methodwriter85

If there's a club scene or a party scene, I try to add club songs in. Did you not see my Chemical Brothers selection for the New Year's chapter?

Chapter 47 -When Lark shows up to give them some dirt, and Brad decides to help his old friend. "Bent" by Matchbox 20

Yeah, that bond goes deep.There's something about your high school friends that never really goes away. I'm glad Lark got brought back- maybe not to redeem him totally- but at least so that we see a glimmer of the nice surfer guy he was in 1980, not the crazed trader he was in 1991.

Here's a guy I think would make a good JJ- Sterling Knight...he's part of the Disney tween show circuit, but he's actually 22 years old. I could EASILY see a middle school version of this guy getting picked on for being cute in a femme way.

Actually, if anything, I think JJ will develop an eating disorder.

Thanks guys! I couldn't do much for my birthday because I had a paper to write, but I'm planning on doing something this weekend, plus my family's taking me out for dinner when I get home for winter break. Thanks again!

Yeah, I did, thanks. Although I'm actually a JR, not a JJ. My parents were extremely big fans of the nightime soap Dallas, apparently. So in case some people didn't catch that, JJ and I share the exact same birthday. Mark was sneaky about that- Bitty was due to give birth in February 1986, and she wound up giving birth about six or seven weeks early so that JJ's birth could coincide with my own. At one time that would have put his life in danger, but by the 1980's technology had improved enough that a preemie could survive. (If you're wondering, no I was not a preemie, I was right on the dot.) I was delighted at the line about Bitty going into labor on that Saturday, and was happy when I checked the 1985 calendar and saw that it did indeed fall on my birthday. I was incredibly touched by Mark's tribute, and continue to be glad to have count Mark among my friends. Now, enough with the mushy stuff. Let's talk about JJ going into rehab for his painkiller addiction and getting sued by Johnny Weir for slapping him on the face.

Why would we have to choose here, Tim? You're talking about an author that included a scene where Aaron Eckhart learns to be a little more tolerant around gays, Joaquin Phoenix jokingly flirts Brad, and Hilary Swank gets into an orgy. (No wonder she forgot to thank her husband at the Oscars!) Speaking of the Oscars, since we're going to get into March, I'm assuming Mark will put some passing scene about them, as the Cramptons/Schluters ALWAYS note the Oscars if the story covers March. I'm imagining that Robbie will absolutely be kicking himself when American Beauty sweeps the Oscars. Of course, the fact that Gladiator and Erin Brokovich will win big next year is going to comfort him, but he won't know that just yet. LOL.

I never got the impression that Tiffany got that far into figure skating. She was just giving lessons at a rink. I'm assuming that Tiffany is just a regular coach for a kiddie company, which is why Tiffany passed JJ on to El Segundo because she realized he was too good to just bum around the LA Galaxy skating rink. It would explain why Tiffany's trying to get pregnant now- she either retired by her early 20's or she was just never good enough for a serious career. It would actually be an interesting running plot if Tiffany was trying to vicariously live through JJ, hence pumping him full of the Olympic Dream that ain't going to come true until at least '06. It'd be cool to see JJ at the '02 Olympics, watching and learning from the masters. I'm glad he wouldn't get into the Village though- from what I understand, it's one big orgy, and JJ would be newly 16...and...no. Now, if we're talking about when he's 20 at Torino, that'd be an entirely different ballgame. And thank you for your thoughts, Daisy! Mark always welcomes technical input from people whenever he dips into a field that he's not particularly an expert with, and I'm glad we have you here to make sure Mark depicts the figure skating culture in a believable manner. You've already helped- like pointing out that JJ can't already be a Junior, that coaches wouldn't really be bandying about the "O" word for a 13-year old year old for an Olympics over six years away or pointing out the impossibility of JJ making the 2002 Olympics. It's pretty valuable info, and we're glad to have you here!

Coke? That's so '80s. If JJ is snortng anything, it's crushed up Adderall.

