Read posts about lego
October 14
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September 1
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Saturday I went out with ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
lohquesse and moliarity to Brickfair 2008, and let me say that while I was sort of expecting a kind of small, 100-200 TCEP crowd, I was amazed not only that there were quite possibly a thousand or more people there, but some of the demonstrations of skill were AMAZING. Seriously, at $10/head, it was a bargain. In the back of my head were tons of whiners about "specialized pieces," which I always said, "A creative mind does not depend on the medium." Well, this Saturday I had PROOF, because so many builders used "specialized pieces" to do things with Lego bricks that were absolutely incredible and amazing. In fact, it occurred to me that many people who whine about "specialized pieces" never do anything with their "regular blocks," and so they can all suck it. I saw TALENT, and best of all, KID talent. The kind of kid talent you don't get by sending your child to gymnastic meets 4-5 times a week. The kind of talent that only the artistic mind could do. And they competed with adults. If you have a couple of minutes, and want to see raw talent in the art medium of Lego building blocks, check out my Flickr set.
Sunday I hung out withstodgycat, aksident, Rob, and later cyaneyed. Most of us played "The Order of the Stick." I got to meet a guy named Michael. Scarlet helped me pick out some Halloween treats for this year.
Posted in:
brickfair
,
heares
,
lego
,
lpi
The 3-day weekend so far... (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))
I am still happy I passed that exam. SRSLY. We had sushi afterward to celebrate.Saturday I went out with lohquesse and moliarity to Brickfair 2008, and let me say that while I was sort of expecting a kind of small, 100-200 TCEP crowd, I was amazed not only that there were quite possibly a thousand or more people there, but some of the demonstrations of skill were AMAZING. Seriously, at $10/head, it was a bargain. In the back of my head were tons of whiners about "specialized pieces," which I always said, "A creative mind does not depend on the medium." Well, this Saturday I had PROOF, because so many builders used "specialized pieces" to do things with Lego bricks that were absolutely incredible and amazing. In fact, it occurred to me that many people who whine about "specialized pieces" never do anything with their "regular blocks," and so they can all suck it. I saw TALENT, and best of all, KID talent. The kind of kid talent you don't get by sending your child to gymnastic meets 4-5 times a week. The kind of talent that only the artistic mind could do. And they competed with adults. If you have a couple of minutes, and want to see raw talent in the art medium of Lego building blocks, check out my Flickr set.Sunday I hung out with
stodgycat, aksident, Rob, and later cyaneyed. Most of us played "The Order of the Stick." I got to meet a guy named Michael. Scarlet helped me pick out some Halloween treats for this year.
Posted in:
brickfair
,
heares
,
lego
,
lpi
August 26
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Article here
Yesterday, I reflected on the Lego minifig and my first encounter with the little guy in the late 1970s.
I had a friend Andy Oman who was the first one to have the set with a minifig. It was some kind of rocket lancher set, with two astronauts: a white one and a red one. Later on, he'd get more sets, including the Galaxy Explorer. I begged my mother for the rocket launcher set, and eventually, she gave in.
I recall mulling over the minifig and looking at the construction between my fingers. So miniature, so perfect. Everything fit in every way. Before, there were only two kinds of "Lego people." There was some kind of 2-part blocky guy. He had the Lego head and hat ability we still know today, but there was no face. The torso looked like he had his hands in his pocket and the rest looked like he/she was wearing a tight skirt that went all the way down to the feet. In fact, it kind of disturbing looked like someone wrapped up in a latex fetish body suit. The other kind of "people" were these heads with faces about the size of a Dum-Dum lollipop. They also had large hats/wigs you could snap on. The head fit into a 2x2 brick that also had an assembly for the arms. Arms were a snake-like with as many joints as you had pieces. The body was whatever you build from normal bricks.
Both lego people types were kind of lame. But the mini-fig was awesome. And 30 years later, the only thing they have changed is faces with expressions, printed hair, and beards. Plus more torso types. The skeleton was a nice addition.
But as a kid, I was hooked on the space sets. I built this one array that was a "space gas station." It was on top of a metal supply shelf I had in my room. It had two levels. The top shelf was the landing pad. It rad rockets, ships, and generic factory like facilities. It even had a diner. The shelf below that was "underground" where a small town was. Here people would mill about without the use of space suits. It had shops, restaurants, hotels, and housing. I collected a LOT of minifigs. I must have had over 40 of them by the time I was 12. They were always in little scenes where they would be doing something. Sometimes, I had a dark streak, and I recall one "scene" was an auto accident with dismembered limbs and some red modeling claw for guts, blood, and organs.
