Monday, July 31, 2006

Big bold and beautiful Brickshelf finds...

Posted by "torgugick" here.




Posted by "Marwede" here.





Posted by "oppienokki" here.


Friday, July 28, 2006

Hey this isn't Rocklands...


Posted by "deborah higdon-leblond"... folder here.


A friend of mine made this great MOC regarding the fate of our free time while at BF this year. This "posh" bar is the example of where we might end up, instead of our normal watering hole, Rocklands.

I had seen this MOC in person, just before she had finished of the last bit of detailing. I love the "bling" on the bar and the attention to detail, ....and who can resist a MOC, when they are the "star"????
I must say, I am pretty honoured, and very impressed. Thanks deborah.

Hey wait a minute, are those one by one by two chrome rounds from my diner???


Tuesday, July 25, 2006

I think I am in love....

How much is that doggy in the window??? I sure hope that doggys for sale!


OMG he is so cute!!!!

Cosmodog has to be one of the cutest Lego creations I have ever seen....
Posted by "fabianhh1", a 37 year old builder from Hamburg.
Surprisingly low piece count of around 600 for so much "function" (walking, head turning, head lifting and lowering, ears moving and wagging tail). Clean looking construction and just an overall "Cuteness" rating of 5 stars. Well done!

Check out his vid of Cosmo.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Lego Graffiti...

WOW... while checking out some of my favourite blogs...

The "Brothers Brick" posted this... http://dunechaser.blogspot.com/2006/07/street-art-appreciation-101.html
and all I can say is WOW!

While they state they don't endorse vandalism, and I will agree with that in theory, (just as another posted added) those bits of graffiti fall into a category of street art that I am glad exists.

Colour me impressed and hide the spray paint, 'cause I am feeling the uncontrollable urge to go paint the town red........ brick.

Cool You Tube Lego Related Posts....

While we are talking Lego vids... and yes, we were talking Lego vids...

Check out a few of my favourite Lego "You Tube" vids.

Posted by "poopster101" - Lego




Posted by "Joe Powney" - Spiderman




Posted by "Rohschinken" - Lego Beer Song
(and before you go looking for those bottles - they are not Lego!)




and Posted by for those of you that havent seen it...
the White Strips vid (posted by "clafm")

Friday, July 21, 2006

I pinch Lego Elements...

Another one night build....

Yesterday I mentioned to a friend, "Hey I should do that Honda - I PINCH - commercial in Lego." His reply, "Yes you should, it would be funny"... So last night, instead of working... I wanted to have a bit of fun, so I decided to go ahead and make the Element commercial out of Lego.

Mr. Crab and (not so loopy) palm tree would be too easy, quick search of the parts, and 2 out of the 3 needed props were done. The Element itself would need to be built. I do not enjoy building cars.... especially in minifig"ish" scale... so I decided not to worry about it in the least. Grabbed some orange, and black... 4 wheels... two car roof pieces... some trans black for the windscreen and the windows, and decided to call it "done". I guess it turned out looking somewhat like an Element, at least enough to pull off the commercial.

Now, I could have spent all night carefully taking pics and putting it seemlessly together into a smooth production.... but that is really not the point. So I banged off 20-30 pics, threw out a few of them, and using Windows Movie Maker... I finished the "joke". The soundtrack is "tinny" because I couldnt find a version of the sound track that WMM would take, so I played it, and just slammed my speakers up to the mic to make a second rate recording.

Again... the whole point being... this was supposed to be a fun, fast, easy build for a laugh, and not a real serious moc, or production.

Anyhow, here it is... enjoy it ... errr or not...
Oh yeah... "I pinch!!"


Sunday, July 16, 2006

How COOL!

Posted by "legomandan"... This is his "self portrait" of him and his daughter playing with one of his favourite classic space sets.

