4minutesoryears ([info]4minutesoryears) wrote in [info]1bruce1,
@ 2008-02-19 22:44:00
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As requested, I am recapping SVK #36. The one in which Liz is totally out of character. Also, the scene on the cover never happens. I didn’t think Jess wore purple until Sweet Valley Twins. And what is up with Amy’s pants?

Elizabeth's Video Fever (Sweet Valley Kids)



 
Elizabeth is now addicted to a new video game. It’s called “Goin’ Wild.” GW is sadly not a game when overgrown frat boys get drunken girls to flash their boobs. Basically, it is a cheap imitation of “Oregon Trail.” All they do is cross rivers, and zap mosquitoes. I have a confession to make: I loved Oregon Trail when I was a kid. I was always the carpenter and had a lot of fun hunting bear, even though I usually ended up killing rabbits. Also, I think Indians came out and tried to kill us. Anywho, Jessica doesn’t like that Elizabeth is spending all of her time playing this game and not socializing with human beings. The only other players are Todd and Andy. They both have better scores than Elizabeth because she is a girl and naturally don’t play video games as well as the boys.
 
Jess gets upset when Lila and Ellen make fun of Elizabeth for constantly playing GW. Jess, the budding sociopath that she is, decides that Liz has to stop doing something she loves to pay more attention to Jess.
 
So for the B-plot, they have to write a story for Valentine’s Day. So for continuity’s sake, when did the last book take place? Did Liz’s cast get taken off? She’s not wearing it now, nor is it even mentioned. How come there are not fifty Christmas stories that come before it? I thought Sweet Valley lived for its Christmas stories. So, Jess knows that she can’t compete against Liz, so Jess says she isn’t even going to try. Amy comes over to play with the twins but Liz is too busy playing GW to notice Amy. Amy says that Liz won’t even notice what she and Jess do all afternoon. Nice to see your bitch tendencies early Amy!
 
To prove that Liz is totally addicted to video games, the ghost writer decides to have Liz not do her chores and spend her time playing GW. Ned even mistakes Jess for Liz! Liz doesn’t hear Alice call her to set the dinner table. OMG! Liz isn’t the perfect stick in the mud anymore. Damn that GW!
 
 
Even Liz’s teachers notice that Liz is slacking on her work. She gets an 80 on spelling test. Jess beats her and gets an 85. Oh noes! Liz didn’t get her perfect score. Mrs. Otis lectures Liz on the fact that for the past week. It’s a week of bad grades, it’s not like Liz killed someone or stopped going to school, or got an F. Mrs. O thinks that such a bad grade that is only five points less than Jess’s warrants a call home. Now, I’m all for responsible teachers and parents, but isn’t this a little extreme for a B-? But Saint Liz isn’t being perfect; naturally the world will spin off its axis. Liz, the world revolves around your prefectness! Don’t let us down.
 
Alice, in a rare example in good parenting, makes Liz give up GW. Only she fails in the follow through, Alice forgets to take the game away from Liz. Liz can’t imagine a week without the games, so she plays so she won’t lose her skills. Alice and Jess discover that Liz has spent the entire afternoon playing the game and not doing her homework. Now, why on earth would Alice let Liz keep the game she wasn’t supposed to be playing. Alice warns that there will be a big punishment for Liz once Ned gets home (Maybe he’ll break out the belt!). Jess wrote a sad story about how she missed Liz because of her new addiction to GW which makes Liz see the error of her ways. But, before Ned can give her a whopping, Liz writes a boring story about how she learned that the game was not more important than her family. The story talks about a girl who lives in the GW world and ignores her family (Which mysteriously does not have an older brother, Does Steve not count? Where’s the love?) Jess thinks that proper punishment for Liz is to help her with her homework. For some reason Alice and Ned agree. Grounding a kid for disobeying rules means spending an hour helping Jess with her homework. Though, this is Jess that we’re talking about, so it might take more than a few hours.
 
