#maxi was never considered the way Smith was though

[fazcinatingblog]

Omg I know this one

Okay so they had Nathan Hauritz, Xavier Doherty (who lasted quite awhile until I think KP tore him to shreds) then Michael Beer (who lasted two seconds before the entire England team tore him to shreds and he popped up in big bash for a decent amount of time until Finch tore him to shreds)

Then in about 2013, they just thought stuff it, if we can't get one that spins like Warnie, what about we get one that looks like Warnie and they wheeled out a young boy with bleached hair taking Nick Riewoldt marks on the boundary in T20 matches and

That didn't last long, I think Lyon came along shortly after and the selectors clung him like a barnacle on a ship "please save us, we'll market you as a goat, the greatest off spinner of all time, don't tell anyone there's no other off spinners around"

The Warnie lookalike reared his less bleached head a few years later as more of a Bradman clone and the Test team was set.

[dallasareaopinion]

Succumbing to the NBA free agency madness--Mavericks

I guess we are close enough to June 30 that I can start my cater walling about how bad the Mavs are going to screw this up again.

Year after year they keep talking big fish and they keep sinking the boat.

So lets take a brief stroll down wonderful memory lane to start the talk about what the Mavs should do to build a championship team. And of course we start with their last one. And yes that sounds trite, but give me a moment here.

The Mavs had just spent the last couple of years picking up pieces, really good pieces leading up to 2011. They had two players in Shawn Marion and Jason Kidd who were all stars, but some considered on the back side of their careers. They picked up Tyson Chandler that summer.

Did we have two supermax players? No. Did we have a strong collection of All Stars and players on the edge of being All Stars, in fact we had a few in Dirk, Jett, Kidd, Marion, and Chandler. None of these players adding to Dirk were big fish free agency catches. We had a great bench.

We blew it the next year and thereafter chasing big fish. And yet Cuban and Nelson are fishing again. Folks it is time they put up the over priced fishing boat and concentrate on collecting prized fishes that feed the MFFL masses.

Will this happen overnight, probably not, but Luka and KP are young so we have a couple of years to build the right way.

So with all the Plan-K dreams and the Kemba Walker dreams being bantered about, let’s talk about the slow transition in the right direction.

Imagine this team and this is just a framework or roadmap to the next championship. We cannot get there without changing course from our recent past.

For the 4&5 position, how about KP, Julius Randle, Powell, Kleber, and ?  Gives us solid rotation and a mix of talent to match up different teams. And lets play KP at the 4 mainly and not get him so beat up.

And some development of Kostas. Dream big and much development of Kostas.

For the 3&4 position how about Dorian, Jackson, some Maxi, and Luka at times. Again some rotational ability with the above group, but if DFS or Jackson take a step further this year, then we are developing our own border line all star players or at least players that productively compliment all star players.

For the 2&3.. Currently you have Hardaway Jr, Luka, Ryan Broekhoff and ?, Jackson? Not sure here, this rotation will need some work. Luka is assured of course since no matter what position or number you call him, he is the primary ball handler, it is the defensive assignment that matters most at what position you play him. And even though Hardaway’s contract is a bit heavy it can be tolerated if he ends up being consistent on both ends of the court  and averages in the 16-5-5 range. I know 5 assists seems high, but if he is a starter and playing the two and the team is moving the ball like they should then averaging 5 assists should be expected.

Realistically with good ball movement we should have five players overall who put up 5+ assists a game. We will need strong ball movement and team defense to do well with this group which leads to the last grouping.

For the 1&2  Patrick Beverly, Luka, Jalen Brunson, Trey Burke and JJ? or ?

15 players on the team:

Luka

KP

Dwight Powell

Dorian Finney Smith

Maxi Kleber

Justin Jackson

Jalen Brunson

Ryan Broekhoff

Tim Hardaway Jr.

Trey Burke

Add

Julius Randle

Patrick Beverly

Make a hard decision on JJ Barrera  Can he come back?

