Hey there Hoppereenos!
It’s that time of the week again, time for the Addicts Weekly Open Thread! So, let’s get the conversation going! Oh and remember…just because this is posted here today doesn’t mean you can’t comment on it all week long. This open thread will still be open for comments long after today is over!
Here’s where you can talk about anything you want to talk about…TSTO Related, Simpson’s Related or ANYTHING. Just no Add me requests…those should go here. We’ll give you a few suggestions (like most Sunday’s you can talk about the current episode of the Simpsons) but for the most part you’re free to talk about ANYTHING your little Tapping Fingers desire…just keep it PG.
So…here is your Open Thread.
I see Christmas Decorations everywhere and hear Christmas Music everywhere… too soon?
How was your weekend? Do anything fun and exciting?
Seen or seeing any cool Movies?
Suggestions on a yummy simple dessert?
So chat about the Simpsons, TSTO, Update fun, or anything else you can think of! Can’t wait to chat with you all, you know we love hearing from you!
Have Fun! And happy Sunday!
I wish EA would end holiday events when THE HOLIDAY IS OVER… Halloween was over more then two weeks ago. Most humans move past holiday celebrations faster then this game does. We look forward to the next holidays and the adventures they may bring, but we are still wallowing in Halloween… Beating a holiday to death kills the fuzzy feel that holidays were intended… The fuzzy feel of a holiday is everything, and so is timing…
Can somebody (Sandra) please explain the whole thanksgiving tradition to us foreigners, ………all I know is, you get an extra Turkey dinner and there’s football and it’s a Thursday,
🙂
From Google – “Thanksgiving in the United States”:
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has been celebrated as a federal holiday every year since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens”, to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.[1] Thanksgiving was also celebrated nationally in 1789, after a proclamation by George Washington.[2] As a federal and public holiday in the U.S., Thanksgiving is one of the major holidays of the year. Together with Christmas and New Year, Thanksgiving is a part of the broader holiday season.
The event that Americans commonly call the “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621.[3] This feast lasted three days, and it was attended by 90 Native Americans (as accounted by attendee Edward Winslow)[4] and 53 Pilgrims.[5] The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating “thanksgivings”—days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought
Thanksgiving is just a holiday here, like Memorial Day. Sometimes there’s festive things, like decorations (mostly Fall themed) but I’m unaware of any songs (like for Xmas). We’re supposed to be thankful for things in our lives, mostly people. That’s because of how the native peoples of America helped the Pilgrims survive the winter by showing them how to grow corn. Corn now runs most of our economy while the natives only control a few casinos….
Okay, now that that is thoroughly combobulated, time for Sandra…. 😯
Really, Simp – no Thanksgiving song? Did you not learn “We Gather Together” as a kid? I know it doesn’t directly reference Thanksgiving, but even in the very ecumenical school I went to, we always sang that one (and my husband, who grew up elsewhere learned it as a kid, too).
I was nowhere close to going to an ecumenical anything…. Or, maybe I’m just younger or more Californian than you, but I’ve never heard of this song.
The closest thing from my childhood is The Great Pumpkin…. Yes, I’m extremely *cough* secular.
Whoops, wrong Peanuts special. That’s the Halloween one. lol. I associate pumpkins with both Halloween and Thanksgiving. 🍌
I learned it in The Catholic Church as kid growing up! Wasn’t limited to Thanksgiving!
Hi Lee, if u are still awake or reading Tuesday morning… The current Thanksgiving celebration is about family/friends and lots of good food. Traditional is turkey, stuffing, mashed potatos, sweet, potatos, various veggies depending on family favorites, pumpkin pie (ugh) or in my case Apple pie. A great holiday to celebrate surrounded by the meal, an awe yes football (American football). My meal is usually served depending on what game is on! LOL.
Unfortunately now it’s become the day before “black Friday” when all stores open early some as early as midnight. People line up sometimes for days for sales. I avoid Black Friday like the plague it is, I hate uncontrolled crowds of people! I usually spending it making homemade turkey soup and hanging Christmas lights. I used to have a friend from your side of the pond that would come over during that time, he loved my traditional dinner, he would go wait in those crazy lines (sometimes I would slip him a list). Awe last he was seduced by some floozie. He left his family, & all friends behind. She same over with him 1st year, but we didn’t hit it off, she was intimated by how close we were & my & his family connections. I went over your side twice to spend time with him & his family. Very sadly I haven’t seen or heard from him for several years. I so miss England & my mate & his family!
One reason I so love my England friends on this site. My Grandfather was from England & I was closer to him than any other member in family.
So long story & bit off subject, but a little history about me, & my thanksgiving. I love it cause no presents involved just good friends, good food & love!
If you ever have a burning desire, to experience come on over, I cook you dinner!
Origin (or at least the story that school kids learn, with a bit of my own “editorializing” thrown in): When the Pilgrims came over to the “new world,” they weren’t entirely prepared for the difficult what-came-to-be-known-as-Massachusetts winter. Fortunately, the native Americans (misnamed “Indians,” because, years earlier, Columbus and his crew didn’t know where the f they were when they reached land….but that’s a different story) helped their new neighbors (not knowing that, later, these new neighbors would kill off most of them, either intentionally or through introducing fun be diseases that their system had no natural immunity too) make it through the winter. So, after the Pilgrims completed their harvest, they invited their new “friends” over to dinner. Our current holiday is meant to commemorate that events and provide an opportunity for folks to take a moment to consider all of the things they are thankful for.
