methodwriter85

Here's another spooky Let's Not Meet story, this time set in Turnbull Canyon: Stalkers in the Canyon About four years ago I was a junior at a small college in LA county. Bordering my town was a large cavernous region known as Turnbull Canyon. It’s the kind of place that has a healthy amount of creepy folklore surrounding it; with an area emphatically known as ‘Hells Gates’, stories of cultic activity, gang killings, abandoned mental institutions and the like. The kind of shit you hear about any place old enough to have a reputation. In reality, most of the stories were spurned from a tragedy that occurred years prior. A woman’s body was found at the base of the canyon, and from then on the rest is history. Nevertheless, when a photographer friend asked me and another buddy to go out to the canyon in order to take some photos of the LA skyline, I had to oblige. The canyon was about a 30 minute drive from our campus, and we had been listening to The King of Limbs the entire drive, which proved to be the perfect ambiance to get me feeling pretty anxious about our little excursion. I should also note that I’m a pretty anxious guy in general, so traveling out to a remote area preceded by its reputation for scary occurrences admittedly had me thinking twice about the decision. At the top of the canyon, there’s a small residential area — a few ritzy houses, surrounded by trees and woods. In order to venture into the canyon itself, you have to follow a main trail with several smaller arteries that split off in other directions, but ultimately culminate (after a couple miles or so) at the base of a steep hill adorned with an old water tower overlooking the city. Anyhow, we parked our car at the top of the canyon road, divvied up the camera gear, and made our way out to the trail head (around 1am by this point). After walking the trail for about 5 minutes, Dave, the photographer, decided it was time to set up his first shot while Jeff (our other friend) and I kept watch. Eventually he got the shot he needed and we continued walking for another 5 or so minutes before Dave decided to set up his next shot. At this point the trail head had disappeared behind us completely, and we were a little less than a quarter of the way to the water tower. While setting up the tripod, we noticed the faint glow of headlights off in the distance, which was strange because the trail isn’t meant for cars, nor is it big enough for them to pass through. If I recall, it’s only about 5 feet wide, with shrubbery on both sides. This was clearly a bit of a red flag for us as we were the only people out there, so we immediately packed up our things and ducked off into the brush, waiting for the car to pass on. Eventually, an old pick-up truck idled to a stop about 50 yards from where we were hiding. The truck itself was old and rickety, sitting on a lifted chassis, the bed of which was missing entirely. Growing up in the country, I knew it as the type of truck typically owned by backwoods folk who lived in the boonies and preferred to be left to their own devices. We watched in agonizing anticipation as the truck just idled in place for several minutes before flooring it down one of the other trails, the roar of the engine echoing throughout the canyon. Clearly we were spooked at this point, the three of us speculating as to our next step. Jeff and I were reluctant to continue, while Dave assured us that it was probably nothing — perhaps just a guy off-roading, as he put it. So, with great reluctance, Jeff and I trudged on behind Dave toward the water-tower to get his final shots. Nevertheless, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about the truck. I mean, I knew plenty people in high school who would go ‘off-roading’ for fun in the woods, but never on finicky canyon trails barely wide enough to hike on, let alone drive. It just didn’t sit right with me. After walking without interference for about an hour, we finally made it out to the water tower, climbed the hill to the top, and took in the view of the city. Dave, once again, started setting up his equipment while Jeff and I stood on both sides of the water tower, keeping watch just in case the truck came back. Nothing. At this point it’s around 3 am. Dave decides that he’s got all the shots he needs, so we pack up our equipment and commit to heading back before it gets too late, seeing as how all of us have classes in just a few hours. Just as we’re preparing to descend the hill, the truck comes roaring out of the canyon below us, back onto the trail, at which point the driver attempts to climb the hill, revving the engine loudly. Scared shitless, the three of us slid off the side of the hill into the brush, clinging to plants and rocks. As the truck finally made it atop the hill, slowly driving around the tower, we could see the glow of the head lights each time it circled above us. After waiting for nearly 10 minutes (while also trying not to make any noise) the truck eventually descended the hill, stopping in the middle of the trail not more than 100 yards away. We watched as a scruffy man, mid 50’s, stepped out of the idling truck and into the glow of its headlights, moseying around while looking at the ground. He then knelt down, looking at something in the dirt, surveying the area intently. As he did so, it became increasingly apparent that he was tracking something: Our footprints. This next part still chills me to the bone. As my friends and I huddled together watching in complete terror, another man wearing a long, dark parka emerged from the brush, right where we had been hiking, joining the other man at his side. Apparently he had been out there the entire time we were walking the trail, just watching us. Following behind at a safe distance. The two of them talked for a long while, but we couldn’t hear a word. They continued scanning the area, looking at our footprints, but eventually got in the truck and drove off down one of the forks in the trail. We sat in silence for a long time — waiting nearly two hours just to ensure the coast was clear, at which point we made like hell back to the car, down the canyon, and back to our campus. Just in time for class. I have no idea who those men were or why they were tracking us — and I have no desire to know. So on that note fellas, lets not meet again. *** It's tales like this that makes me terrified of being out in the wilderness. Great tale, though. Have any of you had any creepy/scary encounters in the California wilderness?

