NERDvember update

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It's the end of the second week of NERDvember and the MOCs continue to blow me away. So much incredible talent!

I check the group multiple times a day, and it seems like once a day I squee like a little girl. I do not envy the judges for this, it's going to be supremely difficult. I'd like to send a shoutout to a few more sponsors. First, there's BRICKSTUDS, who will be providing some packs of the coolest collector cards on the planet, STUDS collector cards!

Next up is the definitive magazine for AFOLs and fans of the brick, BrickJournal Magazine. Twomorrows Publishing will be providing a one year subscription to BrickJournal. 

And finally those illuminating geniuses at Brickstuff will be providing a Pico Light Board starter kit, so you can get started in the wonderful world of MOC lighting.

A huge thanks to these and all the sponsors of NERDvember, you all rock!. Stay tuned for more updates and if you haven't already started building, you better get on it!

A LEGO Brickumentary Is Out On Home Video!

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A LEGO Brickumentary is finally out on home video! As many of you know, BrickNerd Studios produced over 8 minutes of original animation for this film, and it was a fantastic opportunity. If you love the brick (you must, you're ready my mostly terrible blog) you'll love this heart warming and informative documentary about how LEGO touches the lives of so many around the world.

 
 

NERDvember is here!

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That's right you Nerdly building maniacs, NERDvember is here! Sure Halloween is fun, and everyone loves the Holidays, but November is quickly becoming our favorite month of the year. That's the month you crazy talented builders all over the world create some amazing MOCs inspired by BrickNerd's mascot Nerdly. Three winners will win prize packages including loads of stuff from our awesome sponsors. This year we're giving out some super sweet prizes. 

With Star Wars The Force Awakens so close, and us being such nerds, we thought we'd put an emphasis on MOCs from the Star Wars universe this year.  Of course, if you have any ideas on how you'd elaborate on Nerdly, go right ahead, it doesn't have to be Star Wars related. If you need some inspiration, here's last year's incredible creations.

Head over to the official Flickr group, read the rules, join up, download Nerdly instructions if you need them and get building. We can't wait to see what you create!

Huge thanks to all the awesome sponsors for this year!

Chroble Shelves

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Have you noticed the awesome Walnut Minifigure shelves on my set? Well, they're totally cool, super high quality and you (or someone you love, the holidays are upon us you know) need some. And you're in luck because the fine folks at Chroble have a promotion going that will make sure your new shelves have a nice new fig to display. Right now they're giving away a free series 14 Minifigure with every shelf you order! Order a shelf, get a fig, order four shelves, get four figs. Plus right now if you use the coupon code BRICKNERD20 you'll get 20% off your order. Hurry the code is only good until Dec 8th!

Get Beyond The Brick To BrickCon

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BrickCon is one of, if not the best LEGO conventions on the planet. I've only been to a few different cons, but out of those it is by far my favorite and I look forward to going every year (fingers crossed I'll get there this year). Our pals over at Beyond the Brick would like to make it to this year's con and have launched a Kickstarter campaign to get there and make an exclusive video of the event. They've got some cool rewards and some nifty stretch goals. Head over and help them out.

Build A LEGO Lab Contest

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Radleys, an international chemist equipment manufacturer, is running competition right now. They're inviting builders of all ages to create a LEGO laboratory. It can be any size you want, it just has to be 100% LEGO, the crazier the better. Winners in two age groups will win a £150 shopping spree at LEGO.com. Head over to their website for all the specifics and get building!

Wall•E!

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I'm super excited about the LEGO Ideas Wall•E set. It's a favorite Pixar character of mine, it's designed by my friend Angus MacLane and a completely awesome model. Well, my pals at The Brothers Brick managed to get their grubby little paws on one (don't ask me how, I don't know the details but I understand lemur sacrifice might have played a role) and have an exclusive review of it! Click through for your first peek at this amazing new model.

Brickstuff Coming To The UK And Europe

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Scotland based Curious Minds has become the sole European and UK retailer for US based Brickstuff. This is great news for all my friends and fellow LEGO enthusiasts across the pond. I'm a huge fan of Brickstuff and it's founder Rob Klingberg. I've used their lighting products in every stop-motion short I've produced and will continue to do so.

Visit Curious Minds' website for more information and get your lighting on!

Bricks, Filmed: A Conversation with Director Daniel Junge

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Bricks, Filmed: A Conversation with Director Daniel Junge

LAST year, a little film about plastic toy bricks hit theaters and immediately became a worldwide phenomenon.  Starring the voices of Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks and Will Ferrell, The LEGO Movie followed the adventures of minifigs Emmett and Wildstyle as they battled the big, bad Lord Business. After pulling in more than $250 million at the box office, TLM was a bonafide pop culture hit.  

Read More

A LEGO Brickumentary Opens This Weekend

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Yes! BrickNerd Studios wrapped animation on this film over a year ago, and we've been (not so) patiently waiting it's release. Well, it's finally here! A LEGO Brickumentary opens this Friday nationwide and on iTunes. 

