methodwriter85

That wouldn't be the issue so much as it is that JJ has to be extremely careful about what he gets into because of the squeaky clean image he has to maintain as a figure skater. What if someone snapped a photo of him at a rave? That wouldn't go down well with his sponsors and the judges- look at the crap that Michael Phelps had to deal with because he was photographed with a bong. Olympic sports seem extremely obsessed with maintaining a family-friendly image, particularly figure skating and gymnastics. I think most of the drug experimentation/partying he'll do is either going to be behind closed doors with people he trusts, or when he visits places like Amsterdam. I think that was the point- it was only really an allure if you didn't actually live in the ghetto. I lived in it, so it wasn't appealing to me. My sister's high school boyfriend grew up in white upper-middle class suburbia, and it appealed to him and he got really into being thug. We called them "wankstas". I just remember the whole "urban" look was really in until the O.C. and Kanye West brought back prep, and also created "thug" prep. Around 2003 I remember guys started wearing Ralph Lauren polo shirts and feathered hair like it was 1981 or something. Matt, thanks for the videos. I've seen them before. I really liked the Last Day of School one. It was 2009, so there's only really a five year difference, and there wasn't a huge fashion shift in the 2000's, The only real difference between that video and how guys dressed when I went to high school was the fitted plaid shirts and the lack of short-sleeved shirts over long-sleeved shirts. Layering was key from about 2002 to 2006, I think.

JJ is fourteen, and he looks 12. That might make it more of a problem- I think John and Will would have it easier to get into a club because they look more mature. But eh. I'm sure if JJ slips a hundred dollar bill to a bouncer he'll get in. The problem with JJ becoming a socialite ala Paris Hilton is the fact that he's a figure skater, and he's got to project a family-friendly, virginal image at all times. He can't really get away with openly going out to clubs or hinting that he has pre-marital sex, at least not at this point in his career. They were big in Philadelphia, too. The drug of choice was stuff like X or Special K...cocaine wasn't really cool anymore. My sister did club promotions for raves circa 2000-2002. I remember being in 9th grade, and this girl was talking about how she went out to Philadelphia for raves on the weekends. I saw the movie that was based on- Alpha Dog. They made it seem like this was a generation of rich white kids who had grown up idolizing hip-hop and the ghetto fab image, and thus they imitated the thugs- until they were no longer imitating and actually had become that way. There was also another movie, called Havoc, which depicted Anne Hathaway as a Pacific Palisades Princess who gets caught up in the L.A. gang scene. The writer based it on the phenonomenon of a rich kid subculture in which they tried acting gangster. Urban was definitely "in" on the East Coast. Not so sure about the West, though those movies make it seem like that was the case as well. As Adam once said to me, "Everybody wanted to be black." Here's a really cool video, Mark. It's Orange County, so it's not quite the same area, but it makes you feel like you're seeing what typical SoCal teens are like in their natural environment.

You have NOTHING to apologize for, Cent. Nothing. You have been expressisng your opinion in a pretty respectful way, and you do not deserve to get berated by people from this forum for your opinion.

It does seem like to be a politician, you need to be married, or at least settled down. I would guess that Gathan would need to settle down with a female, but it's not that far-fetched anymore to have a mayor who has a life partner. You're right though. Gathan can't look like he's a slut. He can be a slut behind closed doors, but he has to look like a happily married man, by the time we're talking 2008 and Nick's leaving the mayorhood. (We'll say that Claremont has a two four year terms.)

Does he have to end up with an particular person? The slut thing seems to be working quite well for Cody.

I'm with you in being bothered by Stefan's behavior, but I'm kinda just shrugging my shoulders and going, 'It's Stefan. He likes to have sex with teenagers, so why not his grandson's love interest?" I'm sure when Courtney's guy friends are old enough(let's say 16 in 2011), Stefan will start flirting with them and having sex with them as well. His grandkids are going to supply him with a fresh batch of young teenagers to have sex with for years to come.