So I'm five and twenty now. Crazy, huh? When I was seventeen, I used to look at 25-year olds and think of them as wise sages who were so full of life experiences from which I could draw important life lessons from. Now *I'm* the 25-year old, and it just feels weird. I was a guy who thought 19 would be forever, and now I'm halfway through my twenties. This night a year ago, I was getting drunk with my buddy Steve at my favorite bar. Now I'll be spending this birthday pretty much just writing a paper for a class. I'll do the real celebration this weekend plus a family dinner when I get home for Christmas, I think, but still...why the hell did my birthday have to fall on a Tuesday? *pouts* 24 was a pretty good year. I had some great memories....the last semester of senior year had some great memories. The final Skidfest felt like closure for me. Hanging out with Steve at Buffalo Wild Wings, Deer Park, and La Tonaltecca. Then chilling at Dickinson. Vic's graduation party also brought some closure. Italian with Justin. The fun of my public history senior seminar and the internship at Hagley. My seminar with Heyrman. Graduation. My end-of-summer hangout with Steve, Justin, and Tony at Cleveland Ave. Getting into grad school, and starting anew. The new challenges and the new friends and new situations in a new place...not all good, but definitely not all bad. I took a leap of faith after graduation and picked going to this school...and so far, it's worked out pretty well. So now...I just look forward to seeing how 25 rolls out.

Plus, if you think about it- if the hot dude doesn't appear to try at all, it's incredibly likely that when he hits 30 and the body starts to change, he's likely to just let himself go completely.

Hey everyone, let's go ahead and wish JJ Schluter a happy 25th birthday! Hopefully he's having a lot more fun than working on some comparative book review for grad school. I'm betting he spent this birthday in Paris, shopping and partying at some discreet club, having a ball, getting absolutely wasted on fine white wine. *looks at Mark and Sharon's smirk* Hey, I can get away with this. It's perfectly within reason at this board to start birthday threads for Mark's characters.

That could be pretty cool. Will the openly gay water polo player. Nice.

I'm pretty sure it's Unitarian.

Also, to go with "history", a number of the Malibu High Class of 2005 went off to schools in Colorado...so...I'm just saying. JJ's probably destined to have a really bitchy rivalry with Johnny Weir. And it'll be hilarious. I could see Brad and Robbie arranging for JJ to at least visit the 2002 Olympic games in Utah, to cheer him up a little after he realizes that he just doesn't have the credentials to get into '02. As for '06, I really, really hope that JJ runs into this guy at Torino: Jeremy Bloom. *drools*

Good points, Dragon! I added in 2004-2005 since that's senior year for JJ and Will, and they had some big events- the '04 election, the Asian tsunami, as well as Hurricane Katrina. I kinda hope Mark could add in 2007 so we can see the Virginia Tech Massacre, but other than that- 2007 was a pretty quiet year, so I'm not sure where Mark could take a 2007 story.

I'm still not seeing why Will would get on the anti-SUV movement just yet, even with California being ahead of the curve. Thanks for the Range Rover tip, Tim. Didn't I basically already concede the point that Will would stay around California? Blue said of all the kids, JJ would be the most likely to leave the area for college, and I agreed with him. So we've got Darius and Will as the two who stick around, and JJ as the prodigal son. Cool. Sweet. Works for me! As for JJ and popularity- it's possible, but you've gotta remember that he's never going to be around school that much- it's kinda hard to maintain friendships if you can't hang out that much. What I could see happening is that for JJ's senior year he decides to cool it with the competition circuit to focus on having a high school life, since '06 is still another year away, and he and Will can have fun with that final year of high school, just being brothers and hanging out. THAT could be a hilarious plot for Mark to write- some camping trip that Will and John decide to have, with JJ being dragged to come along with his Louis Vuitton carry-on bags. LOL I realize that we're talking WAYYY too much about people who aren't even main characters yet....but eh. They're our age and I gotta admit I'm fascinated at how they're going to turn out, and how they're going to interact with events and trends I consider generational touchstones, like Xbox, Facebook, and the Virginia Tech Massacre.

I've found time and time again...if the only thing a person has going for them is the fact that they're physically hot, at some point...you're going to get tired of looking at them. I agree with Tet here- I've hung out with people that were physically hot, but had pretty shitty personalities and I lost interest in them. And I've had friends who were ugly as sin, but had great personalities, and I preferred hanging out with them.

