methodwriter85

Blue, I can see where your point on that...as much as we might malign ugly/artistic architecture, I prefer that than seeing yet another "new building trying to look old" stuff that I'm seeing so much of going up around my old college town of Newark. Seriously, three or four story brick façade apartment buildings with retail on the first floor have spread like wildflowers in Newark, Delaware and are so unimaginative. Anyway....Army Corps Know Reevaluating Billion Dollar L.A. Rehab Well, that didn't take long. Piggyback Yard doesn't exactly seem that keen to give the land up. But in more positive news...check out the potential designs for the new bridge that will cross the river at Glendale/Griffith's Park! I'm digging Option E.

So in this week's lighthearted, "awww" news, a young Toronto man found an Elizabeth Gallagher to take around with him around the world during Christmas. See, he booked these tickets for his girlfriend, Elizabeth Gallagher, but they broke up. Since the tickets are non-refundable/ non-transferrable (but passport information is not required), he could only take an Elizabeth Gallagher who had a Canadian passport. He found her in Nova Scotia, a young 23-year old student with plans to become a social worker. She has a serious boyfriend, which promises to keep this platonic. Still, what a cute story! They'll document their trip around the world and I hope they become good friends after this! That's good on the woman's fiancé, though, that he's willing to be okay with his girlfriend going on a three-week trip around the world with a total stranger. Would any of you be willing to do this, provided that whoever you go on this trip with is thoroughly vetted and background-checked? In any event, it's such a warm fuzzy story.

Zach is 17, and probably counting down the days to his 18th birthday on June 12th, 2003. I wonder how much awful Christian rock music Zach is probably making himself listen to in front of his schoolmates. I also wonder if he's wearing one of those "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets. I remember those being pretty popular with the Uber-Christian crowd back then.

That's pretty scary, Rustle. Glad you never had anything more than an encounter with David Brooks. It's just crazy to think that so many guys from the same neighborhood disappeared in a 3-year time span, and no one put it together. I'm pretty sure that's why Dean Corll picked them. Young good-looking guys tend to associate with other young good-looking guys, even though they're not attracted sexually. He wouldn't have picked guys that were fat or ugly because they wouldn't have attracted good-looking guys. There was a story that someone posted about how he saw James Dremayla (the last victim) at the swimming pool with the two, and said they were going to go to a party together. His instincts were screaming about the two, so he didn't go with them, thank god. Too bad James didn't- he looked like a very trusting, naïve 13-year old kid who probably just wanted some cool older guys to pay attention to him.

Wow, that's pretty crazy. Did you ever meet Dean Corrll or Elmer Wayne Henley? Did David Owen Brooks ever invite you to go "to a party"?

David Brooks, an accomplice in the Houston Mass Murders of the early 1970's, is up for parole. A teenager at the time, he and fellow Houston teen Elmer Wayne Henley lured 28 teenage boys to home of Dean Corll, who raped, tortured, and murder them. At the time, it was the largest victim toll for serial killers in history. I think it's a pretty fascinating case, because it said a lot about class politics and the mindset of the time period- all these kids were just written off as runaways, and since they weren't from affluent families it just wasn't that much of a priority for the police department. Parents weren't that tightly controlling of their children's whereabouts back then, and it was a time when it was normal for teenagers to hitchhike or run away. From a modern viewpoint, there's just something incredibly insidious about the fact that Dean Corll was able to make dozens of teenaged boys disappear from the same neighborhood, and no one in charge of protecting the public put it together. I think modern police tactics would make it hard to replicate something like Dean Corll or John Wayne Gacy again, not to mention the fact that teenagers are so plugged in and wired these days- if one went missing, people would notice pretty fast, especially if you're talking about teenagers from stable families. Do any of you old-timers here remember the case? I think it's incredible that this guy put up numbers comparable to John Wayne Gacy but isn't remembered that much. Here's an article about a guy who wrote about the case in his book The Lost Boys: The Houston Mass Murders: What Really Happened The Houston Mass Murders: What Really Happened A Q&A with Skip Hollandsworth, author of “The Lost Boys.” View on www.texasmonthly.com Preview by Yahoo It's crazy to think there might still be undiscovered victims that we'll never know about, and they're still trying to identify victims forty years later.

Riley won't be 18 until 2018. If CAP continues at its current year lag, we won't see 2018 CAP until it's 2030 in our world. Well, he could always pull a Will when he's 14, but I can't see a Danfield kid doing that and risking embarrassing the family. He couldn't really silently do that because Wade is so high-profile and the tabloids absolutely love U.S. political family dirt. I do think Wade, Matt, and Tiffany will be much healthier when it comes to parenting their kids than Brad, Robbie, and Jeanine were.

