Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Siercon and Coral on Flickr - strong color themes
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| Wasps - link: Siercon and Coral's Flickr photostream |
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| Lava Dragon - link: Siercon and Coral's Flickr photostream |
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| Gentle Blue Giant - link: Siercon and Coral's Flickr photostream |
Monday, September 12, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Trump Tower by Sean Kenny
3 metres tall, 65,000-pieces, about month of building with 3 helpers, and NO GLUE!
That's the stats on this creation by Sean Kenny. Increbible as the structure is, if you look closely you can see that he even included reflections of the clouds and sky on he
mirror surface of the the glass wall windows. Amazing!
via: dvice.com and brothers-brick.com.
Originally posted at: seankenney.com
LEGO minifigs explain the debt crisis in the European Money Union
- The toreador in a floppy hat, and the F1 driver with his helmet, represent Spain, Italy and the rest of the Euro Periphery.
- The three men with helmets, shields, and medieval weaponry represent the CDU, CSU and FDP parties in Germany.
- The blue-and-white sailor boy is Finland. Obvs.
- The woman with an oversized carrot and her friend in overalls with a shovel represent theSocial Democrats and Greens.
- Wotan represents the Bundesbank.
- The piggy bank is the IMF.
- The grey-haired Banque chap is the ECB.
- The chap in the red bib is Poland.
- The artists are France.
- The angry chef, the sweeper with a broom, the airline pilot, and the rest of the motley crew at bottom left, represent EU taxpayers in Core countries.
- The storm troopers are the EU Commission and Euro Group Finance Ministers, chaired by Jose Manuel Barroso and Jean- Claude Juncker.
- The monocled banker and his assistant are EU bondholders and shareholders.
Cembalest, who specializes in conceptualization of such phenomena”; I assume that Peter (age 9) helped out too with the Icelandic bonus extra, for people who make it to page three.
But Iceland sadly didn’t make the cut as one of the “12 players in the EMU Debt Crisis most likely to affect policy from here”.Cembalest does at one point feel the need to explain what he’s doing here:
If today’s diorama analysis borders on the absurd, so does maintaining the fiction that accumulation of massive public and private sector claims in Europe can somehow be engineered away.
Still, I like the idea of sitting all the key European players in a room with a box of lego and telling them to work things out that way. The results couldn’t really be more farcical than those of the EU bank stress tests.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
LEGO Pioneer X LEGO DJ Deck
via: technabob.com & sneakerfreaker.com
Batcave diorama from Alex Schranz (Orion Pax)
More photos at his Flickr photostream at this link: flickr.com/photos/orion_pax (lightbox)
(via: Technabob)
Friday, July 22, 2011
LEGO DC Universe SUPER HEROES from 2012
BILLUND, Denmark – July 20, 2011 – Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) with DC Entertainment (DCE) and The LEGO Group announced today the extension of their successful partnership to translate some of the world’s most popular DC Comics Super Heroes into the world of LEGO® build-and-play adventures with LEGO DC Universe SUPER HEROES.
The multi-year licensing agreement grants the world leader in high quality construction toys access to the entire library of DC Comics characters and stories to inspire LEGO building fun. Construction sets, minifigures and buildable characters and creatures inspired by the universe of DC Comics are slated to launch in January 2012.
The new LEGO DC Universe SUPER HEROES collection will feature 13 iconic super heroes in LEGO minifigure form, including: Batman™, Robin™, Catwoman™, The Joker, The Riddler™, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn™, Bane, Bruce Wayne, Superman™, Lex Luthor™ and Wonder Woman™.
Buildable characters will include Batman, The Joker and Green Lantern. Select figures will be on display in the LEGO booth (#2829) at Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center July 21-24.
(via http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/)
There is already an official web site for this new project - link: www.legosuperheroes.com
You can upload your own stop action superhero movies, and enter a great competition
CAPTURE YOUR SUPER HERO
MINIFIGURE IN ACTION!
To enter, you can make a stop-motion or live action video, take a photo, or even draw a picture of a DC Universe character using your LEGO Super Heroes Minifigures and/or other LEGO Minifigures in Super Hero style.
