New Jersey newspaper Asbury Park Press reports that members of the Chabad Jewish Center in Toms River, NJ built an enormous LEGO menorah for the beginning of Hanukkah this past Sunday:
Rabbi Moshe Gourarie said, “A lot of darkness can be dispelled by a little light. What this world really needs, more than anything, is light, positivity and goodness.”
Read the full article on APP.com.
Happy Thanksgiving from Clancy and his new bride, Greta!
Lluís Gibert sends word that Spanish-language LEGO fan group Hispalug will be hosting an event early next month in Barcelona.
Hispabrick is a LEGO fan event organized by HispaLUG. The event will feature LEGO creations such as dioramas, models, and Great Ball Contraptions, as well as presentations about Model Team and Hispabrick Magazine. With building contests and activities for kids, it’ll be a full weekend of LEGO bricks in Spain.
Name: Hispabrick 2008
Location: Mall L’Anec Blau in Castelldefels (Barcelona)
Dates & Times: December 6 (15:00~20:00) and 7 (11:00~20:00), 2008
Admission: Free
Contact & More Info: Hispabrick.com
Finally, a few words for our Spanish-speaking readers:
6 y 7 de Diciembre de 2008 en el Centro Comercial L’Ànec Blau de Castelldefels (Barcelona)
El Encuentro Nacional de Aficionados de LEGO(R) organizado por HispaLUG. Exposición de dioramas, creaciones singulares, GBC… Presentaciones de MODEL TEAM, Hispabrick Magazine. Concurso y actividades de montaje para niños. Un fin de semana lleno de ladrillos LEGO en España.
La entrada es gratuita para el público los dos días.
If so, you’ve got coulrophobia. You should also stay away from Lino’s entry in the Fear and Loathing Challenge. He calls it “I Scream”.
Following quickly on the heels of our post about how to get your LEGO event announced here on The Brothers Brick, Adrian Florea has just announced the first-ever LEGO fan event to be held in Romania.
Here are the details:
Name: Lego fan Expo -First ever AFOL event in Romania
Location: Palatul Copiilor Republicii str. nr 23. Cluj-Napoca , Romania
Time: December 3-7
Hours: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Contact: spacemonkey_adi@yahoo.com
And here are a few words from Adrian in Romanian:
Va invitam la prima expozitie de LEGO organizata de fanii LEGO din Romania. Evenimentul va include pe langa exponatele alcatuite din colectii si creatii personale, concursuri cu premii si activitati.
As much as we’d like to, The Brothers Brick can’t attend every LEGO event that takes place throughout the world. That’s why it’s great to rely on all the LEGO bloggers out there who attend events in their area.
Members of a new LEGO club based in Zagreb, Croatia recently launched their own blog, Kockice, and they’ve covered KockeFest, which took place on October 18 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Check out the full write-up and more pictures on Kockice and the Kocke Klub site.
(With additional thanks — and an apology for the belated post — to Marko.)
We have received word, from Steve Witt, that there will be a Master Builder Event at the Downtown Disney LEGO Store in Orlando, Florida. The dates are November 7 – 9. What can you do? Help build a LEGO Pirate, 8 feet tall! Dan Steininger, a Lego Master Builder, will be building this new model with the help of the whatever LEGO fans are present! All participants will receive a free Certificate of Achievement (while supplies last), $5 off coupons, and special offers in the store. They will also be holding a raffle for a $50 Gift Card. Hours are 11-7 on Friday, 10-6 on Saturday, and 11-6 on Sunday. Be there or be square!
A heads up for all those Australian LEGO fans out there. I plan to attend and hope to have a blast.
Brickvention is Australia’s own LEGO convention and it’s only a few months away!
The 2009 Brickvention will be held over the Australia Day Long Weekend (January 24th to 25th) in Melbourne, Australia and promises to be an exciting event.
Following on from the success of the previous years, there will be competitions, presentations, demonstrations and lots of interesting things to see and do.
Highlights of the weekend include:
- MOC displays (including town, modular houses, train, moonbase, and space)
- Building competitions
- Dirty Brickster
- Dirty Buildster
- Build-in-a bag
- Timed build
- Brickfilms
- Brikwars
- Trade tables
We’re all really excited about the event and can’t wait to meet lots of other AFOLs from all over Australia and around the world.
Want to know more about the event? Check out the website at http://www.brickventures.com
Neiman Marcus has recently posted their upscale Christmas catalog for the uber-rich. They now sell LEGO!
They have brokered a deal with LEGO Certified Professional Nathan Sawaya. For a very reasonable amount, you can have a replica of any person you want. How reasonable? If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
Okay, I’ll tell you. It’s pocket change, just $60,000. The real problem is finding space for it. Keep it in your mini-sub. You never use that anyway….
