LEGO – a simple man

Favorite Things: 2025

At year’s end, I like to take a moment and reflect back on my favorite things that I’ve encountered throughout the year. Last year, my wife and I had just moved into our new home, and my favorite thing was all the people who helped us out along the way.

Hemlock Hall

This year, my top favorite thing is our new house. We have been living here almost a year (we moved in after Christmas, but we signed the papers on December 20) and I’ve just now begun to feel like this is where I live, and will live, for a while. I am starting to put down roots, I guess. It is weird to me: a home. Whenever I dream of home, it is always my childhood house from before we left Virginia (when I was sixteen). I’ve been on the move constantly since then, and the longest I lived in any one place was my wife and I’s previous home in Texas, where I lived about five years. But that never felt like a home to me. I tried, but I always felt uncomfortable there. Now, a year into living here, I have started to settle in. I feel comfortable here. At the close of 2025, I’ve been living in Texas over ten years, and while I don’t love this state, it is where I am now, and I’m not going anywhere for a while (I mean, as far as I know).

Middle-Earth

One of the first things that I bought for my new house I bought in 2024. I didn’t know where it would go in the new house, but I wanted it there: a map of Middle-Earth. Actually, I ended up with three maps. I have one of the Lonely Mountain from the Hobbit, one of the Shire from the Lord of the Rings, and one of the whole of Middle-Earth. They aren’t large, but they are prop replicas of maps as seen in the films by Peter Jackson. The map of the Lonely Mountain hangs over the fireplace in the living room, and the other two form a diptych in the craft room. I enjoy them immensely, and given my abiding affection for all things Tolkien, this is no surprise.

I Am Groot

I bought a life-size Baby Groot in 2024 from the second Guardians of the Galaxy film, and it stands about a foot tall. It is a lovely action figure/prop replica, and I have photographed it several times. It perfectly fills the spot in my heart for whimsy and wonder and fun. Groot didn’t make it to my list last year, but I include him this year because he is so cool.

Maker of Things

I follow the footsteps of Adam Savage, maker extraordinaire, and this spot I reserve for tools and tool-related items. I bought two terrific work benches, one for LEGO and one for everything else, and they have been absolutely worth the investment. The primary work bench is on casters, and that has been invaluable for the several times I have rearranged the craft room already. The other is on rubber feet, so it barely moves if bumped against, and this is perfect for my LEGO storage to not get jostled.

On Adam’s recommendation, I purchased two sets of WiHa hex keys, one in metric, the other standard. Both have been fantastic for assembling all the furniture that we have bought for our new house, which mostly always comes flat-packed and in need of assembling. Rather than use the small hex keys that come with the furniture, having a well-crafted and comfortable-to-use key has been great. I also bought, because Adam showcased one, a TOYO Y-350 tool box in red. I lined it with foamcore, and it houses my frequently used tools (such as the hex keys, a hammer, nails, screwdriver, and utility knife). This small tool box has been a life-saver around the house for when I need to get a small job done. I don’t have to pull out my large rolling toolbox from the closet, I only need to grab my small one and go!

Audiophile

My last object is my Apple AirPods Max, which is perhaps the most indulgent purchase I’ve made recently. I love over-the-ear headphones for flying, and for watching movies, and the noise isolation for the first scenario is amazing, and the comfort level for the second scenario is second-to-none. I’ve had other “cans”, and these are by far the most comfortable for long-term wearing. They also have the ability to connect instantly to any Apple device I happen to be using, be it iPhone, iPad, or AppleTV, and that convenience is well appreciated. My only complaint is not having an updated or more affordable option for this style of headphone from Apple since the Max was released.

Family

Wrapping up my favorite things, I end where I began last year, with people, and two groups in particular: my blood and my chosen families. My chosen family are my friends from high school that I have known for over twenty years now, and though we don’t get together often, the love we share is real. Some of us met for our 20th reunion in February in Americus, Georgia, and it was the most meaningful time I have had recently. All we really did is hang out and talk, but it enriched my soul and touched my heart. So many people I have genuine affection for that are scattered around the globe, and to see even some filled me with warmth.

My parents and older brother, my wife, and I flew to Boston this summer. We have been threatening to go for a while, and my Dad has always wanted to visit Boston, and in particular, Fenway Park home of the Red Sox. We were able to see two baseball games there, and visit many other places in Boston during our week there, including my grandfather’s NAVY submarine, the USS Nautilus which is moored not far away in New London, Connecticut. It was such a fun vacation, and relaxing time spent exploring a new location.

