Saturday, December 1, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
October 2012: Artistkate
“It’s fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A” groups sings together. “It’s fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A.”
“Um does anyone know the rest of the lyrics?” Jill asked as everyone began mumbling stuff under their breath.
“Nope, but it’s not important anyway.” Dai answered shrugging her shoulders.
“Right moving on. Welcome all to another fun Featured Rebel interview.” Jaz announced with a smile.
“Yes we took a short break but now we are back in action.” Qui added.
“So without further ado let’s welcome October’s Rebel Artist Kate,” groups announces in unison.
*****round of applause******
“We have a fun filled evening in store for her so stay tuned!”
“Thank you, thank you. I’m so honored to be here.”
“Let’s sit so we can start to get to know a little bit about our Rebel this month.” Jill states pushing Kate towards the couch. “How do cowboys wear these boots all the time? Man my feet hurt already.”
“Pish I’d take that over having to get completely undressed just to go to the bathroom. These overalls are not handy unless you can just use the zipper which I cannot.”
“Quit you whining. Geez.” Jazen grumbles. “So Kate, I'm very excited that you're writing again - any hints about your upcoming story?”
“It's not going to be released for quite awhile yet, but it's Romeo/Juliet style with a splash of political and comedy pieces. I'm trying to keep the story upbeat and fun while also showing how the racial split (between Elves and Lycans) is devastating for the country of Dudonia.”
“That sounds like it could make for an interesting story.” Dai comments. “Speaking of interesting stories to read who is your favorite author or book that you enjoy reading?”
“I don't have a favorite author or favorite book. When I was little I read Black Beauty like once a week. I enjoy horse stories and sometimes romance novels.”
“You've recommended the Skinjacker Trilogy. The books are Ever Lost, Ever Wild, and Ever Found written by Neal Shusterman. (which I've finally gotten around to ordering from the library!) Can you tell us about them, and are there any more recommendations for your fans?” Jill asks.
“The first book is about a girl, Allie, who dies in a car crash and finds herself in Everlost, a world where children are deposited when they aren't ready to get where they are going. As the series continues, Allie finds out that she can "skinjack" living people and live as them and control their bodies. There are a couple of different kids that the books follow and they are all connected in certain ways. Through out all three books, Allie is faced with ghost wars, good, and bad ghost kids. Some of them have special skills and others are simply stuck in a routine life, oblivious to the "world" around them. I don't want to give too much away, but this series really intrigued me and left me unable to put down the books. I started reading them 3 years ago before the last book was released and it was just as easy to catch up and remember what had happened without re-reading the first two.”
“Hm, that sounds like a very involved series.” Qui comments. “So we have one final little question. With you being knocked up I’m sure you think of food often so what famous person would you want to have dinner with and why?”
“This is a hard question. I don't really fawn over celebrities, or have anyone that I idolize. I can imagine that having dinner with any celebrity would be kind of awkward, I mean, what would you talk about? Would they be all like, "I can't eat food cuz I have to watch my weight." Or perhaps other customers in the diner would be taking photos and oogling so much that I wouldn't even get a chance to really talk to the Celeb.
Regardless, with all of that in mind, I think I would like to have dinner with someone who is funny. Like Seth Rogen, I bet he wouldn't fret about eating BBQ chicken wings at Buffalo Wild Wings.”
"Ok Rebels we are going to take a short break. Let's give another round of applause for our Featured Rebel."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Welcome back Rebels. Hope you are all ready to eat Kate’s brain.”
“Um Jaz don’t you mean pick?”
“Pick? Eat? It’s all the same.”
“Yeah I don’t think it is. One implies well eating my brain while the other typically means asking me tons of questions to get to know me better.”
“Details, details. Anyway let’s get started. Give me five girl I picked the non scary event for you.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Well enjoy it because after this DJ has all sorts of things that may send you into labor early.”
“At this point with the way my back feels, I wouldn’t mind too much.”
“Be careful what you wish for. But moving on. We were supposed to pick pumpkins but since you have already swallowed one...”
“Ha ha so very funny.”
“I know I’m full of great jokes like that.”
“Oh boy this is gonna be a long segment” **mumbles under breath***
“Uh? You say something?”
“Nope.”
“Ok well since we are on the subject of expanding waist lines. What kinds of things would you encourage in little Andrew when he's old enough?”
“I want to see him try new things and find something that he loves. Jesse wants to see him play sports, I would love to be able to go riding with him when he gets older if he enjoys it. I think it will be fun to see what kinds of things he likes.”
