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Year 10

About JAG18
- Birthday August 5
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Gender
he/him/his
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Location
Texas
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Interests
BIONICLE, History, Movies, Board Games, Music; favorite artists include: CHVRCHES, Grimes, Luna Shadows, Sasha Alex Sloan, Ava Max, MARINA, Taylor Swift, and Kim Petras.
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Tahnok-Kal Attacks! (149/293)
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JAG18 started following Judicious January
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Feature photo is "Orange Rose Flower in Bloom during Daytime" by Pixabay on Pexels. That title means nothing, I just like making up fun sound names, but since this will be the last one of these I'm going to do, it doesn't really matter. What I Consumed: While I've watched and enjoyed the reels of Finnish artist Ichigonya (aka Artprojectdeathonapaper) for a few months now, but just started reading some of their old articles last month. I'll admit I've followed them more for their reels than art, but I actually really liked some of their older works. I've always loved reading about Tolkien and his work (despite it being years since I fully read LOTR), but this week I've really been in it. Mostly I'm reading articles/posts by Michael Martinez and A Phuulish Fellow, but I want to read more broadly. What I Made: Peppermint fudge, because what else am I going to do with uneaten Christmas candy canes? Although despite knowing to use the double boiler technique I think I keep burning the chocolate chips resulting in the fudge being thicker than I think it should be before chilling. IDK, it tasted good, but I forgot to take a picture. Technically, two card games. One I deleted a few months ago, but decided I wanted to play again (it's still fine) and the other I lost with my computer crash so I had to rebuild almost from scratch and while it's better it can get old fast. I made one short on Youtube (a super quick book review). Not the most auspicious start to my YT career, although perfectionism is really keeping me from making many other videos. It's probably more achievable (for me) if I made it a podcast (maybe with minimal visual aids), but I don't know. I freaking hit a brick wall with my book and after a couple of weeks admitted I wasn't going to get unstuck any time soon so I took on the daunting task of organizing my 6+ years worth of writing notes and revisited 3 short stories. Only really edited one of them, but if I did want to finish them I know what needs to be done. I won't any time soon since it's really freaking hard to get short fiction noticed online and I could spend the time and energy on other things. What Happened: Um yeah, I was in a malaise for most of last month, which is why it took so long to make a YT short (I know I was trying to make a longer review originally, then found out I couldn't so switched to making a short but still). To sum up why I'm canceling this, something I read in a reel: "Do not compare yourself to anyone-especially not your healthy friends." Other people have lives that can fill a newsletter/blog, I don't, that's not how I thought life would go, but it did and like I always say, you just got to make the best of it. What's Next? I've spent enough time on this. I think my best bet is to focus on making a 2nd edition of my book (which will require quite a lot of planning and rewriting). Could mention more, but most people won't find out what happens. Maybe for now I'll just say "yolo" and wait to see what happens next. -JAG
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I mean considering after he turned into a Toa he got really busy that's not surprising. Not to mention he's in a completely different weight class now so a rematch at this point would just be hustling/bullying at least one of which has to be against the Toa Code (or at least I would hope so).