Traditions: The biggest tradition is the Thanksgiving meal, at which turkey is almost always served, along with stuffing and/or dressing (depending on whether it’s cooked inside the bird or outside the bird), cranberry sauce (either made from fresh cranberries, in which case it’s kind of a relish-type texture, or from a can, in which case it has more of a jelly-type, sliceable texture), and pumpkin pie. Other very common side dishes are sweet potatoes/yams (okay, folks -let’s not get into a debate about whether, biologically, what we call yams are really yams, etc., agreed?) and/or mashed potatoes and green bean casserole (don’t ask, really). But, whatever you serve, it isn’t a proper Thanksgiving meal unless everyone ends up uncomfortably full and sluggish.
The other two big traditions are parades and football. Several big cities have Thanksgiving day parades, but, as I mentioned before, the one in New York (sponsored by Macy’s department store) is the ne plus ultra. Aside from the normal floats and marching band and such, it features these HUGE balloons (they require a team of about 90 handlers each, and can be particularly difficult to manage in a windy day) of various beloved-by-children characters (including our very own Bart Simpson!). There’s usually at least one or two new balloons introduced each year and then, for the rest, they tend to rotate ones from previous years (they go back to 1927, but I double the original Felix the Cat one is still operational). Also, down in Herald Square (where the original Macy’s is located and where the parade ends), they have performances from various dance squads, Broadway musicals, pop singers, and, of course, the world famous Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.
As far as football (disclaimer – I am not a football person… I’ve only been to one game (a college football game played by two teams not known for their football prowess) and had never even watched part of a football game on TV until I met my college boyfriend, who was from Texas, where at least occasional football watching is virtually mandatory), there appears to be two main traditions… First and foremost, there are about a gazillion college football games (I think they’re mostly “bowl” games, like the “Cotton Bowl” and the “Rose Bowl” and such, but I could be wrong about that…but, in any event, they’re played by top-tier schools and it’s hard to avoid them on television), which people often watch while other people make their thanksgiving dinner (which is traditionally served in the late afternoon) and/or after dinner, when everyone is took full to move off of the couch anyway. The other football tradition for some folks is a pre-dinner pick-up football game in the yard with friends and/or family. (I grew up in Manhattan, so, needless to say, this wasn’t part of my upbringing either.)
In my house, the tradition for many years was that my husband would stay home and make the Thanksgiving dinner (enough for about 12 people, even though there’s only the two of us…by the end of the following week, I feel like I never want to see turkey again!) and watch football, while I’d go to the movies (wonderfully empty theater!), and then I’d come home and we’d eat dinner together. Last year I was too disabled to go to the movies and this year, I haven’t decided whether I feel like going.
I could give you more details (like what kinds of stuffing/dressing are most traditional and the Thanksgiving song we pretty much all learn in school as kids, which, due to bad grammatical phrasing, makes it sound like we’re singing praises to God for remembering his own name….but I digress….), but I’m pretty sure that this was more than you wanted in the first place and that probably no one is even reading down this far (say “wombat” if you are), so I’ll just leave off here.
Thank you Sandra, and everyone else for your explanations of Thanksgiving, my only worry is that it’s a bit close to Xmas and may make Xmas dinner less special 🙂
It doesn’t. Two special meals…in the entire year… Maybe there should be one each quarter, actually.
You’re forgetting Passover…one of my favorite holiday meals!
My family has never had a meal for that reason… I’ve heard of it, though. So, noe you get to tell us how a Passover meal goes. 😊
It can can vary somewhat, but, during the “ceremony,” there’s one tasty part where you eat charoset, a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, cinnamon, and some Passover wine (which is very sweet), on matzoh, and some horseradish. Then for the meal… Let’s start with some matzoh ball soup and some gefilte fish with red horseradish on the side (okay, that’s somewhat of an acquired taste, but I really like me some good gefilte fish). Main dish is often a nice braised beef brisket or chicken (my preference is definitely for the former), and a common tasty side dish is tzimmes, which is carrots stewed with prunes. My favorite Passover dessert is a Passover honeycake (which is made with matzoh meal flour). Macaroons are popular, too. Oh, and before the meal, if there are hors d’oeuvres, I like to make and bring some chopped chicken liver pate to have on some matzoh or matzoh crackers.
Okay, I’m drooling now!
Thanks. I guess I need to get out more because I’ve never heard/had any of that. I wonder if there are different regional varieties of this meal.
Yes, there are some regional differences, I think. And there are also definitely differences between what Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews have. I’m representing the Ashkenazi style.
Wombat! 😄😄😄
Wombat! 😊
Thank you SO much for your detailed explanation of what an American Thanksgiving is, Sandra! I had an idea of the traditions because of Friends’ episodes, and I had looked up information by myself, but your explanation was MUCH better. I knew there was a big parade in NYC, because Friends takes place there, but no way would I know that it’s sponsored by Macy’s if it wasn’t for you. And I knew about the balloons, but I had no clue they were so huge!! Now I understand the episode “The One Where Underdog Gets Away”, where the whole team goes outside because a balloon had gotten away from the parade and they end up being locked out of the apartment… I always thought to myself: “what the heck, it’s just a balloon!”, but now I can see it would be kind of a big deal, lol. And I knew that football had something to do with Thanksgiving, but again, I had no idea there were about a “gazillion college football games” on TV!
Once again, thank you *SO* much for your post. I could picture a family having a classic Thanksgiving dinner, the parade and the football games on TV reading this. Always good to learn about different cultures. I am so happy you exist on this site! 😊
(oh, and a “thank you” to Lee for having asked here about Thanksgiving! 🙂 )
And thank YOU, Vanessa, for your very kind post…it’s really made my day.
