methodwriter85

One of my friends from high school who lives in L.A. now posted a photo of the L.A. River, which made me want to post more about it...check out this new video about the city's plans to revitalize it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=12&v=acJjuBmQ43U Here's a YouTube tour video of the river: Well, not exactly bucolic, but there's something pretty cool about it. I would totally go on a tour of the L.A. River., and have some interesting adventures.

I found this entry on Reddit's OffMyChest sub, and I thought it was a great story. I Just Went On A Date With A Guy Who Tried to Rob Me Of course, it could be entirely made up, but sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction. If this ever turns romantic, that'd be one hell of a story for your grandkids. I do like to believe in the power of redemption and the innate goodness of people, and this story illustrates it well. The guy wanted to rob her, but as soon as she started crying he realized that she was a person, not just a mark. I feel like a couple's counselor would have a field day with these two if they ever got together, though. LOL. I don't get the feeling it's romantic, though- like they're just two souls, who both met at low points in their lives, and are forging a friendship with some less-than-ideal initial circumstances. Begs the question though...do you think you could ever strike up a friendship/relationship with someone that tried to rob you, or harm you in some other way?

All the cute young preppy college guys are wearing Vineyard Vines now. It's hitting hard, at least in the Mid-Atlantic. I wonder if it's hitting the South, too? I just think it's hilarious that even though I'm 5 years out of college, I still see guys wearing the same basic shit whenever I walk around campus- loafers, chino shorts in various colors, and either some preppy logo shirt or button-down. There are a lot more buzzcuts, facial hair, tats, and colored tank tops now, though. But the same preppy frat boy look never really seems to change- only the logo on the shirt. I remember for awhile Lacoste had a MAJOR comeback when I was 20-ish.

Did anyone else catch the movie The Age of Adaline? (It's a movie where Gossip Girl's Blake Lively is a woman who has been stuck as a 29-year old for almost 80 years after getting struck by lightning.) This newcomer named Anthony Ingruber did a VERY credible portrayal of a young version of Harrison Ford's character, and he looked cute as hell doing it: He runs a YouTube channel where he posted his celebrity impressions, and h attracted the interest of the casting directors for the movie. I like a cute, funny guy. Also, check out his smile at meeting Harrison Ford during filming: Seriously, what is it about meeting childhood icons that turn grown men into goofy little boys for a few seconds? Too frickin' adorable for words. I'm not sure about the fanboys/girls who are clamoring for him to play a young Han Solo, though. It's one thing to play a small first cameo part while mimicking a famous figure, but it's another thing to be able to lead a movie. I WOULD like to see him in another role somehow related to Harrison Ford, but I don't think an entire movie should be built around someone with that little experience. Maybe he could be Leila and Han's grandson or something? Anyway, hope the guy is at the start of a good career. There's just something really neat about the fairytale aspect of it- spending your life idolizing someone, and then getting the chance to actually play a young version of him in a movie? Too cool for words. But anyway, I have to say this is probably one of the most impressive "younger version" casting I've ever seen that did not use a blood relative. I absolutely believed these two were the same person forty years apart.

Quiznos just did an add where they parodied the Maze Runner and Burning Man. I thought it was hilarious although I've never been to Burning Man. Check it out: I still don't get the point of Burning Man if there's no music. Also, I get this is actually Nevada but it seems like a big thing for Californians. I honestly can't picture any of the CAP characters going to something like Burning Man. I'd imagine them at Coachella first. (Given that there's, you know, an actual point to it?)

Well, this was all for moot. JJ's skating sabbatical timed conveniently for him to finish his last year of high school with no interruptions.

I saw this and found it to be pretty funny: Although to be honest, I thought the same thing about skinny jeans on men when they first started to be trendy circa 2008, and they're still in full-force. The lumbersexual look could be with us for a long, long time. The look is basically very related to hipsters, I think, and hipsters don't seem to be going anywhere. I think the only CAP character I can see rocking the lumbersexual look would probably be Cole, Matt's straight best friend from college. But in any event, I feel like I've seen a million variations of a same general look this decade: 1.) Some kind of beard- from scruffy to a huge, bushy one...bonus points if there's a mustache sculpted with wax. 2.) Buzzcut on the sides, with hair long and slicked back on the top. OR, buzzcut on the sides, with the hair parted to the side...sometimes even the part is buzzed in. 3.) Tattoos, preferably like a sleeve or like some kind of chest necklace. 4.) V-neck shirt worn under a tight, fitted flannel shirt. 5) Boots, shown off by the wearer cuffing their jeans. I hate to sound like such an old geezer but I long for the simple days of guys wearing plain white tank tops with cargo shorts, or cute pastel polo shirts and color-cordinated flip-flops.

I thought your birthday wasn't until November?