Well Dan, I think you did an amazing job, and although I have no idea if it has any likeness to yourself, I really love the way you pulled it off! Nice use of duplo for the back drop, amazing part choices for things such as your ears, and nice proportions through out. I love the way you did the sneakers, as well as the "builds" you both have in front of you. Awesome work!



Sticks and Stones...

Disclaimer... No figs were beaten into submission for this post.

Often my Lego projects are long, involved and take way too many Bricklink orders to finish. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy those projects immensely!

But sometimes I just want to "play"...
To make simple builds, that only use the parts in my collection, and take only an evening to build. Those are the "rules" to my "one night builds" and very much like a "one night stands" they take little emotional, mental or physical effort, and the result is usually not note worthy (not that this one really is either, giggle). Most often, these "one night builds" quickly end up sorted back into my collection in a relatively short time span. Seldom do they even get photo documented, but this time I could not resist.

It started with last year, between a few JLUG contests here and here (note entry #25) ... and some inspiration that came from BF, where Robin W (at least I believe it was his) had a long chain made of click hinges.

EDIT: (and then edited again for clarity)....
OOPS, my apologies, and a correction, chain credit goes to Michael Harrod, of the self crowned title "
The Chain Originator" fame... due to him winning ~Most Intriguing Sculpture~ at BrickFest 2005" - with his "chain link" MOC’s named “Multiplicity: A Study in Using Multiple Copies of a Single Element,” or and I quote "something along those lines."



I thought that was the best use of an element that I rarely find the need for, so I took mine and built some chain, (3 of them to be exact, one in black, one in new grey and one in old grey). The chain seemed a bit lonely... which got me to thinking one night... which is never a good idea.

And this is the result of my "one night builds".

"Friday Night"
Sticks & Stones...
will break my bones.
But Whips & Chains,
~EXCITE~ me!


Black and Grey Chain, Cat of Nine Tails (brown handle),
Flogger (white handle), and Crop ("braided" black handle)




This "collection" is now part of my ...
"Satiated Sculpture Series"
starting with this original one...
"Saturday Night"



Enjoy, I know I did, wink!


Thursday, July 13, 2006

ParLUGment BBQ

I just got home from the annual ParLUGment BBQ...
always nice to see old familiar faces (well some of them anyway) and great to meet some of the new members as well. All my pictures here.

Here is my trip in a nutshell...

On Sunday, I headed to Toronto, (perfect timing like usual, I ended up coming into Toronto in the middle of the celebrations for the World Cup - remind me to never do that again.) I brought a tub of Lego that needed sorted but instead, I hung out with an old friend I don't get to see nearly enough, and stayed the night at my local haunt.

Fairly early (for me) on Monday morning I headed out to the National Capital. (I know, I am a wuss, but driving 9-10 hours straight isn't my idea of a good time). It was pouring out, and I began to have concerns about just how we were going to have a BBQ in torrential rain storms.

Since I hate driving on the 401 anywhere near Toronto, and it was morning rush hour, and the rain made visibility a bit of a joke.... I decided to take an extremely convoluted route to Ottawa which took me directly into the opposite way anyone with a clue would take. My "oh so intelligent choice" probably ended up adding two hours to my trip and was gifted with glorious stop and go traffic and a strange construction route moment. (This crazy dump truck driver decided the pylons set out to direct traffic were just for others and not himself. I quickly applied the brakes as I watched him totally kill 18 innocent pylons as he drove exactly where he wanted to go instead of the "suggested path".)

Anyhow, later that day the rain stopped and the sun was just starting to dry everything up as I arrived at deborah's beautiful home and was given the royal treatment... (this means not only did I get towels, but a big girl bed too!) The tour quickly ended up in her build room... where I got to check out her latest finished project, construction on her new project, as well as the chance to check out her parts, wink!

Since she was already ready for the party, we spent the rest of the day, chatting and hanging out waiting upon the other guests. Jude was the first to arrive, and wow, what a shock, dude, I miss the long hair!!! Shortly after... Paul arrive (seems like ages since I have seen him), since I had forgot to pack my best friend Crown Royal, Paul got suckered... errr I mean, volunteered to take me to the LCBO. By the time we got back many other members had shown up.





