Gordon Parks Arts Hall

My good friend and fellow VLUGer Dave Kaleta recently completed an architectural piece commissioned by the University of Chicago to celebrate their new Gordon Parks Art Hall.  Turns out the George Lucas Family Foundation was a main contributor to this vast facility.  The director of the University Laboratory Schools then recruited Dave, who's also an alum, to build this model as a gift to George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson.  Yeah, you read that right.  Congrats, Dave!

Gordon Parks Arts Hall - Northwest corner

Gordon Parks Arts Hall - Southeast corner

Lemmy

I've had very few opportunities to hang with genuine rock stars, but way back when I did the visual effects for the Motorhead music video Sacrifice and spent a very interesting Easter day with Lemmy and the band. Yes, Easter, for some reason that was the day we shot the video at a vfx facility in Los Angeles. Lemmy was larger than life, and almost seemed to have his own gravitational force. He was also patient, funny and genuinely talented. I learned of Lemmy's passing yesterday, and have thought a lot about that video since, so to see this loving tribute by Pate-keetongu this morning made me smile. Rock on Lemmy, you will be missed.

Lemmy Kilmister 1945-2015

Build A BB-8

If you've seen Star Wars The Force Awakens you've no doubt fallen in love with everyone's new favorite droid BB-8 (and if not, what's wrong with you?) Well now thanks to builder DanSto you can build your very own BB-8! He's made a video of a step by step instructions, so break out the bricks, limber up your pause finger and get building.

BB8+R2-D2_C-3PO

Fastest Hunk Of Junk In The Galaxy

The Falcon is my favorite ship in the Star Wars universe, and seeing it again in The Force Awakens just about made me cry. There have been countless brick versions of this venerable craft, and I have a new favorite to add to my very short list. This version by marshal banana has the right look, the right proportions and is fully lit, it's epic.

Millennium Falcon (Starwars VII)
Millennium Falcon (Starwars VII)
Millennium Falcon (Starwars VII)

You're A Mean One...

I bet you thought Christmas was over huh? Well it is, but this brilliant Grinch by Legohaulic was posted yesterday while I was opening presents and overdosing on eggnog and gummy colas. Somehow I didn't see How The Grinch Stole Christmas this year, in fact I don't remember the last time I watched it, but it was always a childhood favorite.

You're a mean one Mr. Grinch

Merry Christmas From BrickNerd!

The stockings are stuffed, the tree is lit, me and Mrs BrickNerd are having our tea and coffee waiting for the boys to wake up. It's a wonderful Christmas so far and it's barely getting started. This spectacular MOC by Jared Chan is the perfect way to decorate the blog today. Wishing you all the warmest of season's greetings for a merry Christmas and a happy new year! 

Season's Greetings from Nutcracker :-)

It's The Thought That Counts

The Emperor is clearly not amused.  My guess he thinks Vader just gave him an Ewok for Christmas.  And after that whole Endor fiasco...  

Je hyung Lee has created this high quality SSD Bridge, complete with the perfect lighting and background star-scape.  I'm sure the crew down in the pit is braced for a few jolts of Force Lightening!

Merry Christmas, and May the Force Be With You!

Nutcrackers

I don't know about you, but at my house growing up there was always a bowl of nuts in the living room, especially around the holidays. I can tell you from experience that most of the nutcrackers out there are simply not up to the task of a brazil nut, and I doubt these wonderful nutcrackers from Julius von Brunk would do any better, but they would certainly make any room more cheerful.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Fun fact: I sometimes mark holidays or occasions on my calendar here at BrickNerd Studios with little drawings. This month the Star Wars logo is on the 17th and on the 25th is this childhood favorite, Charlie Brown's sad but endearing Christmas tree. This MOC by cmaddison brought a smile to my face and a little holiday joy to my heart this morning.

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

Christmas Bookends

Deborah Higdon has built a pair of large scale bookends that when rearranged create a festive Christmas scene.  As you scroll through the album, you'll see that the gifts are from the 12 Days of Christmas.  All very clever and well built, with some humor thrown in for good measure.  Let's just say some items were damaged during shipping.  If you haven't heard the song a thousand times by now, you might want to check this version out. 

IMGP7362f

Ewok Village

I have to be honest, I'm not a big Ewok fan.  Even as a kid watching the movie, I wondered when Kermit and Miss Piggy were going to show up.  But this Ewok Village by KW Vauban almost changes my mind.  The scale and detail are most impressive!  He's got the party up above, the funeral pyre down below, and the Ewok Battle Wagon double parked at the base, anticipating an emergency beer run, I suppose. 

The whole display sits on four 48X48 baseplates, and stands 97cm tall.  That's like three feet-Dude!  Scroll through the post on MocPages to see all the action. 

Wanna Race?

I'm sure there's some psudospecs somewhere about the top speed of both of these vehicles, but I'm not going to bother researching it. I know both the landspeeder and speeder bike are fast, but we've never seen them on screen together, so I like to imagine a small wager being placed here, perhaps for a couple droids. Nice build Mad physicist.

Star Wars vehicles and figures