Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Pricewatch LEGO - 20 - 50% off

ToysRUs sale


starts tomorrow, with:


20% off Atlantis LEGO
20% off Cars 2 Lego
30% off Lego Star Wars Dathomir Speeder
30% off Lego Star Wars Ewok Attack
50% off Lego World Racers Power Boats
and more ....
Starts Tomorrow - Ends 12 Jul
For the LEGO specials from their catalogue, click this link: Catalogues at toysrus.com.au LEGO

Monday, June 27, 2011

Leo Burnett LEGO ad campaigns win Cannes Lion awards


Leo Burnett Moscow just won a Gold Outdoor Lion for its LEGO campaign including “Spaceship,” “Beetle” and “Deep Space Explorer”  at the International festival of creativity in Cannes.   



The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival is a global festival and the most prestigious event for those working in advertising. Held annually at the Cote d’Azur, one month after the Cannes Film Festival, the Cannes Lions choose winners in 13 categories. 

Even to enter the short list of the festival is a big piece of luck and winning Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions is as prestigious as to win Gold Palm at the Cannes film festival  

This year, Russia’s Leo Burnett advertising agency has won Bronze Lion in Direct with “Photo shooting” campaign for Wildlife World Fund (WWF) and Gold Lion in the category of Outdoor advertising for LEGO. 

The campaign LEGO "Imagination Allowed" highlighted childrens' imagination and creativity, and not to be limited to just what is on the box cover.

links & sources:
    




Saturday, June 25, 2011

Peter sick - not at Camberwell Market on Sun 26/6/11 - sorry


LEGOLAND California - practical joke

The Model Shop team at LEGOLAND California played a prank on their General Manager: They borrowed his car keys, moved his Volvo XC60, and then used a forklift to replace it with a life-sized LEGO model of a similar Volvo XC90, then they put his car keys back.


The XC90 LEGO model was built with 201,076 LEGO bricks and weighs 2,934 pounds. It was actually built in 2004, but looked so much like the manager's car that he didn't notice until the last second when he went to get in his car. See the video clip, showing the swap and then the manager discovering the prank. Video and story at this link: geekosystem.com/legoland-swap-car-lego

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

LEGO PriceWatch - 33% off CLONE TURBO TANK


$239.95  $159.95                 Link: shopforme.com.au


LEGO SW Super Star Destroyer - the Executor.


The Longest Official LEGO Set Ever Sold

wired.com (geek dad) posted pics of the just announced 3,500-brick model of Vader’s flagship, the Executor. Apparently the set will be available starting September 1st at Lego retail stores and the online shop at Lego.com.
Announced to be $US400 in the US on release, I don't wish to think about, let alone guess, what the Aussie price will be, despite our strong dollar! Let's wait and see.  Link: wired.com lego-super-star-destroyer-announced

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Ochre Jelly (Iain Heath) - recommended LEGO blog

A few days ago I featured some work by Iain Heath, focusing on LEGO versions of the film characters of the legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. Tonight I just discovered Iain's blog - The Living Brick (click this link). It is well worth following or checking out regularly, as he features some very fine creations from other great LEGO MOC creators, including some I have already showcased sometimes in earlier blogs.
Halo fig (below) from Larry Lars is just one recent one.


Another creation from the recent IronBuilder challenge

 Well, this was the challenge - V&A Steamworks (Guy Himber) and 2 Much Caffeine (Rod Gillies) went head-to-head in a MOC challenge, where each piece they posted for a month had to include this tan arch piece somewhere.
Yesterday I showed 3 pieces, and today is another one. This one is from 2 Much Caffeine (2MC).
For closer detail, see this link: 2 Much Caffeine's Flickr lightbox.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Ironbuilder Creations - V&A Steamworks vs. 2MuchCaffeine


Something amazing to watch - two great LEGO MOC designers - V&A Steamworks vs. 2MuchCaffeine - going head-to-head for a month to determine who is the Iron Builder. In every MOC they have to include this tan arch piece:

2MuchCaffeine (Rod Gillies) - recently submitted this Shogun Showdown (June 4).  I love Japanese-themed LEGO creations, and have a strong admiration for Rod's ability.






The Orrery was added by Guy Himber (V&A Steamworks) on June 6, saying, "I always wanted to build something like this ever since I saw a giant fantasy orrery in the movie Dark Crystal. As it has been on my builder’s ‘wish list’ for a while I figured the Iron Builder Competition was a perfect time to try one out!

I made it with the Sun off-centered ( vs. center ) to make it more dynamic to view. The cycles and planets and moons are all fantasy based ( so go cry to your Mom if you don’t like how Mars has a Moon or Venus looks like Jupiter ).
There is a video of it in action and close up at this link: ww.flickr.com/photos/32482342@N05/5730732979/
55 Central West by 2MuchCaffeine

Meanwhile Rod has made this brilliant microbuild on the Ghost Busters theme.











For more of his Iron Builder creations so far go to this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24681250@N07/5796445590/in/set-72157626819826486


Stay tuned to this blog for more Iron Builder pics.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Miyazakitopia - Hayao Miyazaki figures created in LEGO by Ochre Jelly/Studio Ghibli (Iain Heath)



Miyazakitopia by Ochre Jelly (Iain Heath)
As IMDB says: "Nickname: the Japanese Walt Disney....  Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking animation in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan. The Walt Disney Company's commitment to introduce the films to the rest of the world will let more people appreciate the high-quality works he has given the movie-going public."