It’s funny, too, that you mentioned the Friends episode, because I was thinking about that when I was writing my comment and wondering if some folks from other countries might remember that! (And Underdog remains one of my favorite balloons, next to Bullwinkle and a couple of others…) One if my favorite parade memories (besides the general memory of watching the parades sitting on my dad’s shoulders for many years) was the time I got to watch it from an apartment window overlooking the parade. The window was up at about the same height as the balloons were and it was really cool seeing them go by so close!
It was sounding like you were a New Yorker. And now confirmed! It’s like we’re from two different worlds, yet we’re in the same country.
Born and raised in NYC, but went up to Massachusetts for college and stayed here. So, now I’ve been here in MA more than twice as long as I lived in NY. But, to a certain extent, I’m still very much a New Yorker, although I love my “adopted” home (and much of NYC is almost unrecognizable to me now).
Oh, forgot to ask…where are you? From your comment, I’m guessing maybe Texas?
Even when I said I was a Californian? 😵
Texan? Oy…! I’m so far from being one. Um, that’s all I should say about that lest I cause a stir.
Why’d you think that? Do I have a big personality or something? lol
Oh, I had forgotten that you’d said you were from California, Simp (see my previous post about my lousy memory in another thread)! Depending on what part of California, I wouldn’t consider it all that different. I have a LOT of relatives who live in the Bay Area now (almost all transplanted New Yorkers), and I think San Francisco is kind of the Boston of the West Coast. For more, ahem, political differences, Texas would be a better fit (if you exclude Austin), and your comment about a “different country” made me think of Texas because they often talk of seceding (sp?).
I have been seeing enough demonstrations of this lousy memory lately…I’ll keep that in mind when writing out my replies to you. 🔎
I don’t think SF is like Boston…by I doubt I know enough about Boston… Anyways, no, not that close to them (except in spirit?) so I say. I’m just from a regular (midsize?) city.
LOL @ the secession comment. I think you can also be in a different world if you work in, say, theater. But, nope, definitely not a Texan… we’re part of this country, that’s how it works. But I suppose I wouldn’t mind much if Texas seceded. (Though why’d they join to begin with? Issues with Mexico?)
Thanks for telling me your thoughts. I’m still not sure I fully get why Texas but I’m afraid to find out…. 📵
Wow – it’s showing that much, huh? How embarrassing!
Sorry. You’ve said that about your memory like 3 times… You might not remember… 😉
LOL!
…And you thank me for my smart-ass infused reply because that adds color to the site and because I’m just generally awesome!
(Hmm, could I actually have a full Vanity bar? 📊 I bet vanity bars are REAL purty and serve fruity drinks. 🌼🍹🍧🍒)
Actually I do thank you for having me look up “smart-ass”, “infuse”, “vanity bar” and “purty”. Although I could understand your post by the context (except “purty”), I never like to assume things. I also learned that “Vanity is the excessive belief in one’s own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant futility” (from Wikipedia). I guess it’s one of those examples of words in which the meaning gets altered as time passes by, just like the “n” word.
That being said… May I have a Tequila Sunrise? 😀
You’re welcome. hehe.
You didn’t know vanity from the game? Oh, do you play in Portuguese?
Bonus word meaning change, “pretend” used to mean to lie. Now it mostly means to play. “Pretense” (the related word) still means a falsehood.
What did you find when you looked up “purty”? “Real purty” is a pop culture reference, too….
But anyways, yes let’s celebrate knowledge and games by imbibing Tequila Sunrises. 💃
I might need to get out my dictionary if Simp keeps throwing out these $10 words. Imbibing? Can’t you just say “drinking” so the rest of us simp(leton)s can understand? 😛
Bonus bonus word meaning change, “nice” used to mean foolish or stupid. Now it means pleasing, agreeable, delightful etc. But doesn’t it seem to be going back to having a negative meaning? If someone spills or trips and you give them a sarcastic “nice.”
Pass the tequila…😀
One of the beauties of the English language is how rich its vocabulary is. Why limit oneself to using the same few words over and over again? Besides, many words that are essentially synonyms actually have slight shades of difference and one night sounds better in combination with a particular set of words than another.
Let’s not go to the lowest common denominator…better to help bring others up to a richer world of words. So, go grab your dictionary and blow the dust off instead of just settling for the “same old, same old” all the time!
Nice one, Einstein. 😉 (No sarcasm implied. Smart-assery, on the other hand…)
I said that $10 word because were discussing language and I figure I’d throw out another word for her to look up. I normally do not try to trip anyone up with my words. After all language is for communicating, not for confusing. (Though, I can’t promise to not be confusing…)
Sandra and Simp7 please don’t get me wrong, I love it. I wouldn’t want you to dumb things down on account of me, or anyone else. You can have “fun” with words and that’s all I was doing, having a bit of fun.
It’s just that so many things remind me of something else. Either from the Simpsons, from some other show or movie, or from “real life.” Which is why I pepper so many of my comments with quotes. In last weeks open thread Simp used the word pedantic and now imbibe (both of which are in my vocabulary, but neither of which I use frequently; though I did “borrow” pedant this week) and it reminded me of an old Saturday Night Live skit with Norm Macdonald as Slim Pickens in which he says something like would you look at this fellow and his $50 words (I looked it up after I sent that message which is why my dollar amount was off, wouldn’t want to shortchange you).
So please, continue to use your $10, $50, $100 words. Challenge me and if need be I will dust off the dictionary, or use my handy dandy dictionary app right here. I’m no Alfred Einstein but I ain’t no dummy neither. 😛
Never thought you were a dummy, have no fear about that! And, boy, do I wish I could get $100, $50, $10, or even $1 for using those words…I could buy a lot of donuts then, lol!
