methodwriter85

Chapter 11 -When Matt recounts his graduation day weekend, 2002. "The Graduation Song" by Vitamin C I still can't believe that I'm actually 1 year away from my 10th year reunion. Damn. Time sure flies, huh? *Raises fist* Class of 2005 still rocks! -When JP takes Matt out for a ride and they talk. "Ventura Highway" by America -When Brad tells Will about what he's uncovered about himself in therapy. "In My Place" by Coldplay I really liked Coldplay in the early/mid-2000's. I can't think of a single song after "Fix You" that I liked though, though. -When Will and Zach end up at pretty much the place you expected them to end up at. "What I Did For Love" from A Chorus Line "A Chorus Line" is such an awesome musical. It's a shame that the musical film adaption basically gutted the whole thing and made Michael Douglas the star even though he shouldn't have been.

Thank you for clarifying that was a movie adaption change- I really didn't remember reading that, and I could've sworn that Four doesn't realize that Tris was divergent until the simulation crisis. Anyway....Hailee Steinfield as Madison Graves? I was watching True Grit and thought, "I can see her as Jeanine's "take no shit" teenaged daughter." I'm going with the idea of Maddy having Jeanine's coloring. She can't be blonde like Cody, because I showed off Kiernan Shipka for a blonde Maddy and Mark wouldn't sign off for that, and if Maddy were blonde, there's no way Kiernan Shipka wouldn't have been perfect.

He's eligible for parole in 2020.

You would think that, but repeat offenses are pretty high in the U.S.

Right. On one hand, I really do hope that if this guy gets out at 37, he can lead a productive and fulfilling life. At the same time, I'm with the poster in being frightened at the worst case scenario, which is that this guy is still very much obsessed with her, and will do anything to be with her. She's planning on living out of the U.S.A. by the time this guy gets out, so she should still be okay, but still.

In my mind, Insurgent was the last book and I have not touched the third. LOL. I hope they are planning a massive overhaul of the third book. Normally I'm for book authenticity (I'm going to admit it bothered me a little how much they changed Silver Linings Playbook from the book even though it was still a good movie), but if what people have been saying about the third book is true, I'm willing to throw that out. Seriously, they apparently turned Four into this little emo bitch for the third book. Can you honestly see THIS being an emo little bitch? It's not going to work on a 30-year old guy. I actually like where they went with 4's casting- getting a rugged looking, older guy instead of a 22-year old pretty boy, but it's pretty baffling for what Four's characterization for the third book is, unless there are some big changes.

I don't think the kid in this case was evil, though. Joe was suffering through years of abuse, had one thing that made him happy, and his abuser was standing between him and the one thing that made him happy. That doesn't excuse it, but I think this case was a bit more nuanced than the kid being completely evil.

I'm actually pretty happy with how it's performing- it's at 105 million domestic right now. The movie will probably wind up with at least 120 million. It's doing well enough that the movie will get sequels, but not so well that they'll get the ridiculous idea to split the third book up. I've been rooting for Shailene Woodley ever since I saw her on an episode of Cold Case back in 2007 (although not enough that I watched that horrid Secret Life) so I'm happy with her cemented stardom.

Oh, you know it's true, you Dallas Frankenbro. LOL. ;-) (Just kidding. I know you're nothing like this.)

