It would seem that BrickArms has garnered international attention. The article “Lego-Style Islamic Terrorist Figurine Sparks Outrage” appears on Fox News and similar articles appear in a number of other sources; see Google News report for the story for more.
Isuzu NPR Delivery Truck
My latest model is one of the most common trucks in the world today, the Isuzu NPR.
Santa’s Sleigh with Rudolph and the Reindeer by Vincent Pace
Every year LEGO comes out with an Advent calendar (or two) and most years they include some form of Santa Claus and his sleigh. But usually the sleigh is barely big enough to fit a minifig, much less a load of toys and goodies, and the “reindeer” is actually a single minifig-scale dog with no antlers or anything.
Great Train Expo Pleasanton 2008, Day 1
The Bay Area LEGO Train Club is taking part in the Great Train Expo at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, CA, this weekend, November 29-30
Train Show in Pleasanton Starts Today
Yesterday afternoon several of us members of BayLTC set up our layout at the Great Train Expo in Pleasanton, CA.
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
So I was looking at my RSS feed of incoming links to brickpile.com in Google Reader, and came across one that surprised me: BillWardWriter.com. I’ve always known my name is not that unique – the most famous of my homonyms being a certain musician who was the drummer for Black Sabbath. However, it still caught me by surprise when I saw my name – mine! – attached to other people’s web sites and blogs.
The trouble with the LEGO fan community
The trouble with the LEGO fan community is that it takes all of the fun out of getting a new Shop-At-Home catalog. Not only is there nothing new that I haven’t seen, but I already own several of the things marked “new.” When I was a kid, a new LEGO catalog was a source of great delight…
BrickForge, BrickArms, or MegaBloks?
Lately it seems everyone is getting all excited about the latest from BrickForge and BrickArms. Every LEGO convention includes a sample of their products in the kit. They’re featured all the time on sites such as the Brothers Brick blog and LAMLradio podcasts. Frankly I just don’t get it. Yes, they make parts that are not sold by LEGO, which some people really need to complete their MOC.
Congratulations to President-Elect Obama
Some LEGO creators have been posting images recently in honor of Obama’s victory:
New “About Me” page
I finally got around to creating an “About Me” page. It tells the story of how LEGO came in and out of my life. Hope you find it interesting, and if you have small kids, I urge you to encourage them to be creative with LEGO. I attribute a lot of my mathematical, scientific, and computer programming skills to my childhood obsession with LEGO.
My Video of BrickCon 2008 (Part 2) on LAMLtv
As promised, I made a second episode for LAMLtv about BrickCon.
BayLUG Tenth Anniversary Meeting
We celebrated 10 years of the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group on Sunday, October 12. The club was founded on October 10, 1998 after LEGO came to San Francisco on a Truck Tour.
Nobody expects the Spanish Iniquisition!
You’re probably well aware of the famous Monty Python sketch about the Spanish Inquisition (if you’re not, or if you haven’t seen it in a while, or just want a good laugh, it’s available on YouTube). Well, it turns out that someone – I know not who – put together a LEGO homage to this great piece of British comedy on the castle display at BrickCon. In fact, I even took a picture of it. But the thing is, I didn’t spot it at all until someone pointed it out on my Flickr photos!
My Video of BrickCon 2008 (Part 1) on LAMLtv
At BrickCon 2008, I shot video of a lot of models on display and interviewed a few people. The result has just been released as an episode of LAMLtv, the new video podcast arm of LAMLradio. This episode features interviews with Simon Kent, design lead at Lego Creator in Denmark, and Jenn “The Brick Chick” Wagner, as well as footage of models on display.
My BrickCon Haul
When I flew home I was really worried my suitcase would be overweight. Arriving at the airport, I hauled it up on the scale at the check-in station, and my face fell when it came up at 64 pounds and change. Since most airlines have a 50 pound limit for baggage, I feared I’d have to pay a fee for overweight bags. But happy day, Virgin America’s limit is 70 pounds!
BrickCon 2008 so far
BrickCon is going very well so far. There are tons of great models on display, many great deals to be had on LEGO, and some amazing news
Great Train Expo San Jose 2008, Day 2
Today was the second and final day of the Great Train Expo at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds
I was there with the Bay Area LEGO Train Club.
Great Train Expo San Jose 2008, Day 1
The Bay Area LEGO Train Club is taking part in the Great Train Expo at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds this weekend, September 27-28
Buying Bulk LEGO Parts
I had an email inquiry about my LEGO sculptures, and I sent the person a bunch of information about where to get LEGO parts in quantity. But then I thought it might be useful to share that information with the world on my blog, so here it is: