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Still Mostly Looking Up Smiler Stuff
Dec. 29th, 2021 11:42 pmLook, I like the story and lore around it, and the main theme freaking kicks ass. I did not expect this obsession, and I expect it to run out sooner rather than later, but -- just gonna ride the wave while it's here. Better to do so while I'm at home than when I have to go back to work!
Buuut -- I do have some good news regarding my to-do list --
1. Continue work on the 'write, damn you' thing: UNHOLY HELL CHECK. Yeah, I did another couple of paragraphs of my and Squid’s thing, but I ALSO did some work on some of my private “hypnoprompt” stuff – yes, it involves the damn Smiler coaster! Specifically, a Victor and Alice already in a hypnokinky relationship deciding to make use of the Smiler’s explicit “brainwashing people to be happy’ theme. It’s gotten SHOCKINGLY complicated inside my head, so I’m hoping that doing this outline of the ideas that I’ve come up with will at least get it out of my head enough to free up real estate for the stuff I’m SUPPOSED to be working on. Maybe it can be a fun side project for 2022. (Also, after looking this stuff up on tumblr, the Alton Towers coasters have a small but very dedicated fandom – I am impressed.)
2. Keep up with YouTube subs, watch all Sims 4-related videos in the Watch Later: Check! :D Look at me go – though, admittedly, I forgot again that Kevin’s starting to take Wednesdays off regularly, so there was actually only one new video in the Subs. Still, every one I wanted to watch got watched –
A) Started with Plumbella’s pre-Christmas-break video – “My Goth Family Refresh,” a quick video showing off her ideas for remaking the Goth family – style-wise, anyway. Bella got a new fancier haircut and new makeup; Mortimer joined the sweater vest league; Alex kinda copied his dad with a nice red sweater; and Cassandra got a full makeover with new hair and a new more “dark academia” style! It was very nice, though I agree with those commenters that said the long-hair look didn’t really suit Cassandra – she’s had her pigtails for so long, they’re too iconic to change much! I’m thinking braids might suit her better. . .still, it was a fun little makeover nonetheless!
B) Then it was over to Carl’s Sims Guides for two quick videos on his “Gameplay Overhaul” mod (which makes things more difficult but also changes up some real irritations) –
I. A really short video showing off that his mod will allow you to age Sims back DOWN if you choose (normally you have to pop on the testingcheats for that!) via the Potion of Youth! Also features a quick look at some of his other improvements, including the “LEAVE” command to get Sims out of your private conversations – nice.
II. A slightly-longer video detailing his “Seasons Tuner” mod, which does things like let you disable up to three seasons (so if you want a one-season life for whatever reason, you can do that); disable the weather; make it quickly sunny in build mode to check your building in bad weather; make plants grow in any season – and look healthy in any season too – and. . .fix plants reverting to dirt piles. Apparently caused by Eco Lifestyle when the eco footprint reverts to neutral. ...Welp, now at least I know what happened to Victor’s garden in the Chill Save? (see below) Anyway, he’s been focusing on the mod because he’s not really interested in anything coming out of the EA pipeline right now, and a lot of people really seem to like it, so he must be doing something right! Good for you, Carl.
