Dandesun

I am honestly not sure if I'm tone-deaf or the writers are because where they seem to want me to be standing and where I actually do stand in regards to these characters are so completely off it's ridiculous. People need to stop acting like any negative reaction to Abigail's fucking EJ is beyond the scope of reason. (Pal Page? Really? Okay.) Jen sneering at Anne with her 'Abigail made a mistake. You enjoy the misery of others... on purpose.' Once I can accept as a mistake. Not twice. And when Abby has actually shown she has a tendency to go after very taken men (first Austin, now EJ) we are far far far from the realm of 'mistake' and deep into the area of 'standard operating procedure.' Will Horton is whinier than Luke Skywalker wanting to go to Toshi Station to get power converters. Will Horton is whinier than Anakin Skywalker whinging about slaughtering Sand-People because he was angry. Will Horton is whinier than the whiniest Skywalker. I didn't even know that was possible. I want to slap him every time he clenches his jaw. Which is always. Look at how disrupted Abby's life is... with her walking around town and making out with her new sorta-boyfriend who isn't remotely bothered by any of this (although he's plenty bothered by other people cheating on his sister) -- maybe if I ever saw her do anything more than stare wide-eyed at anyone she shares a scene with and actually, I don't know, give off some real sense of damage to her life, or maybe if everyone else in Salem weren't so ridiculously concerned with 'protecting' her from... Sami, I guess (who, I repeat, hasn't done anything that most people can't deal with in real life much less soap life) I might be more inclined to sympathize. Maybe. But none of that is happening. JJ made the most sense when he railed at Will. Speaking of JJ... he and Paige have the shittiest 'friends' ever. I don't ever remember being so overly involved with any friends love life and certainly not to the point where they had to tell me, repeatedly, to shut the fuck up about it. Speaking of not having a clue... Nicole. For the love of Odin, Nicole, stop acting like it's a huge fucking shock whenever someone expresses displeasure at actions you took. Stop insisting that you're on Eric's side. I believed that up until you shredded the papers you put so much effort into finding. Now... no matter how sorry you may or may not be, you need to really stop being so surprised that Eric doesn't trust you. What's more, you actually make me agree with Daniel which wouldn't vex me so except for the fact that Salem acts like he walks on water and I'm already so beyond tired of the Jen/Daniel angst-fest that I can't even deal with it. Honestly? In the last week the most cathartic moment was Eve screaming that Jen was a bitch. That felt good.

Not only that, but the refrigerator goes sailing what appears to be miles and he totally survives that and isn't, you know, broken in a bazillion different places. I recognize that I have to accept a lot with Indy movies but that set a tone very early on that this was going to be even more than that. My love for Indy knows no bounds and I still say that Temple of Doom was the worst of the four. I mean, it's pretty fucking far-fetched, too when it comes down to it. Well, they all are... Raiders had the Ark of the Covenant and melting Nazi faces. Last Crusade had a knight from the Crusades still hanging out in the desert and the Holy Grail which healed bullet wounds... and more melting faces. So... yeah...

Well actually, Sami is acting a bit more Lannister than Bolton. She's using money and the power of the DE-CEO-ship to get things done. The Boltons just torture and maim -- as in, see what they did to Theon. (Sorry about the Michael Bolton videos.) I mean, if Sami did to Abby what Ramsay Snow-now-Bolton did to Theon I could totally understand Salem's appalled reactions. As it stands, I really really don't. More to the point, I rather dislike the extreme one-sidedness of it all. Will snarling to Sonny about Sami telling Adrienne that Justin and Kayla were having an affair... Sonny got it immediately but was talked out of it. Sami absolutely told that lie to make Adrienne understand what she was feeling, what's more, that message seemed to get through. And then SAMI owned up herself to illustrate the situation. Will completely twisted it around (as I'm sure Adrienne did herself) to make it seem like Sami was just spewing lies to fuck with Adrienne's life and never fessed up to the reality of it all. Will's actions pissed me off because for all that he's the one saying Sami's out of control and needs to be taught a lesson... it really seems to me that HE is the one that needs to be curtailed and controlled. If only.

