A Car, Two Movies, and Some Sim Stuff

[orikes]

THE CAR

I've actually had it since Wednesday, but things have been so busy, I haven't had a chance to snap a decent picture of it to put up. May I present, my Nissan Rogue... (which anyone who has played D&D or Everquest with me will find hilarious)



I am leasing rather than buying, but I made sure that I got more than the standard mileage. Ultimately, I think I got a decent deal on the car. I'm negating that somewhat by leasing, since I'll pay more in the long run, but it lets me get into the car I wanted at a monthly payment I could afford.

The funny thing is, even though this is MUCH bigger than my Neon, I'm getting a ton better gas mileage. The Neon was so beat up and so old, I was only getting about 19mpg. It's taking some adjusting to get used to driving it, but so far I'm loving it.

TWO MOVIES

On Friday night, I went out with a bunch of friends and saw "Indiana Jones and the Kindom of the Crystal Skull". I can say with no hesitations that I enjoyed it quite a bit. There are a couple of things that I wasn't really sure about, but taking a step back from it, I think they do fit with the franchise. It just seemed really abrupt. And no, I don't want to give anything away. Suffice it to say, it was good, I liked it, and it's ranked very closely to 'Last Crusade' in the order of Indy Awesomeness.

Yesterday, I decided to go see "Prince Caspian". The Chronicles of Narnia are one of the series' that I have fond memories of from my childhood. I read them over and over again. I've always found the allegory suggestions interesting, because while I never read them as allegory when I was a child, there were some life lessons I took from the books that have stuck with me. I don't agree with everything that has those allegorical overtones, but that doesn't mean I'm going to toss the books out on the curb.

So, the movie. It was awesome. They actually added quite a bit that is not in the books, but I think they needed to pad out the story somewhat. The climax of the book isn't quite as exciting as what happens in the movie, and the other things they added also worked in well. I like what they did with Susan since she gets shafted later on. Peter got some nice bits too that fit with his character.

Reepicheep was VERY well done. He was always one of my favorite characters from the books, but he's never translated very well to other media before. With the CG effects in this and Eddie Izzard's voice, he was pitch perfect. (One interesting factoid.. Warwick Davis, who played Nikabrik in this actually played Reepicheep in the BBC miniseries of the books.)

I'm very curious to see what they do with the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, since it has quite a bit in it, but some of it is very strange. It should have a very different tone from these first two movies. Either way, we'll get to see Lucy and Edmund back, as well as get to see how they handle Eustace.

All in all, I liked both movies and heartily recommend them. I hope that "Caspian" doesn't get overlooked in the crush between "Iron Man" (which also rocked) and "Indy".



I really can't get myself going on the BC. Every time I open up the windows document I have set up to start writing, I just draw a blank. I've forced myself to fill in about ten slides, but it still doesn't feel right. I think I'm going to have to add something so I can get through the introductions and into the meat of what's going on.

In the meantime, I finally got the last of the plotty scenes I need for 4.7.



It's all set up and ready to be written. As you might guess, it's going to deal with Ian quite a bit. I almost called this "Ian's Story". I have been planning this update and the next for almost as long as I had been planning the quest. It will end in a cliffhanger. I will probably have many people very angry with me.

I think what will happen is that I'll get the plotty scenes I need for 4.8 shot, and then play the neighborhood through summer and fall. That should get some of Gen5 to teenagers. It'll delay getting 4.8 out, but probably not much more than would normally happen with my l33t skils of procrastination.

Some of the plotty scenes I had to shoot for this involved Ophelia (as you can see from one of the thumbs in the cover...



She really is a true Romance sim. In this picture, she had known Ahbjeet(sp?) for all of two seconds before they were making out. Peter Ottomas was essentially standing in line as he swooned her. He had only known her for two seconds as well, but he had all sorts of ACR fun queued up.



