Special offer - guest articles

One way or another, I will be continuing on here. So I've decided on a special offer.

You can post either special reports or blog posts by any of the local journalist except Cyclone. Whenever the mood strikes is a good time to write and post. I could add a family with a journalist for you (I believe I need to fetch Cheezy's family!) if you don't want to use Connor, Star or Autumn.

You could review books/movies/tv. You could write a 'foreign correspondent', foreign meaning outside the valley. Pretty much, any random content you might find in an online newspaper.

So submit your resume now to be part of the SV Times team. This offer is not limited by time. :)

If you have some other ideas for what special articles should be in the SV Times, leave them in the comments! And check the comments for ideas.

Ok, YES, it appears that a Reset Everything and a save as has brought this save back from the brink.

So if you want to write the occasional article, it should either be a 'foreign' piece targetted to the SV audience or match the cast of characters that we have established on the blog. I'll try and fill out a few more family profiles but this should be enough to get you started.

Family Bios from Sunset Valley - Nevada, McPherson-Hill and Lessen Families

The Nevada Family

Jamison Nevada

Sim Origins: by townie
Age: Elder
Occupation: Retired
Characteristics: Brave, Clumsy, Handy, Computer Whiz, Lucky
Brief biography: Jamison was a loner up to the point where Sierra Nevada entered his life. Her recent divorce from Clover Hill had left her feeling vulnerable. He was the one to convince Sierra to allow

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Sierra Nevada

Sim Origins: by Muleskinner
Age: Adult
Occupation: Business - Division Manager
Characteristics: Over-emotional, Neurotic, Virtuoso, Hopeless Romantic, Charismatic
Brief biography: Sierra's first love was the half elf Clover Hill. She was devastated to find that he'd had an affair with the town bike and demanded a divorce. She soon found Jamison, an older man but one who adored her. Their marriage as remained stable and an inspiration for other woman around town to dump unfaithful guys.

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Paulette Nevada

Daughter of Jamison and Sierra Nevada
Age: Child
Characteristics: Brave, Technophobe, Clumsy
Brief biography: Paulette is finding school hours a trial, since she dislikes computers and most of the classes require using a computer at least some of the time. She uses her time to make friends instead of working on the computer. Her grades aren't top of the class but she has plenty of time to work on extra credit activities.

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Pauline Wan

Age: Adult
Occupation:  Music - Hit Movie Composer
Characteristics: Brave, athletic, friendly
Brief biography: Pauline has been moving from household to household since her divorce with Christian Montgomery. She most recently managed to convince the Nevada family to take her in. Sierra is unaware that Pauline has been pursuing Jamison while Sierra is at work.

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The McPherson-Hill Family

Clover McPherson-Hill

Sim Origins: by Sidonza
Age: Adult
Occupation: Gardener - Master weeder
Characteristics: Loves the Outdoors, Good, Vegetarian, Green Thumb, Lucky
Brief biography: Clover Hill's first marriage broke up when he was caught with the town bike. It wasn't long after the divorce was final before he found Kacyn. He has long since given up any romances outside of his marriage, Kacyn fills all of his needs. A vegetarian, he gardens enthusiastically to ensure the family has the freshest and best quality produce possible.

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Kacyn McPherson-Hill

Sim Origins: by kjanie08
Age: Adult
Occupation: Culinary - Executive Chef
Characteristics: Flirty, brave, Natural Cook, Clumsy, Ambitious
Brief biography: Kacyn knew from the moment she met him that Clover was the Sim of her dreams. Their marriage has been long and happy, with one son they adore. Kacyn's favourite place in the world is the kitchen, any kitchen. Her wish is to be a 5-star chef, and she's been creating new dishes or perfecting old ones since she was old enough to use a toy oven.

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Blueberry McPherson-Hill

Son of Clover and Kacyn McPherson-Hill
Age: Child
Characteristics: Slob, Clumsy, Light Sleeper
Brief biography: Blueberry has been at best an indifferent student at school. He's the only student of such a hue, and feels like an outcast because of it. His school mates don't tease him, but they also don't talk to him.