Wrap-Up

2025 has been a great year, from many perspectives for me personally, despite world-wide suffering and tragedy and rising fascism in the States. I have been hugely conflicted this year, because of personal highs and shared lows. At times I haven’t known how to feel. Over all, though, I try to remain thankful and put things in perspective, which is what my favorite things is all about. I highlight experiences, objects, and people because all have enriched my life in one way or another, and make life worth living despite the real heartbreak I see all around me. As I tread into 2026, I hope for better at home and abroad, and look forward to what the new year will bring.

Update: May 2025

Wednesday in north Texas is supposed to reach triple digit temperatures, on the Fahrenheit scale anyway, so I guess summer is about to make a bold entrance in 2025. I thought I would take advantage of the brief time before the heat arrives to take stock of where I stand as I head into the imminent summer.

Health

Tomorrow marks three weeks of my change to healthier eating. I am experiencing increased energy, decreased lethargy, and I am staying awake longer than I have before. Important numbers are down, and in general, I feel better. I relish the change, and while weight loss is not a goal, it’s happening anyway. I am able to wear a 2X shirt for the first time in many years, and have more room in my jeans than I used to. I enjoy purchasing new clothes from time to time, and now I may have an excuse in the near future to do so. That’s exciting!

Andor

Light spoilers follow for a TV show. Skip the next paragraph to avoid.

I continue to watch Star Wars: Andor and it continues to not be my jam. I understand completely what they are doing with the story and the horror of the Empire’s rule, I just don’t think that it is necessary to see in stark “reality”. A recent episode showed a brutal massacre, and it was very difficult to sit through. I prefer my Star Wars more lighthearted and adventurous than dark and depressing.

Making

I started to build more with LEGO in the past weeks, having built one MOC (my own creation) out of an official set, with more custom building to follow. I even bought a few new shelf units to spread out my “on display” LEGO collection to provide more room to expand my MOC. I plan to build an entire street or two in a small Tatooine town, hopefully. I also bought a few Ultimate Collector Series sets (well, one was free due to reward points I’ve been saving over a few years!) that I can’t wait to build: the X-Wing Starfighter and the TIE Interceptor. They are updates of the first two ever UCS offerings that first appeared waaay back in 2000. Twenty-five years is a long time to wait to finally own the pair (though I did own, briefly, an interim UCS X-Wing that debuted in 2013, but I sold it not long after building, as was my habit back then).

Other making includes a diorama for my Star Wars action figures. A while back I bought miniature replica skulls of a rancor and a mudhorn, and I’ve finally got a few ideas of how to photograph them. I need to purchase a few materials to complete the dioramas, but once that is complete, I think I can break out my camera and finally snap a few photos. It will be a long time coming, but worth it. I also recently bought some new texture paint I can’t wait to play around with that might lead to even more creative dioramas and photos.

The past few weeks, or months, I remained busy with stuff around work and other pursuits, but I think I will finally start to dig into my hobbies with gusto. Especially with the summer coming up with less responsibility at work, I will have larger blocks of uninterrupted time. All that remains is to put down my phone and pick up my paintbrush or break out my bricks. That part sounds easy, but as most know in these futuristic times, putting down the phone is sometimes difficult.

Baseball

The baseball season must travel a bit before it reaches the dog days of summer, but things are heating up with the weather as the competition gets going. I love watching the Cleveland Guardians play, especially as they are a young team finding their way. Excitement abounds with each game as different players step up each game with a direct impact. Far from being a “one-man-show”, the Guardians showcase a true team effort. I’ve also been watching the Texas Rangers some, and the Boston Red Sox, as I always love seeing the always iconic Fenway.

Speaking of Fenway and the Red Sox and traveling: I am going to Fenway in-person this summer! Towards the end of July I am taking a trip to Boston to take my dad (who is a huge Red Sox fan) to finally experience all that baseball has to offer in one of the oldest baseball towns in America. This is going to be a really fun trip! We will also be able to visit the U.S.S. Nautilus, which is now a museum in Connecticut, but was once a key part of the US NAVY, aboard which my grandfather served for many years as an engineer. I very much look forward to seeing the first submarine he ever served on, and get a glimpse into what his journey under the sea might have been like all those years ago. Other highlights include meeting up with an old friend (possibly two), seeing some of my wife’s family I’ve yet to meet, and being a tourist. We still need to plan a few details, but I am getting more excited for the trip each day.

