methodwriter85

See, I grew up in the 1990's, where we at least pretended that greed was bad, and social justice/equality for all/corporations-are-bad were celebrated values. Then again, greed resurfaced in a rather big way during the 2000's. Hmm. That was the interesting thing about 9/11. It was a big equalizer for them- waitresses were lost right along with high-powered executives and the like. That firefighter who evacuated JJ from his hotel room didn't give a damn who he was. In any event, it's going to be interesting to see how Brad and Stefan deal with the fact that they're going to profit big-time off the Iraq War, which is going to kill thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. How the Iraq War effects Claremont, which is probably going to see prosperity but also lose their sons and daughters to the war, is going to be interesting.

I think the thing is, Will's been a front-burner character through Poor's Man's Son, Paternity, 9.11, and Flux (although to a lesser extent.) This is the furthest in the background we've seen him- it's the first time since Millennium where Will isn't really driving the theme/action etc etc of the CAP story forward. When you have a character that is on that much, it opens the character up to a lot of criticism from the readers. Especially when readers were used to the idea that someone might be main narrator for two stories straight at most and then recede to the background (this was the case for JP- CAP, 1968, then Brad- Be Rad, Man In Motion), and were then treated to three straight stories that were incredibly heavy on Will and Will's issues, and then a 4th one on top of that that was still somewhat heavy on Will. And in order to keep someone that front-burner of a character, you need to give them issues and dramas and conflict, and therefore they can't be calm, rational, and cool all the time. They have to make stupid mistakes, misjudgements, etc etc in order to keep that drama going. Which Will did, and which also got him a lot of criticism because Will is not held to the standard of a teenager, because it has been judged in CAP World that Will is supposed to be mature enough to be an adult even though he's still only 16. So there's that disconnect that's felt by the Will-haters- being told that Will is supposed to be this worldly, mature-beyond-his-years guy, and seeing him doing stupid teen crap like what happened with Erik Delgado. I seriously came to blows with Mark after being pissed off that Will dealt with exactly zero fallout from his camping trip shenanigans freshmen year at Harvard-Westlake. Which is another facet of why people tend to have issues with Will- because he represents the privileged rich kids who can do whatever they want, and then get a pass because they're rich. I don't think it bothered people as much that JP, Brad, and Stefan have done a lot of shady things, but we were also weren't told that they're Social Justice Warriors Who Are Wise And Mature Beyond Their Years, with Will being positioned as the Second Coming of Tonto. It's a cold hard reality that the world works this way (I got a reminder of that recently with a Delaware judge who let a DuPont get away with molesting his own children), and Mark doesn't shy away from that. Still, it bugged and I got angry. Particularly because again, Will has been presented as thinking he has high moral ground on a lot, yet he constantly got away with things he shouldn't have because again, he's rich. I've backed off from that, and I think Mark started writing Will as a much better character in 9.11. Will's realization that he's not ALWAYS in the right and the way he finally kicked Tony to the curb did a lot to redeem Will in my eyes during that story. And I gotta admit, his budding relationship with Zach did a lot, as well. He's come a long way from the Will I wanted to throttle during Paternity and almost quit the story because of it.

Yeah, I don't think it's been worn by hot college boy types since at least circa 2004. It definitely wasn't "in" where I went to college.

If you're a guy with a trim stomach and a nice round ass and pull off a bit of a bad boy thug vibe, the look can work pretty well. I remember it being popularized by Mark Wahlberg for suburban white kids back in the early/mid-1990's: The look has actually had a pretty long longevity, to the point where I wonder if you can even call it a trend, because it's been around for 20 years and has never fully gone away. It's not as popular for white kids though as it was back when I was in middle school/early high school, though. A lot of guys are wearing skinny jeans now and you can't really sag with that look. Although backwards baseball caps seem to have faded out. I don't see guys under 35 doing that anymore. Kinda sad- I actually really liked that look.

Yeah. It put a big smile on my face to see the recreated poster: "If we were your kids, we'd punish ourselves!" Seriously though, good on these grown-ups for being willing to laugh a little bit at who they were as little kids. It's funny how Derrick from Full House aka Waldo basically looks exactly the same. (And he's out of the closet, shocking no one.) Damn it, now I want a "Might Ducks" reunion.

I do think JJ in Revenge-mode could be very, very scary, because something tells me he wouldn't be like Brad or Will, burning hot, doing something destructive, and then it's done. It would be very cool, methodical, and last for years.

So I learned today that the 20th anniversary of the Little Rascals movie was last month (I was surprised because I thought the movie came out in 1995, hmm), and to celebrate, someone got the whole cast back together and did a photo shoot. "O-tay!" Pretty cool to see them willing to be such good sports about the whole thing. The Little Rascals was a pretty big part of a lot of people's childhoods (I remember watching that movie a ton back during the summer of '95 at a friend's house), and it's nice to see them appreciate the fans of the movie. Awhile back, "Alfalfa", aka Bug Hall, did a video where he recreated singing "You Are So Beautiful" to Darla, but to some big portly male actor. Definitely won me over with that. Any of you guys remember the movie, or at the very least, taking your kids to see it?