See, that I can buy that though. All of these guys are out, they don't need help finding dates, so why exactly would they need online sites as a gay resource? Brad and Robbie are close to 40, have been out since they were were 17, and have been together since then, so I don't see why they'd feel the need the hit up Adam4Adam or anything like that. You got me on Matt Carrswold though. I'm surprised he wasn't looking at online sites to help him with his feelings about being gay when he was 17, before he met the Cramptons and he was closeted at a conservative private school. The only thing I can think of was someone about Matt's age telling me that in high school, going online wasn't "cool". It was still the nerdy thing to do. And I can buy that- the internet's popular, but it wasn't until circa 2000 or 2001 that things switched and the internet started becoming less of a nerdy hangout and more mainstream. With JJ and Will, Mark can't really ignore the internet. It's an ever-breathing, all-pervasive tool in the life of a teenager by circa 2004. They're going to be on LiveJournal, then on Myspace, and then on Facebook. They're going to talk to their friends online on AIM, and in college they're going to Facebook their friends.You honestly can't look at this generation of kids without looking at the internet. JJ and Will are that first generation of young adults who really grew up with the internet as a daily part of their lives, as they started getting online during middle school.

And aren't the Cramptons generally blond as well, Tonto and Maman notwithstanding? You described JJ as having the Crampton good looks, if I recall. With Bitty having a blond father, and Jim either being blond or having blond hair in his family, I think it makes sense for JJ being blond. Plus, this kid looks a little too Russian or Eastern Euro to work for JJ. JJ's gotta look completely WASP.

Agreed. I can't see him not having at least one encounter with a guy in college, just to at least try it out. If anything I think Mark decidely to make Darius uber-heterosexual out of the criticism he got from people about how so many family members are gay in this story. I didn't understand why bisexual wasn't an option for him but it was for Darius. It was a little weird for me that Brad didn't seem to consider the "bi" option for his kids, but Mark explained that for Brad's generation, someone was either straight or they were gay. There was no in-between. Of course, that'll be entirely different for JJ and Will's generation, as terms like "heteroflexible", "straightish", and "pansexual" abound. And I think you're right, Tim. I had a female figure skater weigh in on this- it'd actually be HARDER for JJ to be exclusively straight considering that he's not really going to be around that many girls as he travels and competes and stuff like that. I'm leaning towards "fluid" here. Will's gay, but I'm sure he's going to have sex with a female at some point when he's in his 20's and Mark decides it's time to add another baby to the CAP family. (You know I love you, Mark, but you gotta admit that device has gotten overused at this point.) Will's a private person, as Blue has mentioned. As for JJ, here's how I'm reading him. JJ is a guy who's a really charming, playful person that is surface-friendly, but at the same time...he has a hard time getting close to people, and he's inexplicably aloof. He doesn't confide that much in anybody, and he's harder to read. Plus, it's been hinted throughout the story that JJ is the least close to Brad, so it's likely that JJ turns to Jeanine when he really needs to confide in a parent. The other thing is that JJ has probably picked up by now that as a figure skater in the United States, he needs to maintain this squeaky-clean image. As my consultant said, JJ needs to come off as looking like he doesn't know what sex is, let alone that he's having it. Whatever sexual things that JJ gets into will be on the DL. I can see why JJ wouldn't really want to talk about it, especially since he's not that particularly close to Brad. Finally....think about it. JJ is 14 and looks 11 or 12. He's probably not fielding that many offers because he's a late bloomer, and the guys who are sexually active around that age are usually the ones that look closer to being a man than still looking like a little boy. (See: Andy in Cross-Currents, who was nearly 6 foot tall at 14 and lost his virginity at that age.) I'm sure Will looks more like a 15-year old than he does 13...I don't think Drew would have been into Will if Will still looked like a little kid the way JJ does. At least, I hope not.