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The Lessen Family

Linda Lessen

Sim Origins: by EA Games
Age: Elder
Occupation: Music - Backup Vocalist
Characteristics: Family-Oriented, Handy, Vegetarian, Perfectionist, Charismatic
Brief biography: Linda rapidly rose in the music career to backup vocalist. She felt that this level was her forte and never again asked for a promotion.

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Mick Lessen

Sim Origins: by Chrysame
Age: Adult
Occupation: Music - Lead Guitarist
Characteristics: Great Kisser, Virtuoso, Neat, Family-Oriented, Athletic
Brief biography: Mick only has two passions in his life. One is his wife and the second is his guitar. His music is well loved in the city, but few Sims outside of his family or the band know him well. The few that do are very good friends.

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Debbie Lessen

Daughter of Mick and Linda Lessen
Age: Teen
Characteristics: Eco-Friendly, Evil, Easily Impressed, Athletic
Brief biography: Debbie find that school work is easy. It's other people that are hard. Her long term boyfriend Daniel recently broke up and Debbie is having a hard time coping.

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The SV Times - Cycl0n3 Sw0rd's Blog

The Times still feels that we reporters should be writing blogs as well as our usual articles and features.

We had a busy night the night that my darling wife Trina toppled Thomas Leman off his position in the Chess Tournament ranks. Because not only was there an intense chess game.

But we also had a big birthday party for both the kids.

We invited lots of our friends like Ollie Mayweather and Alicia Longshore Frio.

And had some of our neighbors invite themselves.

First to have his birthday was our son Rock.

He is a promising young toddler. My hair, Trina's skin tone.

A few more of the guests, Autumn Portobella and Jane Bachelor - co workers of mine.

Then it was the turn of our little princess.

Nicole Sw0rd. We never did work out how she got that hair colour but we like it.

The SV Times - Autumn Portobella's Blog

This is Autumn Portobella (nee Cusack) and my first blog post.

Yes, Antonio and I finally got around to tying the knot. It only took forever for us to decide to seal the deal. If our daughter wants to move in with a man when she leaves home, we won't have any room to complain. But he better treat her well, she is the apple of her father's eye.

Usually life is pretty quiet for us. But tonight we had a spirit invasion and had to get the local ghost hunter over to deal with it. Meredith Kane is quite the professional at capturing spirits. It wasn't long before she had captured all of our spirits.

The Portobella Family

Autumn Portobella

Age: Adult
Occupation: Journalism - currently Professional Blogger
Characteristics: Brave, Absent-Minded, Clumsy, Hopeless Romantic, Computer Whiz
Brief biography: Once Sunset Valley's main pizza deliverer, Autumn has since moved to the journalism career. Her pieces for the local SV Times are usually the social group events; picnics, the chess tournament championships, etc. She works well with her colleagues and remembers to bring along a pizza for lunch from time to time.

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Antonio Portobella

Sim Origins:MJ_Rose
Age: Young Adult
Occupation: Law Enforcement - currently Vice Squad
Characteristics: Slob, Great Kisser, Daredevil, Hopeless Romantic, Charismatic
Brief biography: Antonio moved to town and immediately became a police officer. While still new, he ordered delivery pizza frequently and became acquainted with Autumn, who was the local pizza delivery girl. He has moved up the ranks quickly with his daredevil tendencies to take risks that other officers won't.

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Patricia Portobella

Daughter of Antonio and Autumn
Age: teen
Characteristics: Couch Potato, Loves the Outdoors, Hydrophobic, Lucky
Brief biography: Patricia has relatively recently entered her teen years and has yet to be active on the romance scene.  Her ultimate goal in life is to succeed in the business career. She can be found frequenting the lounge chairs at the local beach.

Family Bios from Sunset Valley - Warren-Hawke, Landgraab (see note) and Goth families

The Warren-Hawke Family

Hugo Warren-Hawke

Sim Origins: by Chrysame
Age: Adult
Occupation: Politics - City Council Member
Characteristics: Absent-minded, brave, family-oriented, grumpy, friendly
Brief biography: Hugo's ultimate goal is to be the leader of the free world. He has been hampered in this goal, there is a lot of competition for politics and so far he has not gained enough recognition to climb as high as he would like. He also does not realize that his much loved wife Ripley is a major liability to his goals. If her true profession came to light during a campaign, he'd be lucky to be allowed to fetch coffee for even the Yes Men in the department.

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Ripley Warren-Hawke

Sim Origins: by Chrysame
Age: Adult
Occupation: Criminal - Bank robber
Characteristics: Flirty, brave, excitable, artistic, kleptomaniac
Brief biography: Ripley's true love is the arts. However, her aptitudes in bravery and kleptomania have enabled her to excel in the darker arts of thievery. It is said that Ripley could make a watch disappear off the arm of the local cop while they were paying attention and they would still have no clue what happened. Ripley has tried gently to inform Hugo of her profession, but so far he has yet to notice her hints.

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Kristina Warren-Hawke

Daughter of Hugo and Ripley Warren-Hawke
Age: Teen
Characteristics: Slob, workaholic, disciplined, artistic
Brief biography: Workaholic and disciplined Kristina wants to make an impression at school so that she can go far. She has chosen the profession of interior design as her main goal in life. While she is strong on design skills, she has yet to work on her people skills that will help her business flourish as she deals with difficult clients.

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Roberta Warren-Hawke

Daughter of Hugo and Ripley Warren-Hawke
Age: Child
Characteristics: Brave, athletic, friendly
Brief biography: The younger daughter of Hugo and Ripley. Like many children, she spends so much time either doing homework or watching tv that she is barely acquainted with anyone else in town.

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The Landgraab IV Family

Special note, this family starts with Malcolm Landgraab IV - my attempt at remaking the Sim from Bluewater Village in Sims 2. They have no relationship to the Landgraabs of Sunset Valley.

Malcolm Landgraab IV

Sim Origins: by PiB
Age: Deceased
Characteristics: Ambitious, Charismatic, Slob, Grumpy, Athletic

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AJ Anderson Landgraab

Sim Origins: by SelahFreeAtLast
Age: Deceased
Characteristics: lucky, angler, loves the outdoors, athletic

Birth order of their three children - Mindi (Landgraab-Goth), Malcolm (Landgraab V) and Daniel Landgraab

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Daniel Landgraab

Son of AJ and Malcolm Landgraab IV
Age: Young Adult
Occupation: Law enforcement - Desk jockey
Characteristics: Brave, loves the outdoors, excitable, bookworm, hot-headed
Brief biography: Hot-headed Daniel has always found his temper to be a problem. His relationships at school suffered greatly, no one wanted to be around if his temper got the best of him. He and his official girlfriend Debbie can barely stand to be in the same room. Daniel hopes the discipline required from law enforcement will help him curb his tongue. He lives with his older brother and family.

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Landgraab V family

Malcolm Landgraab V

Son of AJ and Malcolm Landgraab IV
Age: Young adult
Occupation: Self employed fisherman - saltwater initiate
Characteristics: Neurotic, loves the outdoors, athletic, friendly, angler
Brief biography: Heir of the family and family name, Malcolm prefers outdoor pursuits above all others. He especially adores fishing. He is willing to spend all hours in any weather to catch the perfect specimen. Not much of one to socialize for the sake of it, he holds a deep affection for his older sister and her son. His marriage with Tatianna has finally provided him with a son of his own and an heir to the family name and traditions.

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Tatianna Landgraab

Sim origins: by Kaleeko
Age: Young adult
Occupation: Military - Grunt
Characteristics: Perfectionist, dislikes children, snob, athletic, mean spirited
Brief biography: Tatianna's disposition leaves most of the town reluctant to be in the same building with her. One of her few friends was Malcolm. Friendship turned to love one evening and the pair have been doing well since.