Before long the backyard was filled with ALES... and the BBQ was fired up and the Lego talk began... before I knew it, dinner was ready (Paul to the rescue again) and served.



Few moments stick out in my head... for example, I wish I could explain, what it is about Jude that makes me laugh uncontrollably... even when nothing at all is funny, but for some reason, anytime I am near him, my funny bone is extra sensitive, just as I hope his arm was, after I used him as a punching bag.


I was very touched by a little gift that Steve A brought me from Steve B... thank you so much, I miss you too... and I love the fact that not only did you think of me, but it was such a nice gesture.

After dinner ppl swapped, traded, and settled up Lego orders and purchases... and a few of the displayed mocs were admired. (Sadly I brought only one small moc which I left behind by mistake. I am trusting deborah with the job of taking it to Jason so he can actually build it better, than I can take the credit for it, next time its displayed, since I am such a poser!)

Then ~OF COURSE~ (it goes without saying), we did the secret cult handshake and song and dance. (I would love to tell you all about it... but you know, some things are better off left unsaid. Wink. - "Wow, tough room!")

It started to get dark, and the skeeters began to bite, so we headed inside, just before it started to pour. Most of the misc items still left outside were rescued before they were ruined... if I could only say that about the bowl of chips. (Later when Jude kept me company during a smoke break we were greeted by a bowl of chip soup, OMG, some things look soooooo gross wet!) After much more Lego chatting, guest started to leave, and before I knew it, it was Jude, Jason, deborah, and I sitting around to the wee hours of the morning with our hands in bricks and our conversations wandering wherever convos go at odd hours of the morn.

Eventually we got rid of, errr I mean, eventually Jason and Jude went home, and we (well deborah) tidied up, and headed off to bed.

When I finally dragged myself out of bed the next day and managed a shower, deborah and I sat out in the sun, drinking coffee, smoking (well me, not her) and did ton more chatting. Eventually we did some late day shopping, and then headed off to the "ballet" (yes that's an in-joke, and no, I wont explain it!) Apparently there are some important cool buildings and historical sites in Ottawa??? Who knew?

Another late night, of too many giggles, too much gossip, and way too much fun.
Apparently building a Lego set can be too challenging for adult builders!!! The should have a warning on the package or something!

A super late start on Wednesday meant that there was no way in hell I was ever going to make it home before it was dark. So I played the record in reverse, and while I didn't hear any satanic voices telling me "Paul is dead" I did end up back to the same hotel. Tried hooking up with Derek, but he had other plans (he probably just didn't want to get stuck eating dinner with me, nor sorting any of my Lego) so I spent a few hours sorting Lego in my hotel, and sadly my Internet connection didn't work, so I decided that it was just silly to spend the night alone, and cajoled the same friend from the first night to come over and keep me company.

Spent this morning driving around, looking for important things like... chocolate, Lego, and other misc items, and eventually left the city around dinner time and headed home. Picked up a hitchhiker just on my way out, on Airport road, who kept me awake until highway 89, (as he was heading to Collingwood, from Wistler BC, for his fathers funeral.)
Finally got home around 9ish, more tired than I should be, hauling in more Lego in need of sorting, thrilled to see my boys, pleased that I bothered making the trip, and not so happy to have a crap load of work waiting in my inbox. Oh well, life is full of compromises... and sometimes it's more than worth the drive to Acton... errrr Ottawa. In other words, sometimes your "Real Friends" are also your "Lego Friends".
(Oh my god, I must be tired, I think I'm getting sappy!)

Thanks guys for such a fun trip, and special thanks to deborah and Marc who were amazing hosts. Thank you so much for having me!