I'm annoyed at it as well, but it makes sense that JJ would be passive-aggressive and bitchy rather than spelling it all out, because I think he's confused about it as well. I also agree that I think Carullo would be the one hurt, not JJ. As seen by his deceased boyfriend Joey, Carullo is capable of being a devoted boyfriend. So if he became that with JJ, rather than just a fuck buddy, what happens if the whole thing fizzles out? (Because really, they don't have much in common.) What I like about this whole thing is that it's so unplanned. JJ calculated so much of his relationship with Alex, basically playing the blushing virgin (which he basically was) and played on Alex's Madonna/Whore complex. Here, JJ's having feelings for a guy he know he shouldn't be having feelings for, and he wants to control the whole thing, but he can't. I feel like that's JJ's general story arc- a tightly wound, tightly controlled guy who tries very hard to ignore his feelings, being put into this whole new way of life and with love interests that haven't been thought out to death.

Over on my friend's facebook, this has been making the rounds amongst us vanguard Millennials. Pretty scary, no? It's a weird thing. I remember back in 2003, I used to tell people I was born in 1985, and they'd go, "Wow, you're so young!" Now I tell people that I was born in 1985, and I get, "Damn, you're old." It's weird- I think my mind pretty sees the mid/late 2000's as being about yesterday, and that my peers (i.e. those born around 1984-1989) are the "youth peers", and the realization that there's this whole new generation rising (those that were born in the mid/late 1990's) is pretty weird. Sometimes I really wish I could get those 10 years back. Other times, I'm glad I lived those years, and but I'm also glad I don't need to go back to them. 21 was fun in some ways, absolutely horrible in other ways. But yeah, it's weird that 80's babies are turning into the 30-something generation. I was so used to us being the teenagers/twenty-sopmethings. Even weirder to me is that the 70's babies are now hitting their 40's. Someone tells me they were born in the late 70's, and I feel like they should be around their late 20's, not pushing 40. Time just keeps on slipping into the future, doesn't it?

Chapter 15 -When Will contemplates things against the backdrop of the New York City skyline. "Alone in Kyoto" by Air (Lost In Translation Soundtrack) -When the family gets drunk in a bar in New York City. "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffet

I think the inherent difficulty with you writing JJ is that he's really not anything like you- most of your lead characters have something about you in them, or they remind you of people you know. JJ is not really like anybody you've met before, or anybody that we've had in the story, and he's got this aloofness to him that makes him harder to understand and get into the mind of. The other thing about JJ is that he's not a generous person, the way your usual CAP protagonists are. The story often gets driven by the fact that the CAP protagonists want to do what they can to help other people, while JJ is generally too self-absorbed to do that. Carullo is a step in the right direction, but it wasn't his idea to help the guy in the first place. This might be the first time I've seen JJ do something for somebody that didn't serve his own self-interests. I think there are reasons why JJ has been a limited character until recent books...the biggest off all, I think, is that JJ's general tendency is to isolate himself. He might focus on one person, and then he shuts everybody else out. While that might work well for an indie drama film about an intense relationship that spirals out of control, that's not really something that can work for a soap opera like CAP. What I think has been interesting is that Mark has essentially written JJ on a three-year character arc, if you really think about. JJ in Millennium started out as a 14-year old diva, happy to be in his little skating bubble with Tiffany and Jeanine and the ice as his entire world. If JJ didn't like something, he could stomp off and hide away at the ice rink. I think the last three CAP years, Mark's basically stripped away all of that- JJ doesn't really have a safe little bubble he can hide in anymore. He can't even stomp off to the ice rink. Also, as JJ put it, he's pretty "boring" in the general CAP sense. Not into casual sex, not into drugs, not into partying, etc etc. While that's a great thing he leads such a healthy lifestyle, again- it doesn't really jibe with the hedonistic fun vibe that CAP often gets. I do get the feeling that Mark's having JJ work a little bit out of his whole Disney self-image...I can't see him EVER doing some of the shit that Will has done (namely performing a solo porn routine on an Italian club stage), but I do think Mark is getting JJ to be just a little bit less prissy. Because as Blue once said, a Disney guy just isn't going to cut it long-term as a CAP protagonist. I do like JJ's conflicts about wanting to jump Carullo's bones, while at the same time, not wanting to date him and thinking that's wrong because of that. He spent 5 years of his life in the world of figure skating...he had to have taken on some of their values internally.

Go with "The Ghost in You", then.