“Yes letting the kids get a feel of various activities makes them well rounded I think.”
“I hope so.”
“So what is your greatest fear in life and about parenting?”
“My biggest fear in life is seeing a zombie. I am absolutely terrified by the thought of them. Other than that, I just take it day by day and whatever happens happens, I try not to focus on the scary things in life. As for being a parent, I sometimes worry about being a bad mother. I hate my nephews and nieces (except for one niece) and I have never been a very nice aunt to them. Everyone tells me it is way different when it's your own baby though.”
“Zombies you say? Um...ok sure you won’t have to worry about a zombie attack. That only happens in the movies.”
“Do I have your word on that?”
“Oh, look at the size of that pumpkin.” ***quickly changes subject*** “When you're not writing or doing sim related activities, what other things do you enjoy spending time on?”
“I like to play other video games. Lately I've been playing a free MMO I found on Steam called Rusty Hearts. I also like to ride horses when I'm not hugely pregnant. I like photography and being photographed. Painting and reading. I pretty much do a little bit of everything. I like to say, I'm not an expert at one thing, but good at many things.”
“ If you could only have one food what would it be and why?”
“I would have to say a potato. There are so many different ways to eat it and it's super filling.”
“You sound like Jordan. That girl loves potatoes."
“So you know I’m a huge fan of your poses. How did you first getting into pose creation?”
“I.... cannot remember why. I think it had something to do with Daisies. I know I downloaded Milkshape and started playing around with it, and found that the program was really easy to use and a lot like the CAD program I had used in school. And from there I just followed tutorials on getting it into Sims until I figured out how to do it my way. Hey can we sit for a minute?"
"Sure thing."
"Continuing with the poses you've done so many great poses and tutorials, do you think you'll go back to those someday?”
“I still enjoy doing it, but it's easy to feel overwhelmed doing them often. I also have a hard time with my poses because I want them to look natural and so I end up scrapping several designs and sometimes it can get frustrating trying to get it just right. My biggest problem right now is that I'm so *fat* I can't stand to sit in my computer chair for very long before my back starts to hurt. Not to mention that some fat dog tipped my chair over and broke the back off of it. Ok this ground is a little hard and isn’t helping my already aching back.”
“Man there is no pleasing you is there? Come on pregnant lady we’ll move to the bench.”
“Here help me up.”
“Better?”
“Yes why did you put me on the ground in the first place?”
“Because we are at a pumpkin patch therefore sitting near pumpkins made sense.”
“Um yeah sure, make the heavily pregnant lady sit on the ground. Makes perfect sense.”
“With us heading into Fall tell us what is your favorite season/time of year.”
“I love spring because of the flowers and lack of bugs. It's such a pretty time of year to ride horses too. Fall is also really beautiful around here with all of the yellow/orange trees and the leaves on the ground. But it can get pretty cold.”
“Lastly if you had to live in an EA Sims town, which would you choose, and why?”
“Appaloosa Plains for sure. That place is really pretty and I would be surrounded by horse-loving people.”
“Ok Rebels time for a break from our sponsors. I need to get out of these leather pants. Things are starting to chafe. Crap am I still on air? Ignore that, you didn’t hear a thing.”
Need to find some way for your sims to relax after a long day on the job. Try having them do some yoga. Simprov has two pose packs filled with beginner, intermediate, and advanced poses. Something for everyone.
“Well, we’re back with our Featured Author for October, ArtistKate! I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely in the mood for something sweet! What do you say we do some trick-or-treating while I ask you a few more questions?”
“As long as it’s understood that the candy isn’t for me, it’s for the baby, then I think that sounds fun!”
“So I've heard you like to paint - what kind of pictures do you paint - people, landscapes, nature, etc?”
“I like to paint horses, but I prefer abstract/impressionism style paintings.”
“I’m glad we convinced you to post pictures of some of them so we can see! Are you finding time to squeeze some painting in with everything going on?”
“I've been trying to!”
“Well, make sure to keep posting those pictures so all the rebels out there can enjoy your artwork! C’mon! This house looks promising!”
“What gives you inspiration for your artistic talent?”
“I just like mashing colors together and painting with my fingers. I like abstract/impressionism style because I don't have to worry too much about my paintings being super realistic.”
“Stress-free painting! I like the sound of that! It sounds really fun, and the pictures look great! Thanks again for sharing them with us. Man, I hope this house is giving out some chocolate!”
