The Brothers Brick

I just thought this was cool:

It’s difficult to read at this size, but the small text says, “Retired after making 120,000,000 LEGO Bricks.” Sweet!

From Flickr user girlfactor.

In addition to chilled soba (buckwheat) noodles with dipping sauce, one of my favorite summer-time dishes is cold silken tofu garnished with green onions and ginger, drizzled with soy sauce. Called hiyayakko, it’s quick, simple, and mighty tasty!!! Mumu and his wife have each created their LEGO versions of this delicious dish. In the Mumu household, they put bonito flakes and Japanese mustard on the tofu instead of grated ginger.

Here’s Mumu’s version (I love the drizzled soy sauce):

And here’s Mumu’s wife’s tofu (the yellow must be the mustard):

The family that builds (and eats cold tofu) together stays together!

A traditional method of fishing practiced for hundreds of years in Japan, called ukai, involves flames and cormorants. Sounds way more fun than a fishing pole or net, right?! The fishermen place a large basket full of fire out over the water, and as fish come near the surface, the fishermen release Japanese cormorants on leashes. The cormorants catch the fish and return them to the fishermen. There’s a great photo essay on PhotoTravels.com about this now-rare fishing method:

Japanese blogger Sumi_handy’s has captured ukai in a cool little scene:

Japanese builder Toshiya has posted another adorable cartoon character, this time from the TV show Kirarin Revolution.

Here’s Na-san, the cat:

Ahhh… Adorable! Who can resist sparkly eyes?

Behold the show’s theme song in all its YouTube glory (and tremble in fear!):

Anachronism works in many ways. Steampunk is one example, and incorporating Art Deco style into a space fighter is another, as Nathan Proudlove illustrates:

Chris Deck is one of my favorite builders in the mini and micro scales. He mostly builds Star Wars vehicles, but he recently posted an updated version of his Colonial Viper from the original Battlestar Galactica TV series:

While we’re at it, here’s Chris’ Galactica:

And a Cylon Raider:

Thank goodness for Vignette Bricks! I totally missed this awesome leprechaun in a vignette by Chad Ivany (aka Cyin/CAI):

My wife and I went to see the new Pixar movie, Cars, this weekend, so I was highly amused when I saw this little beauty, Rookie-of-the-Year Lightning McQueen, by Dave Teague:

Wow, this is one sweet car! I has been this blown away for some time! That is one elegant creation. Look at that chrome, the sleek shiny blackness of it all!

Here’s the whole sleek gallery

Namo’s got a really nicely detailed train, the RhB Ge4-4 Krokodile:

Lego has made a set of this locomotive, but this creation easily out-shines the set. The plethora of detail is very fun. I especially like the use of clear 2×2 slopes on their sides as windows.

Here’s the whole on-track gallery

1816 has built a really sleek Mach 5:

I’ve never said this about a car before, but this is extremely swooshable! The excellent use of slopes in this creation is very sweet. Makes me want to get on the floor and drive it around under the dining room table…

Here’s the whole speedy gallery

What a great day for steampunk! Via RustyClank.com, here’s Ben Gorman’s steampunk walker:

Given that so much steampunk is Victorian, much of it seems very British. By using blue Imperial Soldiers minifigs, Andrew Horvatits’ “Colonial Steampunk” creations could be French or even American. (Just imagine steam-powered war machines at the Battle of Bunker Hill!)

Here’s Andrew’s colonial walker:

And his colonial flyer:

My series of Japanese historical and legendary characters stalled when I couldn’t figure out how to make the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu’s hat (image from Wikipedia; click to read Ieyasu’s biography):

Nelson Yrizarry has solved this problem with a unique combination of pieces, and I also like Nelson’s solution for a folded fan:

Since I posted his first “Crysilon” ship a couple of weeks ago, Mark Stafford has continued posting vehicles and vessels in his new Space faction. Now, he reveals exactly where Crysilons come from in a wonderfully illustrated LEGO comic:

Jamie Neufeld gets steampunk. He proves this by distilling the steampunk aesthetic down to minifig scale. For a building style that relies on hoses, gauges, boilers, and an overwhelming amount of detail, this is no small feat.

Here’s Jamie’s U.S. Air Cavalryman:

And his Zeppelin-robbing thief:

Head on over to Classic-Space.com to discuss Jamie’s creations.

(Thanks to Linus Bohman for the tip on this one.)

Some of you may have noticed that I added a new site to the list of LEGO communities over on the right. Joining the likes of Classic-Castle.com, Classic-Space.com, and From Bricks to Bothans, Mecha Hub is the new home for a growing community of LEGO mecha builders.

Administrator Bryce has high hopes for what Mecha Hub will be, including:

* repository for Lego Mecha models.
* dynamic resource of current builders.
* historical resource of past builders and contributions.
* dynamic how-to source for Lego Mecha builders.
* community driven knowledge base.
* platform with which to show new Lego Mecha creations.
* close knit community with active forums and feedback.

Best of luck to this new community! I would encourage those of you who build in this genre to join, and those of you who don’t to visit the site for some great inspiration.

A somewhat slow LEGO day took me to Technorati, where I found this (via eclecticism):