Challenges

I still can’t read. I feel sad about this, as reading has been a huge part of my life for a long time, but focus and motivation to read remains absent from me. I recently purchased Patrick Stewart’s memoir Making it So but have yet to crack the cover. I have other books I would love to re-read, or explore further. Maybe as my physical health, and as an extension my mental health, improves I will be able to try to read again. I did recently read through the audiobooks of the Lord of the Rings with my wife, a thoroughly enjoyable time that gave me new insights into the story that I want to dig into academically in the future, but again, finding the mental impetus to do so remains difficult.

An aside, of sorts, here: when I do have time, I don’t reach for a book. Part of it is an irrational feeling of not being allowed to. I feel as if I would be wasting the time spent reading, even though I know time spent reading is never wasted. I don’t know why this is, especially when I usually spend the time I would be reading doomscrolling on my phone or playing Scrabble instead. It might mean just taking the plunge, but that is a leap I’ve yet to make. If I am going to sit around anyway, I may as well be reading instead of scrolling social media.

I know the world, and my country, is much not good right now, but I cannot carry that burden myself. Yes, I am deeply concerned, scared, and angry about what my government is actively doing to so many innocent people, but I feel for me, right now, the best resistance is to deny the evil-doers the ability to darken my soul. The best resistance I can mount is to live a good, positive life. That is how I defeat, not with hate, but with love, and love starts with loving myself. I cannot pour from an empty vessel, but with a self full of love, I am able to love others and pour into their lives. That is how the way will be won.

All in all, I feel as if I am in a good place in many ways. I want to continue to build on the progress I have made thus far, and see where the future takes me. I have many pursuits on my horizon, and endeavors I would love to reach towards, and journeys to take. It is a wide open summer.

Reclamation Projects

Shiny and new has its place, but more than anything, a good project with recycled materials is something special. I love building things out of cardboard boxes, scraps of materials that I’ve scrounged, or spare parts. This is less about physical making, and more about psychological reclamation.

As a kid, I remember being obsessed with Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” comic. I loved Snoopy in particular, and his adventures with his little yellow fowl friend Woodstock. Of course the whole gang is charming: Charlie Brown’s hapless baseball team that can never seem to win; Schroeder avoiding Lucy; Linus with his blanket and philosophy; and all the rest. A while back, despite how much I loved Peanuts, my brother claimed them as his thing and I’ll admit that I let that rob my joy for the comic. Clearly a me problem, it nonetheless rubbed me the wrong way for too long.

Recently, I was in Half Price Books and found a volume of the Complete Peanuts from the 50’s, and was struck by how much I loved the strip. I bought it, and since then have been contemplating how to acquire the rest of the collection. I’ve been reading through a volume that includes ‘87-‘88 (my birth year) and have found many dailies that I have never read. More than individual comics, I have reclaimed my love of Snoopy and it is bringing me so much happiness.

In another vein, for my entire childhood, I built and played with LEGO. Pretty much every day, I was sorting, tweaking, or lost in imaginary worlds built out of the little plastic bricks. Twice in my adulthood I sold my entire collection on eBay. Once, it was at the memory of my ex-wife’s disdain for the hobby. The second time I felt like I needed the money. Both times I tried to make the best of it, but internally, I was very unhappy about the sales. I felt I was losing a part of myself.

In the past few years, I have started to rebuild my LEGO collection. I am doing it with a bit more intention this time, but the promise I made to myself when I started buying was to never sell my collection again. I am feeling the old joy I used to have, and getting back into the mental space of making my own creations. I am noticing some rust on my concentration and abilities, but it is coming back to me piece by piece.

In these ways, and others, I am my own reclamation project. I am taking bits of myself I have lost, and putting them back into my life in intentional ways. It wasn’t my brother or my ex-wife to really blame for my brokenness, it was me. I let myself crumble to other’s opinions, proclivities, or my own circumstances. But now it is time to reclaim things long gone, and add them to new hobbies, new loves, and assemble a new amalgamation of me.