I've taken to browsing Reddit, and I came across this fascinating story of a woman who, when she was 14 years old, had a boyfriend that killed his mother. This happened in Fort Worth in November of 1999. Here's an article about the case- he was sentenced to 40 years in 2000. They were in this cute, puppy love very innocent kind of relationship, and one day he got the idea to spend their half-day off at her house, before going back home, with his mother being none the wiser. His younger brothers snitched, the mother became furious, and he was forbidden from seeing her. His reaction was to stab his mother while she was sleeping, and when his brothers tried to save her, he stabbed them as well. They survived; the mother didn't.The writing's not on Adam Phillips-Level, but I still think the story is fascinating from a psychological point of view. The boy was getting abused by his mother, and it seemed like this cute puppy love deal with the reddit poster was probably the one thing that made him happy. After years of abuse, then having his mother keep hm from his "true love", it makes sense that the guy snapped. You have this cute little 10th grade hearts and flowers innocent love story leading to something completely horrific. I think the juxtaposition of that- the innocence and quite frankly immature nature of courtship against what he did to his mother in the name of said relationship- is just fascinating to me. As for the poster, could you imagine being a 14-year old girl with all of this saddled on you? He started sending her long, rambling letters about how he was glad to have done it for her. *shudders* I can fully understand that the poster is scared about the fact that he could be paroled as a 37-year old in 2020. She's hoping that the guy has forgotten about her, but she's not taking her chances. So do any of the numerous Texans here remember the case? It seems like this does happen- kids killing their parents in the name of "true love", although in this case the girlfriend didn't set him up to do it. Although of course, kids being kids, they tried to blame her for it and she got harassed for awhile.

Right. It's the 2000's. The 2000's were like the 80's in that "Greed is good" was the mantra again (although we weren't nearly as open about that), and it was the era of McMansions and SUV's and a love for status symbols that you bought on credit. And you gotta take into credit the fact that Matt grew up in a Shaker Heights Colonial mansion, at the country club, and in private schools. There might have been middle class people there, but it's not like Matt ever really interacted much with them. Cole was probably the first normal, middle-class guy friend he ever had. Exactly. Does anyone think that Matt hung out with the kids who went to Shaker Heights High? He probably attended both the Lower Campus and the Upper Campus of the University School. I thought it would be interesting to have a guy who's a Hayes in blood but was raised as a total Blue Blood snob, and that's where Mark had the idea to make him from an affluent, old money (not anywhere near Wade's family but still rich) family. Although unlike Wade, the Carrswolds seem like they're at the end of the line, about to die out, which is why they adopted Matt to try and keep the family line going. We never wrote Matt as having cousins, aunts, or uncles, right? I kinda figured that both his parents were only children, and the Carrswold line just wasn't that fertile, which is why they're dying out. It does happen- Abraham Lincoln's line died out by 1985. I liked the bit about what Matt's parents had to do in order to fly. Nice touch about the post-9/11 world. I'm still waiting for you to add in "Terror Level" color alerts, though. LOL. (Although I can't remember- were we still having those in 2002 or had that already faded out?)

Here's another article about it...Details Revealed for Comcast Innovation Center.

Wait, Ben's the carpenter who looks like Theo James. Who is the Jewish lawyer again? Is his name also Ben? God, I can't keep these recurring secondary characters straight. Anyway, let's take a few minutes to appreciate Theo James and his wonderful beauty. Good on him for the success of Divergent. (Blue, did you see the movie yet?)

There's this humor piece, called the United States of Bro, which purports to be a map of all the bro types in the country. Here's what they said about my area, and I think it pretty much nailed it: Other than the poor parents bit, that is literally a description of hundreds and hundreds of guys I saw walking around University of Delaware. It was culture shock when I went to school in Western P.A. and you didn't see boat shoes and salmon colored shorts as far as the eye could see. What does it say about your area? (If you're from the U.S.) Do they get it right? What are some things/areas they missed?

Yeah, we use Verizon. Eh.

You totally had a boyfriend like Matt, didn't you? LOL. I've adored Matt every since he admired himself in the mirror in the opening chapter of Bloodlines, so I'm glad to have him narrating again. He's a spoiled brat but his heart is pretty good. In any event, is there any guy who doesn't look back on what he was like at 22 and cringe? Most guys that age still have a lot of growing up left to do. It's why I find guys in their mid/late 30's pretty sexy- still youngish, but with experience and less of that "I know everything and am right about everything" attitude, because of said experience.