I feel bad for the Holy Horton Horses. I picture a row of them, heads drooped with looks of horsey consternation on their faces. (Horsey people will know exactly what I mean.) I think they whicker amongst themselves: This is absolute bullshit. Why do they keep dragging us into their mess? Would it be bad form to go for a roll with one of these twits still riding me? They don't even give us an apple or a carrot before starting this parade... they just act like we should be grateful that they're even riding us! HA! That's what he said! I totally whizzed on Jennifer's shoe this morning, it was glorious. There's more flip-flopping in this than a fish on land gasping for air. Did EJ not remember the last time he tried to defend Abby to Sami? Yeah, Sami didn't appreciate it then, I rather doubt her mood has improved on that front. And, again, Sami's 'revenge' has been so completely mundane that it is mind-boggling the way people are reacting to it. She's not a fucking Bolton, people! She hasn't cut Abby's clit off or anything! You know, maybe if EJ HAD forced himself on Abby I would understand people's reactions to Sami's revenge but that is so totally NOT what happened so all of Salem can have a thousand seats. Also, Abby's ever present, open-mouthed perplexed expression kind of cracks me up. It's like whomever is speaking to her isn't speaking English and she's trying to decipher what they're saying. She just always looks confused. And after watching that video of her confession about Austin... SHUT UP JENNIFER!! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!! And SHUT UP THE REST OF SALEM!! A THOUSAND TIMES SHUT UP!!

It's a total soap trope, yes, so I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. If it does, it's honestly hard for me to be too outraged. I can see Eve thinking that it would be a means of getting Paige to go to Stanford but I just don't see that happening at this point. Maybe when the contract comes up for Girl Who Plays Paige and they need a good reason for her to go to school. As it stands right now, it would all be kind of pointless. As for defending Eve for it. Why? This is Salem. I understand that Eve is one of the Worst People Ever according to the Holy Order of Salem (most of whom have no room to talk) but that sort of thing is generally going to make me side with the Bad Person just out of sheer contrary-ness. Besides, sleeping with your daughter's boyfriend in Salem seems rather banal. It seems on par with walking on the grass when there's a 'Keep Off the Grass' sign posted. Or spitting on the sidewalk. It's hardly the worst thing ever. And in Salem, even really, truly awful crimes are generally shrugged off as no biggie. That's if it happens in the next week or so. Again, I'd be surprised if they went to that well this soon. That's one they need to lead up to.

For some reason, every time Ted throws something off screen in Airplane! and it comes back from a different direction to hit either him or whomever makes me giggle uncontrollably. But to be fair... most of Airplane! makes me giggle uncontrollably.

It was consuming him. The team reaching out helped stabilize him enough to use its power to defeat Ronan.

I don't get how the writers think. It's like whenever they're writing anything out, they've got a phrase at the top of each page: No Matter What, Abigail is Blameless. So it's like they don't even care what they write or even how. If they just have everyone say that none of this is her fault, and react to Sami as if she's been walking through town with a machete just randomly chopping limbs off people screaming 'It's all Abigail's fault!' then that's all they need to do. Which isn't really working for me. Also not working... Daniel the Infallible Hero. I mean... what? I can buy he's a decent guy. But he's not Superman. Nor is he Captain America. They seem to want me to believe that he is but... nope, not working at ALL.

I do know that World of Warcraft is already working on creating an in-game memorial of some sort. It may be an NPC, perhaps a quest line, not sure what they're going to do but he was a regular player and the petition for it started immediately and Blizzard responded very quickly that they're going to be creating something for him.

Victory! It's got everything! Michael Caine! Sylvester Stallone! Pele! Max von Sydow! It's World War II! And a prison camp! And the idea of POWs playing against a German team so Hitler can prove that the Germans are superior. Because of course! Prison breaks! French resistance! Romance! Michael Caine says 'bloody' a lot! The game is totes rigged! Oh noes! Pele plays with broken ribs! They're meant to escape during the half but the rest of the players want to beat the Germans. Because of course! Oh, Sylvester Stallone is the one American and, of course, becomes goalkeeper because Americans have no idea how to play without using their hands. Slow motion montage of soccer skillz! Max von Sydow is the decent Nazi that is totally impressed with Pele's bicycle kick and gives him a standing ovation. Because of course! And then everyone sings La Marseillaise! And then on the other spectrum from that... Guys and Balls: a German gay football comedy. Need I say more? (It's on Netflix.)