And while she's alternating between guys on the front lawn, two of her other dates are dropping off bouquets. I had to laugh at Robi showing up in the middle of the day. He smoked as he walked up to the house, smoked as he put down the bouquet, smoked as he swooned over said bouquet, and then hissed at the sun and ran away.

For the most part, I don't have too much trouble with ACR turning all my sims into skanks. There are times I have to watch them (Micah is too nice.. he won't say no to anyone, but he'll never initiate anything on his own), but for the most part, couples stay together without much issue. There are a few exceptions, though. Ophelia is one of those. I haven't given her any secondary aspirations because she doesn't really call out for any. She IS a Romance Sim.



I decided to start playing my placeholders as well, partialy because I wanted to play, but knew I couldn't play any of the main houses. I'm glad I did, because I discovered Charlotte's first love. That's David Ottomas there. The two of them have two bolts without any tinkering and are very cute together. But they are, perhaps, rushing things a bit.



At the very least, they reminded me to turn off teen woohoo for the neighborhood. Thank goodness TwoJeffs added that to ACR. Simagroop handled teen woohoo in her Broke Legacy really well, and Stacielee handled Whedonberry's teen pregnancy with panache. But I really just don't want to go there. There's already so much going on in the neighborhood, I don't want to have to deal with teens gone wild and more Banned4Lyfe moments than I have to.

I'm probably already pushing the envelope in some respects. I had one person ask if I was getting more 'adult' with the Pseudo Legacy. I don't think I've really changed, since I know for a fact there was some off color innuendo in the very first chapter, but I think I have gotten better with my screenshots, so now I've got words and pictures combined.



Back on subject, since I'm playing the Ottomas family, I did have to say goodbye to Dora. She went quicker than I expected. I think I only got one season with her. The guy balling his eyes out behind her is the garden club dude she'd been wooing. They had JUST finished a dream date when Grimmy showed up. To be honest, I kind of miss her.



But then I see Sharla and realize that her face will be around for a long, long time to come. I don't know if Sharla and Dora were designed to resemble one another, but they both have that 'skull with flesh' look to their faces.

As a side note, I don't know what it is about that house, but people are constantly falling asleep in their food.



Including this guest, who fell asleep and then still got aspiration points for it. That's Ivy Buccaneer, for anyone wondering.

Okay, back to work.. and trying to overcome writer's block.

Comments

[ndainye.livejournal.com]

I envy your Rogue :)

I haven't seen either of those movies but they are both on my too see list, I may even go to the theater for Indy.

As for the sims stuff Yay! I've been itching to read about Ian and I'm sure I'll be one of those that get mad at you about it :) And the cover intrigues me, can I help it if I'm a bit of a Opi/Robi shipper?

Of course I want to see the BC as well, but I understand how hard it is to get into something especially when it's a bit different format than what you're used to doing.

[docnerd.livejournal.com]

Cute car! Yeah, leasing isn't the ideal situation, but when you have a choice between leasing a brand-new car for an affordable amount or owning a POS for an affordable amount, the lease begins to look like a far more attractive option. Mine's up in a couple of months and I still don't know what I'm going to do.

Seems like the update's going to be full of fun. Why am I not surprised that Ophelia takes full advantage of the possibilities afforded her by ACR?

Sorry you're stuck on the BC. The only suggestion I could make is to add a "host" to introduce the challenge, or to have 'Randa's friends/family members getting together to watch the show. Either of those would provide some sort of transition into the BC, which might be enough to get the creative juices flowing.

[robinoli.livejournal.com]

Hee... This is completely random, but I had a dream about the BC last night. You said somewhere that you wanted to have it out this weekend, so I guess I dreamed that I was on Boolprop and went to the Bachelor Challenge forum to find it. The Bachelor Challenge forum was my fridge and it was only filled with meat, and all the different kinds of meat were the threads in that forum. I searched through all sorts of meat looking for it but I couldn't find it, so I went to the Legacy Stories forum to see if you posted about it in the Pseudo Legacy thread, and apparently the Legacy Stories forum was my pantry, but it was only filled with types of bread and each different type of bread was a thread in that forum. For some reason you had updated, so I picked up a loaf of wheat bread and started reading, but all the sims looked like characters from some strange kids show on Nick Jr.