I used to think, and say, that I didn’t have regrets, but now I realize that life isn’t about avoiding regret, that is inevitable, but life is about learning to let regret motivate me to something better. I regret losing my childhood LEGO, but I am motivated to curate a great collection that I can enjoy for years. I regret letting my brother’s love for Peanuts steal mine, but I, too, can enjoy Snoopy and the gang into the future. I am done living by others’ rules or opinions, and letting it steer my ship into shoals I never wanted to sail. Going forward, I want to set my own course towards sunrises I want to see.

Obsessions

I’ve written before of my appreciation for Adam Savage, YouTube personality and former Mythbuster. He loves to make things, and one of his (many) catchphrases is “Stay Obsessed!” which he inscribed in my copy of his book when I recently met him. For Adam, obsession is a way of life, and it means to inculcate yourself into every aspect of something you enjoy.

obsession, n. an idea or thought that continually preoccupies a person’s mind

When an idea takes hold of Adam, it is usually something that he wants to make. He most often crafts replicas of movie props (he made his living for a while making real ones), or really any esoteric thing that grabs his fancy. One of his current projects is replicating the St. Edward’s Crown. Adam saw a truly absurd object and thought “I must have one!” and set about making his own. Currently he is working on a 3D printed version. (A difference between Adam and I is that I would see that absurd object and wonder why anyone, British royalty notwithstanding, would want one.)

I am obsessed with Star Wars. I am also obsessed with J.R.R. Tolkien’s universe; with Star Trek; and with other worlds and flights of fancy. In the making vein, I am obsessed with photography. To support my photography habit, I am obsessed with action figures. I love to make dioramas for them to be posed upon, and to be photographed creatively therein. I enjoy the making of the dioramas, the painting and weathering, of seeing something emerge from simple materials into something that looks real at scale. I also quite enjoy Lego. In fact, my toy photography habit started with what I called the Lego Portraits, simple photos of my minifigures. I got more elaborate at the setups, taking them into the “real” world, or building large Lego dioramas to photograph.

Many things have happened in life that has tempered my creative output: depression, work, obligations, and unfortunate circumstances have all conspired to curtail what I put out into the world. My current living arrangement is one of the most recent. I am constrained in my diorama making ability by not being able to set up a workshop, either for action figures or for Lego. I quite simply do not have the space. But I remain obsessed by the idea. I can’t help it. It has preoccupied my mind.

I bought a new camera, new action figures (though no new Lego – yet!), and continue to dream. Adam takes each new build, no matter what stage of completion it is in, home to wonder at it, consider it, and to deepen his obsession. Often by viewing it intently, some new avenue of creation or idea of how to proceed occurs to him and he is off to his shop to continue making. I have the three new action figures I purchased on my dresser where I can see them frequently and I continually wonder how I might photograph them.

I am trying to live up to Adam’s exhortation. “Stay obsessed!” he says to me, challenging me to not give up, to not surrender to what surrounds and what threatens to derail my creative process.

Even now, I am considering ideas of how I might continue to create, constrained as I am. Part of the trouble is that I don’t know how long this set of constraints might last, but really, there is always something in the way, if I’m honest. That depression, for example, which I’ve also written much about, never quite seems to go away.

At the end of the day, these are all so much the smoke of excuses. Adam didn’t always have the nice workshop he has today. He variously created in an apartment he shared (he admits he was a terrible roommate!), a warehouse, a college dorm room, a basement, a borrowed shop, and other places. What matters is that he never allowed himself to be defined by what he couldn’t do. Another mentor of mine, once upon a long ago, had a saying, “Restrictions breed creativity.”

I’m certainly restricted now, in physical making space, in time, in materials, in other things, but I can still create. I can still allow my obsession to fuel me, to spark, and to ignite that which I love: making things. Making will look different but that is ok. Even if it remained the same, I am afraid it would stagnate like a ditchwater pond on a hot day. Change and constraints work together to keep things new and fresh, thrust forward by obsession.

The question then becomes: what will I create? Us creative types are always being asked where our ideas come from, as if we have a compendium of genius that we keep, able to draw from at any time. If so, I haven’t got a key to that particular Pandora’s box. Adam Savage seems to have an unending supply of fanciful ideas from which to make each new thing, but he has also intimated that sometimes he simply gets struck by something that turns into his next obsession. Even he doesn’t always know what to do next. Another of Adam’s sayings is to “follow the process, not the plan” which means more to go with the flow than to rigidly work through a blueprint.

Camera. Action figure. Setting…setting…hmm. Almost there. I need to stay obsessed with the idea of a toy photograph, and see where the process takes me. I’ll just stretch out here, turn on some tunes, and get to work letting inspiration strike.

