The Sims 3

The last Sim game that I am familiar with is called the Sims 3. Its a completely new and improved version of the Sims, and truthfully I can't get enough of it. In this game your Sims now can change the colors of any item in their homes. This is a great feature in the game because now every home you design can be truly unique. Furniture can be set on diagonal angles, and your Sims now have true personalities  Now your Sims can be labeled things like kleptomaniacs, gold diggers, ambitious, etc. Your Sims now have DNA so when your Sims have babies they will actually resemble the parents. When your Sims are in labor they can go to the hospital to deliver the baby. New clothing is offered in this game, and now you can chose shoes for your Sims to wear. In previous game your Sims would have a set shoe that comes along with bottoms you chose for your Sim to wear. In this game EVERYTHING can be customized and I love it! I would totally recommend anyone playing this version of the Sims because its definitely worth every penny! The Sims 3 has almost all the same expansion packs as were offered in the very first Sims, however the quality of the Sims 3 is soooo much better, and I'm quite sure other elements were added in the new ones out today versus the old ones. The only expansion pack that I played in the Sims 3 series was "the Sims 3 ambitions". I loved this expansion pack! In ambitions, you can tell what your Sim is able to do when they are at work. Before you couldn't control your Sims when they went off to work, now you can!

The Sims 2 Seasons

In every single Sims game thus far (before this expansion pack) everyday looks the same. When it comes to weather everyday is a sunny day with clear skies. In this expansion pack your days vary with weather. One day can be sunny, while another day it can either snow or rain. The effects of weather in this game are pretty cool because of the sound effects that go along with it. When it rains you hear thunder, when it snows you hear the cool air breeze. Like the other expansion packs this game comes along with a new neighborhood, as well as new clothes. Because weather varies in this game, there are clothes for every season of the year. Your Sims now have rain attire, snow gear, and fall and summer attire.  When playing this game you don't get a real concept of time because a minute our time is a second in Sim time. Now with the Sims having weather in this expansion pack you get a better concept of time passing other than the days turning into night. Before (in other Sims games) when it was daytime the sun would be out, then at 6 pm it would automatically turn nighttime  In this game you see the sun rise, and you see the sun set along with the sun going down and it remaining out during the day.

The Sims 2 Pets

Now that your Sims have their own businesses, and can enjoy their nights on the town, obtain a degree of their choice, they now can go to a pet store and purchase their very own pet! In this expansion pack your Sim can either have a dog, cat, and or fish. Your Sim can teach their dog or cat new tricks, and they can take their pets to the animal park, a new location that comes along with this additional expansion pack. This game also comes along with new features to decorate your Sims homes with as well as a new neighborhood to play in. Your Sims can develop relationships with their animals and they can eventually become best friends. Your Sims pets can sleep in the same bed as your Sims, and they can tear up furniture if you don't get your Sims animals any chew toys. When it comes to your Sims having fish, all they can do is feed them, or watch them swim in their tank. Fish are a means for design, and nothing else. Every Sim has basic needs. They need to eat, sleep, communicate, go to the bathroom, etc. The only animals in this expansion pack can fulfill a Sims social needs, fish can't. Consider this when you go hunting for an additional family member.

The Sims 2 Open For Business

Now your Sims can open their own business!!!!!!!! Sims have to use their personal funds either to buy a community lot to start their own business, or they can buy some supplies pertaining to their business and start theirs at home. There are a range of businesses that can Sims can form. They can get into the clothing business, hair styling, home decor, selling toys, etc. Without clients, your Sims business will not prosper. Therefore your Sims have to work really hard at promoting themselves, as well as execute their jobs well. Once way that you can make sure this happens is by making sure your Sim is in a good mood. Make sure all their needs are taken care of before they start their work day, that way they can have a productive day. The better you do at your job on a daily basis the more you get promoted, and ultimately your Sim and their household make more money. The hairstylist (as a home career) is my favorite. When it comes to designing my Sims home, I make sure to set up an extra room full of hair stylist chairs, and mirrors. This soon becomes my Sims work space, and it saves me a lot of money versus buying a community lot for a business. Its also fun being a hairstylist because you ultimately get to chose a hairstyle and make-up choices for each one of your Sims clients!

