Character photos of interesting people
Samuel Kleiner
by one of the three men in this photo:
[black and white photo, old men standing in front of building, 580x409]
http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/images/details/LC-S6-506.jpg
I'm pretty sure that the guy on the left is a wizard, and the guy in
the center may well be a lich.
I also found an excellent photo of one of my characters in that 1900ths
color russian photo-collection from the library of congress a while
back.
Anyone else found their characters in webphotos?
--
I think I could build something far, far nicer and far more
historically interesting down the road." -Steve Jobs
Shelly
>Who _doesn't_ have at least one character that would be well portrayed
>by one of the three men in this photo:
>
>[black and white photo, old men standing in front of building, 580x409]
>http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/images/details/LC-S6-506.jpg
>
>I'm pretty sure that the guy on the left is a wizard, and the guy in
>the center may well be a lich.
>
>I also found an excellent photo of one of my characters in that 1900ths
>color russian photo-collection from the library of congress a while
>back.
>
>Anyone else found their characters in webphotos?
Well, actually, I always "cast" my main characters with actors I like, so I
know exactly what they look like (makes it easier for me to "hear" them and to
be able to describe them) and I keep photo files to refer to. :)
For ex, I'm using Michael Shanks, Claudia Black, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Jimmy
Smits, and Geoffrey Rush, among others, for my WIP.
Shelly
http://journals.aol.com/shellys555/CyberChocolate/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/prestoimp/
Eric Jarvis
>
> [black and white photo, old men standing in front of building, 580x409]
> http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/images/details/LC-S6-506.jpg
>
<caption>
Leading members of the Runcorn Chamber of Commerce at the opening of the
new Top Shop in the High street.
</caption>
--
eric
www.ericjarvis.co.uk
"live fast, die only if strictly necessary"
Zara Baxter
wrote:
>Who _doesn't_ have at least one character that would be well portrayed
>by one of the three men in this photo:
Me.
Although it's a great photo. I *love* character shots.
You just helped me to realise that I have no idea what most of my
characters look like. Even the characters in the story I just spent
two weeks polishing and submitting, the main protagonist has a
fog-cloud instead of a face. I know how people react to her, and I
know how she feels and what she thinks, but I couldn't tell you if
she's got a cute button nose and blue eyes or green eyes and a
hawk-nose.
I only know her inner shapes, not her outer ones. Thinking about it,
that's all too common for my characters. Ack.
>I'm pretty sure that the guy on the left is a wizard, and the guy in
>the center may well be a lich.
*hee* I can't see that in them, but I like that you can. I spent five
minutes trying to imagine them, and pictured 3 old friends meeting for
a funeral.
Zara
--
http://zarabee.livejournal.com (day-to-day)
http://www.vile-temptress.org (writing journal)
I'm editing ASIM issue 14! http://www.andromedaspaceways.com
Currently reading: Agog! Smashing Stories
Julia Jones
<s...@ulterior.org> writes
>Anyone else found their characters in webphotos?
Not webphotos, but usenet posts. "My god, that's Harry!"
Just sent some of them to an ebook editor in case the cover artists are
in need of inspiration. Or just because. She was most grateful. :-)
--
Julia Jones
"We are English of Borg. Your language will be assimilated."
Thomas Lindgren
Eric Jarvis <w...@ericjarvis.co.uk> writes:
> Samuel Kleiner s...@ulterior.org wrote:
> >
> > [black and white photo, old men standing in front of building, 580x409]
> > http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/images/details/LC-S6-506.jpg
> >
>
> <caption>
> Leading members of the Runcorn Chamber of Commerce at the opening of the
> new Top Shop in the High street.
> </caption>
One wizard, one lich, one other. Might make an interesting story in itself.
Best,
Thomas
--
Thomas Lindgren
"It's becoming popular? It must be in decline." -- Isaiah Berlin
Stuart Houghton
news:m3oem9p...@localhost.localdomain:
>>
>> <caption>
>> Leading members of the Runcorn Chamber of Commerce at the opening of
>> the new Top Shop in the High street.
>> </caption>
>
> One wizard, one lich, one other. Might make an interesting story in
> itself.
>
"A wizard, a lich and a scotsman walk into a bar..."
--
Stuart Houghton
blog:http://rippingyarns.blogspot.com/
book reviews:http://asciimonkey.blogspot.com/
Jonathan L Cunningham
wrote:
>Who _doesn't_ have at least one character that would be well portrayed
>by one of the three men in this photo:
>
>[black and white photo, old men standing in front of building, 580x409]
>http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/images/details/LC-S6-506.jpg
>
>I'm pretty sure that the guy on the left is a wizard, and the guy in
>the center may well be a lich.
>
>I also found an excellent photo of one of my characters in that 1900ths
>color russian photo-collection from the library of congress a while
>back.
>
>Anyone else found their characters in webphotos?
No, but I sometimes do web searches to find pictures of my characters.
Here are three different pictures of one of my characters:
http://www.pochesf.com/photos/2468.jpg
and
http://site-g.gallerne.9online.fr/images/bgh1984/tlee2.gif
and
http://www.tabula-rasa.info/HorrorImages/TanithLee.jpg
If you recognise the real person[*] and google for other pictures of
her you'll also find lots that look *nothing like* my character.
[*](clue, sf/fantasy/horror writer -- I have nine books of hers, and
the third URL is an even bigger Clue)
Why Tanith Lee? <shrug> I have absolutely no idea. Those three
pictures (and a few others) just look right.
Hmmm. I wonder whether there are any male skiffy writers who look
like Roland or Jack? Jack looks a bit like the laughing
cavalier
http://www.wallacecollection.org/c/w_a/p_w_d/d_f/jpg/p084.jpg
but he's not so chubby and doesn't have the silly hat. Any
suggestions? :-)
(Looking for better pictures of Bess, too, but Roland is the
real problem. He's bald, with a full head of hair, which is all
silvery and dark and curly, except it's straight, he's bearded
but clean-shaven, with a long, round face, small button nose, a large,
hooked nose, smartly dressed and scruffy. I'm having difficulties
finding a picture which meets that description.)
Jonathan
(non-visual, but will recognise Roland if I ever see him)
--
Use jlc1 at address, not spam.
Eric Jarvis
> Thomas Lindgren <***********@*****.***> wrote in
> news:m3oem9p...@localhost.localdomain:
>
> >>
> >> <caption>
> >> Leading members of the Runcorn Chamber of Commerce at the opening of
> >> the new Top Shop in the High street.
> >> </caption>
> >
> > One wizard, one lich, one other. Might make an interesting story in
> > itself.
> >
>
> "A wizard, a lich and a scotsman walk into a bar..."
>
"Ouch, that hurts" said the wizard and the Scotsman.
Jacey Bedford
<shell...@aol.com> writes
>Well, actually, I always "cast" my main characters with actors I like, so I
>know exactly what they look like (makes it easier for me to "hear" them and to
>be able to describe them) and I keep photo files to refer to. :)
>
>For ex, I'm using Michael Shanks, Claudia Black, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Jimmy
>Smits, and Geoffrey Rush, among others, for my WIP.
>
>Shelly
>
I tried that, but somehow my characters wouldn't conform to actors -
even though I'd really like to be able to do that. Every so often I'll
come up with an actor that almost fits the bill, looks-wise, but I see
them walking and talking and they're just not right.
The male-lead character of my WIP would be a cross between Patrick
Stewart's Picard (without the uniform) and the chap who played
Highlander in the first TV series, (I forget his name) but that's as
close as I can get. I'd have real difficulty casting my female lead.
She's between 25 and 30, fair-mousy haired (long but later cut short)
tallish and good looking, but not in a fragile, supermodel kind of way.
Maybe Sigourney Weaver's Ripley would be a good starting point - but it
would only be a starting point - she's not really like that at all.
Claudia Black would fit the bill in every other way but colouring.
I have got another minor character in a different book who's definitely
Brian Blessed. He's always been Brian Blessed. He just fell out of my
head and on to the paper that way.
I hadn't realised it until you made me stop and think - but the male
character in my YA WIR is probably Michael Praed in his Robin of
Sherwood period of twenty years ago. I can't pin the female character
down, though.
I should look for the photo before I start writing the character I
suppose - but somehow I never do.
I'm just starting a new novel - so maybe I'll think about that before I
get much further into the characters.
Jacey
--
Jacey Bedford
jacey at artisan hyphen harmony dot com
Pat Bowne
"Julia Jones" <julia...@myrealbox.com> wrote in message
news:rZZ3ZNXGpg$AF...@jajones.demon.co.uk...
> In message <DdOdnVzR8bf...@giganews.com>, Samuel Kleiner
> <s...@ulterior.org> writes
> >Anyone else found their characters in webphotos?
>
> Not webphotos, but usenet posts. "My god, that's Harry!"
There are photos in Usenet posts? What ngs?
Pat
Pat Bowne
"Samuel Kleiner" <s...@ulterior.org> wrote in message
news:DdOdnVzR8bf...@giganews.com...
> Who _doesn't_ have at least one character that would be well portrayed
> by one of the three men in this photo:
They all might be in my WIP, but only as bit players. The romantic lead,
OTOH, is based physically on one of the mud wrestlers at the local ren
faire. I can't speak for any mental likeness.
Pat
Shelly
><shell...@aol.com> writes
>>Well, actually, I always "cast" my main characters with actors I like, so I
>>know exactly what they look like (makes it easier for me to "hear" them and
>to
>>be able to describe them) and I keep photo files to refer to. :)
>>
>>For ex, I'm using Michael Shanks, Claudia Black, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Jimmy
>>Smits, and Geoffrey Rush, among others, for my WIP.
>>
>>Shelly
>>
>You've got good taste.
Thank you kindly. :)
>I tried that, but somehow my characters wouldn't conform to actors -
>even though I'd really like to be able to do that.
Mine do develop their own minds, but the actors give me a starting point re:
voice, especially if I have a particular part they played in my head. It's from
my fan fic roots, I guess.
Every so often I'll
>come up with an actor that almost fits the bill, looks-wise, but I see
>them walking and talking and they're just not right.
Sometimes, I have a character in mind, but not the face and then weeks or in
one case, months later, I'll see a movie or TV show and an actor jumps out at
me and says, I'm your character so-and-so. I've used sports people too, for
particular faces. I'm using a NY Islanders hockey player who's Russian for a
Russian character. He just has the look I wanted and I like the sound of his
voice in the interviews he's done that I've seen. It really helps me to have a
mental image that's based on reality when I write.
>The male-lead character of my WIP would be a cross between Patrick
>Stewart's Picard (without the uniform) and the chap who played
>Highlander in the first TV series, (I forget his name) but that's as
>close as I can get. I'd have real difficulty casting my female lead.
>She's between 25 and 30, fair-mousy haired (long but later cut short)
>tallish and good looking, but not in a fragile, supermodel kind of way.
>Maybe Sigourney Weaver's Ripley would be a good starting point - but it
>would only be a starting point - she's not really like that at all.
>Claudia Black would fit the bill in every other way but colouring.
I do fiddle with coloring if the rest of the face/attitude is right.
>I have got another minor character in a different book who's definitely
>Brian Blessed. He's always been Brian Blessed. He just fell out of my
>head and on to the paper that way.
I know that feeling. I had River Phoenix for a character who grew out of my fan
fic--but an original character--and when he died, I had to "recast" for the
ongoing series I write because I needed to see how my character would age, and
it was very hard making the transition to someone new. Then I saw Roy Dupuis on
La Femme Nikita and knew I'd found a replacement who was better than the
original for what I wanted.
>I hadn't realised it until you made me stop and think - but the male
>character in my YA WIR is probably Michael Praed in his Robin of
>Sherwood period of twenty years ago. I can't pin the female character
>down, though.
I like every name you've mentioned. We do seem to have similar taste. :)
>I should look for the photo before I start writing the character I
>suppose - but somehow I never do.
>
>I'm just starting a new novel - so maybe I'll think about that before I
>get much further into the characters.
It's a fun game to play. Just like with the city maps I've drawn for my Mars
cities, it's just another thing that helps solidify things and make it easier
for me to write about them.
Dorothy J Heydt
Shelly <shell...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>I know that feeling. I had River Phoenix for a character who grew out of my fan
>fic--but an original character--and when he died, I had to "recast" for the
Actually, you can get a pretty good idea.
River Phoenix was cast as young Indiana Jones in _Last Crusade_
because Harrison Ford told Steven Spielberg that Phoenix looked
more like him as a kid than anyone else he knew.
So to get Phoenix at a given age, just find Ford at approximately
the same age in the DVD collection.
>it was very hard making the transition to someone new. Then I saw Roy Dupuis on
>La Femme Nikita and knew I'd found a replacement who was better than the
>original for what I wanted.
Oh, in that case, go for it.
Almost all the actors I visualize are dead by now, because I see
so few films nowadays.
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
Jacey Bedford
<shell...@aol.com> writes
>> Jacey Bedford look...@nospam.invalid wrote:
>>I'm just starting a new novel - so maybe I'll think about that before I
>>get much further into the characters.
>
>It's a fun game to play. Just like with the city maps I've drawn for my Mars
>cities, it's just another thing that helps solidify things and make it easier
>for me to write about them.
>Shelly
>http://journals.aol.com/shellys555/CyberChocolate/
>http://www.livejournal.com/users/prestoimp/
>
that's not necessary - but _I_ have to know the geography of my world.
Shelly
>Shelly <shell...@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>I know that feeling. I had River Phoenix for a character who grew out of my
>fan
>>fic--but an original character--and when he died, I had to "recast" for the
>>ongoing series I write because I needed to see how my character would age...
>
>Actually, you can get a pretty good idea.
>
>River Phoenix was cast as young Indiana Jones in _Last Crusade_
>because Harrison Ford told Steven Spielberg that Phoenix looked
>more like him as a kid than anyone else he knew.