Hey, I have a friend who plans on eventually penning an online tale for a story that involves fictional kids who go to Gunn High School(located at Palo Alto, CA), and graduate in 2004/2005. He wrote about the setting in 1980, but I figured the school has changed since then. I thought I'd help him out and go straight to the source. I just had some questions about what Gunn High kids were like, circa 2005... *** 1. Could a guy be openly gay at Gunn High School without it being a big deal? 2. What kind of cars did the rich kids drive? Was it mainly SUV type stuff, like Hummers? 3. How preppy is the school? Did kids there dress really preppy, or was it a lot more laidback? What were the popular clothing brands? 4. What is the socioeconomic/racial mix of the school like? Lots of rich white kids, or is it more diverse than that? 5. What were the popular slang terms? 6. What were the popular hang-outs? 7. What was the academic environment like? Was it high-pressure where kids were chained to their homework, or could you still have a social life? 8. What was the social life like? 9. How many class periods were there? What would you be expected to take as a college-bound freshman vs. a college-bound senior? 10. Is there anything about Gunn High's culture that sticks out in your mind?

Will's an extremely realistic teenager. Bright, but a know-it-all, and a strong sense of "I know I'm right and the adults around me are wrong." Will needs to make a huge mistake at some point about something, I think.

Chapter 6 -When the family lays their praise for Gathan on thick. "Larger Than Life" by The Backstreet Boys -When Will and John fool around. "Take A Picture" by Filter -When the meeting Dallas ends with Gathan getting shot. "Freak on A Leash" by Korn

Liam Hemsworth would make a damn good Hayes boy, I think. He has that total Teddy Bear quality to his face and demeanor that a Hayes boy needs to have. Maybe Liam could be Zach?

Thanks for the input. I was going with Tommy's assertion there that the look was beach-grubby instead of preppy...that's why I figured Will would avoid preppy clothes and dress more skater, except on the days he needs to wear a suit. The videos I've seen of Malibu High students seemed to back up Tommy's "not preppy at all" assessment of the fashion there. And I was going with my own experience that skater/surf boys(cue Avril Lavigne) would never dress preppy, and preppy boys wouldn't dress skater. But I guess I should have asked the people from that area. Do you agree with my DKNY/Urban Outfitters assessment for JJ? He kinda comes off as someone who would dress just a little too mature and chic for his age, as if to make up for being so short and looking so young. As for John, he does seem like a total Abercrombie Boy. In fact, I bet he looks just like an AF model named Colton Haynes... Anyway, it's fascinating to learn about the different styles going on at different schools at the same time. At my school, the look was either hip-hop with stuff like Roccawear and Timbaland, or baggy Tommy Hilfiger/Nautica, or the AF/American Eagle stuff, or the skater punk look. Oh, and I learned something that might be important to the story- http://www.malibuhig...servicelearning Malibu High School requires kids to do twenty hours of community service each year. I'm guessing JJ will get out those hours by teaching kids at the skating rink, while Will is going to work at the WeHo mission. Maybe the community service stuff will get JJ to act just a little less bitch?

I already used "Number 1 Crush", for a scene from Bloodlines, I believe. Thanks though, it's a good one. Here's one I hope I can find something for:

So if Will won't shop PacSun, he would definitely never wear Abercrombie and Fitch or Hollister, right? I see that look more of the domain of John Hobart, and maybe JJ on days he's feeling casual and not feeling the DKNY/Urban Outffiters look. I'm seeing him wearing stuff like Quiksilver, DC, Volcom, Etnies, etc. He'd also like Vintage concert tees layered over long-sleeved shirts. Anything I'm missing? Also, do they wear Dickies pants in CA, or is that more of an East Coast thing? I knew skater/punk guys who wore that look, but it might be more of an East Coast deal. I'm kinda surprised Barney still means a derogatory thing. I figured "How I Met Your Mother" would have turned being a Barney into a cool thing.

I remember hearing once about the Rutgers Rash, the school's own STI. I guess it makes sense now.