Mark, Josh looks like James Maslow. You really think THIS would need help at any time in any place getting laid? He's not a former boybander/turned-Lifetime- movie-actor for nothing. To use the parlance of Be Rad's time period, dude is just totally unreal. Like, totally bitchin', you know? The lack of profit doesn't really bode well for the longevity of the club, but clubs are usually supposed to have a pretty short shelf life, aren't they? 2015 JJ will probably be steadfast in his refusal to move to Brooklyn like all the other cool young people. As for the children part, I love it. As a guy who likes having nieces and nephews but has absolutely no interest in building a family, I like that JJ has that view as well. (Well, times about ten. I like children in limited amounts.) Darius and Will are pretty much guaranteed to sire kids. JJ will just leave the breeding to them. LOL. As for JJ refusing to play ball, it's an interesting turn for JJ. He basically was willing to play by their rules and be the Innocent Virginal Princess that they wanted (and Alex wanted as well), but then they asked for too much. I had JJ in mind as someone who would do whatever it would take to win, but Mark seems to be suggesting that there's limits to it. He'd go far, but there are still limits there. In any event, this set-up with Carullo and JJ is pretty funny. An uptight rich boy/former Ice Princess and a passionate, kind Italian jock boy living together in the wacky TriBeCa area. This is a set-up like a sitcom with lots of good times ahead. I'm glad it seems like Mark is setting JJ up for funnier storylines instead of all the depressing drama! Anyway, this should be the sitcom's theme: Bring on the wacky misadventures with our two roommies in New York City!

JJ's on the Mediterranean Diet. That emphasizes eating a high amount of fish and lots of fruits and vegetables. I grew up on the East Coast between the Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake Bay. You're almost obligated to like seafood. Crabs are big here. So is Old Bay seasoning, on like everything including fries. Okay, JJ might not actually be on that diet, but he likely avoids red meat and sticks to fish or poultry for the most part, and without a doubt doesn't do deep fried food. I was around diet fanatics growing up and unless you were on Atkins or some low-carb diet, red meat was frowned upon. In any event, I loved that JJ is kind of taking charge here. He knows that he's done with figure skating for the year, and first up is finishing out school. He doesn't have the excuse of figure skating anymore to be out of school, and whenever I suggested that JJ should just get a GED so he can focus on skating, but both Blue and Mark basically said that there's no way in hell the family would ever let him finish high school that way. So he's got to attend a school, it seems. As for Carullo, I gotta admit, I love the set-up. Talk about an Odd Couple friendship brewing here. I basically think of JJ as being like a child star- someone who grew up cossetted in a very superficial, very "image first" world and as a result, he doesn't have a great grip on recognizing genuine people, or people who are just all image. Alex was all image, and it worked for JJ because he was more than happy to play the Innocent Disney Princess for Alex. But now JJ's in this position where he's basically been kicked out of that world, and he's got to learn to fend for himself, and figure out who he is, in this year sabbatical from that world. It's going to be really interesting.

Chapter 7 -When the gang arrives upon the restaurant, and JJ makes fun of it for being tacky. "That's Amore" by Dean Martin -When Will drives his hot new 750k Ferrari. "Pump It Up" by Joe Budden (2 Fast, 2 Furious Soundtrack) - When JJ makes his life plans for living his year in New York City, free of the restrictions of the USFSA. "Not For the Life of Me"/ "Thoroughly Modern Millie" from Thoroughly Modern Millie -When JJ makes his resolution to take on John Carullo as his trusty sidekick roommate. "How The Other Half Lives" from Thoroughly Modern Millie I loved the reference to Hell's Kitchen. Now you need to be a millionaire to basically live there now, don't you? LOL.

Well, we're in the 80's Revival right now. There is basically zero chance that Will is going to get through high school and college without attending at least one 80's theme dance or party. Those were popular as hell this decade because the costumes were absurdly easy to do. If you were a girl, just wear a sideways pony tail and a shoulder. A guy, just wear a polo shirt or something in bright neon or pastels. Or if you wanted to be funny, dress up with a fake mullet. I used to go to Phi Kapp parties in 2006, and "Take Me Home Tonight" and "Sunglasses at Night" were popular 80's tunes that the DJ would always add in to the contemporary hip-hop stuff they played.