UPLOAD YOUR CREATION
Upload your creation here for chance to win! Entries will be judged every month through December 2011. All entries will be judged on originality (50%) and creativity (50%). Please allow a maximum four weeks for us to review your submission before it is posted online.
Grand Prize: A trip for 4 to Warner Bros. Studios, WB Animation, and LEGOLand® California Park and the complete 2012 LEGO Super Heroes: DC Universe collection. One grand prize to be awarded in December 2011.
Details at this link: www.legosuperheroes.com Monday, July 18, 2011
LEGO PriceWatch - 50% off 8078 Portal of Atlantis
Catch of the Day again!This time it is the Atlantis set number 8078
"Portal of Atlantis"
for AU $79.99 + shipping ($8.95 across all Australia)
Link: catchoftheday Portal of Atlantis
Only 4 hours 40 minutes left for this deal, (as I type this at 7:20 am Monday morning (EST - Melb AU time)!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
LEGO Tron:Legacy - Recognizer by Tronlegocy
The model consists of 4087 bricks and took about 48 hours to design.
It is rendered in a 3540 frame long animation where tronlegocy shows off the mechanical design of his creation.
So many excellent LEGO Tron:Legacy creations at his Flickr photostream at flickr.com/photos/tronlegocy/
You MUST check the animation on YouTube: YouTube - Tronlegocy's TRON:Legacy LEGO animation
(via: The Living Brick blogspot )
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Using maths to design LEGO curves
How can you use rectangular bricks to make amazing curved shapes?
LEGO creations that seem impossible to make without bending the bricks themselves can come together easily with a little help from your high school math class.
Jeff Sanders of Portland, OR began incorporating geometry into his LEGO building when he realized that even though the bricks are made of a hard plastic, they have a little bit of flexibility.While trying to create a spiral out of LEGO, Sanders struggled until he sat down and drew on paper the structure he was trying to make to help him visualize his problem.
Doing this showed him that the proportions of the spiral grew in the ratio 1:2:3:5:8, otherwise known as the Fibonacci sequence. It was then that using math to build with the bricks clicked for Sanders.
See more of the story at this link: geekosystem.com/bendable-lego-geometry/
(via: geekosystem.com)
Link to more on Fibonacci numbers: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number
New LEGO Star Wars animated special - "The Padawan Menace"
There is no date yet for screening in Australia.
Hopefully it is coming soon! Watch here for details.
Featuring situations, characters and locations from throughout the entire Star Wars Saga, the original adventure is written by Emmy® Award winner Michael Price (The Simpsons) and produced by Academy Award-winning Animal Logic, the production company behind Happy Feet.
Summary: A routine Jedi Academy field trip is turned into a rip-roaring comic adventure in LEGO Star Wars™: The Padawan Menace™. Tour guide Master Yoda leads a group of rambunctious Jedi younglings through Senate chambers when he senses a disturbance in the Force. Summoned to help save the Republic, he discovers that one of the younglings secretly boarded his ship...and has a taste for adventure! Meanwhile, C-3PO and R2-D2 are put in charge of the boisterous group and find themselves in over their heads. As the evil Sith prepare to wreak havoc, it's up to Yoda and the droids to ensure that their young charges aren't torn to bricks!
(via: prnewswire.com)
Link: "The Padawan Menace" news release
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Patuara's Ormurvik Space Superiority Fighter (Vic Viper MOC)
Neat work here, blending general LEGO System, Bionicles parts and Technic parts.
More pics and detail on Brickshelf here: Patuara's Ormurvik on Brickshelf
(via: Fascinating LEGO Model of the Day
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Pricewatch LEGO - 20 - 50% off
ToysRUs salestarts 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
LEGOLAND California - practical joke
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 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.
Halo fig (below) from Larry Lars is just one recent one.
Another creation from the recent IronBuilder challenge
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)
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| 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 Nausicaä 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
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| Miyazakitopia by Ochre Jelly |
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| 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.
source/link: Wall Street Journal - health blog
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| 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