The Sims 2 NIghtlife

In this expansion pack of the Sims, your Sims can now enjoy nightlife. Your Sims can go out at night and hit up some bars and  clubs. Now they can have drinks, and have cars so they can show out when they are downtown. Speaking of downtown that's another town that was added in this very own expansion pack. Now you have more apartment lifestyle living, and crazier things tend to happen in this game. Vampires are another type of Sim that you can have in this game other than human beings. Your Sim would have to get bitten by another vampire, and for them to turn into humans again, they would need to buy a potion from the local store in town. Another feature that I forgot to mention entirely about the entire Sims 2 game along with its expansion packs is that your Sims age! Your Sims go from babies to toddlers, from toddlers to children, from children to teenagers, from teenagers to young adults, and from young adults to adults, then from adults to elders. Eventually elders die and then the cycle of life repeats itself with another Sim. Another feature that I like about the Sims 2 is that there is an actual track of relationships. Each Sim has a family tree. Once your Sim makes a family it is recorded on their family tree, and each Sim knows who is who in their family. Since they know this, they have family interacts with one another rather than romantic ones....!

The Sims 2 University

In the Sims 2 University your Sims can go to college!!!!!!!!!!!! When you start the game there there is a new neighborhood that if offered for the player to enter into and start playing. In the upper left hand corner you can see that there is an option to enter various college campuses. Once you click on this option for the first time it will load all three different campuses up and you can choose where you would like for your Sim to go to college. Usually how I play is by starting off on the college campus and having my Sim graduate with a degree, that way when they graduate can get a job that pays them more daily. When in college your Sim can pursue a significant other. They cant have sex or have children once away at college, but they can once they graduate and reach full adulthood. Just like in college (in the real world) your Sim can select a major. According to your Sims major your Sim will develop a certain skill set  This is what lands your Sim a high paying job once they graduate. Normally Sims that don't attend college have to start working from the bottom to the top of their careers. Sims that do graduate from college end up with a 3rd of 4th level position out of an 8 level promotion track. All in all this is a great game to play!

The Sims 2

To continue with my PC game Sim obsession, I will now discuss with you the changes that have been made between the Sims and the Sims 2. Between these two versions of Sims games there have been quite a few expansions made. Some of them were known as "the Sims Vacation" "the Sims Hot Date" "the Sims Superstar" "the Sims Unleashed" "the Sims House Party" "the Sims Makin' Magic", etc. All of those expansion packs that I just mentioned were fun, but they weren't as much fun to play compared to the Sims 2. Now I will discuss with you the major differences between the Sims (and their expansion packs) and the Sims 2.
In the Sims 2 you can actually change facial features on your Sims. You also have a much bigger selection of clothes to choose from, and the picture quality is so much better. Their are more selections when it comes to everything! There are a lot of paint colors, that you can use to decorate your house with. Also there are cool furniture pieces to choose from, new homes that are sculpted beautifully, and so much more! Another feature about this game that I enjoy is that Sims can have parties. They can have birthday parties, and wedding parties! Sims now can go through engagements and wedding ceremonies, as well as get pregnant by a significant other.Sims can have children out of wedlock, and can be home wreckers by splitting up other Sims marriages. This game is more enjoyable to play versus the first Sims game (along with the previous expansion packs) because the Sims 2 resembles more on realty. 