I rarely remember my dreams. Of course it figures the first one I remember in a long time is cracktastic.

ANYWAY... Would you recommend Prince Caspian to someone who didn't like the series when they tried to read it? Because I'm trying to figure out if it's worth seeing for more than just hearing Regina Spektor in the credits. >>;

I hate when you're vague about upcoming plotty stuff. Now I'm exctied. :}

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

Okay, that is a truly truly wacktastic dream, Robin. It is made of awesomeness. I personally love dreams when they're wacky like that. Most of my dreams that I remember make it sound like I'm on some sort of drug. I'm not, my brain is just really out there.

Did you see "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"? I found there to more a bit more humor in this one. A couple of the characters get some great lines. The stuff that's added in makes it better than the book, IMO. I mean, I loved it. But then I loved the books. I think this has enough in it, that if you didn't like the tone of the books, but some of the stuff you've heard about it sounds okay.. then go for it. Catch it at a matinee or somesuch. Or wait for the dollar theater.

I'd also recommend it for Prince Caspian being very droolworthy, but A. That makes me feel like a dirty old woman because he's probably half my age, and B. Your preferences don't go that direction anyway. ;)

[robinoli.livejournal.com]

Most of my dreams that I remember make it sound like I'm on some sort of drug. I'm not, my brain is just really out there.

According to an article a friend of mine read about the guy who invented LSD, that particular drug triggers what happens in your mind during REM sleep (the kind of sleep in which most of our most vivid dreams occur). So, there you go! :D Crazyass dreams = your mind on LSD.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

I thought about actually writing this next one first person from Ian's perspective, but decided that might be a little too hard since I wanted to touch on some of the other families as well. I definitely wanted to get to his story, though. I felt like I neglected him in Uni, at least storywise.

I like Ophelia and Robi too. I'm not sure where it's going in the long term, but they definitely have a lot of chemistry together.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

That's kinda the idea I had for the BC. I need to introduce all the players, and I've got all the pictures, but the writing isn't really flowing naturally. I think I'll have two 'tech' people talking about the pictures as they put something together. That'll give a third party view on the whole thing and let me explain some of the set-up at the beginning.

and yeah, on the car... I know I could have gotten something decent for less, but not much less and it wouldn't have been as comfy or nice.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

That actually makes a lot of sense. I love my dreams, but the reality in them is really warped. There was one dream I had where the moral to a story was 'And the rabbit gave her son a biscuit.' I have no idea what it actually meant, but it's stuck with me for many, many years.

[honorkid54.livejournal.com]

Love the car. Not exactly what I would've picked, but as long as you're enjoying it AND you can afford it, then you'll get used to it in no time.

I loved Prince Caspian. Reepicheep was done very well indeed, especially with his humorous sense of irony. "I expected someone... taller." I cracked up. The movie, in many ways wasn't as good as the first, but in other ways it was much better than the first. It had a lot of biblical values in it, too.

About the cover, I think you chose a perfect shot for the character. Ian, looking confused and wondering what to do next (assuming that the wedding did not go well from the pictures). The good things that I was expecting from the cover are Kiley and Julie's wedding, Shelby's pregnancy and the picture of Louise, and the pictures of Persy and Matthew and Aeric and Star. The things that are boggling my mind though... The picture with Robi and Ophelia. Oh gosh, I am really, REALLY wondering what you are going to do with that. And the first picture of Ian with Lisa dancing confuses me with the picture of Ian looking confused. And Kirstial... she looks really mad.