Stay obsessed.

Best Of: 2023

As has become a tradition of mine here on the ol’ blog, it is time for my best of from the past year. The idea isn’t mine, I got it from Tested.com, the haunt of Mythbuster-turned-maker-extraordinaire Adam Savage. Each year he and the other contributors to Tested put up videos of their favorite things from the year. So here goes my “best of” for another year!

MacBook Air

I replaced my dearly departed Mac Mini with a MacBook Air in Starlight this year. Not only is it a gorgeous laptop, it has been plenty powerful for all my computer and school needs (I went back to school for the first time in thirteen years!). It has tripled as a personal computer, work computer, and school computer, and has handled all three jobs fantastically. By now it is no shock to anyone that I prefer Apple products, having featured at least one most years. I like my Air and it, along with all the software updates that Apple provides, are my jam.

LEGO Minifigure

Sometime this year, I don’t remember when, I bought a LEGO minifigure. Well, that is misleading. I bought a macrofigure. It is a large set that replicates the ubiquitous LEGO figure into an upscaled minifigure. It was a ton of fun to build, and even features a proper minifigure under the hat in a control center “driving” the larger figure beneath. I have it sitting on a surface where I see it every day, and it makes me smile every day.

Books

I have been reading this year! If you’ve been following along with the ups and downs of my mental health, you will know that reading is something that has not come easily for years. This year I have read several books, among them Stephen King’s On Writing and Tolkien’s the Hobbit and I am working my way through the Lord of the Rings again, currently in the middle of the Two Towers. I couldn’t be happier! I downloaded an app for my phone, Reading List ( <— link to the iOS app), which allows me to enter books by scanning their barcodes (older books can be added via ISBN or manually) and then I can carry about listing of my entire library with me, or track my progress reading through a book. I can even look back at all the books I have read this year, and add books to a “To-Read” list. It has really come in useful when I go to Half Price Books and can’t remember off-hand if I already own a book or not. I look it up, and that keeps me from duplicate purchases. In all, a very useful app that pairs with all the books I am reading, have, and will read.

Speaking of which, I have added several Tolkien books to my library, too many to list out here, but which tell the broader story of Tolkien’s writing and scholarship. One in particular, The Proverbs of Middle Earth by David Rowe, sparked a semester long study of the folklore of Tolkien’s fairy tales for one of my classes! I got to study and read Tolkien at the same time, which was a dream come true. I had much fun and even impressed my professor with some of the analysis I was able to do.

Infrastructure

I’ve added some furniture and other things to the Art Studio my wife and I have upstairs in our house, across from our bedroom. Among them a computer desk, an art table or two, and various storage solutions. Trying to fit two people and their art infrastructure into one largish room is always a work in progress, and over the holiday break I hope to optimize the space even further. It would help a lot to not have carpet, and to have more room, but there is only so much you can do when you are making art in a space in your house and not in a dedicated studio or other building.

Still, the changes we have and will make are making it easier for us both to do what we love to do: make stuff. She crochets, works with clay, and other fiber and physical arts; and I customize my action figures, create dioramas, sometimes build LEGO, and paint or other crafting. We even moved the TV upstairs from the living room so we can watch shows or movies while we work or relax. The next step is to somehow fit a couch for group viewing, but it remains to be seen if that will even be possible. It’s a goal, anyway!

Soylent

I have been working to maintain good health ever since contracting Covid-19 a few years ago, and part of that has been trying to eat healthier. For awhile I was drinking Glucerna shakes, a blood sugar friendly protein drink, for breakfast. Recently my wife decided to try Soylent for her breakfast, a similar product to Glucerna, but one that doesn’t have milk protein. She and I are both lactose intolerant, and while Glucerna is better for blood sugar, it has milk in it, and was causing unpleasantness for me. When my supply of Glucerna was used up, I switched to Soylent, and it is even more filling and less with the side effects!

In fact, it has been so good that I have replaced both breakfast and dinner with a Soylent shake. I have noticed in just the short time that I have made the switch that I am less sleepy, have more energy, my blood sugar is lower, and am not as hungry. Plus, I don’t have to decide what to eat twice a day! I eat lunch at the cafeteria at the university where I work, so that lets me exercise my jaw. It remains to be seen if the long-term results are as good as what I am experiencing here in the short going, but for now I am happy. A subscription on Amazon keeps me supplied and saving a bit of money on the Soylent, so that isn’t bad either.

