methodwriter85

I gotta admit, I enjoy Tony. Helluva lot more interesting than his dad was.

"I don't like porn." Good to know that JJ's incorporating the pristine, asexual image of the figure skater into his conduct. LOL. I'm glad that he's still, for the most part, pretty innocent and very much a child. The precocious sexualization of Will and John Hobart isn't unrealistic, but it's nice that we're getting another side with people who DON'T lose their virginity at 12 or 13. I'm glad that JJ watched but didn't actually partake- I don't think that would have been realistic for what we know about JJ and what we know about his relationships with his brothers.

Chapter 37 -When Will puts on a show for a curious JJ. "Longview" by Green Day -When Will meets Tony Carbonne, falls head over heels, and schemes to get with him. "Sexy Boy" by Air -When Gathan goes over his financial plans with Stefan and JP. "When I Grow Up" by Garbage

Alright, here it goes: Of course, just remember that if you go this route, you're not likely to get anything real out of it.

Because Mark has said that JJ is now a bitch and a diva? I personally enjoy JJ being somewhat of a bitch, but then that's coming from someone who likes Poor Little Bitch Girls, such as Blair from the Facts of Life or Season 1 Blair from Gossip Girl or Blair from One Life to Live. And of course, the mother of them all, Faye Dunaway from Mommie Dearest. Jeremy's never come off as cruel, just a guy who makes these little comments to get under someone's skin but in a way that, if you confront him about it, he can feign innocence. Which is...familiar for some reason I can't really think of... I think it's his way of getting attention. You say that he gets enough attention from Jeanine, Tiffany, and Matt, but I'm thinking JJ is a total attention whore. Which is very, very common in performers. Plus, remember, JJ's fourteen. Very few people look back at when they were 14, and go, "Wow, I was such a mature, poised 9th grader back then!" His behavior is annoying at 14, but he's young and has plenty of life experience to go through yet. I'm thinking the disapointment at not being at the '02 Olympics as a competitor will be the first reality check he gets.

Okay, now that's entirely unfair. There WAS some actual damage.

True, but people usually like someone who's been through puberty. JJ hasn't, quite yet, gone through it. As Mark said once, it's always the guys who developed fast like Andy in Cross-Currents that get laid first. The nerdy late bloomers have to wait longer. LOL. More than anything though- it would be JJ's prissy diva personality that would be a turn-off, and his lack of a social life that would be the ultimate c-block for him. Considering that Zach's tastes so far indicates he likes masculine tops who make him into their bottom bitch, I can't see where JJ would appeal to him. I mean, I could be wrong, but JJ doesn't seem like he'd be Zach's type unless he somehow butched up and no longer looked 12. It'd be cool if it were a professor that Will liked and respected when he is in college, and I agree that it'd be great if it were someone that no one else in the family was acquainted with. Will does seem like he marches more to the beat of his own drummer, so why not pick people who aren't shared family lovers? I think this is one of the reasons why A Summer Love left so many people cold. There was something very creepy about 55-year old JP having an sustained love affair with his dead lover's 22-year old son. Marcel was the same age that Jeff was when he died in 1968, adding to the ick factor. It didn't bother me so much at the time, but now I just think it was majorly inappropriate. Although to be fair to Mark, I don't think we were ever supposed to think it was a healthy relationship for either of them. I do think that Claire and Jack are...I guess not so much "strict", but I can't in any way imagine Claire putting up with Will's bratty behavior the way Brad and Jeanine do. And I don't think Darius would have ever been allowed to slack off in school, either. I do like that we're seeing the results of what a lax and permissive childhood will turn a kid into- Will isn't a total bitch like JJ, but he is awfully entitled. I think they could both use a cold, hard reality bitchslap. JJ's in the form of watching the '02 Olympics from the stands; not sure what Will's would be.

God, I wish you still had a BMW. Or was it a Mercedes-Benz? It would have been one hell of burn ride. I'm sure you drive a Range Rover now like a dutiful Suburban Middle-Class Dad now, though.

That's a damn good question. Brad never stopped to think, "You know, maybe I shouldn't put my son in a situation where there's a damn good chance my 38-year old friend without a moral compass is going to hit on him, even jokingly, and that would be pretty inappropriate and damaging to a son that just went through getting raped by an older man?" And Will's actual 14th birthday is going to feel completely non-eventful since everyone seems to think he's already 14 anyway. LOL.