And make a decision on Salah Mejri or finding a younger athletic wing

And decide what is your next most important need and maybe get a third free agent.

Or make a couple of trades to either get draft picks back for the next couple of years or keep some money open for those all star to almost all star players to consistently play with Luka until you find the right combination and sign a few for a few years.

Will we win a championship with this group? Of course we will, but at least we are headed in the right direction.

We all doubt the Mavs will get Durant, Leonard, Kyrie, Walker(maybe?), Klay, Butler (not a fit) Khris Middleton (?) so why waste time.

Do we lose Mejri and try for a Lopez brother in addition to Randle to give us a solid 5 player rotation for the 4 and 5?

Do we just get Randle and try for Patrick and another up and coming 3 and D player to bolster Jackson and DFS’s rotation?

In my humble opinion these are the questions the Mavs front office should be thinking about.

There are a couple of other options that could develop and all of them much more realistic than Plan K. And in the long run I think we win. All your Plan K guys are 30 + or close or a head case. There are many border line great players who do not get the attention and occasionally one or two at the end of their prime who will be worth much more as players and at less $ cost going forward over the next few years to worry about the “big fish” now.

Time to cast the net out wide, not throw the pole in the water.

Thoughts? Ideas?

Some thoughts for other teams. I am not sure why Boston doesn’t cut bait with Kyrie and go for Kemba Walker. Same for Philly, lose Butler and go for Walker. Thoughts?

The Bucks should find a way to stay intact.

The Raptors are the favorites or scrambling depending on Leonard’s decision. They are still happy for the moment though.

The Warriors will be middling till Klay comes back. If they wait long enough for him to be 100%, they might do some damage in the playoffs. Durant isn’t playing next year at all if he is smart so even if he stays with the Warriors you can count him out.

The Wild card is the Lakers with AD now. Can they get a Plan-K player or will injuries decimate this two superstar team potential? I am not sold yet. Someone may come, but what depth will they have? It will matter against Denver and Portland in 6 & 7 game series.

Clippers?

Nets?

OKC?

And Houston??????, yes many questions. Before the AD trade I joked that if LA didn’t get a Plan-K player (and is that phrase only a Mavs phrase, I read too much local news), they might look at CP3 on July 2nd. Maybe the Lakers don’t have to now and wow, where does a Rocket go from here? Paul’s contract is an albatross on him and the Rockets. I did say if he really wants a championship he is going to have to give up a bunch of money and become a player on a team with other superstars. He will never be the top dog on a championship team at this point in his career.

Spurs?  The West is changing, what are they going to do?

Cheers

[plumbobpost]

Fanfic Friday: Spotlight on Skell’s Fortune & Romance

Sul sul!

Today Week of Woohoo continues with a very special twist. I have had the opportunity to ask Skell a few questions as part of a new series of posts about storytelling in The Sims community.

Skell’s Fortune & Romance serves as a prequel to the Pleasantview and Strangetown storylines in The Sims 2 from the perspectives of the Caliente sisters, hence the title which references their aspirations. Her story takes place in the time period between the first and second games and fills in the gaps between the contradicting timelines of The Sims, The Sims 2, and The Sims 3. Although the story is largely from Dina’s perspective, it features most of the iconic The Sims 2 characters ranging from Olive Specter to the Tricous to Bella and Mortimer Goth, establishing its own vivid mythology in the process.

In addition to writing, Skell has also created beautiful Maxis-Match content for The Sims 2 and is a frequent contributor to the Totally Maxis Tumblr and the fansite Garden of Shadows.

Without further ado, I’ll let Skell speak for herself.

You’ve said in the past that Fortune & Romance started out as your attempt to make sense of Maxis canon for the premade characters of Neighborhood 1, Pleasantview, and Sunset Valley. How did this evolve from your personal headcanons into a full-fledged story?

