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JAG18

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  1. JAG18

    Top 10 EPs of 2016

    By JAG18,

    The Rules:
    EP needs to have been released between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2016
    EP must have at least 3, but no more than 9 songs to be considered for this list.
     
    Honorable Mention: "From the Grave" - Juliet Simms
     
     
    10. “Ultraviolet EP” – Dagny

     
    Favorite Tracks: "Fight Sleep", “Too Young”
     
    9. “Libelle” – Annabel Jones

     
    Favorite Tracks: “IOU”, “Money, Love, Success”
     
    8. “EMOTION SIDE B” – Carly Rae Jepsen

     
    Favorite Tracks: “Higher”, “Cry”
     
    7. “Ammunition” – Krewella

     
    Favorite Tracks: “Marching On”, “Ammunition”
     
    6. “Criminals + Dreamers” – Willa

     
    Favorite Tracks: “Criminal”, “Hey”, “Stare”
     
    5. “The Magic” – Lola Blanc

     
    Favorite Tracks: “Don’t Say You Do”, “The Magic”
     
    4. “Bubblebath” – That Poppy

     
    Favorite Tracks: “Lowlife”, “Money”
     
    3. “Bella Goldwin” - Bella Goldwin
    A "little" too big for BZP
     
    JAG's Thoughts: 2016's most promising new artist
    Favorite Tracks: “Higher than Life”, “Save Me From Myself”
     
    2. “Vroom Vroom EP” – Charli XCX

     
    Favorite Tracks: “Vroom Vroom”, “Paradise”
     
    1. “Olivia Lane EP” – Olivia Lane

     
    JAG's Thoughts: The artist and EP who's come closest to filling country music's Taylor Swift hole.
    Favorite Tracks: “Quarter Life Crisis”, “She Fits”, “My Heartache”
  2. JAG18

    A Report From Texas

    By JAG18,

    It's cold. 
    In all seriousness, yeah the past few days have been hard.  My family lost power early Monday morning and we just got it back this morning.  It was a challenge, especially staying (sort of) warm and we're not out of it left (I need to keep this short 'cause we still need to conserve whatever power we can).  My last few days consisted of reading by day light, listening to music at night (had to save battery life), and whatever me and my sister could do to stay somewhat entertained.  I tried my best to be grateful during the whole experience for whatever I could and I'm so grateful now that the power's back. 
    OK, I need to get going, please send any prayers and good wishes this way, both for me and my family and for the other people here who had it worse and still have it worse than us; they're very appreciated.
    One last thing, you know what music gave me the most comfort through this?  Digital Pacific, the new album from Luna Shadows, which I thankfully bought when it dropped last Friday.  It's been one great bright spot in an otherwise dark (literal and figurative) time. 
     
     
  3. JAG18

    Movies I've Seen Recently

    By JAG18,

    In the last couple of months I've seen a few new movies both in theaters and on DVD; a couple of which are several decades old, so their only new to me, but whatever here are my thoughts on all of them along with some pointless number ratings.
     
    "Krampus" 8/10
    This is a movie I wanted to watch as soon as I saw Red Letter Media's review of it last December, and I finally did see it last month and I was not disappointed. It was a silly over-the-top horror comedy and it worked perfectly as that with a good cast, great dark humor, and stellar creature and monster effects. Of course, that last one shouldn’t surprise anyone because the same people who did all the wonderful effects for “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy also worked on “Krampus”, I’m talking, of course, about Richard Taylor and his crew at the Weta Workshop and I can’t stress how much they hit it out of the park on this movie.
    If there's one thing I regret doing is seeing this film when I did, because this movie got me in the mood for Christmas, oddly enough, and I'm one of those people who hates any mention of Christmas until mid-November-ish so that was a bit of a mistake on my part. I wouldn't be too surprised if this ends up like “It’s a Wonderful Life” as a movie I screen every Christmas; I now it would be really strange, but I don't care.
     
    "I'm Not Ashamed" 6/10
    From the studio who brought audiences “God’s Not Dead” and “God’s Not Dead 2" comes a film about one of the first victims of the tragic Columbine Shooting, a girl named Rachel Joy Scott whose inspiring life and writings have led to several books and talks made by her family in the decade-and-a-half since. I did enjoy this movie a lot more than I thought I would; it’s a fun, inspiring, teen Christian drama, and if you’re in either of this film’s target demographics, people of faith and teens (although preferably both) then I do recommend it. Of course, having done some research into Columbine before hand, just because, I knew going in that everything involving the Columbine shooters in this movie was going to be awful and wrong and it was. But, this isn’t a Columbine movie (or at least it shouldn’t be) it’s a story about Rachel Scott and I’d definitely say that this movie’s subject matter and lead Masey McLain (who needs to be in more things right now) allows it to rise above its genre to being pretty good.
    One last thing, I do hope that after this comes out on DVD that someone will make an edit of this movie without any mention of Columbine expect for the very last scene, but just like the “Mockingjay” one film edit that’s probably just a wild dream of mine.
     