As a bonus treat I'm going to be displaying screen-used sets and models from the movie at the Arclight Hollywood starting Thursday afternoon. I'm also going to be speaking with the filmmakers at a Q&A afterwards on Friday and Saturday evening. If your in the area and want to attend make your reservations now with this link.

I'll also be at the Royal after the 3:15 screening in West Hollywood on Sunday

Happy Birthday Brothers Brick!

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I think it was around 2006-2007 when I discovered the larger AFOL community. One of the first sites that became a daily visit was The Brothers Brick. In 2009 started posting my first MOCs to Flickr, and when my Colbert Report was blogged by TBB I was honored and humbled. Shortly after that I attended my first BrickCon, where I met Andrew and Josh. They warmly welcomed me to the community and we were instant friends. Just over two years ago when I was tossing around the idea of starting my own blog Andrew was one of the biggest proponents and his wisdom helped shape BrickNerd in the early days. I still visit TBB every day, and I'm grateful to call all those guys (and girl) friends. Congratulations on a decade of LEGO nerdiness, love you guys!

SDCC Recap

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I don't have a ton of time to write a whole breakdown of SDCC (I snuck away from the campsite to a nearby town to post at a Starbucks, the lengths to which I go to keep content coming on this blog, sheesh) but overall it was an excellent con for me. It all started Thursday, where I spent a full day wandering the floor with my wife and seeing all the cool nerdy stuff (and scoring exactly zero LEGO exclusives) In the evening I had the privilege of sitting on a panel with Nathan Sawaya, Brandon Griffith and Jim Lee (yeah, THAT Jim Lee!) We unveiled just a few details of the amazing project we're all working on, Art of the Brick: DC Comics. A big thanks to all those who showed up for the panel and especially those who took time to say hi after we finished (Hi Ian!)

On Friday we spent more time terrorizing our poor feet on the exhibition floor for a few hours. Nerdly got his picture taken with several cosplayers (he can't help himself). We saw some familiar faces, made some new friends and just basked in all the geeky goodness. I also scored exactly zero LEGO givaways and exclusives

In the late afternoon we went to the taping of the Conan O'brien Show. It was an amazing experience, we got to see the cast of Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. And if all the laughs weren't enough, we scored an exclusive Conan Zombie Pop!

On Saturday we continued the relentless punishment of our feet with yet more walking the floor. Once we had our fill of that (seemed to not take very long, the crowds were intense) and scoring the customary amount of LEGO exclusives we headed to the Hardrock Hotel where LEGO was showing off Dimensions, an amazing new game and building experience. I'll be doing a full review of that soon so I won't go into much detail on that. In the evening I sat on the second of my two panels with Joe Meno, Paul Lee, Brandon Griffith and Nathan Sawaya. We all talked about how we've taken LEGO and turned it into something beyond just building. I showed my animated short Batman vs Superman and talked about stop motion for a bit. After a Q&A session with the audience I surprised them with the world premiere of the sequel to Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Just Desserts. They seemed to enjoy it. Don't worry, it'll be online soon after I make some last minute tweaks and I've had my fill of s'mores and sunburns.

Overall it was a great time, but I'll continue to sum up SDCC as I always do, "four days of sweaty disappointment" Now to recover and start making plans to go back next year (why do we do it to ourselves?) Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna head back to the campsite and grill some burgers.

Tonight At SDCC!

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I'm super excited for tonight. I'm on the second of my two panels at this year's San Diego Comic Con, Making The LEGO Fan Scene. Join me, Nathan Sawaya, Brandon Griffith, Joe Meno and Paul Lee as we talk about different aspects of the LEGO fan community and LEGO art.

I'm finally going to get to show my animated short Batman vs Superman to it's core audience!

Join us from 6-7 in room 23ABC, see you there!

Tonight At SDCC!

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You remember those little bits on Sesame Street where they sang "one of these things is not like the other", tonight at SDCC is sort of like that. I'm going to be on a panel with world renown brick artist Nathan Sawaya, DC comic legend Jim Lee and the great Brandon Griffith. And while I'm certainly the odd man out in this grouping, I can guarantee I'm going to be the only one with loads of BrickNerd nerd glasses and buttons in his bag.

The panel is DC Comics Meets LEGO Art, it's tonight from 6-7pm in room 25ABC. I'll see you there!

Coming to SDCC?

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Hey fellow nerds and nerdettes, are you coming to San Diego Comic Con? Me too! In fact I'll be speaking on two different panels this year.

The first one is DC Comics Meets LEGO Art with world renown LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya, builder extraordinaire Brandon Griffith and comic legend Jim Lee. That will be on Thursday from 6-7 in room 25ABC

The second one is Making The LEGO Fan Scene with BrickJournal editor Joe Meno, premiere LEGO comic artist Paul Lee and Nathan and Brandon again. That will be on Saturday from 6-7 in room 23ABC

I'm super excited for both of these panels, and of course for SDCC. I've got a limited amount of swag I'll be toting around so if you spot me say hi and then mug me. See you later this week!