“I had played TS2 off and on for years before I was part of the fandom, mostly just goofing around but I had a lot of fun taking pictures and experimenting with posing. One day I discovered Strangetomato’s “Strangetown Here We Come” on TVtropes and was amazed at the way she fleshed out the premade stories from the game. Through her comment section, I discovered the whole fandom and started paying better attention to the premades. Eventually I came up with a backstory for Dina that I really wanted to write and share.”

Why did you choose Nina and Dina Caliente to be your protagonists? Did you ever consider different lead characters?

“It was always gonna be Dina because I was intrigued her backstory with the mysteriously inconsistent Michael Bachelor and the fact that she’s part alien. I wasn’t as interested in Nina until I noticed that she was shy (like me in RL) and also autonomously beating people up all the time. That’s when I realized she was gonna be a co-star and balance to Dina’s antics.”

Instead of ignoring Maxis’ characterization of Dina as a gold digger, you embraced it and made it a focal point of her character. Similarly, you fully acknowledge Nina’s romance aspiration while not making her a heartbreaker. How did you find a balance between their implied “villainy” in The Sims 2 and making them more sympathetic characters?

“I enjoy classic movies where Marilyn Monroe or Thoroughly Modern Millie is like “teehee I’m gonna marry a millionaire,” and it’s quirky rather than villainous. In those stories, she usually falls for a poor guy and chooses love over money (and often he turns out to be secretly rich.) Since Michael didn’t give her a “married a rich sim” memory, I wanted to write Dina the gold-digger as a modern version of that kind of story.”

“Maxis kind of setup Romance sims for “villainy” by not allowing for casual or open relationships, but of course that can be fixed with mods. With Nina, it’s interesting that she doesn’t really fit the “outgoing party girl” type. I think of her as a quiet person with a very intense energy. She needs lots of exercise and woohoo so that she doesn’t explode.”

There are a lot of unconventional relationships in your story. Nina and Servo. Olive and Ichabod. The Tricous. Even Dina and Michael. That being said, there is very definitely a theme of “love conquers all.” What motivated your approach to these relationships? How does that relate back to your attempts at reconciling Maxis canon throughout different games?

“I have a thing for mixed supernatural relationships. Dina and Mike bonding over their hidden supernatural heritages was always key once I figured Michael had a magic side. I knew I wanted to have Nina be intimate with a servo because that’s HAWT, but I didn’t foresee how intimate things would get until I figured out Servo’s character. The Tricous’ happy polyamory was my explanation for all the weirdness going on with their relationships and family tree. And I wanted Olive, Ichabod, and DJ make up this very loving and weirdly “normal” Unholy Family.”

Speaking of reconciling Maxis canon, you created your own version of Michael Bachelor in order to match his appearance in The Sims better and to create a resemblance between him and his famous sister, Bella Goth. Why do you think Michael was depicted so differently throughout the first three games? What did you draw inspiration from in creating “The Ultimate Michael Bachelor?”

“I think it mostly comes down to them wanting to use a familiar name for Bella’s brother/Dina’s husband in TS2, and carrying that forward. In TS3, I saw a boy who had his life all planned out for him by his father. In my headcanon, he screwed that all up and became the graduate of TS1 who had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. His relationship to Bella is the reason why he’s still single by the time he reconnects with Dina, who helps him find direction.”

There is an abundance of strong female characters in F&R, some of which were not originally portrayed that way. Why did you feel that it was important to write them as such?

“Well, because I’m a proud “SJW,” of course! But seriously, it’s less about being strong and more about seeing them as people?”

^Best answer that I could have asked for.

A large portion of Fortune & Romance is dedicated to the mythology of The Sims universe(s) and to supernatural sims. How did you go about the process of world building? Did you draw inspiration from different games in the series and/or from outside sources?

“My biggest worldbuilding is the explanation of where the supernaturals came from. The fairies are sort of fallen angel types who each have an animal form, and their magic rubbed off on human sims to create the supernatural life states.”

“I try to base the worldbuilding off things in game or aspects of game play. The fairy backstory was heavily inspired by fairy tales, in the way they morally test humans for punishment or guidance.”