C) Then, over in the Subs, we had GrayStillPlays and more Happy Wheels! Featuring such things as a Tom-Hardy-themed bottle flip (as in the son of Bike Dad – his “official” name is Timmy, I believe, but Gray always calls him Tom – whom you had to flip into daycare after collecting all the keys with the bottles); a steep hill challenge with a secret area LONGER THAN THE ACTUAL BOARD (featuring dismotivating text, lots and lots of near-falls, and a slow boat ride at the end that just straight up kills you – Gray sounded like he wanted to cry when that happened XD); a pogo harpoon dodge where the floor was invisible and the last level named after Gray (and the win had landmines on it – Gray was FUMING XD); a Christmas obstacle course where Santa had to get his elves to drag him over harpoon mountain, past a wrecking ball, and through a variety of mines (congrats board creator, Gray now hates Christmas); two impossible courses requiring Gray to fly via explosion to where he needed to go to win (one on the bike with Bike Dad, which proved to be pretty easy; one on the Segway with Nixon, which required rather more finesse); and a trip through a giant world driving around the effects of someone’s hangover (like pizza all over the floor and flies that Bike Dad had to break through). Good times, as always! XD
D) And finally, time to catch up with the Wyrd Sisters Podcast posted yesterday, for Thud! Another enjoyable discussion of one of the most notable Discworld books in the oeuvre. Manning and Liz were critical of a number of elements – the fortunately-brief bits with Angua and Sally being snappish at each other because Angua, at least, fears losing Carrot to Sally (and the almost-naked-mud-fight which Sally herself stops – they actually read that scene out and concluded it really sounded like Sally was flirting with Angua XD), the fact that some plot threads (Sally as the Watch’s first vampire member, the whole thing with A. E. Pessimal as the inspector Vimes ends up pulling onto the front lines to give him a little scare – and the guy ends up biting a troll in Vimes’s defense) just kind of vanish, or at least fade right into the background instead of getting real resolutions – but they agreed that the book, even if it felt a bit first-drafty in spots, was good overall. And, of course, the iconic scene of Vimes screaming Young Sam’s bedtime story while fighting off the dwarves trying to destroy the history of Koom Valley was highly praised. :) It’s quintessential Discworld and it deserves kudos just for that. :)
3. Play Sims 4 and get Victor and Alice to their graduation in the Chill Save: Check with a bonus – you know how I said that I might try to play Bloodlines as well to finish up Crystal’s game, as she was right before the final boss fight? I did just that, and got two games done in about an hour and a half! :D Let’s see how they went –
VTMB – First part of the final boss fight with the Sheriff – not so bad. I did die once, because he’s a fast teleporty bastard, but hitting him with a Blood Boil or two and then Blood Shielding Crystal to withstand his hits better ended up doing the job. Second part of the final boss fight against his Chiropteran Behemoth form?
OH MY GOD WHAT A PAIN IN MY ASS. Mostly because I had VERY limited blood at this point (I had to use my Odious Chalice at the beginning of the Sheriff fight, and one of my elder blood bags during), AND the motherfucker kept dropping fully-warformed GANGRELS instead of humans I could feed on! I died at LEAST five times just trying to avoid THEM! PLUS I kept getting caught in its sonic attack and ending up dealing with super-slow-motion. . . I was able to use the spotlights to good effect, at least, but it took FOREVER to get a quiet moment near the end of its life bar where I could pull out one of Crystal’s guns and actually SHOOT the fucker because I was so low on blood. Entered the final cutscene mostly-dead from aggravated damage and with only a little blood holding Crystal up –
And I didn’t even get a chance to stab LaCroix in the neck with his own letter opener! Though at least Crystal was able to tell him to “sit down” after he tried to Dominate her into handing over the key, and he actually did it. Not quite as satisfying, though. Strauss, glad to help you out for clan and faction once, let you take over the city and store away the sarcophagus, but I still think the Independent ending is the best one. *grumbles*
Oh, though, one funny thing – I sat through the credits to listen to the ending song, since I like it, and I spotted a familiar name – Mark Bremerkamp! Turns out that’s the name of the lead animator! O.o Dude, I’d feel bad about making you the pee man beside the Asylum – but I assume you approved putting your name in Kilpatrick’s database as a “serial public urinator,” sooooo. . .
Sims 4 – This went better – and calmer! Though there was some weirdness – like Victor’s outdoor garden suddenly resetting for what felt like no reason? And he and Alice really wanting to drink coffee out of the blue (which resulted in them each having an absolutely terrible cup because they use that coffee maker like once in a blue moon). But other than that, things were nice! I sent them over to Britechester to personally attend their graduation (Victor even being sure to replace the banners from ones mocking Foxbury to ones celebrating Britechester), and they both got degrees with honors. :D Alice also received a visit from Mortimer once they got home with a present – a set of starter fruits for their garden! So that was nice. :D Victor started learning some cooking with some grilled cheese, while Alice made one of the recipes icemunmun added to the game for the 21st anniversary, butter chicken. And she completed another level of the Painter Extraordinaire aspiration with another excellent painting – now she just has to do five masterpieces. And Victor’s slowly but steadily working on another song. . .so yeah, things are progressing! And when I left off, it had just become Winterfest for them – however, I also really want them to hit Selvadorada for their honeymoon before the big move to Henford-on-Bagley. Hmmm. I’ll decide where they’re celebrating the next time I fire up the game!
4. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another half-hour with the Oxventure “Spell Check!” Caught up as the gang decided to take guard Christopher Engelbert The Seventeenth (as named by Corazon, Merilwen, and Egbert) with them (with his hands tied behind him to prevent funny business, of course) – Dob trying desperately to convince him that this was a good thing, Egbert making it very clear that he’d like to burn him for helping enable the stealing of his kidney. XD They found their way out of their cell block and into the room with the Video Game Inventory chest and retrieved their gear, then into the hallway where all the other blocks were located. Christopher told them a bit of his backstory along the way (and as Dob spun him around to open doors – they kept putting the keys in his bound hands!) – turns out he grew up in the orphanage in Bumble (I assume he was the seventeenth boy they named Christopher Engelbert in there) and was trying to raise money to have it rebuilt to a new standard. XD The gang immediately got him OFF this topic and started asking about the other prisoners. Turns out most of them had been reduced to husks while having their magic drained, but Christopher remembered one guy was still alive. They got him to the right door and discovered an old and feeble dwarf druid, Boron, who was basically at death’s door from just a MONTH of draining. The others were appropriately horrified and did the nice thing in letting him out and giving him some food and water, as magic healing was just not possible thanks to the spell to suck out magic energy just being EVERYWHERE as per Merilwen’s investigation of the runes. (Dob also demanded Christopher apologize to the poor guy, saying that was the start of atonement, which was a real light bulb moment for Egbert. XD) Boron dropped the name of Christopher’s boss, Lilianna, who apparently put down a previous breakout attempt with absolutely no mercy, but the gang are determined to have their revenge! And a few husks, if Prudence has her way. I left it with Dob having TRIED to pull the pipes out of the ceiling to try to disrupt the magical sucking, but instead just doing a really acrobatic fall onto his head thanks to a natural one on the die. XD Ah well, Dob – you tried!
5. Work on tumblr queues: Check – reset the Victor Luvs Alice queue to one, got a Friday post out of my 2022 fic resolutions (basically “finish posting the Londerland Bloodlines story I completed and hop onto the next one” and “get those darn Secundus drabbles up on AO3”) and reblogged a favorite Poets of the Fall song for New Year Saturday! Hooray, I’m good for the rest of the week!
Yay, full checks! :D That feels good, especially after a week where I've been especially struggling with the writing stuff. :) So let's set up some stuff for Thursday, shall we?
1. Continue outlining this damn "Victor and Alice use The Smiler for hypnokink" AU that won't leave me alone
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs, see about watching the "Presh Mems" OXtra video that just got uploaded
3. Play some more Unpacking
4. Get in a workout
5. Work on tumblr queues
Things that now all feel viable now that I've gotten my brain to let me type stuff again. XD Night all!
Buuut -- I do have some good news regarding my to-do list --
1. Continue work on the 'write, damn you' thing: UNHOLY HELL CHECK. Yeah, I did another couple of paragraphs of my and Squid’s thing, but I ALSO did some work on some of my private “hypnoprompt” stuff – yes, it involves the damn Smiler coaster! Specifically, a Victor and Alice already in a hypnokinky relationship deciding to make use of the Smiler’s explicit “brainwashing people to be happy’ theme. It’s gotten SHOCKINGLY complicated inside my head, so I’m hoping that doing this outline of the ideas that I’ve come up with will at least get it out of my head enough to free up real estate for the stuff I’m SUPPOSED to be working on. Maybe it can be a fun side project for 2022. (Also, after looking this stuff up on tumblr, the Alton Towers coasters have a small but very dedicated fandom – I am impressed.)
2. Keep up with YouTube subs, watch all Sims 4-related videos in the Watch Later: Check! :D Look at me go – though, admittedly, I forgot again that Kevin’s starting to take Wednesdays off regularly, so there was actually only one new video in the Subs. Still, every one I wanted to watch got watched –
A) Started with Plumbella’s pre-Christmas-break video – “My Goth Family Refresh,” a quick video showing off her ideas for remaking the Goth family – style-wise, anyway. Bella got a new fancier haircut and new makeup; Mortimer joined the sweater vest league; Alex kinda copied his dad with a nice red sweater; and Cassandra got a full makeover with new hair and a new more “dark academia” style! It was very nice, though I agree with those commenters that said the long-hair look didn’t really suit Cassandra – she’s had her pigtails for so long, they’re too iconic to change much! I’m thinking braids might suit her better. . .still, it was a fun little makeover nonetheless!
B) Then it was over to Carl’s Sims Guides for two quick videos on his “Gameplay Overhaul” mod (which makes things more difficult but also changes up some real irritations) –
I. A really short video showing off that his mod will allow you to age Sims back DOWN if you choose (normally you have to pop on the testingcheats for that!) via the Potion of Youth! Also features a quick look at some of his other improvements, including the “LEAVE” command to get Sims out of your private conversations – nice.
