Justin's love of junk food - canon/fandom; beta comm?

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

I'm working on a couple of fics and trying to stick as close to canon as possible. I've read a lot of stories where Justin tries to get Brian to agree to order pizza. So my question is: Justin's love for junk food such as pizza, cheeseburgers, etc., is it canon or fandom?

Also, I'm looking for a beta. I have been told there is a beta comm that may or may not be active. What I really need is a beta who is familiar with Simon's 'The Other Foot' series since one of the fics is based on her series. If you know where I can find the beta comm or if you are interested in doing a bit of beta work, please let me know.


ETA: Justin's appetite is definitely canon. From all the comments and a few of the scenes that were cited, I have decided that Justin's love of junk food to be more fandom than canon. As vasilikii pointed out Justin ordered gourmet foods in the NY hotel in season 1. (I did check out the scene, just for the food of course. *smirk*) And more of us remember Brian eating more junk food than Justin. ;)

There is a tag for the beta comm. Thanks Court!

Thanks for all the help! You guys are the best!

Comments

[qafkinnetic.livejournal.com]

It is canon that Justin eats a lot of food in general, including junk food. I don't know about pizza and cheeseburgers, though.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, his appetite is definitely canon. ;) I remember the scene where Jennifer is in Brian's office and tells him Justin eats like a football player. But to me that implies that she has a rather large grocery bill each month not necessarily that he eats a lot of junk food.

My problem is I don't recall Justin ever ordering anything in the diner. It seems that most of his scenes in the diner were of him working. I know in the first episode Michael orders a bacon cheeseburger for Justin the night he introduces Justin to Debbie.

[shangrilada.livejournal.com]

I don't know if we can even call the appetite canon, because yeah, Jennifer says it, but that's the kind of thing mothers say, and also because he was a teenager at the time. All 17 year old boys eat like that...it doesn't say much about whether the habits continued when Justin got older.

I have my doubts that it's canon, and it's always bugged me when it shows up tons of fics.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

Brian eats junk food more than Justin in canon. Sounds like a fandom thing to me.

[colourlesshero.livejournal.com]

yeah i think it's more fandom, in canon there are a fair few 'Justin Cooking' scenes which aren't junk food, too.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah Justin had some cooking scenes which always made me think he ate more home-cooked meals than fast food. And I'm sure living at Deb's he would have more home-cooked meals.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reply. I remember Brian eating a lot of junk food with Michael. The problem I'm having is I don't remember Justin ordering/eating anything at the diner. There are scenes of him eating a sandwich or meals at Deb's and in a couple of restaurants (one with everybody at Vic's victory celebration and once with his mother and Ethan), but most of his scenes are him working at the diner.

I'm thinking maybe it is a fandom thing. It's just assumed because he is a teenager that he eats a lot of junk food.

[(Anonymous)]

Right it depends on the timeline. If someone were writing him as Justin in Season 1, it could be argued that he would eat some junk food, food that he'd eaten at his parents' house. But, if you're aging him, he certainly wouldn't have had the same appetite. Even in the show, he cooks for himself in the latter seasons. If you wanted him out of character, he would be eating junk food at a later age. A lot of people make this mistake.

[shangrilada.livejournal.com]

haha, I didn't see this before I replied above. Yep.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

The fic takes place around the timeline of season 5 (Justin's about 21-22) and is AU from episode 3.09 so anything prior to that episode would be canon to my fic and anything after that episode is more or less AU. But I don't want to change the characters from canon if I can help it.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

Ha, that would be me replying above.

[toto-too514.livejournal.com]

I think Justin's love of junk food is more talked about in Canon than actually witnessed. I remember cheeseburgers and grilled cheese being ordered at the diner, but not being eaten and I don't ever remember pizza. Maybe b/c he worked there and didn't eat there? Maybe it's just expected that teenagers have big appetites?

There are couple of "food" scenes that DO jump out at me though... the eating chinese on the floor w/ Brian - the fortune cookie scene.
The other two involve pasta... the "birthday" spaghetti at Melanie and Lindsay's and the puttanesca at Debbie's after the protest at St. James.

Even in the much talked about Jambalaya scene we really don't see him eat.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reply. Justin's appetite is definitely canon. Jennifer tells Brian that Justin eats like a football player. But that doesn't imply he eats a lot of junk food.

I don't even remember him ordering anything to eat at the diner. I know Michael orders a bacon cheeseburger for Justin in the first episode and of course we don't have to see him eat it to know that he did.

