methodwriter85

Speaking of teenage angst stuff...shouldn't Brad and Robbie be helping Darius visit different colleges throughout the summer instead of reading these letters? I feel like it's custom for parents to start the college tours with their kids the summer before senior year. I just kinda realized this when replying to KJames in the 9/11 thread that summer/fall 1999 is college application time for Darius Schluter. And it's Darius's generation that things started really getting cutt-throat with admissions, right?

KJames, Darius wouldn't be applying to colleges in the fall of 2001. Trvia time- Darius was born on January 19, 1982. He's the class of 2000. Unless he takes two years off from school, Darius is going to be a sophomore in college by the time 9/11 rolls around. College application time for Darius would be the summer/fall of 1999, not the summer/fall of 2001. It was a good idea, though. Just doesn't work because of Darius's age. And I'm pretty sure Beau Danfield is straight. Didn't get any kind of gay vibe off of the character. Could be wrong, but I don't think he's supposed to be a gay character. I do like the idea of all of the Hayes grandkids being gay. LOL. But what triplets are you talking about? We don't really know much about that Generation of Hayes, just that Robbie had Matt and Matt got adopted. It doesn't seem like Robbie's brother or sister had kids, because Robbie only mentioned his cousins having kids.

They peaked and sorta went on the wane while Matt is in college, right? (late 90's/early 00's) I remember my sister used to promote the Philly rave scene circa 2000. I don't think they were popular anymore by the time I got to late high school/early college. Adam Phillips, can you weigh in on this? Were raves still going strong during your college years?

I was kinda inspired after catching the Footloose musical. It's that time of year, and for me, it'll have been 5 years ago since my senior prom. I thought I'd share some cheesy songs that were played at my prom. (May 12th, 2005 if I remember correctly. Or it might've been May 13th.) God, I love the beat of this song. It just makes you want to get up and cheer, really. True by Ryan Cabrera This was the prom king/queen dance song. I couldn't stand the guy who got voted prom king for most of high school, but we had gotten chill by senior year. The girl who got prom queen was this cool black dancer chick. I just remember the beginning of the song always made me think it was the start of "More than Worlds" by Extreme, but alas, it wasn't. The faculty set their foot down and wanted older songs played, so this oldie from 1982 made it in. It was also on the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack, which was a very popular movie when I was in 12th grade. I remember dancing to this song with my friend Kayla- she was a nice girl, and we just talked about what it meant to be graduating from high school. Anyone wanna share some prom songs with me?

Right. Whoops. Gonna change that now.

The music recs for Bloodlines are bumped up for Cyn. Just remember my word of caution: a lot of these won't work, so you'll have to take the title and artist name to find another vid on youtube that hasn't been yanked. And I'm listening to 98 Degrees. God, I loooovvvvveeeeedddd Nick Lachey.

They're somewhere else. I'll bump it up for you. Although word of caution- youtube deletes a lot of vids, so there will be music links that don't work. Still, that's why I left the song title and artist up- you'll be able to find it, I think.

Speculating about the sexualities of the kids aside...here's one thing that is for certain. They're going to throw some SICK ragers in the 'bu for high school. And this song will be on the playlist, no doubt. (By '03, when they're in 11th grade, all of these kids are going to have IPods.) I really like the beat for this. But point is, you can't really avoid hip-hop when it comes to that generation...it's a pervasive way of life. Unless you're going to a punkish/emo kid party, every high school and college generally features nothing but hip-hop music. It's going to be interesting seeing how preppy-as-hell Brad, Claire, and Robbie deal with their kids being into hip-hop. ESPECIALLY Claire. I can already imagine her horror at her daughting wanting to wear Juicy Couture sweatsuits, and the whale tail look. LOL. Anyways, how do you guys think Brad and Stefan will deal with the coming dot-com bust? Also, where do y'all think Mark is going to send Darius to college? It's coming up. Will it be Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or some place entirely different? I like the idea of him going to Columbia University. It has a really good law program, and I think Darius will be a lawyer someday. The way he took his mother down in If It Fits? Man. Awesome stuff.

I had so much fun doing the music for this story. I was 12 in 1998, so I really remember a lot of the music that came out at the time. One online friend told me I totally lost him on the music recs for this story. LOL. This one's actually a bit older than '98- from '92, but I remember it from this rather interesting scene that Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon did in a movie once. Not to mention the fact that it appeared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I used this as a music rec for when Matt and Danfield ride horses in Chapter 29 and have joint talk. (So I went for the obvious. Sue me.) I was TOTALLY in love with David Boreanaz when I was 12. I mean, TOTALLY. Gah. Angel was so hot. But back to Danfield...do y'all think he's the one for Matt, or is it just a college romance? I'd kinda be surprised if Matt really settled down...he seems too young for that. I don't know if I see him getting married in his early 20's like Brad did.