    "The Thing (1982)" 10/10
    I’ve known about this movie for the longest time and I actually saw a good half of it on Sci-Fi a year-ish ago, but last week was the first time I sat down and watched the entire thing and I was absolutely amazed. I loved everything about from the overall tone and feeling of the movie, to the music, the through the roof practical effects (literally in one scene), the great performances all around (especially from Kurt Russell) everything was just incredible. Yeah, this might be one of my favorite horror movies of all time if not one of my all time favorite movies; if there’s one thing I don’t like it’s that I don’t understand why a group of scientists has flamethrowers at their base, but who cares because the movie's ten times better with flamethrowers.
     
    "The Thing (2011)" 4/10
    After watching the original, I was excited to see the prequel, which I never knew starred Mary Elizabeth Winstead (who btw was great in this year’s “10 Cloverfield Lane”) and it was alright, but obviously it wasn’t going to be anywhere near as good as John Carpenter’s film. I thought Winstead was good, although she wasn’t Kurt Russell and I liked some other minor things, but overall this movie was very middle of the road and forgettable for me. I could go on about all the ways this movie failed where the original, but I’d rather not; overall another forgettable late 2000’s prequel/remake/soft reboot.
     
    "Hacksaw Ridge" 6/10
    Mel Gibson’s first movie as a director in almost a decade is about Desmond Doss a World War 2 soldier who refused to carry a gun because of his religiously beliefs, but still won the Medal of Honor for his actions as a combat medic. Overall, I liked this movie, in the first half it’s mostly just alright, but then it almost shifts into another movie when the fighting begins. I know this sounds like an exaggeration, but I think the action in this movie comes the closer to toping the opening in “Saving Private Ryan” than any other film since. Putting some big questions aside like whether this is an anti or pro war movie I would recommend this as a good war movie with the caveat that if you have any problems with extreme violence than this might not be the film for you.
     
    "Breakfast at Tiffany's" 5/10
    I liked Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady”, and so when I heard that “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was what most people recognized her for, I was on board for seeing it even if I’ve never liked romantic comedies and can’t name one I’ve seen from beginning to end. So, what did I think of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”? Well, it was fine, yeah Hepburn’s good in it and so is George Peppard and I didn’t find anything I really hated in it except maybe the generally boring plot even if did have some nice moments and hints of more interesting plot points, but still the plot was fine, just like most of the movie. Again it’s not bad and having looked into the film a bit I can see why other people would like it, but at the end of the day it’s not my cup of tea. I'll admit the whole time I was watching it I felt like I’d rather be watching “The Thing” because I want to see grotesque things set on fire with flame throwers in my movies. Either way, I’ll still probably give “Roman Holiday” a chance though.
  4. JAG18

    Music Questionnaire #2

    By JAG18,

    Following up on my last entry here is another music questionnaire this one asking the question, "If your life were a movie what would the soundtrack be?"  I'll go ahead and say that this one was rougher than most of these questionnaires I've done and that's saying something.  Either way, here's mine, go ahead and leave yours in the comments if you want. 
    1. Opening Credits:

    “Flood My Mind” – Ivy Levan (ehhhh)


     
    2. Waking Up:

    “I Think I Love It” – Alexandra Stan (That is not at all like my usual reaction to waking up)


     
    3. First Day at School:

    “The Man” – Taylor Swift (No comment)


     
    4. Falling In Love:

    “She Weirdo” – She Nova (Well, I guess beggars can’t be choosers)


     
    5. First Fight Scene:

    “My Love” – Anna of the North (is that who I’m fighting for?  In which case this sort of makes sense…)


     
    6. Breaking Up:

    “I Like Myself (Most of the Time)” – K.Flay (I guess after a break-up I do need to feel good about myself)


     
    7. Prom

    “1, 2, 3 dayz up” – Kim Petras; SOPHIE (fun, danceable song so I guess it fits)


     
    8. Life

    “Don’t Call Me Up” – Mabel (no comment)


     
    9. Mental Breakdown

    “Strawberry Shortcake” – Melanie Martinez (WHAT WAS IN THAT CAKE?!)


     
    10. Driving:

    “There Will Be Blood” – Kim Petras (Oh dear Mata Nui no)


     
    11. Flashback:

    “wish you were gay” – Billie Eilish (I think this one almost fits the story)


     
    12. Getting Back Together:

    “Ready Set Let’s Go” – KOYOTIE (eh, fine)


     
    13. Wedding:

    “Just a Boy” – Olivia O’Brien (worst one yet)


     
    14. Birth of Child:

    “Insomnia” – Daya (no, no, no that’s what comes AFTER they’re born)


     
    15. Final Fight Scene:

    “That Call It Love” – KOYOTIE (love hurts)


     
    16. Death Scene

    “You and I” – Owl Eyes (A little too upbeat for a death scene)


     
    17. Funeral:

    “Mother’s Daughter” – Miley Cyrus (OK, let’s just finish this)


     
    18. Ending Credits:

    “Ghost 2 U” – Jinka (Could have been worse)


     
    Favorites: 2, 4, 9, 14

  5. JAG18

    Twilight Zone Abridged

    By JAG18,

    Not too long ago I was re-watching (or watching for the first time more often then not) all 5 seasons of the original run of "The Twilight Zone" (I talked about it here when I started) and while making my way through I was reading A.V. Club's reviews of each episode. The recent talk of Jordon Peele's reboot (which I haven't seen) made me think back to the review of "To Serve Man" mostly a point the author made about how the episode was basically a plot twist in search of a story, which lead to the following discussion in the comments section:
     