@simp7fan I had completely forgotten about vanity from the game! And yes, I play the game in Portuguese, but I started playing this game when it wasn’t provided in any other language than English, so I should remember that…
I found “slang for pretty” when I looked up “purty”. Is that what you meant? And please, oh please, explain to me what “real purty” means!
Oh, I can’t….
I might have been wrong. I tend to make up phrases and sayings in my head.
Marge On The Lamb has this exchange:
Homer, stop that.
It’s just a weather station.
[ Grunts ] Come on, Marge.
It’s fun to smash things.
[ Laughs ] I smashed it good.
You got real “purty” hair.
That work?
I’ll help… “Purty” is a sound translation of how one of the dialects in America (mis)pronounces “pretty.” It’s a western type of dialect (in fact, you’ll hear it said in old Western movies and in the old musical/movie, “Oklahoma!”), generally used by undereducated people. A stereotypical phrase in that dialect might be “You look mighty purty today, Miss Vanessa!”
Does that help?
(Actually, that may also be used in some eastern mountain dialects as well, again, by people who are generally uneducated or undereducated.)
Simp, were you referencing a “real purty” facial feature from a certain movie?
lol….maybe.
Thank you, Sandra! 😊
And simp7fan, sorry but I didn’t understand your post at all… Guess I’ll leave it as a question mark and hope I have an epiphany and suddenly understand it, lol.
I’m sorry, Vanessa.
Sandra got most of that right, so listen to her.
Have you seen that episode, though? That’s the way I meant it.
No, I haven’t… Actually I’ve seen very few episodes of the Simpsons. I started playing this game without knowing Patty and Selma were Marge’s sisters, just to give you an idea of my “ignorance”.
But finally I think I got what you meant. Heh.
Oh. I think it’s hard to explain without these references. That, or I rely on references too much and need to try harder.
I’m glad you get it more. I’m gonna give it one more try anyways…
Do you know the concept of getting dumb because something is so awe inspiring or beautiful? Like, you can’t speak well anymore and your knees get weak. To exemplify that, you could use “simple” or “simplified” words.
Because I’m too mesmerized by the beauty I see in this bar (and probably ready to get stupid drunk off tasty drinks) I find myself with a slack jaw (you must get that one, from the game at least?) and only the words that come with it.
I guess it’s also possible that I could be so enchanted that I regale of the splendor that for which my eyes see now the true colors hidden beneath the gloss and shine to the beauty of pure passion. But where’s the fun in that if no one understands what I’m saying…? (Yeah, don’t ask me to explain that one! lol)
Okay, now I’m officially stupid. After looking up a few words on my dictionary (and googling “tapped out slack jaw”), I can embarrassingly admit I have NO idea what you’re talking about. Are we still talking about “purty” and its meaning? For me, it just seems that you changed the subject out of the blue.
I *feel* it has something to do with your original post in which you said something about a vanity bar… I’m not sure I got that, by the way. I mean, if I translate it to Portuguese, that part of your post just doesn’t make any sense. Maybe I’m overthinking it all, maybe it’s a cultural (American?) expression (because here in Brazil we have no such thing as “vanity bar”… I mean, if I say “bar da vaidade” [literal translation for “vanity bar”] here, it doesn’t make any sense. And now that I think of it, I did NOT find a proper explanation of what a vanity bar is; I just assumed they were beautiful expensive bars exactly for that reason, maybe it does have a proper meaning and that’s why I didn’t understand some things you said?… Okay, the content of this parenthesis was so long that I don’t even remember what I was saying, let me scroll up… Oh, that’s it: Maybe I’m overthinking it all, maybe it’s a cultural (American) expression…) or maybe I’m just stupid. 🙁
P.S.: In my defense, I write, speak, read and understand Portuguese very well. I think it’s AMAZING we don’t speak the same language. I learn so much from here, from all of you. 💜
P.P.S.: Seriously… Save yourself from trying to explain this all lol. I have a feeling my problem here is not the language itself, because that can be overcome, but cultural expressions/references, and THAT is something very difficult to understand if you’re not a part of that culture. But thanks for the attempts! 😊
Quick answer based on your first few words is Cletus. He’s the slack jawed yokel.
I’ll be back after I read the rest.
Next answer is that a vanity bar is made up. Could they exist? Possibly. But it was just about the conform-o-meter. The more stars the better bonus you get, right? Well, another way to display it could be via bar graph. 6 bars ranging from full (at the top) to empty (at the bottom). Vanity would be a single bar, therefore the “vanity bar”.
Now there’s things like juice bars, (regular drinking) bars, even oxygen bars (they serve you oxygen…). I switcherooed the meaning to be about that kind of bar. Obviously it would have pretty things, maybe even alcohol (but only pretty drinks).
Oh….I should have read the whole post. I didn’t see your P.P.S. Well, the answer to that is…. whoops.
You might have a point about different cultures, such as TV culture. You don’t have a valid point about being stupid. If anyone is stupid here, it’s me… 🃏
I’m sorry if this has frustrated you. I like trying. If you’re not enjoying that, that’s fine. I’m done, then. No problem. It was interesting to see what gets lost in translation. Heck, I’m sure there are some native speakers who were lost, too. Trust me, I’ve heard too many times, “Simp, what are you even talking about?” *sigh*
So, um, good day to you. I mean, have a good day. 🌷
Frustrate me? How in the world could it have frustrated me? 🙂
Trust me, I don’t get frustrated so easily when it comes to linguistics/languages in general. Take that from a person who has studied English, Spanish and Japanese (besides Portuguese, of course). My P.P.S. was only because I thought *you* could be getting tired of trying to explain.