“Trick or Treat!”
“Aren’t you ladies a little old for trick or treating?”
“Ma’am, it’s for the baby. Do you mean to tell me you want to deprive this child of his basic civil rights as an American to trick or treat like the other kids? Are you discriminating against this child, Ma’am? Is that what’s going on here? Are you saying that just because this little boy isn’t able to walk up here on his own and ring your bell, that he’s not entitled to the same candy as all the other children? IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE SAYING, MA’AM?” Jill asked with growing impatience.
“Well, no! Of course not! It’s just that…oh, here.”
“Thank You!”
“So, have there been any more Beefin sightings? Have they made contact with you and made their wishes or demands known?”
“Erm... Well... After much observation and further research, I discovered that the Beefins were unstable and worked wonderfully well as fireworks! Oh, and they can't breathe underwater, so you have to watch them so they don't drown in their water bowls. Overall, I think this has been a successful genetic experiment and I will continue to find new uses for these cute little critters. Perhaps they will be delicious as they become adults.”
“They DO look pretty delicious…”
“Playville has been fun to follow, because even though it's randomly based on gameplay, your voice still weaves it into a compelling story. Do you find you like this style over the big drama of Bloody Spurs?”
“It's much easier to write, provided I actually play the game. However, I find it hard to break away from the day to day flow of Sim game play. There is definitely a rut that your Sims can fall into where it's the same thing over and over, much like real life. However, writing a drama is sometimes just as difficult because you have to create everything that happens and then you have to do all of the stages and poses.”
“Well I have to say, you do it very well.”
“Thanks, but you’re not getting my candy bars.”
“Sorry. I had to try. That lady gave you way more than she gave me. So, have you ever tried short stories or non-sim illustrated ones?”
“I wrote a lot of short stories when I was younger and never used Sims. Most of the short stories I wrote were about my own life with different characters. I have about 100 pages that I wrote in high school all about my life and things that went through my head. At one time, I considered recreating my life in sims, and then decided not to.”
“You’re very artistic; have you ever tried your hand at poetry?”
“I've done some poetry... I have a poetry book. It's not really my style though. Being OCD and writing poetry does't really blend. I want each line to have the same about of words/syllables and I want them to all rhyme, and I end up being frustrated.”
“I can see where that would be a problem. I wrote a poem once – do you want to hear it?”
“Sure!”
“There once was a man from Nantucket, whose…”
“Um, pretty sure you didn’t write that one.”
“Heard it before, huh? Oh well. Hey, I noticed the sims on Simprovs by ArtistKate are wearing cool Simprov T-shirts. Are these exclusive to your sims, or can any sim get one?”
“I hadn’t really ever thought about it. I guess I didn’t think anyone would want to wear Simprov T-Shirts. DJ is the one who made them for me and they are on her media fire list. Perhaps sometime I could post them on the website for people who want to wear them.”
“Hey, pass them out! Everyone can use some free advertising, right? DJ does some pretty cool things!”
“Anyway, that concludes this segment of our October Featured Author interview with ArtistKate. We’ll be back with more from Kate after a word from our sponsor, Simprov Poses!”
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“Peace, Love and Welcome back to our Featured Rebel Guys and Gals! Qui here with our Lady of the Hour Artist Kate and we’re getting ready for another time honored Halloween tradition! What’s that you ask? Why don’t you tell them Kate!”
“Uh…well…Quiana thought it would be a good idea to prank people. I on the other hand pointed out the fact that she’s wearing six inch platform shoes and I’m pregnant, running is out of the question.”
“Pish-posh! If you think you’re gonna be running right now wait until Daijah gets her mitts on you.”
“What was that?”
“I said the pregnancy looks good on you. Anyway, we’re gonna teach little AJ all about being a Rebel before he gets here! We have a few carton of eggs and a fun time ahead of us so let’s get started! When you write, are there any characters that are based on real life people?”
“I like to put some of my own life and feelings into my characters, especially the main ones because I think it helps to make them feel more real to me.”
**SPLAT**
“Not bad! You put a little spin on that one,” Quiana smiled and pitched one towards the window watching it hit with a loud crack. “So what prompted you to illustrate with Sims?”
“I started reading stories on the Sims 3 website and started my legacy. Then Daisies told me to come here (RWN) so I did and then I wanted to write a story with Sims and be awesome like you guys. I gotta give you all lots of credit though, I have such a hard time sticking to one story.”