This made friends jealous, and quickly I began to realize that my Lego men were disappearing. I was so anal about them, knew each and every one I had. So when 2-3 of them disappeared right after a friend visited, I quickly put two and two together. I only caught two people, whom I will call "R" and "A" because, well, records are sealed at 18, right? ;)
"R" was REAL stupid about it . He used my Lego men in a diorama project at school. He denied it at first, but I told him I wrote my name on the foot on each Lego guy, and did he mind if I checked? He fell for my bluff, and gave me more Lego men than he actually stole (I didn't tell him). Then he tried to back out with the lie that he didn't steal from *ME*, but from "A," who was "stealing them from everybody." I mean, I knew A had taken some, but he denied it. Then A was confronted with R's evidence. A had recently been burned badly when he stole a bunch of cap guns from a toy store and got caught when he was giving them out to all the kids on his block. Sadly, A was not as anal about his toys' care, and so I got some of my men back melted with small magnifying glass holes. This actually ended our friendship (which was shaky anyway because of other stuff he was doing).
Ah... sixth grade politics.
At some point, I got hold of an unspecified "European toy catalog." This had Lego sets that were not sold in the US at the time. This had castle sets, plus some Lego knockoffs someone was selling that had dragons and tanks (I forgot, but I think this was way before Megablocks). There was no order form or address, and my mother had to tell me the sad news she was not having anything shipped overseas because that was way too expensive. I was DEEP in some kind of avarice and was totally pissed off. Nowadays, I get things from the Internet with such ease. I wish I could buy a ton of minifigs from Bricklink and send them back in time to myself with a note, "Sorry your parents suck, hope this helps ease the pain a little. And tell A[censored] he can't come to your house anymore." Posted in: childhood , lego , minifig
Lego Minifig turns 30 (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))
Article hereYesterday, I reflected on the Lego minifig and my first encounter with the little guy in the late 1970s.
I had a friend Andy Oman who was the first one to have the set with a minifig. It was some kind of rocket lancher set, with two astronauts: a white one and a red one. Later on, he'd get more sets, including the Galaxy Explorer. I begged my mother for the rocket launcher set, and eventually, she gave in.
I recall mulling over the minifig and looking at the construction between my fingers. So miniature, so perfect. Everything fit in every way. Before, there were only two kinds of "Lego people." There was some kind of 2-part blocky guy. He had the Lego head and hat ability we still know today, but there was no face. The torso looked like he had his hands in his pocket and the rest looked like he/she was wearing a tight skirt that went all the way down to the feet. In fact, it kind of disturbing looked like someone wrapped up in a latex fetish body suit. The other kind of "people" were these heads with faces about the size of a Dum-Dum lollipop. They also had large hats/wigs you could snap on. The head fit into a 2x2 brick that also had an assembly for the arms. Arms were a snake-like with as many joints as you had pieces. The body was whatever you build from normal bricks.
Both lego people types were kind of lame. But the mini-fig was awesome. And 30 years later, the only thing they have changed is faces with expressions, printed hair, and beards. Plus more torso types. The skeleton was a nice addition.
But as a kid, I was hooked on the space sets. I built this one array that was a "space gas station." It was on top of a metal supply shelf I had in my room. It had two levels. The top shelf was the landing pad. It rad rockets, ships, and generic factory like facilities. It even had a diner. The shelf below that was "underground" where a small town was. Here people would mill about without the use of space suits. It had shops, restaurants, hotels, and housing. I collected a LOT of minifigs. I must have had over 40 of them by the time I was 12. They were always in little scenes where they would be doing something. Sometimes, I had a dark streak, and I recall one "scene" was an auto accident with dismembered limbs and some red modeling claw for guts, blood, and organs.
