methodwriter85

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.

I gotta agree that's it's weird that Will would call Robbie by his first name. I get Matt calling him Robbie, because "Dad" to Matt Carrswold is Dr. Carrswold. But Robbie's been helping with raising Will since Day 1, and it's weird that Will would call him Robbie instead of "pop" or "dad". Unless, of course, Mark is trying to de-emphasize Will having a Hayes for a father to make it less weird for him to have a Hayes as a love interest. That's a pretty common tactic in soaps, because of how bizarrely related all the soap family characters tend to be. Finally, for a lesbian Jeanine sure does like having sex with men. When she has the daughter(they need another girl for Gen 4), I'm hoping Jeanine names her "Gail". I could see her being down with that, as she seemed pretty fond of Tonto. And naming the baby "Gail" would be a great way for Mark to intro a flashback where Will remembers Tonto dying when he was seven or so in 1993 or 1994.

Ant so far gives off the "hook-up" vibe and not the "relationship" vibe. I'm still not seeing why Gathan would need a "true love" at the age of 18, but I guess someone's gotta stand by his side when he runs to become the youngest mayor in Claremont history in 2008.

I figured there was a reason why you put in that little line in "Man in Motion" about how Sam had a son that was Darius's age. When you made Darius straight, it made me re-think my guess, but now it all makes sense. Ant basically seems like your typical fun jock guy destined to join a richboy frat. Nothing too terribly interesting, but I'll reserve judgement before I get a better sense of what Ant's like. Can he be into like ultimate frisbee or something a little bit off-beat so that he's not just a cookie-cutter jock type? I'll even take him being a covert graffiti artist.

Chapter 5 -When Will tries to defuse the tension between Tiffany and Jeanine in the kitchen. "Smile" by Vitamin C -When John and Will...reconcile. "Back Here" by BBMak BBMak. God, they were cute. -When Gathan meets Sam's son, Ant, cruises around with him, and has some fun. "Boyz in Da Hood" by Dynamite Hacks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMlPVpXtkJY I was going to go with something else, but this made me laugh my ass off. And it makes sense if you have the image of rich white kids trying to act like they're black. Very, very common occurence for that time period. I'm betting Ant blasted mostly hip-hop on that Camaro's sound system.

When JJ gets his own story I'm sure Mark will work to redeem him. Remember, he's fourteen and in an environment that encourages diva behavior. I think when he starts having setbacks-like realizing he can't make the 2002 Salt Lake City games- he'll start to come down to Earth. I don't think Mark's going to turn a legacy character into an unredeemable villain. And I agree that he's not a good match. with anyone. Figure skaters, from what I understand, generally tend to say out of serious relationships until they retire. All the traveling would impede a relationship, and you're suppose to look like you don't know what sex is, much less that you're having it.

I have some acquaintances from high school. One got an article write-up about landing a role in a professional production of Romeo and Juliet. The other one, who works tech, is apparently going to work scifi effects for a Disney movie. Another hasn't had anything big happen, but she is really working toward her goal of breaking it into the movie business in Hollywood. It just had me thinking, about when I was fifteen years old and really wanted to be an actor. I wanted to be in movies- maybe an indie film star with a career as the quirky supporting character. Or, in a dream fuled by my visit to NYC, an actor living in some hip artist colony. Roughing it out in some starving artist studio, living on nothing but dream and ambition as I moved from audition to audition. At some points we'd break into song about our inability to pay rent for our outrageously overpriced apartments. I used to read monologue book after monologue book...poured over acting tip help books, and I even majored in acting during high school. I wanted to be famous. I wanted to make magic...be something bigger than I am. I wanted to take an entire crowd of people and move them so much with my acting that it'd stay with them for awhile. Somewhere along the line, it dawned on me that it wouldn't happen. I'm an okay actor but nothing amazing, and to be honest the lack of stability would have driven me crazy. The history field isn't exactly booming, but if you keep searching for a few years, you'll find something. Acting- you can be in there for a decade and get nothing booked. I didn't want to take the gamble, and I found that in the end, doing the history field fufilled me in a way better than trying to be an actor would have been. Still, every once in awhile...I see friends who are out pursuing dreams we all shared when we went to high school together, and there's just this little twinge. Likely envy, possibly regret...but mostly pride in these people who took a gamble and are doing what they can to make their dreams come true. Any of you ever have this feeling? It's kind of an odd feeling and I'm not sure I'm describing it correctly, but there's something about seeing people you grew up with really chasing the big dreams and lofty ambitions that you once shared with them. I'm glad for them that they figured out what they want out of life and are going for it...but it makes me wonder what my dreams are now. I don't really know anymore. I'll try to keep you guys posted when I figure mine out. I'm curious to see if anyone's been in a similar place.

Ugh. You remind me of Adam Phillips. You're both similiar in your inability to admit being wrong. LOL. Anyway, this is random, but did you hear about the Sigma Kappa who had sex with a girl on a roof and it got broadcast? It's apparently big USC news. I gotta admit, this almost blows away the Duke University Sex List. Almost. After hearing about that, I really do think Darius belongs at USC. I can so clearly see Darius joining a frat and having sex with a girl on the roof.

This is what I want for my wedding song, to whatever guy I end up with. I figure my future husband would get the humor of playing this song to a shocked wedding crowd.

Tim, you said John should be in the class of 2004 because he starts 9th grade in 2001. You were wrong. Just please say you were wrong about something so I can feel good. j/k

Didn't catch this one before, but John would still be the class of 2005. He'd start 12th grade in fall '04 but graduate by spring '05. Dude, I'm in the class of '05. I know early/mid-00's high school. And I did my research. I started kindgergarten in 1991, which landed me in the class of 2004. But then I had to repeat the first grade because my reading levels were behind(I think it might have just been ADD), and that landed me with the class of '05. And therein debates the great grade debate.