Something to think about: would anyone think it was okay if that scene had taken place with 14-year old Marie instead of Will? Why is there such a double standard about this?

I didn't find the scene hot, but if Will really has to get with a middle-aged guy, I guess Scott's an okay choice. I don't want it to be Max because that would require Max to have a falling out with Tim to happen, and I really don't like the way Cody seems to be working his way through the Crampton/Schluter/Hayes family.

-Schluter boys must be incredibly whiny and angsty about all of their love interests, even ones they dated for five minutes. Note: Will has gotten much better about this.

So, now you get why I wouldn't use something like "How Sweet It Is" for Will and Berto. I pretty much had figured that they weren't more than a fling. That song is for a couple that is mature and been through a lot, not for a couple in the rush of new love that might or might not last. I learned my lesson after using "He's So Shy" for Jake(yes, for Jake) in Be Rad to be a little more careful and thoughtful about the music pics. There is seriously a method to the madness here.

To be fair, however, a lot of buildings on the East Coast are pretty old, especially in the New York/Philly/D.C. area, and they can't really take strong earthquakes. I think that was the concern more than anything.

You obviously have never been put in a situation where you had to grow up in a school teaming with teenaged divas. Trust me, JJ could be much, much worse. I'm thinking it is pretty much what Will said it is- JJ's bothered by Gathan getting attention, and they just clash with each other. The Zach/JJ theory is interesting, but I can't really see where Zach would have gotten the time alone with JJ because JJ gets very little time to socialize, or that he would have even had the interest in JJ's pre-pubescent body. Shrimps don't get much interest from 10th grade guys- only the developed ones like Will and John get that. I remember pretty distinctly that, in 8th grade, the only girls who were dating high school guys were the girls who looked like women, not girls who still looked 11 or 12.

Well, if Will's middle-aged hookup is "Scott Slater", that's not so bad. Anything over Cody. I did like Scott being brutally honest about Will's summer fling. If he wants to play with the big boys and have sex, fine, but don't whine every time it doesn't work out like a 12-year old girl despairing over her first crush not calling her back. I liked that Gathan refused to take Will's money. It's probably for the best that he'll be on a strict budget for college; can't have too many distractions.

Chapter 36 -On the ride back, where Gathan realizes he's 70k in debt. -When we meet up with Scott Slater, who is now living in Hawaii. -When Will realizes he's been dumped again, and Scott tells him to snap out of it.

"I have Maryland Pride."

I was sitting on my coach watching the movie "Frequency"- I thought it was a strong gust of wind that hit the house, but then a trophy fell down from the top of hutch in our living room.

See, in the Nifty stories, though, it's always that the straight guy turns gay, falls for you, then you two move in together and adopt children while getting married in some state that accepts gay marriage. So that's where the Nifty Gay Man's Cinderella Effect failed you. LOL.

Hey, would you happen to have a large collection of shirtless pictures? I adore a nice, hairy and muscular chest.

I call the idea that straight men will fall for you the "Nifty's Gay Man's Cinderella Effect". It CAN happen, like Matt falling in love with Andy in Cross-Currents and Brian falling for Sam in It Started With Brian, but it takes a long, great love for that to happen, and I wouldn't get your hopes up. The more realistic situation is with happened with Andy and his friend Trey in Cross-Currents- Trey admitted that sex with him was only really enjoyable because he was closing his eyes and picturing girls, and that in the end he'd never feel the same way. And JWolf, I get what you're saying...but it wasn't a long-term relationship, was it? It's not like you guys got settled down to marry or anything like that. Does he still consider himself straight or has he come out as bi or gay? Kinda curious.

