So Random! Vs All That

A couple of years ago, when Sonny with a Chance was announced, some people noticed that there was a sketch show involved, and All That was also a sketch show. Some people also noticed that Brian Robbins, who was involved with All That, was on board for Sonny with a Chance. A couple of months ago, when Demi Lovato announced that she wouldn’t be on season 3 of Sonny with a Chance, Disney announced that they would make Sonny with a Chance become the show-within-a-show So Random!, instead of focusing on the other characters. This lead to more comparisons to All That. And now, with The ‘90s are all that, people can’t help but compare these two shows.

Although everyone agrees that All That is better, there aren’t many clear reasons why. One of these might just be that it was better because it’s older. Here are my thoughts on why All That was better.

• The cast members were younger. According to Wikipedia, only one member, Lori Beth Denberg, was eighteen at the start of the show. And she was the oldest. However, in So Random! four of the five cast members are over eighteen. I think they’re all at least 20, too. While age shouldn’t affect quality, it sort of feels like the adult cast members want to move on from a Disney kidcom.
• All That isn’t the result of a star leaving their vehicle. So Random! would probably be better if it wasn’t just Disney’s chance at keeping the SwaC franchise alive. Like, if the Disney powers that be would just have So Random! from the start, it would probably be (or at least feel) more natural.
• Disney’s priority isn’t comedy. Okay, neither is Nickeldoden’s probably, but Disney cares more for making the next big thing (Miley Cyrus/ High School Musical Cast, anyone?). They also care more for making money.
• All That had more cast members. I believe in season 1 they had 7, while So Random! has 5. Most of the time in So Random! they need to use people outside of the five. If they added more cast members, that would be nice.
• The All That cast members kept their names. I’m not even kidding. In So Random!, the actors still go by their characters’ names (i.e., Sterling is called Chad whenever they’re no sketch, Doug is called Grady, etc.).

So Random! doesn’t suck as much as everyone says it does (Though I have a high tolerance of kidcoms, as long as it’s not Shake it Up! or Victorious). However, they have big shoes to fill. Especially considering there’s one less cast member.

Let’s Get Physical!

Now that I have your attention thanks to that bad reference, it’s time for me to post about something I haven’t posted about in such a long time: Newsea hairs! After I learned how to install .package files, I stopped criticizing every hair Newsea made because I realized I shouldn’t be talking unless I can make custom content found new sites for hair. And it’s pretty hard to come up with comments for each hairstyle when some look so alike (Lullaby and Jenifer, anyone?).

But this hair’s different. It’s so similar to other hairstyles, it’s worth posting about.

This hairstyle’s pretty good, and it’s also free. (The models look a little IMVU-ish, but whatever).

However, there are some hairs which are similar to this one:

Okay, so I guess it’s sort of justified because there’s not much variation you could do with a bob, but still.

And on another, somewhat related note, while I was typing this post, the song Physical was one of the choices on Don’t Forget the Lyrics!

Obligatory Heat Post

For the past few days, there’s been a heat advisory in some parts of New York and New Jersey. Yesterday, it was more than 100 degrees in some parts of the state. And it was pretty hot everywhere else in the country, too. But thanks to pools and air-conditioning, I’m fine. :P It’s times like this where I begin to want a Seasons EP to come out for The Sims 3. Even if open neighborhood and seasons would be a scary combination, it would be nice to dream about.

I got the career mod to work. Since the Generations Patch is nowhere to be found and I can’t update my game, I just got a previous version. Now my Sims can have more job options! The Gamer and Law Careers didn’t work, but I’ll get to that later.

And lastly, RIP Amy Winehouse.

Seriously?

TeenNick has ruined their schedule yet again. And just a month after I praised them for changing up their schedule. This week, TeenNick is going to begin to air The 90’s Are All That, which is a block consisting of old Nickelodeon shows, like Clarissa Explains it All, All That, Ren and Stimpy, Doug (Which I believe Disney owns the copyright to but I’m not sure). The problem is, though, this block will take the slots where Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared aired. Both of these shows had a season each, and I’m sure I’ve already seen most of the episodes, but TeenNick pulled Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared (And I believe Buffy, the Vampire Slayer) off of the air already. And what are they airing in place?

Everybody Hates Chris and Malcolm in the Middle. MITM used to air on nick@nite, but then they pulled it off of the air mysteriously, and then it was on TeenNick for a while too, but they stopped showing it, too. And EHC airs on nick@nite as well.

It’s like nick@nite and TeenNick teamed up to piss me off.

Degrassi Now or Never Predictions

Today, TeenNick will begin to air new episodes of Degrassi four nights a week, telenovela style. This will go on until September. Here are my thoughts on what’s going to happen:

Anya will be involved with drugs: Specifically, cocaine. Last season, she was interested in a doctor. This season, she’s going to go out with him, and he’ll probably be the one to introduce her to drugs. Unfortunately, Degrassi will probably have this issue in only two episodes, and forget about it later.