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Malcolm Landgraab VI

Son of Tatianna and Malcolm Landgraab V
Age: Baby
Characteristics: Athletic, virtuoso
Brief biography: NA

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Goth family

Gunther Goth

Age: Deceased
Characteristics: Grumpy, charismatic, frugal, workaholic, brave

Cornelia Goth

Age: Deceased
Characteristics: Grumpy, charismatic, neat, unflirty, perfectionist

Birth order of their children Mortimer (Landgraab-Goth), Rena Goth

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Rena Goth

Daughter of Gunther and Cornelia Goth
Age: Young Adult
Occupation: Culinary - Kitchen Scullion
Characteristics: Insane, loves the outdoors, loser, athletic, easily impressed
Brief biography: Rena was the surprise child born late in their lives to Gunther and Cornelia Goth. Her father died soon after her birth. Cornelia grew more interested in finding a new partner then she was in raising her second child. Rena suffered from this lack of love, she finds it hard to make friends. Her only friend is her teen sweetheart Walter. Rena has yet to move away from home, her brother Mortimer has not pressed her to leave.

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Landgraab-Goth family

Mortimer Landgraab-Goth

Son of Gunther and Cornelia Goth
Age: Young Adult
Occupation: Music - Lyricist
Characteristics: Hopeless romantic, artistic, grumpy, heavy sleeper, ambitious
Brief biography: Mortimer knew by the end of high school, there were two things he wanted in life. To make his family even wealthier then the had been and to have Mindi Landgraab for his wife. A hopeless romantic himself, his lyrics reach out to pull the hearts of every concert going fan. It's said that his concerts cause more proposals then any other single factor. And two days after the concert, the couples come to their senses and break off the relationship.

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Mindi Landgraab-Goth

Daughter of Malcolm and AJ Landgraab
Age: Young adult
Occupation: Journalism - Investigative reporter
Characteristics: Neurotic, genius, good, light sleeper, kleptomaniac
Brief biography: Mindi wants to master the arts of writing and painting. She currently works as a freelance journalist for a local magazine, not as one of the SV Times writers. She is thinking about becoming a self-employed writer and creating a children's book series which she would write and illustrate. Her neurotic tendencies stem from needing to swipe things and then feeling guilty until she has a chance to return them. She has yet to admit her habit to Mortimer.

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Seth Landgraab-Goth

Son of Mortimer and Mindi Landgraab-Goth
Age: Child
Characteristics: Over-emotional, good, easily impressed
Brief biography: So far, life has been good for the young Seth. He still has yet to master doing homework in time for school. He is extremely fond of his mother and uncle, his father is nearly a stranger to him.

The SV Times - Gnus of Interest

News in the City
by Connor Frio

School overcrowding is reaching epic proportions in Sunset Valley. Teachers are complaining that their classrooms don't have enough desks for the number of students. Parents are complaining because their kids skip school. The kids complain since it takes them over 2 hours to enter the door and get to their desk. They say that's the main cause of skipping school, why enter if half the day is gone already.

We interviewed Mayor MJ Rose-McPherson about the situation.

"Well, of course the city would love to have more funding for schools, but we just don't have the budget to support it. As you know, we offered some incentives so the Backlot Studio would set up here. And those incentives cut the rest of the budget to the bone."

"Then the incentives were a bad idea?"

"I'm sure that having a new industry in town will make life much better in the long run. It's just going to be a bit rough for the next two years. I've asked the governor for assistance. However she has yet to reply."

I managed to convince Governor Christi Clayton to an interview.

"Sunset Valley gets just as much of the government money as the other cities in our district. It is not our responsibility to throw more money toward a city that spent over a quarter of their budget on some 'incentive' scheme.

People in the City
by Cycl0n3 Sw0rd

Landgraab family gathered in the local library. Patriarch Geoffrey Landgraab, both his sons Malcolm and Brendan and Malcolm's wife Bella all decided to take a break in the library.

Malcolm said, "We're really mostly a bunch of bookworms and this gives us a break from the babies."

"Babies?"

"Bella gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. We're quite excited of course but a little stressed from having two babies to deal with."

Ripley Warren-Hawke spent much of the evening playing at Red Rendezvous.

"There wasn't a big crowd tonight, but the people here were most appreciative of my music. They dropped over a hundred simoleons into my case."

