The Brothers Brick

Photograph by Adam Hally

We are getting excited about BrickCon 2010 here and, while we were busy getting our bricks in a row, we received the following press release from the BrickCon staff.

Now is the time to register for BrickCon 2010, September 30th through October 3rd. This year’s Theme is “Tales of the Brick!” Build your Tale and tell (and show) it to the world!

We return to the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall and have added the Rainier Room (Northwest Rooms) to our venue space. We’ll be using the Rainier Room (6,000 sq ft) for all of our Convention Activities including the Thursday Meet and Greet and our General Assemblies, seminars and contests.

Registering now will guarantee you’ll receive a customized engraved name badge you can wear proudly to the entire three day (four if you count Thursday – and we do!) event. Included with your registration will be a great Goody Bag, a Free Luncheon on Friday. And, if you’re old enough, you can attend our Thursday Meet and Greet get together where mixed drinks, beer and wine will be available ($4 per drink – cash only) along with free Mexican fare (snacks).

If you procrastinate too long, September 15th is the “deadline”, we cannot guarantee the terrific Goody Bag and custom badge. Registration will close September 28th. Then registration will only be at the door at the Exhibition Hall.

Visit www.brickcon.org now for details and Register Now!

Prices:

Adult Registration (21+) $65
Young Adult Registration (18-21) $60
Under 18 (Teen) Registration (must include an Adult (21+) as a package) $60
T-Shirts $15 – $17.50
Convention Model $20

Wayne Hussey
BrickCon

So get your rear in gear and be there! By the way, if you are attending, and you see some of us, make sure you say ‘hi’. See you there!

When it comes to Lego and photo lighting, no one has a better reputation than Alex Eylar. Having emerged from his Dark Ages in 2007, Alex has made an impression on the community through his diverse and often pop culture-referencing creations that are photographed with realistic and atmospheric lighting. It is my pleasure to interview the man behind the camera about his take on our favorite hobby.

Nannan Zhang: Talk about what you like to build.

Alex Eylar: I tend to just build whatever I feel like, whatever inspiration hits, without really sticking to one theme or another. I admire the people who can stay in one theme and just put out hit after hit, but I’ve got a total LEGO-ADD that keeps me bouncing from theme to theme. I even had to title that one folder “The Unclassifiable” because the things just didn’t fit into one theme or another.

NZ: So it’s really just the spur of the moment?

AE: Oh, absolutely. I keep a Word Document on my desktop that has all sorts of random ideas in the shortest of shorthand. I get an idea, I jot it down, I build it or try to build it and fail miserably.

NZ: It’s interesting that you keep an actual list of ideas, how long is it?

AE: Generally about four or five projects long, but that includes things I’ve been thinking about for years and will probably never get to finish. Purgatory from Dante’s Inferno is a great example.

NZ: That list is actually much shorter than I expected, I know someone who has over 120 ideas on his list.

AE: Mind if I ask who?

NZ: I heard this from “Big Daddy” Nelson a few years ago. You’re on a building streak lately and cranking out some great models, what’s the occasion or inspiration?

AE: The occasion is free time thanks to summer and zero social life, and the inspirations are movies and internet. Big movie geek, so I’m always seeing things I want to build, and spend as much time online as I do and you’re bound to see things that pique your interest.

NZ: I’m guessing you liked Inception?

AE: Oh my yes. Best movie of the year so far, in my opinion.

NZ: And you built some MOCs based on that?

AE: I had to. Any movie with visuals as good as that has to be built. A tilted, spinning hallway; come on.

NZ: How long did it take you?

AE: Maybe three hours from start of the build to the last shot taken.

NZ: What about photography, was that a huge process?

AE: It can be; it depends on the project. If it’s something small like that, and only requires one shot, it won’t take that long, but if it’s enormous – “Containment” enormous – it’ll take its sweet time.

More of our interview with Alex after the jump: (more…)

The Hog’s Head is a cute tudor house from Harry Potter but one that would look equally excellent on a castle layout. _Matn has many other lovely Harry Potter creations with inspiration for town and castle fans alike.

When Okay Yaramanoglu used Lego Toy Story minifigs to create Star Wars characters, the result is both startling and hilarious. See if you can identify who is who in this photo. You can find the answers in Okay’s Flickr photostream.

Really good Micro-scale is hard to do, but Crises_crs did it. I love the dragon and the Bionicle baseplate fits perfectly.

Jon Walker posted pictures of his SHIP that won Best in Space and People’s Choice awards at BrickCon 2009. I love the unique donut-shaped cargo containers. The lack of gaps between the wedges reflects the perfect technique that Jon used to create these shapes. The sand green spine adds a hint of color and the inclusion of two microscale escort fighters completes the setup.

Joel Baker constructed a sculpture of the scene from Toy Story where Sid pulls out Woody and Buzz at the claw crane. Say, if there were no glass, would you still have to pay and use the claw? Check out more views on Joel’s Flickr set.

Via The Un-Sung Brick

Mark Sandlin (Grand Admiral) is bringing this towering model of the robot Mazinger Z to the Big in Japan display at Brickcon 2010. Modeled after the gigantic Teknomeka frame, the mecha is sure to stand out. Déjà vu anyone?

Star Wars Celebration V took place last weekend. The video below has an incredible time-lapse footage of the public assembling a 15-foot wide Lego mural along with a good coverage of LEGO’s presence at the event.

Via FBTB

Tyler turns up the cute meter with this cuddly little craft. Dubbed the Smuggle Bug, it’s too innocent-looking to get inspected…..tricky, tricky.

Chris Malloy just posted this incredible battle at the bottom of the sea. It’s quite a lovely build. The lighting is exceptional.

Stephen (busboy489) has chimed in with his entry to the 32×32 challenge at Classic-Castle–aptly named Castello Rosso. I particularly like the angles of the towers on the base, and the inclusion of the dark red to break up the bright red.

The first thing that struck me about this dragon was the neck and torso. Fantastic job there. Cameron G. knocked this one out of the park. He calls this “Midnight Dragon”. I call it freakin’ cool.

This Coalition Gunship by Pierre E Fieschi isn’t old-school in technique, but it definitely is in feel. The aesthetic hearkens me back to those of sci-fi from the 70s. This ship incorporates much of the great surface texture and greebling that we’d see in movies like Star Wars onto a chunky shape. Which brings me to that shape, it’s so chunky, and blocky, it looks great.

It really feels like this ship contains huge thrumming engines, and was built for function, a skin that barely contains the guts that make the ship work.

A timber-and-stone, house-and-shop combo is always nifty and being somewhat versed in the dark art myself, I’m partial to blacksmith creations. However, this one by Peter deYeule is especially nice.