The next day at school, Todd asks Liz how she did on the game, but Liz is cured! She no longer wants to do boy things! The seesaw is about as adventurous as she’ll get now.
 
The one thing we do learn in this book is that Liz has an addictive personality.  Don't ever try cocaine Liz! How long after she gives up the video game does Liz get addicted to meddling in other people’s lives?
 
Type your cut contents here.



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[info]getyourwingss
2008-02-20 04:07 am UTC (link)
I have a confession: I loved Oregon Trails. I loved it when we got to play it in school. I forgot all about that until you did this!

Awesome recap.

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[info]loubeelou
2008-02-20 04:23 am UTC (link)
80 is a B- for you guys? Wow, in NZ at university it's an A. But here's they're way harsh graders. :(

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[info]emtqueen85
2008-02-20 05:46 am UTC (link)
In college an 80 is a B-. Back when I was in grade school (kindergarten through 12th grade), an 80 was a C (an 85 was the lowest B you could get. An 84 was the highest C).

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[info]tigrrrlily832f
2008-02-20 08:44 am UTC (link)
It really depends on where you go. If the class is curved enough, a 50 can be a B.

But yeah, grade inflation is like a sickness in schools these days. It doesn't really seem to matter where you live.

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[info]lauralareine
2008-02-20 11:29 pm UTC (link)
In Canada, 80 is an A- and 85 is an A. Anything 90 or above is A+. I always have trouble explaining this to American friends, who think I was a total failure at life when I tell them my grades, lol.

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[info]dirtywingsgirl
2008-02-22 03:09 am UTC (link)
Yeah I wish I went to uni in NZ :( In australia, an A is above 95

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[info]author_by_night
2008-02-20 01:14 pm UTC (link)
Maybe it was copyright stuff, but why didn't they ever just keep it Oregon Trail? Same with all the fake celebrities in the older books - just name, you know, real ones.

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[info]bttf4444
2008-02-21 01:13 am UTC (link)
I know a lot of authors try to avoid name dropping in books, lest they influence their readers in some way. Like, for example, in the protagonists don't like musicians that the readers do like - or vice versa - they can risk alienating some readers. Then I guess there's also the fact that they don't like to date the books - even though it is possible for people like older bands and musicians.

Believe it or not, there actually was a time when I thought Johnny Buck was a real musician. I was stunned by the sudden shift in the newer books.

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[info]zippyladoodles
2008-02-20 01:41 pm UTC (link)
Thank you :-) Trust Lizzie to get into a game like that, I was hoping for a bit of Duke Nukem or Resident Evil, lol! Then we could have snarked at Alice & Ned's bad parenting a little more for allowing their daughter to get into these games!

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[info]kerssido
2008-02-21 03:54 am UTC (link)
I've played Oregon Trail online. It's a lot of fun. I keep wanting to call it Wagon Trail though.

I'd rather have an overgame hallucination on Liz's part where she sees nothing but pixillated wilderness.

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[info]behindthechalet
2008-02-21 06:30 pm UTC (link)
Oregon Trail was genius. They came out with Oregon Trail II but it wasn't the same. I never knew anyone who made it to Oregon except my grandpa, and he could do it by fording the Columbia river - no ferries for him!

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[info]dirtywingsgirl
2008-02-22 03:12 am UTC (link)
I have no idea what Oregon trail is. Im from Australia so we never played it here. I did however get addicted to Sonic the Hedgehog. Fuck Mario! I was never a Nintendo child.
But I digress. Cool recap. I wish it was a super special and Liz actually got sucked INTO the game. I read a book like that as a kid and thought it was the coolest thing. But I guess having to shoot rabbits in real life is a bit traumatic for a kid...

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[info]4minutesoryears
2008-02-22 03:21 am UTC (link)
Jess could handle it. Sociopaths don't have human emotions. Plus, who ever heard of post tramatic stress in Sweet Valley?

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