I remain utterly and completely perplexed at the Lord-Buchanans' bizarre love and acceptance of Kelly after her constant merry-go-rounding on Kevin and Joey (and throw Drew in there, too, although he died too soon to fit into her regular routine.) I could understand Viki and Jess being 'Well, she's confused and all that' and trying to understand but only if Kelly had moved the fuck on to plague some other family. But the idea that with off of her ping-ponging much less the Duke crap resulting in them being thrilled to have her be a part of their family... Well, the Lord side is definitely nuts anyway but that doesn't explain the Buchanan side of things. Asa still liked Kelly before he died and that didn't make one iota of sense to me at all. Kelly was a mess. A full on mess. She was vastly insecure and she wanted to pick and choose parts of the various Cramer lives to take for her own without actually having to earn any of it. I remember when she tried to get Blair and Todd to let her live with them. Todd was having none of it (which, as has been said, furthers the bizarreness of the Not!Todd/Kelly... whatever that was because Todd Manning had no fucks to give about Kelly Cramer. Ever.) She was envious of Blair's beauty and wild, glamorous life... she was envious of Dorian's money and 'hot, young stud' of a husband. I don't think she envied Cassie until Cassie dumped Andrew for Kevin. I'd actually have to agree that Heather Tom was probably the best Kelly because she went full-bore into that crazy place that Kelly should, by all accounts, live in as she's practically devoured by the envy she holds for her cousins... so much of which seemed to be directed at Blair, who never did anything to Kelly but who Kelly easily did the most harm to. That they basically ignored all of the messy years when Gina returned did a huge disservice to the character. They pretended none of that had ever happened and then immediately sent Kelly after Not!Todd because....? Why? Because he was the one that never gave Kelly a second glance? To have so much train-wreck in a character's immediate past and NOT utilize that just... mystified me. MYSTIFIED ME. Part of me kind of wished that Kelly had interacted with real Todd so we could see RH play the utter contempt that Todd truly always had for Kelly... especially if she tried to hint at her 'brief romance' with Not!Todd. I had some fun with it in my fic where Kelly says she likes the other Todd better and Todd remarked that he wasn't surprised because Victor is as big an idiot as she. At the same time, I feel that would have been a waste of time to deal with on the show. (Although I remain infinitely bitter that Todd and Dorian didn't get any scenes together. I always loved their mutual animosity.) It's just... the writers never seemed to be able to decide who Kelly was; was she the anti-Cramer? Or the biggest train-wreck Cramer of them all? (I think the latter.)

Does Abby get mad? Even when she was all hissy at Sami in their 'confrontation' I never really got anger from her so much as 'affronted' because Sami wasn't just letting bygones be bygones or something. Does she have it in her to be legitimately angry? I'd be kind of interesting to see that unleashed on someone she thought was a friend on her side. I'm seeing that Will is very definitely his mother's son here. In his attempts to teach Sami a lesson (and I have to say how disturbing I find this -- I know that Sami is hell on wheels on a good day and that she's caused significant amounts of damage to all sorts of people over the years but I'm troubled by the wording from various Salemites regarding her current behavior but particularly the 'teach her a lesson' and 'put her in her place' commentary. It strikes me as so completely misogynistic that even if I disagreed with what Sami is doing (I don't, because I don't see her doing anything particularly heinous when all is said and done) I'd still be leaning towards her side of it simply because it reeks of 'the woman is getting uppity, we need to knock her down to size' mentality) he's shining a light on the very person he's attempting to 'protect' from Sami's villainy. And Will decided that Sami needed to be taught a lesson before she had even done anything to Abby! All Sami was doing was leveling veiled threats around. The most she had done was confront Abby. Ooo! Burn! How over the line is that? And now with the job? Where she actually allowed Abby to resign herself without actually having to go through any humiliating ordeals that the rest of the world would? Even Anne doesn't know why Abby resigned. But everyone is acting like Sami dragged Abby into Horton Square, locked her in the Historical Horton Stocks and then pelted her with the condoms she should have used when having sex with EJ and pregnancy tests. What is being talked about does not equate with what is being shown... so Will basically looks like an asshole. And a really stupid one at that.

This one hurts. It hurts down to the bone. It truly feels like losing someone I know, someone I know well... which is unusual for this situation for me. I can be saddened and stunned by celebrity deaths. Some are surprises. Some are not. This one hurts.