Rap songs in English frustrate me, because I just can’t understand (by listening) what on Earth they’re saying. I have to see the lyrics, and even so, my dictionary is useless most of the times.
Watching news in Japanese frustrates me a bit. I can’t understand when they start talking about politics, for example. And I do speak Japanese quite well… Guess that language is just too different from Portuguese.
I’m used to getting lost in translation (by the way, “Lost in Translation” by Sophia Coppola is my favorite movie… That movie is hilarious if you understand both Japanese and English). It’s funny talking to an American about this, because since most of the movie and television industry comes from there, I believe you (plural) don’t really realize how this affects the rest of us. It’s all natural and easy for you; sometimes there may be regional differences but that’s all. We, outside of the U.S., on the other hand, have to absorb a whole new culture if we want to really understand whatever we’re watching (of course this applies to you if you watch any other movie or series that is not American, but as I said, the U.S. is predominant).
Oh, and finally I understood vanity bar… Sorry, my mind likes to complicate things. 😉
On Lost in Translation, I don’t know Japanese… that would be cool. There’s a movie called Casa de Mi Padre, it’s completely in Spanish with English subtitles. Sometimes it seems that the actual spoken Spanish doesn’t match the subtitles. I don’t know Spanish that well, but it improved my experience anyways.
On rap, I’m sure a lot of the verses require knowledge of pop culture, especially of other rap and pop songs. I can see why it’s trouble for you, pretty much what I did to confuse you. 😉
P.P.S. Thanks for all the clarifications and explanations.
I can’t understand rap lyrics richer and English is my native language. (Then again, some of the lyrics aren’t really English, so…)
English is mostly Greek and Latin (often via French), so English is barely English (the language full of Germanic words). When someone says, “It’s all Greek to me”, “It’s all English to me” would suffice, depending on the speaker.
Like I said, it depends on the speaker’s word choices. Turns out that about 80% of my words (in the previous paragraph only) are pure English. Only a 20% chance of confusion. Thems the facts.
(Greek, Latin, Germanic, via, suffice, and depending were the words that can’t be used without causing confusion….)
Here’s the breakdown of English as a whole:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Origins_of_English_PieChart.svg
If I may make a note about Thanksgiving and football (as Sandra herself said she’s not a football person) Thanksgiving is more about professional (NFL) football than college football. The Dallas Cowboys (“America’s team”) always play a game as well as the Detroit Lions. And this year the Packers play as well (Lee, isn’t that your team?). I think there are a couple college games but the “bowl” season doesn’t start until a bit later with New Years being the time for a “gazillion” college games.
Anyways that is just the pedant in me coming out…I don’t mean to step on any toes.
No worries – appreciate the “assist”! (Did I get that right, or is that basketball? Can you tell I’m not really a sports person, lol?)
Ohhh thank you!
And man, are these football team names cool! It reminds me how ridiculous I thought when I found out a Japanese baseball team called Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Needless to say, the team is sponsored by Yakult, but still… 😛
The funniest/dumbest college football team name I learned about recently is the Terapins. Terrapin are a type of turtle, and turtles aren’t exactly known for their speed or athletic prowess, lol!
But Sandra, slow and steady wins the race! Or apparently football, basketball or any other games. Terrapins, turtles, tortoises, they’re all basically the same, right? 🐢
As for odd team names how about the Banana Slugs (University of California, Santa Cruz) or the Fighting Artichokes (Scottsdale Community College). The artichoke really is the most athletic of all vegetables lol
Lol – you’re right…in a race among a turtle, a banana slug, and an artichoke, my money would be in the turtle (and the artichoke would get steamed and served with a nice vinaigrette for dipping in). 😉
There you go talking about food again, making me all hungry! The only time I’ve had artichokes is in a dip. Probably the hearts. Not bad but not great either. When you steam it like that do you pull the leaves and kind of scrape the “meat” off? I’ve seen it done but never done it myself.
Yes. Actually, I usually boil the artichokes (after trimming the tips of all of the outside leaves and cutting a bit off the stem) for about 40 minutes, or until the the stem is soft enough to poke a fork in and the flesh on the inside of the outer leaves are soft enough to scrape off onto your mouth.
To eat the artichoke, you pull a leaf off, dip it on melted butter or vinaigrette (if you like), then scrape the leaf against your upper or lower teeth to get the flesh of and into your mouth. (I also like to cut off pieces of the stem and eat it, but lots of chefs just cut the whole stem off and throw it away, so that the artichoke will sit nicely on the plate/bowl.) As you get deeper into the artichoke, the leaves become more tender…by the time you’re getting toward the middle, you can just eat the whole leaves. When you get very closer to the center, you’ll have kind of a cone of small thin leaves that have sharp tips but soft bottoms. Pull out the cone and bite off the bottom of it (if you want), then throw the rest away. What you’ll have left is kind of a disk, which has the fuzzy “choke” in the middle. Scrape or pull the choke out and throw it away. The rest of the disk is the base of the “heart,” which many people think is the best part. Cut that up into a few pieces and eat it (again, dipping it first, if you’d like).
If you don’t do the melted butter thing (I usually do some diluted vinegar with a dash of garlic powder for dipping), it makes great diet food, since it takes a while to eat and has very few calories. (It’s also high in fiber, IIRC.) And, while the prep is a little annoying (cutting about an inch or two off the top, then taking a scissors and snipping the tops of the outer leaves), cooking it is as easy as dumping it into a big pot of boiling water, putting the lid on and waiting for 40ish minutes (I usually also roll it over to the other side once at about the halfway point.) Once it’s done, fish it out and give it a squeeze to get the excess water out. (If you stream it, you won’t have that this deal with.)