As for the BC, maybe you could bring back Devon Decker, along with Persephone and Matthew, and all of the other legacy women (I think that it would be kind of funny and cool if the legacy women came both to see the contestants and to worry about Miranda in the contest.) You could bring in Venus, Comet, Sophie, Meadow, Genesis. It's just an idea, since the days before my aunt got married, she was surrounded by female family members 24/7. Just have fun with it though. If you have fun with it, the time writing might pass a bit faster, and you won't seem to be having to force yourself down.

[mmmfobbs.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I loved the sneak peek. I really don't know what to say to get the BC moving for you, other than think of all your fans sitting on the edges of their computer chairs waiting! Also, we don't expect every chapter to be as exciting and nail-biting as the Quest chapters were. There _are_ quieter moments in people's lives, and it's okay to show that. And I would think the first day on a BC show would be a little confusing and puzzling to all involved. (and I volunteer to be a techie if you go that way, 'kay?)

The car is very cute. I've never leased, so I don't know all the ramifications, but it sounds like you made a good decision about the mileage. I have heard some bad stories about that particular issue.

Can't wait for whatever you write next, and you know I'm pulling for Ian to find happiness (not with the cheater) and stay on the side of good!

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

First of all--congrats on the new car! I'm sure it's a relief to have that decision made and done with.

Second, on the movies--haven't seen either of them, so I skipped most of that bit.

Third, on the BC: I think some of what you're running into is narration style. BCs and Asylums really lend themselves to the back and forth of author/Sim, and since you pretty much don't do that and write a clear narrative, and since it wouldn't really work to change gears for that, you're stuck breaking new ground. It's really a different genre. Since Randa is doing a "reality TV show," you might want to consider some of the qualities of those things. There's almost always a host who comes in to check up every morning, and of course a lot of hidden cameras. I seem to remember a little panel of "relationship experts" or "experts" who came in to talk to the contestants. Often there are specialists--the fashion person, the personal trainer, etc. The obnoxious producer you had in the chapter where you introduced the idea--he was great. You should use him.

Isn't there usually a little intro for each contestant? Would it be worth it to nab a picture from those legacies and re-caption them, or shoot in your clone neighborhood, as in "_____" is originally from Strangetown; his hobbies include _______; he wanted to be in the Bachelor Challenge because ________."

I do feel sad for Ian in advance, but I'm amused by Robi smoking out there on the sidewalk. I always think of him as Count Whoopie, so I have to remind myself ". . . oh, THAT'S right. In Orikes' legacy, he likes girls."

PHEW, good save on the Teen WooHoo. Interesting that TwoJeffs made that a neighborhood thing. . .I don't use ACR, of course, though I did give it a test run with a clone of my founder in a custom neighborhood. (Rosie was a desperate family sim, and until she found somebody, a bit. . .fast. She wound up with Malcolm Landgrabb.)

I don't think you're getting any more "adult" than you ever were. The Pseudo Legacy has always been fairly adult, and I don't mean that in the euphemistic way "adult" is usually used. It's always had complex characterization and narration and plot.

I recognized Ivy right away.

PB

[rcubical.livejournal.com]

Your car is awesome! I wish I was old enough to drive...*mutter*...

Also, I knew that Ophelia and Robi would make an awesome couple! He's sweet enough to risk his life for her (Ophelia should become a grilled cheese sim...I don't know why, though). What aspiration is he? Probably Pleasure but what the hay? He wanted to be Mayor in the Fitzhugh-verse. Maybe Popularity.

Judging by two cover pics i assume that *****face will cheat on Ian. If she does everybody knows that she'll get the boot...and maybe become a minion of Kirstial.

Looks like a great future chapter :)

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

It's kind of interesting what's a neighborhood global and what's specific to each house in ACR. For example, out-of-wedlock pregnancy has to be set individually on each lot. I'm guessing TwoJeffs got a lot of questions/concerns about the teenwoohoo aspect. Not everyone wants to deal with it, but there's a pretty large population of simmers who do. So, make it a global.

