methodwriter85

Here's a movie trailer, done in the style of the J. Edgar trailer, about the Penn State scandal. Really well done. I'm thinking Al Pacino as Joe Paterno and Patrick Wilson as Jerry Sandusky.

Happy birthday!

Right. But it felt like Gathan got sidelined in favor of developing Will's character instead. I think the dual narration wasn't a bad idea, and at times it worked- but by the time we got around to the Paris trip, Gathan just started seeming like a distraction in the overall Will Schluter Show. I have to agree with you on that. On paper, I think Gathan is the more interesting character. But once he got put with Kristin, everything was focused on that instead of Gathan's underlying issues; when we weren't focusing on Will. Here are where the problems I had with Will as narrator, at least for most of the story.... 1. Mark essentially created a character with a perfect childhood- there is no emotional baggage there, and there's nothing this kid has ever been denied in his entire life. While I'm not saying that Will needed to have an effed up life to be interesting, you still have someone who's never struggled a day in his life, over anything. (Yes, I realize there was the Paris plot, but it doesn't seem to have affected him all that much.) 2. Because of that, his whining about love interests was just...I don't know. I mean, it was realistic for a 13-year old, but it just isn't that compelling to watch a 9th grade kid with a perfect life angst over his love interests. Will's interaction with his parents and with JJ were a lot more interesting, I think. As well as when we learned that Will's interests go beyond sex, pot, and surfing. That's when he started to feel more like a real character. 3. I feel like Mark wanted to write a 17-year old Will, but because Mark didn't want to jump the story to 2003, he instead decided to write Will as a 13-year old with a very 17-year old look who hung out with mostly college-aged guys. I liked Will more when he started hanging out with people who were his own age, and he was dealing with more of the typical 9th grade concerns. Overall, I think Will improved as narrator, but I still think Mark should have waited until circa 2003 to get over to Will's point-of-view. But since he didn't, I think the way the story is tying up now works pretty well, and we've definitely been on an uptick.

I think Will became an enjoyable narrator when Mark stepped away from just the sexual stuff and let us know about Will the person who likes marine biology and Jolly Ranchers, not Will the 13-year old sexpot who likes to surf and smoke pot. I have a friend who told me he stopped reading because it seemed like Will was turning into a Brad Redux, and I think Mark has in recent chapters really stressed the differences between Brad and Will, to the point where this doesn't feel like a Be Rad Redux. I do feel bad that Gathan essentially got eclipsed- I think Gathan had the potential to be a pretty interesting character. But the problem is, as someone pointed out, Gathan didn't really offer anything new as a narrator that we haven't already covered. I mean, Will was able to offer the viewpoint of an emerging generation of guys that were coming out at earlier and earlier ages, which hadn't been done yet- no protagonist had come out earlier than the age of 18 before Will. Having an abused Hayes boy from a poor background with temper and sexual issues has been done so many times, and done well. And Matt already covered the whole "hockey at Stanford University" deal. My other problem with the story is that the mid-point felt meandering- I think this would have worked better as a twentysomething or thirtysomething chapter story, due its nature as a transitional piece. I do think the story went on an uptick once we met Tony and Matt/Wade came back in, and there was more of a focus. Anyway, I really liked this chapter. I loved the details of Will's hoody, the Adderall, the flip-flops- you really made Will feel like a 2000's teenager. The only thing that would have made it better would have been that Will was wearing a DC hoody. Although he could have been- because Will isn't a fashion maven like Brad, it makes sense that he's not mentioning every single brand that he's wearing the Brad does. The epiphany at the end was great- great closure to Will's character arc in this story.

Right, but the most ardent supporters of his administration where the Christian religious whackos.

Thanks. It's a good song. I like "The Best I Ever Had" and "You're A God" better, but yeah. I thought it fit well. "Dreams" isn't really period. I was going to use a boyband song or a Faith Hill song, but then I thought, "What the hell" and went with something I really thought fit, damned it not being period. Will is totally the Angela Chase to Tony's Jordan Catalano. That's why I picked it. But with the exception of "Dreams", I think my picks were pretty reflective of the period once you got outside the boyband/blond teen queen pop area.

