profbutters (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
profbutters) wrote2010-04-20 03:54 pm
profbutters) wrote2010-04-20 03:54 pm
Entry tags:
Outtakes, 17.5 "What Comes Out Of The Fire"
Some days just aren't going to be great. This, I'm afraid, is one of them, and it's partly my own fault for aggravating my wrists and pulling some muscles. On days like that, you're grateful when a few things go right. So you get some outtakes.
Spoilery for the 4/18/2010 chapter of Squeaky Clean.
Here are a few more cat pix.
This is either Caramel or Capuccino--
And Chocolate.
Want more? I have LOTS. The cats have been getting short shrift for a long time. Back when I used to post to the Exchange, the 127 picture limit meant that a lot of stuff got cut, and what got cut was usually the cats. And face it, cats aren't usually plotty, either. But we have had ten generations of Squeaky Clean cats, some of which I created myself in CAS, and I am proud, dammit. I've saved most of them (though sadly not the first two, Darling and Dearest) and eventually I'll be uploading them along with my regular Sims. I wish saving Sim people files were as easy.
Speaking of which--
The cats are in charge, even at Cecil's house. What, you thought they weren't.? This is Honeybun. Also--
Many people would say that Max looks thoroughly creepy even when he is doing something relatively cute.
This is Sparkle. Visible behind them is the Great Migrating Cat Box that gets moved whenever it's in the background and I remember to do so. Somehow a plastic cat box doesn't fit with the decor, even though where there are cats, there are cat boxes, and Cecil has the recommended at least one box per cat: he is no fool. I'm sure someone has made one of those Disguised Kitty Boxes as CC somewhere, but if you have cats, you know that they hate those. They don't like the smell and they loft the litter even higher and further in an attempt to cover it up. This is a cat family and they have plastic litter boxes.
Most of the rest of this is Sims behaving inappropriately.
Nausicaa: Do you think the sun shines out of that?
I have a lot of Mean Sims this time around. Nausicaa is one of the few Nice ones. So a lot of them decide to hate each other for no good reason at all.
For a Sim who rolled the want to Encourage his already Grouchy daughter to be Grouchier, Ulysses is actually pretty mellow, at least in my experience. He makes the occasional AngryFace and it takes a while for him to make friends, but usually that's about it. Something about this professor got on his last nerve and I don't even know what she did, but I'm sure it was her fault.
Nino Caliente pisses a LOT of Sims off. Back in Pleasantview, I always used to head her off at businesses. She always started trouble--Cassius loathed her like poison. Same here.
It's really annoying when the girls' boyfriends hate each other, or worse, one of the other girls, but this was the worst case.
It took only a few minutes for Lenore to annoy Skyler right down to -20.
I had to sentence them to a long, long time playing chess together, or they would have been in a full fledged fight.
And Lenore does not help.
Even Jane Stacks won't give poor Albert the time of day. For a guy with the LTW of 20 Best Friends, he is doing terribly. I feel bad about ignoring him and keeping a Simself's grandkid barely in the green, but what can you do?
Zane isn't too mean. Quite the contrary.
He's a sweet boy, but he still needs to be on a leash.
Here he does NOT look happy. I didn't tell him to get into the hot tub, and I didn't tell him to go dance, either, but he still looks a bit embarrassed.
Another wrong expression:
I know this is standard, but "ooooo shiny" still doesn't suit Ian.
And then there's stuff like this.
Demure widows are not supposed to steal newspapers.
But they're not supposed to cheat at chess with a Bigfoot, either, or get depressed when they lose.
For the gardening scene, I wanted to have Cecilia digging in the flower bed, which meant kneeling. I tried several different things:
This is why I don't like the posing boxes much. 90% of the poses make Sims look like nymphs surprised while bathing, or like tarts. There are very few poses I actually like. But I like Jaydee's animation boxes because even if the animations don't look "natural," they're normal for Sims.
Eventually I realized that Comb For Seashells would work. Also, Max needs to weed his garden instead of worrying about Mom. And I wish he would quit smiling.