This made friends jealous, and quickly I began to realize that my Lego men were disappearing. I was so anal about them, knew each and every one I had. So when 2-3 of them disappeared right after a friend visited, I quickly put two and two together. I only caught two people, whom I will call "R" and "A" because, well, records are sealed at 18, right? ;)
"R" was REAL stupid about it . He used my Lego men in a diorama project at school. He denied it at first, but I told him I wrote my name on the foot on each Lego guy, and did he mind if I checked? He fell for my bluff, and gave me more Lego men than he actually stole (I didn't tell him). Then he tried to back out with the lie that he didn't steal from *ME*, but from "A," who was "stealing them from everybody." I mean, I knew A had taken some, but he denied it. Then A was confronted with R's evidence. A had recently been burned badly when he stole a bunch of cap guns from a toy store and got caught when he was giving them out to all the kids on his block. Sadly, A was not as anal about his toys' care, and so I got some of my men back melted with small magnifying glass holes. This actually ended our friendship (which was shaky anyway because of other stuff he was doing).
Ah... sixth grade politics.
At some point, I got hold of an unspecified "European toy catalog." This had Lego sets that were not sold in the US at the time. This had castle sets, plus some Lego knockoffs someone was selling that had dragons and tanks (I forgot, but I think this was way before Megablocks). There was no order form or address, and my mother had to tell me the sad news she was not having anything shipped overseas because that was way too expensive. I was DEEP in some kind of avarice and was totally pissed off. Nowadays, I get things from the Internet with such ease. I wish I could buy a ton of minifigs from Bricklink and send them back in time to myself with a note, "Sorry your parents suck, hope this helps ease the pain a little. And tell A[censored] he can't come to your house anymore." Posted in: childhood , lego , minifig
August 1
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Last Tuesday, a group of professors, students and robotics hobbyists launched the H.A.L.E. (High Altitude Lego Extravaganza): seven Lego Mindstorms robots attached to a weather balloon, which exploded at 30km over the Earth's surface. Each of the robots parachuted back successfully, but not without taking the obligatory photographs of the ascent and descent...
Gizmodo link with more pictures here Posted in: lego , weather balloon
This is hard core bad ass Lego hobbyist nerdvana... (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))
Last Tuesday, a group of professors, students and robotics hobbyists launched the H.A.L.E. (High Altitude Lego Extravaganza): seven Lego Mindstorms robots attached to a weather balloon, which exploded at 30km over the Earth's surface. Each of the robots parachuted back successfully, but not without taking the obligatory photographs of the ascent and descent...Gizmodo link with more pictures here Posted in: lego , weather balloon
June 28
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Did you know they're the world’s largest producer of vehicle tires? Posted in: lego
For you Lego fans out there... (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))
http://gizmodo.com/5019797/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-legoDid you know they're the world’s largest producer of vehicle tires? Posted in: lego
June 3
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So mine. So, so going up in my office. I saw these on some website earlier this year at a 2008 upcoming toy fair, and I have been hot on the trail ever since. And Lego sent me a coupon for being a member of their web site for, no lie, ten years I hadn't used yet. Cut, print, buy. Posted in: agents , lasers , lego , sharks
"And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!" (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))
So mine. So, so going up in my office. I saw these on some website earlier this year at a 2008 upcoming toy fair, and I have been hot on the trail ever since. And Lego sent me a coupon for being a member of their web site for, no lie, ten years I hadn't used yet. Cut, print, buy. Posted in: agents , lasers , lego , sharks
January 9
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Balticon
Balticon invited me to come back. Sue Wheeler e-mailed me, "You coming? Are you going to respond to our invites?" and I thought, "what invites?" I am guessing they got eaten by the spam filters. I do plan to attend, and I do plan to do programming again. I also plan on shifting gears and being an obnoxious guest this year. I will insist on only speaking directly to the con chair, whom I will call "Squeaky" and never tell anyone why, with all my impossible needs:
"What do you mean I can't have a live camel, Squeaky? I thought it would come with the audio/video request package!! I bet you'd do it for Hal Clement if he was still alive...! Yeah... I see how it is for ol' Punkie..."
Futurama
I found, while looking up Phil Lamar's credits, that there will be at least 3 more Futurama movies. "Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)," "Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008)," and "Futurama: Bender's Game (2008)." I liked, "Bender's Big Score," so I am looking forward to a good year of Slurm and Hypnotoad.
SETI
I have been a part of the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) distributed computing program since 1999, and today I crossed over one million credits, ranking me in the 4700s for the whole world, the top 0.5% percentile, and one of the FEW single individuals with that many credits (most are companies like Sun or HP). And at an average of 1600 credits per day, I am still searching for aliens. Woo!