Yes, I know. I saw it. :) But Harrison Ford is nothing like my Paul character,
not to mention he's way too old, and when he was my character's age--in his 20s
(currently 29)--and when he was younger, he didn't have the look I wanted for
Paul. Roy Dupuis, who was in his early 30s when Nikita started, was just what I
was looking for and the photos I've seen (and movies) of him younger are pretty
good for Paul, too. So over the years, he's become Paul in my mind to the point
that I can't picture River anymore.
While I liked that River was cast as a young Indy, I liked Sean Patrick
Flannery in the TV series, too, and think neither of them would end up looking
anything like Harrison Ford. Very different faces.
So, needing a face that was close in age to my character and one who would also
look like what I have in mind for my character, posed a real problem. Harrison
Ford was never in my mind for Paul.
>So to get Phoenix at a given age, just find Ford at approximately
>the same age in the DVD collection.
Wouldn't have worked for me at all. Also, I can't use actors younger than they
currently are. Their faces now are too much in my mind. I keep lots of photo
files of current actors, how they look now, so I can choose accordingly. Then,
if it takes me a long time to write the story and the actors age, it's okay,
cuz the character face gets locked in my mind. But I'm not usually off that
many years. Harrison Ford is decades older than Paul. That woudn't have worked
at all. BTW, I'm aging Paul almost in real time (we're up to 1998, almost 1999,
now).
Altho I do know a Harrison Ford lookalike who's at least 10 years younger,
maybe more, and still looks a lot like Harrison did when he was in Star Wars,
but I don't like using the faces of people I personally know. :)
>>it was very hard making the transition to someone new. Then I saw Roy Dupuis
>on
>>La Femme Nikita and knew I'd found a replacement who was better than the
>>original for what I wanted.
>
>Oh, in that case, go for it.
heh. Yeah. Roy's been "Paul" for a long time now.
>Almost all the actors I visualize are dead by now, because I see
>so few films nowadays.
>
Most of my choices come from TV these days.
Shelly
(snip)
>Yes - I always have to have a map. It won't make it into the novel -
>that's not necessary - but _I_ have to know the geography of my world.
Ditto. It is especially important when I write with my collaborator--we need to
be putting the same buildings on the same streets, etc.
Brian Pickrell
> by one of the three men in this photo:
>
> [black and white photo, old men standing in front of building, 580x409]
> http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/images/details/LC-S6-506.jpg
>
Sorry, but this is a photo that should have been thrown away. Two of
them have their eyes half-closed, and the other one's looking in the
wrong direction. Even if my characters had a physical resemblance,
I'd expect them to show a little more character in their faces than
these vacant-looking dopes.
> Anyone else found their characters in webphotos?
I've been looking at all the porn I can get my hands on, but I still
haven't found one as well put together as my heroine.
Jacey Bedford
>
googled and managed to find several dubious sites. Are their any casting
online directories for actors?
Eric Jarvis
> In message <DdOdnVzR8bf...@giganews.com>, Samuel Kleiner
> <s...@ulterior.org> writes
> >
> >Anyone else found their characters in webphotos?
> >
> OK, so where do you start web-searching for suitable character photos. I
> googled and managed to find several dubious sites. Are their any casting
> online directories for actors?
>
Jacey Bedford
<look...@nospam.invalid> writes
>In message <DdOdnVzR8bf...@giganews.com>, Samuel Kleiner
><s...@ulterior.org> writes
>>
>>Anyone else found their characters in webphotos?
>>
>OK, so where do you start web-searching for suitable character photos.
>I googled and managed to find several dubious sites. Are their any
>casting online directories for actors?
Ouch!
Are there...
Are there...
Are there...
(Write it 100 times Mrs Bedford until your silly fingers don't make that
stupid embarrassing mistake again.)
I don't get it - it's not as though I don't know the difference between
their, there and they're, but sometimes my stupid fingers type the wrong
one without letting me know what they've done.
They do it to me on its/it's sometimes too. I know damn well which one
to use but they don't always do what I tell them.
Bad fingers!
Naughty fingers!
Try to do better next time.
S. Palmer
> Who _doesn't_ have at least one character that would be well portrayed
> by one of the three men in this photo:
Not just a photo, but a whole article!
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/WorldNewsTonight/polarbear030530.html
This is *definitely* my bear (-:
(short story currently out in submission, 166 days and counting...)
-Suzanne
Samuel Kleiner
> In message <DdOdnVzR8bf...@giganews.com>, Samuel Kleiner
> <s...@ulterior.org> writes
>>
>>Anyone else found their characters in webphotos?
>>
> OK, so where do you start web-searching for suitable character photos. I
> googled and managed to find several dubious sites. Are their any casting
> online directories for actors?
As I said, this is where I would go- the other thing came from linkfilter
[click on complete archives]
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/
I don't really know of any other suitable sites? Anyone?
--
There are some fundamental physics limits that keep chips from going
faster than 1000 Mhz. --Joseph C Wang (j...@athena.mit.edu), 1997
Catja Pafort
> Samuel Kleiner s...@ulterior.org wrote:
> >
> > [black and white photo, old men standing in front of building, 580x409]
> > http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/images/details/LC-S6-506.jpg
> >
>
> <caption>
> Leading members of the Runcorn Chamber of Commerce at the opening of the
> new Top Shop in the High street.
> </caption>
Oh. My. God.
I had that caption in front of my brain when I finally looked up the
picture.
And now, of course, I can't get rid of the image.
Catja
Eric Jarvis
Glad to be of service. For a very reasonable fee I can offer any retailer,
town or organisation the service of never making such a joke at their
expense.
Jeanette
Shelly <shell...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040721193754...@mb-m01.aol.com...
My stories are set in this world, but I have to know how every house is laid
out. My main character lives in three different houses in her adult life,
and I know the exact layout of each one.
Jeanette
Zeborah
> My stories are set in this world, but I have to know how every house is
> laid out. My main character lives in three different houses in her adult
> life, and I know the exact layout of each one.
I'd probably just base them on houses I've lived in: four growing up
and various overseas, plus some friends' houses that I know well enough
to use.
This is what I do when playing the Sims, anyway.
Zeborah
Pat Bowne
Where is this? The post I checked out (probably I missed your first one)
only linked to one picture.
Pat
Julia Jones
<pbo...@execpc.com> writes
Be prepared for lots of bandwidth. And lots of spam, especially in
abp.erotica.* In that hierarchy I generally pull headers-only and select
things that look interesting for full download (my newsreader was
designed for offline use, so individual groups can be set to header-only
or full post or "header-only except for things matching this pattern").
One of my friends does fanfic art, gen, het and slash. She needs
reference pictures of naked people for all of them, and the pose books
for artists tend to focus on female models, for some strange reason.
Porn pictures have their drawbacks, but they can serve as pose
references. I have a couple of CDs worth of pictures downloaded from
abpe.gaymen at a time when someone with an artist's eye was posting a
lot of pictures that were very suitable.
And a while back I thought I'd see if I could get some more good ones to
use myself as inspiration for what characters look like (although
unfortunately Nik had stopped posting by then), and found one that
looked just like Harry, cheeky grin and all.
