methodwriter85

I'm just always really impressed whenever a writer gets an area right. I thought Silver Linings Playbook did a generally good job of showing what Philadelphia is like, although no one did an authentic Philly accent, even Bradley Cooper who is from the area. The Office also did a pretty good job with it- touches like Herr's Potato chips and Yuengling beer. Toni Collette is noted for having done an authentic Philly accent in The Sixth Sense. For some reason people think you can use New York accents to stand in for Philly. Anyway, in honor of The Fault in Our Stars grossing 48 million and toppling Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow this past weekend, check out this early 2002 tearjerker movie, A Walk to Remember. It was okay, but man, I REALLY can't wait until The Notebook comes out in 2004. Ryan Gosling was a wet dream boyfriend in that movie.(Although really, they couldn't have even tried to match him with a better old counterpart than James Garner?) I'm disappointed that Mandy Moore's acting career never really took off. I always thought she could have been a pretty good romantic comedy princess if she had chosen better movies. She was fantastic as the bible-thumpin' bitch in Saved! By the way, seriously, check out The Fault in Our Stars. It was fantastic and cathartic. Here's a clip from it: "It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you." God, where were 18-year old guys like Augustus Waters when I was that age?

I like how you have quotation marks around "Chinatown." Does that mean your grandfather calls it something else?

I think Tim dated someone like Tony. Not so sure about Will. I think Tim probably had friends like Will, though. I do think Tim doesn't understand Will because Tim is a rule-follower and conventional, while Will marches to the beat of his own drum. Tim reminds me of that college club president who took things WAAAAYYYYY too seriously. I went to a crappy, small liberal arts school for a year with a D3 Program, and even a good-for-D3 program was pretty crazy, though with scaled down perks. I was a tutor for a program that was ostensibly for all freshmen, but really for dumb jocks. If you went to the library and attended this study hall, you would avoid academic suspension for the next semester. So of course you would see jocks check out their Facebook in the computer lounge for an hour, sign the paper, and then go.

So now that Tony's redeemed himself, I wonder if Tim's stopped hoping that he'd die a horrible, painful death. *looks at Private Tim* Nah.... I thought that particular plot line, over Poor Man's Son, Paternity, and 9/11 had gotten into an endless cycle of "Will trusts Tony, Tony fucks him over, Will freaks out, then forgives him, then Tony fucks him over again", so I'm glad that there was some kind of resolution here. I do think in the end, it was good for Will's character- it taught him not to put guys on a pedestal, and to not to try and force a "relationship" into something it's not. I thought Will's baggage with Tony was what made him spark with Zach in the first place- Zach was the complete opposite of Tony, who came off in the beginning as projecting this image of being an honorable, dependable guy. Zach instead was pretty honest about his faults and owned them, and Will wanted that after spending so much time chasing after a version of Tony that never really existed but he kept hoping did.

Chapter 28 -When Tony and Will finally have closure. "The Heart of the Matter" by Don Henley

I always figured Private Tim for an Orange County Republican type. Note his indignation to the post where I linked to an article where Josh Schwartz talked about the O.C.'s 10th Anniversary.

It'll be a game-changer, for sure. Although I'm disappointed that the actual roof height will be lower than Comcast I, and most of that extra height is from the spire.

Right. We should always consider our sources. Anyway, on another track... First Look at the 35-Story SoLa Village Is SoLa like an actual Los Angeles area, or is it a real estate attempt to brand South Central L.A.? I've also heard South L.A. In any event, it must be exciting to live in Los Angeles right now and seeing all those skyscapers going up.

I like how they called it the new Los Angeles fad: The Hipster Homeless. It's just funny to me as someone who grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs in a densely populated county but still had plenty of access to state and county parks. I mean, is Los Angeles really this hard up for nature?

Not me. I was always the sweet, loveable, gentle, and agreeable young man you guys have had the pleasure of interacting with here.

It's funny you should say that, Blue, because on the L.A. Curbed site I came across this: LA River Hosted Its First-Ever Campout If you tell people that 100 non-homeless people willingly camped out in tents on the L.A. River while making S'Mores and telling ghost stories, will they laugh their asses off in disbelief? There's just something weird to me about people "camping out" near a concrete bank, graffiti, and high-tension wires. I think the thing as a whole is fascinating, because you've got a city that did its damned best to pave over any kind of nature in the name of progress (I think Los Angeles has the least amount of parks and open space), and it seems like the people who want amenities like what Portland or such has are trying to force some semblance of "nature" into a very manipulated landscape.

Well, it's not crazy to try and get more recreation space in the area- cities like Portland and San Francisco that are popular with the affluent 20-something/30-something crowd have a ton of it, and I think that's what this is being aimed towards. I think the idea is that if they can do this, they'll make something pretty out of a pretty ugly space, create new wetlands, have the January rainwaters replenish the aquifer instead of rushing out to the Pacific Ocean, and be able to gentrify the surrounding neighborhoods. From what I understand, Los Angeles is pretty much built out, so there's not a lot of opportunities to create park space in the downtown. It makes sense why they want to utilize the Los Angeles River in that way, but I'm still thinking this is going to be a boondoggle on the level of Boston's Big Dig. Has this been on the news at all? I kinda figure the Santa Barbara shooter must've taken up most Southern California news coverage.