A blond version of this for JJ? This is Gaspard Ulliel. He looks more masculine now, but at this point he looked femme enough for JJ. You're really stumping me on JJ, Mark. I thought Sterling Knight hit close enough, but apparently not. I thought Jonathan Taylor Thomas as well, but his look is too exotic.

Alright. Maybe there'll be some incidents, but for the most part, I think Will's going to get shoulder shrugs and people saying, "You're gay? It's whatever." Those who object will likely just ignore him. From what I understand, he'll get most of the shit from OC people, which is apparently a very homophobic area. It's not surprising that Drew's parents kicked him out, from what I've heard about it. But for the most part Will's not having a dramatic coming-out process, which is why I think Mark created Zach. Zach's coming-out(if indeed it ever actually happens) is going to be extremely tough if not possible, since Zach seems headed to pro football. The other thing I thought about is that besides it being 1980, Brad's coming out process was dramatic because Brad couldn't handle not being at the top of the social heap in school. He needed that power, and couldn't deal with not having it. I don't see Will as being that interested in being Mr. Popular or doing what needs to be done to maintain it. Will's probably going to be well-liked, but not the social king at school. He'll have his friends but I doubt he's throwing the big ragers that everyone in the school goes to. Since he doesn't care that much about what people think about him. Will's coming-out process is made easier because he doesn't need everyone's approval. As for Stefan, I've accepted that it's a given that Stefan is going to have sex with barely-legal teenagers. I just skim over that stuff.

So maybe the compromise is 15? Will can lose his virginity at the same time as 9/11. THAT could be interesting. Near-death experience getting him to get it on.

Huh? This is 2000, not 1990. Will's part of that generation of kids where the parents started to getting much more overprotective, that whole "Trophy Kid" generation. The kids of the late 90's and the 2000's are wholly scheduled with activities and high expectations. College gets much harder to get into, so that's one part of it, but it's also that Baby Boomer parents were determined to be much more caring parents than theirs were. I wouldn't call Brad a helicopter parent, but Will's bound to be friends with people that have them.

I think it's because for the most part, Will seems mature enough to handle having sex. Although how he handles the emotions that come with it still remains to be seen. As long as it's with someone within a year of his age, I'm generally fine with it. I don't see him as a love 'em and leave 'em type. He comes off more as someone who really wants a steady boyfriend, and I suppose it'll be John. Gathan won't work not just because of the age, but because he's in college and that is completely different life stage. I don't see Gathan in any way being able to handle a steady relationship. I could see Will being able to do that, though. John could probably handle that as long as he was kept on a short leash.

Seriously? You're black? I had you pegged as being a WASP kid from Richardson, Texas or something. Hmm.

It's unfortunate but it might wind up being better to just have an only child. They get more focus, and they tend to be more mature and better at interacting with adults.

That'd be a great scenario, but from what I understand about Malibu High, Will coming out of the closet is going to be pretty much a non-event. It would have been at my high school, too. You didn't get anything dramatic like what Brad got when he came out at Gunn High School in 1980. Will might get ignored, but for the most part no one is going to care. That's why Mark created Zach, to have the guy who has a hard time coming out because of his internal homophobia, ala Andy in Cross-Currents.

Amazingly good point. JJ was so boring when he was just the bubbly kid who was nice to everyone. Here, I feel like he's going to make a good, entertaining foil. He's a brat, but he's not evil, and he's not anything I haven't encountered during my years of being involved in the performing arts scene.

Right. I'm just trying to piece together why I think SF would be wrong for someone like JJ, and why Chicago, NYC, Paris, or London seem like better fits. I don't know, JJ doesn't seem like a San Francisco guy, either. I think NYC or Paris would fit him the best- I could see his bitchiness really fitting in with French people. (Seriously, the woman who played Nellie on Little House on the Prairie is loved there because they all just assume Nellie's bitchiness is just her being French.)

Other than "With Arms Wide Open", "Californification", and "Voodoo", I've never used any of those songs, so thanks! I totally forgot about Weezer's Green album coming out in 2001. "Hash Pipe" and "Island in the Sun" will be fun to use.

Actually, if JJ lives in a condo with garage parking, that wouldn't even actually be a problem. Oh, "Lose Yourself" is going in for when JJ does a skating performance. It's without a doubt going to be used. I think I'm getting really antsy with Mark about trying to get the story to move faster because we're just behind the point where A LOT of my favorite music starts coming out. But 2000 is a year I'm somewhat meh on. 2003, however- soooo much good stuff I can use. It makes sense- 2000 was a transitional year for music, and 2003 was where I felt like the music had finally lost it's 90's flavor and we had really moved on to something different. Not always better, but defnitely different.

Is it just me, or does Jackie sound a helluva lot like Jeanine Graves?*strokes chin*

Alright, Tim and Blue have me thinking about music that I'm not that familiar with because I wasn't part of the raver/club/trance scene when I was fourteen years old in 2000. I was more into the Blink 182/Pappa Roach sorta stuff. So I thought I'd start a thread where people could post songs they'd like for me to try and include; songs I haven't used yet. I know I'm using Linkin Park and Eminem; that's a given. Since PMS is set in 2000, I'm looking for songs that came out from about 1999 to 2001. Here's a more obscure song I know for sure I'm using: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPfmsiGXCWY&feature=related Somehow I don't think I'll have a hard time finding a spot for this song.