Performers have the special ability, even among the Artisans, to delight those around them with their warmth, their good humor, and with their often extraordinary skills in music, comedy, and drama. Whether on the job, with friends, or with their families, Performers are exciting and full of fun, and their great social interest lies in stimulating those around them to take a break from work and worry, to lighten up and enjoy life. Performers are plentiful, something over ten percent of the population, and this is fortunate, because they bring pleasure to so many of us. Performers are the people for whom it can truly be said "all the world's a stage." Born entertainers, they love the excitement of playing to an audience, and will quickly become the center of attention wherever they are. Performers aren't comfortable being alone, and seek the company of others whenever possible-which they usually find, for they make wonderful playmates. Performers are smooth, talkative, and witty; they always seem to know the latest jokes and stories, and are quick with wisecracks and wordplay-nothing is so serious or sacred that it can't be made fun of. Performers also like to live in the fast lane, and seem up on the latest fashions of dress, food, drink, and music. Lively and uninhibited, Performers are the life of the party, always trying to create in those around them a mood of eat, drink, and be merry. The Performers' talent for enjoying life is healthy for the most part, though it also makes them more subject to temptations than the other types. Pleasure seems to be an end in itself for them, and variety is the spice of life. And so Performers are open to trying almost anything that promises them a good time, not always giving enough thought to the consequences. Like the other Artisans, Performers are incurably optimistic - "Always look on the bright side," is their motto - and they will avoid worries and troubles by ignoring them as long as possible. They are also the most generous of all the types, and second only to the Composer Artisans [iSFPs] in kindness. Performers haven't a mean or stingy bone in their body-what's theirs is yours-and they seem to have little idea of saving or conserving. They give what they have to one and all without expectation of reward, just as they love freely, and without expecting anything in return. In so many ways, Performers view life as an eternal cornucopia from which flows an endless supply of pleasures. Elizabeth Taylor, John Goodman, Marylin Monroe, Judy Garland, Magic Johnson, Pablo Picasso, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Elvis, and Leonard Bernstein are examples of Performer Artisans.

Interesting story, Mike. It's sad how most preemies didn't stand a chance back in those days. Contrast that to JJ's birth in 1985, where being six weeks premature wasn't that big of a deal.

What does Marcel being French have to do with him being a boring narrator?

The only person I could see at the Pentagon would be Wade Danfield- on a summer internship as set up by his father. As for WTC, the mall there had a planned expansion with an LA-based group call Westfeldt America. Maybe Stefan and Brad, burned by the recent dot-com bust, want to invest in the Mall at WTC and expand their real estate holdings. The mall was one of the most profitable malls in the U.S., so it seemed like a safe bet. Maybe because Will's 15th birthday is coming up, Stefan wants it to be a big family trip week in NYC.

Why's that, Adam? JP and Stefan make an adorable old couple. I can't immagine why you'd be sick of them.

The one who came off the most distinctive was Cody. I can't think of anyone else in the CAPverse that is like the guy. Danfield as well. Matt...I think he's pretty distinctive, but you can see shades of Brad there, but definitely without any of Brad's internal shyness. What's your favorite line in the series? I love the one where Danfield calls the Kennedy's nouveau-posers. I like how Mark explores the upper-class...the Carrswolds seem like a well-established family, and from an area certainly more prestigious than Claremont. And then there are the Danfields, which seem like the top echelon of society. It would have been interesting if the Cramptons had been a little intimdated by that, but eh. I don't think the Cramptons/Schluters feel intimidated by anybody. LOL. The chapter where Matt plays the aghast upper-class snob about the limo driver to Mrs. Danfield was great. Robbie, for all the money he's made, just could never do that- it seems like something that gets instilled at birth. I really did get a kick out of seeing a Hayes grow up as a blue-blood. Of course, as a white, healthy, blond baby boy in 1980, he probably would have had a lot of adoptive parents in line. I imagine that the Carrswolds probably put out all the stops to get him.

I get the feeling most people would volunteer Brian Parnell for the job now, I think. I like that Mark is slowing down the pace of the stories and time jumps we take- I think it's good that he won't tackle a 9/11 story until at least later in the year, or early 2011, which would be 10th year anniversary. I feel like a lot of 9/11 stories kinda jumped the gun in being too soon. Enough time has passed that I think a reflective story on 9/11 would be great. At first, because they were based in California, it seemed like they were going to be far removed, but adding in Wade Danfield of D.C. does put an interesting possibility that they'd have reason to be on the East Coast during September 11th. Stanford doesn't start school until late in September, right? So Wade Danfield would still be in Washington, D.C., and perhaps Matt Carrswold is visiting him... Or they could be flying to New York because Darius goes to college in the area. Hmm. Ace went to Princeton, right? I could see Darius going there, and then wanting to spend the weekend in the City with his family. Who would you want to be narrator? I think it would be interesting for Mark to experiment and have each chapter for the p.o.v. of the different character- 9/11 was such a watershed event, and the way people experienced it varies so greatly. Mark, here's a link to a youtube video that talks about the way people experienced 9/11. 102 Minutes that Changed America There are more parts linked to it. It's really fascinating- the college students videotaping it gripped me the most, I think. 9/11 was my generation's JFK, I think.