Give it a try sometime and let me know what you think!
I like to live dangerously. I.e. I never thought of cutting the thorns off…. But, meh, too much effort. A few stabs never hurt anyone. 💉
Yep, you scrape it off. It can be dipped in something, such as mayo. There might be a healthier dip… Is butter healthier? 😏
Dipping artichoke leaves in mayo?!? Ewww! I like mayo, but not for that! (And I’ve never heard of anyone doing that… is that a regional thing?)
Think of it like a BLT, with mayo. Greens and mayo go well together. Hmm, a mayo salad…. 🙊
I don’t know if its regional, unless that region is my house.
@David – That’s exactly how you eat it. So yummy! 😋
Some people may disagree with me, I’m not being mean on EA but I think this year’s Halloween was rubbish. Unless they bring back all the old amazing stuff back from previous halloween events, I will be VERY disappointed. I was really hoping to get booberella and snorky but I don’t think I will. I am actually disappointed so far, I am sure quite a lot of people will agree with me, the items in the shop were terrible. There were only like 5 things in the whole event so far worth getting, how rubbish, 900 donuts for nothing :'( I am REALLY hoping for ALL Halloween stuff to reapear in the shop. Fingers crossed :/
Snorky?
The dolphin, the leader of the dolphins that took over Springfield, forcing humans to be vanished to the sea 🙂
The dolphin 🙂
http://tstoaddicts.com/2013/10/05/tapped-out-halloween-walkthroughs-the-7th-and-8th-goo-prizes-snorky-and-twirl-n-hurl/
http://tstoaddicts.com/2014/10/21/should-i-buy-returning-halloween-items/
http://tstoaddicts.com/2013/10/05/snorky-speak-man/
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/02/12/wabac-where-did-that-come-from-king-snorky/
Does anyone know if there will be anymore tie-in with Homerzilla?
I keep waiting for him to emerge from the depths…..
Sadly, no. But, I did make a cool animation of what I thought it could look like. See it here: http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/10378024.page
Sorry I don’t know how to add a gif to these comments.
This is amazing… I really wish you had designed the pond.
I’m glad you like it. I haven’t done animation for a little while so this was a lot of fun.
Brilliant!
http://orig02.deviantart.net/e61b/f/2015/317/a/0/homerzillalakesmall_by_passpose-d9gm0a0.gif
This is sooo goood!!!! I really wish it happened in the game!
Hey all,
Do you think some new content/update/level is hitting us after the Halloween event is over?
I know we got level 59 last week, but I just can’t imagine having no on-going stuff besides the Monorail and SH for the week.
Rgrds
May I please apologise to my friends for patchy visiting through this event. Terribly slow and frequently crashed the game so wasn’t visiting as much as I should. Appreciate those who took the trouble.
Promise to do better with the next event! (Which I hope is not for a few weeks as I need time to reorganise…)
I didn’t see a reply to my urgent request as how to set the game that multiples come down with one click. I prefer only one per click.
Depending on how compact your town is, one click may be impossible. However, to decrease the number of clicks it takes to clear your town to the fewest possible, you need to build your IRS building up to the highest level possible.
(I can’t imagine why your need for this was so “urgent” though…)
Anything else coming up? Wondering if a Thanksgiving event was in the works so soon after a long event. I have been done with Halloween for awhile (got the last prize and crafted all I want) and I am finished with level 59. May be time to relax for a bit 🙂
Hey y’all!! I was just wondering if there is gonna be a “Last Day Recap” kinda article that would say like hey, make sure to buy or make these items if you want them here’s why to make this. For example – “Wailing Wall gives 2.25% make sure to make those if you have extra brains!”
Also do we know what’s going on with the Shopkeeper’s Challenges? It’s still telling me Event Ends in 11 days (I’m assuming that’s wrong but, I don’t know)
And do we know if the costumes leave tomorrow?? There is no Expires in X days X hours under them.
The Halloween event to me, act 1 & 2 were good, act 3 was garbage. I feel like I’ve been fighting M’nthster constantly, I almost get him beat then he’s back to full or I just beat him and he’s back. I also feel like the event has gone too long and over stayed it’s welcome. I’m in a good place to get the Re-Neducation Center tomorrow but, man was it grueling getting thru this 3rd act.
Hey there, back at ya! 🙂
The date in the Shopkeeper screen was a typo, as has been mentioned about a zillion times here. The addicts usually do a post about things that are about to leave, and there’s a good chance they still will, but they’re a little shorthanded right now, what with Alissa having just given birth a few days ago and all. I don’t know for sure about the costumes, but, even though there’s no date on them, from past experience, I’m betting they will be gone when the event takedown update comes, if not in the actual event end date.
As for fighting M’nthster, I agree it got a bit tedious after awhile, but it worked just as it was meant to…just like in real “wars,” you sometimes have to keep fighting the same battle many times before ultimate victory. Even though M’nthster is still there over my campfire, I consider that I had “won” once I reached the final prize and there was no reason to battle him anymore.
Finally got some free time to set up a private blog on WordPress. The image comes from a Gravatar account, which can be set up through WordPress. My picture is of a Megalobulimus oblongus or moustache snail.
Snail mail Arturas ? Like it BTW . 🙂
I finished Gina’s Questline (but don’t have Jessica Lovejoy) and so I guess I need J.L. In order to build Sleeping Itchy Castle..? 🙁
Anyone have an image of it and what the payout is? debating to get Jessica next (even though I lived without her through-out the THOH event)
Thank you in advance
Jessica came with the Lovejoy house, I think if you need a character/ quest to unlock the castle it must be Princess Penelope. I don’t remember for sure but you can always Simpson’s wiki it.