Another egg smacked against the wall and the homeowner quickly yanked opened his front door. Spotting Quiana and Kate near his mailbox he took a step forward. “I think we’re done for!” Kate warned and slipped out of her shoes.
“HEY! STAY RIGHT THERE! I’VE CALLED THE COPS! YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!”
“Let’s get out of here!”
“That was a close one,” Quiana swiped her hand across her brow as she finally caught her breath. “I thought you said you couldn’t run.”
“I never said I couldn’t run. I only meant I didn’t want to!” Kate leaned against the tree slowly letting her heart rate return to normal. Catching a glimpse of Quiana slipping a brown bag from the pack she carried she instantly jumped up. “Oh no!”
“Oh yes! Don’t worry though I’ll take care of this one, you just stay out of sight.” She crept slowly towards the front door and placed the bag on top of the welcome mat. She lit the bag on fire, rang the doorbell and ran back towards the tree.
“This is going to be bad,” Kate laughed and poked her head from around the thickest part of the oak. “I don’t know why I agreed to this.”
“Well technically you didn’t…technically I didn’t but that’s another story, isn’t it Daijah? Anyway while we’re waiting which genre is easier to write, and which do you enjoy more as both a reader and a writer?”
“I like to write horror/mystery. I read just about any story that catches my attention and is easy to follow.”
“Oh shh I think someone’s coming.” Ducking back behind the tree, the girls laughed in spite of trying to remain quiet as the homeowner yelled at the sight of the flames.
“HONEY CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, HURRY!” The man stomped his foot on top of the bag quickly trying to get the flames out only to find the bag filled with a warm, squishy substance. “Oh my God! No! Oh, no, no, no! Who did this? I’m gonna find you, you little brats and when I do there’ll be hell to pay!”
Poking their heads around the tree once more they watched as the man tried to rub the poop off the bottom of his foot on a nearby flowerpot. “Stupid kids…” he continued mumbling as the girls kept an eye on him and hurried towards another house.
“Do you prefer mystery/murder/thriller over fantasy/supernatural?”
“Yeah. I’m not really a big fan of supernatural, but there have been some that I’ve enjoyed.”
“Ok you get to take this one,” Quiana smiled and waited behind the tree as Kate snuck up towards the door, rang the bell and rushed down towards the spot Quiana hid.
“Hello?” A man called as he answered his door and saw no one there. He grumbled something under his breath and slammed his door shut and headed back inside.
Quiana laughed loudly at his reaction and waited for the living room light to go off once more. “Ok what’s the one thing you cannot live without?”
“Well there are a lot of things that I can't live without, like air or water, but I know that's not what you’re aiming for. You want me to say something like my cell phone... or... shoes. I couldn’t live without animals. I love my horses and doggies, even though I could live without them, it would be a pretty boring life.”
Once the light went off, Quiana ran towards the door and rang the bell for the third time. Hurrying back towards Kate they again watched as the man’s confusion was noticeably expressed on his face. Kate started towards the door once more but it opened surprising her and she quickly ran off. The man stood on his front porch watching the apparent crazy, pregnant woman rush down the street away from his yard screaming about how it wasn’t her idea. “Well I guess that means this part of our interview has concluded! Stay tuned for more after a word from our sponsors!”
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“We’re back again with October’s Featured Rebel Kate! I’m standing here with our Mommy-to-be outside of the famous ‘House of Horrors’ waiting to get in.”
“Get in? We’re not even waiting in the line,” Kate replied watching a small group head inside the building.
“Oh yeah, we’re not with them, we get a special viewing.”
“Special viewing? Why don’t I like the sound of that?”
“Oh it’ll be fine.” Looking towards a man motioning in their direction Daijah took Kate by the arm and headed forward. Once they were inside the doors shut securely in place and the lights dimmed around them. Daijah noticed her immediate unease and smiled. “So tell us Kate, what inspired you to write Bloody Spurs?”
“I was in the mood to start a story and so I created a Sim and plopped her into Appaloosa Plains and started playing her story. I took photos of things that I liked and saw potential in. After playing for awhile and having a basic idea of what I wanted to do, I started looking around for characters and working on the back story. Originally, Kali was going to be the killer, but as I started writing the story, I couldn’t figure out why it would be her, so I changed it up. And then changed it about 20 more times.”
