Thank Grog It’s Firday!
I think the old saying goes, “You can’t pick your family, but you can pick your nose.” Or something like that. But, the reality is (and has been since there was family) you may be related by blood, but you may not be friends with members of your family. In other words, it comes down to that other old saying, “I love you, but I don’t LIKE you right now.” I hear that more and more these days as politics and religion become the unsocial side of social media.
However, in our game, Family, Politics, Religion and all sorts of other related topics became fair game…and the writers did themselves proud, with some of the funniest dialogue in years!
I’ll dive into some of it, right after I answer this question. “Since when are “mini-events” (which Flanders Family Reunion Clearly Is) two weeks long???” The answer? Since EA and the writers have decided to stretch everything out, in order to make less work for “the team.”
EALP or SLAW? You decide.
For those of you who forgot, EALP (stands for EA Lazy Programming). And the new one, SLAW? (Simpsons Lazy Ass Writers). I have only added this acronym after watching the writer’s interview, where they readily admitted that the delays in updates may be coming from their lack of inspiration to write the dialogue.
As it pertains to this update, it feels like a little of both. There are random items that don’t really belong to the “theme,” that feel like EA already may have had “in the can.” And, there is culpability in the writers providing dialogue that kind of links it all up. Kinda.
I would love to finally get inside of the process a bit more, and understand if the writers come up with ideas for content (“Hey! Look! Safi has another Bracket Battle! Who haven’t we used yet?”) or if there is a bunch of stuff that is already programmed and designed by the EA staff, that they just want to get off of their work servers? But I digress…
The dialogue for this event was just…plain…funny! From the battle between Evangelical-vs-Episcopalian, to the hilarious differences between Americans and Canadians, I kept laughing again, and again.
Here are a a couple of my favorites…
Now that’s some funny writing…great job, writers!
But this is my favorite. It reminded me of the time my friend’s mom got into some brownies that he had prepared for a camping trip. She thought she was having a stroke…she at four. Holyfreakinshirt!
My least favorite bit was the aforementioned randomness of the whole Humbleton side story. Escape a family reunion by going to a figurine store…that has a possessed figurine? Sooooooooo Stupid….
That one made me wonder if the writers had been hitting the wacky weed a bit too hard themselves!
So…family reunions. Such an interesting concept, and something that does take a lot of effort, especially if you have a big family.
For me, up until just a few years ago, all family gatherings were decidedly FEMALE Affairs. Coming from a family of 3 sisters, from a Dad who had three sisters, with only 1 boy out of my Mom’s side with tons of female cousins, and then having several nieces from my sisters…followed by me having FIVE DAUGHTERS… you get the picture. At one point it was ratio of 29/4. So yes…I was a bit of a genetic fluke. It’s lucky I wasn’t born with a tail.
Then the grandsons started showing up. So elated was I to have a grandson, and then another, that I wrote this song to celebrate the turn in genetics!
With all of these successful girls, have come careers that have scattered them all over the country. So, our “reunions” are mostly one-on-one, or extended stays with grandpa and grandma, or us going there. Yes..we have the annual “Miller Golf Tournament,” but it’s not the same as one-on-one with the kids.
And believe me…once again, when grabbing some snaps from this time of the year, when we do most of our visiting (Deb gets summers off because she is a teacher), you see just how fast time flies…and how much the kids change in a blink of an eye.
This shot was taken when Zach and Andrew were just 10 and 8…about the time that I started blogging for TSTO. Nothing says happiness, like a frosty mug of root beer!
Follow that up…with a pic from their recent visit to hang with Katie, Jake and his brothers (Austin and Brandon came as a package deal when Katie married Ryan...the more boys the merrier!).
And how about these two little peanuts…shot just a few years ago… Andon and Olivia…now…the ONLY girl grandchild! So cute…so grown up!
We are going to see these two this weekend. Do they love seeing us? This vid is from the last time we visited…this was our welcome...you tell me.
So yes…family is important. And we are blessed with a huge, extended group of kids and grandkids who love us (and may even take me in when Deb has had her fill of me).
Oh…and finally…the random word of the day…Fripperies?
Here is the definition of the word, Frippery:
frip·per·y – /ˈfrip(ə)rē/
noun
plural noun: fripperies
1. showy or unnecessary ornament in architecture, dress, or language.
Wow…so, even using the word Frippery in a TSTO Blog may in fact be the very definition of frippery! You gotta love the irony in that.
Have an outstanding weekend. Next week…I’ll give you an update on the horrendous, and very much overdue remodeling projects I am doing this summer in preparation for my wife’s hip surgery on August, 12th. Trust me…when they built this house in 1971…there was no Frippery involved. Just a load of shoddy, crappy, lazy-ass workmanship. Maybe their kids ended up being programmers at EA! (*rim shot*).
Keep on tappin’!
Add me staticsim – hourly player so far lvl 939
In defence of Mini-Event or Act duration. I recall as a newbie starting in winter 2015 just as one act was coming to a close and there’s this Send Kids to pile snow task. Oh joy, something else I needed Lisa for and maybe just got SVT. Still got a lump of snow that was supposed to be a giant snowman stuck who cares where because I can’t store or finish it.
