JAG18

"mark like cain" - Nathalie Miller. "Tell me how I’m lucky it’s not worse You’re lucky I’m not"

"CROCO" - Olivia Addams. "C-R-O-C-O crocodile tears, uh huh!"

"Blouse" - Clairo. Yes, I just discovered this song too, and no despite being soft and quiet it is actually kinda dark lol.

Don't know if this is what Cheesy Mac n Cheese is referring to, but I found this by searching "pirates" in the grand archive.

"Caribbean Blue" - Enya. This song is older than me and was a worldwide hit, but I just heard it in an IG reel the other day and now I can't get enough of this enchantment.

"Manalan Mailla" - Vilma Jaa (for Control Resonant). Finnish lyrics I don't understand (but did look up the translation once). I honestly can't remember how I discovered this, I just found it on my "songs to listen to" playlist and liked it. Probably a Finnish artist I follow on IG used it in a story, but again I have no memory.

I agree, the fact that those cartoons are still remembered decades later is proof they did something right and that the sentiment of dismissing them is a little harsh, but I think it's also fair to a point. I made that statement partly because of something a guy (who grew up in the '80s) in a discord server I'm in said when the topic of the new "He-Man" movie came up. That the show had "no characters or lore", although checking the comment now he also said "G.I. Joe" was great, so I'll concede that. The point is, it doesn't take much to step back and see how shallow old action cartoons often were, especially if you compare them to what came after (the 2000s cartoons I grew up watching). Shows that proved how mature and deep children's TV can be. Of course, other old cartoons absolutely deserve the description of "toy commercial" more, but if I had said "Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm" would it have gotten across the point I was trying to make? It's like how George R.R. Martin likes to point out flaws in "The Lord of The Rings" when discussing why he wrote his fantasy books. But if you read between the lines, his criticisms better describe fantasy books inspired by Tolkien and not actual Tolkien. Books which also hardly anyone recognizes by name. Is it flippant and unfair? True. Am I doing the same thing by lumping in beloved TV shows with actually bad ones? Also, true. But I stand by the idea that the shows I mentioned are closer to Hero Factory on the toy commercial-to-art scale than the greats of 2000s cartoons.

So, I recently discovered that Faber had an idea for Hero Factory where Mr. Makuro is the villain or something. I'm not saying that would have made HF better or that executive/corporate meddling is always bad, but it sounds like LEGO laid out some specific rules for what HF could and couldn't be. It reminds me of "Ben 10: Alien Force" which had 2 great seasons, then a mid/bad final season. According to the crew, that's because for season 3 Cartoon Network told them to lighten the tone of the show and shot down their original idea for the season's arc, so the writers just made up whatever to fill-out the season. I'd be more surprised if LEGO didn't have a similar mandate for HF that didn't include at least one mention of "Don't do what you did with Bionicle." I'm not saying the people who worked on HF were salty and intentionally sabotaged the series, but maybe if a company gets in the way of its talented creative people and hinds their creativity, then it shouldn't be surprised when what they do come up with isn't the best. But that's all just speculation on my part.

"Get Back Up" - TobyMac. "And one day, you gon' shine again/You may be knocked down, but not out forever Lose our way, we get back up again/So get up, get up, you gon' shine again It's never too late to get back up again/You may be knocked down, but not out forever."

Hero Factory is a great example of what Bionicle could have been. I know both were the result of a massive company's mandate, but I think when you look at Christian Faber and Alastair Swinnerton's commentary on creating Bionicle (and throw in Greg too once he became the driving force of the story in the later years) it's obvious they didn't treat it as just another job. It was very much a passion project for them. Bionicle didn't need to go so hard, but these and other people made sure it did. Hero Factory (which I do have a soft spot for) really felt phoned in by comparison. It's kind of the difference between old '80s cartoons like "He-Man" and "G.I. Joe" which were just long toy commercials and later animated shows like "Avatar" and "Young Justice" which were also about selling toys but are also great pieces of art in their own right. It's also probably why we're still talking about Bionicle after all this time, because of how much effort was put into it.

"Wiser" - Beth Crowley. "And whatever happened/to the life I was promised? told I could be anything/if I worked the hardest instead I was handed/a world that's so broken and you act surprised when/I say it seems hopeless"

"Hummingbird" - Kyla La Grange. "Like a hummingbird I'll hover/but never taste the fruit Like a memory of a lover/that flickers into view. And all the things you wanted/that kept on calling you. Oh you try, but cannot choose." Tropical tinged ode to analysis paralysis. Was (is still?) my fave song of 2016.

I initially thought the raffle was for a mini/midsize spaceship I could put on my desk until I saw the word "pilot". Oh well, already participating.

It's a show you've probably already heard of/seen, but I love "The Owl House" and think it's a modern great successor to the action adventures I grew up watching like "Ben 10" and "Avatar". And it's got lots of funny moments involving an owl worm thing.

Bro's been holding out against hope that Lego would announce a continuation any day now but finally accepted this last month that they won't do it on their own.