“OH SILENT HILL! Come on you have got to take my picture in front of Pyramidhead,” Kate took a seat on the floor and Daijah stepped around her aiming the camera forward and waited for her to get into position.
“Uh I’m not so sure you want to get that close.”
“l’ll be quick I promise.” She smiled towards the camera and waited on the flash. Daijah took a step back and looked through the viewer and then at Kate. “Come on take the picture.”
“Wait I think that thing moved…” she whispered and watched the statue of Pyramidhead for a closer inspection.
“It’s a statue! Made of paper-mache and cloth.” Knocking on the foot of the statue she laughed and waited for Daijah to take her picture.
“Kali Fisk was an interesting female role for your character in Bloody Spurs. Starting out did you know the trials she would face and how that would ultimately lead to her fate at the end?”
“After I decided that she wasn’t the killer, I did know how I wanted it to end for her, and a few of the main things that happened in between, but most of it I wrote off of the top of my head.”
The moment Daijah lifted the camera to her eye again the statue turned at Kate and she immediately jumped back. “What the…”
“See I told you! Get up, hurry move!” Daijah grabbed Kate’s arm and pulled her to her feet. The girls quickly jumped up and started off towards the other side of the building.
“I guess now would be a bad time to ask did you feel bad killing poor Gunner before he ever truly felt a woman’s love?”
“No. Haha! A potential ending that I had, they didn't die and made it out alive and yadda yadda... happy ever after. But I’m not that nice. Besides, Gunner loved Kali enough that he would sacrifice his life for her, so did he never feel a woman's love? I think that he did. Now can we save the chit chat until we’re out of here?”
“Special viewing huh? Is that code for ‘Operation Early Labor’? This can’t be your idea of fun.”
“Sure it is! You should have seen me when I took my sister and brother-in-law to Halloween Horror Nights this year. Talk about a chicken! She didn’t even want to see the zombies on the street perform and then to have them walk up towards her…never knew she could move that fast! So in the story Bloody Spurs there were a few dream sequences that were a part of the main character’s nightly visions. Were you planning to elaborate on that for a possible sequel or was it those visions that finally pulled her towards the finality of events?”
“My plan for the dreams was to build curiosity in the reader. I also had planned on expanding on them more, but I changed the story line so many times that by the end of the story, I was just rushing myself to finish it. I never wanted to do a sequel for this story, so without giving anything away, that's part of the reason it ended the way that it did.”
“So what’s this anyway? Some more cardboard and paper-mache designed to pop up at me?”
“Um I don’t think you want to go playing with that Kate.” She looked up at Daijah with a slight appearance of annoyance and Daijah shrugged. “Go for it. Kali had a few choices of guys in both Gunner and Rudy. They were stark contrasts yet both had dark undertones to their personalities. When you were writing this story, did you know which of these two she would end up with?”
“In the beginning, Rudy was supposed to be the hero, but then Gunner seemed too obvious. But then Rudy became too obvious and eventually I got too wound up trying to keep their personas straight that I didn't even know who should be the bad guy.”
Before her hand reached out for the stained blanket on the stretcher in front of her, a mechanical rotation creaked and instantly a head popped up and arms began reaching for her. Kate jumped back in fear as the man started crawling off the bed towards her.
Nearly stepping off the bed, Kate shook her head and started for the door. “I’m out of here! Call me when you want to do something less ‘exciting’!” Daijah instantly laughed herself to tears and fell to the floor cradling herself in amusement.
“Well I guess that’s our cue! It’ll be interesting to see how she handles the rest of her time with us…I think she’ll really get a kick out of story time! Stay tuned after this brief commercial break!” Turning towards the blanket Daijah poked a finger at it and smiled. “Great job! You can stop now Phil. Phil?”
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“Welcome back to RWN’s Featured Author interview with October’s pick – ArtistKate! I hope you’re enjoying your time with us today, Kate!” Qui clapped excitedly.
“Yeah, it’s been pretty…um…special,” Kate sighed and rubbed her belly.
“How’s little AJ holding up in there?” Daijah asked watching her readjust once more.
“Yeah, we’re not running you around too much, are we?” Mica added with growing interest.
“Well, to be honest, I could use a little break. I’m sure AJ can, too!”