The Imogen/Eli/Clare/Jake Love Polygon will still be boring: Eli and Clare broke up in the season 10 finale, because he was manipulating her (As in, he purposely got into a car crash so she could visit him in a hospital). Jake and Imogen are new characters that are going to be plot devices rebounds for Eli and Clare. Yes, you read that right. Two new characters introduced this season are just going to exist for the sake of a love polygon (I’m not sure if it’s a Love Triangle, or Love Square or whatever at this point).

KC and Jenna will break up: Last season, KC and Jenna had a baby. From these season’s commercials, it appears that KC will cheat on her.

Bianca will be Alex 2.0: Alex was also a tough girl with a bad home life (i.e. money issues, abusive stepfather). All the trailers imply that Bianca’s bad past will catch up with her, too. It looks like an ex-boyfriend is unhappy that she’s moved on (and has a gun?).

And it feels like the finale will be about the Imogen/Eli/Clare/Jake love polygon, since Eli and Clare are a fan favorite and the Degrassi powers that be need good ratings. It doesn’t really help that the finale probably won’t cover the seniors graduating as much as a love polygon that can continue next season.

Mod Installation Help?

Yesterday, I wanted to add some more careers to the game. So, I went to Mod The Sims, and I saw some careers I wanted (Specifically, the Gamer Career and the Law Career. I noticed that I’d have to get twallan's NRaas Career Mod (Which I’d link to, but I can’t seem to find it at the moment), so I downloaded that as well as the careers I wanted last night. However… I have no idea how to install mods. I couldn’t find any tutorials and it wasn’t included in the Read Me file of the mod, so, does anyone know what to do? I should be posting this in a help forum or something, shouldn’t I?


EDIT: I tried installing a couple of mods with mixed results. I tried a No Sparkles Mod  and a No Intro Mod, which both worked. However, the Career Mod(Which I found the link for) didn't work.

The Battle of the Labyrinth Review

This week, I read The Battle of the Labyrinth, the fourth book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I bought the book in April 2010, so I figured that it would be a good time to read it. :P And guess what? This book doesn’t count for my summer reading, although the first book in the series does. That’s just more support for my “Summer Reading isn’t useless, just extremely unorganized” theory.

I’d love to compare this book to the other books in the series, but I barely remember most of them. I read the second book, The Sea of Monsters, around three and a half years ago. I read the first book, The Lightning Thief, three years ago (Yay for reading things out of order!), and again last year. I read the third book, The Titan’s Curse, three years ago, too. So I could only accurately compare this book to The Lightning Thief.

The first book was more ‘coming-of-age’-y. Like, it related to things like growing up, suddenly having adult responsibilities, not fitting in, and so on. It sort of taught lessons to kids. This book, though, didn’t have lessons. It was just action, if that makes sense. That didn’t really affect the quality of the book. The only thing I noticed was that the ending didn’t have something for me to remember when I finished reading if that makes sense. Like Carrie sort of reminds people not to bully, as does Nineteen Minutes. But this book sort of just ends.

Grover and Tyson, Percy’s not-Half-Blood sidekicks, were annoying as always in this book. I don’t know why I couldn’t stand them. I never have liked either of them at all. They’re just so annoying for no reason in particular. There was a part in the book where Tyson and Grover got lost for a couple of chapters, which was nice. Highlight for spoilers.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare, a girl from one of the earlier books (I don’t know which one), has a bigger role in the story. She’s sort of a foil to Annabeth, because she’s sort of a ‘go with the flow’ person, while Annabeth is more organized.

This book gets really confusing if you don’t know Greek mythology that well. I vaguely remember the twelve Olympians’ roles, but there were still lots of parts of the book which were confusing.

This book wasn’t the best book in the series. There were lots of parts which just dragged on and on. However, if you want to finish this series, or if you’re interested in mythology, then I’d recommend it.

And I just looked up the series on Wikipedia. Apparently, they’re going to be filming the sequel. I don’t know why, really. The first movie was good as a standalone movie, but unfaithful to the book. It made the trio seventeen years old, which is really annoying, seeing as there was a prophecy in the book which stated “Once Percy (OR any other child of Poseidon, Zeus, or Hades) turns sixteen, he will either destroy the world or save it”. Also, Annabeth, who was blonde in the book, was played by a brunette actress, when they could’ve just as easily used Anna Sophia Robb or Dakota Fanning. Or they could’ve used a wig. Plus, two of the three actors for the trio are older than twenty. So by the time they’d finish the movies, one actor would be twentysomething, and the other two would be thirtysomething. And they’re supposed to be playing teenagers.

Plus, the movie didn’t get great reviews, because people were just calling it a Harry Potter knockoff. I haven’t seen or read Harry Potter, so I can’t comment on that.