Lego Killing Machines
When I was a kid, my friends and I used to lament that Lego didn't have any real army men or tanks or any Lego sets where we could wage an interlocking brick horror upon the helpless mini-figs we delighted in torturing. Of course, we made our own (usually in the form of marauding spaceships), but they never seemed as cool as a real set. Lego's stance on this was they wanted to promote peace and love and creativity and... they just didn't know boys very well.
Where was this guy when Andy Oman and I were looking for mechanized juggernauts to bring a mini-fig holocaust? Holy tentacled plastic death carriage, man! The video is ever so worthwhile to see mini-figs chopped and flung aside like the helpless, frozen-smiled victim sheep they are. Mua ha ha! Posted in: balticon , boinc , futurama , lego , seti
Some random w00t! (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))
BalticonBalticon invited me to come back. Sue Wheeler e-mailed me, "You coming? Are you going to respond to our invites?" and I thought, "what invites?" I am guessing they got eaten by the spam filters. I do plan to attend, and I do plan to do programming again. I also plan on shifting gears and being an obnoxious guest this year. I will insist on only speaking directly to the con chair, whom I will call "Squeaky" and never tell anyone why, with all my impossible needs:
"What do you mean I can't have a live camel, Squeaky? I thought it would come with the audio/video request package!! I bet you'd do it for Hal Clement if he was still alive...! Yeah... I see how it is for ol' Punkie..."
Futurama
I found, while looking up Phil Lamar's credits, that there will be at least 3 more Futurama movies. "Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)," "Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008)," and "Futurama: Bender's Game (2008)." I liked, "Bender's Big Score," so I am looking forward to a good year of Slurm and Hypnotoad.
SETI
I have been a part of the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) distributed computing program since 1999, and today I crossed over one million credits, ranking me in the 4700s for the whole world, the top 0.5% percentile, and one of the FEW single individuals with that many credits (most are companies like Sun or HP). And at an average of 1600 credits per day, I am still searching for aliens. Woo!
Lego Killing Machines
When I was a kid, my friends and I used to lament that Lego didn't have any real army men or tanks or any Lego sets where we could wage an interlocking brick horror upon the helpless mini-figs we delighted in torturing. Of course, we made our own (usually in the form of marauding spaceships), but they never seemed as cool as a real set. Lego's stance on this was they wanted to promote peace and love and creativity and... they just didn't know boys very well.
Where was this guy when Andy Oman and I were looking for mechanized juggernauts to bring a mini-fig holocaust? Holy tentacled plastic death carriage, man! The video is ever so worthwhile to see mini-figs chopped and flung aside like the helpless, frozen-smiled victim sheep they are. Mua ha ha! Posted in: balticon , boinc , futurama , lego , seti
September 30
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Actually, I just want the ship, not the cruddy harbor part. Posted in: halloween , lego , ship , skeleton
Holy crap, this is cool! (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))
Why, oh why do I not have $70 of fun money? And where would I put it, anyway?Actually, I just want the ship, not the cruddy harbor part. Posted in: halloween , lego , ship , skeleton
August 28
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Tomorrow's officially Marli's birthday. We celebrated it last Sunday with all of our friends and family, which was awesome. We also part-celebrated my birthday as well, though that was back in June. We got some absolutely lovely presents from everyone, so thankyouthankyouthankyou to everyone!
Our collective parents+partners pitched in together, to buy Marlijne the latest Harry Potter Lego castle. She's absolutely nuts about Harry Potter Lego, so there you go :) I have to say that it -is- a lovely boxset!
And one never outgrows Lego!
Posted in: birthday , harry potter , lego , marlijne
Lego. You never outgrow it! (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach
Tomorrow's officially Marli's birthday. We celebrated it last Sunday with all of our friends and family, which was awesome. We also part-celebrated my birthday as well, though that was back in June. We got some absolutely lovely presents from everyone, so thankyouthankyouthankyou to everyone!
Our collective parents+partners pitched in together, to buy Marlijne the latest Harry Potter Lego castle. She's absolutely nuts about Harry Potter Lego, so there you go :) I have to say that it -is- a lovely boxset!
And one never outgrows Lego!
Posted in: birthday , harry potter , lego , marlijne
May 11
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Posted in: firefly , lego , serenity
Serenity built from Lego (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach
This is too cool! Someone's taken the time to build a model of Serenity out of Lego. Serenity of course is -the- spacecraft from my favourite sci-fi TV series Firefly.Posted in: firefly , lego , serenity