methodwriter85

Older? I thought Alistair was supposed to be a small kid who looked 12 like JJ did. I can totally picture 13-year old Thomas Dekker lisping those lines in that conversation with Will. I kinda wanna say Joseph Gordon Levitt circa Ten Things I Hate About You, but I can't see him playing uptight. I wanted to say Gregory Smith circa 2001 as well, but Gregory Smith just has way too cool of a vibe to him at all times to play someone like Alistair.

Right. It wasn't that long ago that I still held naieve assumptions about politicians. 2004 was the first election I could vote in.

Brazillian model Evandro Soldati as the hot wrestler that Will's likely going to bang? The big nose with the close-together eyes give him such an exotic, memorable look. And I'm totally picturing Thomas Dekker during his geeky childhood turn as Nick Zalinksy on "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" as Alistar Crownbeam. I remember my jaw dropped when I saw Thomas Dekker on "Heroes" and realized that geeky, lisping little boy had grown up into a totally hot emo guy.

Well, yeah. But there was/is the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, Virginia Tech, bunch of other stuff. Of course, we gotta consider that the 90's were more your "teenaged/college" years, while the 90's for me were when things were simpler because I was a child. Plus you're forgetting how pissed off Democrats were about the Bush administration, of which JP will most likely be an ardent critic of. My viewpoint is shaded by the fact that my friends/contemporaries graduated, on average, in the late 2000's into a shitty economy. Which won't really be of concern to trust fund babies like JJ and Will, but I'm sure they're going to have friends who can't find jobs and the like. (Mark's always made it a point for the protagonists not to live in a total bubble where all of their friends are trust fund kids like themselves.) And then there's all the Iraq War stuff, which is likely to hit Gathan's circle of high school friends pretty hard. Here's an article I shared once, about my generation's penchant for being nostalgic for the 1990's- Twentysomething And Already Nostalgic Here's a section that basically summed it up: The 90's just seemed like a much better time than the one we live in now. If I could, I really wish I had been born ten years earlier, so I could have gone to college in the '90's. And it was that last period of innocence, which was shattered forever after 9/11. The 2000's just sucked by comparison.

It's funny watching Bush go on about "responsibility", since his administration couldn't exactly be called that. Or Al Gore's ad and knowing that he got divorced.

Can I just say how much I really liked Will actually hanging out with kids his own age instead of hanging around college guys like he's 20 years old? Given a name like "Raine", I'm hoping that she's like one of those cute Emo chicks that I used to hang with back in 2000-2001. Not like mid/late 2000's emo with the Myspace girl-jeaned guys with crazy hair, but late 90's/early '00s emo, with the streaks of multi-colored hair, cardigans, and Buddy Holly glasses who shared their poetry online at LiveJournal. It feels like the majority of people we've met so far are either jocky rich guys, jocky poor guys, or a geek, and high school ran the gamut way more than that. It's actually kinda annoying how television always depicts high school as being ruled by the snotty preppy jock crowd while the geeky kids cower in fear, and there are no other types of people. It made sense with Matt and Gathan, because they're hockey players and I can see them primarily associating with other jocks and preppy cheerleader girls. Will isn't going to join a team sport, however, and it makes sense that he'd be more of a high school floater, associating with different types of people. Will seems like a guy who has a core group of friends, but also hangs out with people that aren't skater/surfers like him, so I can see him ranging from jock guys to geeks to the emo/artist types. It's just weird to think that we're finally hitting the year countdown to 9/11. These people really have no clue how shitty the next decade is going to be. Well, Ipods and smart phones and facebooking was fun, but for the most part the 2000's blew. The 90's were so much better. I guess Will isn't "upset", per se, just annoyed but realizing that it's the way things have to be. It will be interesting to see what happens next year, though. Will's 15th birthday is three days after 9/11, so right when all the 9/11 hysteria and panic was raw and new. I was kinda hoping you'd give one of the Irish twins a 9/11 birthday. That could have been cool. I always feel bad for friends that have 9/11 birthdays. Seeing the date "September 11th, 2000" was kinda weird for me- just one more year and the country changes forever...