     
    I'm just wondering if this would be a good idea for a zero budget "Twilight Zone" adaption made by a bunch of broke high school/film school students. You know, 5 minute or less minisodes uploaded straight to Youtube, with the whole point being to get to the twist as quickly as possible. Now, I'd be the first to argue that "Twilight Zone" was more than it's twist, but as a cheap spin-off it might be fun to see. I'd watch it.
  6. JAG18
    For the uninitiated, The Star Wars Epic Duels Game is a board game released in 2002 to promote "Attack of the Clones"; it did not sell well in it's initial run, but went on to gain a cult following. It also happens to be my favorite board game and is what got me into the hobby in the first place; I'm even a mod over at the Epic Duels Wiki (the number one place to discuss Epic Duels). Naturally, over the years I've thought about combining two of my great loves together, but actual decks never materialized.
     
    Until now...

    (Link)
    I've made six decks from the '06 story year (three for the Toa Inika and the three for the Piraka) and have play tested them to the point where I think they're all acceptable enough. Obviously, Bionicle could spawn dozens of decks, but I chose to focus on the '06 storyline for several reasons;
    1) The "Bionicle Heroes" and "Piraka Attack" games gave me plenty of material to mine when designing this deck (e.g. Matoro is a sniper, Jaller attacks rapidly)
    2) 2006 is when I got into the story (plus it's still my favorite year overall)
    3) Although I know no one will ever play this live (as opposed to in Vassal like I did above), the 2006 minifigures would be perfect for this game.
    4) VNOG and BH both gave me lots of great images to work with when making the decks.
     
    Thoughts on the Decks (Mediafire link):
     
    Hakann and Thok:
    This pairing and the theme of this deck (a fun, run-and-gun duo) came very easily, which is why it was the first one to get made. Aside from trying to get Hakann's offensive mix right this deck stayed almost the same from beginning to end. This deck is very typical bounty hunter deck and is probably my favorite of the Piraka even if it's basically just a collection of cards inspired by the Piraka's powers.
     
    Kongu and Hahli:
    He's got a energy/laser crossbow and she's got a mask that finds things so naturally I decided to base this on the Han and Chewie from the original game and it worked out really well (no doubt because it's such a great design to begin with). Honestly, all I needed to do while playtesting was tone this deck down a bit because for a while it seemed like it was too good! Maybe my favorite of the six.
     
    Zaktan and Avak:
    The first deck with a melee major I created; I recycled the theme of a "melee Emperor" that I used in my Dryden Vos deck for this deck with the added twist that Avak uses a card from Mike Maloney's Aayla Secura deck. Zaktan forces discards and Avak punishes players for it; Avak can sorted of hold his own by using his FORCE LIFT inspired card, but the two really need each other. Ultimately, the deck works just not super well.
     
    Jaller and Hewkii:
    This one required going back to the drawing board once or twice, but the idea of basing Jaller off of Darth Maul from the originally game was always there. This deck ended up as a "ranged Maul" flanked by a powerful ranged minor (who honestly stayed the same from start to finish). Probably the strongest of the set.
     
    Matoro and Nuparu:
    The deck that went through the most revisions. Basing the deck around Matoro's sniper persona in "Bionicle Heroes" was a no brainer, but getting it to work wasn't easy. I used DT's 4-Lom and Zuckuss deck as a kind of base, but ultimately this deck just turned out OK.
     
    Reidak and Vezok:
    The deck I had no idea what to do with. At first, I thought back to Roman's old Urgak and Grishnak deck since the theme of that deck ("These two guys really want to hurt each") fits Reidak and Vezok (or any two Piraka honestly) well enough. The end result was a strange amalgam of Grishnak mixed with cards based on the Piraka's powers (cards borrowed from Mike Maloney's Quinlan Vos deck and Starscream); the only deck I'm not entirely sure about.
     
     
    Obviously, there's plenty of room for expansion here; not just more characters from '06 (Toa Nuva, the titans, Matoran Resistance team, Nektann), but from the rest of the story. I doubt I'll make many more though; this was fun to do just to say that I've done it and so that Bionicle Epic Duels actually exists, but I'd rather put my Epic Duels deck making energy into making decks that will get some attention in the larger ED community. But hey, I hope the decks at least look cool and that some of you guys will get the references in the card names.
  7. JAG18
    This may seem like an odd time to review my Spotify Year in Music since we’re two-thirds of the way through this year and I’m going to be doing this again in December, but whatever I’m going to do it anyway. Now, this Year in Music has particular meaning to me for two reasons, one because I joined Spotify the last couple of days of 2014 so this is my first Year in Music and almost reflects how the medium changed my listening habits the more I used it. And two, the simple fact is I almost exclusively use streaming while listening to music so this almost doubles as a look at my year in music period. Ok, with that out of the way let’s do this.
     
     
    Top Artists
    Marina and the Diamonds – 418 Streams
    Ok, so this is a no brainer, I discovered Marina and the Diamonds last April/May and since then she’s become one of my favorite artists ever. In fact, for good part of the year it seemed like all I was doing was playing her entire three album discography back-to-back non-stop.
     
