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!
Rick and Morty, LEGO and quality apparel fans rejoice, Tee Fury has a ]cool new shirt today. But you better act fast, it's only available today and the clock is ticking!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
I understand this is completely off topic for this blog, but I have some things on my mind and this is my broadest reach, so I’m posting this here. If you consider this an abuse of my position I do apologize, but please bear with me. During the ramp up to Star Wars The Force Awakens and since it’s phenomenal opening weekend there has been a lot of “Lucas bashing” going on. Please understand I don’t consider George infallible, far from it. But for some reason people have felt it necessary to get very personal about it. It’s gotten really nasty at times, and it breaks my heart. I thought I’d take some time to share some positive thoughts. People take George’s contributions for granted now, but I’d like to remind the world that without his imagination and vision, there would be no force, no x-wings, no astromechs, no jedi, and on and on. But it goes beyond that, way beyond. It was George that spurred a revolution in visual effects, pushed the boundaries of computer graphics, changed editing with non-linear methodology, opened our ears to proper sound with THX and changed the landscape of the motion picture industry forever. If you enjoy watching or working on movies, you have experienced his influence, even if you’ve overlooked it. I haven’t. I thought I’d write him a letter, just share a few thoughts as I look at my Christmas tree adorned with Star Wars ornaments wearing my Star Wars cozy pants and hoping that somewhere under that tree is a Star Wars present waiting for me. Do I expect him to read it? Not really, my little website is barely a blip on the world’s radar. I don’t expect he’ll ever see this. But I’ll know I’ve shared my thoughts, and I hope you’ll excuse my indulgence.
Dear George,
You made me who I am. I realize this sounds like nonsense, but I feel it’s true. I was nine years old when Star Wars came out, the perfect age to be warped for life. Not to sound like a gushing fanboy, but I was utterly rocked to my core by it. Beyond just great characters in a fantastic world having a splendid adventure, it was transformative filmmaking. You changed the way movies were made, and you inspired and motivated me. I was the creative type before Star Wars came out of course, I feel that artists are born with the need to create. But you ignited a creative flame in me that has never ceased to burn. You inspired me to learn to make models, to build worlds, to overcome technical challenges and to tell stories. I got my first movie camera when I was twelve and I’ve been trying to cobble together compelling moving images ever since. I broke into the motion picture industry when I was nineteen, and I’ve had the privilege of working in makeup and visual effects on some great (and of course not-so-great) movies ever since. These days I’m semi retired from VFX, having endured the decimation of the industry at the hands of studio greed and foreign incentives. But I haven’t let that dampen my creativity, in fact I’m telling my own little stories now, and it’s been very fulfilling. I still work on one or two movies a year to help make ends meet, I’ve never worked so hard for so little in my life since starting my own company, but it’s also so very rewarding. After over a quarter century in the industry, I should probably be jaded, but I still get that deep thrill in my gut when I step on set or pass through the gates of a studio, like my heart jumping for joy. I still adore the industry that I fell in love with, I just can’t sacrifice my lifestyle and family to work on movies anymore. That love was sparked by you, when I sat in a darkened theater as a child and watched the adventures of Luke Skywalker unfold before me. Every once in awhile I stand in my humble little studio, surrounded by c-stands, lights, cameras and the tools of the trade, gazing at some ridiculous LEGO setup in front of a green screen and I get just a hint of that thrill in my gut. As I make a cup of tea or have a story meeting in what we call the “nerd lounge” in my studio, I do so under a poster of Star Wars, for I will never forget where this all started for me. I know this is all a bit melodramatic, but it is impossible to overstate the influence you’ve had on my life. In fact, when it came time to name my second son, my wife and I had long conversations about the influential people in our lives, the people that helped make us who we are. I thought about it a lot, and it wasn’t my parents, it wasn’t a favorite aunt or uncle, it wasn’t grandparents, it was you. No other single individual on this planet has had more of an influence in my life. We named him Connor Lucas.
Thank you George, for everything you’ve done, for sharing your imagination and stories with us, for shaping the industry that I love and for awakening the creative force within me. Merry Christmas.
-Tommy
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.
I won't begin to pretend I know or understand anything about Girls & Panzer, but this MOC by Moko is stunning for both militaristic and squee factors. And as if it wasn't jaw-dropping enough, this thing is remote controlled! Check out the video to see it's power functions goodness.
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.
In the 60's and 70's there was nothing more cool than an American muscle car. After the sensation of the legendary Mustang, all the US car builders jumped in and this was one of Chevrolet's answers, the Camero. This version by _Tiler hits all the marks and is one sexy beast.
I'm thoroughly smitten with this marvelous micro mill MOC by Halhi141. From the graceful arc of the waterfall, to the perfect tudor touches to the gentle taper of the windmill, I can't decide what I love best.
During WWII there was one pivotal piece of equipment that drove so much intrigue, stress, fear and speculation that it has become legend, the German encryption machine Enigma. Nazi Germany perfected it, a small team of British scientists cracked it, and the birth of computers was the result. Legonardo Davidy brilliantly recreates this machine in bricks.
It's no secret (nor a spoiler) that Star Wars The Force Awakens is a thrill ride. Like it's original trilogy predecessors it's an edge of your seat adventure with eye popping action. And this scene depicted by brick.spartan of the Millennium Falcon fleeing TIE fighters on Jakku is one of the best.
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.
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.
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