I seriously thought everyone would recognize this guy:
It's Secundus, of course, or not Actual Secundus but Secundus clone. I had to recreate him for the ghost scene anyway. You can't direct real ghosts to do anything, but you can make a real Sim look like a ghost, and then of course I had a Secundus. None of the Pleasantview Firemen look like him. As Seenodumdums23 pointed out, you can't interact much with real NPCs, at least not at first. I also tried to hint broadly at who he was with his name: SaM, or Secundus Marius.
I guess it would have been possible to stage the kitchen fire, but I thought it would be a bit easier to have a real kitchen fire. I couldn't have the fire alarm in the house, or a real fireman would have shown up, so I put the fire alarm in Cecilia's inventory, crossed my fingers, and prepared to exit without saving.
First of all, Cecilia is a REALLY good, careful cook. It took forever for me to get her to set something on fire. Then it turns out that selected non playables won't put out fires, so I had to add him to the household and direct him to put out the fire, which Cecilia probably could have done more quickly and efficiently on her own. Then--
CUT.
Secundus is Family, and he was not thrilled about having a Fire be the first thing that happened to him. So that is not going in the chapter.
Neither is that. Max, by the way, is an awful lot like Papa. They have almost the same personality. Max is Scorpio with only one more Active point than Secundus, who is Aries. They have the same nose and regrettably annoying genetics. Back when I checked, Cecilia is Brown/Grey and Secundus is Custom/Custom--Denise's Custom eyes and Pen's Custom eyes, unexpressed. So Max ought to have Grey recessive.
Also, Mean/Outgoing makes for some irritating conversational tactics. Secundus' first move was a Brag, which I've seen him do a million times but which did not go over well with Cecilia.
I know this is a favorite topic of conversation, but I don't think it's a good one. I call it tactless.
This doesn't work, either. I know she's enjoying the conversation, but she looks like she's enjoying it a little too much. That, or she's seen some vermin on the floor.
On the other hand--
Holy mackerel. They did not have three bolts in the old neighborhood. I don't understand why the exact same couple has three bolts in one neighborhood and two in another.
Some people have surmised that Max is going to be extremely worried and upset if Mama develops a romantic interest. Bluntly, he won't. Not this time. There's a lot more to it than I want to go into here. I might write a meta on this later. But remember that Secundus' ghost said that he wasn't coming back and that he wanted Cecilia and Max to move on.
I've mentioned to a few people that I think Cecil looks as though he has a slight overbite. I rarely show him smiling. It doesn't fit his character. But this is what I mean:
Also, just for the heck of it:
Note the differences in the profile.
Max's night attire is even fussier than Grandpapa's. All right, it wasn't before. He used to wear those pjs with the llamas on them because it didn't matter (and I don't have K & B). I figure that Grandpapa buys Max's pjs and gives him a new set at Christmas and Max is the kind of person who wears whatever he's got. Any resemblance to the long granny flannel nighties my Mom used to give me is completely coincidental (and besides, I loved those until I moved to a warm climate.)
I have a few more things to say, but in closing, I can only say this:
Max: I fear Grandpapa's clock is never going to be the same.
Spoilery for the 4/18/2010 chapter of Squeaky Clean.
Here are a few more cat pix.
This is either Caramel or Capuccino--
And Chocolate.
Want more? I have LOTS. The cats have been getting short shrift for a long time. Back when I used to post to the Exchange, the 127 picture limit meant that a lot of stuff got cut, and what got cut was usually the cats. And face it, cats aren't usually plotty, either. But we have had ten generations of Squeaky Clean cats, some of which I created myself in CAS, and I am proud, dammit. I've saved most of them (though sadly not the first two, Darling and Dearest) and eventually I'll be uploading them along with my regular Sims. I wish saving Sim people files were as easy.
Speaking of which--
The cats are in charge, even at Cecil's house. What, you thought they weren't.? This is Honeybun. Also--
Many people would say that Max looks thoroughly creepy even when he is doing something relatively cute.
