Mal and Belle: Wake-Up Call

So, we left off with Mal and Belle sleeping, after their first day.

Around 2 AM, Mal wakes up, even though he is still tired. In spite of common sense, Sims can't sleep on the sofa; the best they can do is nap for 3 hours.

After waking, Mal decides to have a midnight snack.

After that, he decides to get back to reading that romance novel. Mal doesn't feel quite as uncomfortable, now that Belle isn't watching him.

Ho ho, he's in for a surprise.

Belle comes walking in like she's possessed, sits in front of the TV, and starts watching a nature show. Mal puts his book away in great annoyance. Can't a guy just be left alone to read a book?

Eventually, sleep catches up with him, just as day breaks.

So he heads off to bed, grouchy and discontent.

Meanwhile, Belle wants to work on her charisma skill, so she can charm everyone in Congress. She starts working on her serious poses...

... and her innocent poses.

And when the carpool pulls up and honks her, she's off in a flash.

For she has a dream. A dream to unite the town, to end injustice, bring hope to mankind...

 

... to hold a beacon of light to peoples of all nations, creeds, and dress colors, to give everyone a chance to succeed...

... and most importantly, for everyone to be her closest, bestest friend!

And so, daringly, she enters the courthouse, destiny approaching her.

Wait! There's nothing in the courthouse! It's just an empty building! Ha ha ha! You just got suckered, Belle!

Talent? Success? No way

I come up with a lot of great quotes, mighty sayings that I want to get out to the world. I think other writers must save their quotes until they can wrangle them into their essays or short stories in a way that doesn't make them conspicuous.

So, I was wondering about the correlation between talent and success, came across a blog post about whether talent matters, and I thought:

People forget that the world is not run by God, but by other people, and that talent is not a gift from God, but a label. Talent is a way of saying someone else is different; that's all it is.

Fad in, fad out

Well, results reveal that my YTMND is slowly creeping across the Internet, mostly by seeping through Twitter and forums. I'm betting once the week closes, and "Frodo jumps on it" gets removed from "TOP RATED THIS WEEK" on the main page, viewership will die off, and it will fade into everyone's memory.

And NO, people are NOT downvoting this; it is STILL at 4.7, and is more than likely going to retain its place in the top 2 or 3 pages of top rated YTMNDs of all time. For that reason, I'm going to predict that it's going to not be a fad, ever. Allow me to explain with my unpatented, unproven, and uncopyrighted explanation on how fads work:

Basically, a fad has to inspire people to mimic it. They must revel in it, and want to revel in it; it has to be funny, and be open-ended. Let me unnecessarily expand upon this with a metaphoric model: the Hook, Line, and Sinker model.

1. Hook: This is the level of intrigue and interest. Anything that's funny usually has a hook, being the punch-line, but anything that appeals to an audience can be a hook. For example, it's not expressly stated as a fad, but a lot of sites deal with familiar kid-friendly characters and giving them a lewd slant. The sex is the hook. Indeed, a lot of fads involve sex in some way, even when they're unfunny. That's the hook at work.

2. Line: This is the potential for being expanded upon. If there's a situation that can only be framed in one context, or if there's no possibility of adding to the original, then no one will add anything new -- no one will follow the line. If a fad has no Hook in it, then it's a forced fad; no one was intrigued by it, but the line has been drawn out. If a fad has no Line in it, then it can't even be called a fad; the meat on the Hook will just spread out and dissipate. Literally, a lack of context the fad can wrap around.

3. Sinker: It must be possible to top the original. If the original was awesome or perfect, then no one will want to imitate it, for fear of looking like a wannabe. If the original was just good, but not awesome, than it will feasible for someone to try and top it. They might fail, but there's always the possibility, right?

I may have to revise it a bit, seeing as how the current 4-chan Max fad started with a highly-rated site.

Now, if you landed on this site because you were excitedly looking for more info on frodojumpsonit.ytmnd.com, let me reward you for coming here with these exclusive jumping Frodo avatars:

50x50 75x75   100x100

What's up, YTMND?

Well, yesterday, I mentioned that I posted something to YTMND.com. Its ranking was around 4.7, and I expected it to drop even lower.

Well, no. It's stayed there. It once got down to 4.6, but now it's recovered. I was not prepared for that. By the end of the day, it's had 4000 views, 237 votes, and 75 favs. It went off the "Up and Coming" list still in second place, and still resides on second place in the Top Rated This Week (first place is a site revealing the "illicit" practices of the website's founder, and is currently the highest-rated site in the history of YTMND; unlucky timing on my part).

Well, a Google search reveals that, no, my blog is NOT one of the search results of "Frodo jump on it" (but it will now! heh heh heh). But so far, the results show that it's popped up on a Twitter account, the signature of a forum user, and Buzzfeed.com.

Now, it's also been something of a goal of mine to make something that reaches a sizeable popularity on the Internet. For the record, yes, it was partly my intention for other people to make spinoffs ("fads" in YTMND lingo) of it. It wasn't that hard for me to make, and it's pretty catchy. Right now, though, I'm a tad concerned. If my site is THIS good, then no one will want to make a spin-off and look like some attention-crazed wannabe. I mean, the both of the original Brian Peppers sites were just a picture with music (and text) on it, both garnering a rating of 4 out of 5, offering (practically inviting) others to beat that score.