I think that about wraps up my favorite things from 2023. It has been a great year, all things considered. I achieved my goal of returning to work after being laid off in February; I achieved my goal of returning to school after a long hiatus; I am healthier; I feel mentally strong in a way I haven’t in a long time; and while things are not perfect, I have a supportive wife, a couple of good dogs, my family, and I’m alive. After 2020, that is all I really need.

Dark Ages

Whenever the air conditioning turns on, and the ceiling fan is spinning overhead, I feel a certain feeling. It is hard to describe. Equal parts nostalgia, comfort, and excitement. And just the right amount of cool breeze. Those were the exact conditions of my childhood whenever I would get out my LEGO and get building, and whenever I feel those physical and mental sensations, I get the urge to pull out my LEGO and get to work.

Ideas flash through my mind, I feel inspired, and I want to build once more. The trouble is: I have no LEGO. I mean, I have a few sets around the place that I have purchased; a few Ultimate Collector Series, and favorite builds from Star Wars, but no collection of LEGO bricks just laying around waiting to be built. I don’t even have the vast majority of my minifigures anymore, having sold almost the very last of them a few months ago. I saved only my childhood figures, and a very few that go with a few of the sets I still have.

I am in what most Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOL) call my Dark Ages. It is a term they use for when they left home to go to college, having been a kid that played with LEGO, and didn’t “play” or build with LEGO again until they were post collegiate adults, hence the term AFOL. Only for me, my Dark Ages came lately.

I took LEGO with me around the world to Papua New Guinea in high school, and to three colleges in the States and Lithuania. I then took them with me after university to my first home “on my own”. It was there that I first started to lose the love affair with LEGO. I sold most of my childhood LEGO when my wife left and I needed money to stay afloat. It was a very difficult decision, and one I still regret. I also sold many of the sets that I had collected in the years prior, many of which I wish I still had. Then I moved to Texas and carted LEGO from housing to housing, but sold what I had yet collected a few years later. As I said, I sold my minifigures just a few months ago.

Why?

My depression had grabbed hold and I no longer felt the joy of building. One of the last creations I built, a custom version of the Millennium Falcon, took all I had left. It was a difficult build to begin with, and never got easier. It was frustrating, never-ending, and in the end, still did not come out right. I was ready to call it quits after that. Then, I had saved several hundred minifigures for my toy photography, but it was right at that time that I had started to become enamored with six inch scale Star Wars action figures and the photography possibilities they represented. I lost the love of photographing tiny LEGO figures. These days I spend my discretionary funds on new action figures, and not LEGO.

Which makes the feelings I get in the afternoon, after work, all the more curious. Am I re-awakening long dormant feelings? Will I split my funds into LEGO and action figures? Will I build a LEGO man cave and get to construction once more with the small plastic bricks? I doubt it, at least, not now. I still remember the arduous Falcon build, and that stops me. But, there is the itching in my fingers I can’t ignore. My depression is better now, and I understand myself more than I did even a few years ago.

LEGO remains a huge, if largely sidelined, part of my life. I still consider myself an AFOL. Just…not an active one. My Dark Ages linger, and my glory days slip further away. But the encouraging thing is that life is not linear. It so often is cyclical. A “Golden Age” can become a “Silver Age” in a hurry. Things thought behind can appear on the horizon ahead.

I’m in no hurry. I feel that if I wish to pick up LEGO again it will happen when I am ready, and not before. (Honestly, right now, I don’t have the space to put into storing a bunch of LEGO.) I am content to let sleeping LEGO lie. For now. Feelings are great for keeping us inspired, energized, and comforted. They do not always need to be acted upon. Dark Ages? That term is so fraught with negative connotations. Better to call this a brick separation, and hope that one day a re-building will come. Who can say? In the build of life, we don’t get to see the entirety of the instruction booklet, just the page, and the build steps, that we are currently on. What we are even building sometimes we never know, as the construction continues beyond us. I am excited to turn the page, and see what comes next. Then I will sort out what I need, and add to what I have already assembled. It may be LEGO, it may be something else entirely! I can’t wait to find out.