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“The Granger Girls” by Lara Jane Robinson. The book opens with insight into a twisted mind and hints at the resulting drama and death that the darkness will create. This is a YA thriller about a spoilt London brat named Kate-Camille Granger who wants to kill off the popular girls at her school so she can take their place. She does this by recruiting several outcasts to help her in her crimes. Death, drama, thrills, and also some interesting insight into various issues soon follow. I really like this book. It has fleshed out characters, is villain centric, and the writing style is good and balanced between description, interiority, and action. The plot is well-paced, realistic, and sucks you in and make you want to find out what happens next. It also has insight into experiences and serious issues like classism, guilt, paranoia, the effect of crime on victims’ families, unrequited sapric yearning, homophobia, and fear of coming out. If you want a happy ending this ain’t it as the book is quite dark, but it does it to be realistic and explore heavy subject matter, so the darkness feels earned but isn’t going to be for everyone. There are trigger warnings at the front of the book if you want to know more. I would say if there are any big problems it’s the large cast can lead to some characters lacking page time or not getting as much development as others, although I can’t think of who could be cut without spoiling the mix. There are times where things the book usually does quite well, it doesn’t do as well, like an info dump, or feeling a little bloated, or someone saying something out of character. If you like YA thrillers at all you should definitely give this a read, but I think fans of YA in general, crime thrillers, and true crime will also enjoy this if they don’t mind the darkness. (Yes, this is a review I'm going to be copypasting a lot online) "Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir" by Jeremy Barlow and Juan Frigeri. This is a comic adapting several scripts for episodes not produced for "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", one of my favorite shows. It is also a decade old and I'm sure most fans of the show have either read it, read a summary of it, or watched an unofficial motion comic that may or may not exist, so I'll just list random thoughts. For the most part, it felt like the show, although the overall plot felt a little weak and like just tying up loose ends. Aside from Maul's escape and a certain character's death, you can watch season 5 and 7 (these episodes were meant to go in season 6) and not feel like anything's missing. I wish this had been produced just because this is the best General Grievous ever was in the show. I think this was the first appearance of Gar Saxon, a character I really like from "Star Wars: Rebels" and season 7 of TCW. He has a minor role, but I love how fanatical he is in his devotion to Maul, which kind of makes what happens to him in season 7 more impactful.
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What Are You Listening To At This Very Moment?
JAG18 replied to Nescent's topic in Completely Off Topic
I was going to play something off my all-time favorites to celebrate, but instead let's pay homage to an old classic. "Gravity Hurts" - Cryoshell; Brinck. -
Evidence #1: Tahu Mata can surf on lava (see "water is for wimps" concept art) and therefore might have the desire to jump in a volcano. Evidence #2: lava resistant creatures living in a volcano would not be the weirdest thing on Spherus Magna. Evidence #3: non-lava resistant cultists hiding in a dormant volcano, but using a giant smoke machine to trick outsiders into avoiding the volcano would also not be weird for Spherus Magna. Evidence #4: Tahu is heroic and hotheaded enough to try and stop a dangerous cult single-handedly. Counterpoint #1: pre-2002 Tahu might do that, but for this scenario to make sense it requires post-2010 Tahu who would get at least Onua or Pohatu to back him up before engaging a dangerous cult in battle. Conclusion: idea is plausible.
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What Are You Listening To At This Very Moment?
JAG18 replied to Nescent's topic in Completely Off Topic
"big girl now" - Kaitlin Stark. -
BESIDES Downfall, what is your favorite Bionicle book?
JAG18 replied to ToaHordikaMatau-o5g's topic in Bionicle Discussion
I mean what do we look like, Yu-Gi-Oh players? -
Well, I at least feel like I got decimated. Only second part in this series so I don't know if I'm supposed to have an intro, but here we go. What I Consumed: I started doing this in November, but last month I finished rewatching all the "scum and villainy" episodes of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". I've always believed that a show like the crime and bounty hunter focused episodes of that show would be the greatest show of all time. Rewatching with a critical eye made me realize two things: 1) a lot of the early episodes of that show weren't...great and 2) Westerns, gangster films, and other similar genres inspired these episodes. This was all part of research for a project that I may or not may have put on the back burner now, but still fun. I watched "47 Ronin" that Japanese historical/mythological action movie from 2013 starring Keanu Reeves. I remember watching the trailer before it came out and have wanted to see it ever since. It was very mid and I'm struggling to think of anything I really liked about it. I did some digging and apparently the studio meddled with it to the point it became a disjointed mess. C'est la vie, I guess. I randomly got suggested this video called "Harry Potter Is Also Ableist". Now, I've never heard of this channel before and I've never read the books and haven't seen the movies since they first came out (borrowed the DVDs for the first five from the library), but I still love the character Luna Lovegood. Thus, I only watched the portion about how Luna is 110% autism coded. In fact I was probably watching it twice a day for a whole week and will probably watch it again after posting this. I reread "The Granger Girls" by Lara Jane Robinson one of my favorite books I've read in the last few years and I like it more now (4.5 stars vs. 4 stars). I won't say what I think about the book here other than I really like it, because I'll probably post about it in the last book you read topic. Although, honestly since I need to write a review for goodreads, I'll probably just post it to both places and maybe link it here if I feel like it, I don't know*. It's probably been awhile since I read a book twice let alone in the same year, but since my computer was still broken and I wanted to read more print books, my eyes kept going to my signed copy of this book on my shelf. *11 days later: link to review in said topic. What I Made: I made these Christmas cards for my family; some have funny drawings in them. Also, I made an ecard for my friend's birthday. What's weird is, last year, I knew it was their birthday and I debated DMing them a happy birthday message, but got distracted and blew it off. This year, I started getting images for the card in late November and as soon as I got my new computer I made it in ellacard and had an agonizing wait until this month until I could finally give it. They actually really liked it! My writing marathon bombed due to poor planning, no other excuse, but I did write 7200 words, which beat my old record of words written in day. Yeah, waking up at one in the morning, eating mostly candy, struggling to came up with a plot on the spot, not a good time. I think I listened to all of Lindsey Stirling's discography except for her new album though. Still working on it at a slower rate. What Happened: Got a new computer to replace my old one and over the last few weeks I've slowly realized how much stuff I lost in the crash and I'm trying my best to live with that. Holidays felt busy. I think it was Christmas Eve 2020 where after finishing work at Fedex, I sat in my car in the parking lot and cried while listening to "Too Sad To Cry" by Sasha Alex Sloan (yeah I know, going against the title of the song my bad). Well, this Christmas Eve I laid in bed (despite saying I was going to get up) and listened to one of Chxrlotte's classic sad songs on repeat. I can't remember which one though, probably "Don't Save Me". Yeah, the days before my friend's birthday were not very good. I guess despite what I wrote last entry, some things never change. What's Next? I've had two chances to post this somewhere, but passed up both so I'll do it now. If I get asked what my new year goals are, I'm just going to quote "Hot Wheels: Battle Force Five": "I don't plan that far ahead; speed, power, and attitude, dudes!" Anyway, writing is going to be...interesting. Going to promote and record a Creepypasta. Want to revise and publish a short story, but got to figure all that out first. I wish I didn't also have to try and write a book while doing it, but that's what I get for failing my marathon. Got to download Lightworks on my new computer because it's time to get serious about starting a Youtube channel. I remember as a teenager wanting to be a Youtuber, but I never did it so we'll see how that goes. Life's funny like that. Yeah, that's as far ahead as I'm going to plan. See ya, next time. -JAG
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What Are You Listening To At This Very Moment?
JAG18 replied to Nescent's topic in Completely Off Topic
"Scared To Be Alone" - Echosmith (fourth listen today and it's still on repeat). -
What Are You Listening To At This Very Moment?
JAG18 replied to Nescent's topic in Completely Off Topic
"Come With Me" - Chxrlotte. into... "New Year's Eve" - Pale Waves. -
What Are You Listening To At This Very Moment?
JAG18 replied to Nescent's topic in Completely Off Topic
I'm sorry your ear's been commandeered, although oddly enough my left ear is in the same way (probably due to listening to music too loud the other day) which is why I'm listening to "Player of Games" - Grimes with only one earbud in. -
JAG18 started following What Made Bionicle Special and/or Good?
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I phrased the title like that in case anyone thinks Bionicle didn't do anything unique or special, because considering how long the line ran and how big the community on this site used to be, it must have at least done something right. My thoughts: Genre bending: Bionicle started with robots (cyborgs I know) wielding magic powers, living in huts, and telling legends around a campfire, all on a tropical island. While it arguably became more sci-fi and superhero as the story went on, this still is the most obvious unique thing about Bionicle. Massive interconnected story: if you were a nerd in the 2000s then you (probably?) loved the sense of accomplishment you got when you figured out how every piece of lore fit together into one big story. It was liking assembling the prototype robot, but instead of 6 big pieces it was dozens of comics, movies, books, games, serials, and Greg quotes. It didn't need to go so hard: the Bionicle story existed to sell toys, it could have easily just been like an 80s cartoon: 2d characters, lots of flashy action, and trying to show off as many toys as possible. Instead, Bionicle had some fleshed out characters and told some cool stories. Greg himself put way more work into the story then you he had to. What about you?
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What Are You Listening To At This Very Moment?
JAG18 replied to Nescent's topic in Completely Off Topic
"Ticket To Mars" - Rebel Bunny.