    CHVRCHES – 402 Streams
    …Which is probably why she has a pretty decent lead over the runner-up who coincidently (or maybe not?) is another one of favorite bands, Chvrches; again a no brainer “The Bones of What You Believe” was one of the first albums I went looking when I first joined Spotify and it’s been a staple of my music listening ever seen. Not to mention they also released their sophomore album “Every Open Eye” in the fall of last year, which only helped them get this second spot and which I’ll talk about again later.
     
    Halsey – 334 Streams
    So, in the three spot we have alt-pop darling Halsey and hey I’m not complaining I loved her debut album that dropped in the summer and, in fact, of my 100 most streamed songs of last year a staggering nine were from either “Badlands” or “Room 93”. I do think it’s kind of cool how almost a year ago I had just discovered her music right before she dropped her debut album and now a year later she already has a number one hit on Billboard (with The Chainsmokers).
     
    Bea Miller – 250 Streams
    First, look at the drop in streams it took to make this list, but whatever, Bea Miller was one of the first artists I discovered via Spotify who I really liked so of course she’d end up here. Although I have noticed that I don’t seem listen to her as much I used to, now I am trying to fix this, but at the end of the day while her EP and debut album made for some great listening last year I’m skeptically if I’ll be very interested in any of her follow ups.
     
    Zella Day – 223 Streams
    I don’t have much to say here, like all the other four she had a major album release last year that I was a big fan of and, as we’ll see soon, “Hypnotic” was a song I couldn’t get enough.
     
    Top 5 Albums
    “The Bones of What You Believe” – Chvrches 200 Streams
    No surprise, not much else I can say about this album.
     
    “The Family Jewels” – Marina and the Diamonds 198 Streams
    Ok, I know if you asked me this at the time I probably would have pegged this as my favorite Marina album in a heartbeat, but now I might actually go for “Froot” instead, but either way this got almost as many streams than both of her other albums put together.
     
    “Kicker” – Zella Day 167 Streams
    Yeah, great album, no further comments.
     
    “Queen of the Clouds” – Tove Lo 158 Streams
    Despite liking “Habits (Stay High)” when it hit radio in late 2014 I didn’t immediately look into Tove Lo’s debut album “Queen of the Clouds” until about April and obviously I liked it a lot.
     
    “Badlands” – Halsey 152 Streams
    For reasons I can’t explain because I don’t fully know myself I decided to listen to the standard version of this album before moving on to the deluxe edition that I exclusively listen to now with the result being that “Badlands” is down here in fifth place. C’est La Vie.
     
    Top 5 Songs
    “Paperweight” – Bella Thorne 53 Streams
    Uh, I can explain…
     
    “Oh No” – Marina and the Diamonds 44 Streams
    For the longest time I jumped on this as my favorite Marina song (probably because it’s off “The Family Jewels” that I talked about earlier) and hey since I just listened to it today maybe it still is, but either way good song.
     
    “Pray to God” – Calvin Harris; Haim 42 Streams
    For the record, I’m here more for Haim than Calvin, but either way this is the song that put Haim on my radar and I couldn’t be happier for it.
     
    “Hypnotic” – Zella Day 41 Streams
    I wrote earlier this was one of my favorites of 2015 and I don’t have much else to say about it, but I do want to point out how close in streams all these songs are with this song only needing two more streams to get the three spot.
     
    “If Only” – Dove Cameron 36 Streams
    I think she’s got a great voice, and that’s all I’m going to say about this being as high as it is.
     
    Top Genres: Pop, Synth Pop, Metropopolis, Indietronica, Dance Pop
    If you’ve seen my posts in What Are You Listening to Right Now? Or just read the previous paragraphs this shouldn’t come as a surprise at all. Although I do find at least a little weird that Country didn’t show up here at all I mean I know I don’t listen to the genre anymore except for some choice acts, but still like I said it’s weird.
     
    Ear-Worm: “Paperweight” – Bella Thorne (streamed 8 times in one day)
    Ok, now time to explain, and well I’m just going to say that I really like this song yes I know it’s flawed (to say the least), but I don’t really care because it connects with me and that’s the only thing that should matter when it comes to music. That being said this on top of my non-existent list of songs that I wish would be covered just because I think that there’s a great song hidden somewhere in here waiting to be made.
     
    Listening Habits:
    Number of minutes listened to in 2015: 22,000 (or 358 hours or 15 days)
    Number of artists streamed: 648
    Number of tracks streamed: 1,943
     
    Since this is just raw stats I’ll post them here and move on.
     
    Outlier: “Music People” –IAMX
    According to Spotify I “ventured into the unknown,” by listening to song, which I guess is a good thing?
     
    Sounds of the Seasons: Most Streamed Artists by Season
     
    Winter: Avril Lavigne (74 streams), Chvrches (73), Cassadee Pope (54)
    So, this reflects my beginnings on Spotify, and is a pretty good example of what I used to listen to back then, not that I don’t still stream Lavigne and Pope, but it’s getting rarer these days to be honest.
     
    Spring: Marina and the Diamonds (165), Tove Lo (142), Chvrches (104)
    Note, the massive spike in the number of streams, which marks when I really got on board this streaming thing and more importantly is a great example of what I’ve always believed that Spotify is great at turning either occasional or non-listeners into much bigger consumers of music. Anyway, as I mentioned before it was around this time I discovered Marina and Tove Lo.
     