“I have an idea!” Jill popped up with a grin. “How about a group ghost story? I’ll start it off, and we’ll pass the light around and everyone can add a part until we’re done! Ready? Ok…”
“Ian was sick and tired of everyone telling him what to do. Finally, one night he decided he had enough. After his mother grounded him once again for talking back, he slipped out of his bedroom window. He was seething with hated, and he knew that this was the last straw – that tonight, he’d make them all pay! His unfair mother, who always liked his brother better, his father, who hid behind the newspaper and let all the injustice go on day after day, and finally, his brother, for always acting like he was a goody two-shoes. Never in trouble, straight A’s, helps around the house...oh yeah. Ian knew he’d have to prepare something really special for James.”
“As he paced in the dark yard, a plan came to him. He’d seen all those horror movies, the ones that James hated and said were stupid. There was always some ancient book – a book filled with spells and incantations and stuff. He’d feed them all to some evil monster, who’d be so grateful, that he’d do anything Ian wanted him to. So Ian jammed his fists into his pockets, and headed to the library. The librarian was busy checking some people’s books out, so he easily slipped into the restricted section before anyone could see him. Scanning the shelves in the dusty old section, he found what he was looking for. ‘Demonology; How to make demons do your bidding’. He pulled the book from the shelf and began to read…”
“Um…he read until he found a name he thought would be easy to say, because the book said you had to invoke the name of the demon you wanted three times. He didn’t want to make a mistake, so he picked a demon called….um guys? I don’t want to say a name – what if I make up a real demon’s name?”
“Don’t be silly. It’s just a story! Call him ‘Scooby’ or something!” Daijah suggested.
“Scooby? I guess that can’t do any harm. OK, so he picked a demon called Scooby. Ian stands up from the table and reads the words from the book to summon the demon Scooby. Scooby appears and asks’ ‘How can I serve you?’ Ian tells him that he wants the demon to punish his parents and as a reward, he’ll give him the soul of his brother James,” Quiana continued.
“So Scooby agrees, and they leave the library to go back to Ian’s house. The demon tells Ian no one can see him except Ian, so no one can stop them. They get to the house only to find out that James was at basketball practice. Ian decided that he could catch up with James later – that it was probably better that James wasn’t around to stop the demon from doing his bidding. So they go to the kitchen, where Ian’s mom is making dinner. ‘What are you doing out of your room, young man?’ She yells. Ian points to his mom and tells the demon to…”
“And he tells the demon ‘That’s her! Punish her!’ With that, Scooby sets her oven mitts on fire, and it quickly travels up her sleeves, sending her hair up in flames. Her screams and the smell of burning flesh filled the kitchen. Ian waited for Scooby to put the flames out, but the demon just turned his back on the scene and went to the living room, where Ian’s dad read the paper in front of the TV. ‘Hey! What are you doing?’ Ian yelled, following him into the living room. ‘I’m doing what you wanted, punishing them.’ Scooby answered calmly. ‘Yeah, but I didn’t say to kill them!’
‘You should’ve finished reading the book, Ian. You didn’t make a summoning circle, which would’ve confined me and made me do your will. I agreed to help you all on my own, not because you commanded me.’ Ian didn’t know what to do. He left the book back at the library, so he tried to remember anything from one of his scary movies that might help him.”
“He watched in horror as Scooby shoots flames at his dad. His newspaper goes up like tinder, and soon he’s burning to a crisp in his recliner. His flesh fuses with the leather and the smell makes Ian throw up, the terrible screams of his dying parents in his ears. Finally, the screaming stops. With tears leaving tracks in the soot on his face, Ian got back to his feet. Scooby stood calmly, looking at Ian with interest. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ Ian asked him.
“‘Because your brother James summoned me properly, in a circle, and promised me that if I killed your parents so he could have their life insurance, that I could have your soul as a reward. You really should pay more attention in school. Did you know James is a straight A student?’ And with that, Scooby opened his mouth, and it continued to open to giant proportions. All his jagged little teeth grew to the size of swords, as his tongue snaked out and grabbed Ian, dragging him into his jaws. He chewed while Ian screamed until there was nothing left, crunching the bones. Scooby disappeared in a puff of smoke while the house went up in flames.”
“Hey! You didn’t leave me any story! You weren’t supposed to finish it!” Mica frowned hearing Daijah reach the end of the tale.
“So tell another one! There’s a big old book right there by that headstone, I’m sure there’s something in there you can use!” she replied motioning towards a tome with a large skull and crossbone engraved on the leather cover.