Thomas Lindgren
Stuart Houghton <stu_ajh-utter...@hotmail.com> writes:
> Thomas Lindgren <***********@*****.***> wrote in
> news:m3oem9p...@localhost.localdomain:
>
> >> <caption>
> >> Leading members of the Runcorn Chamber of Commerce at the opening of
> >> the new Top Shop in the High street.
> >> </caption>
> >
> > One wizard, one lich, one other. Might make an interesting story in
> > itself.
> >
>
> "A wizard, a lich and a scotsman walk into a bar..."
The barkeep asks them what they'll have.
"The wizard here'll have a heavy and me, I'll have a wee dram."
"And what about the cadaverous fellow?"
"Och, he's already dead drunk."
Greatest EVAR.
Stuart Houghton
>
> Stuart Houghton <stu_ajh-utter...@hotmail.com> writes:
>
>>
>> "A wizard, a lich and a scotsman walk into a bar..."
>
> The barkeep asks them what they'll have.
> "The wizard here'll have a heavy and me, I'll have a wee dram."
> "And what about the cadaverous fellow?"
> "Och, he's already dead drunk."
>
*smattering of applause*
Lucy Kemnitzer
I have done that in the Sims, but since what I really like playing
with are the push-the-envelope customized architectural features you
can download from fan sites, I mostly actually build fantasy houses --
not huge mansions, mainly, but intricate little themed bijoux houses.
With balconies and bay windows andporches and even, sometimes,
dormers.
There are people who try to recreate famous structures -- a Mayan
pyramid, a Roman VIlla, the White House -- within the parameters of
the game (no basement, third story, round walls, or windows or doors
on a diagonal wall).
I don't usually know the entire exact layout of every house and
workplace involved in my stories, but I know the general layout, and
the details of certain areas.
And the texture of the floor, and the smell of the walls.
Lucy Kemnitzer, still
http://www.baymoon.com/~ritaxis
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ritaxismom
J.Pascal
> Samuel Kleiner <s...@ulterior.org> wrote in message news:<DdOdnVzR8bf...@giganews.com>...
> > Who _doesn't_ have at least one character that would be well portrayed
> > by one of the three men in this photo:
> >
> > [black and white photo, old men standing in front of building, 580x409]
> > http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/images/details/LC-S6-506.jpg
> >
>
> Sorry, but this is a photo that should have been thrown away. Two of
> them have their eyes half-closed, and the other one's looking in the
> wrong direction. Even if my characters had a physical resemblance,
> I'd expect them to show a little more character in their faces than
> these vacant-looking dopes.
You're kidding, right? Those men are wonderful! The only one
who looks slightly vacant to me is the one on the left. No
one could look more sour than the fellow on the right and
the chap in the middle looks decidedly fey.
It's not a *pretty* picture. But that's what I like best
about older photography... the photographer didn't take
a hundred pictures and throw 99 of them away.
-Julie
Brian M. Scott
wrote in
<news:b00d4ca5.04072...@posting.google.com> in
rec.arts.sf.composition:
> bobth...@brandx.net (Brian Pickrell) wrote in message
> news:<eed75299.04072...@posting.google.com>...
>> Samuel Kleiner <s...@ulterior.org> wrote in message
>> news:<DdOdnVzR8bf...@giganews.com>...
>>> Who _doesn't_ have at least one character that would be well portrayed
>>> by one of the three men in this photo:
>>> [black and white photo, old men standing in front of building, 580x409]
>>> http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/images/details/LC-S6-506.jpg
>> Sorry, but this is a photo that should have been thrown away. Two of
>> them have their eyes half-closed, and the other one's looking in the
>> wrong direction. Even if my characters had a physical resemblance,
>> I'd expect them to show a little more character in their faces than
>> these vacant-looking dopes.
> You're kidding, right? Those men are wonderful! The only one
> who looks slightly vacant to me is the one on the left. [...]
He's not vacant: he's the one who *likes* the taste of raw
lemon.
Brian
David Friedman
"Jeanette" <ver...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> My stories are set in this world, but I have to know how every house is laid
> out. My main character lives in three different houses in her adult life,
> and I know the exact layout of each one.
>
Interesting differences.
I have a map of the world of my WIS, mostly because I needed it to check
consistency--how long it took character A or army B to get from X to Y.
I know something about the physical features of some buildings because
they come into the plot.
But I know very little beyond that. There are two castles, one very
large and one very small, that play a significant role in the story. I
couldn't draw a map of either--or rather, if I did, it would show only
the locations that mattered to the plot. My protagonist's home is a
small collection of buildings. I know the layout of one of them, because
it comes into the plot, but I have no very clear idea of how the whole
settlement is arranged.
I'm not sure if this connected with having a non-visual memory, poor
geographic intuition, or something else.
--
Remove NOSPAM to email
Also remove .invalid
www.daviddfriedman.com
Zeborah
> There are people who try to recreate famous structures -- a Mayan
> pyramid, a Roman VIlla, the White House -- within the parameters of
> the game (no basement, third story, round walls, or windows or doors
> on a diagonal wall).
I'd never considered round walls, but all of those others are extremely
annoying and not obviously logical. (Okay, I'd never considered a
basement, either; I think it's not an extremely New Zealand thing.)
Zeborah
Shelly
> "Jeanette" <ver...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> My stories are set in this world, but I have to know how every house is
>laid
>> out. My main character lives in three different houses in her adult life,
>> and I know the exact layout of each one.
>>
>
>Interesting differences.
>
>I have a map of the world of my WIS, mostly because I needed it to check
>consistency--how long it took character A or army B to get from X to Y.
>I know something about the physical features of some buildings because
>they come into the plot.
>
>But I know very little beyond that. There are two castles, one very
>large and one very small, that play a significant role in the story. I
>couldn't draw a map of either--or rather, if I did, it would show only
>the locations that mattered to the plot. My protagonist's home is a
>small collection of buildings. I know the layout of one of them, because
>it comes into the plot, but I have no very clear idea of how the whole
>settlement is arranged.
>
>I'm not sure if this connected with having a non-visual memory, poor
>geographic intuition, or something else.
This is something that really intrigues me. If it had gotten my attention when
I was studying psych in college, maybe I would have continued with psych and
studied this issue. :)
I tend to be visually oriented in that I prefer visual media--drawing,
photography, movies, TV. Cartoons and comic books were my first real love and
while I love the written word, there's something magical that happens when you
add drawings to them.
And I do craftwork, decoupage and painted boxes, and still draw, tho not as
much as I'd like.
However, I don't visualize much. Not when I read and not when I write. So I
need maps and floorplans (which I love drawing myself--that connection to art,
I guess) so when I need to write a character moving in a setting, I know where
he's moving to, what he sees, etc. And yes, it helps with distances, too.
An architect friend did up the entire house my spy guy lives in and I took
pictures of townhouses and ended up drawing the outside of the house she
designed, to go with the plans she'd done. Then I went through decorating mags
and found his furniture. I've done that with other characters I write a lot--in
present day stories.
It's been tougher for Mars, but I have a globe, nice big maps from the USGS
(that need to be replaced with something newer), the street layouts of the
major cities, the floorplans for the buildings I use most (and I really need to
do up something for the pub which is starting to figure prominently) and so on.