Aside from premade supernatural sims such as the Smiths, Calientes, and Summerdreams, how did you go about deciding which premade sims were supernatural and which weren’t? How did you decide what life state they were?

“Bella has that awesome bio about being descended from “occultists, decadents, and mystics,” but then in TS3 the Bachelor family is uber-normal, so it eventually became that Jocasta is a squirellier version of Samantha from Betwitched.”

How has Fortune & Romance evolved since you started? Are there things you would do differently if you were to restart it?

“I was such a younger, different person when I started it, and yes there are many things I would do differently. (Michael’s skintone, for example. I tried to split difference between games with a custom skintone in between S2 and S3, but everyone assumes he was whitewashed to S2.)”

“When recreating families for TS4 I came up with a backstory for Dulcinea and Nestor’s relationship as well as a backstory for Don that explains how he got to be the way he is. I still can incorporate these things, but it would have been nice to bring them in earlier.”

With your story having reached a climax, many readers are wondering whether or not F&R will come to an end sooner rather than later. Not to spoil anything, but will the story continue after the party and if so, do you intend for it to last until the events of The Sims 2?

“I never intended for it to last until the events of TS2 because then it would be really depressing. There is more stuff planned for after the party though!”

Aside from writing Fortune & Romance, you have also created a variety of Maxis-match custom content. Why do you prefer working in this aesthetic? How do you feel it complements your writing?

“The game is cartoony, and I like to use that style to tell the story. I prefer to keep things heightened and silly rather than realistic, which very much fits into The Sims aesthetic.”

Speaking of Maxis-match, you have been working on a project for The Sims 2 that involves adapting Maxis-based custom content to blend in better with the game files. Would you mind elaborating a bit on The Maxis Match Repository Project?

“The TS2 repository project is made up of conversions/separates/or otherwise adapted Maxis which pull their textures from the ones that are already in your game, rather than creating new ones. This makes the files much much tinier. I also wanted to create a catalog where you can easily find it all in one place rather than hunt all over the internet. Check it out and don’t miss out on the gems in the back of your catalog!”

You’ve played every main game in The Sims franchise, and you’ve even made some very popular 2t4 recreations of the Calientes and Michael Bachelor. Do you have a favorite game for playing? Creating sims? Making Content? Building?

“I enjoy a lot of things about TS4. The game looks great and CAS and Build Mode are the best of any game. My favorite aspect is making sims, especially that you can share sims with traits/careers/skills so they have their own little story packaged with them. However, it is much more difficult for storytelling since there’s not even a way to pick up sims and move them around.”

“TS2 is still the best as far as premade sims go, and it’s the only one I make content for. I’m a bit of a control freak with my sims, and TS2 has been mastered by fans at this point where you can have ultimate control.”

Why do you continue to play The Sims? Do you feel that the games provide a creative outlet?

“I always loved playing with Barbies as a kid and The Sims really is the ultimate dollhouse. The first time I ever heard about TS1 I knew I HAD to have it. My aunt bought it for me while I was on vacation, but I couldn’t play it until we got home! During the car ride back home and I read that manual from cover to cover multiple times, so many ideas buzzing in my head.”

Any parting comments, teasers, spoilers, public service announcements, etc.?

“I’ve been on hiatus a long while and am just now getting back into the swing of things. I’m currently working on finishing up the chapter I started posting on Tumblr but never finished. It was FreddyAirmail who got me back in the TS2 spirit by asking me to help out with the Crystal Springs neighborhood project. It’s a community hood with houses based on each of the Stuff Packs, and I made the families for Teen Style and Family Fun!”

Thanks again to Skell for answering my questions. To those of you out there who aren’t familiar with her work, go check out her Tumblr and make sure to catch up on Fortune & Romance.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to visit my ask box. If you are interested, give Plumbob Post a follow, and reblog for anyone else who you think would enjoy this blog. Stay tuned for upcoming posts!

Dag dag!

 *Photo Credits go to Skell*