Those with only a few characters or who have limited time to tap might just need those extra few days to get as much as possible done, Not getting to the final prize is likely at first but as the game and player progress wrapping it up in under a week becomes easy and we may forget our early struggles.
For the newbies out there, it does get better as you unlock more characters and if in doubt ignore level quests and only do those that gain event items or have an expiry time or date. You can do the side quests and levels any time you like but events need to be done while they are live.
All good points…. Still…I was done on Sunday. LAST Sunday…
Yup, and all the side quests wrapped by Wednesday even though I was often busy / out and not tapping. That said I’m insomniac and did throw in a few late night taps if I was sober enough !! 😄 I’ve also now got almost all the characters, a silly big bonus and a town that earns more in 4 hours than I got in a week this time last year
Another interesting read Patric. All I can think about now is a nice cold root beer in that frosted A&W glass…..I agree with your take on the dialogue. This event did have me laughing as well, with just a few occasions to think..”not really sure about that”, but overall, a funny we’ll written event. I can’t wait to see what’s on deck.
Just got back from a weekend with the Medford, OR brood…and because the forest fire smoke was so bad, we ended up going to TWO movies (Lion King and Toy Story 4), and eating WAY too much movie food…and travel food. I wish our only culinary sin was a mug of A&W!
Thanks for your thoughts Patric! Your family is amazing 😊 and fingers crossed for the surgery 🤞
The Character dialogue was No. 1 / A+ 👍
The Writers weren’t that SLAW (Simpsons Lazy Ass Writers), since they had to write around EA’s EALP (EA Lazy Programming), so they get a B+ 👉
EA? Well, I gave them credit for what was fun about this Flander’s Event (Patric, you are correct in that we finally got something a little manly this time), but there are a slew of known “c’mon already’s” that need to be made so (ie just open up that vacant Land next to Springfield Heights!), so they get a C 😜
I’m working on Praiseland (I had 600 🍩’s , so 185 sprinkles will be obtained just as quickly as spent) as far as decorating goes, except that it’s the weekend and I won’t get back to TSTO until Monday! 😅
Patric, I hope your Wife’s hip surgery goes by with a safe surgery, rapid recovery …. and those modifications being done to your property are hassle-free (I think poor subcontracting is the norm, I found 12 building code violations in my Condo and I won a legal battle after 8 years – yeah nobody was on ‘special spinach’ when they were building, they were probably on some bad booger sugar!)
Anyone see Roseanne riding the chair up her stairs Episode? You might feel like you need one, but in the end it’s your pets / young relatives who visit that get more use out of it !😹🤣
Thanks for sharing Patric, you are truly blessed.
My best friend finally had a son. Before that, he told me there was way too much estrogen at home! Poor guy. But now he has a son, a son who likes football. All is well!
Best wishes all for a slow, relaxing wochenende!
Thanks! That I am!
Is it smart that I spend most of my donuts on yearbooks?
I do know that if I wanted to buy an item in the store for 150+donuts, then it would be smart to find it in a year book page, and then buy it out till I get what I want that way it is cheaper, builds quicker, and also gets other things that were also in that yearbook page.
But what I really want to know is if it is smart to do that and every time I get 30= donuts I instantly turn around and spend them on yearbooks.
nothing has made me realize the passage of time more, than the growth of the kids! how can they be getting older when I am not. thoughts & prayers are for deb in more places than she can possibly imagine. song was great – are you singing?
Thanks! Yes…and playing all of the instruments.
I know your pain Patric! I’ve the younger of 2 sons, the 4th of 7. Two older sisters and the older brother, and 3 younger sisters.
He lives in San Diego and has 3 girls, and only 1 of my sisters has a kid, a little girl. One of the neices in San Diego I’ve never met in person, the other two are now I believe 15 and 13? Can’t remember. But I haven’t seen them since they were 3 and 1, the 3rd is I think 10 this December, or maybe 11? hard to keep up, I don’t speak to him much, he’s 8 years older so we were never really close.
My neice who is local I call ‘Monkey’ and she’s a riot.. she’s almost 2 now.
Most of Dad’s family that is left is out of state, busy, or annoying to be around, so not much reunion-ing to happen there, and 90% of the extended family on mom’s side is in Maine, and they do a big thing every fall for Thanksgiving, but I can never afford to go, and I’ve never met any of them anyways…
I think ‘big reunions’ are probably overrated anyways…
best of luck for the Mrs.!
To be honest, every event seems to have something in there like the Humbleton building, where it’s a stretch how they put it in to the event. But hey, it’s a free building so it’s no problem for me when it’s not most of the event.
And all the best hopes go to your wife on her surgery.
Thanks! And yes… I am trying to figure out if it is EALP or SLAW!
I think one of the writers is a fan of Stephen King’s Needful Things, I’ve observed more than once recently references that seem to play off that story plot line and the Humbleton quest line most definitely did. Several Stephen King fans I know really disliked Needful Things but it was one of my favorites. Like many things in the Simpson’s, if you don’t know the source reference it falls under the WTF category.
It’s not that I don’t like the building or the tie in with Ned Flanders. But the tie in with the family reunion is a stretch.
Agreed.
Good luck to your wife on her surgery, Patric! And on the house project! 😊. Aren’t grandchildren the best blessings?? 💚
They are the best! So much fun…without the lifelong fiscal responsibility!