And it does help me stay consistent but it also helps me write the action and
so on.
Which is similar to my casting actors as my characters so I can describe them
and get a sense of them in my head.
What it means, I don't know. I just know I feel a lot more comfortable with
those visual aids than without.
Lucy Kemnitzer
The diagonals thing irritates me. I sometimes would like to build a
third story. Basements I only even know about because other people
complain about them.
I'd really like to do half-stories to reproduce the "high-water house"
(raised up almost a story off the ground) and the split-level, but I'd
probably never think about it if I could have done it from the
beginning. I used to be grumpy about not being able to put things
under stairs or under tables, but somebody's figured out how to fix
that and I haven't bothered to find out how (it has to do with the
placement coding for the objects. When you know what coding you put
on a surface object to allow it to take things on top of it, or what
coding a ceiling lamp or a painting gets, or something, I gather you
can figure out how to code other objects to occupy the same tile).
I've learned the basic procedure for making objects, but I can't focus
on it long enough to finish my "Whistler's Peacock Room" set..
Mostly I look at what other people have made.
Have you noticed that the game is the opposite of a story?
Zeborah
[The Sims]
> I'd really like to do half-stories to reproduce the "high-water house"
> (raised up almost a story off the ground) and the split-level, but I'd
> probably never think about it if I could have done it from the
> beginning. I used to be grumpy about not being able to put things
> under stairs or under tables, but somebody's figured out how to fix
> that and I haven't bothered to find out how (it has to do with the
> placement coding for the objects. When you know what coding you put
> on a surface object to allow it to take things on top of it, or what
> coding a ceiling lamp or a painting gets, or something, I gather you
> can figure out how to code other objects to occupy the same tile).
> I've learned the basic procedure for making objects, but I can't focus
> on it long enough to finish my "Whistler's Peacock Room" set..
I would ask where one finds these things out, but I try really hard not
to start playing Sims, because when I do I get nothing else done.
...Where does one find these things out?
(And is there a bug fix for visitors coming to one's house and somehow
forgetting to go home, and getting hungry and tired and being in the way
for days until they finally die? I think it was partly to do with
memory problems, and ended up deleting all families and neighbourhoods.)
> Mostly I look at what other people have made.
>
> Have you noticed that the game is the opposite of a story?
Hmm. There's some creating involved, but there's no plot or ending,
it's just day-to-day eating and bathing and going to work. All the
stuff stories leave out; yes. I still get involved in just watching,
sometimes, though -- the making friends, falling-in-love and having kids
thing can get as compulsive as a soap opera.
Zeborah
GJ Pfeiffer
Kemnitzer <Lucy Kemnitzer <rit...@cruzio.com>> wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 08:18:54 +1200, zeb...@gmail.com (Zeborah) seems
> to have said:
>
>>Lucy Kemnitzer <rit...@cruzio.com> wrote:
>>
>>> There are people who try to recreate famous structures -- a Mayan
>>> pyramid, a Roman VIlla, the White House -- within the parameters of
>>> the game (no basement, third story, round walls, or windows or doors
>>> on a diagonal wall).
>>
>>I'd never considered round walls, but all of those others are extremely
>>annoying and not obviously logical. (Okay, I'd never considered a
>>basement, either; I think it's not an extremely New Zealand thing.)
>
> The diagonals thing irritates me. I sometimes would like to build a
> third story. Basements I only even know about because other people
> complain about them.
The Sims 2 is coming out Sept. 16 and it is supposed to have at least
some functionality for the diagonal walls, a 3rd floor, and, I think, a
rooftop deck above that. The ability to change colors of objects is
supposed to be built in. And you will be able to import your own
neighborhoods that you design using SimCity 4.
Also there will be 6 life stages: infant, toddler, child, teen, adult, &
senior. They will grow up, age, and die. Their personalities will be
affected by the things that they experienced in the past. Offspring
will combine the genetics of their parents, and they will know who their
relatives are even after they grow up and move out.
However, none of the existing houses, objects, sims, etc. will be
compatible.
--
Glenda [formerly known as GJP and MamaG]
Zeborah
> The Sims 2 is coming out Sept. 16 and it is supposed to have at least
> some functionality for the diagonal walls, a 3rd floor, and, I think, a
> rooftop deck above that. The ability to change colors of objects is
> supposed to be built in. And you will be able to import your own
> neighborhoods that you design using SimCity 4.
I've been *thinking* that it'd be cool to have some interface between
different Sim games. (Like, have your The Sims person get a job and
then drive off to SimCity.) Obviously tricky, and it looks like they're
starting with the basics, but that's cool.
> Also there will be 6 life stages: infant, toddler, child, teen, adult, &
> senior. They will grow up, age, and die. Their personalities will be
> affected by the things that they experienced in the past. Offspring
> will combine the genetics of their parents, and they will know who their
> relatives are even after they grow up and move out.
Oh, cool, cool, *cool*!
--They still can't do their laundry, though. Poor Sims.
> However, none of the existing houses, objects, sims, etc. will be
> compatible.
That's okay, I can cope.
Hey! MacOSX? Grr!
Zeborah
(I guess it'll come out eventually.)
Darkhawk (H. Nicoll)
> I have got another minor character in a different book who's definitely
> Brian Blessed. He's always been Brian Blessed. He just fell out of my
> head and on to the paper that way.
My WNIP has a character who's definitely Gene Wilder, pretty much
through that process. (Well, I didn't start out with a strong image of
him -- I rarely do -- but in the very early going he did something that
was so amazingly Gene Wilder-y that the image suddenly solidified.)
--
Darkhawk - H. A. Nicoll - http://aelfhame.net/~darkhawk/
They are one person, they are two alone
They are three together, they are for each other
- "Helplessly Hoping", Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Lucy Kemnitzer
to have said:
>Lucy Kemnitzer <rit...@cruzio.com> wrote:
>
>[The Sims]
>> I'd really like to do half-stories to reproduce the "high-water house"
>> (raised up almost a story off the ground) and the split-level, but I'd
>> probably never think about it if I could have done it from the
>> beginning. I used to be grumpy about not being able to put things
>> under stairs or under tables, but somebody's figured out how to fix
>> that and I haven't bothered to find out how (it has to do with the
>> placement coding for the objects. When you know what coding you put
>> on a surface object to allow it to take things on top of it, or what
>> coding a ceiling lamp or a painting gets, or something, I gather you
>> can figure out how to code other objects to occupy the same tile).
>> I've learned the basic procedure for making objects, but I can't focus
>> on it long enough to finish my "Whistler's Peacock Room" set..
>
>I would ask where one finds these things out, but I try really hard not
>to start playing Sims, because when I do I get nothing else done.
>
>...Where does one find these things out?
Am I wicked enough to tell you? Oh dear, perhaps I am.
You start here:
http://www.thesimsresource.com/index.php
>
>(And is there a bug fix for visitors coming to one's house and somehow
>forgetting to go home, and getting hungry and tired and being in the way
>for days until they finally die? I think it was partly to do with
>memory problems, and ended up deleting all families and neighbourhoods.)