Btw, have you seen Wolf Of Wall Street? Mark signed off on Margot Robbie as Mary Ellen: The Wolf of Wall Street Hot Scene (NSFW) Brooklyn accent aside, I can SOOOOOO see Mary Ellen pulling something like that with a boyfriend/husband. Margot Robbie in any event was such a little scene stealer. I'm not usually one for blonde bombshell actresses but she rocked the hell out of her part in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Do you have any feelings about the developer maligned here, Blue? Is Geoffrey Palmer Destroying Downtown L.A.? We had a developer in central Delaware, called Zimmerman, who built a bunch of shitty cheap buildings that included a gaudy 'Z' in the mid-2000's, but then got screwed by the economy crashing. I think he's under indictment now.

This would have made an awesome soundtrack choice for when Brad and Robbie went through their break-up drama in Millennium: "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift As I've said before, I'm absolutely obsessed with Sean O'Pry right now. Dear god. Also, JJ's general storyline about him losing his virginity to Alex and the like. "White Houses" by Vanessa Carlton I gotta admit, I really thought we were going to get this storyline more like in 2004 when JJ was 18, which would have allowed me to use this tune, but eh. I'm still kinda surprised that Mark gave JJ his first love interest at 16 because that's not really THAT unusual or "late bloomer", but I guess that's supposed to contrast with Will who got into this stuff at 13.

"Night Changes" by One Direction

Chapter 29 -When Wade sends Hammer off on his way to the Peace Corps in Africa. "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve That will always be one of my favorite movie endings involving comeuppance. Sarah Michelle Gellar in Cruel Intentions is basically how I picture Bitty.

It's been a weird couple of days. I turned 29 yesterday, and on November 29th, I commemorated the 1st year anniversary of my close friend Steve's death. Basically, I drove over to where Steve's old dorm where he was an R.A. and I spent a shit ton of time with him, and I got out a small candle and the prayer card that I got from Steve's memorial. It was actually kind of funny- I cried on my way there, but when I actually got to the dorm, I was pretty calm. I didn't really do much for my birthday- no birthday cake, no cards, no party. I did get some well-wishes, and I'm expecting that I'll get my birthday gifts for Christmas. I'll do something with one of my friends when he gets some free time- he said he owes me a night getting drunk once he's done with family time. Part of me wanted to do big stuff, but the other part of me was pretty content with what I did do- make a steak, then go over to my old college hangout bar to have an Angry Orchard and then listen to a good cover band. I also saw a stage play of It's A Wonderful Life at the local community theater, which was fun. Basically, it was set up like a 1940's radio station doing a radio broadcast of It's A Wonderful Life, with the actors voicing different characters. It definitely lifted my spirits, considering that I'm stuck in this soul-crushing retail stock boy job that I absolutely hate and can't wait to be let go from. I miss being excited for birthdays, but I kept thinking about how this is another birthday Steve won't get to celebrate. He missed his 28th birthday, and he'll miss his 29th. I think it's a combo of really hating this retail job and missing Steve that kept me from bouncing up and down for it. I'm grateful I had this birthday, for sure. It was just a pretty quiet one.

Thanks guys!

I think rules vary state to state.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit with U.S. Department of Education in Civil Rights, ACLU: Charter schools causing resegregation ACLU: Charter schools causing resegregation The ACLU argues charters are causing resegregation and discrimination against minorities. View on www.delawareonline... Preview by Yahoo It's been complained about since I went to high school that Charter School of Wilmington has "skimmed" off the top of the best students leaving crumbs for the normal schools, and this seems like another piece of b.s. in a long line of trying to take the school down. They've already put a cap on the enrollment, now they want to try abolishing admission tests? I mean, they don't say it out loud exactly, but it's obvious when one of these "Oh, charters are HORRIBLE and ELITIST and RACIST!" articles that they mean CSW. Geez. The point of Charter was that it was a school set up for students that are advanced in science and math, not that it would be open to anyone who wanted to join. It just seems like a big case of sour grapes that Charter's model has worked, and worked well, while the regular public high schools in northern Delaware have languished, with a couple of exceptions. Some of their complaints were ridiculous- "Oh no, you mean I as a parent actually MUST be involved with my child's education for them to go to a school where they won't get shot in a drive-by? Call up the ACLU because that's RACIST!" I guess I might be a little sour grapes as well. I'm extremely nervous about what this might mean for magnet schools in the state if they manage to gut charter schools, because magnet schools are often lumped in with charters. I heard a little rumbling of a rumor that the school board was going to start putting pressure on Cab Calloway to make admissions lottery-based only and get rid of the auditions. Which has to be one of the most asinine ideas I've heard of- "Oh, hey, we've got a performing arts school- but as long as your name gets picked out of a hat it doesn't matter if you don't have any talent!" Cab has gotten harder to get into because of demand, from what I've heard, and I'm betting anything the board member who has allegedly been floating that idea is some parent who got pissed off their kid didn't get in. I'm generally a fan of charter schools, because they cut through the red tape and bureaucratic overbloating that tends to drag down normal public schools. And I loved my magnet school experience, because I got to experience a school environment where people really wanted to be there instead of the apathy you often get in regular schools. So I just don't get the vehement protests about charter schools. Some fail, others do great- just like regular public schools.