Since we're speculating...I kinda miss how you used to use contemporary-to-the-period stars as character faces. Not my biggest crush from the time period...but...Orlando Bloom for somebody? He was a pretty big dreamboat circa 2002, and through his run on the Pirates of the Caribbean. He didn't do it for me until he was a bit older, but I'm sure a lot of people dug his twink vibe back then. Orlando Bloom was definitely on the ascent back in '02. If JJ was the type to post pictures of cute guys and girls on his wall, he'd probably have one of Orlando Bloom. I can tooootttttalllllyyyy see JJ crushing on Orlando Bloom, because I think he'd be more interested in lithe twinks instead of big jock-boy looking guys. My god, I had to listen to the squealing about Orlando all the fucking time when I was in 9th and 10th grade. It also helps that Orlando Bloom has LONG been speculated to be gay. Damn, I wish Private Tim still posted here so I could see if he has any dirt on Orlando. Orlando's actually a pretty good guy to check out in any event, because wasn't he considered pretty fashionable in terms of how he dressed?

The whole look started in the early/mid-90's and was popularized by Marky Mark, and it's more of a hip-hop vibe than anything else. Kinda reached a fever pitch in the late/early '00s until preppy made its way back in circa 2003, but you still see the look around. Honestly, I'm kinda wistful for the days of the early 1980's, when guys wore extremely tight jeans and polo shirts. On the right guy, flattering as hell. I'm kinda glad that guys aren't dressed in uniformly baggy jeans now like they were when I was in middle school/early high school.

So, it was nice to see Will honor the whole deal about not poaching other family member's love interests, but what if Alex isn't interested in JJ? That kind of seems stupid if you hit a situation where you and another family member like the same guy and said guy is interested in one and not the other. In this case it's not like Will has any real feelings for Alex, but what if you hit a situation where both Will and JJ had feelings for the same guy, and said guy had real feelings for say Will? That seems kind of dumb to put the "family card" into play here. In any event, know that Alex knows that JJ is pretty virginal, JJ will make a pretty suitable Madonna for him. I really do like that after years of Will, we're getting to follow a teenager that is less 14-going-on-25 and more naïve 16-going-on-17. From the previous chapter... Sounds good so long as the dynamic isn't, "Riley has the body of a 17-year old man when he's 13 and Wade just can't handle his son's precocious physical maturity", I'm down.

Chapter 7 - When Will and John Carullo meet up and have a bit of sexual healing. "New York State of Mind" by Billy Joel

*shrugs* You were the one who picked him. You reserve the right to change your mind.

My 5: 1. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare 2. East of Eden by John Steinbeck 3. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 4. Americana by Hampton Sides 5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Mark actually picked JP. JP basically looks like a late middle age version of Ricky Nelson, but if Ricky Nelson had blond hair and was short. Kinda like Ricky Nelson's sons, but if they were more conservative-looking. Mark also picked Stefan- Stefan is basically supposed to look like Tab Hunter. What people don't realize about Stefan is that he's actually pretty tall- I believe he's 6'2" and he's a pretty big guy. But you don't realize he actually has a jock boy build because he seems so effeminate. Mark has never signed off on a Claire. I personally think Gail O'Grady (NYPD Blue, American Dreams) is the perfect Claire because she hits everything that Claire was described as having- blonde hair, green eyes, perfect doll face, and a buxom chest, but eh. He did like Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel, The Conjuring) as Claire, but he didn't actually sign off on her, either. He did, however, sign off on Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story), Vera's considerably younger sister, as Marie: That was Blue's pick. I really liked that one. My idea was Emma Stone, but I completely agree with him and Mark on Taissa. She looks like a good girl, but she has edge and sophistication and doesn't look like a Disney kid.

That should already be around. It was hot in the late 90's/very early 00's to wear baggy pants and then sag them to show off the hem of your boxers, especially if you wearing Tommy Hilfiger boxers. The look I'm waiting for Stefan and Claire to freak out about is the whale tail, which Marie should be rocking right about now: Most teenaged girls circa 2002 were wearing low-rider pants and thongs, hence the term "whale tail." The look lasted for a pretty long time through the decade. Guys jeans were baggy for the first half of the decade; girls wore their pants very tight and very low. The look didn't peter out until the late 2000's, when girls switched over to higher-waisted skinny jeans. Weirdly enough, for some reason, my generation really liked showing off their underwear.

Ryan Kelly (Teen Wolf but probably best known to Gay audiences as the titular Prayers for Bobby) as Cam? Damn, that kid grew up nicely from his twink stage.

Yeah, I don't think JJ was being sweet- I think he was being practical and figuring that it was the best solution to the problem of, "Who can I get that will cook my poached salmon and grilled veggies to perfection so I don't have to order take-out and ruin my diet?" I think overall this generation of teenagers really don't show themselves as being that close to "the help"...they care but they're not shown like surrogate mothers/family members, the way it was for JP and Vella. Tiffany doesn't really count because she came into JJ's life as Jeanine's girlfriend/partner, and I thought we'd see that with Tischia and Will but she disappeared pretty quickly. It doesn't seem like anybody's had a bodyguard since 9/11 at least, the teens at least.