“Book? Where did this come from? Never mind. I’m not losing my turn. OK, OK, here goes – I’m just going to start from a random page. This thing weighs a ton!… ‘Draw with salt a circle of power. Stand outside of it and say the name three times to summon the demon. All who are present may speak to the demon, but only the summoner will hold sway over it. Once the command has been given, the demon can only leave the circle to do the bidding of the summoner, then it will return to the circle until it has been banished back to the demon realm.’”
“‘If the circle is broken before the demon has been properly banished, then it will remain free to roam in this plane and do as it will. Hey, guys, I don’t think this is a story book. It sounds like an instruction manual!’”
“That’s weird. What’s the name on the front of the book?” Jill asked looking up towards her curiously.
“S…K…U…B…E. Skube? Skubee? Scooby?” Mica replied cautiously.
“Oh, Hell no. You did NOT just say a demon’s name three times!” Quiana exclaimed yelling towards Mica enthusiastically.
Mica dropped the tome to the ground freaked out by Quiana’s claim. “Demon? What? No! Daijah!”
“Oh ‘just call it Scooby!’ she says,” Quiana mocked Daijah’s words.
“DJ – what did you do?” Mica asked nervously watching every light and listening to every sound around them.
“What? Why does everyone blame me for these things?” Daijah asked innocently and put her hands up in defense. “I had NOTHING to do with this!”
“Uh well, we’ll be right back with more of Kate’s interview after a word from our Sponsor, Simprov Poses by ArtistKate! (well, most of us will probably be back…).”
Feeling like you need some love in your life. A little cuddle time perhaps. This love sit pose pack from Simprov may be just want you need for a little snuggle time with that special someone.
“Well that was a lot of fun! I hope you’ve enjoyed your time with us Kate.”
“Yeah it was more fun than a root canal!”
“In speaking of which, your characters went through a great many ups and downs, many experienced quite a bit of sadness in their lives as well. Is this the type of plotlines and events you enjoy more? Or did the death and gloom sneak up on your characters?”
“It’s always been my writing style. I have always written doom and gloom stories because it’s easier for me. I can put a lot of my own feelings into them and hopefully, make the reader understand the level of pain that my characters are feeling. Even as a child, most of the stories I wrote had unhappy endings.”
“And in speaking of unhappy endings, do you find that your pose requests are limited towards gore and want to try other types of poses instead?”
“Since there are very few gore creators, I like doing them. Lovey poses are best left out of my hands, unless you want like a rape scene. I enjoy making the poses and each request has been a unique challenge, but I think my best work is in the gore/horror category.”
“So then you’d have to admit this was a pretty exciting event. Especially seeing the look on your face when Phil jumped up from that table! So Kate, are there any upcoming Simprov poses we can look forward to?”
“I have one last pose for the Werewolf Attack Pack. I’ve created the pose several times already and keep trashing it because I can't get it perfect. Other than that, I’m not sure what will come next. I have people wanting more serial killer poses, so maybe that's what I will do.”
“Have you ever considered making some that weren’t based off stories or by request?”
“Not really. There is one pose that I created based off of me and Jesse and I spent several hours getting it just right. My poses are for stories and so I don't see myself ever doing ones that would be used for something else... like modeling.”
“What’s your favorite type of pose to create, Kate?”
“Do you really have to ask that? I enjoy the angry/scared/violent poses the most. Sometimes doing lovey poses are fun, but I have a hard time trying to make their faces and usually end up leaving them blank.”
Mica adjusted on the ground beside Daijah frowning at the breeze that blew her skirt up just a little and sighed. “See this is why I don’t wear this kind of stuff. But try telling that to Daijah. How long does it take to create a pose pack, Kate?”
“That really depends on the poses and how many are in the pack. On average it's about 30 minutes to make and test each pose and take the photos. Then about 30 minutes to make the pose list and test it. And about 30 minutes to get the photos ready to post on my website. I've done some in about 2 hours and then some I’ve spent an entire day working on.”
“Mica you look good in your costume! And I for one LOVE these heels. I could see the tops of your heads all night long! So tell us Kate what is your favorite expansion?”
“I love the Pets expansion because life without pets is just so boring. I thought World Adventures was really awesome, even though I have yet to explore every tomb. Sims 2 Seasons was really cool as well. I really hope that Sims 3 Seasons is good as well.”
“Oh interesting so what was your first Sims game that started your obsession?”
“I had Sims 1. Back when I was 8 years old and didn't really understand the game, I loved playing it and making funny things happen.”