II. A slightly-longer video detailing his “Seasons Tuner” mod, which does things like let you disable up to three seasons (so if you want a one-season life for whatever reason, you can do that); disable the weather; make it quickly sunny in build mode to check your building in bad weather; make plants grow in any season – and look healthy in any season too – and. . .fix plants reverting to dirt piles. Apparently caused by Eco Lifestyle when the eco footprint reverts to neutral. ...Welp, now at least I know what happened to Victor’s garden in the Chill Save? (see below) Anyway, he’s been focusing on the mod because he’s not really interested in anything coming out of the EA pipeline right now, and a lot of people really seem to like it, so he must be doing something right! Good for you, Carl.
C) Then, over in the Subs, we had GrayStillPlays and more Happy Wheels! Featuring such things as a Tom-Hardy-themed bottle flip (as in the son of Bike Dad – his “official” name is Timmy, I believe, but Gray always calls him Tom – whom you had to flip into daycare after collecting all the keys with the bottles); a steep hill challenge with a secret area LONGER THAN THE ACTUAL BOARD (featuring dismotivating text, lots and lots of near-falls, and a slow boat ride at the end that just straight up kills you – Gray sounded like he wanted to cry when that happened XD); a pogo harpoon dodge where the floor was invisible and the last level named after Gray (and the win had landmines on it – Gray was FUMING XD); a Christmas obstacle course where Santa had to get his elves to drag him over harpoon mountain, past a wrecking ball, and through a variety of mines (congrats board creator, Gray now hates Christmas); two impossible courses requiring Gray to fly via explosion to where he needed to go to win (one on the bike with Bike Dad, which proved to be pretty easy; one on the Segway with Nixon, which required rather more finesse); and a trip through a giant world driving around the effects of someone’s hangover (like pizza all over the floor and flies that Bike Dad had to break through). Good times, as always! XD
D) And finally, time to catch up with the Wyrd Sisters Podcast posted yesterday, for Thud! Another enjoyable discussion of one of the most notable Discworld books in the oeuvre. Manning and Liz were critical of a number of elements – the fortunately-brief bits with Angua and Sally being snappish at each other because Angua, at least, fears losing Carrot to Sally (and the almost-naked-mud-fight which Sally herself stops – they actually read that scene out and concluded it really sounded like Sally was flirting with Angua XD), the fact that some plot threads (Sally as the Watch’s first vampire member, the whole thing with A. E. Pessimal as the inspector Vimes ends up pulling onto the front lines to give him a little scare – and the guy ends up biting a troll in Vimes’s defense) just kind of vanish, or at least fade right into the background instead of getting real resolutions – but they agreed that the book, even if it felt a bit first-drafty in spots, was good overall. And, of course, the iconic scene of Vimes screaming Young Sam’s bedtime story while fighting off the dwarves trying to destroy the history of Koom Valley was highly praised. :) It’s quintessential Discworld and it deserves kudos just for that. :)
3. Play Sims 4 and get Victor and Alice to their graduation in the Chill Save: Check with a bonus – you know how I said that I might try to play Bloodlines as well to finish up Crystal’s game, as she was right before the final boss fight? I did just that, and got two games done in about an hour and a half! :D Let’s see how they went –
VTMB – First part of the final boss fight with the Sheriff – not so bad. I did die once, because he’s a fast teleporty bastard, but hitting him with a Blood Boil or two and then Blood Shielding Crystal to withstand his hits better ended up doing the job. Second part of the final boss fight against his Chiropteran Behemoth form?
OH MY GOD WHAT A PAIN IN MY ASS. Mostly because I had VERY limited blood at this point (I had to use my Odious Chalice at the beginning of the Sheriff fight, and one of my elder blood bags during), AND the motherfucker kept dropping fully-warformed GANGRELS instead of humans I could feed on! I died at LEAST five times just trying to avoid THEM! PLUS I kept getting caught in its sonic attack and ending up dealing with super-slow-motion. . . I was able to use the spotlights to good effect, at least, but it took FOREVER to get a quiet moment near the end of its life bar where I could pull out one of Crystal’s guns and actually SHOOT the fucker because I was so low on blood. Entered the final cutscene mostly-dead from aggravated damage and with only a little blood holding Crystal up –
And I didn’t even get a chance to stab LaCroix in the neck with his own letter opener! Though at least Crystal was able to tell him to “sit down” after he tried to Dominate her into handing over the key, and he actually did it. Not quite as satisfying, though. Strauss, glad to help you out for clan and faction once, let you take over the city and store away the sarcophagus, but I still think the Independent ending is the best one. *grumbles*
Oh, though, one funny thing – I sat through the credits to listen to the ending song, since I like it, and I spotted a familiar name – Mark Bremerkamp! Turns out that’s the name of the lead animator! O.o Dude, I’d feel bad about making you the pee man beside the Asylum – but I assume you approved putting your name in Kilpatrick’s database as a “serial public urinator,” sooooo. . .