This is Sparkle. Visible behind them is the Great Migrating Cat Box that gets moved whenever it's in the background and I remember to do so. Somehow a plastic cat box doesn't fit with the decor, even though where there are cats, there are cat boxes, and Cecil has the recommended at least one box per cat: he is no fool. I'm sure someone has made one of those Disguised Kitty Boxes as CC somewhere, but if you have cats, you know that they hate those. They don't like the smell and they loft the litter even higher and further in an attempt to cover it up. This is a cat family and they have plastic litter boxes.
Most of the rest of this is Sims behaving inappropriately.
Nausicaa: Do you think the sun shines out of that?
I have a lot of Mean Sims this time around. Nausicaa is one of the few Nice ones. So a lot of them decide to hate each other for no good reason at all.
For a Sim who rolled the want to Encourage his already Grouchy daughter to be Grouchier, Ulysses is actually pretty mellow, at least in my experience. He makes the occasional AngryFace and it takes a while for him to make friends, but usually that's about it. Something about this professor got on his last nerve and I don't even know what she did, but I'm sure it was her fault.
Nino Caliente pisses a LOT of Sims off. Back in Pleasantview, I always used to head her off at businesses. She always started trouble--Cassius loathed her like poison. Same here.
It's really annoying when the girls' boyfriends hate each other, or worse, one of the other girls, but this was the worst case.
It took only a few minutes for Lenore to annoy Skyler right down to -20.
I had to sentence them to a long, long time playing chess together, or they would have been in a full fledged fight.
And Lenore does not help.
Even Jane Stacks won't give poor Albert the time of day. For a guy with the LTW of 20 Best Friends, he is doing terribly. I feel bad about ignoring him and keeping a Simself's grandkid barely in the green, but what can you do?
Zane isn't too mean. Quite the contrary.
He's a sweet boy, but he still needs to be on a leash.
Here he does NOT look happy. I didn't tell him to get into the hot tub, and I didn't tell him to go dance, either, but he still looks a bit embarrassed.
Another wrong expression:
I know this is standard, but "ooooo shiny" still doesn't suit Ian.
And then there's stuff like this.
Demure widows are not supposed to steal newspapers.
But they're not supposed to cheat at chess with a Bigfoot, either, or get depressed when they lose.
For the gardening scene, I wanted to have Cecilia digging in the flower bed, which meant kneeling. I tried several different things:
This is why I don't like the posing boxes much. 90% of the poses make Sims look like nymphs surprised while bathing, or like tarts. There are very few poses I actually like. But I like Jaydee's animation boxes because even if the animations don't look "natural," they're normal for Sims.
Eventually I realized that Comb For Seashells would work. Also, Max needs to weed his garden instead of worrying about Mom. And I wish he would quit smiling.
I seriously thought everyone would recognize this guy:
It's Secundus, of course, or not Actual Secundus but Secundus clone. I had to recreate him for the ghost scene anyway. You can't direct real ghosts to do anything, but you can make a real Sim look like a ghost, and then of course I had a Secundus. None of the Pleasantview Firemen look like him. As Seenodumdums23 pointed out, you can't interact much with real NPCs, at least not at first. I also tried to hint broadly at who he was with his name: SaM, or Secundus Marius.
I guess it would have been possible to stage the kitchen fire, but I thought it would be a bit easier to have a real kitchen fire. I couldn't have the fire alarm in the house, or a real fireman would have shown up, so I put the fire alarm in Cecilia's inventory, crossed my fingers, and prepared to exit without saving.
First of all, Cecilia is a REALLY good, careful cook. It took forever for me to get her to set something on fire. Then it turns out that selected non playables won't put out fires, so I had to add him to the household and direct him to put out the fire, which Cecilia probably could have done more quickly and efficiently on her own. Then--
CUT.
Secundus is Family, and he was not thrilled about having a Fire be the first thing that happened to him. So that is not going in the chapter.