Right, but this is when things got really obvious, and the Religious Right yielded way more power than they had even during the Reagan administration. And Mark hates GWB, so I figure he's going to use the story to vent against the Bush administration, which would include going after the religious whackos that characterized his administration.

Chapter 45 -When Will and Tony talk on the beach about various things. -When Will and Tony make love in his new, pimped out room. "My So-Called Life"...I fell in love with that show when I was 8 years old, and god it held up well. -When Will comes to the realization that Tony is never going to admit that he's gay, and is never going to be a boyfriend to him because of it. This song. I've been dying for a place to put it. I hope I got it right. -When Robbie comforts his son, who comes to finally get that he can't fall in love with every guy he has sex with.

This really makes the USC scandal look like a picnic. Geez.

That's the thing, though. The kids rioting honestly believe that "JoePa" did what he could, and that he did what he was legally obligated to do, and that JoePa should be allowed to finish out his season in dignity. Alot of the anger seems to be directed at Mike McQueary because he didn't intervene during the alleged 2002 incident, and yet he's still on coaching staff. Although he will not attend the game, as he's been recieving multiple threats. http://www.freep.com/article/20111111/SPORTS08/111111008/Penn-State-s-Mike-McQueary-might-protected-whistle-blower-scandal-fallout-continues I seriously would get the hell out of dodge if I were Mike McQueary, die my hair black, and start all over in Canada or something.

If I were a student at Penn State, I would seriously transfer to another school.

Yeah, but we're also coming up on the Bush administration and 9/11. Religion is going to be hard to ignore considering the way the Bush administration was propped up by the religious right, and the anti-Islamic sentiment that sprouts up because of 9/11.

Mark, can I request you adding in some Jewish people and Muslims at some point? Maybe some Wiccans, Buddhists; etc etc. I'm sure a cosmopolitan school like Harvard-Westlake would have a wide variety of backgrounds represented. It just kinda came to me right now that, barring Jackie, we've only ever met Christians and Atheists. At least that's what it seems like to me. And it seemed weird to me- I mean I went to a crappy public middle school in a state people like to call "backwater", and I knew Jewish kids; I knew Muslims; I knew what Ramadan was because there were kids celebrating it. It just kinda seems like the kids don't have any friends with different religious backgrounds and that seems false to me. Of course, to be fair, we haven't gotten to know their friends that well yet. One of the big differences between Brad's generation and Will's generation is the increase of Muslim presence in the United States, mainly due to the big increase in Indian immigration that started in the late 1970's/early 1980's, and really kicked up force between 1995 to 2000.

Some more riot footage:

There is anger and outrage. In support of Joe Paterno. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeCEEdyk7c4&feature=related "We want Joe! We want Joe!" The speech at the end was really heart-warming, wasn't it? It's basically a rallying battle cry. And a party.

The Penn State Coach is planning to resign at the end of the season amid the child abuse sex scandal. http://abcnews.go.com/US/joe-paterno-penn-state-president-graham-spanier-sex/story?id=14913848 It's amazing to see Penn State melting down like this. This is making what happened with USC look like a tea party.

I went to a performing arts high school. Being bisexual for a girl was considered cool, because it made you seem open, hip, and open to whatever. But I remember this one girl complaining about how, when it came to most "bi" girls, they were fine with kissing but got screamish any further than that.

My sister used to do rave promotions back in 2000-2002-ish for Philly, so the first scores of gay men I met were basically the drugged out raver twink types. I've met more diverse guys since then, but the drugged out twink type has definitely endured as a stereotype. I had this conversation with a 19-year old twink who told me about how he likes to do blow to keep him amped up for go-go dancing in gay clubs in Pittsburgh, and I just thought, "Wow, you're so Queer As Folk and it's 2011. Some things remain." I don't think it's so much not being in L.A. for me; it's more that my basic social circle doesn't really include many people that are over 30 so I haven't really seen what you're talking about yet. The average age of the people I hang around is usually somewhere around 20-22 years old; I'm nearly 26 and I'm usually at least five years older than my average friends. It's seriously weird to think that I'll be thirty in just four years and one month. Crazy. I swear I was 21 just yesterday.

They're also a lesbian couple in a soap opera. You gotta keep that in mind. Stable couples like Claire and Jack don't get a lot of story time, because stable, committed relationships aren't exactly the stuff of soaps. And it's been telegraphed since Millenium that Jeanine isn't the most stable of people, so it's not like it came out of nowhere. For me, when I was 17, I saw a gay public display of affection that made me feel a lot better about being gay. I wrote about it, and it was posted on the I'm From Driftwood site. (I do NOT look like the guy the artist drew there; however he got the college gay couple pretty spot on.) http://www.imfromdri...from-newark-de/ There was just something about seeing a gay couple, on a pizza date like any other college couple complete with a chaste, affectionate kiss, that really made me realize that I wasn't doomed to life as a Queer As Folk circuit boi because I was gay. It was a normalization of my feelings outside of watching Jack on Dawson's Creek, I think, and that's why I really appreciate gay PDA's outside of the gayborhoods. I'm betting I'm not the only gay former teenager who was positively influenced by seeing a masculine-looking couple being affectionate with each other in public. I'm not saying you NEED to be that way, but it's great to see that gay couples who want to be affectionate with each in public can do so without getting bashed. At least in certain areas.

Right. I'm just saying that Will's going to meet guys that are openly gay like he is, and I've found that guys who have always been pretty open about their sexuality tend to expect the same from their boyfriends. I just can't see Will putting up with a total closet case in the long-term, who doesn't just deny it in public but denies it in private as well. I like Tony as a character; I'm just not into him being Will's boyfriend. At least for now. When they're both in their 20's and Tony's comfortable with his sexuality, I think it could work. It's interesting watching Mark, who came from a very homophobic generation that came of age in the 1980's, writing from the point of view from a generation of guys who are increasingly okay with the various spectrum of sexuality, to the point where more and more guys can call themselves "straightish" without a sense of shame or fear, and where more guys have positive coming out stories, or were basically never even in the closet to begin with. Adam Phillips, the author of Cross-Currents, has talked at considerable length about the subject, noting how it contrasts even from his own not-so-distant adolescence.

Yeah, because being two loving parents who clearly adore their daughter to the point where they're hilariously over-protective while being in a committed marriage that isn't made spicy by "openness" is REALLY pandering to the gay stereotype. They aren't butch. But they DO counteract the Queer As Folk stereotype that all gay men are slutty twink circuit bois who only live for the next trick and would rather die than turn 30 years old.

Alright, that's a good point. I think I'll qualify it to say that JJ is comfortable about coaches, judges, and officials, but he's not so good around people his own age because of the lack of typical teenage socializing. JJ can handle superficial acquaintances; probably not so good on serious friendships/relationships. In any event, JJ has been consistently written as being somewhat immature for his age, and I think it's fine for him to be that way. JJ should grow up on his own schedules; besides, if he were totally mature and self-assured, what kind of character growth could Mark write for the guy when it's his turn for a story circa 2006?

I don't see how JJ is "running in place". He's being a brat, but so is Will. It's normal. They're 14 years old. JJ should grow and develop at his own pace, rather than try and race to adulthood like Will did. I like that Mark's allowed JJ to grow up at a slower pace than he had Will and John grow up; it feels realistic to have the varying rates. My voice didn't drop until I was 16

Alright, so with Tiffany's baby we officially have a 5th generation in the story, while Madison adds to the 4th. I like the choice of Madison. Very period.

Thank god it's just "Irish" twins instead of Irish triplets or quadruplets. I think it would have been a bit too much for them to handle, especially since it seems like Jeanine and Tiffany are dunzo.