I always explain Marlena's actions or non-actions as... "It's all a part of the experiment." I mean, today with the perfume and the staring and then finally the "If you can feel me, squeeze my hand" She's performing experiments on John on screen! Everything is good and right! Marlena's experiments continue. Go, Lady Sinister. Go! I haven't quite been able to discern what sort of broad chemical experiment she's performing on Salem proper to have this 'Abby is good and pure while Sami is a demon despite the fact that Abby's the one who slept with Sami's fiance... Sami even suggesting that she's going to get revenge means that she needs to be put in her place! She needs to be taught a lesson! We don't know what that lesson is, exactly, because none of this seems to really support the 'turn the other cheek' credo we think we're spouting' nonsense but I'm not an evil genius. I'll figure it out at some point... but it's the only thing that explains the ridiculous stance so many are taking.

This is why I've started avoiding reading books before I see the movie. I have seen the movie and I enjoy it. Basically, she becomes very disillusioned with the faux world pretty quickly because she could only afford the dirt cheap option and the hostess of the locale is extremely dismissive of her because of that, choosing to fawn over the wealthier ladies. I think it plays with the concept of 'what is fantasy and what is reality' pretty well given that she's 'courted' by a guy who sort of toys with it as well but the 'Darcy' of the set takes notice of her also. When she gets fed up and enlists the help of one of the ladies to take control of her own fantasy (they raid the closet of one of the other rich ladies) so she can wear the real fantasy clothes of the period and she just decides she's going to write her own Austen fantasy but it still gets muddied up... she thinks the Darcy is her pre-written result and the stablehand that was courting her before was the real deal. And when she goes home she takes all of the various Austen paraphernalia down despite still loving it but just wants to move on to living in the world she's in...

It's true, the casting has been amazing. The second they announced Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark I said "Perfect. Perfect casting. Could not be anyone else." I didn't really have any opinion on Paltrow as Pepper, I can take or leave her -- she may be annoying as a person with her Goop and all that but as an actress I am not offended by her. And Jeff Bridges is always a delight so I thought they had a good chance to make something very much worth watching. Since then... well, you had Branagh directing Thor which blew me away. Plus Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman, both of whom I quite enjoy. Hopkins as Odin was, for me, something that absolutely made sense but I was astonished that they could get him. I had never heard of Chris Hemsworth but when I imdb'd him and saw that he was George Kirk in the Star Trek reboot, I was like... 'They got a guy who can act! Good!' I remembered him vividly from that first scene but I was also like 'How are they going to get him pumped like Thor?' I don't think anyone was expecting that physique to come out of him. Chris Evans was another surprise in that he had really only played douchey frat boy guys although my first response was 'But he was already Johnny Storm!' I thought Evans got Johnny down just right but, man, his Steve... I love his Steve. Evans' Steve Rogers is probably my absolute favorite MCU character. I think they've done absolutely right by Steve because it's not easy to write out a truly good man without it coming off as cloying or preachy. Plus, in First Avenger they had Stanley Tucci and Hugo Weaving. (Confession: I say 'How exciting!' all the time exactly the way the Red Skull does... I find it humorous and also fitting that the Red Skull would appreciate propaganda films.) I think the best thing about Captain America in MCU is that he is, hands down, the Ultimate Hero -- yet he just doesn't fit in. And you could argue that Steve never did fit in, even in his own time, but in the current day of Marvel he fits in even less. For all of his qualities, he's something of a misfit and there's a deep sadness about him... the fact that his world is gone, the friends he made are dead, he has no way of really relating to people ("Hi, I was born in the late 20s, fought in the second World War and then crashed a plane into an iceflow and was unconcscious for 70 years. What's your story?" "Um... I grew up in the suburbs, went to UC Santa Barbara... I like... math...") I think Marvel has done an amazing job with all of the characters but when it comes down to it, Cap is the living, beating heart in ways that other characters simply cannot be and they really have put the work in with him and Evans has done amazing work to bring him to life. From there, I stopped worrying.

I watch this show with the biggest WTF look on my face. This storyline with Sami and Abby and all should be the juiciest thing going... it really should. They could have Abby admitting what she did and Sami doing what she's doing... but if the rest of Salem were divided up and arguing among themselves and with the two ladies in question about who is in the right and who should be ashamed... even playing a few characters against expectations to up the ante a bit, this could really be something. As it is, with everyone in town absolutely horrified at Sami and calling her an out of control monster when, in reality, I would say this is one of the more controlled periods of Sami's life... it's sucking all the fun out of it. It's appalling to me that when Abby explains that she resigned from her job because she broke the morality code of the place she works while people look horrifed for her. Sami is telling nothing but the truth here... if she had completely misconstrued events, if the picture was photoshopped and Abby and EJ were, in fact, innocent while she's on a foaming at the mouth rampage to twist and turn and make Abby's life miserable... that would garner the 'monster' epithet that Salemites are so eager to sling around. But that's not the case! And when you have ONE person show any sympathy towards Sami on ONE day while everyone else is acting like Sami set fire to Abby's house, tried to run her down with a spiked chariot and chases her through Horton Square with an axe. The reactions from people in Salem are NOT in keeping with what's actually happening. It's BIZARRE. And now Sami seems to want Rafe back? The fuck? What the hell is going on?!