Hayao Miyazaki is the director of such classic animation films as Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Spirited Away (2001), Princess Mononoke (1997) and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984).
"In addition to animation, Miyazaki also draws manga. His major work was the NausicaƤ manga."

Iain Heath (Studio Ghibli / Ochre Jelly) created his Miyazakitopia (above) for Brickcon 2010, where it received the award for "Big in Japan - Best Overall" award (...which ironcially he also designed!). Details and individual figures can be seen at Flickr. Other LEGO MOCs based on Miyazaki's animation can be seen at the MOCpages link below.
links:
   imdb.com Hayao Miyazaki
   Ochre Jelly's Flickr photostream
   miyazakitopia by Ochre Jelly at Flickr
   mocpages.com Studio Ghibli

Miyazakitopia by Ochre Jelly
Princess Mononoke by Ochre Jelly
 










Thursday, June 9, 2011

2 Professors help build giant LEGO antibody conjugate


A Dow-Jones reporter covering a recent American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting found that, "Perhaps the most original display of this year’s meeting — which wrapped up yesterday — was from Seattle Genetics. The company invited participants to place Lego blocks to build a huge model of an antibody conjugate — not-so-coincidentally, a type of drug Seattle Genetics is developing. That class of treatment uses a cell-killing drug attached to a type of antibody so that the large-molecule drug seeks out the cancer, then kills it.

In planning the assembly, the team required about 85,000 Lego pieces (mostly green ones).
To build the model, two Ohio State University professors/self-proclaimed Lego enthusiasts–Paul Janssen and Benn Coifman–were enlisted. Both are accomplished Lego model builders: Coifman has built more than 200 model trains from the small plastic bricks, while Jannsen got some attention recently for making an intricate eight-foot-by-eight-foot model of the university’s football stadium.
Paul Janssen's to-scale replica of Ohio Stadium
took more than two years to build.
"Paul Janssen is 42 years old. He's an associate professor of physiology and cell biology and an associate professor in cardiovascular medicine at Ohio State University. He holds a Ph.D.
And he loves playing with Legos.
"People who haven't seen the Lego models built don't know what it takes, and they easily dismiss it," Janssen said. "But it's not playing anymore; it's using it as an art medium. I've seen many people who think it's a nerdy hobby, but I haven't met anyone who, once they've seen it, still holds that view."
Janssen began playing with Legos when he was around 4 but stopped once he got to middle school -- plastic bricks took a back seat to soccer and girls. Years later, however, he took his old toys out to play with his son, and it snowballed into a hobby.
This continued love for the toy propelled Janssen to construct a to-scale replica of the Buckeyes' famed Ohio Stadium ... entirely out of Legos. It took him four years to collect the pieces and more than 1,000 hours to actually build the horseshoe-shaped stadium -- a difficult task given the rectangular shape of the bricks."
 Link/source: espn.go.com

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Fed Square Melbourne - Art of the Brick exhibition - from June 2

Recently I wrote of the Nathan Sawaya exhibition - Art of the Brick currently on show in Federation Square in Melbourne Australia.
During the show a giant mural has been in progress. Here is the recent status from Ryan McNaught's web site. Link: thebrickman.com

Melbourne's LEGO Love Boat sails for Chicago

Yes, the background is the Melbourne Town Hall (not Docklands). This is the much admired Love Boat LEGO creation from Melbourne's Ryan McNaught, who is one of the only 13 LEGO Certified Professionals (LCP) in the world. Melbourne readers may have seen it in January this year at the LEGO Convention - Brickvention 2011 in the Melbourne Town Hall.

The recent USA Today article chops a few years off his age, and makes a LEGO Certified Professional disappear (they said Ryan is one of only 12 - not 13) in the world!). They report, ""LEGO Love Boat," as it's being called, will be on display this month in Chicago at Brickworld, the world's largest LEGO convention. Made up of more than 250,000 LEGO bricks, the ship is McNaught's largest creation ever and designed to evoke the Princess Cruises ship that was the setting for the Love Boat television show of the 1980s. The LEGO ship includes over 450 miniature LEGO people "enjoying a fabulous cruise and the best holiday they have ever had," McNaught writes on his website, thebrickman.com. The vessel measures over ten feet long by nearly five feet high and includes powered functions such as a moving anchor, bow thruster and propeller. The lifeboat also can be raised and lowered.
(via usatoday.com)

Friday, June 3, 2011

New Star Wars LEGO sets hit Melbourne

New LEGO Star Wars sets are now in Target stores in Melbourne.


eg. 7956 - Ewok™ Attack - $49.00



Ewok™ Attack:

Includes 3 minifigures: Imperial scout trooper with speeder bike, Logray and Ewok warrior

Treetop hideout features stone launcher, log trap, secret compartment and retractable ladder

Also, the 7957 - Sith Nightspeeder - $49.00
<i>Sith</i> Nightspeeder™
Sith Nightspeeder™:Includes 3 minifigures: Anakin Skywalker, Asajj Ventress and Savage OpressFeatures 4 lightsabers and weapon!