Sims 4 – This went better – and calmer! Though there was some weirdness – like Victor’s outdoor garden suddenly resetting for what felt like no reason? And he and Alice really wanting to drink coffee out of the blue (which resulted in them each having an absolutely terrible cup because they use that coffee maker like once in a blue moon). But other than that, things were nice! I sent them over to Britechester to personally attend their graduation (Victor even being sure to replace the banners from ones mocking Foxbury to ones celebrating Britechester), and they both got degrees with honors. :D Alice also received a visit from Mortimer once they got home with a present – a set of starter fruits for their garden! So that was nice. :D Victor started learning some cooking with some grilled cheese, while Alice made one of the recipes icemunmun added to the game for the 21st anniversary, butter chicken. And she completed another level of the Painter Extraordinaire aspiration with another excellent painting – now she just has to do five masterpieces. And Victor’s slowly but steadily working on another song. . .so yeah, things are progressing! And when I left off, it had just become Winterfest for them – however, I also really want them to hit Selvadorada for their honeymoon before the big move to Henford-on-Bagley. Hmmm. I’ll decide where they’re celebrating the next time I fire up the game!
4. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another half-hour with the Oxventure “Spell Check!” Caught up as the gang decided to take guard Christopher Engelbert The Seventeenth (as named by Corazon, Merilwen, and Egbert) with them (with his hands tied behind him to prevent funny business, of course) – Dob trying desperately to convince him that this was a good thing, Egbert making it very clear that he’d like to burn him for helping enable the stealing of his kidney. XD They found their way out of their cell block and into the room with the Video Game Inventory chest and retrieved their gear, then into the hallway where all the other blocks were located. Christopher told them a bit of his backstory along the way (and as Dob spun him around to open doors – they kept putting the keys in his bound hands!) – turns out he grew up in the orphanage in Bumble (I assume he was the seventeenth boy they named Christopher Engelbert in there) and was trying to raise money to have it rebuilt to a new standard. XD The gang immediately got him OFF this topic and started asking about the other prisoners. Turns out most of them had been reduced to husks while having their magic drained, but Christopher remembered one guy was still alive. They got him to the right door and discovered an old and feeble dwarf druid, Boron, who was basically at death’s door from just a MONTH of draining. The others were appropriately horrified and did the nice thing in letting him out and giving him some food and water, as magic healing was just not possible thanks to the spell to suck out magic energy just being EVERYWHERE as per Merilwen’s investigation of the runes. (Dob also demanded Christopher apologize to the poor guy, saying that was the start of atonement, which was a real light bulb moment for Egbert. XD) Boron dropped the name of Christopher’s boss, Lilianna, who apparently put down a previous breakout attempt with absolutely no mercy, but the gang are determined to have their revenge! And a few husks, if Prudence has her way. I left it with Dob having TRIED to pull the pipes out of the ceiling to try to disrupt the magical sucking, but instead just doing a really acrobatic fall onto his head thanks to a natural one on the die. XD Ah well, Dob – you tried!
5. Work on tumblr queues: Check – reset the Victor Luvs Alice queue to one, got a Friday post out of my 2022 fic resolutions (basically “finish posting the Londerland Bloodlines story I completed and hop onto the next one” and “get those darn Secundus drabbles up on AO3”) and reblogged a favorite Poets of the Fall song for New Year Saturday! Hooray, I’m good for the rest of the week!
Yay, full checks! :D That feels good, especially after a week where I've been especially struggling with the writing stuff. :) So let's set up some stuff for Thursday, shall we?
1. Continue outlining this damn "Victor and Alice use The Smiler for hypnokink" AU that won't leave me alone
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs, see about watching the "Presh Mems" OXtra video that just got uploaded
3. Play some more Unpacking
4. Get in a workout
5. Work on tumblr queues
Things that now all feel viable now that I've gotten my brain to let me type stuff again. XD Night all!