But that's not Marvel. That's Fox. Marvel doesn't own the rights to X-Men films. So it's Fox that's doing something so... weird.

I remember the first time I saw the porn opening after years of the 'Cause we only have ONE LIFE TO LIVE!!' with all of the various faces flashing over scenery... it was such a bizarre change. "What the fuck is this?!" For the longest time, I'd watch that opening with pure stinkface. I don't know how long it took to wear off... and it's weird that that ridiculous opening exists through easily one of my favorite periods of the show.

I'm waiting for this. I would find it utterly delightful for Marvel to be able to say 'We own ALL the sexy Chrises!!'

I think Chris Pratt has been asked about his workout/diet regiment as much as Scarlett Johannson was during her rounds as Black Widow. Of course the difference there is that Scarlett didn't seem to go through that much of a change and Pratt, well, we all know he's a big, schlubby guy in Parks and Rec. Also, it comes off less creepy for guys to be asking another guy 'How did you do that?' as opposed to asking a woman 'So what do you wear underneath that skin-tight costume? Anything?' If you Google "Chris Pratt French Braid" you get the interview where he not only French braids hair (because he instagrammed that after he did his wife's hair) but they talk about the workout and how his wife prefers him. ("She's a feeder...") This was a risky venture... the Guardians aren't exactly the top tier book for Marvel (although it's current incarnation is extremely fun -- starts out with Tony Stark in their ranks, then they have a cross-over with the All-New X-Men, and recently Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) has shown up -- plus they've got Angela who is somehow a Marvel property now after debuting in the Spawn-verse for Image. Angela and Gamorra slay things with impunity and are among the baddest bad-asses ever) but Marvel keeps taking titles I would never have thought they could transfer to the big screen and doing them very well. (I never thought they'd be able to sell Thor and Captain America but lo and behold...) And this is so so different from the various Avengers properties (although they are clearly gearing up for the Infinity Gauntlet storyline so everything ties in together) that you just wondered how it was going to work. I think the soundtrack did a great job of grounding the story. You've got spaceships and talking trees and raccoons with guns and mining operations in the head of a dead Celestial (that was awesome by the way) and, through it all, you've got a soundtrack that most of the audience is going to know so you've got a great way to connect to the audience in the midst of all of this Out of This World stuff going on. Very cleverly done, I thought. Also, if 'pelvic sorcery' doesn't become a thing, I'm going to be very disappointed.

I'm a huge fan of Pollack's work so it was doubly nice for me. Hysterically funny joke and rather nice to hear a Jackson Pollack joke in a space romp. This was fun. So much fun. And I don't think a movie since Up has made me cry so quickly and laugh so hard and then tear up again and then laugh again. Talk about your emotional roller-coasters! I think they did a really good job giving everyone their moment as far as perhaps understanding where they came from (with the exception of Groot and how he met up with Rocket) but I really loved how they were able to portray the emotions in two CGI characters. Vin Diesel has not been shy about loving the challenge he had as an actor in portraying things as Groot not just with only three words to say but with no ability himself to do any facial expressions or physical movements. I would very much like to know more about Thanos, Nebula and Gamorra... so Thanos goes around destroying planets and then takes random orphans in as his own? And raises them to be total bad-asses that may possibly hate each other... and does cybernetics on some of them... what is the deal with Thanos?! I know some of him from comics but in the MCU I rather want to know what is up with him. (Also, the fact that the Kree were mentioned rather significantly not just with Ronan makes me hopeful hopeful hopeful that we're going to get Carol Danvers at some point.) Anyone else think that knowing Rocket exists would be a significant blow to Tony Stark's ego?: "Wait... a raccoon can build moon-destroying bombs out of spare parts?" (Not to mention cobble together things to help them escape from a significant prison.) Rocket would get a load of the Iron Man suit and be all 'That's cute. No, really, it's cute. Let me know when you make something grown up.'