They also had something called card catalogs instead of a search engine at the library.

I can soooo picture you as Wednesday Addams in the body of an skinny, adorable Latino boy. So you didn't meet a charming small-town boy who became your boyfriend and thus made the whole small-town life thing so much more bearable, ala the plot of scores of Nifty stories?

Yeah, but you also went to a massively expensive private college, didn't you? The first Firefly I went to, I pretty much decided to go cell-phone free, in terms of not calling up my acquaintances from that weekend. We joked that it was like 80's style. There was something kind of cool about just trying to see if you could bump into your friends.

I can just picture a teenaged Blue growing up in an idyllic little tourist town, and hating every minute of it. I cannot picture him as Dawson Leery, lovingly filming his adolescence in his tourist town with his camera-ready friends. I grew up on the East Coast, which is so dense that even if you're living in a town that has like 10k (I think that's the smallest town I've ever lived in), you're still at most like two hours away from a metropolitan area, usually no more than like an hour. You never really get to experience that small town lifestyle in my area, since everything is basically one big suburb of varying economic levels. People who tell me about living in isolated small towns in the absolute middle of nowhere...that's just so far out of my experience. I got a taste of it when I lived in Indiana, PA for awhile, but even then Pittsburgh was just an hour away.

Is it still Hollyweird, or has gentrification made it boring? Also, hasn't like a lot of t.v. and film productions moved elsewhere? I wish you were a Baby Boomer. I bet you would have had some really fun stories about spending your early childhood in 1960's/1970's Hollywood, like Alison Arngrim (aka Nellie Olsen), who had all sorts of great stories about Hollywood from the eyes of a child, such as there being a children's amusement park located right next to an oil derrick or the delight of living in the Chateau Marmont. Anyway, back to the topic... JJ's natural inclination is to shut himself off and isolate himself, but it doesn't look like Will is letting him do that. I kind of wanted JJ to spend a year just traveling the world by himself- going to Paris, Milan, Tokyo, India, Macchu Picchu, etc etc.

I picture you growing up in a charming logging town in Northern California close to mountains and the like, but with secret drug industries like the town in Bates Motel. Anyway, JJ meeting a guy like John Carullo was funny. You really couldn't get more opposite type than that.

They also have outlet shopping now in the old Claremont Factory complex. JJ hasn't really inherited the whole "let's adopt stray puppies" trait that most of the narrators in this story have, and I think he's wary about some guy who he doesn't know well living in his mother's condo. Also, John is not an English lord with a title.

Chapter 6 -When JJ takes Will to a trendy boutique in SoHo, and we're treated to a montage of JJ trying on hideous fashion that would only look good on a thin guy. "Vogue" by Madonna -When Will wanders out into the city, moping about Zach, and gets punched by John Carullo for not telling him he was 15 when they had sex. "Hot Child in the City" by Nick Gilder -When Will tells John about Zach. "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama

I think ME has taken the Bitty spot in the CAP saga. And we all know what happened to Bitty. I did think that JJ would have never have had sex with an unlocked door because he's that paranoid about being found out or seen having pre-marital sex, but Mark found a loophole.

Seriously, you've been hinting at this for so many years now but what the hell did you do that this happened to you? I mean, it's been like 30 years now you'd think you could basically say it. My strongest guess has been that you hacked into a computer security system when you were a teenager and were accused of being a spy with Communist sympathies. (As this was the Cold War Era.)

Just taking a moment to drool over Colton Haynes, aka John Hobart's model, again. Holy shit, I wouldn't kick THAT out of bed, for sure.

I kind of wondered if we were going to go an eating disorder route with JJ, but Mark went with cutting, molestation, and orphaning instead. I think an ED would have been just a tad too much, although I'm sure JJ is still very weight conscious like anybody else in his sport would be. In any event, I don't think it would work to have a person with an eating disorder as a narrator, much like you're not interested in a drug addict for one. Eating disorders are pretty isolating and lonely and I can't see Mark having much fun in the mind of someone who's obsessively counting over the calories they didn't consume (or consumed and then purged) and turning down offers to go out because they've got to exercise. It'd be funny if JJ became the family drunk. Well, not really. But wasn't there some family drunk on Original Recipe Dallas, which Mark has been taking a lot of his cues from? (It's like a gay version of the 1980's t.v. series.) I don't really know, because again, I'm a fan of Dynasty. It doesn't look like Mark is writing JJ as evil, so I can't see him taking up the Adam Carrington role as the evil schemer jealous of the Golden Son.