I think it's a little better than a trade school like Wyotech, but nothing near Cal Tech. (There was actually a Wyotech near IUP.) I think Mark said he based the school on something in Ohio. I figured it has to be a school with a couple of thousand of students that offers 4-year degrees- but it's mainly a blue-collar, commuter feel to it. If Claremont had a big-time university with lots of affluent students it probably wouldn't have fallen on hard times. Newark, Delaware was saved from becoming a rustbelt town because of its exploding student population in the 1990's, which started off a construction boom that lasts today. (It's population growth has leveled, but they're in the process of trying to replace all those 1960's-1970's buildings.)

Apparently it is. Army Corps of Engineers Decides to Back 1-Billion Dollar River Restoration Plan So, yeah. I mean, it's just a plan, at this point, and any implementation of this would take decades, but...well.... Anyway, here's a bunch of projected Before/Afters for the project, including Piggyback Yard. So...yay for nature? Or manipulated nature being further manipulated to resemble a more natural state? I gotta say, if I do ever visit L.A., I'm totally down for kayaking in the Glendale Narrows section of the river. You with me, Blue?

Isn't Arizona basically the dumping ground for people that can't afford California, like how Delaware has become the dumping ground for people who can't afford New Jersey's crippling property taxes? Anyway, Matt, I thought you'd like this: Drexel Works to Build Up Philadelphia I think Drexel is a good example of the aggressive expansion that a lot of universities have been embarking on since the late 1990's, when Generation Y started hitting college age. From what I understand, now that the wave of Gen Y hitting colleges is subsiding, colleges are going to make up the difference by aggressively recruit foreign students, particularly the Chinese. It's pretty amazing to see how much Drexel expanded and continues to expand. I thought we got a "slice" of the impending college boom period in a sense, by having J.P. set up ambitious plans for Claremont's college. I picture C.I.T. as being a small college, about 3,000 to 4,000 students, mostly commuters (maybe 1k living on campus in about 5 dorms) and nearly everyone being in-state. It'd be cool to see if they pull off plans to turn it into something bigger or better, or if they fail. Wesley College, this small private liberal arts school in Slower Lower Delaware that I attended back in the mid-2000's, had some real big expansion plans, but the economic crash put all that to a halt, for the most part. It's just now starting to expand again. On the other hand, the building boom at University of Delaware seems never-ending. I'm shocked every time I drive past the campus. Here's an interesting 2008 article I read once about the aggressive expansion plans of once-commuter schools to turn themselves into residential universities. Temple University is listed as an example- by 2008, they had doubled the on-campus/near-campus population from 5k in 2002 to 10k just six years later. Pretty impressive. Of course, the downside is that college tuition shot way up, but eh. Not like it'd matter to any of these characters. LOL.

Courtesy of Pandora's Summer Hits of the 90's, here's a tune from my childhood: I feel positive this appeared on Real World: San Francisco or Real World: London.

I think Barry is figuring that the thing between Zach and Will is just a puppy love deal, and if he can stop them from seeing each other, you'll get the whole thing to fizzle out and then he doesn't have to deal with Zach hiding a boyfriend.

This was funny to watch, because I started going on the internet in 1999, and the video they mock was already outdated despite only being two years old. The line, "The internet's not just for boys!" made me remember when the internet used to be mainly for guys back in the 90's. My other thought was, "Wow, like every white 12-year old boy had that haircut at some point circa 1996-1998. LOL." Also, to go with a question in the video...what was the first time you went online? My first memory going online was in 1996, when I was in 3rd grade. We check out a website...I'm pretty sure it was the Elkton, Maryland city webpage. My actual internet use started in 1999, when our family got the net and I used Go.com, the Sliders message board, and discovered the wonders of Backstreet Boys erotic fanfiction on Nifty. Anyway, if you guys are willing to waste 28 minutes of your life...check out the video they're referencing:

Okay, so to take things back to a light-hearted tone...check out these Los Angeles dudes talk about dating in Los Angeles: I'm not sure how accurate this is, but watching it kind of made me miss the simplicity of the white wifebeater on guys. It seems like it's all funky patterns and graphics now.

No, Satchel Farrow changed his name to Ronan.