That was funny. In all seriousness though, I don't think JJ is supposed to look androgynous like Johnny Weir. He's described as cute/handsome, not cute/pretty. Mark and I have actually had back-and-forth on this- though he's a clotheshorse and a metrosexual, JJ's not actually effeminate. He's more along the lines of Evan Lysacek. JJ's not collecting Louis Vuitton purses or wearing high heels like Johnny Weir. I actually liked Dane DeHann (Amazing Spiderman 2, The Place Beyond the Pines) for JJ, but Mark didn't bite on that one like he did for Lucas Till. I get the feeling that JJ is supposed to be conventionally handsome, but just short and still very boyish looking. I pictured JJ with quirky elfin features, but I think I'm wrong on that. Dane kind of reminds me of a Young Leo, at least around the eyes. Like Basketball Diaries-era Leo. But if Leo had a quirkiness to his looks. Maybe he could be Alisdair, if we ever see that guy again? Anyway...if we're talking requests...Sean O'Pry from Taylor Swift's Blank Space for somebody? Hot damn. I love that he's got this All-American look to him, but just the right amount of exoticness to go with it to keep him from looking too cookie-cutter.

Damned if Taylor Swift can't persistently put out really catchy tunes and music videos: Sean O'Pry is really, really hot. I like the boy next door look with really exotic eyes.

I can see that, but without the grey hair. There's no way in hell Elizabeth Danfield would let her hair go gray. Very few Baby Boomer politician wives do. (Or are they older than that? I thought Wade's parents were in their late 40's/early 50's, but they could be in their late 50's/early 60's like Matt's parents.) Blue, it's funny that you thought of Heather Locklear, because I thought of Ava Sambora (Heather's daughter) for Marie until you came up with the Taissa Farmiga pick. (Which both Mark and I totally agreed with.) She for damn sure favors her mother over her father. Another Ella pick...Grace Dzienny from ABC Family's Chasing Life: If they ever do a Heathers remake, she would make a fantastic Heather Chandler.

So in honor of America's annual shopping frenzy day (well, now weekend), here's a compilation of some of the most notorious incidences from Black Friday: The Worst Black Friday Disasters And some of the fights: Wal-Mart Black Friday Fight over $5 Headphones Why the hell would you take little kids to this? Geez. Black Friday Compilation Have these people never head of Cyber Monday?

Chapter 25 -When JJ and Alex finally go all the way. "Unbreakable" by Westlife Thank god boyband pop was still going strong in the U.K. in 2002. Cutesy love songs from boybands were dying out here in the U.S. during that year.

Again though, it's like with Will and JP....what exactly do they expect to happen with Triton? Brad and Stefan might not need the money, but in order to keep Triton running and to keep Claremont's renaissance going full-swing, it's almost a given that Triton will need to get itself involved in the Iraq War. Lots of people are going to depend on the new jobs being created, and the new wealth that's going towards the town as a result of the company. Which could be an interesting quandary- Claremont needs this defense contract company to succeed in order to not slide back into being a rustbelt town, but on the other side, they'll be sending their young sons and daughter off to fight in a war that a lot of people do not believe in. I mean, it's really not just Haliburton that profits from this war- DuPont's Kevlar vests probably kept that company going as well during the war. And now we've got this fictional company in CAP that has been created and located to JP's beloved hometown, and will need to invest in this war to keep itself going. I do think doing a story about the Iraq War is going to be challenging for Mark, because it's a big, sprawling story that spreads out over 11/12 years- Mark would have to pick a focus and stay there, but even then, as the decade goes on, the Iraq War stays in the background.

Hmm, interesting. I actually came across an old school newspaper from spring 2005 that bitched about rising gas prices, showing the gas to be a whooping $2.12 a gallon. I just must have not been paying attention to gas prices that much, because I wasn't driving in the fall of 2005- I lived on campus at a small liberal arts school in Delaware. I do remember that summer I knew people who were bitching about gas prices creeping up closer to something like $2.50. The big one I remember very well was the summer of 2008, when gas prices hit 4 dollars a gallon. I was driving a lot that summer. Yeah, I loved that one. It was very in character- he wants people with good breeding, or at least appear that way. I can see his type being, when he's older, an Anderson Cooper or Bennedict Cumberbatch type. He's just not going for the meathead blue-collar jock type.

Chapter 24 -When Alex and JJ make-up. "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones I always thought that Norah Jones and John Mayer should've done an lullaby album together. Perfect voices to fall asleep to. -When J.P. walks out of the dining room, after saying his peace about his feelings on the impending War in Iraq. "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield I will never forget watching the 2004 Republican National Convention protests. The CAP family really is headed into some crazy times.

That's really interesting. It makes sense- you live in an area that is warm and sunny all the time, and you don't have the moodiness of grey winters or the thoughtfulness of vibrandt fall seasons to deal with. I don't know if it's deliberate on Mark's part, but it worked out because JJ doesn't have a chipper personality to him. He might have when he was 12, but 16-year old JJ could give a shit if you think he sounds happy, unless you're a judge or a media person doing a profile on him.