Brad becomes an early adopter of Twitter in 2007 under the handle, "Be_Rad."

Well, true, but in terms of JJ's p.r. (where interest in his image is probably going to start picking up if his season continues going this way), it works. It's not that you can't be gay, or in JJ's case, not-straight. You just can't be OPENLY that way. It seriously boggles my mind that Rudy Galindo became the first openly gay American elite figure skater in 1996, and NOBODY followed him. Johnny Weir is essentially retired, and Evan Lysacek has kept his mouth shut and hid behind Vera Wang. All of the openly gay figure skaters I can think of came out after they stopped competing, especially the ones that were on the international elite level. Here's a 2002 article with Rudy: So, They're all gay, right? It's an interesting read- especially since it's contemporary to JJ's era of figure skating. In any event, JJ can get away with playing the coy game, especially because American figure skaters are expected to be perfect little sexless Disney figurines, anyway. That's contrasted with Zach, who basically had to either be a manwhore thinking of guys when he fucked groupies, or play the Christian card, because that football jock world is so over-sexed that you can't really play the coy game there. There has to be a reason why you're not taking advantage of the women throwing themselves at you. JJ doesn't really have to come up with a reason, because he's expected to be a good little boy who wouldn't even think of engaging in pre-marital sex. Which again...wow, JJ really is perfect for Alex, isn't he? He very much knows how to play the Virgin because he has to for his public image. On another note, it makes me wonder how JJ views the Russians- this was a pretty dominant era for male figure skaters from Russia, with Alexei and of course, Plushenko. He probably worships them. Although hopefully not to the point that Johnny Weir did/does. (Seriously, the guy has like a Russian fetish.) Does JJ get all fanboy over any other figure skaters, or no? I can't actually remember him gushing over the figure skaters he looks up to. Anyway, in terms of slanguage...it looks like Will's an early adopter of saying "fail." It was to the point where I wondered if that was anachronistic, but I found this post from Urban Dictionary dated 2003: I can buy Will picking up a lot of newer, obscure slang being that he's a worldly kid from California, and 2003 is very close to 2002, so eh, I didn't ding that one. It'd be different if, for example, Will said something like he "Facebooked" or "Tweeted" someone, which are very tied into 2003-2004 and 2007-2008, respectively. "Googled" should be one new term that should be picking up steam right about now in the final quarter of 2002. Overall, I liked that the 9/11 Memorial was there, but it wasn't a big focus, because they're moving on with their lives.

I'm not saying he's going to pretend he's not one of them. I'm saying that he's going to keep that on the DL, to use an emerging slang word of the early 2000's. He sure as hell isn't going to introduce his dad and his dad's latest lover on their family jet for some puff piece about his life. As for JJ's sexuality, I think he'll probably keep to the company line of, "Oh, I'm just too busy to even think about settling down with the right girl!" He's lucky that at this point, he's not under intense scrutiny, which will probably change if he stays elite going up to 2006.

Not so much "interfering", but getting himself overly involved. Probably more on Will's side than Robbie's side, but in any event, when Brad really loves you, he tries to control you.

Right, but I doubt JJ's future puff pieces are going to mention Brad or show him on the family jet. I don't think JJ will exactly flaunt who his dad is, and I don't think JJ will want people digging into his family history and then hit upon the story of exactly how he was conceived. I think it'd be understood who his family is and what kind of wealth he comes from, but something that's kept kind of mum in favor of showing JJ going on cookie factory dates with an USFSA-Approved Sweetheart. (This really happened with Evan Lysacek, who was packaged as the All-American Sweetheart to contrast with Johnny Weir when it became clear that Evan was the only American who could beat Johnny.) But yeah, in any event, I think JJ probably doesn't want Brad interfering in his life, after seeing what it was like for Robbie and then Will.

I don't know if those posts got deleted, but I didn't even see the political posts in the future thread. Hmm. Oh, well. There are ways around it, like if you're on a subforum dedicated to a story that has political overtones to it.

On the other hand, I don't think JJ would want Brad anywhere near his career. JJ's probably not exactly shouting it from the rooftops that he's from an incredibly rich family with a powerful openly gay dad. Not exactly the Disney-friendly image JJ is expected to project. As JJ put it, to have Brad really love you, there's a big price you pay for it, and it's not really one JJ wants to pay. I think he prefers Brad as the general hands-off father he normally is.

Chapter 5 -When JJ scopes out his competitors, and figures out that it's a do-or-die performance. "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor Yay for the 80's revival going on now in CAP-time! -When JJ does his performance. "Fascination" *Shrugs* I picked this song because it was the standard that Luke and Laura danced to at that department store in 1980. Seriously, soaps were so much more romantic back then. -When JJ places second in the Nebelhorn Trophy, but is even happier knowing that Alex is there. "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch -When Brad's at the club with Cam. "Flight 643" by DJ Tiesto