Up until then, if you wanted to avoid teenwhoohoo, you had to make sure there wasn't an adjuster on your lot. Unfortunately, that also prevented your elders from using ACR on autonomously too, which sucked.

It sounds like Rosie really wore rose colored glasses, since she consistently ended up with someone facially challenged.

And yes, my Count Whoopie does like girls. I imagine I probably could have swung him the other direction if I'd wanted to, but very early on, he expressed an interest in pretty blondes. (He and Heather Huffington had something going on until I had to go to a back-up that erased that relationship.) Inadvertantly I discovered that Melissa Fancey fancies her own gender.

I think you're right on the issues I'm having with the BC. I thought it would be a pretty easy thing, but it's not. I shot a couple of pictures of something today that I think will help ease the transition into it. Once I'm going, it shouldn't be too hard to do. I am getting a little worried, though. I don't want Miranda too far out of sync with the rest of her generation, so I've got to get this moving soon.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

Actually, the Fitzhugh vampire was the other male vampire. :) Marina used the Goopy-face vampire, who wants to be mayor. Robi wants six kids or something wacky like that. And yes, he's a Pleasure sim. All the vamps are.

AS far as Ophelia's aspiration, I dont think I'm going to be changing it. She's fine as a Romance sim. :)

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

Knowing that people are anxious to see it is probably the reason I haven't thrown my hands up in the air and walked away from it. Or just played it and not published.

I'm hoping to get to some of the quieter moments in their lives soon. I'm thinking that this next big plotty thing coming up will probably be it until the next gen is in college. It'll have some pretty heavy reverberations throughout the neighborhood, but it'll still let me get to just play my sims. :) For a little while at least.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm bringing back Devon. I hadn't planned on doing it quite this soon, but he can help me transition into telling this story. Hopefully. :)

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

If Robi is the same as Count Sam and Count Whoopie, he does indeed want Six Married Kids. Ik.

PB

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure he is. I think the base four vamps you get with NL are always the same even if they have different names. My Count Pervy Stephen is the same as Marina's Count Jess. I actually had Robi selectable the other night and I forgot to check his LTW. I'm betting it is marry 6 children.

I need to check the other vamps, but I found it interesting that his genetic personality is not the same as his regular personality. I'm pretty sure getting vamped doesn't change personality like getting werewolfed does, but it looks like his personality got tweaked somewhere alogn the way.

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

I actually just came back from seeing Indiana Jones. I agree, it was really good. I want to see Prince Caspian as well, I read the books when I was pretty young, so I don't remember much, but I do want to see the movie.

Ugh, Ian. For some reason, I dislike him. I always thought he was the emo kid (after his grandparents death, I don't remember if it was Zoey or Christian), and then he flung himself into that relationship with that skank, and now... I honestly can't wait for the plotty parts and the BC. I think Ophelia and the Count are pretty cute together, but the again all of your couples have awesome dynamics and dialog. :)

Ugh, the Ottamas people. They just are so ridiculously "trashy", in my mind, that I never play them. I delete them.

Can't wait for more Pseudo Awesomeness. :D

[cori-chronicles.livejournal.com]

Your car is very very very pretty! :)

I really liked Indy too. I'm glad we stayed up watching the other movies the night before. I think there were many ways they could have gone with the story, and this one fit pretty well. I will never forget you laughing when Shia's character first comes on screen though! That was awesome. :)

[swhedonberry.livejournal.com]

I really liked the Indy movie, though I must say, that I haven't decided whether or not I like the artifact's plotline. I can't decide whether it feels "Indy" enough for me. Shia was great as Mudd, and I don't usually get to excited about Shia the Beef. Granted, I'm a little beyond the age range of most of the folks who watched Even Stevens.

