit about the island that we have been on. This island is pretty much full of only two things. Snakes and rats. And in the end of mother nature, we have Richard the snake -- who knowingly went after prey -- and Kelly, who turned into the rat that ran around like the rats do on this island, trying to run from the snake. I feel we owe it to the island's spirits that we have learned to come to know to let it be in the end the way mother nature intended to be. For the snake to eat the rat."

Yeah, but in any event, I think Gen Y had it drilled into their head to apply to as many schools as possible. At least four, but I knew kids who did five or six. That feels realistic. If he winds up going to Columbia, Matt can work for Wall Street. That could be cool. Matt's getting a business degree, right? Isn't getting an MBA different- like it's suggested that you go into the field for a few years rather than just go straight into an MBA program? I heard someone say that was expected for Harvard Business school people. As for Georgetown and UVA- maybe he just plain feels an affinity for the schools? I knew people who were Ivy League-caliber that did not go Ivy League because they felt like they were a better fit with the other schools. Georgetown and UVA both have pretty outstanding reputations, and I'm sure Wade has friends who've gone there. And I wouldn't be surprised if Wade's Tobacco Tidewater family had a long history of donations to UVA.

It's generally frowned upon for people to do to their undergrad and post-grad work in the same place. You're supposed to get exposed to different ideas and the like. *waits for Private Tim to tell me how I am absolutely wrong on this one* I was thinking that Georgetown and Virginia were the safety back-ups. Yes, Wade probably doesn't have to worry, but this is Generation Y. The Baby Bust is over. Gen Xers like Tim benefited from less competition, but I knew people who got rejected from their second and third choice schools. And...I don't know- here's my feeling on this. If Wade really wants to do a power struggle for control of the family, he can't really do it from California if everyone else is in Virginia. And if Wade is serious about an eventual political career, it would seem dumb for him not to end up in D.C. at some point.

I was wondering when Wade was going to start talking about post-graduation plans. Someone like him would definitely be thinking about them at this point. I can buy Matt kind of going, "Woo-hoo! It's party time and I don't have to think about graduation until the spring of '02!", but Wade would already be signing up for his LSAT's, setting up internships, and reading through law school applications. I also like that Tiffany is in no way interested in the kind of arrangment that Robbie/Brad/Jeanine set up when it came to rearing Generation 4, or what JP/Jeff/Isidore(later Sam) came up when it came to raising Brad's generation. Tiffany definitely seems to have more of an independent streak than that.

It's kind of interesting though, that between two men who were Ivy League graduates, Brad and Robbie raised three sons who don't really seem all that Ivy-inclined. Darius just wanted to go wherever. Will is a strong student academically and obviously could go Ivy if he wanted to, but he doesn't seem like he's that interested. And then JJ doesn't seem like he's all that into school- I think he probably does just enough to get by. If JJ does wind up going to college, I think it would be with a school that has a well-known, extremely well-ranked figure skating club that has produced some well-known figure skating champions and would be relaxed about him only taking a class a semester because of school's said experience with figure skating champs. I mean, I know JJ and Will are only in 9th grade- but seriously, the Ivy-League gunning kids were displaying signs of being Ivy-League gunning in like 9th grade, if not earlier. Although I guess the answer lies in the scene where Darius talks to Brad about his college plans, and Brad pretty much didn't care where Darius went as long as Darius went. Which makes me wonder if JJ will be able to get away with saying he doesn't plan on going to college, or if he'd get pressured to go. I really think it could go either way with this family. I wonder how Claire and Jack are in terms of raising their kids- if it's just, "I don't care where you go to college as long as you get in" ala Brad, Robbie, and (maybe) Jeanine, or if they're very much into the whole "you must get into a 'name' school" deal. I think Claire would probably be pushier with her kids- not a helicopter-level, but I don't think she'd be as laidback with her kids as Brad and Robbie were with Darius. I'm assuming at some point, we'll start meeting kids who are under the gun by their parents to get into Ivy League. Especially considering the caliber of Harvard-Westlake. The whole "trophy kid" phenom, while not a new concept, definitely seemed to become pretty massive during this decade as college admissions got even more cutthroat. Tommy's recounting of kids who'd down Adderall like candy to get an edge definitely rang true to the A.P. kids I knew in high school.

I was really surprised that they don't have a business administration program. I thought all universities had one. Tiffany got kicked out figure skating at age 18 in 1994. The timeline I worked out for her is that she then left Michigan to go back to California and attend college, someplace that would have been nearby where JJ learned how to figure skate. Given what Wade said about Tiffany's background, I think her grandparents definitely would have encouraged her and supported her through college, and since Tiffany's pedigree was shot, she pretty much had to go through college to get into coaching. I'm thinking Tiffany started her degree in fall 1995, and finished in spring 1999, which would have made her a senior in college when she became JJ's unoffical coach. It would make sense that when it became obvious that JJ had Olympic-level potential, Tiffany knew that she had to send him over to El Segundo because she didn't have enough experience, and she's still blacklisted by the USFSA. Speaking of El Segundo, it'll be interesting when Evan Lysacek arrives in California for the '03 season. I can see JJ and Evan being good-natured rivals.

Have a happy birthday.

