The Brothers Brick

Brickshelf user tiger0207 posts beautifully photographed and consistently interesting creations that all seem to tell some sort of story. The problem is, tiger0207 tells these stories in Chinese. Here’s an example Bruce and I have been wondering about:

According to Classic-Castle Forums member Gumby (who showed the picture to his grandmother), this is a famous Chinese poem that goes something like this:

Fine red wine should be drunk at night,
I hear the sound of drinking, eating, and the zither atop my horse.
On the battlefield, the soliders are drunk,
Since olden times, how many people return from battle?

One mystery solved; dozens more to go! If anybody wants to send me information on the rest of the text in tiger0207′s gallery, just drop me a line at dunechaser AT gmail DOT com.

The latest updates to marakoeschtra’s castle characters include a king, his son, a beggar, and the beggar’s dog:

If you’re ever confused about the choices you should make in your life, you can just ask yourself, “What would a ninja do?”

A friend of mine was recently given a “What would a ninja do?” spinny folder at work (buy your own). We began consulting the folder for all of our business decisions. Unfortunately, this approach didn’t work out, because we all got laid off yesterday. Cool folder, but bad business strategy.

I haven’t made all twelve ninja actions, but here are three from the first six I’ve made so far:

Escape on a motorcycle:

Smash something:

Hypnotize someone:

Be sure to check out the full photoset on Flickr (with three more ninja actions, and the rest coming soon)!

Andrew Horvatits has been posting work-in-progress pictures of a cool little steampunk time machine, and now he seems to have posted the final version:

Very nice. Worthy of the esteemed Mr. Wells himself.

Nathan Cunningham presents a cool little scene from Austin Powers:

Austin Powers isn’t perfect, but Dr. Evil is spot on. Nicely done.

If a pirate and a ninja fought, who would win?

To find out, click the photo below and check out the full photoset on Flickr:

Here be pirates fictional and legendary — Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbossa, and the cook Long John Silver.

Captain Jack Sparrow:

Captain Barbossa:

Long John Silver:

Here be pirates historical — he of the black beard, Edward Teach; Bartholomew Roberts, also of the name “Black Bart”; and Captain Henry Morgan, rum-fiend (not really).

Edward “Blackbeard” Teach (1680-1718):

Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts (1682-1722):

Captain Henry Morgan (1635-1688):

Cyin is never one to rely on standard minifig legs (as he showed with Radagast and Tom Bombadil). He demonstrates this again with his new Gandalf:

Here’s Gandalf with a cart full of fireworks:

Today’s batch of folder updates on Brickshelf included three steampunkish vehicles — one by Octopunk (of Jeff & Jeff’s Pandemonium), one by smartiac, and another by new Brickshelf user serenity.

First up, Octopunk’s zeppelin, the Louisa May Alcott:

Next, smartiac’s tank:

And serenity’s TimeShip:

Today’s batch of literary minifigs includes several more 20th-century writers.

Ezra Pound (1885-1971):

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940):

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961):

See Pillars of 20th-Century Liturature and More Writerly Minifigs as well.

With interesting and innovative use of pieces, Michael Jasper is one of my favorite minifig builders. A recent update to his Characters gallery includes Queen Elizabeth I and a footman:

What I like especially is the use of the minifig helmet visor as a collar. (Credit goes to Classic-Castler smcginnis for figuring out what Her Majesty is wearing around her royal neck.)

I don’t normally post buildings, but these are too good to pass up. (Unfortunately, as Kevoh warns in his Golden Shpleem post, the image sizes are monstrous; broadband highly recommended before clicking any of the thumbnails in the galleries I’ve linked to below.)

Here are nine of my favorites. There are nine more in Arthur’s Brickshelf gallery.

The Arc d’Triumph, Big Ben, Chichen Itza:

The Flatiron Building, the Forbidden City, Independence Hall:

Notre Dame Cathedral, the Tower of London, the Leaning Tower of Pisa:

Brickshelf user tmbgrulz brings us a sweet Porsche 356:

I love all the chrome! (Thanks to Blueandwhite on Classic-Castle Forums for finding this and posting it there.)

Following up on my Pacific Northwest poet minifigs, today I present several of my favorite women writers and poets — Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, and Anne Sexton.

Gertrude Stein (1874-1946):

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941):

Anne Sexton (1928-1974):

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963):