I loved Caspian, too, and I don't think that you should worry about it's survival too much. It has one thing that the other movies don't have: the Christian factor. Though I think it could be enjoyable for most people, the allegorical undertones (or overtones, or whatever) will keep church groups going again and again. I LOVED Izzard as Reepicheep and the kid who played Caspian was really a delight. Susan was quite a bit more BA than she was in the books, but I accepted it wholeheartedly. Are they going to do Dawn Treader?

AHHH, the BC. I think that I would have difficulty writing it as well as, stylistically, you and I both write in the narrative style. It'll come to you. Don't fret!!

[penguingirl03.livejournal.com]

Nice new car! I'm sure you will have fun driving it and I'm sure you are really happy about the improved gas millage since the price has gotten high enough that I think I'm going to haul out my bike and start riding it instead of driving.

All three movies you mentioned were awesome in my opinion. Just saw Indy last night and I enjoyed it. I'm not such a big fan of Shia as an actor but over all I spent a lot of time laughing. I've also never read the Narnia books. When I was little I got really upset when they killed Aslan, even though he comes back so I never tried to read them. I think I must have seen an animated version of the books on TV or something. In fact, when the first movie came out I refused to see it because I had such bad memories of the story as a child. I ended up watching it at a friends house on DVD later and really liked it so I was all ready to see the second one. I agree that there were quite a few funny parts in the second movie and I really liked it.

Yay for chapter cover teasers! I'm looking forward to your next update whether it's a legacy chapter or the BC. I'm worried for Ian. I don't think he will take to having his heart broken very well.

For the BC, have you tried skipping over the introductions and writing more of the meat of the story? That might help you get going. I know I'm terrible at writing openings for things so I usually write something just to get started and then go back and fix it later. Getting something down, even if I don't like it allows me to get going with the rest of the story.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

The 'artifact' of Indy did seem a bit out of place, but when you take a look at what Indy was and how they advanced the time frame, it makes sense. The first movies were homages to the serials of the 30's and 40's. Advancing Indy to 1957 essentially advanced the homage, so to speak. It felt odd, but it made sense to me after I thought about it.

I liked Susan getting a chance to be BA. I always liked her, but she was a bit passed over in the books (and that's a generous accounting of her treatment in the books according to some).

I believe they are going to do a Dawn Treader movie. It's listed in IMDB, but that doesn't always mean much. I hope they do it. I also hope they at least do Silver Chair as well. I wouldn't mind seeing Magician's Nephew too, but I'm not sure I can see them doing Horse and his boy or Last Battle. We shall see, though.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

That's probably what I'm going to push myself to do on the BC end of things. I HAVE to get it done. I just need to push myself to write it and then fix what I don't like later.

[rcubical.livejournal.com]

Just something else I needed to say: in respects to the "more adult" note (yes, I know it was me who originally said that) it's not I find it adult, it's that I'm fairly sure young children (young es 10) read your legacy. I'm used to the swearing (you didn't go overboard), it's just that it might shock some young kids...

So entirely forget what I said in early February...minus the you being god part :)

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

I honestly couldn't remember who said it, but I do recall that it was said. :) I don't really hold anything against you for saying it, it just surprised me a bit, since, as I said above, there's been 'adult' themes and commentary since the beginning. There were some pretty off color jokes in the first couple of chapters.

Having been a literate kid at an early age, I feel the real issue isn't so much language as concepts. Nothing I've used in an update exceeds a PG13 movie, so I'm pretty sure most of the 'kids' who read my stuff have already heard them. What may be a bit more difficult for them to handle are some of the more mature concepts that get brushed over. I can't say that I've done anything extraordinary in my updates, but I remember what I got out of reading adult books when I was young.

'Adult' language might be good for a giggle, but the things that will really stick are the concepts and ideas that are treated as 'adult' only themes in books. I read voraciously as a kid and there's a lot that's stuck with me over the years. Of course, it may have been completely different than what the author intended, but still.

Anyway, no offense taken, but I don't see it as an issue. :)