There are a few scenes of Justin eating at Deb's but they are usually meals or like you mentioned the Chinese food on the floor w/Brian and the Jambalaya (better the second day). There are even a couple of restaurant scenes. But again those are meals. I don't recall Justin ordering/eating pizza or junk food. I know it's canon that Brian eats junk food with Michael.

[vasilikii.livejournal.com]

Justin can eat more food because of his age.... thats canon, but when it comes to crap junk fast food, Brian & Mikey do that for comfort/weed nights.

Its a fandom thing that Brian is a health nut who would never eat crap... he's a fat nazi, but we see him shoving whole eclairs in his mouth, eating pizza, KFC, burgers and lots of not so low cal stuff at the diner.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reply. I know Justin's appetite is canon. It was the junk food that I was curious about because like you said, Brian & Mikey are shown eating more junk food than Justin. The pile of junk food that Mikey shows up with at Brian's door amazed me.

You have stirred another question in my mind now... is it canon or fandom that Brian orders 'turkey on whole wheat hold the mayo' at the diner?

And wow! I have to say that scene of Brian shoving the whole eclair in his mouth... damn that was hot! ;P

[shangrilada.livejournal.com]

There's a scene where Debbie says, "who ordered no mayo?" and Brian says "That would be Mr. Miracle Whipper," implying that he ordered his WITH mayo.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

Do you remember who he was referring to with the Mr. Miracle Whipper comment or which episode the scene is in?

[shangrilada.livejournal.com]

Michael, and it's sometime mid season 3. It's after Michael can't jerk off in the hospital clinic, when he's trying to knock up Melanie.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[vasilikii.livejournal.com]

A few times he orders that...like when he & Mikey are fighting and Justin switches the sanwhich with Lemon bars to get them to talk... S1.

But we also see Brian get pea soup, eggs, etc.

I think Justin was showed to have very snooty or foody tastes...like what he ordered at the hotel in NY.... gourmet boy, not a value meal guy. Even broke w/ Ethan, they did cheese & crackers, not ramen noodles or pizza.

The eclair scene was hot...an he did that with a head cold, so he opted not to breathe to orally please us!

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to check out the switching of the sandwich. I sort of remember Brian ordering an egg white omelet, too. I just couldn't think of a time when he actually ordered the sandwich.

I hadn't even thought about the hotel scene. Think I kind of forgot all about the food 'cause of the hot sex! Hmmm, maybe I should check out that scene again! For the food of course!

I never knew that Gale Harold did that scene with a head cold. Now that's dedication to your art! ;P

[chance-medley.livejournal.com]

I think the fandom thing is more like Brian claims to be a health nut, but will then contradict himself by eating junk.

[livingbeauty91.livejournal.com]

I remember that, when she goes to Brian's office with Justin's things (108?), Jennifer says that Justin "eats like a football player". I always assumed that that's just because he was a 17 year-old boy, I figure he'd probably grown out of it later on in the series.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I remember that scene, too; so I knew his appetite was canon. It was all the stories with him wanting/eating junk food that I was curious about. I always thought that Jennifer's comment just meant that she had a very large grocery bill each month. (I remember that from when my son was a teenager. Actually he still has a huge appetite but that grocery bill is his now.)

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

Guys don't grow out of huge appetites unless there is a medical reason to do so. While it's true that metabolisms run fast at a young age, they don't just slow to a stop in a year or two. I would think that if Justin had a large appetite at 17, it would still be there when he was 22, or 24. Just because we don't always see him eating, scenes like the spaghetti scene in the birthday episode show that he can still put it away.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

I agree. His appetite wouldn't change and I know his metabolism won't slow for a number of years. I'm not going to give him have any kind of weight issues, just needed to know if the love of junk food was canon or more fandom. I know there are scenes where it's obvious that the gang have eaten, but since the dishes have just been cleared from the table as in the scene where Deb collapses in the diner, you don't know what they ordered.

I thought the spaghetti scene was quite indicative of Justin's appetite since he's still eating while the girls are clearing the table.

[court1429.livejournal.com]

There's a Tag for betacomm.

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

Thanks Court! I have looked at the tags for dozens of things and never noticed that tag before.

[court1429.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. I have no idea if it's an active comm or not. You might ask on qaffans, too. (I don't think that's the exact name of the comm...)

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

I just checked it out. The last post was in August 2010 so maybe I'll have some luck. I'll check out the other one as well. Thanks again.

[chance-medley.livejournal.com]

Which episode had the eclair scene in it?

[cowboystracker.livejournal.com]

I think it's episode 1.06.