I'm not sure about soulmates, but this to me has been the barometer of what I see as true love:

I thought they basically stopped as soon as they found out that Kevin was his nephew or whatever the hell he was. It took awhile- remember, we met him as "Sergio." It wasn't until deep in Millennium, after Brad had done the whole "You get a new car!" deal that we found out who Sergio/Kevin actually was. I kind of wonder if Sergio used a fake Italian accent to go with the fake name, and if he still does that, or he's gone back to being Kevin. I think you're right in terms of actual lifestyle, but you're still adjusting. He has to build new relationships with new professors, learn his way around a new school, and build new friendships after creating some very tight friendships in college. I'm not expecting a flameout, but I think the bulk of people who make the jump have issues with it because it is a change, and if Matt were completely and seamlessly transitioned into grad school, that'd be a boring as hell read. He's been Mr. Big Man on Campus for 4 years of his life. Adjusting out of that should take a bit from him. I wonder if Matt will have friends who do flameout. It does happen. I knew a girl who decided to treat her first year of grad school like her first year of college socially, and then of course flamed out. I'm not even sure she had to do a thesis- she was in student development or something like that. I remember when I started grad school, I read this blog of a woman who dropped out of her PhD program, and I felt freaked out and wondered if I couldn't cut it. I think there was 1 girl who dropped out, and 1 guy who had to take out of our seminar (and add another semester to his load) because the professor of that particular 601 seminar told him that he was one of the worst writers that she'd ever come across in her life, and that based on his writing he shouldn't even be in grad school. (Having read his stuff it was true, but man, harsh.) I'm curious though- did anyone here have a grad school experience that was joyful and easy? On the opposite side, did anyone flunk grad school? (Or have stories of stellar flameouts.) In my case- I was somewhere in the middle. It was hard, but I managed to graduate with a 3.75. My biggest disappointment was that I didn't have a close co-hort group- in some years that happens, but in my case it didn't. I think my biggest "shell shock" moment from grad school was when we were told for my 614 class that we were reading and writing book reviews every single week. Is there a lot of reading for finance programs, or no? I know Wade should probably be slammed with thousands of pages to read every week as a law student. It's why study groups and outlines are crucial, right?

My point isn't that Matt won't do well. The point is that grad school isn't a cakewalk even if you're not doing a thesis, and you don't get coddled at any point during your graduate career, the way you sometimes do in undergrad. And Matt's frat boy lifestyle will have to be adjusted at least a little bit to accommodate the vastly increased amount of homework. Instead of partying every single night, he might have to cut back to 3 nights a week. LOL. He'll learn more about time management than he ever wanted to know. LOL. Grad school is not college, the way college is not high school. It's an adjustment, and it usually takes awhile. How Matt adjusts to the changes should be interesting. I think the challenges created some great character growth in myself, and I hope it does the same for Matt.

Well, damn. You learn new things everyday. My point remains the same that I could see him as Ben. Eh. At least Paul Rudd and Ben Feldman are definitely Jewish. LOL.

Right. In any event, grad school should be a pretty brutal awakening for Matt. Wade seems like he'll transition well, but I think it'll take Matt a couple of weeks to adjust.

I feel like Matt reminds you of an ex-boyfriend, like Tony reminds Private Tim of his. LOL. I think I like that Matt has a very spoiled only child brat attitude. It makes total sense for his upbringing, and it's not like his frat boy college party boy lifestyle would have disabused him of that. Now he's off to grad school.This is where reality starts to hit him, and I'm interesting in seeing how he responds. If everybody were perfect with little need for emotional growth, it'd be one boring story.

I think it's being called "Comcast Innovation and Technology Center."

Or another utterly adorable Jew for Ben, Chuck's Zachary Levi: Probably out of all of them, Zachary Levi is the one I can totally buy as a lawyer. When his hair's short he can totally rock that White Collar America look. I'm going to admit, I tend to have a thing for Jewish guys. I tend to like glossy dark curls, which most of them tend to have. It might also be that University of Delaware had a pretty significant Jewish presence. My friend Steve used to joke that I was a Secret Jewish guy because I would pick up spare change on the street and stuff. LOL.

Paul Rudd as Ben? What an adorable Jew. I swear, the guy never seems to age. He's in his mid-40s and can still pass for thirtysomething. Lucky genes. Or Ben Feldman from Mad Men: Another utterly adorable Jew.