One of the things I really liked about this story is that it showed us the change- Matt's teammates supporting him, his parents coming around- as well as how far we still need/needed to go- re: Matt Shephard. I think the 90's was the start of when accepting gay people started to become politically correct, at least for younger people and in this certain area.

I never had a boyfriend, but I did have crushes. Dear god I embarrased the hell out of myself over some of them. In 9th grade I had a crush on a snotty guy who purposely dressed like a member of a boyband, spiky blond highlights and all. Ugh. I had a cringeworthy conversation where I told my sister I wanted to marry the guy. Ugh and double ugh. LOL. It's kinda interesting how Andy's adolescence is playing out- he's taller than other guys who are 14, and getting a more mature body, and that's already attracting the older girls. It reminds me a lot of a friend I had who got physically mature at 14 and didn't have the lanky gangliness that a lot of guys usually have until they're seventeen/eighteen. Girls who didn't normally go for 9th graders totally went for him.

Aside from Brad's dick, I think his wavy, thick, lustrous reddish brown hair and green eyes are just dreamy. I love guys with thick, wavy hair. So what would you guys say are some of Brad's most memorable moments? Two words. Fisting Neil. Man, that was awesome, in a gross way but nevertheless awesome.

Here's a really good song from that time. God, I love it. I can just picture this song playing on the AM radio as the guys go at it...

Here's another B/R rec...and for MiM again. I thought it kinda fits for how they sneak around behind Neil's back at the start of the story. "Tenderness" by General Public don't know when to start or when to stop My luck's like a button I can't stop pushing it My head feels light But I'm still in the dark Seems like without tenderness there's something missing Tenderness Where is the Tenderness Where is it? I don't know where I am but I know I don't like it I open my mouth and out pops something spiteful Words are so cheap, but they can turn out expensive Words like conviction can turn into a sentence I held your hands Rings but none on that finger We danced and danced But I was scared to go much further with it Just half a chance Make sure that one night you're here, But next night you're not It always leaves me searching for a little Tenderness Where is the Tenderness Where is the Tenderness? Whistling in the graveyard Calling up your girlfriend Just trying to make her understand You're squeezing the telephone like it was her hand No question (so many questions) She's going to catch you out boy It all seems so underhand Now she's the only thing that ever made you feel like a man, man Madman, madman Tenderness Where is the Tenderness Tenderness Tenderness Where is it? I held your hands Rings but none on that finger We danced and danced But I was scared to go much further with it Just half a chance Make sure that one night you're here, But next night you're not It always leaves me searching for a little Tenderness Where is the Tenderness? When you're sick to death of second best, pet Why should the morning always find you unimpressed? Is your love like a button? You can't stop pushing it? Oh this all night longing can be such a long time... *** Any of you guys remember this song from earlier than the '95 movie Clueless? I didn't realize this song had been much earlier than movie until later.

I dunno...I think it's a good thing that Mark switches around perspective for CAP. Sometimes we get clunkers like Marcel, but then we get the real gems like Matt Carrswold and Wade.

Nah, Stef looks like Tab Hunter, who was an absolute hunk back in the day. Paul Welsley plays a character named Stefan on his show the Vampire Diaries. Paul Wesley doesn't really look like anyone in the CAP series- he does kinda remind me of a younger, more cut version of David Boreanaz, who I had the biggest crush on when I was 14. Ian, however...I totally think Ian looks like he'd make a great Lou. Or Jack Hobart, but I'm leaning more towards Lou. I'd been stumped to find a 30-something actor pretty enough to be either one, and then I realized Ian totally fits the bill. I mean, those eyes. Geez.

Heh, maybe.

I guess. Although I tend to go for the happy chick flicks. I was traumatized by the ending of the original Stepford Wives for weeks. You know, in retrospect, I really liked how Mark managed to make little kid Bradley a pretty compelling child character in this story. It really made me feel eager for Be Rad, and I loved that we got to know the dreamy little kid before he became the headstrong 18-year old. I thought 10-year old Brad and 17-year old Brad definitely felt like the same two people- teenage Brad was less shy and more of a social butterfly (but I always thought it was because of the fact that he was hot and rich that made him popular, not because he was particularly outgoing), but they both had that same stoic way about them.