Thanks to Chris Wunz for the heads up about the Yahoo News post.
As I mentioned briefly at the end of Nannan’s post about BrickCon Day 3, the original LEGO fan convention, BrickFest, will be back in March 2009.
Here’s the full story from event organizer Steve Barile (no relation to Steve Witt, having delicious fries at right):
Where: Portland, OR at the Oregon Convention Center, Hall A
When: March 26-29, 2009 (setup: Th, convention: Fr-Sn)
Hotel: Red Lion Hotel (mention BRICKFEST for room block rate)
Who: All AFOLs!YES, it’s that time again! Join us for the 3rd Portland BrickFest back at the OCC Hall A and the RED LION, and all the Burgerville you can stand to eat! From all the AFOL feedback we have received asking when the next BrickFest is, we are expecting a great turnout from all the familiar faces, as well as all the new AFOLs that have joined our community in the last couple years! Wow, I can’t believe it been two years!
It’s easy to get to the OCC & Red Lion: ~$2 for a MAX light rail ride form the airport; so no rental car needed. Once downtown MAX is free, so enjoy the many fine restaurants and microbrew pubs that make Portland a fine place to visit!
SEE YOU THERE!
Steve Barile
Q&A
Q: Has BrickFest changed formats?
A: Nope! We believe that the current BrickFest format works great and we are keeping it the same. Of course we strive to make the event the best possible and make tweaks as needed.Q: Is there a public expo this time?
A: Yes, there will be a public expo on Sunday afternoon only, same as last time. BrickFest is for the AFOLs; there is no rush to set up the displays, so have fun attending sessions, arranging and rearranging MOCs, and goofing off!Q: Will there be workshops and sessions?
A: Of course! There are so many topics to discuss and share and MOCs to see, we’ll be expecting many of you to volunteer to give talks and host round tables etc. — one of BrickFest’s assets is the sharing of the tribal knowledge.Q: When can I register?
A: Registration will begin January 1st 2009 (for book-keeping purposes), but mark your calendars, I already rented the OCC!Q: Is Christina Hitchcock involved?
A: Christina is completely behind BrickFest ’09 and will be taking an advisory position.
BrickFest 2007 was only my second LEGO convention, and I had a fantastic time hanging out with the friends I’d made at BrickCon 2006:
BrickFest 2007 had one of the most amazing LEGO Castle displays I’ve ever seen:
Erik Varszegi unveiled 10179 UCS Millenium Falcon at BrickFest 2007:
I’m not sure I’m ready to begin planning another Zombie Apocafest (which might have to wait until BrickCon 2009 next October), but I’m really looking forward to attending BrickFest as an out-of-towner.
Check out the action from BrickFests past in the BrickFest pool on Flickr.
How do I put this? BrickCon 2008 was amazing, but just a little bit more stressful than years past, as I demonstrate in this photo by Adam Hally:
Nevertheless, it was the best LEGO convention I’ve ever been to! Highlights for me included:
Various bloggers have posted their observations about the con:
I love seeing the looks of wonder and amazement on people’s faces as they find something cool that they never thought could be made from the little plastic bricks they have lying around their house. But I tend to find the public hours a bit overwhelming:
Of course, as attendees get home, they’ve started uploading pictures they took at BrickCon. Abusing the HTML list tag even further, here are a few that I’ve found so far:
And with that, I’m taking a week off. :D But fear not, dear readers! There are plenty of other LEGO blogs to sate your LEGO appetite.
I can’t wait for next year. Until then, build on!
Pictures of the third day of BrickCon are now appearing. During the public hours, over 3,200 visitors attended the show, as you can see from the chaotic picture below.
Click the picture to see more from my photostream or see more pictures from the Flickr BrickCon pool.
Updates from Andrew:
During the awards ceremony, Josh and I gave out prizes for the “Best Zombified Building” — which also won “Best in Show” — and “Best Zombified Vehicle” to participants in the zombie layout. We’ll have photos of the whole layout tomorrow (including the prize-winners), but here’s a preview of Zombie Apocafest 2008:
That’s LEGO designer Simon Kent checking out the bombed-out end of Zombietown. The LEGO Group sent four members from product design teams to BrickCon, including Matthew Ashton, Simon, and Nik Groves. Matt designed 7979 Castle Advent Calendar, so he kindly signed one for me. Very cool.
Our schedules have been incredibly full these past three days, so our apologies if our coverage hasn’t quite lived up to your expectations. Those of you who wanted product updates should be overjoyed with 10193 Medieval Market Village, and we’ll have detailed coverage of future BrickArms products in the coming days.
In the meantime, more sources of BrickCon photo and blog goodness include:
Oh, and did we mention that there will be a BrickFest in 2009? Stay tuned for details on that as well.