    Summer: Marina and the Diamonds (178), Halsey (152), Zella Day (143)
    I wasn’t kidding when I said that I was listening to Marina non-stop after I first discovered her; and also here is reflected the June and August drops of “Badlands” and “Kicker” from Halsey and Day respectively.
     
    Fall: Halsey (182), Chvrches (130), Melanie Martinez (119)
    I really liked Halsey’s album, and the drop of their stellar sophomore effort “Every Open Eye” in September precipitated the return of Chvrches in these rankings (although I do find it interesting that nothing off that album made any waves here either in the form of a top album or top song). Also, in August I made, what might still be, the best discovery off of Spotify’s much buzzed about “Discover Weekly” playlist namely Melanie Martinez. And it was the appearance of her song “Pity Party” on aforementioned playlist that made me an instant fan the second I heard it.
     
     
    And that was my Year in Music and I can’t wait to see how much my listening changed in December when my next Year in Music comes out.
  9. JAG18

    Samurai

    By JAG18,

    Samurai/don't die
    You're the only one/you're the only one
     
     
    After sixteen years of waiting it all ends tonight.
     
    THE ANTICIPATION!
  10. JAG18
    This has nothing to do with the movie I've been meaning to watch again for the millionth time. No, this is about the return of The Bionicle Caption Contest to G&T!
     
    Like most things I do, the decision to bring back this classic BZP game was completely spontaneous. I have fond memories of reading through the original topic as a guest and I've always felt that G&T was missing something without it; so since I'm trying to be more active around I thought it was time to bring it back the game this time with some of Gen 2's funniest images. Arguably, this would have been a much better idea to this a year or two ago when G&T was much more active...but oh well.
     
    Come in and play today!
  12. JAG18

    Making BIONICLE Trading Cards

    By JAG18,


    Board Games
    Well yes, but actually no. 

    Technically, I made a "living card game" not a trading card game and (since I'm just playing testing right now) I'm using images from a variety of things I like.  I've made about 110 cards so far and above are the ones I've made based on things from BIONICLE.
    Right now I'm trying to figure it out how to put the game on screentop.gg so I can play with people online and then I might try and figure out how to do the same on tabletop simulator.
    The original inspiration for the game was Richard Garfield's original idea for "Magic The Gathering", a game you could play while standing in line for something.  So, that's the main selling point of my game, you "could" play it standing up, but I know if anyone really would want to.  My main design goals have been making a simple trading card game and one that improves on the things I don't like in several other games I play.
    Alright, that's all I'm going to write here.   Make of this what you will. 
     
  13. JAG18

    My Favorite Movies

    By JAG18,

    Very recently, Voltex posted in his blog about making a list of every one of your favorite movies from every year you've been alive and I decided to do the same thing. Echoing some of the things he said, I too need something to blog about and I also need to watch more movies especially from the year I was born. I will also add that I need an excuse not to start writing a short story that's a sequel to that "Twilight Zone" episode "To Serve Man".
     
    Now on to the movies!
     
    96: "That Thing You Do"
    97: "The Lost World: Jurassic Park"
    98: "Mulan"
    99: "The Sixth Sense"
    00: "Gladiator" (sorry "Unbreakable" and "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust")
    01: "The Fellowship of the Ring"
    02: "Signs" (sorry "Spider-Man")
    03: "The Return of the King" (sorry "Master and Commander", but I guess that's the story of your life)
    04: "Hotel Rwanda" (sorry "Spider-Man 2")
    05: "Batman Begins"
    06: "Facing the Giants" (I'm not sorry "Spider-Man 3")
    07: "Ratatouille"
    08: "The Dark Knight"
    09: "Star Trek"
    10: "Robin Hood"
    11: "Super 8"
    12: "October Baby"
    13: "Captain Phillips"
    14: "Edge of Tommorow" (sorry five or six other movies that I also really like and everyone else would agree is better than this one)
    15: "Mad Max: Fury Road"
    16: "10 Cloverfield Lane" (sorry "The Neon Demon" for not getting around to watching you yet)
    17: I've only seen 8 films this year so far and "Dunkirk", "The Last Jedi", "Guardians Vol.2", and "Valerian" are still on the way, but at this point I'd probably pick "Life" or "Kong: Skull Island" as my favorite movie of the year with "The Lego Batman Movie" as a strong runner up.
  14. JAG18

    Music Games

    By JAG18,

    (Sorry I haven't updated this recently, but I joined Reddit recently and was reminded how much fun it is being on a active forum can be)
     
    I like music. I like board games (both playing and making them). But, trying to make a board game involving music has always been a challenge for me.
     
    -Music Questionnaires can be fun, except I only have three and they get old real fast, plus it's more a solitary activity than an actual game.
    -Music Top Trumps is a real thing and card games are the easiest to make at home and I'll admit I have a draft for a set written up on my computer, but the "War" card game with cool pictures is only so much fun.
    -Music Trivial Pursuit? Eh...
    -Something I tried recently with my sister is I guess "Shazam!" the game. One of us plays a song and the other person has 25 seconds to guess what it is. After each song write, down the time and after ten songs each the person who has the lowest time is the winner. I'm this isn't some revolutionary thing, but we had fun.
     