Chapter 14 -When Brad hallucinates seeing Robbie, who has stern words for him. "Every Breath You Take" by The Police OR "Ghost In You" by the Psychedelic Furs I really couldn't decide. -When Brad wakes up after a very long sleep. "Fallen" by Sarah McLachlan I totally gave a fist of triumph when I realized that this song is indeed period. I associate it more with 2005, but it's a 2003 song. Whew. You don't know how much it pisses me off when I have a song that's perfect for the moment...but it's from a year or two ahead of the story. -When Wade and MaryEllen talk about the fallout of JJ's molestation claim. "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart Every time I hear the song, I realize that Rod is basically calling Maggie May an old, ugly hag who destroyed his young school boy life. Which I can basically see JJ doing to MaryEllen. -When Will tries to rally the troops, much to JP's dismay. "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes -When Will, Carullo, and Zach get ready to go off and have a threesome, much to JJ's dismay. (Who still wants to imagine it.) "Ignition" by R. Kelly I don't think it was possible to be in my age group and not have heard this in a college party or college bar, at least once. R. Kelly very wisely gave this a kind of "classic R and B" feel to it- it's had a long life as a result.

I'm pretty sure Elizabeth's reaction was somewhere along the lines, "Well, you sure fucked up THAT plan, MaryEllen. Oh, well. Good luck on getting him to drop those charges, sweetie! I'm off to Cape Cod for the week to visit some of my college friends. Bye!"

Pretty much. And even if/when JJ drops the charges, MaryEllen is always going to have that label of "pedo" on her. Good luck navigating her new social scene with THAT label! Again, this was just so brilliant on so many levels.

Chapter 13 -When JJ's revenge plot is revealed. "Mrs. Robinson" by The Lemonheads

And the thing is, JJ has built this squeaky-clean image of himself. Who are they going to believe- the oversexed slutty Senator's daughter, or the squeaky-clean Disney Friendly figure innocent-looking boy? And it feeds into the double standard- men can't help but be tempted into having sex with the femme fatale. JJ's just an innocent young boy who got seduced by a knowing, older female.

The threesome in Virginia happened during Thanksgiving weekend...JJ was a week or so short of his 17th birthday. In any event, it doesn't really matter, because ME stupidly had sex with him in one of the few states where the Age of Consent is 18, the only exception being if you are over 15 and your partner is within three years of your age. (ME being 21 when it happened, she doesn't fall within the exception.) Interestingly, I can have sex with a 16-year old until my 30th birthday in December in Delaware. (Not that I would...ewww.) Recently, there was an attorney who got into trouble for having a threesome with a 16-year and a 24-year old...the 24-year old recruited the 16-year old, because the attorney wanted to have sex with a guy in high school. The attorney was in his early/mid-30's- if he had basically been just a few years younger, it would have been legal. 16 and 17-year olds in DE can have sex with someone over 18 and under 30. But it's interesting how these laws vary. Personally, I really think the Age of Consent law should be 16, because really...we can trust a 16-year old to drive a car, but we can't trust them to make decisions about sex? Seriously? I remember Dan Savage went on this diatribe one time, about how skewed American society is about this...on one hand, we turn then-teenagers like Britney Spears or pretend teenagers like Katie Holmes into major sex symbols, but on the other hand, we shriek and shout about "protect the child!" whenever a 16-year old girl has sex with her 20-year old boyfriend. In any event, it's brilliant because MaryEllen basically did to herself- she never thought at any time that pissing off an underage guy that you had sex with could lead to some consequences, and she can't really retaliate because she needs to have JJ drop the charges. And ME's reputation is basically toast- just the accusation of being a statutory rapist can permanently damage a rep. If she ever had any political aspirations she's screwed.

Another catch I hope people got- did anyone else realize that Mark just introduced camera phones into CAP-world when they showed the picture of John with an earring? In 2003, camera cell phones basically exploded...the technology had been there since the late 1990's, but it wasn't mainstream tech until 2003 and everybody suddenly had one. IPods should be next- they were around since 2001, but no one really got them until late 2003 when ITunes and Ipod Nanos came around. The really funny thing is that if Mary Ellen had been 19 instead of 21 in late 2002, it all would have been perfectly legal in Virginia. The rule in Virginia is that if you are under 18 but over 15, you can consent to having sex with somebody within 3 years of your age.

Because they're a bunch of a snotty, judgmental teenagers making fun of someone for kind of sucking at something even though they're all into it? It's very high school. Like, I had a buddy in high school on the track team...he was a MUCH better runner than a lacrosse player, and people made of him because he got a lacrosse tattoo. To be fair, that was in 11th grade, and the next year he pretty much dropped lacrosse when he realized that he was better at running. Also, keep in mind that Will is a guy who was considered someone that could've gone pro at surfing at 13, and Zach has probably had buzz around him as a football player since middle school. JJ at 17 is the youngest U.S. Figure Skating champ since the 1960's or something. They're all phenoms in some way, which is why a regular teenager in some regular lame band is going to get some laughs.

Maybe JP has an evil split personality, and said split personality is the one doing all this.

I really don't think the "widow" is literal.

What beef would Tony's mother possibly have with the family? She pretty much knew that Sam was using her as his beard, and the Cramptons/Schluters helped her get on great financial ground after Sam died. Tony and his sister had an affluent upbringing because of that family. It'd be interesting if this was somebody who went way back. Like Classic CAP- CAP, 1968, The Land Whore- back.