Aaah, BrickCon. That magical time each fall when hundreds of LEGO fans descend upon the Exhibition Center in Seattle for a relaxing weekend of fun, friendship, and sleep. Wait. I’m kidding. Sleep never enters the equation. BrickCon has morphed quite a bit for me from my first event to now. I began attending BrickCon in Continue reading →
I have only built two hovertanks: one 6 years ago and one today. This post will summarize some of the changes in the way I build and hopefully offer a few useful tips for builders in the process of developing their style (with a focus on sci-fi creations). The Ladybird Hovertank (above) was one of Continue reading →
Creations for Charity took place in the past two months where LEGO fans sold their creations to raise money to donate LEGO to children in need. Here are a few words on the organization and the results of this year’s fundraiser. The beginning Creations for Charity began with the idea of giving LEGO to underprivileged Continue reading →
Hillel Cooperman gave us his take on the collectible minifigs earlier this month at BrickCon and I have to say that he expressed my feelings perfectly! Watch the video and tell me what you think. Just one word of warning, there is “adult” language in this video. So cover the ears of any kiddies who Continue reading →
Aaron Amatnieks (akama1_lego) and I were spending a productive day in a LEGO chatroom yesterday when he showed me a tree he’d been working on. I absolutely loved the concept and went off to build one for myself. I’ve been thinking about gum trees a bit lately so had some ideas to try out showing Continue reading →
Like many LEGO builders, I spent the first decades of my life building in isolation, lucky to get suggestions or critique from a sibling or rare friend who also played with LEGO. But in the last 10 years — particularly the last 5 — the LEGO fan community has grown to include a critical mass Continue reading →
Having a consistent system for sorting and storing your LEGO collection makes your pieces much more accessible while building. Most LEGO builders eventually figure out a system that works for them. In fact, it’s something we discuss at length among ourselves, both at conventions and on the web. Most people seem to sort by element Continue reading →
Regular readers will likely have noticed a bit of a decrease in the frequency of our posts the last little while. That’s because summer has arrived — at least for the 86% of us who are here in the Northern Hemisphere — and that means less TV shows to distract, good natural lighting for pictures, Continue reading →
Josh, Caylin, and I attended our local LEGO Users Group meeting yesterday, and someone asked us why Brothers-Brick.com was so slow, and if there was anything he — as a programmer — could do to help. My answer was, “Buy more LEGO. No, seriously!” Readers ask us this question frequently enough that I thought it Continue reading →
In what I believe is a first (apologies if I’m neglecting credit) for The Brothers Brick I’ve decided to write a somewhat counterpoint editorial to Andrew’s latest editorial. Andrew argues, with merit, that demands for credit are excessive and potentially “stifling (of) others’ creativity”. While I don’t disagree with his major points I do feel Continue reading →
Merriam-Webster defines the act of plagiarism as: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : [to] use (another’s production) without crediting the source. Unfortunately, plagiarism is something we LEGO fans witness all too often online. “Hey, some kid on LEGO.com stole my photo and entered it in a Continue reading →
As I started building my second major creation (more on the first later), it became quite obvious to me that I was paying the price for over 10 years of nonexistent or half-ass sorting. It was almost impossible to build because I couldn’t find anything. So I got sucked into covering my entire living room Continue reading →
Have you ever contemplated LEGO as a profound life experience? For the intellectuals out there, you can pick up a copy of Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon‘s recent book Manhood for Amateurs where you’ll find an essay dedicated to a stimulating discussion of the author’s experiences with LEGO and how they have progressed through Continue reading →
I’ve recently spent some time thinking about and subsequently altering some of the groups I’ve created on Flickr. In part this has come from me adapting to a new ‘user generated content’ internet but also in response to difficulties I’ve been having with new members in some of my groups. While I can deal with Continue reading →
Creativity is a term that defines the LEGO hobby, but have you ever thought why some works are more creative than others? Nnenn shares a metaphor about his interpretation of creativity that many builders can benefit from knowing. In summary, each creation is a dot on a clustered diagram; while most fall near the center, Continue reading →