The Sims

So I've already shared with you my addiction for this game, but now I am going to explain this game in depth on how to play it and why its so much fun! There are many versions and expansions to this game. I am going to explain to you all the things the very FIRST game has to offer. The first game isn't all that, but at the time it was "THE BOMB". As time went by the game became more realistic and more intriguing to play. Just a side note before I begin ranting, the only reason why I wanted the game in the first place was because my older cousin wanted it, and being that I was young and impressionable I wanted everything that she did.
To start off the game it takes you into a neighborhood where you will be playing your game. There are a decent amount of houses already planted there. There are some households that are already occupied by the time you start playing. You have the choice of playing with a pre-made family or you can create your own! When you go to create your own Sim, you can decide what clothes they are going to wear what their face will look like, and once you have named your Sim/Sims, you are now able to begin playing. Once your Sim has been created you can move them into their very own house. Some may be too expensive for the allotted money that the game gives you, however you can either use money cheats or purchase a house within your price range. Once you bought your house you will pause the game from "live mode" and you are now able to expand the size of your house, and furnish it. After that the fun begins....you get to control your Sims!!!!! If your Sim is single you can go out and mingle with other single Sims. Once your Sim and another get close you have the option of marriage and once you unite in that way you can now have a baby. A Sim baby in the first version only came in a bassinet. You couldn't see its face or interact with it much other than feeding, cuddling, or playing with it. When it came to eating your Sim could either order a pizza, or cook something from their fridge. If your Sim wasn't skillful at cooking, then 9 times out of 10 your Sim will cause a fire. Without a fire alarm your Sim would have to call a firefighter to come over by phone, or your Sim would have to extinguish the fire themselves. As far as jobs, your Sim could either find employment through their daily newspaper, or by a computer. In order for them to get promoted they would have to improve on their skills that were a requirement for them to have as a higher official. The more money your Sim gets, the more stuff you can buy for your  Sim's house. If you are one of those impatient players like me you can always use a money cheat. To use a money cheat all you have to do is press ctrl+shift+C at the same time. This creates a grey long rectangle shape on the top left hand corner of your screen. Then you just type in motherlode, and it puts $50,000 in your family funds.

The Sims Addiction

I remember last semester (in Video Production 1) one of our classmates stated that he isn't that big on technology or media because of his everyday lifestyle. The reason why he mentioned this was because each member of the class has to write a blog a week on a movie. Movie Reviews are what we have to talk about throughout our blogs, but then everybody staring raising the issue that they hardly watch movies. After putting this into consideration,, our teacher told us that she would allow us to write about anything media related. We could talk about gaming, movies, television shows, etc, as along as its media/tech related. So now I am going to go in depth about my addiction to the PC game The Sims.
My addiction to this game began many years ago. If you look around online or in stores, you will notice that there are many versions of the Sims.  The first Sims game came out in the year 2000. The moment I got it I was 8 years old. The whole concept to the Sims is management. You create a person and then you can manage their lives from there on out. You can have them meet someone and raise a family, you can have broken families, you can cause ciaos in their lives, all in all you are the person that is in charge of controlling everything that they do and how their lives turn out. I love this game because the more expansions that come out the more realistic the game becomes. I'm also a person that likes to be in control of others, so I feel like the game designer had me in mind when he came up with the Sims.
I remember the very first time I played the game. I was terrible with managing my family. My house burnt down because I forgot that my Sim left dinner on the stove, my baby got taken by social services because it kept crying and I didn't know how to get wake my Sims up from their sleep. I was crying myself because I was so emotionally invested into my game. My mom threatened to take it back to the store if I kept acting crazy like I was. lol All I know is that the Sims is my enjoyment when I have absolutely nothing to do, and it is a great tool to use when I want to escape time. I can be playing the Sims for well over 16 hours a day...and the sad thing is I'm not too ashamed to admit that.