Neither is that. Max, by the way, is an awful lot like Papa. They have almost the same personality. Max is Scorpio with only one more Active point than Secundus, who is Aries. They have the same nose and regrettably annoying genetics. Back when I checked, Cecilia is Brown/Grey and Secundus is Custom/Custom--Denise's Custom eyes and Pen's Custom eyes, unexpressed. So Max ought to have Grey recessive.
Also, Mean/Outgoing makes for some irritating conversational tactics. Secundus' first move was a Brag, which I've seen him do a million times but which did not go over well with Cecilia.
I know this is a favorite topic of conversation, but I don't think it's a good one. I call it tactless.
This doesn't work, either. I know she's enjoying the conversation, but she looks like she's enjoying it a little too much. That, or she's seen some vermin on the floor.
On the other hand--
Holy mackerel. They did not have three bolts in the old neighborhood. I don't understand why the exact same couple has three bolts in one neighborhood and two in another.
Some people have surmised that Max is going to be extremely worried and upset if Mama develops a romantic interest. Bluntly, he won't. Not this time. There's a lot more to it than I want to go into here. I might write a meta on this later. But remember that Secundus' ghost said that he wasn't coming back and that he wanted Cecilia and Max to move on.
I've mentioned to a few people that I think Cecil looks as though he has a slight overbite. I rarely show him smiling. It doesn't fit his character. But this is what I mean:
Also, just for the heck of it:
Note the differences in the profile.
Max's night attire is even fussier than Grandpapa's. All right, it wasn't before. He used to wear those pjs with the llamas on them because it didn't matter (and I don't have K & B). I figure that Grandpapa buys Max's pjs and gives him a new set at Christmas and Max is the kind of person who wears whatever he's got. Any resemblance to the long granny flannel nighties my Mom used to give me is completely coincidental (and besides, I loved those until I moved to a warm climate.)
I have a few more things to say, but in closing, I can only say this:
Max: I fear Grandpapa's clock is never going to be the same.
no subject
Sorry today wasn't very good for you. It kind of sucked for me, too.
Here's to a better tomorrow, yeah?
no subject
This is all part of a gimundo serial story I've been writing. I've been co-writing a slashy spinoff with another Sims story writer, DocNerd. I don't know how comprehensible it is out of story context, but I'm definitely proud of it and I've been meaning to mention it to you. If you're interested, I can send you the link.
no subject
link away! :D
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But as I read this BTS outtake I was reminded of ghostSecundus' cryptic message to his son.
Totally makes my day. Sorry to be enjoying at your expense, but I can't help it -- I like the pairing. ;)
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MTS2 has several litter box recolors. I'm sure I have a wooden one somewhere. There's an AC version which is just newspapers (though my sims aren't allowed to own a litter box yet).
Cecil could always train them to use the toilet.
Zane definitely would not be happy to be photographed in his swim suit!
Somehow, I never pictured Cecelia as a paper thief. Stands to reason once I remember she's a clone.
no subject
Cecilia does a lot of stuff off camera that seems out of character! Not just paper stealing, but poison pill faces and a LOT of tub pirating.
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If there's a way to NPCize a CAS Sim, I don't know it. I just used Fanseelamb's unlocked firefighter outfits.
The Ghost Hack is on MTS2. It adds options to a Sim's pie menu, including all kinds of ghost colors and the options to float like a ghost. Then you can unghost the Sim.
no subject
I am shocked that Skyler was making angryface. He NEVER did that as Stephen that I can remember, or as Remington in the neighborhood where I originally married him in! Lenore must have REALLY rubbed him the wrong way.
And at least Zane is too shy to act on his random heart-farts. If you were me, that would be cause for concern.
I did remember the bit about fire that Secundus's ghost said to Max. I just wasn't paying so much attention to what the fireman looked like!
ROFL at Max and the clock. It'll be the fish next!
no subject
I couldn't tell how recognizable the fireman would be. The helmet does hide a lot of the face.
Well. . . you never know.
no subject
Why don't you just hide the litter box in the bathroom like pepole do in real life. Its not like you have pitures that take place there.
no subject