UCLA doesn't have a sports-related undergrad degree program? Seriously? A school that known for their basketball program doesn't have sports medicine, physical therapy, sports management, or any kind of related degree? Damn. I had Tiffany in my mind as a UCLA graduate who has a degree that would allow her to coach or become an agent, but I guess maybe she went to USC instead? Hmm.

1. Ireland 2. Italy 3. France 4. Japan 5. Australia

Day 23, February 28th I found the 1966 bibliography that had been written for the collection when it was housed at the old museum. It's a pretty great thing to have, in order to understand how this collection had been processed and cataloged before. Day 24, February 29th I continued working on Box 3. There was also a visit from someone who was a consulting, which I'm interested in doing as a career. It was neat to hear the advice from her. Day 25, March 2nd I finished work on Box 3, and began work on Box 2. Day 26, March 3rd Box 2 had a folder of items that were donated by Richard Watson's son in 1990. It had a picture of father and son standing outside of their home in 1941, as well as a picture of Richard Watson at his American legion ceremony in 1960. He was being commemorated for forty years of membership with the Indiana County American Legion. The folder included a letter from Richard Watson's son that included the context of the items. It was really nice to have that- it made understanding the photos much easier! Definitely rare for that to happen when it comes to collections. Today I also watched a tour being given. It was interesting to see how the tours can differ in terms of who the audience is. The person giving the tour did not mention the Vietnam War pictures, probably because this wasn't a veteran crowd, and because there was a little kid there. You need to read your audience in order to figure out how you're going to relate the items to the people there.

I finally figured out Cole. Robbie Amell from True Jackson, if he gained about 20 pounds and had darker hair. He's got the kind of round, cute, boy-next-door face that I picture Cole having.

I mean I could see it if Harvard-Westlake was a community school right by where they live, but my understanding of the school is that it's not really a neighborhood school, but a private school that attracts people from communities all around the Greater L.A. area. I don't know if I see JJ and Will being the type of people who come back to watch school sporting events, especially JJ. It's possible, especially if these guys have older siblings that would have been at the school in 2000-2004, but I'm leaning towards "no".

It might be possible, but they wouldn't have grown up with them. Will and JJ are the class of 2004, which means a present-day high school senior would have been in 4th grade when these guys are graduating from high school. If they've got older siblings, it may be possible- but 8 years is usually too much ahead for you to know people who still go there. Unless Will and JJ became coaches at the school, but I don't see that happening. Will's not into team sports, and JJ gives the vibe that as soon as he's done with high school he's never looking back.

I'm really OCD about ages, and I estimate that you would have been about 2 years from conception when Q was in college. I would have been a couple of months old when Q graduated. (I think Quonus graduated college in 1986, correct me if I'm wrong.)

I pretty much thought he was trying to pull an American Pie, too.

It's kind of interesting how, in a sense, Wade is a social better compared to the Crampton/Schluter family. They're rich and powerful, but they just don't have that kind of pedigree- more of just solid mid-Western affluent stock who gained a massive amount of wealth starting in the 1960's.

Yeah. That's pretty much a given that we'll be exploring Justin Timberlake's ghetto fab period from '02 to '07. (Unless Mark somehow skips over the early/mid-2000's, but I don't see that happening. Mark doesn't do multi-year time jumps anymore.) I remember Christina Aguilera also did the ghetto thing. It's kind of interesting though, that Pink started her career with that, but when everyone jumped on the hip-hop band wagon, she jumped right off. Her career kind of lagged through the mid-part of the decade, though, after the success of Mizunderstood. You really had to. I liked Linkin Park, New Found Glory, and the White Stripes, but it wasn't like you were going to be able to hear any non-hip/hop stuff at dances. How else were the high school kids going to be able to bump n grind? Frat parties in '05 were pretty much wall to wall hip-hop. (See the bit above about grinding.) I kind of learned to appreciate hip-hop when I got into rager mode. This song especially brings me back to fall '05 Alpha Phi Delta parties... By the late part of the decade other music started coming back in, but you really did have to make an effort. Which is why I think it's interesting to see how Mark's going to portray this- you've got Brad's 1980's generation, where it was actually cool to be a whitebread preppy and flaunt the fact that you were, and then you got Will's 2000's generation, where more than just a few rich white kids attempted to act black, listen to hip-hop, and have street cred. I do think it's funny hearing Will throw around terms like "homie" and "da bomb". It's accurate, but it's still funny.

I've been kind of hesitant to put the "hate crime" label on this as well- yes, it was a horrible and thoughtless prank, but to put this and what happened to Matthew Shepherd in the same category...doesn't quite work for me.

Damn, this was a sweet story. http://randyreport.blogspot.com/2012/02/pic-of-day-marine-homecoming.html The more you have people living their lives and being part of the mainstream, the harder it becomes to marginalize them. I'm glad I'm seeing this happening in my lifetime.

Right. They're still more indie than everything, but at least they're managing to do pretty well in Canada. I don't think they're going to be a flash in the pan. The very early '00s, I associate with the pop explosion, pop country acts, Latin stuff, hip-hop, and hip-hop rock like Limp Bizkit. Then '03-'06 hip-hop rises above anything else, while rock retreats into the Indie background. '07-08 the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana rise, then Lady Gaga explodes in '09.