Aren't the DC three filming? Or has that not even started yet? You could compare them to the Avengers panel in 2012 (2011?) when they were working on the movie. You could tell that they weren't quite the unit they are now yet but even with that Downey and Ruffalo have been friends for years, Johannsen and Evans have worked together tons over the years... out of everyone I'd have said that Hemsworth was the legitimate but also at that point, Downey, Hemsworth and Evans had all done their solo pieces so they were a little more comfortable in their roles than they would be normally, you know? In a lot of ways, DC is doing things very differently. While Marvel's Cinematic Universe started with Iron Man and continued with him, DC has rebooted Batman and Superman a few times now. Christian Bale isn't leading the way into a shared DC Universe the way Downey did with Iron Man. Cavill is the only one so far who has a DCU movie and I honestly don't know if that's enough to build on, you know? Plus, with Marvel you have the Big Three of the Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man and Thor) who all have very different and very distinct personalities. While you could always say that Superman and Batman were distinct, Man of Steel made Clark/Kal-El very much an angsty loner... which is exactly what Batman is. Except Clark is an angsty loner from a destroyed planet who grew up in Kansas and Bruce is an angsty loner who grew up in Gotham. They both lost their fathers (Clark lost two and Bruce lost both parents) and... what, exactly, differentiates them save for their powers at this point? In the MCU, Thor is the gregarious prince from a different realm who is larger than life, Tony is the irreverent billionaire/engineer and Steve is the good man out of time who struggles with what he believes to be right versus what the world is telling him. These are three very different guys, not just in power and ability and looks... just in who they are, throw in Bruce, Natasha and Clint and that adds up even more. At this point, I'm worried that Diana is going to show up, parentless and angsty as well... just like Clark and Bruce except with boobs.

Well, I've seen it... particularly on soaps but not in this context. Generally when a mistress acts like this towards the wife it's one of two options: 1. Bad girl has 'lured' good girl's beloved into her bed and is crowing about it rather cruelly to rub salt into the wound. She who is crowing about the triumph is the villain of the piece and is heading towards a major fall. 2. Mistress is actually the man in question's true love and the man has had to marry the wife due to machinations of her own -- it is purely a marriage of convenience where the wife is the villain of the piece and the mistress is the true love finally showing the villain that she could not, in fact, come between the Destiny Couple. Neither of these options are the case here. Abby is not EJ's true love (whether or not he even has one is, I imagine, debatable but he's been largely obsessed with Sami for years and even know is vowing to win her back and does not seem to love Abby at all despite some weird ambiguous scenes between him and Abby throughout this) so her crowing about her affair to EJ's wife should put her in the villain camp... especially since the only thing that has legitimately happened to Abby as a result of this affair is that she lost a job she never goes to. What's more, I haven't heard her say a damn thing about hospital PR being her passion or anything like that so losing this job is not a huge issue save for pride. She's not going to get evicted from her shit-hole apartment because she lost the job... she lives with her mother! And even if you can argue the case regarding Sami/EJ being true loves, the point is that Abby is the interloper and is still somehow being treated as if she's the heroine for reasons I absolutely cannot fathom. I'm at a loss.

I'm wondering if we should change the topic to cover all the Sims -- from the original to 4 that's coming out in September. I got on board the Sims train a bit later than most... right as Sims 2 was coming out. A writer on 1Up wrote one of the most hilarious reviews I'd ever read -- seriously, I laughed out loud several times -- as he played his way through the game for about a week to test it all out and it was enough to convince me to give it a try. The first family I created was a soap family that I hated (The Rappaports from Llanview in One Life to Live) because I figured if I messed up and they died I wouldn't be all that upset. And then they were all really entertaining and endearing and I got attached. It was horrible. So I've played the original, 2 and 3 and also look forward to 4 for any number of reasons. I know they aren't having toddlers or pools in 4 because they've upped the mechanics in other areas. I liked toddlers at one point but I'm not too bothered by them going away... mainly because getting other Sims to teach them how to walk, talk and potty train them got to be quite a grind. And no pools (I'm sure they'll show up later) basically means you have to come up with different ways to kill your Sims (if that's something you do -- I know plenty who use that to cull the herd, so to speak.) I do know that dying of laughter is a thing in 4 so that's an option. Anyway, how do you prefer to play your Sims? Stories? Building? Something else?