Well, you still have that option, but there's probably going to be at least a four-to-five year age gap. It doesn't sound like much, but I have siblings that range from being three to eight years older than me...they didn't really "grow up" with me since I was too young to attend middle school/high school with them.

You're getting a taste of my own feeling, Blue. See, for the most part, 2000 is a weird transition year for music, where things were still pretty much in either the boyband mode or the Limp Bizkit mode. Some good stuff is coming out, like Moby, Linkin Park and Eminem, but 2000 was just not that good of a music year. 2001 and 2003 were much, much better music years- I'm dying to use Alicia Keyes, but I can't yet. And I can backfill, but I'm also finding that I'm reusing a lot of tunes that I've already used because Mark fit three stories, two of which were really long, all set in the last two years of the '90s. Now you get why I begged and pleaded with Mark to at least move the story to January '01. But did he listen to me? Nooo....(I still love you Mark.)

It was fun doing the music recs for this "spoof" chapter. To go along with Mark, I posted songs that all came out after 2000- "If Today Was Your Last Day" came out in 2008, "Wait" came out in 2005, and "The Scientist" is from 2002. Basiscally, if you've been following my music selections, I NEVER use a song that did not exist in the year the story takes place. I might use a song that was released in November 2000 for a scene taking place in March 2000, but I won't use any 2001 music until we reach January 2001. (Which better not take fifty chapters, Jeremy says somewhat menacingly to Mark.) It gets really frustrating sometimes, especially if I come across music I'd love to use for a scene but check it, and find that it came out in 2001 or 2002, but it's an integrity that I've been keeping since Day 1. I remember doing "Be Rad" and there was a ton of 1981 music I wanted to use, but couldn't because Mark kept the guys in 1980 for like thirty-eight chapters or something like that.

Ha. Now that was fun. No, I'm not leaving graduate school. Not until I have that degree in my hand. I told my real-life friend Seth that I was getting kicked out of school, and he believed me. It was a great April Fool's day. LOL.

Here's what would have happened in my parody chapter... 1. Brad and Jack have sex, because their sons getting together make them realize all of the sexual tension they've had over the past twenty years. Just for the hell of it, Ace joins in. 2. We skip over to 2003, because I'm sick of doing music for the 1998-2000 era. 3. A now-senior Will and a junior John take each other to the Malibu High prom, and JJ winds up taking a guy and a girl. (Okay, this one could actually happen.) 4. Matt Carrswold drops out of of the Wharton School of Business to pursue his secret dream of becoming a mime in Paris. Wade gets sick in their Paris apartment and dies of consumption, but not before becoming a nightclub singer, entertaing people with his renditions of "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and "Your Song". 5. Darius and Gathan have hot sex while Ella films it for a porn site called "Str8 Bait". 6. Jeff Hayes's spirit comes back for a day, and absolves JP Crampton of his guilt. Then they have ghost sex ala Grey's Anatomy. 7. Stephen Schluter comes back with Aaron Hayes, and it turned out that they DID fake deaths with one another. Because Stephen couldn't face Stefan, he hid in another hut while Aaron put on one hell of a performance. Stefan and Stephen have incest sex in order to heal their wounded lives. 8. Sam turns out to be alive...or...well...undead. You see, he became a vampire as his maker took pity on him while he was dying of AIDS. He's been living his vampire life in Miami, and because of a ring, he's able to walk in the sunlight. He's built a clan of vampires- usually a bunch of vamps who were teenagers when they were turned, and so he's become their "Dad" while they pretend to go to high school. His "son", we'll call him Ted, is a broody vampire with an addiction to hair gel. He looks 18 even though he's really 109 years old. One day, Ted run into Marie Hobart, who's spending spring break in Florida with some friends. Marie gets hassled by some guy at a club, and Ted uses his vampire strength to save her. It becomes love at first sight....