It's kind of what Tiffany said to Will when he wondered why it's such a big deal being gay in figure skating when they were at the junior Grand Prix in Norway in November 2000: "No, it's being OPENLY gay." It's been rumored for a very long time, and with lots of anecdotal evidence backing it up, that Troy Aikman is gay or at least bi, that he's been seen quite often around the gay Dallas neighborhood, and that his former marriage that pronounced no kids was just a sham. We can have Zack be gay and have very closeted relationships. We just can't have Zach being OPENLY gay, not if he's still trying to head to the NFL teams. There's artistic license and then there's just things that flat out contradict the time period, which is this case, is still technically period until the next NFL season starts. As for Will and Zach having a monogamous relationship...I don't know. What hallmarks of a committed relationship can they really have? They can't live together- it'd be suspicious as hell for Zach to have Will live with him being that Will's a trust fund kid...it's not like you could wave him off as a personal assistant. Will in general is pretty damn high profile, and high-profile as a openly gay rich guy who looks like a 19-year old Abercrombie and Fitch model- it's not like Will can sufficiently fade into the background. Will seems like a guy who'd want to have kids by his mid-20's, but that would be impossible for Will and Zach to pull off and still stay in the closet. And don't forget- we're now heading into the era of social media, camera phones, which means they've got to be even more careful. If Zach gets himself consistently photographed around Will, a gorgeous openly gay guy from a very rich family but who doesn't seem to have any kind of boyfriend...bloggers are going to start to wonder, and tongues are going to wag. As Barry said, if they're not seen dating other people, it's going to make people wonder. Will probably would have to get a "beard" boyfriend at some point, but that seems like something where I can see Will eventually developing feelings for the guy, since it's not a beard in the traditional sense.

It's pretty sad when you think that of all the gay rights advancements in the 2000's that occurred, this is one that didn't move forward at all in that decade, and it took until the mid-part of the next one to see any kind of forward advancement. Will and Zach, unless Zach decides to give up his dream of being an NFL player, can't really have any kind of happy ending until at least 2014 in CAP World. And if Zach did give that up to be with Will, I can't see where that wouldn't evolve into bitter and angry resentment on his part. It's a completely doomed relationship, and everybody knows it, but they're just trying to enjoy it while they can.

Steve's girlfriend posted on Facebook tonight saying that today was the six-month anniversary of his passing. It's pretty weird- I didn't even think about that at all today. I just went about today like it was any other day- I spent the evening working on my case statement. I didn't think about Steve for any concentrated period at all. The grieving process is a weird, uneven thing. Right now, I feel oddly calm and accepting about it. Every couple of weeks or so, I get a flare up and it gets pretty bad- I had a bad case of it I believe in April, but it's not an every day, every week thing anymore. I just don't feel like the same guy I was before it happened, and I'm getting used to the new version of me more. I feel a little more serious, a little less like a bouncy kid, and a little more willing to accept the fact that I'm not 23-year old rager lovin' Jerms anymore, and be okay with that. I'm starting to get used to the fact that I can't call up Steve anymore...even though I still haven't brought myself to delete his number from my phone. I don't know if I ever will. Since I don't have him to call me out on my bullshit now, I kind of have to do it myself and try and cut it out myself. It's just crazy to think that life really does go on, even though he doesn't get to. His 28th birthday is coming up in early July, but he won't ever be older than 27. I'll turn 29 in six months, but I won't get to bitch with him on the phone about how much I hated that we were all going to be 30 so soon. The fact that I'm able to talk about him at all without sobbing hysterically drives home the point that time really has passed, and I've moved on, even with the occasional flare-ups. I feel like I've emerged, in some way, from the big haze that I was in during the winter when I was struggling with this. I've even accepted the fact that I'll have these flare-ups, and it'll be okay to have them- times when I feel absolutely lousy and pissed off and I can't do anything about it. Certain songs I can't listen to anymore without feeling my eyes tear-up, but that's okay as well. Part of me thinks that I should be a sobbing mess on the floor right now and feels guilty that I didn't even think of Steve until I read his girlfriend's post, but the other part of me has Steve's voice in my head going, "Remmy, stop being such a bitch. It's alright. Live your fucking life already. You'll see me when you see me." So yeah, it's alright. I'll see him when I see him, just like before, only instead of being measured in summers or in vacation breaks, it'll be in decades. (Hopefully, anyway.)

Right now I'm in the midst of this volunteer project I'm doing with the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. I'm basically writing a paper showing why this one site should get more funding, and I've been going down to Dover once a week to research in the archives. It's been a lot of fun, and it's great to dust off my old writing skills. The project deadline is June 15th and it should be relatively easy. The other thing that I've been a part of is helping the new president at the museum I've been volunteering with...she's trying to streamline the museum, and de-clutter the place, so I just spent 6 hours going through the place and figuring out things we can ditch to try and free up space in the upstairs where the collections are stored. She's also having the volunteers come up with ideas to try and get more visitors, so it's been pretty fun doing that. Our old president, god bless him, was a nice guy but didn't really let us do more than collections care or moving around exhibits. I just feel a pretty big sense of accomplishment right now.

Chapter 24 -At the club, when Josh is found out and Cam rails at Matt for stuff he did four years ago. "Days Go By" by Dirty Vegas I'm positive Blue shook his 18-year old bootie to this tune at a club in 2002.;-)