    That's all I got. Do any of those ideas sound interesting to you? Do you have any music games you play with your friends or game group?
  15. JAG18

    Nine Years

    By JAG18,


    BZPower
    Nine years ago I joined BZPower.  This site wasn't even nine years old when I discovered it. 
    I still have fond memories of those early years.  Traffic had already declined by then, but it was still an active place (certainly much better than it is today).  Most of the people I talked to back then have since moved on (although it's not like I'm around here much either). 
    What spinner am I getting?  A hau, the kind Tahu Stars wore.  I have that set somewhere. 
    OK, I don't have anything profound or substantial to say, but I wanted to mark the occasion. 
  16. JAG18

    New Yu-Gi-Oh Ban List

    By JAG18,

    (Yes I know this is a little old, but I just found out about this the other day so I'm gonna talk about it now.)
     
    For those who don't know, in the Yu-Gi-Oh card game you can only have up to three copies of a single card in any one deck; exceptions being semi-limited, limited, and forbidden cards of which you can only have two of, one of, and none of respectively. What cards are limited and forbidden is decided by Konami with their frequently updated Limited and Forbidden List the latest update of which came out a couple of weeks ago.
     
    Now, the fact that I'm just now talking about this now should tip you off as to how involved I am with this game. Basically I watched the show growing up, but didn't really into the game until last winter when I started playing online at Dueling Nexus. Now, I'll be up front and say I honestly don't make my own decks for scratch I just watch the big Yugi-tubers and stalk the YGO reddit for deck lists. Sure, building decks is fun, but I'm not a good enough player to know how to build a deck that is even semi-competitive. Plus decks made by people who know what they are doing are funnier to play. Unfortunately, with the new ban list I'm going to need some new decks 'cause some of my favorites got hit hard.
     
    The good news: my all time favorite deck, a combination of Exodia and Trickstars, was completely unaffected; as was my Kozmo deck. I'm not that good a Kozmo player (yet?), but I like it a lot because 1) it's a pretty competitive deck and 2) it's doesn't require an extra deck to be good and I'm a YGO player who doesn't like extra decks.
     
    The bad news: both my favorite go-to Magnet Warrior deck and my Egyptian Gods deck used the Brilliant Fusion engine, which used 3 copies of a now limited card. It'll take some looking around to get both of those decks playable again.
     
    The worst news: You know that true hero who performed well at a regionals with a
    ? A Gren Maju deck. A deck that no one knew or cared about until he came up with it? Yeah, well one of the most important cards in the deck (Golden Sarcophagus) is now limited. That's a shame, because I love gimmick decks and especially gimmick decks that can actually win games and I've had a lot of luck playing with various Gren Maju decks. I'm sure that guy had a panic attack when he got the news.  
    OK, super nerdy blog entry over. I would be more torn up over all this if I was playing YGO right now (which I'm not) and probably by the time I do decide to start playing again they'll be another new ban list to adapt to so yeah until then just be sure to pay your respects to the once great Gren Maju.
  17. JAG18
    So, this past Sunday night I got to see CHVRCHES, one of my favorite bands of all time, play and Karzahni yeah it was great! This was my first time seeing them in concert and also my second concert ever since really getting to music (my first was Haim around this time last year) so that made this a little extra special.
     
    The Build Up:
    My night, of course, started with a lot of waiting. I was in line a half-an-hour before the doors opened, although in hindsight that might have been a little unnecessary considering I had an assigned seat in the baloney and it was pretty empty up there for a while, but c'est la vie. At eight, the opener Cherry Glazerr came on. Now, I'll be honest and say that I didn't know who the opener was in advance although I had been seeing on Facebook the kinds of bands CHVRCHES has had opening for them this tour and they have been some really good ones (Pale Waves, Sasha Sloan, Let's Eat Grandma).
    I didn't know who Cherry Glazerr was at the time, but I will say I enjoyed their set well enough (I thought their drummer especially was real good). They played for about forty minutes, then there was another half-an-hour or so of more waiting and then...
     
    The Track List (I wasn't taking notes, but I think this is pretty close to what it was):
    Get Out
    Bury It
    We Sink
    Graffiti
    Under the Tide
    Graves
    Science/Visions
    Deliverance
    Forever
    Recover
    Leave a Trace
    Miracle
    Clearest Blue
    The Mother We Share
    Never Say Die
     
    Thoughts on the set:
    -Again, I'm a huge CHVRCHES fan and I love all their songs, but if you check out my
    on Youtube ranking of all their songs (and you totally should) you can tell that a lot of songs they played were more towards the bottom of the list. I mean, I knew they weren't going to play, "Playing Dead" or something like that, but it's just an observation. -The high point of the whole night, for me, was the middle part of their set when they played my two favorite songs off their last album ("Deliverance" and "Forever") back-to-back and then followed it up with 2 more really great songs.
    -They ended their initial set with my least favorite song off album two ("Clearest Blue") and while "The Mother We Share" is good enough to make the whole night they also finished with a more "meh" song off album three.
    -You know, when Martin came out from behind the synths I thought they he might start singing "High Enough To Carry You Over" (one of my favorite songs of theirs) and instead they played "Under The Tide" (one of my least favorites), but dang it if Martin still didn't give a great performance.
     