Chapter 43 -When we meet Will's complete crew of high school friends. -When JJ and Will bitch at each other all throughout the chapter about having to share a car ride. (JJ should be happy that he's getting his license mid-10th grade year while Will has to wait until 11th grade starts. Sucks for you, Will!) -When Gathan ponders about how, in the end, it doesn't really matter who gets elected president. vs. -When Gathan thinks about Matt and Wade's open relationship.

Will, if it annoys you that your mother needing bedrest put a wrench in your plans for your 14th birthday, I can't WAIT to see how you feel the week of your 15th birthday. Damn, was that really what this country was like 11 years ago? Damn. It seems like forever ago. At least we have our explanation as to why Gathan as a political science major doesn't seem all that interested about the presidential election.

Zach is lucky he looks like this, and that the devil horns don't show. I'm not sure what it says about me the first time I saw Liam Hemsworth, and I thought immediately, "Wow, he really looks like a Hayes guy come to life!" Another guess- Robbie's going to make a lot of money off those Harry Potter movies. Just a guess. LOL.

Rage is a cover for angst, usually. But I do agree. All that repression is going to lead to some big explosions. I basically have a pretty good read on JJ because in many ways I AM JJ. JJ did it because he wanted to suck up to Allistair. JJ now thinks they're best friends, and he'll annoy the hell out of Allistair until he gets dropped. It probably didn't work out, because let's face it- 9th grade boys/girls don't go for guys who still look like they're 12 and don't have their peach fuzz yet. They go for advanced guys like Will and John. I'm kinda surprised though that JJ didn't decide to stay at Malibu for high school, because it seems like they already worked out an arrangement with the school, and he could have finally been able to go to school without being in Will's shadow. From all accounts it's going to be an uphill battle for JJ to get cleared for the weeks of school he'll have to miss, according to someone who went to Harvard-Westlake. I'm just looking forward to the fact that 9th graders are supposed to clean up the cafeteria for one period- can you just imagine the bitching that JJ would do? Matt observed, back in Bloodlines, that JJ's treated like the delicate flower that needs to be protected by his brothers. JJ's turning 15 in December. I think it's finally starting to irk him that his brother, who's almost a year younger than him, treats him like the kid brother. Note: Back when I was their age, I usually rounded up my age to the next number when I was within three months of the next birthday. Now it makes me roll my eyes that Will keeps calling himself "fourteen", but back then I'm sure I would have done the same. You want to be older all the way up to your 21st birthday. Now I'm almost 26 and I desperately want to hold on to 25. Actually, 19 would be better. I miss being 19. Getting old sucks.

Your mileage may vary on this topic; I'm just reading into it because I have a lot of similarities to JJ, sometimes to the point where it's like getting a mirror put on some of my less-than-favorable characteristics. The shit-stirrer tendency, especially. Yes, JJ grew up loved and in a rich lifestyle. But he also grew up the guy who was never quite as good or as well-liked as his brothers were. Darius and Will could pick up things and pretty much be good at anything they tried; JJ would try but he wasn't good at anything until he found figure skating. At school, he was picked on while his brothers were much more popular and well-liked. A lot of that may have been his own doing, but when you're 14 it's harder to take a look at yourself and realize that your own behavior may be the reason why people don't like you. He also gets crapped on because he's nearly 15 but looks closer to 12, which is pretty damn embarrassing for the teenage male's psyche. Now he's in a sport that requires him to practice long hours, give up family vacations, give up hanging out with what friends he does have, and maintain a pristine and family-friendly image at all times. That's going to cause at least some tension and anxiety within himself. And when JJ goes through all of that and STILL doesn't win gold in '06? The angst will be palpable.

Nah, Mark's already thought ahead to a series he'll write when he's done with CAP. We pretty much got Will and JJ's generation left; take them out to about their early 20's in the late 2000's, and fade out on the clan. It'll be good, I'm sure. 2008 would make a great endpoint to the series, unless Mark wants to go up to JJ and Will's mid-20's and fade out in either 2010 or 2011. 2008 HAS to get covered, though. That was just one crazy year. In any event, this thread is more about what you guess might happen on the way to the end of the story. It's a speculation thread, in any event. Another guess- Zach Hayes will wind up at USC, and wreck havoc on JJ and Will during their senior year of high school. I can't see him coming out to California when he's still in high school, because Claire doesn't take bullshit so I can't see her offering the same thing she offered to Ella, and Brad/Robbie probably sense that he's trouble, too. Therefore if Zach does wind up in California, it would likely be by way of a football scholarship.

You gotta keep in mind, though, that Mark has on more than one occasion admitted that he doesn't really take break-ups well, especially when he was in high school/college, and part of that is going to translate into how he writes his characters. They're just not going to go, "Oh, I'll be okay. This is for the best." That would be so unlike the Crampton/Schluter/Hayes angsty teens we've come to know. I get what you're saying, though. It would be nice for someone to look at a break-up pragmatically, especially when we're talking about a relationship that occurred within a span of two months. Which I'm kinda hoping will happen with JJ, because he's got his career to focus on and relationships would take a distant third in his priorities.

Here's what you got to remember about Gathan, though. He's an emotionally damaged young man from an abusive background who's never had a serious relationship, or felt truly loved before. Of course he's fixated on Kristin. I think it was a given that JJ was going to be a neurotic mess. He's a short kid everyone makes fun of who grew up in the middle, overshadowed by two brothers that easily make friends in a way that he can't. JJ was also the kid who was never really good at anything he tried to do, while Darius and Will seemed to excel at everything. Now JJ finds himself, at the age of 14, in a sport that has basically forced him to give up his childhood/adolescence for a shot at Olympic Gold. Said sport comes complete with ludicrous off-ice expectations and a need for a pristine image while being in a family that is FAR from the family-friendly hetero normative image that the powers that be seem to want. This kid will stand for hours in his room practicing just one stance. I really don't see where he would have turned out to be a well-adjusted, easy-going kid like Will. Besides, if all three of Brad's kids were well-adjusted, self-assured types, where would the dramatic fun in that be? Wasn't the whole Paris deal basically Mark realizing that he made Will way too happy and well-adjusted, so that was meant to give Will some real issues to deal with so he wasn't just a happy rich kid who got whatever he wanted in life?

Have you ever noticed that the cockier a guy seems, the more likely it is that he has total insecurity issues? It took me until I was in my 20's before I realized that the cocky guys who were the total golden boys and seemed to have it all figured out were actually pretty neurotic messes inside the facade. The thought I just had...Matt took to JJ, and they both share a cocky attitude, although JJ's attitude took awhile to develop. They both have a need to prove how great they are to people. Meanwhile, Wade took to Will, and they both have more of a laidback attitude, because in the end they don't really have anything to prove to anybody. Kind of an interesting parallel there.

When it comes to the ice, JJ is secure in himself. When it comes to everything else, he's always the overshadowed brother that people don't like as much, and that's why he acts the way he does. JJ either doesn't know how, or can't put in the effort, to have real friendships with people, and so he does what he can to get attention from people all the while knowing that he's more of a court jester than anyone actually liking him. School should be interesting, especially when JJ and Will have to clean the cafeteria as the school requires of their students. And when JJ has to convince the school to let him take 5 to 6 weeks off for meets in November, December, January, and February/early March. Matt's a junior and the team captain. Gathan is the new kid on the block who's a freshmen. It's called "sports hazing". Nothing all that out of the ordinary. That Matt grew up an only child who's never had any kind of sibling rivalry to deal with might play into this as well. Suddenly Gathan's the new darling everyone in the family is cooing over, and I can't imagine he's cool with it.

I gotta admit, I think the idea of having sex with a straight guy is a flattering one, because it's like you're so desirable that you can convert a straight guy. It's a definite fantasy. Having heard what the actually reality is- that for the most part a straight guy is just really horny and will do anything, isn't quite as romantic. As a friend who liked having sex with straight guys once told me, "I can give him a blow job, but I can't make him fall in love with me." For that to happen, it's extremely rare and usually only happens between two men who've loved each other as friends for a lifetime, a love strong enough that it needs to be expressed in physical terms.