Ruby Lips Shoot (Solms Hall)

In our student film, there is a scene where we have to shoot in a "Police Station". Being the resourceful students that we are, we used an office in one of our on campus buildings to do the shoot. The characters that were needed for this shoot were some cop extras, London (Clementine's sister), and some other extras that were needed to establish a police department.....a hooker, a drug addict, and a homeless person. I had a blast doing make-up for the hooker, and the drug addict! For the hooker I dressed her up in a mini skirt, and I had her showing off her bra as well and have a blue over sized shirt tied in the front over her exposed purple/black bra. I also had her dress in boots that went up her calf, and I had her pull up her thong on both of her sides so that it could establish how open she was to showing off her "money maker". For make-up I darkened her skin with some of my make-up. Her skin was of a caramel complexion (after the application of the make-up) and i applied some blue and purple eye shadow on her. I darkened in her eyebrows and I made sure her hair was full and had some body to it.
As far as the drug addict went, I originally dressed him in over sized clothing to establish that the drugs made him lose a lot of weight. After consulting with the director, he suggested that I apply makeup on his arms to show that he stuck needles there. I was scared at first when he told me this because I had never done special effects with make-up before. Once taking the drug addict extra back to the actors holding room, I started to apply the make-up on his arm, and I couldn't believe how real it looked (considering this was my first time doing this!) I then went over bored and applied makeup under his eyes to show that he was strung out on drugs, and by the time I showed his off to the director, he gave me nothing but a thumbs up!

"Ruby Lips" first Production Meeting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In class our professor had delegated positions to each member of the class for our student film "Ruby Lips". We also assigned a date for our class to meet up so that we could have our very first production meeting. Mrs. Boner, our professor, told us that she wouldn't be there at the meeting, but the producer, Jessica Armstrong, would be the leader as far as making sure that everything was covered that needed coverage. First we talked about how the audition process would go, and then we further discussed what types of materials would we provide if the auditonees didn't have a prepared monologue. We set a date for the audition, and then after we talked about what the requirements were going to be for each character in the film. This topic was one that set everyone into a heated debate. Everyone had their own ideas about what the requirements were for the roles, and how we should narrate our ideas down on paper. Because everyone was so focused on getting their point of view across, i saw that instead of listening we were just jumping on top of one another. 

Eventually we regained some order during the meeting, and we semi-listened to other people's ideas. Once we covered the requirements for each one of the characters, we then went on to discuss funding for our student movie project. In our budget we set apart money for costumes, make-up, props, and food. The funny thing is that later (after the meeting and later into filming) we didn't even abide by the guidelines of our budgeting.  90% of costumes were pulled from dress shop in Jenkins theater, 5% of costumes were used from the casts very own wardrobe from home, and the other 5% pf costumes were purchased. Mrs. Boner used her very own money on food and beverages, and within the first couple days of shooting she spent hundreds of dollars. People were very wasteful with the purchased goods that were provided to cast and crew on set, which led to more money being spent. All in all the meeting was a success, but it took almost 2 hours for us to exchange ideas. 

Ruby Lips Film shoot Day 1

As apart of our class Video Production 2, our assignment was to shoot a student film that was written by one of our classmates. Each person was assigned a position for the production of the filming process and mine was costuming/make-up. Our film "Ruby Lips" is about a girl, Clementine, who was murdered, and detectives Parks and Owens, have to figure out who her murderer is. During our first day of filming my goal was to make sure that everyone was properly dressed for their characters. I had to go around and make sure that everyone's hair, and clothes looked appropriate for shooting. Make-up was provided for those that didn't have any, and for those that didn't have the time to do their make-up my services were provided for the application process. Out of all the film shoots that we had to do, the first one was the longest! We shot Clementine's body discovery at our very own campus pool near the recreation center. We used a very high tech camera called "The Red". This particular camera is used to film Hollywood movie productions, and its very EXPENSIVE! Our DP's were from SCAD, and were very helpful during the shooting process.

When it came to providing food for the cast, as well as crew, our professor Mrs. Adrienne Boner spent hundreds of dollars on food, and for that she was truly a blessing. She made sure that everything ran smoothly behind the scenes, along with our two wonderful producers Barbara Sue and Jessica Armstrong. Even though tensions ran high throughout this busy time-consuming process, everyone was a huge helping hand, and throughout it all we finished strong with our student film. CONGRATS CLASS!!!! WE DID IT! Also I would like to give a special shout out to Jonathan DeBoer. He was the writer for "Ruby Lips".