It's not about my own happiness, though. I've been part of a television discussion forum since I was 13, and the continual theme I've picked up on is that people absolutely despise the practice of "recycling" old plotlines from television shows, which usually happens when a t.v. show has been on for a long time. Little House on the Prairie was unabashedly proud of ripping off their own older storylines and playing them out again with younger characters- they basically replayed the Laura Ingalls/Nellie Oleson rivalry with Jenny Wilder, played by Shannen Doherty doing her damnedest impression of Melissa Gilbert, and Nancy, an orphan who was dressed exactly like Alison Arngrim's character with everyone commenting on how much she was like Nellie. It was really obvious and desperate, reeking of lazy writing by people who didn't want to work on creating new characters with entirely different dynamics. It would be boring and repetitive if this new generation that Mark has set up goes through all of the same stuff that Brad/Robbie/Ace/Claire went through during their youth, or what JP/Stefan/Jeff went through in theirs. I don't think any of us want to see Will staring in his own version of Be Rad, because that story was done right the first time around. I don't think anyone wants a repeat of Bloodlines, either, because it was done right the first time and there's no point in repeating the story. Mark's done a good job of NOT falling into that writer trap, and it seems like he's taking the JJ/Will/Darius/Gathan/Matt/Wade etc etc generation into places we haven't gone to before. I mean, there are callbacks, but he's done a great job of not trying to recreate his older work, which I think we can all appreciate. If we get to a point where there's nothing new to say, or a place to take these characters that we haven't done before, it's probably best to end the series.

No, that would be Lou, the hot french kid who's about Marcel's age. Lou had a drug problem during his early 20's, but he got help and is currently working as a new anchor in Canada. We most recently saw him in Bloodlines, where he pretended to be Matt's boyfriend at the country club to piss off Matt's parents. Brad met Max at a college party in 1985. Wade did indeed meet Matt at Stanford in 1998 because they are teammates. Sam was a bellhop student that J.P. met in 1968 who got denied tenure at Stanford in '80, and that was a factor in the demise of their relationship. Roger was a guy who worked on a vineyard in 1973 that was slated to be developed into houses- Stefan got the idea to build the development around the vineyard because he realized that it would allow the guy to keep his vineyard and increase property values. Roger died in 1985 from AIDS. Greg and Stefan met in '73 as well through all the crazy Hollywood parties, and he died in 1995 from a heart attack. Her name is Jackie. She is notorious for throwing big drunken Hollywood orgies. We last saw her in Millenium, throwing one of her parties in which Hilary Swank was having a threesome and Aaron Eckhart was getting plowed. If Mark goes through with having Ella becoming an actress, it would make sense to bring her back. Although getting to know Ella better by now, I'm not sure that'd be the right thing for her. Honestly, with the amount of characters that are currently on the canvas, I can't see what the point would be in suddenly mentioning the help, who probably came and go because they're not live-ins J.P.'s nanny, I think it was Vella, made sense in mentioning because he grew up with her, as did Sam, her son. Sam got a mention in the last story. The only California help they've had that's been mentioned throughout would be the chauffer.

See, I'm sure it will happen, but in some ways it will feel gratuitious. He's already in love. Gathan's never felt like a guy who's on the order of Andy in Cross-Currents; someone who needs to have sex with both men and women to feel complete. He really is one of those guys for whom gender doesn't factor into his attractions. I don't mind Gathan screwing around with guys, so long as he and Kristin end up together in the end. LOL. We've already met Sam's son. His son is named Tony, he's 18, and he's a rich jock from the suburbs from St. Louis. He and Gathan had a little fun. Tony will be coming out to Stanford in the fall. Seriously, can we retire Stanford after this point? It's been so used. Mark, didn't you say once that you wanted to spread out the characters among colleges? You did just that for the Be Rad crew. Time for new colleges when it's time for the Class of '04 to graduate. Although that discussion is for another time since JJ, Will, and Marie are just freshman, while John is in 8th grade. Mark and I did the research- in Man In Motion, Sam's son Anthony was mentioned as being about Darius's age: June 12, 1985 We drove over to Sam's house in the Italian section of town, “The Hill.” JP had told me that Sam lived near his parents, and had a pretty wife, Maria, who was at least ten years younger than him, and two kids, Anthony and Julia. Anthony was about the same age as Darius, while Julia was younger. By nature of Gathan being truly bisexual and not emotionally gay the way Matt is, things have to be different. Gathan is also from an entirely different background than Matt is from. It can't be a repeat of Bloodlines II for those reasons. Trust me, Mark's writing team will get on him if we feel that he's repeating the same story. I was worried that Mark would turn this current generation into a sequel of Be Rad, but so far it's been entirely different, which I'm happy about.