JJ reminds me of myself in ways that can be VERY uncomfortable at times. He wants friends, but he doesn't really know to be a good friend and doesn't put in the effort. So JJ maintains these superficial friendships that give a semblance of intimacy, but eventually they get bored and JJ's at square one, and he'll do anything to get attention from people, even if it's a bad kind of attention. I'm sure he thinks he's Alistair Crownbeam's best friend now, and JJ will bug the hell out of the guy until the guy wants to throttle him. Then when Alistair drops him to the curb, JJ will get yet another chance to be the wounded victim, and never really get why he has such a hard time making good friends when he's such a nice guy. I basically stuck to that script until I was about 17. Something tells me it'll take a long time for JJ to grow out of that pattern, too. The lack of socializing due to his figure skating ain't going to help this, at all.

I think in regards to Matt; it's part Matt being the big upperclassmen hazing the freshmen, and part Matt being an only child who is used to the spotlight and never had to deal with sibling rivalry.

Chapter 42 -When Will decides to call JJ off on the way he made himself a pariah at Malibu. JJ reminds me of myself in so many ways, and not all in the best ways. -At Stanford's hockey practice, where Matt is a total dick to Gathan, pissing him off. "My Way' by Limp Bizkit -When Will reads Tony's email to him, and immediately feels like crap. "Loser" by 3 Doors Down

An 1980's gym coach. I'll be in a pair of short-shorts, a pink polo shirt, high socks, converse sneakers, white headbands and wristbands, and a whistle.

*Shrugs* I have faith in you, Mark. In the mean time, it's fun to speculate, given certain patterns we've seen in the story and certain characteristics of the characters. One thing is for sure- when we hit 9/11, you're going to write it pretty poignantly. If I ever had any doubt about that, the Matthew Shepherd storyline killed it.

Yeah. Mike Vogel is pretty hot, but in kind of a douchey way. It's funny though, because when Mike Vogel was younger, he had more of a sweet twinky look to him. I think getting rid of the surfer haircut and bulking up douched him out.

I'm sure Mark will be careful with how handles it. I also think that if someone actually is in the Towers, they'll get out safely. 9/11 is more likely to effect the family in terms of who goes off to fight in the War on Terror. Gathan's friends are especially screaming "Future Iraq War Veterans". Mark will continue writing; just CAP itself will end at some point. But that's at least four stories off- we still need to through 9/11 and see JJ and Will go through high school and their early/mid-20's. I kinda like the idea of 2008 being the "end point", but we'll see how it goes. It's more speculating about how you see the characters developing...this is what I'm leaning towards now for two characters... Darius graduates from Santa Clara University and his ROTC program in 2004; goes off to Iraq. He does survive because he's Robbie's favorite child, and I think no one wants to see Robbie grieving over a dead child. I think 9/11 would make him more determined to prove how American and patriotic he is, and we already know that he's interested in the military. JJ graduates from HW in 2004; delays college for two years while he trains for the Olympics. When '06 doesn't yield gold, he'll move on to something else- maybe going to Tisch in New York City for college? I can definitely see JJ loving New York City. JJ as an aspiring stage actor in NYC could yield some very interesting stories. We already did the whole "L.A. actor" deal with Armand, so that could be something different, comparing the difference between pursuing an acting career in Late 2000's New York City vs. 1970's Los Angeles. I could see Stefan throwing a viewing party for JJ when he debuts as "Guy Who Discovers Murder Victim While On A Jog" on Law and Order. LOL. That'd be too funny. My school had a guy who debuted as "Guy Who Cries Because He Lost His Trust Fund", and we made SUCH a big deal about it.

31. "Stacey's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne, 2003 I'm sure this will be used for the inevitable moment when a 17-year old Will hooks up with a middle-aged guy. It's CAP. It's like mandatory for him as a protagonist to have sex with guys old enough to be his dad. My bet would either be on Scott, Max, or Cody. 32. "Everybody's Changing" by Keane, 2004 Not their better-known song, but man I love it.