You don’t need Jessica to get the castle….I don’t have Jessica, but I do have the castle. Have you played through ALL of the Krustyland quests, including the ones that came later with princess Penelope? I can’t remember when or how the castle came into my game, but I know it didn’t involve any premium purchases….
D’oh! duh, I had the castle all along. (Lol) sorry I thought it was something new, but I had that thing years ago. Thank you for the response anyway 🙂
Sounds like we’re playing very similar games. (And I’m glad that at least Bo-Bo is cute looking!)
Happy Sunday, all! I don’t know about anyone else, but I could use a vacation!! So many family crises lately, just seems never-ending. But I hope everyone else is doing well! 🙂
Bunny, I’ve got a “personal opinion” question for you, when you have a minute. I’ve been hoarding crafting currency for a while now, and I’ve got 12,000+ of each (except for brains- I’ve got 68 wailing walls, 4 biohazard towers, and 4 spooky forests to show for those). I guess I’ll use all of my eggs to craft spooky walls, since they carry a bonus, albeit a tiny one, but I’m unsure what to do with the rest of my currency. In your personal opinion, would you craft 12,000-worth of filler, just so the currency doesn’t go to waste? Or would you pass on spending it and filling your inventory with items you can’t sell? What IS the inventory cap, anyway? Would you even bother with the spooky walls for 0.05%? I’m torn here.
Thanks for your feedback, Bunny! 🙂
I have 10,000 plus items in my inventory… most are due to they made awesome 3D art. Otherwise they stay there. So don’t fill it up unless you plan on using it. Otherwise it may feel wasted. What would make YOU happy to have 3 months from now? If nothing… then let it go. 😉
Thanks for the insight and advice, Bunny! Much appreciated, as always!! 🙂
Does the Halloween event end tonight or tomorrow night?
17th
Nail biting game but the New England Patriots are still undefeated!
Does anybody know what “Where the elite meet to have their spirits broken” means?
I got the Re-nedification center yesterday but I can’t place it anywhere on the map. Any help? Anyone else have the same issue?
Was able to place it in Springfield proper & Heights. It’s huge!! Sure you had enough space for it?
Hellow everyone!
I started playing during Act 2 of the Monorail event so am a newbie. In the past what have the Black Friday deals been?
Thanks!
Welcome to your new addiction, Pat! 😉
Here’s a link to Black Friday 2014, to give you an idea:
http://tstoaddicts.com/2014/11/28/1128-thanksgiving-a-roony-gils-back/
Hi thanks for the link I had forgotten about the sale. I was thinking of buying Frink as have donuts left from Halloween, but might wait and see.
You’re quite welcome, Yvonne! 🙂
Thanks for the link, KatG! I had no idea they were hourly specials. I play in roughly four hour intervals because of work, so may miss out on stuff I really want if Gil’s deals are the same this year.
Good luck with that one Phil! Once I started saving money I thought same thing, didn’t last, went back to playing more, liked the sight of all that money in the bank! Once a TSTO addict always one!
Tree hugging was my first 5 star! (Doggies love peeing on them lol). I love trees and used to love gardening till back went out, at least these days can go play with plants on my deck. Sandra is right the flowers add up & you can do cool things with them like my HH in my town. I use them to leave a message now & then. Use plants & flowers to write out something you like, baseball team football team, your name etc a design takes a lot & before you know it you will get your 5. Also start making a forest or park area so when outdoor stuff comes to town you will have a nice place waiting.
I got a couple of angels then regretted it, they are big and for money don’t increase your rating.
As far as Christmas coming to town, I’m hoping they wait till after Thanksgiving. I remember the day after thanksgiving the day I would hang my lights, make turkey soup. Never got into Black Friday way too many people for me! I love when they add the snow for us but for me makes it a little hard to move around town, I never have lived in a town with snow so cool to have had it in SF. Have to admit I was more than ready for it to leave last year. Christmas light are my fav part of Christmas in real life so prob will turn them on when event is over, not to mention I leave them on most of year just not during event too much of a drain.
I’m so happy Alissa had her baby, just wish she could take her home!
Congrats😀 Hope she’s home soon.
Happy Sunday to everyone! 😘😘
Thanks in part to my block of wailing walls about two weeks ago I was able to buy up the last of the available land and a couple days ago I finished upgrading the IRS building. That’s the last of my expenditures for now so for the first time in over two years of playing I’m putting money in the “bank.” This means I’ve “won” right? Well maybe (just maybe!) it means I can be a little less obsessive about collecting. Take a less is more approach. Think I’ll try it lol 😛
congrats on you #winning! i’m almost there as well, just got the last two map tiles to unlock (2 and 2.5 mil) and i’ll be all caught up. still got plenty of areas and properties that need designing and developing/redeveloping though, and if there is one thing i learned over the course of two years playing this game, it’s that this aspect of the game will never, ever be completely finished!
Very true. This is not a game you win, which not coincidentally is why I still enjoy it two years later. Many aspects to it and something for many to enjoy, methinks.