I never had that problem. But you can go to that same place, go to
the "General Forum," and ask. If you're on a Mac, there's several
forums just for them. Registration is free, by the way --
subscription just gets you extra perks. On of my favorite fan
creators, Koromo of Persimmon Grove, by the way is a Mac possessor and
originally from NZ, though she lives in, in, I forget, a Mediterranean
Island starting with C (Cyprus? Corflu?):
http://meanreds.com/persimmongrove/
>
>> Mostly I look at what other people have made.
>>
>> Have you noticed that the game is the opposite of a story?
>
>Hmm. There's some creating involved, but there's no plot or ending,
>it's just day-to-day eating and bathing and going to work. All the
>stuff stories leave out; yes. I still get involved in just watching,
>sometimes, though -- the making friends, falling-in-love and having kids
>thing can get as compulsive as a soap opera.
What I notice is the flip side of the coin: things don't change,
really. You can take your little Sim through all these game processes
and at the end of it it's still the same little Sim, just having
accumulated things (or friends, or family members). There's no
_consequence_. Which is I suppose a large part of the reason I have
resorted to playing the architecture game more than any other version
-- there's no unscratchable itch to make it a story. Another thing
is I keep wanting the little Sims to do things that are outside their
little Sim repertoire. So do other people, which is why you find so
many "hacked" custom made objects (if you want more detail and don't
want to discover these things the long way starting at the Sims
Resource site, email me and I will waste your time as mine has been
wasted!)
One of the interesting things about the forums is the many different
games nested within the game. There are the people who play
no-cheats, goal-driven (get to the top of this career, accumulate all
the easter eggs, etc.etc). There are people who try to reproduce
their real-life families in a kind of photo album (weird, if you ask
me). There are people who use the photo album capability to produce
fotonovela-type stories (I can understand this one, but I can't make
Sims fotonovelas of terraformed worlds and self-fueling
self-regulating mother tractors and tractor babies). There are people
whose main interest is in "skinning" -- and there it branches out
again: people who represent celebrities, runway fashion, historical
costumes, historical personages, characters from movies, fantasy
characters, ethnic costumes, "goths," strippers . . . There are people
who specialize in making objects, and they specialize further into
making modern furniture, or historical furniture (there's a whole
comm,unity of people doing Ancient Rome), or movie objects (there's a
community of people doing Harry Potter, and one doing Tolkienn),
people who combine functions of game objects, people who combine poses
and strings of animation from existing objects to create new
animations which they attach to objects (and some who specialize,
naturally, in pornographic objects). And I already touched on the
different architectural games people play. There's a forum where each
month the members go on a "bus tour" to a different country or region
and they post pictures they've found (mostly of luxury hotels, I'm
afraid to say), recipes, reminiscences, bits of history and culture,
and members make onjects, skins, and houses to go with the theme, and
they share them.
And that I think is the true key to the popularity of the game. It's
not really that this one game is dominating the world of computer
games: it's that this whole army of games is sold under the same name,
and people are free to swtich from one game to another.
And you can see why they made the Sims Online error -- so much of this
is played out in hundreds of forums online, and the sims communities
share so much of their play with each other, that it was natural to
think that an online version would be very popular. But I knew it was
a mistake from the first -- they had misunderstood what the communal
aspects of the games were, and they locked themselves into a
cumbersome creation that couldn't do what the fans would want it to
do. Most especially, you couldn't create custom content for the
online game, so a large part of the potential fandom was bored from
the beginning.
Oops. neep, neep, neep.
Lucy Kemnitzer
to have said:
>GJ Pfeiffer <DELETEME....@DELETEME.satx.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> The Sims 2 is coming out Sept. 16 and it is supposed to have at least
>> some functionality for the diagonal walls, a 3rd floor, and, I think, a
>> rooftop deck above that. The ability to change colors of objects is
>> supposed to be built in. And you will be able to import your own
>> neighborhoods that you design using SimCity 4.
>
>I've been *thinking* that it'd be cool to have some interface between
>different Sim games. (Like, have your The Sims person get a job and
>then drive off to SimCity.) Obviously tricky, and it looks like they're
>starting with the basics, but that's cool.
In SIm City 4 you can import your little Sims into the game.
Unfortunately, their lives in SIm CIty are not at all connected to
their lives in the Sims. Also, one of the more enterprising fan
creators has made a Sim City game that your Sims play. Also, you can
import houses you make in the Sims into Sim City, as little graphic
things.
>
>> Also there will be 6 life stages: infant, toddler, child, teen, adult, &
>> senior. They will grow up, age, and die. Their personalities will be
>> affected by the things that they experienced in the past. Offspring
>> will combine the genetics of their parents, and they will know who their
>> relatives are even after they grow up and move out.
>
>Oh, cool, cool, *cool*!
>
>--They still can't do their laundry, though. Poor Sims.
Well, _my_ Sims can appear to do their laundry, because I have
downloaded "washing machines" from fan sites -- they function, in game
mechanics, as dressers. You can also get, as decoration, hampers,
laundry baskets, ironing boards, and clotheslines. You can also get a
hamper which functions as a dresser.
>
>> However, none of the existing houses, objects, sims, etc. will be
>> compatible.
That's only mostly true. There will be some way to convert some of
the graphics over, but it will be a kludge. There are many fans of
The Sims who have a lot invested in their custom content and will be
hard to sell on the new game.
The first custom-content tool for the Sims 2 is already out. People
are busily making little Sims for the new game, though it won't be out
for another almost two months. But the tools for making objects and
decorations for houses won't be out for a while, and I wonder how many
besides myself will be dragging our feets on buying the game until
those tools are out.
A lot of the fan creators have been busily learning 3d so they can
make things for the new game. But I have to tell you, I do not like
the furniture most people make with 3d programs: it all looks the
same, and nothing like real furniture. Well, like tacky furniture
made of aluminum tubing, plexiglass, and extruded plastic, maybe. And
for some stupid reason, they _all_ make these ridiculous tables and
desks with a glass top held up from another flat surface by little
short rods. In real life that would be such a dust magnet, and almost
impossible to clean . . . my Sims are just as lazy as me, and I would
not afflict them with such crap.
>That's okay, I can cope.
>
>> http://thesims2.ea.com
>
>Hey! MacOSX? Grr!
>
>Zeborah
>(I guess it'll come out eventually.)
Maybe. Some of the things to do with the original Sims can only be
done to this day on Macs with kludging around.
(neep,neep, neep, neeo)
Zeborah
[Stuff for/about the Sims]
> Am I wicked enough to tell you? Oh dear, perhaps I am.
>
> You start here:
>
> http://www.thesimsresource.com/index.php
Ooh. Zebra rug!
> I never had that problem. But you can go to that same place, go to
> the "General Forum," and ask. If you're on a Mac, there's several
> forums just for them. Registration is free, by the way --
> subscription just gets you extra perks. On of my favorite fan
> creators, Koromo of Persimmon Grove, by the way is a Mac possessor and
> originally from NZ, though she lives in, in, I forget, a Mediterranean
> Island starting with C (Cyprus? Corflu?):
>
> http://meanreds.com/persimmongrove/
Cabbage trees and flax bushes and kiwis, oh my!
