Okay, not minifigs, but I couldn’t resist the James Joyce/Dylan Thomas reference. Nannan’s post the other day had me looking for more interesting portraits of LEGO builders:
That’s Ronald “woordenaar” E. (Web) on the left and Alan “Kaptain Kobold” Saunders (blog) on the right.
As Ronald says, LEGO is indeed addicting…
I’m sure almost all who visits lego galleries have seen my profile portrait, which pops up on the brickshelf recent pages once in a while when I make a new creation. This has inspired the ever so whitty Rocko to create his own self portrait shot. Well, two can’t be in the same pose; maybe I should make another one or even start an AFOL self-portrait glamour shot contest. Throw those mad building skills to the wind and show the real you. I’ll be sure to find a panel of female judges ;)
The contest idea is not to be taken seriously, but it would be interesting.
LAML Radio #23 asks the question “Why do we love the minifig?”
Naturally, host James Wadsworth, Matt Forcum, and I have lots of reasons.
Gizmodo commenters asked for more interviews of the builders featured there, and contributor Jesús Díaz obliged, first interviewing Tim Goddard. Jesús’ latest interview is with Ralph Savelsberg, whose 1/36-scale military aircraft have wowed TBB readers recently.
Head on over to Gizmodo to read the interview with Ralph, but here are a few new photos from Ralph’s Flickr photostream.
A MiG-29 Fulcrum and F/A-18C Hornet:
Oh, and just to prove just how huge Ralph’s B-1B bomber is, here it is with his F-15 and F16:
Luís Baixinho contacted me a while ago to ask if I’d be willing to do an interview for the Portuguese fan community Portal 0937. Naturally, I was both honored and flattered to be asked to join people like the Arvo Brothers and Hippotam.
It feels really rather weird linking to an interview of myself (especially after highlighting myself on LAML Radio so recently), but since I answer lots of the questions people ask me all the time here’s the interview. ;-)
Remember Boing Boing Gadgets contributor Joel Johnston’s Nine Sets I Have Known and Loved?
Something rather beautiful happened in the comments on that post — a connection between Joel and Bjarne P. Tveskov, one of the LEGO designers who worked on Classic Space sets in the 1980s.
Bjarne designed many of the sets we all know and love from the 80s:
BB Gadgets: What did designing kits for LEGO entail back in ’80s?
Bjarne: My LEGO career started when I was 17 years old; I saw an ad in the Sunday newspaper…. when suddenly I was offered the job I had to ask my parents if it was OK if I quit high-school to become a Spaceship designer.
Read the rest of Joel’s excellent interview with Bjarne on BB Gadgets.
Check out the latest episode of LAML radio for an interview with Joe Meno, editor of the fabulous BrickJournal magazine. Learn about the past, present, and future of the largest unofficial LEGO magazine for fans, with the next issue coming out in print for the first time.
Meanwhile, take a look at an informal interview conducted by Joe with the CEO of LEGO, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp.
Trying to keep up on all the amazing creations LEGO builders post all over the Web is hard work. No, seriously! With our day-to-day focus on individual creations, it’s nice to take a step back and learn a little more about the people behind some of our favorite creations.
To that end, Gizmodo contributor Jesus Diaz interviews microscale builder Tim Goddard, who we all know as “RogueBantha.” It’s great to see something smaller than a six-foot spaceship get real respect outside the specialized world of the online LEGO fan community.
Check it out on Gizmodo.
The second part of my conversation with James Wadsworth is up on Radio.LAML.org.
In this episode, James and I chat about some of the current trends in the LEGO “blogosphere,” including the blogs I can’t live without (including VignetteBricks, MicroBricks, How Many Studs to LEGOLAND, Klocki Lego dla dorosłych, and Young Spacers Association Blog) and this past month’s seeming explosion of LEGO-related posts on non-LEGO blogs (including personal faves Boing Boing Gadgets, Gizmodo, and Neatorama).
Check it out on Radio.LAML.org, and be sure to subscribe via iTunes, Zune Marketplace, or whatever floats your boat. Brick on!
It’s always a pleasure when I encounter a connection between two of my great interests — LEGO and literature. Remember Norman Mailer and Douglas Coupland?
Writer Heidi W. Durrow contacted the blog this morning with a link to her beautiful, touching story Ethnic Lego Girls Carry Spears. Here’s an excerpt:
“You be Pocahantas,” Jimmy says. “I’ll be the cowboy on the horse.”
The horses come in shades of brown and black. Jimmy’s horse is black like me. His cowboy’s Lego yellow. He’s white like Jimmy is.
Read the rest of Heidi W. Durrow’s story online in SmokeLong Quarterly, along with an insightful interview about ethnicity and The Brick.
LAML Radio has produced several episodes recently. James has been such a prolific host that I’ve not managed to keep up with the headlines! Here is the latest episode, featuring Aaron (Darkspawn) and me for the first time. We had an interesting discussion about the latest LEGO news and our observations and opinions regarding sharing MOCs online. Click here for this episode of the podcast.
Don’t miss the other recent episodes in January, with content including YouBrick, Blockland, minifig customization, and the book The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide.
Dimitri Burakov is an incredibly talended LEGO renderer from Lithuania. He uses an array of programs to create anything from polished renders to professional instructions of LEGO models both official and fan-built.
I recently came across his works on Brickshelf and contacted him about cooperating on some projects. The results are amazing. Below is a beautiful rendering of my tripod mecha with sample instruction steps. In exchange, I shipped out a big package from S@H.
If you’re interested in having renderings and/or instructions done for your work by a professional, you can find Dimitri’s contact info at his Brickshelf gallery.