I don’t think of it that way either, I grow my town as I need space. I don’t worry about things I don’t care about (guess that golden teddy bear is going to be in my task bar a looooonng time and the IRS bldg facade is going to slum it awhile longer) It’s seemingly taking forever to complete my SH goal of Ziff’s mansion and the Mall-o-Rail but so be it.
yeah unfortunately the SH goals (ziff mansion and billionaire haven) just require constant grinding, no way to get around that; the best part is when you finally reach that billion mark and no longer have to think about it, which is sad but true. now that it is out of the way though, i’ve actually enjoyed slowly but surely building out my more upscale part of springfield (emphasis on slowly).
loved this event in the beginning, but really tired of it by act three to the point that i’ve only checked in once or twice a day, and mostly just to do the shopkeeper’s challenges. didn’t care for any of the act 3 prizes. this will be the first event since last halloween that i haven’t earned all of the prizes.
i also started out buying a boatload of donuts, and still have over 2,000. that says something, i think. nothing premium came out that seemed worth it (or i didn’t already have).
by the way… where i live, christmas decorations went up in the malls last week. with no thanksgiving overseas, there is no unspoken barrier. the last public holiday was diwali, which was last week. the malls decorate for that, but even before it was over christmas had already started going up. a very different experience from the US!
Are you in the Caribbean?
Sounds like India to me. The Diwali fireworks are impressively large – the ground seems to vibrate.
closer to India… Malaysia.
I click on the Shopkeeper’s Chellenges and it says the event ends in 11 days. I click on any of the other event icons and it says the event ends in 1 day. EA has extended events before, I’m wondering if that’s the case here.
Sorry if that’s a repeat observation, but these Sunday open threads can be a lot to read.
Shopkeeper info was a typo.
Thanks for the tips !
I read everything!
One question : can we ever save the camp fire and the temple in storage ? if so, when?
The campfire and sunken temple I’m sure are permanent additions- what we want to know is if EA will have an event NPC. I’m personally hoping for a Star Spawn (if not M’nthster himself)
I can’t log in and ea is not responding. EA/Orgin will not reset my password. This sucks because I need like 1000 candy apples for the Neducation Building
I am interested in learning how other players decide what to store. My Springfield is getting messy and crowded and my gameplay is slow. Is there a list of the least helpful things to have out in one’s town?
Storing the Springfield Heights buildings is the only thing that seemed to help speed up my game. I stored a lot of other things during this event and unless it improves when it ends I might have to store a lot more.
1) anything not contributing, like decorations and NPCs without a bonus%. Remember that SH buildings have a hidden bonus% for XP only, which is nice for bonuts.
2) decorations contributing to the conform-o-meter if you have decided to replace the conform-o-meter 5% bonus with two wailing walls.
That said I have kept a few decorations at the town centres.
If you still need to store, then buildings with a fixed pay-out that do not have an associated character task and decorations with a bonus%. Start with the worst pay-outs. At that point, you have to start thinking about whether storing bonus% or fixed pay-out buildings is better. The best income is a balance between the two. I have yet to figure out a general formula, but to decide between two specific objects, the formula is bonus% x average building income building’s fixed payout x current total bonus% in your SF. Have to do the calculations for average building pay-out. Remember that this formula does not take into account the XP bonus awarded by SH buildings.
I guess people have different strategies depending on how far along you are in the game. My bonus percentage is close to 350, so I don’t worry about keeping everything out. I like a neat and tidy town so if something is too messy or ugly or out of place, I store it. All of the Clash of Clones stuff is in storage, all the Tap ball stuff, The Skull mountain thing, storage. I like my town to look like a town.
I’m using Springfield Heights as a place to neatly store all of my bonus percentage items. I have boardwalk squares used to store tennis courts and walling walls are on the beach.
I’m also bothered by out of proportion buildings. If a character walks past a building and their waist is higher than the top of a buildings door, I store it because it just drives me crazy.
🙂
Store buildings with animations. Though- if you can stand the slow play, it’s worth it to keep the SH buildings out of storage to increase your (hidden) XP bonus.
I really hope some of the new items will be allowed in Krustyland after the event. I already have design ideas.
I love this game!!! I really wish EA would increase the memory/limitations on the number of items in your town. What’s the point of continuing if you can’t place any more items?! Seriously, address this issue EA. I really don’t want to quit after 2 years.
You do realize it is more to do with what devices can handle, right? Those devices were actually made to call people, not be a home gaming system. 😉
There is only so much a company can do, but there is no way that ANY Company in existence can make everything they do compatible exactly the same for EVERY device in existence. There are way way way too many variables. 😉
That is like someone saying that it is a builders fault your home is not big enough for all the stuff you keep buying to put in it. Or blaming the refrigerator company that your fridge is not big enough to hold all the bags of food you just bought. Right? 😉
There comes a time when we as a Player have to realize when we just have a lot of “stuff” and some of it that we were excited about at the time we got it, we no longer are so much anymore and it is OK to put it away. No reason to display every tiny lil item ever released. Change it up. Switch areas out. Make themed areas to change with the season. Explore and do new things. 🙂
It’s not a limitation, it’s a warning that you are getting dangerously close to your device not being able to handle the load. If you get to a point where your game freezes and can no longer be opened, how will you be able to go in and lighten the load so you can again play your game?
Anyone else not bothering w cashing in their bunnies & bones? Seems like no reason to clutter up (& slow down the game) w more trees & balloons. Unless I can dump it in Krustyland, I think I’m just gonna let ’em go. What do y’all think?
Yeah, I think I’m gonna do the same. I crafted 20 biohazard walls in case I find a use for them, and a couple of balloons to keep in storage in addition to the 8 I’ve used to make a display with the house of evil and some other buildings, but I think I’ve exhausted the usefulness of those materials. Just gonna keep grinding for snake eggs to make a few more spooky walls to make the most of that bonus % 🙂
I used up the bones on dead trees and biohazard walls. Even if they’re in storage for now might find a use for them eventually. But pretty sure I can do without 30+ balloons (or even more spooky trees) so just going to let those bunny ears disappear into the ether.