    Other Random Thoughts:
    -It's true what they say: CHVRCHES do put on a killing light show.
    -It was cool seeing Ian show off his guitar god skills many times through out the night.
    -The show banter mostly revolved around "Game of Thrones", how Lauren was surprised not only that people showed up, but also that Ian and Martin showed up (the two have a lottery going on how the show will end). Lauren herself admitted to not being a fan. The subject of cheese was also discussed. Considering what she talked about at the very last show they put on I'm kind of glad that nothing super serious was brought up.
    -I think I'm going to take to heart something Lauren said while putting in her earplugs before starting the encore ("Safety first.") Both because she said that and because of the aching in my left ear that I had for a few hours afterwards.
    -I just love how before playing, "Deliverance" Lauren said it's one of the songs that might upset people because I'm one of the people who should be upset by it, but instead it's my favorite song off their last album and one of my favorite songs of last year.
     
    And that's all I have to say. I had a great time, again it was awesome seeing one of my favorite bands live and I'll probably have their music on non-stop for the rest of the week.
  19. JAG18
    I wish I said this, I wish I said that
    But I kinda froze in my tracks
    I wish I said this, I wish I said that
    But I kinda had a panic attack
    I wish I could talk good
    I wish I could talk, I wish I could talk
    I wish I could talk good
     
    (Although honestly this is how I feel most days. :/ )
  20. JAG18
    So, I was reading my indie mixtape e-mail today and I saw them suggesting Grime's new demo "Pretty Dark". Of course, I didn't need them to tell me because I've had that song on repeat all week, but I also noticed them attaching a name to Grimes' new album that I hadn't seen before. Apparently it's called "Miss_Anthropocene".
     
    This necessitated a google search and I found that Grimes just did an interview with the Wall Street Journal, but since it's hidden behind a subscription wall I suggest everyone just do what I did, which is google it and go to news and read what everyone else is saying about it.
     
    Also, the new album is about climate change...which I guess means it's time to buy Marc Marano's new book.
     
    In the mean time, I think it's time to revisit "Oblivion"
     

  21. JAG18

    I Think I'm a Hummingbird

    By JAG18,

    Recently I was reading "The Hedge Knight" graphic novel, which is based on a "A Game of Thrones" prequel and there is one bit where two characters are discussing a particularly mean and nasty prince (Aerion the Monstrous) who, being a Targaryen and all, believes himself to be a dragon (the Targaryen sigil). One of the two characters then comments that he wishes that the prince were a Fossoway (whose sigil is an apple) so that he would believe that he were, well, an apple.
    Now I of course got a good laugh out of this at the time, but it's also made me think of my own armorial achievement which if you want to see for reference you look either at my avatar or below.
     

    Actually this version is missing both my motto ("Truth is truth") and battle cry ("To hope's end and heart's breaking!); of course the "complete" version on my computer is also missing my supporters (hedgehogs) so c'est la vie.
     
    Anyway back on topic, what I'm saying is since my charge is a hummingbird does that mean if I were that prince I would believe myself to be a hummingbird? Well, I suppose that's better then being an apple right? At least I don't have to worry about someone touching me and making me lose my apple juice.
    Plus they are lots of cool facts about hummingbirds right? [see here]
     
    Speaking of my armorial achievement, remember if you ever see anyone on any website with it as their avatar then odds are pretty good that it's me (especially if the username is some variation of JAG18). It's not technically official because in order to make a coat of arms official (to my knowledge) is you need to be either a member of the British realm or a direct descendant of a British subject (which I am) and then pay a few thousand pounds. So, if I ever have several thousand pounds laying around that I'm not using then I know what I'll be spending them on.
  22. JAG18
    Get it On:




    - Spotify

     
    Another year come and gone, which means it's time to roll out my list of my favorite songs of the year!
    This was my fourth year doing a favorite songs list and like always since January first I've been compiling my "nominees" into a word document as I find them; unlike previous years though I started work on this list a little bit early than normal (early October). Sorry, couldn't help myself.
     
    Anyway on the list itself, if you know my taste in music then you know what to expect, various forms of pop music with a few sprinkles of other genres like EDM. CHVRCHES, K.I.D, Clean Bandit, Princess Chelsea, Alice Glass, Cyn, Meg Myers, Pale Waves, Lila Gold, and Allie X are just a few of the artists represented on the list.
     
    So, check out the list if any of that interests you and be sure to share the songs you loved most from 2018 in the comments below.
  23. JAG18

    About My Writing

    By JAG18,


    Writing
    Happy Law Bringer Day!  Admittedly, I've never celebrated it before today, but you know every tradition has to start somewhere.  
    Today marks the six year anniversary of when (after several mouths of brainstorming and nearly three years of not writing any fiction) I started writing the first story in what would become "Law Bringer".  I thought about honoring the occasion by posting a teaser or snippet of an actual story, but instead I decided to write about my writing.   
    Recently, I collected the info below by pouring through my old word documents and obviously this isn't one-hundred percent accurate either because of poor record keeping or stories lost to computer crashes, but it should give you a good idea of my writing output over the years.  
    Words written per year:
    2004-07: less than 1,000 words
    2008-10: 14,000 words
    2011: 11,000 words
    2012-13: 6,000 words
    2016-17: 2,200 words
    2018-21: 1000 words
    I don't know why I started writing I just did, although, I should point out that of the 35,000 words I wrote from 2004-2021 all I have to show for it is:
    2 short stories (including a Hero Factory story I posted here)
    A lot of flash fiction most of which is either BIONICLE or Hero Factory fan fiction or not very good (or both).
    For some reason during this time period my go-to writing format was like the appendices from LOTR even before I knew what those were.  No idea why.  
     