But if my site stays at 4.7, then no one will attempt to best it, and it will just die. No fad. No fun.

Well, I'll throw in another update on it tomorrow. I've been spending the past day or two on YTMND, anyway, so I may as well let you in on what I've been doing. Even though I'm not doing anything.

Jump On It

Well, okay. I haven't even touched this blog since Saturday. Hey, at least I have the decency to tell you. Truth is, I've been doing things on other websites. Which websites? Well...

You may remember that on Saturday I posted a GIF of Gandalf rocking his head back and forth. I was going to use it for ytmnd.com. Well, I just made a better one.

So far, it's hovering around 4.7 out of 5. I'm waiting for the downvoters to smash it to bits. But even if it does take a nosedive, it's still the highest voted YTMND I've made so far.

The Further Adventures of Par Farthing

As I promised yesterday, Par Farthing!

6 - Par begins his fantastic journey

Par: Great. Now that I'm no longer in the navy, I've got to walk all the way back home, wearing this orange jumpsuit. Couldn't the police have given me something better to wear? It smells awful. Did someone throw up on this? Boy, I'm hungry. They didn't feed me at the police station. I'll eat at this diner coming up.
(in diner) 'Scuse me, could I have something to eat?
Waiter: (gasp) There's an escapee here!!!!!!
(police lead Par into police car)

7 - Par's fantastic journey, part 2

Par: Great. They drove me all the way back to the police station, said they were sorry for the mixup, and threw back out without feeding or changing me out of this jumpsuit. What is this stain, anyway? It smells like someone was drooling on it. Oh well, I'll try some other place to eat. I'll try that fast-food restaurant.
(enters restaurant)
Cashier: Ahhhh!!! Robber!
(police lead Par into police car)

8 - Par's fantastic journey, part 3

Par: Great. They drove me back, said they were sorry, and threw me out again without feeding me or finding something else for me to wear. What's this in my pocket? It looks like a dead fly with its head chewed off. Anyways, I won't go someplace as formal as a restaurant. I'll head over to the market and buy food there.
(in market) Excuse me, could I have these oranges?
Marketer: Do you have any money?
Par: Oh, no. I forgot I needed that.
Marketer: Shoplifter!!!!!
(police lead Par into police car)

9 - Par's fantastic journey, part 4

Par: Okay, let's try this again. First, I'll go the ATM machine and withdraw some money.
ATM: PLEASE INSERT YOUR BANK CARD.
Par: Rats, my bank card was totally stolen by that robber! I'll have to go inside and make a withdrawal.
(in bank) Excuse me, could I make a withdrawal?
Teller: Here, take everything! Just don't hurt us!
Par: Hurt you? I wouldn't
Teller (on phone): Bank robber!!!!
(police lead Par into police car)

10 - Par's fantastic journey, part 5

Par: Why do the police keep arresting me, and throwing me out without giving me any money, food, or better clothing? The underside of this jumper is so thin, it's like someone's been rubbing their bottom on it. Seriously, I'm starving right now. I need something to eat right now. Say, (looks at garden) those tomatoes look ripe. I'll just casually walk by and then quickly grab one. (casually walks up, then quickly leans over)
Housewife: Burglar!!!!
(police lead Par into police car)

11 - Par's fantastic journey, part 6

Par: I wish they would just keep me in prison, even if I have to wear these clothes. At least I'd get fed. I need something else to wear. Anything to keep people from thinking I'm a robber. Hey, what's that in someone's trash can? It's a blanket! It makes me look like a beggar, but that's better than looking like a robber. This is some strange fabric, though. It's smooth, almost silky. I know I've seen these colors before. What does it remind me of?
(the American flag)
Passerby: He's wearing the flag!!!!
(police lead Par into police car)

12 - Par's fantastic journey, part 7

Par: It's hopeless. I'll never get any food or money. I can't do anything except sit here and starve.
Priest: Oh, poor man. No matter what your crime has been in the past, no man deserves such treatment. Here, have some of my bread, and some money to help you.
Par: I-I can't believe it! Someone's finally shown mercy to me! Someone's actually helping me out! Perhaps there's hope after all! Thank you, mister! You've given me something to believe in!
(Par jumps for joy, rips the thin backside of his jumpsuit, exposing his naked bum)
Passerby: Public flasher!!!!
(police lead Par into police car)
Par: They already took my bread away...

Unfairness and Repentance

Yes, I've been taking a long break without posting anything. Yeah, I can do that every once in a while. No, that does not excuse my absence.

So, time to let some weight off my shoulders with some pictures!

First, here's something I noticed on Google Trends: people ask "why" a lot during the school year.

Second, here's a practice drawing I did of a shoe on Wikipedia, because I needed some practice drawing shoes:

Third, here's a cartoon of a dinner scene. That woman on the left, by the way, is checking out the man on the left:

Fourth (and fifth), here are two quick gimps I did. The first is based off an image taken from a website that had gone offline (I'm sure you're familiar with the type). The second is taken from a recent BBC photo.

Sixth (and seventh and eighth and ninth and tenth), here are some strips I got from a Garfield randomizer that I found pretty humorous:

 

And eleventh (see? eleven days? eleven pictures?), I have this creepy GIF of Gandalf from the original LOTR film:

None of the above would have justified their own post, so aren't you lucky to get all eleven in one post? Of course not. Now I can get rid of those pictures and hopefully resume posting.