Well, he also didn't say that Will would wear Abercrombie, so we were both wrong. And he'd definitely would wear Volcom, DC, and Quiksilver. I was only wrong about where Will would buy his clothes, not what kind of clothes he'd wear. Abercrombie would not be on his general "to wear" list, I don't think. For John Hobart, yes, but not him. As for JJ, I'm thinking DKNY, Urban Outfitters, and Armani Exchange. He'd also collect a lot of Louis Vuitton and Prada bags.

Chapter 6 -When the plan crashes down, killing everyone onboard. "If Today Was Your Last Day" by Nickelback http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Pe-Eosmk6oE -When Will and John get freaky with Cody. "Wait" by the Ying-Yang Twins (uncensored remix) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JEWNkb18HY&feature=related -When JP talks to another sexy professor about how the balance needs to be restored. "The Scientist" by Coldplay

I talked to my advisor today, and told her that I was planning on dropping out of graduate school. Going back over my blog, all I ever do is worry about school, and how hard it is, and how much I need to get my grades up. And for what? To service some future self? Become chained to the hell that is academia for another year of my life? I've been in school since 1991. Maybe it's time to finally say good-bye to it all? I was watching an episode of this show called Greek, and the character of Casey decided that she wanted to leave law school, and just go off to D.C. and find herself there. It made me think about my own life, and how maybe, just maybe...I can just go off to a new area and find myself without worry about grades, or papers...and just...be. I plan on selling everything I have, buying a beat-up old van, and traveling the country. Work some odd jobs here and there, and just enjoy my life. I might get into street performance art...

Hey, something I was wondering about. Would a surfer/skater kid like Will wear Abercrombie & Fitch every now and then, or would he have just basically stuck to PacSun stuff like Quiksilver and DC? My instinct would say no, because the skater kids I knew avoided preppy clothing like the plague, and were anti-Abercrombie. I see Will as a guy who will wear a suit and tie when necessary, but avoids preppy stuff like A&F for casual wear. I see him more likely wearing fitted plaid shirts and Dickies with a pair of Etnies, not a guy who wears Abercrombie polos, shorts, and flip-flops. But I could be wrong, and I thought I'd bring that up for discussion. My experience in high school was that someone generally stuck to a certain look and certain brands, as brand-name labels were HUGE in this era. I didn't see skater kids dress preppy, and I never saw preppy A&F boys dressed skater. Tommy didn't mention Abercrombie being a popular brand at Malibu High, either. My guess would be that Will shops at PacSun, John shops at Abercrombie, JJ likes Urban Outfitters and Armani Exchange, Gathan dresses in baggy Tommy Hilfiger and Nautica, Wade shops Banana Republic, and Matt likes J. Crew, The Gap, and Abercrombie. But I'm more than willing to be proven wrong here. Maybe SoCal kids are better about mixing up brands than East Coast kids? Am I wrong in my impression that Will would generally not wear Abercrombie?

Agreed. Marcel explicitly stated he doesn't like kids, and he didn't have them. Lou doesn't come off as someone who would have kids, either. Max and Tim seriously come off as the parental type, though. I'd kinda like for Claire to serve as a surrogate. I could see her doing something that cool. I also can't see Max and especially not Tim having sex with a woman to get her pregnant. I strictly see them doing the surrogacy method. IVF was defnitely around in 2000.

All I can say is thank god Jeanine and Tiffany are responsible for the parenting of the "twins". We know Jeanine's a good parent, and Tiffany will likely be a good one given how much she works with kids. I can't see Cody keeping a pet bunny alive, much less a child. With the exception of Brian, I can't think of any character less suited to be a dad Although hopefully if Cody is the dad, that means Will isn't inevitably going to have sex with Cody when he's 18 like I figured Mark would write. Having sex with a guy who's the father of your half-sister is just a little bit awkward. I'd rather Mark get out his whole "every teenage boy must have sex with a middle-aged person" deal by having Will get it on with Max during some low point Max is having with Tim. Max is pretty likeable, if ultimately boring.