It Is A Dark Time For The Rebellion

You've all seen A Christmas Story, right?

Now, do you all remember what happened to the lamp in that movie?

Saldy, the Falcon met with a similar fate last night. She tells me it was an accident, but...

Back to square one, I guess... c'mon Han old buddy, don't let me down...

A Lazy Post

I'm not feeling my Muse today, or something, so in lieu of actually writing something, here's a nice assortment of links, videos, and pictures.

• Coolest guitar design ever.


• Ever wondered what a beehive looks like from the inside? Check this out— I love how the bees have a perfect sense of natural symmetry.


• Click here for a neat photographic look at how LEGO bricks are made [c/o Daring Fireball].


• Because everything is better in 30 seconds. I have to say, though, with regards to Pirates of the Caribbean 3, they got it wrong; it should be 25 seconds of people having meetings, followed by some battles. Ah well.


• Looks like Sam's Italian Sandwich Shops have been disposing of extra foodstuffs in the laziest way possible. Didn't these guys see The Host?


• Speaking of doughy blobs of mysterious origin...
  
  
  Yes, that is for real.


• Uh oh, I posted a video. Now I've done it; the floodgates are open. Well, this is far funnier than it has any right being:
  



• And this is for those of you wondering what I mean when I say "For frak's sake..."
  



• This is just way too cool [c/o kottke].
  



• Speaking of kottke, he put up a great post about using a hacked version of Super Mario World that demonstrates quantum mechanics and string theory. Watch that video in his post, and think about it. It could also apply to evolution and natural selection, come to think of it. If you are having trouble understanding what you see, here's the deal: when you see multiple Marios, those are the various attempts he made at surpassing that part of the level. When the surviving Mario pauses for a moment, the player saved the game, allowing more Marios to spawn from that point. Amazing graphic.


• Remember Johnny Chung Lee? Well, turns out he has a web site, with more videos of his Wii hacks and proofs-of-concept. This guy never ceases to amaze me [c/o mouser].


• Also from mouser, more proof as to just how awesome "Flight of the Conchords" is:
  

Millennium Falcon: The Beginning

This past weekend, I finally got started on the Falcon Lego set... and hot damn, what fun.

Some observations:

• Yes, this is a shit-ton of bricks.


• When building a set with over 5,000 pieces, do you have any idea how long it takes to find the first two?


• Answer: 25 minutes.


• It took me all of Day 01 to even guess which end might be which... it's that big!

Follow the link to check out the Flickr photo set of the work-in-progress...

LEGO Mania

I have always been a huge LEGO fan.

Growing up, that was probably my favorite toy. I was a member of the LEGO club for several years. Back home, between my siblings and myself, we filled plastic crates full with our assorted sets. We had sets from all categories, but favored the castle, space, and pirate brands. Back in my day, the types were literally called Town, Space, Castle, and Pirates. And there were few (if any!) custom parts. Yessir, I watched as LEGO diversified, and started calling their lines "Space Police," "Wolfpack," "M:Tron," "Black Tron," "Black Knights," "Dragon Masters," "Ice Planet," "Space Police II," and started doing movie tie-ins with "Star Wars," "Jurassic Park," "Harry Potter," and "Spider-Man."

I built hundreds of custom sets... recreating the suggestions on the backs of the boxes, doing my own ideas, working with my siblings and friends to build larger concepts. My shining achievement was "Mount Dragon," a name ripped right out of Lloyd Alexander's "Prydain Chronicles." It was a completely original castle shaped like a dragon, with large wings, an opening mouth, a dungeon, and catapults.

It was awesome.

LEGOs were the first thing I ever took money out of the bank for. I remember my mother making sure it was something I wanted to do, me saying "yes," and then she took me to take $100 out to go and buy... I think it was an "Ice Planet" ship set.* Ian got some at the same time. We both used to spend a lot of time at a store called, fittingly enough, "Ask Your Mother." Long gone now, it was on Pleasant Street in Brunswick and had the best LEGO selection. I still look at Target, Wal-Mart, and Kmart, and wonder where a kid can go to see the full range of LEGO toys I remember...

I still collect and build LEGOs these days, although at a much smaller scale. A few "Star Wars" sets here and there, the occasional nostalgia purchase on eBay, sometimes building old sets from my youth that I've dug up during trips back home.

In that spirit, here are three LEGO-themed bits of news...

First, check this out; this is the kind of building I didn't do very often, but I salivate while thinking about it now. I wish I had the time to spend on exploits such as this; I think I'd be good at it, as well as love it.

Secondly, David H. pointed this out to me last week: "Forbidden LEGO."

Talk about awesome. This book is the ultimate guide to mischief: take a favorite (and in my life, common) toy, mix in adolescence with a touch of knavishness, and bring to boil with solid instructional material. Catapults, rubber-band guns, fast cars, this book has it all. I've pre-ordered it already, and look forward to showing it to Ashby someday.

Thirdly... I lied earlier. When I said I only collected on a small scale. Because every once and a while, LEGO history is made. Just like with the iPhone, I can't just let that pass me by.

So, several months ago, I took steps to ensure my place on the cutting edge, the front line of the mature LEGO collector.

And Tuesday, earlier than expected, I found this waiting for me at work:

You'd better believe I'm excited now! (And yes, I know I need a haircut) The "Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon" is, at over 5,000 pieces, LEGO's biggest set. EVER. And looking at the end result, it looks like it's low on custom pieces.

That's right, good old fashioned generic pieces seems to be the majority here.

I plan on updating as I go through the building process. I haven't started yet... part of me wants to leave the box untouched and pristine, but that part of me will lose out to the part of me that will always want to build LEGOs. The whole process will (hopefully) have a Flickr set devoted to it, and I'll post whenever it's updated.

Wish me luck...


[* Thanks Mom!]