Really? I still think Will's going to want an SUV, but more of a low-key, laidback kind. I don't really think there was an honest backlash to SUV's until the economy tanked in '08. The SUV era peaks around '04. And I'm going with Mark on the Chevy Tahoe. It was still cool to drive an SUV around, even with the Iraq War going on, at least among high school and college kids. It wasn't until gas became 4 dollars a gallon that things changed on that, I think. Plus, it's not like Will's going to have to worry exactly about paying for gas when it becomes 2 dollars a gallon circa 2005. (God, I remember when people bitched about paying 2 dollars. Geez. Seems crazy now, huh?) Plus I addressed what you're saying by suggesting that Marie gets a 2004 Prius, and she can be the one lecturing the boys on driving gas guzzling cars when she's not away at college protesting the lack of vegan food choices in the cafeteria. I can see Marie becoming a bohemian hippie type as a means to assert her indpendence against Claire, who I'm betting good money treated her like a designer dress-up doll during childhood. That'd be pretty funny- Claire being so used to giving fashion tips to everybody, and her own kids and nephews shooting her down because...well...what teenager really wants to shop with their mother/aunt? Hmm, that's an interesting. I guess because the whole Be Rad crew, as well as Matt Carrswold, were so into playing the popularity game that I figured Will would want to try and be the social king at his school as well. That's a good point though- this isn't Gunn High or the University School, and from what I understand about Malibu High, it's a more laidback kind of school anyway where people are a little more relaxed about the social status deal. So I can see what you're saying here- Will won't be an outcast like JJ, but he won't be Homecoming King, either. He won't be throwing huge ragers, but more like small intimate gatherings around the bonfire. I agree that Will is going to be out, but more in a general, "I'll tell you if ask me" way. Not walking around wearing rainbow flags or anything. Definitely don't see him trying to cover it up in any way like Brad and Matt tried to during their high school years. I've asked around- a guy could generally be open about being gay at Malibu High without getting harassed about it. Which will be a departure from the usual teen story that Mark writes, where the guy is desperately trying to cover up being gay because they'd get a lot of crap for it. See, this is where my whole, "I'm from the East Coast" deal comes in. I keep forgetting how big Calfornia is. PA is about five hours across and that seems just huge to me- I think CA is at least twice as big. Although in my defense, it does seem like the family likes going up to NorCal, so I could see him wanting to go there. Agreed on that. Jordan was of age, but him being Will's friend/coach was a little squicky.

Makes sense. When I think about it, Hummers would have made more sense for a snobby, flashy, overly macho jock, like Luke Ward on the O.C. Will's more in the vein of a cool skater/surfer kid who probably likes to camp in northern CA during the summer when he's not doing Habitat for Humanity to build his college apps. So I'm redacting the Hummer idea. It'll be a much less flashy kind of SUV.

Damn, I didn't convince you on either the Hummer or the Mini-Cooper, Mark? Alright if not a Hummer, I gotta insist on at least some kind of SUV-type car. SUV's were big for the affluent kids to have in a circa 2004 high school, because it allowed you to drive around friends and Will comes off as a popular guy. So I'm still thinking a fully tricked-out SUV for Will(complete with a tv and dvd player), and some Euro compact car for JJ. (Remember, Tommy DID say that some of the Malibu kids do indeed drive Mini-Coopers.) One of the things I really like about the way in which you do the car selection is that it feels right for the character's age, social circle, generation, and temperament, rather than the cars just being the cars you'd wish you had. I hope you keep up with that, Mark- choosing cars based on the character, not on what hot car you wanted to have circa 2004. I'm not seeing either of these kids driving around in BMW's, as an example. Too small for Will's surf gear and too stuffy and boring-looking for JJ. Are you at least with me on the BMW for John and the Prius for Marie, Mark? As for Brad, I like that he completely lost it, without realizing that he'd completely lost it. The sledgehammer was so over-the-top and I gotta admit I really loved that scene. LOL. As for the other stuff...I guess if you put it like that, I can see how that works. JJ's dealing with figure skating, and likely fending off the harassment and snubbing he's getting at Malibu Middle. Darius is busy getting tail and trying to get into college. And Will was dealing with the rise and fall of his first romance. I could see it as they were trying not to pay attention to it by burying themselves into their own deal. And being that they're teenagers, they might be upset, but they're not going to go to Daddy and Pop for every little upset they have because at that age, you start trying to work things out on your own. More likely I could see Darius throwing himself into the party scene and not coming home to deal, JJ taking on extra skating practice, and Will is probably just moping around listening to Blink 182 and Korn in his bedroom when he's not surfing or going to school.