P.S. Jude, Jason, and deborah.... Can't wait to see you next month and... oh yeah...
(evil laugh)
"MOM!!! DAD!!! Jude is on my side!!!!
He is LOOKING at me...
HE took my gun!!!
He is ~looking~ at me again!
OMG, he is such a DINK!!!!"

(Starts packing all my "girly" accessories now, and no, it wont be an extra red fingernail!!!)

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Creepy BrickShelf Finds...

Well, before I leave... I will leave you with a few random creepy crawling Brickshelf finds....

This cool "8 legs Walker Spider" was posted by "jmonso"... check out his folder.



This cute little creepy spider by "RalphS", his bugs and creatures here.



Awesome use of levers.... posted by "dh34154" here.




And this sleak one by "
ravenswolfmk" here.






And finally... this one posted by "cooldude1230"
Very CREEPY!

Spilt Milk...

Well, not only have other projects (life in general stuff - commissions/work, family summer obligations, friends and my sister's store) taken me away from my Lego ... 2 projects that were well on their way have had a major set back. The large scaled log cabin which was approximately 1/3 complete, and the pink planet moonbase (with 3 floors), met an unfortunate accident, and now both look like a pile of unsorted, (albeit colour coordinated) bricks. Oh well... the rebuild will happen, but for now, while other projects pull at my apron strings (like unassuming little children)... I must continue with my building delay.

There has been one Lego project that has been taking some of my attention, but sadly its not a build or anything I can share with excitement or pictures. That "project" is trying to manage my collection. There seems to come a time, when you get what I call the "wave"... Its when the current box/drawer/container for a certain element, no longer is the right size... When that happens frequently enough, I stop using all these "over flow" bins... and start rethinking the system... then after a purchase or two, the collections sort of moves like a wave into more appropriate sized containers. Its a bit time consuming, but I did have fun with one project.

I have 10 really awesome plano boxes, that I store all my favourite little bits, and use quite frequently. I love these boxes because each little compartment is a sep. container, so you can easily dump, remove, rearrange, etc. but I never really had a great place to store them. I dislike them being stacked on top of each other, because Im not a very tidy person, and when I needed one from the bottom, all the others would get left laying around. So I decided to use my plethora of red bricks for a solution, and built a handy dandy little rack that each box can slide in and out of. Its not pretty, but it does the job real well.





Not to long ago, I finally got the pleasure of seeing another fan's personal collection up close and personal (pictures do not count, since you can't open drawers and peek)... I know to most of you (or at least some of you) this might not be a big deal... but for me, it is a big deal, and I love it. Even tho I have met hundreds of fans by now, I have only had that pleasure of being in a fan's own building area(s) 5 times (J-K-D-C-J) so far and counting. I don't really know why I enjoy it so much... I guess, first of all, I'm nosey, second of all... there is something really cool about seeing how someone else builds, and organises, and manages all these bits and pieces. Especially as I see my collection quickly out grow its home, I am always on the look out for new storage ideas. It's also how funny you can "catch on" to someone else's system regardless how different it may be from your own. I guess it's the familiarity with the parts, but its still a pretty cool phenomenon.

We even had a few minutes to kill, so I helped sort some slopes. Why is it more fun to sort when you are sorting with someone else???

I am looking forward to leaving tomorrow, to head to Toronto, to finish up a bit of unfinished business... and then head on to Ottawa for Monday. My first and true love LUG is having their annual summer BBQ and I cant wait to see familiar faces, and met those that have joined since my last visit and kick back and have a good laugh. Sadly my trip out there last summer did not go according to plan, so I am hoping this trip will less eventful, and way more like "arriving". Wink.

I plan on bringing my Silver Brick Diner (although its not 100% complete... missing 36 black tiles) for "show and tell" and if I can find my camera before I leave, I should be able to post some pics of the bbq. I will be staying for an extra night, and plan on peeking thoroughly at my guest hosts collection. (That will make 6 and counting, YAY!).

d, Thanks for the invite.