“That sounds great! I loved watching what my sims could get up to also and learning about their families and lifestyles was interesting too. And I agree with you Mica. Try having your behind exposed all night and a tail that gets stuck in every door you try and enter. Right now I’m having an extremely hard time sitting down!” Daijah laughed as she watched Jill adjust once more to the hard ground and leaned back against the headstone behind her. You ever try creating scenes from movies on a whim?”
“Nope, I’ve done a few poses that were from movies, but they were for requests. I usually just do an image search on Bing to find inspiration for my poses.”
“Sounds like it helps find interesting creations, that's a good thing. It does keep us looking forward to your next items for sure! I was actually wondering about that myself Jilly,” Mica started and rubbed her arms again as another breeze blew in. “Aren’t you cold?”
“Of course she’s not! She’s from Hell! This must seem like a great vacation for her!”
“Funny,” Jill smiled and turned her attention back to Kate. What programs help you create your poses?”
“I use Milkshape to create the poses and Photostudio for the pictures. Plus the little gadgets that you need to covert them to Sims.”
“I know many were taken by the whole process and it can seem somewhat intimidating when you first begin but you really helped with that process in your tutorials. Yes? What is it Quiana?” Daijah sighed in frustration and looked towards her.
“What what? I didn’t say anything to you.”
“No but you’ve been poking me since I sat down here. What did you want?”
“Um I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t touched you once! Maybe your nerves are finally starting to catch up with you.”
“Or maybe that hand is trying to move you off her headstone!” Jill gasped and jumped up. The others quickly followed suit and turned to face the graves.
A hand had popped out from beneath the ground on several markers nearby and others had already crawled their way towards the surface. “You would pick a grave that had a monster in it Dai!”
“What? No! This is a prop cemetery! Do you really think I’d lean against someone’s real headstone? How disrespectful is that?”
“Well for a FAKE cemetery that is certainly a REAL zombie!”
“Yeah and so are those!” Kate pointed in the direction of another group of walkers hurriedly moving towards them. The girls quickly turned and started running towards the exit. Rows and rows of other graves began to stir and out popped more and more bodies all moaning and stumbling towards the live group of women.
“Go to commercial! Go to commercial!!!”
“I’m suing every last one of you for emotional damages! I can’t believe I agreed to do this interview! You’re all a bunch of psychos and I’m gonna own you’re a…”
*Elevator music plays*
Kate received:
And:
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“In there! Hurry!” They came across a familiar looking shack that was shabby and rundown from the front. A scent of old decay hit Kate’s nose and her gag reflexes immediately went into affect.
“Where the hell are we? Is this that haunted house from earlier? DAIJAH!”
“What? It was the closest building near the graveyard and we’re holding the doors closed! Would you prefer staying outside with those things coming after us?”
Moaning from behind the door pulled their attention and Mica pressed her weight fully against the door near Daijah as she watched the shadows move behind the mudded glass windows. “I think we’re surrounded!” She squealed and pushed harder feeling the thumps on the door.
“I think we should end this now before…” Daijah started.
“You mean before they end us now!” Mica completed her thought and agreed. “Thank you for taking the time to interview with us Kate and to all you Rebels out there!”
“If we make it out of here we’ll be back with a new feature next month!” Qui breathed heavily and pressed herself firmly against the door.
“Happy Halloween Rebels and have a great night! Hold it shut Qui! Come on!” Jill encouraged as the two did their best to keep the monsters just on the other side from breaking through.
“Dai if we survive this I’m gonna kill you!”
“Me? Why is everyone blaming me for this? You all had a say in what happened this month for the Feature Rebel! It’s not like I dragged anyone here against their will!”
“No it was you! Only your sick mind would have put us in this situation,” Jill agreed and pressed harder against the door.
“Yes! This from the one who likes old headstones and graveyards?”
“I just want to go home! I just want to get out of here,” Mica continued chanting as the door jumped beneath their weight once more.
“Don’t worry, come daybreak they should all be gone.”
“Oh man Dai, did you remember to patch your game?”
“Patch? Um…there was a patch?”
“DAIJAH!!”
“Oh right! I can predict EA’s failures!”
“We’re doomed!” Kate sighed and tossed her hands above her head as she backed against the wall.
“Um, Kate I think you might want to get away from the windows,” Quiana advised watching the shadows approach her from behind.
“What? Why? Ah man! I knew I should have stayed home! This was a completely bad idea! And holy crap, I think my water just broke.”
“What!?”
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