> What I notice is the flip side of the coin: things don't change,
> really. You can take your little Sim through all these game processes
> and at the end of it it's still the same little Sim, just having
> accumulated things (or friends, or family members). There's no
> _consequence_.
This is true. I gather Sims 2 is aiming at remedying that to some
extent, at least.
>Which is I suppose a large part of the reason I have
> resorted to playing the architecture game more than any other version
> -- there's no unscratchable itch to make it a story. Another thing
> is I keep wanting the little Sims to do things that are outside their
> little Sim repertoire. So do other people, which is why you find so
> many "hacked" custom made objects (if you want more detail and don't
> want to discover these things the long way starting at the Sims
> Resource site, email me and I will waste your time as mine has been
> wasted!)
Mustn't, really I mustn't. I've already found and downloaded a pile of
objects, and I really have to at least try to do this week's readings
before I let myself get sucked in. Also at least 50words a day of
writing. (Goodness, I've averaged 400 words these last nine days. At
that rate I may just finish the draft some day.)
> One of the interesting things about the forums is the many different
> games nested within the game. There are the people who play
> no-cheats, goal-driven (get to the top of this career, accumulate all
> the easter eggs, etc.etc). There are people who try to reproduce
> their real-life families in a kind of photo album (weird, if you ask
> me).
Well... <holds up hand> Not quite, exactly -- it's just that I don't
enough imagination to create a family out of thin air, so I choose
families I've known as sort of models. And then I tried my family, and
tried at the same time to model my house, and that's altogether a
*challenge*: seven people, big house, limited budget to start with
(since I knew no cheats until today) -- it really forces you to work out
what a family *really* needs to start with.
(It needs walls around the toilet and bathroom for privacy, or they'll
spend their time having tantrums; it also needs a wall around either the
living room or the bedroom(s), or they'll never sleep while others are
watching tv. A bookcase to study, a phone, fridge and oven and by golly
a smoke detector...)
<big snip>
> And that I think is the true key to the popularity of the game. It's
> not really that this one game is dominating the world of computer
> games: it's that this whole army of games is sold under the same name,
> and people are free to swtich from one game to another.
Yes. You can *choose* what you want to do; you're not locked into a
"This is a shoot'em-up game," or "This is a swallow-all-the-eggs game."
SimAnts had that problem -- much as I loved it -- there were
approximately three things you could do: a) wage the classic war, black
against red; b) discover a secret hole into the red's lair and kill
their queen straight off; c) just ignore the reds and play happily along
seeing how prosperous you can become.
> And you can see why they made the Sims Online error -- so much of this
> is played out in hundreds of forums online, and the sims communities
> share so much of their play with each other, that it was natural to
> think that an online version would be very popular. But I knew it was
> a mistake from the first -- they had misunderstood what the communal
> aspects of the games were, and they locked themselves into a
> cumbersome creation that couldn't do what the fans would want it to
> do. Most especially, you couldn't create custom content for the
> online game, so a large part of the potential fandom was bored from
> the beginning.
That's like movie producers making a sequel but not realising what it
was that people liked about the original, and thus failing miserably. I
think the producers of _Cruel Intentions 2_ thought the original was all
about sex and drugs and depravity. It wasn't, of course: it was your
standard romance, and it was about redemption; the sex and drugs and
depravity were only the set-up. Also, it had way better actors than #2.
Oh, randomness: I have a theory that the Troy and Arthur travesties are
trying to ride on the coattails of LotR: they're all big mythical
fantasy stories with giant battles, right? I'm probably the last person
to realise this, but I try not to think about them very often.
> Oops. neep, neep, neep.
:-) It was interesting to read. This world is a wonderful place.
Zeborah
Elizabeth Shack
in <news:7m0sf0lc9jdl45ki1...@4ax.com>:
> You just helped me to realise that I have no idea what most of my
> characters look like. Even the characters in the story I just spent
> two weeks polishing and submitting, the main protagonist has a
> fog-cloud instead of a face. I know how people react to her, and I
> know how she feels and what she thinks, but I couldn't tell you if
> she's got a cute button nose and blue eyes or green eyes and a
> hawk-nose.
>
> I only know her inner shapes, not her outer ones. Thinking about it,
> that's all too common for my characters. Ack.
I only have vague impressions of most of my characters. Although it seems
like I know what they look like, when I try to focus on details like facial
features they go all fuzzy.
My POV character is probably the vaguest. I know what the other characters
look like because she told me, but she has no reason to describe herself. I
just have an impression of hair color and body shape.
--
Elizabeth Shack eashack at gmail dot com
Writing updates at http://www.livejournal.com/users/eashack/
Tina Hall
> Who _doesn't_ have at least one character that would be well
> portrayed by one of the three men in this photo:
> [black and white photo, old men standing in front of building,
[...]
Now that I've finally had a chance to look at it I can answer that
with no, I don't know any characters that look remotely like them.
There's a German actor that looks a bit like the one on the right.
My characters, as well as those in others' books all have their own
faces. At best I might see an actor who vaguely fits my picture, but
that's rare.
> I'm pretty sure that the guy on the left is a wizard, and the guy
> in the center may well be a lich.
With some difficulties I might see the wizard, but the lich escapes
me.
> Anyone else found their characters in webphotos?
I could draw pictures of them, but it's not sure whether I'd manage
to draw them accurately.
--
Tina - " "
Time to have some fun!
Fight to survive, mortal. (Xom, Dungeon Crawl)
CrossPoint/FreeXP v3.40 RC3. Usenet/Fidonet gateway, no internet access.
Elizabeth Shack
wrote in <news:n5g2g0dclsj2ccfnm...@4ax.com>:
> There are people who try to reproduce
> their real-life families in a kind of photo album (weird, if you ask
> me).
I tried but then "I" fell in love with Bella Goth and that was that. Now I
have houses full of my fictional characters and I'm trying to get them
appropriate careers and get the right couples to pair up. Not really any
less weird.
Haven't played in months, maybe I should pick it up again. [eyes cd. eyes
chapter 3...]
Elizabeth Shack
<DELETEME....@DELETEME.satx.rr.com> wrote in
<news:10d1zi7cv3ki9$.nxlbnl3y...@40tude.net>:
> The Sims 2 is coming out Sept. 16 [much snipped]
Anyone who actually wants to read my WiR can blame you when I never finish
it. :)
GJ Pfeiffer
<news:tsYMc.16316$Qu5....@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net>, Elizabeth
Shack <Elizabeth Shack <eas...@NOgmailSPAM.com>> wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 00:29:20 GMT, GJ Pfeiffer
> <DELETEME....@DELETEME.satx.rr.com> wrote in
> <news:10d1zi7cv3ki9$.nxlbnl3y...@40tude.net>:
>
>> The Sims 2 is coming out Sept. 16 [much snipped]
>
> Anyone who actually wants to read my WiR can blame you when I never finish
> it. :)
So glad to be of service! :)
Zeborah
> On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 10:11:50 -0700, Lucy Kemnitzer <rit...@cruzio.com>
> wrote in <news:n5g2g0dclsj2ccfnm...@4ax.com>:
>
> > There are people who try to reproduce
> > their real-life families in a kind of photo album (weird, if you ask
> > me).