    Something else I want to mention; I rarely finished most of my work from this time.  This is definitely something I've improved this year because now I can actually write a short story from beginning to end.  The idea popped into my head to try and finish some of my old stuff, but after actually reading some of it I figure most of it is best left where it is.  
    This trip down memory lane confirms the narrative I've always assumed that writing was something I did in junior high up to the summer after my freshman year, but in my sophomore year I stopped and no matter how hard I tried or wanted to I just couldn't write fiction again.  I kept writing notes and world building, but another piece of prose never came.  I cannot explain why.    
    Bringing this back to "Law Bringer", like I said I wrote the first bits of the story in late 2016 and early 2017, but then the block returned.  I spent a long time working on my world building on-and-off until 2019/2020 when I got really serious about it and by this point I really wanted to make an attempt to write again hence my little bits of writing during this time period.  
    Then last November I started watching videos about writing on Youtube.  Before this, everything I knew about writing I learned from BZPower or what writers have said so just random sources.  I don't think that's the only thing I needed, but I'm sure it helped and on Christmas Eve of 2021 I began to write and write, then run out of steam in the spring, but picked it back up in May and eventually managed to create some good writing habits.  
    The long and short of it is this past year I've written 105,000 words resulting in:  
    22 short stories (18 "Law Bringer" 4 non-"Law Bringer")
    A fourth of a novel
    Half of a novella
    2 pieces of flash fiction (both much better than anything I wrote several years ago)
    You know, after writing this out, I think December 24th sounds like a better date for Law Bringer Day, but since no one would celebrate it then because of conflicts with other holidays, I think I'll stick to November 30th. 
    That's the story I wanted to tell and also why I'm optimistic about the future of my writing and "Law Bringer" and I'm hopeful I'll be able to share more of both with the world soon.
     
  25. JAG18
    ...'Cause I would have played them non-stop. 
    So, needless to say, I wasn't a very happy teenager in high school and back then (as is still true today) when I feel sad or down I tend to listen to sad songs to cope and every once in a while I come across a song that make me thing, "Wow, I really wish I had this song back in high school."  Although being honest, my music tastes were a lot more narrow back then so I'm entirely sure if I would have liked these songs even if I had heard them at the time, but regardless here's a short list of the songs I wish had existed in high school. 
    (Also, I've still never learned how to use code so get ready for giant screen stretching videos.)
    “Normal” – Sasha Sloan
    Choice Lyrics:
    "So keep on playing that song that I don't like
    I just wanna feel normal for the night
    Keep on kissing that guy that's not my type
    I just wanna feel normal for the night."
    Gotta start with a song from the sad girl herself.  This song is from early 2018 and I discovered almost the day it dropped.  The desire to want to change bits of who you are or to like things that you wouldn't normally in order to gain some level of acceptance by others is, of course, a quintessential part of high school and is actually still something I really connect with to this day so this is a song I've listened to quite a lot. 
    “Nobody Asked Me (If I Was Okay)” – Sky Ferreira
    Choice lyrics:
    "Nobody asked me if I was okay
    No, no, no, no, no, no, no
    Nobody asked if I was okay,"
    Cheating a little bit, 'cause this song was released in 2013 when I was still in high school, but obviously I wasn't listening to Sky Ferreira back then.  Anyway, is this song repetitive and super on the nose?  Yes.  But, that does that mean that I don't like it and wouldn't have sung along so hard to it back in the day?  Karzahni no. 
    “Jesus Christ” – Luna Shadows
    Choice lyrics:
    "Or do I divide and fall apart
    Cause my bright is too slight to hold back all my dark,"
    Alright, to kept it straight.  This song was released in late 2017, I didn't start listening to it until early this year while I was on a super Luna Shadows kick, but the song itself is actually a cover of a song from 2004 so yeah, that's that.
    The funny thing about this one, is that I think what I connect to the most in the lyrics now is different then what I would have connected to when I was younger, which is some interesting food for thought I guess. 
    “mad at God” – Sarah Saint James
    Choice lyrics:
    "No I don’t wanna be bitter, or come across as a quitter
    But I’m getting kinda tired
    I’m mad at God
    Causе if he exists why do I still feel like this?"
    So this song, is actually pretty new and what made me want to do this blog entry in the first place.  Other than that, I don't know what else to say about this one, 'cause like Sky Ferreira's song it is pretty self-explanatory I think.  Perhaps something funny to mention is it that I mostly listened to Christian music back in high school and I'm pretty sure that this song would not have gone over well with Christian music fans either then or today. 
     
    And that's my short list.  Share in the comments below if you can relate to anything in this entry or maybe share some songs that got you through high school. 
    -JAG
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