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We started a very interesting conversation about improvements to CTIN-544 yesterday. This quickly evolved into a discussion regarding the IMD curriculum. Perry recognizes that, after being guinea pigs for two years, many of us have some insight that will contribute to the evolution of the IMD. PLEASE take my thoughts in context as they are meant to be suggestions (and not criticism):
Intro to CTIN-489, Maxis, and the Sims game (Chris & Peter)
Act One - The Xylophone
The morning is normal in Pleasantville and Howl family's needs are met. Charlie throws on his construction clothes, gallops down the stairs, wolfs down breakfast, and catches his carpool to work. Tanya feeds young Daren, gives him a bath, and encourages him to play with his new xylophone on the kitchen floor. While washing the dishes she hears her young child giggling and fumbling through random notes. The telephone rings and, as Tanya speaks, Daren plays a single note rendition of the Danse Macabre (Dance of Death) by Camille Saint-Saens. An extremely perplexed Tanya assumes the music came from the phone and continues with her chores. Soon to follow are a series of strange incidence for the Howl Family including electronics turning on and off, Charlie's hair growing more rapidly than normal, Tanya's insatiable appetite for exotic antique shopping, and garden tools appearing in the child's bedroom.
Act Two - Haunted Ever After
Days pass for the Howl family, but they are far from typical. Tanya fills the home with unusual antiques including primitive dolls, exotic cookbooks, and a severed head-in-a-jar. Charlie gets an unexpected promotion at work, disappears on nights of a full moon, and makes a habit of burying extended family portraits in the garden. Daren grows into an adolescent, practices his musical skills, and bonds with his new friend Frank. The family expands their home to make space for a new baby, their exotic collection of objects, and Daren's 13th birthday-piano. With the passing of each night the Howl family and their home become more and more eccentric.
Daren grows to young a young adult, excels at academics, and becomes quite popular at school. Girls fight for his attention in hope to be invited to his next hypnotizing home concert. However Samantha, his younger sister, isn't too happy about the lack of attention from her brother. She develops her own skill for torturing unwanted guests through the use of her favorite voodoo doll. Mom and Dad aren't exactly in a state of equilibrium either. Tanya spends hours talking to her severed head-in-a-jar and continues to fill the house with spirit-agitating antiques; her most recent purchase is a pagan sacrificial altar that replaces the dining table. Charlie continues to wander off at night and is no longer interested in grooming his hairy physique. He is also strangely petrified and barks at his wife's pickled friend.
Act Three - Party Animals
Paranormal activity in the Howl's estate becomes commonplace and the neighbors grow increasingly fearful of the unconventional family. Daren decides to throw a large party and invites all of his classmates and their families to a masquerade ball. Needless to say, all hell breaks loose when the conga line forms to the "Danse Macabre," around the dining room table, as a guest is being sacrificed. However, Ghostbusters crash the party, ignite their ghoul-shrinking canister, and reverse the paranormal activity of the event.