>
> I tried but then "I" fell in love with Bella Goth and that was that.
"My brother" fell in love with Mortimer.
Zeborah
Lucy Kemnitzer
Alas, I have uninstalled for possibly the sixteenth time (I've lost
track). Every couple of months at least my game goes corrupt and I
have to start over. This time, since I have all those damned
expansions except for Makin Magic (which I can't live without because
my darling fanmade architectural features are many of them cloned off
things in the later expansion packs), it will take me hours to
reinstall. It already has. I tried doing a quick reinstall from the
last CD, and the game was still corrupt. I tried doing a clean
reinstall, removing everything with the official SIms Eraser registry
cleaner, and reinstalling disk by disk by disk (that's 9 disks, some
of which you have to out into the machine twice or more) and the game
had refused to remove itself so it was still corrupt and crashed on
loading. Then I manually removed every last file and ran the registry
cleaner thing multiple times.
I have a life to live. I think I'll leave the game be for a little
while.
Oops, the reason for this post was not to complain, well I guess it
was, but what I started out to say is that Mortimer appears to have
been programmed to put the moves on your Sims of whatever gender if
you're not controlling things.
If you have just the original and maybe the first couple of
expansions, same-sex Sims have to have a significantly higher
affection score with each other before they can fall in love (I forget
the numbers). After Hot Date, it becomes difficult for any two Sims
to go out to dinner and engage in lengthy conversation without getting
crushes on each other. And they tweaked the move-in option so that it
only happens if they're in love, and not when they're friends. Which
is annoying, because I used to like to build friendship networks by
having Sims with different groups of friends move in together, but now
you run the risk of having all the roommates having constant jealousy
attacks all the time.
Several fans have made "no-jealousy" patches because of the stupid
jealousy behaviors of Sims. Anybody who is as promiscuous as a Sim
ought not be jealous, if you ask me.
Lucy Kemnitzer
<eas...@NOgmailSPAM.com> seems to have said:
>On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 00:29:20 GMT, GJ Pfeiffer
><DELETEME....@DELETEME.satx.rr.com> wrote in
><news:10d1zi7cv3ki9$.nxlbnl3y...@40tude.net>:
>
>> The Sims 2 is coming out Sept. 16 [much snipped]
>
>Anyone who actually wants to read my WiR can blame you when I never finish
>it. :)
You could, now, if you wanted to waste a lot of time, download the
SIms 2 character creator thing from the Sims 2 website. You get to
monkey with their faces, skin color and texture, clothing, hairstyles
. . . it's fun. I played with it for a week or so.
David Friedman
I've never taken the first sip, so am so far safe. But if an online
account is to be believed, I am in part responsible. Hopefully a small
part.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/htdocs/prod/PTOArticle/pto-20031028-000005
.asp
Julia Jones
Friedman <dd...@daviddfriedman.nospam.com> writes
>Apropos of all the people here who confess to Sims addiction.
>
>I've never taken the first sip, so am so far safe. But if an online
>account is to be believed, I am in part responsible. Hopefully a small
>part.
>
>http://www.psychologytoday.com/htdocs/prod/PTOArticle/pto-20031028-000005
>.asp
>
want your ideas to spread? :-)
(And now I can casually drop "by the way, I know one of the people you
can blame for your addiction" into conversations with Simhead friends.)
--
Julia Jones
"We are English of Borg. Your language will be assimilated."
Polly Callan
wrote in <news:e0cag0hf8bgvjdlpo...@4ax.com>:
> You could, now, if you wanted to waste a lot of time, download the
> SIms 2 character creator thing from the Sims 2 website. You get to
> monkey with their faces, skin color and texture, clothing, hairstyles
> . . . it's fun. I played with it for a week or so.
<fingers in ears> La la la I can't hear you la la la.
--
(Not a new poster, have sort of anonymized myself)
polly.callan at earthlink dot ent
Writing updates at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pollyc/
Charlie Stross
as <rit...@cruzio.com> declared:
> I have a life to live. I think I'll leave the game be for a little
> while.
I dunno. I managed to get at least half of my next-but-one SF novel out
of The Sims, after playing it non-stop for a few weeks ...
... The Sims meet the Stanford Prison Study, in deep space.
-- Charlie
Lucy Kemnitzer
Yeah, well, I caved, and I'm up to Vacation in the fourth round of
reinstalling. That's fifteen disk insertions and four stops to play a
pack to settle it in. Since I don't own the latest one, I have only
six (nine?) more disk insertions to be caught up and be able to use
the cool!cool! double doors that come with Superstar.
You know how I said the Sims is really a bunch of different games?
The game I play now is "uninstall-reinstall."
Lucy Kemnitzer
<polly....@NOearthlinkSPAM.net> seems to have said:
>On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 09:25:19 -0700, Lucy Kemnitzer <rit...@cruzio.com>
>wrote in <news:e0cag0hf8bgvjdlpo...@4ax.com>:
>
>> You could, now, if you wanted to waste a lot of time, download the
>> SIms 2 character creator thing from the Sims 2 website. You get to
>> monkey with their faces, skin color and texture, clothing, hairstyles
>> . . . it's fun. I played with it for a week or so.
>
><fingers in ears> La la la I can't hear you la la la.
I figured out who Polly was after only about fifteen minutes. Is that
really anonymizing? Or enough for your purposes?
Anyway. You know how in the SIms 1 you can't hardly get the body hair
and tattoos and stuff to stay consistent on a Sim when you change its
clothes? In the Sims 2 it's easy. It's also easy to make the little
Sim person have consistent, but developmentally appropriate, features
from age to age.
I had a lot of fun making freckles -- for Chuy! I made Chuy! So if I
had, in fact, been writing that book at the time, I could say it was
for research . . . oh, I could do my guy from my current thing, I
could, I could. It even kind of matters how he looks, for once --
he's got to look like nobody you'd look twice at.
Elizabeth
wrote in <news:82qgg0ti0rl1490q6...@4ax.com>:
> I figured out who Polly was after only about fifteen minutes. Is that
> really anonymizing? Or enough for your purposes?
More than enough for my purposes.
> Anyway. You know how in the SIms 1 you can't hardly get the body hair
> and tattoos and stuff to stay consistent on a Sim when you change its
> clothes? In the Sims 2 it's easy. It's also easy to make the little
> Sim person have consistent, but developmentally appropriate, features
> from age to age.
I never change their clothes. I would start forgetting who was who.
--
Elizabeth
polly.callan at earthlink dot net
http://home.earthlink.net/~polly.callan
http://www.livejournal.com/users/pollyc/
Tim S
That's quite a pitch you have there, Charlie. You should become a pitcher.
Tim
Alma Hromic Deckert
so should the header of this thread now become "character pitchers of
interesting people..."?
A. (a pitcher is the same as a photograph, innit...? oh. wait a
minute. THAT pitcher.)