Heh, I hope Arbour gets a kick out of this: 15 Things That 1980's College Students Did That Would Baffle Kids Today I don't think I would have wanted to be a college kid in the 1980's- no dorms with cable t.v., and having to type things on a typewriter would have just sucked. Instead, I would pick being a college kid in the early/mid-1990's- computers are common, the internet is there, and the music is great. However, one big advantage 1980's college students had...from the 1985-1986 UD student catalog: Could you imagine that? And it's not like 1985 money is that much smaller than 2015 money. Inflation wise the tuition would be $4,682 in today's money. Actual 2015 tuition is like 12k. Anyway, to go along with this theme...check out these 1985 University of Delaware students having an informal study session with their professor in their dorm lounge: Gotta love their funny hairstyles and clothes!

Have you tried eating fries with chipotle mayo ketchup? It's delish. An East Coast tradition I think you'd like would be disco fries- basically, mozzarella and gravy on fries. It's just too damn good. Unfortunately the diners I used to get them from all closed down.

Right, but it's going to be healthy food nevertheless. We're not going to see JJ scarf down bacon cheese fries. My guess is that JJ consumes small meals that consist of lean meats, fish, veggies, and fruit at constant intervals during the day.

More stuff from the reviews: JJ really just doesn't look to Brad for any kind of support or advice. It's not to say JJ doesn't love Brad or Brad doesn't love JJ, but JJ really doesn't expect that much from Brad or confide in him all that much. You really think Wade is going to cut himself off from his newborn nephew? Because that's what cutting himself off from ME and Alex would entail. I'm pretty sure Wade is going to try and at least keep tabs on Ricky as he grows up to make sure he doesn't turn out as horribly as ME. JJ is 5'6" and probably weighs about 125 pounds of pure lean muscle. I think he can like it if that means he stays at that size because jumps are easier the lighter you are. Actually, that was a detail that I got when I read about Evan Lysacek. During the 2003-2004 skating season (which JJ doesn't look likely to participate in), Evan got really into changing his diet and basically lived on poached salmon and grilled veggies. Daisy referred to it as "controlled eating." There are basically only two references I can think of where JJ eats something unhealthy- the pizza boxes that Will yelled at him for way back during Paternity when JJ and Robbie had this weird co-dependent relationship going on, and when he eats Ben and Jerry's right after Robbie dies in 9/11. Otherwise, this is a kid who pretty much has lived on a constant diet since he was 12. He is not at all like Will, who seems to scarf down whatever he wants without really thinking because he's got a sixteen-year old 6'2" jock body that will pretty much burn up anything.

When JJ becomes a tabloid headline: "Piece of Me" by Britney Spears

I loved that JJ realized that Carter was hitting on him and basically wanted no part of it. Dude is just not slummin' it. I'm still kind of hoping for JJ to have his Cutting Edge romance, though: I kind of wanted him to fall for a Boston Southie hockey player from a blue-collar family, but I don't think he's going to stay in Boston. I wonder if he'll run to Chicago or Los Angeles?

Chapter 5 -When Will writes his angry email to Zach. "I Don't Want You Back" by Eamon -When Will realizes that he'll be okay no matter what happens with Zach, and decides not to send the message. "So Yesterday" by Hilary Duff -When Will rents a tricked out 747. "Pimp" by 50 Cent -When Will picks up JJ in London, and they travel in style back to the States, as JJ reads the tabloid news about him and Alex. "Transatlanticism" by Death Cab For Cutie

we were blessed with quite possibly one of the best Jane Austen adaptions ever, Clueless. An updated version of her book, Emma, Clueless follows the trials and tribulations of Cher, a pampered 15-year old Beverly Hills student, who can't help but try to play matchmakers to those in her world, often with hilarious results and misunderstandings. Twenty years later, the film has become a teen class and remains a fresh, funny take on the social mores of Jane Austen updated to a then-contemporary setting. Check out this great Throwback video of them on set twenty years ago: To celebrate, I'm going to post some of favorite tunes from the movie: It was kind of strange when I was a little bit older and I realized that this wasn't the original version of the song and it actually came out in the early 1980's as a new-wave tune. I can't really decide which one I like better, the original or this version. This video is just hilarious. I loved that it was a Carrie homage. "Alright" by Supergrass What a great feel-good for such a feel-good movie. And of course, the closing tune of the movie: I didn't know that this was actually a tune from the 1980's- I really thought this had been written for the movie. In any event, it's kind of funny that it sounds like such a happy tune...but then if you listen carefully to the lyrics, it's about a guy in a toxic relationship. Anyway, Clueless remains one of my favorite childhood friends, and it just holds up so well. I feel like it's kind of a time capsule in a way- really reflecting that mid-1990's time period between the grunge feeling of circa 1993/1994 and the pop boom of circa 1997.