Relationships in the city
by Star Matlock

Bradley Kane and Courtney Leman were getting to know each other better in one of the traditional town trysting places, the Pleasant Rest Graveyard at night. The teenagers were willing to spend until the wee hours of the morning, unfortunately for them, the police regularly look for teen couples. Worse for Courtney was her father Thomas was the cop that busted them.

"Courtney did try the 'Oh Daddy, we just lost track of time' ploy," Thomas Leman stated. "So she's grounded until she can prove her ability to tell the time properly. She might be allowed out by the time she's an adult, maybe."

"And the Kane boy?"

"His father did not look pleased to see a police car arrive outside his house with his son in it. I believe a few words were dropped in the boy's ear."

Jon Marsh and Pauline Wan were seen together at The Corner Pub. The two of them were getting along quite well, which is only to be expected of two of the biggest flirts in town.

They also share a similar history. Jon was married once and has divorced. Pauline was married once and has divorced. They both left children behind with their former spouses.

Sunset Valley Chess Tournaments
By Autumn Portobella

Trina Sw0rd is still working her way through the chess ranks. Her last opponent was Thomas Leman. After two matches, Mr Leman graciously admitted defeat.

"Her opening gambit was superb," said Mr Leman discussing the match. "Trina is a moderately aggressive player and I wasn't keeping my defenses in line well enough.  We may have a new Chess champion in the city soon."

The SV Times - Connor Frio's Blog

Hey there, loyal readers. I'm Connor, investigative reporter for the SV Times. The management in their infinite wisdom have decided that the reporting staff "Shall blog from time to time to remind the readers that there are people behind the stories." There are always people behind the stories. Some of them make the news. Some of us report it. We are all people.

I think it's a bulls**t idea but hey, they pay for my time. Even when it's a blog.

At any rate, here's a pic of me and one of my girls. My Celeste. She's such a little sweetheart.

It has been interesting for me since Alicia entered my life. A wife, a step-daughter and my own little girl. When Alicia first tried to woo me, I couldn't believe that a relationship with anyone would work. I prefer my solitude; reading a good book in a quiet corner. She had her work cut out for her, convincing me that I could love her and accept her daughter as my own.

She was very right. You know, I can't imagine life without any of them now.

Alicia has been a bit touchy of late. She's had another birthday and I dare not mention anything around her that even vaguely sounds like birthday.

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The Frio Family - Connor, Alicia, Caroline and Celeste

Alicia Longshore Marsh Frio

Sim Origins: by selahfreeatlast
Age: elder
Occupation: Politics - City Council Member
Characteristics: Great Kisser, Charismatic, Schmoozer, Lucky, Friendly
Brief biography: Alicia is on her second marriage. The first marriage with Jon Marsh proved unsatisfactory since Jon hated being tied down plus his tendency to chase every skirt in town. Alicia had made many friends across town, but more meaningful relationships eluded her for some time. Then she met Connor. It took time to bring him out of his shell, but worth it. Her marriage with Connor has been good for both of them.

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Connor Frio

Age: adult
Occupation: Journalism - Investigative Reporter
Characteristics: Loner, Unflirty, Absent-minded, Good, Bookworm
Brief biography: Connor was happy when he moved away from his brother to a place of his own. He was the ultimate loner, or so he thought until Alicia entered his life. Now he's surrounded by girls, and finds that a family brings happiness of its own. He dearly loves his wife and both of their girls. His work at the Sunset Valley Times brings him a lot of satisfaction.

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Caroline Marsh Frio

Daughter of Alicia and Jon Marsh
Age: child
Characteristics: Slob, Clumsy, Artistic
Brief biography: Caroline barely remembers her biological dad, he left the family while she was a toddler. She's been very happy since gaining her new dad. Her new little sister, on the other hand, is someone she could do without.

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Celeste Frio

Daughter of Alicia and Connor Frio
Age: toddler
Characteristics: Hates the Outdoors, Friendly
Brief biography: Still a toddler, there's so much to see and learn ahead for this little girl.

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