60 Brick by Brick: Portrait 2.0

I didn’t have any idea about this week’s #60BrickbyBrick until I was bumming around Target a few days ago and found an old LEGO polybag containing a minifigure I hadn’t previously been able to acquire. Then, with my new street baseplates, I saw a picture in my head. My mood lately has been a little dark and solemn, so I wanted to capture that as well. What follows I call “Melancholia“.

Melancholia - 1

The figure I acquired is the one you see. He comes with a “hoody” piece, which is new for LEGO and currently only exists on two figures, this one, and another very similar to it. Hopefully we will see more with different colors and hair styles. But for now, it works. Anyway, it took me a while to figure out how to do a background until I noticed that the streets themselves could be my background, albeit, shot with a high enough angle. From there it was just a matter of lighting and focus and voilà! In the editing bay I stripped away all color and lightened up the figure’s face and the street sign a bit as they turned about a little too dark. In all, a very simple picture, but one that was actually a little difficult to get right.

I did a second version, which was just a little clever editing with a transparent gif to simulate rain in case the first version wasn’t sad and goth enough. So I give you “Melancholia with Rain“…

Melancholia - 2

Bad rain effects aside, which do you prefer? If I had the set up, i.e., a real workspace in which I could do anything, I would do actual water for rain, but that remains outside my purview at the moment. Anyway, I like this as it turned out.

With that, another week of #60BrickByBrick is finished! (To read what I’m on about and to see previous pictures, look under the “LEGO” heading at the top of the page.)

60 Brick by Brick: Portrait 1.0 (and 1.5)

If you’ve been following along my blog, then you know I am working on a #60BrickbyBrick challenge, wherein I build a new something each month from one of the 60th anniversary sets by LEGO, and in the off weeks, continue my LEGO Portraits. Well, last week I did so and you can see that build in my last post. This week was a portrait week.

I first had the idea for this week’s shoot in the beginning of this week, but didn’t have time, predictably, until today to execute my idea in between loads of laundry. Ah. Such is the adult fan of LEGO’s life. A little adult obligation and a little LEGO fun. Anyhow, there was actually a seed part for this photo, which I will get to in a second, but it was also a chance to photograph a bit of my new CITY street baseplate and do a micro build. First I’ll show you the resulting photograph, then break it down a bit.

So this is what I ended up with. I call it “Early Morning Trash Run” and I just love it. A lot of LEGO builders will begin with a single part, usually called a seed part, and build around that, sometimes to force creativity and sometimes just to have fun. In this case, my seed part was the dark colored trash bag you see in the foreground in front of the recycling trash can. For whatever reason that part popped in my head and I decided to use it. Now, that part has been used variously as a Santa’s Sack or a trash bag or just a loot bag for a traveler, but in this case is acting as a trash bag. I then, more or less, imagined the complete scene you see above. All that was left was a matter of building.

The new CITY baseplate is what you see in grey in the bottom of the picture, the extreme foreground, and what all this is built on a little corner of. I will show a behind-the-scenes pic in a minute and you will see what I mean. Beyond that, the fire hydrant was a micro build that needed to be there to give some contrasting color and something more interesting in the photo, and dog about to pee on it is just classic and funny. Add a wine bottle in the recycling trash can and a sleepy person bringing his trash bag and all you need is a wall behind for a background.

There’s the rub: I only had so many “brick” bricks available to me because most were being used in another build I haven’t photographed yet. So I had to build, literally, as much wall as I could and position it just so. SNAP! and a little editing and there you go, a nice little portrait that tells a quick little story.

Here is the behind-the-scenes look.

In this photo you can see that the wall is not very big and all of this is on a very small corner of the baseplate. But that is the magic of photography: you don’t actually need very much in fact to tell a fun story. A creative angle of photography and, as I said, a little editing, and presto! you’ve got what you need. I don’t yet have an idea for next week’s photo, but that is the excitement for me…getting an idea and then executing it.

Anyway, I do have another pic that I took, this just as a practice for a LEGO set I built. I have been wanting a Star Wars Imperial backdrop for a while, featuring the iconic white and grey walls that are all over the Death Star and Star Destroyer hallways. So I found a set that had been released for San Diego Comic Con a few years ago that featured said walls, and then built my own from the instructions. The resulting piece of corridor is delightful, but I had to see if it actually worked in camera. I am pleased to say that it seems to. We will see in the future if it needs to be tweaked for future pics or if it works as is. But enough talk. I give you “Imperial Conversations”.

In the foreground a pair of Imperial Officers talk, while in the background a pair of Stormtroopers stand sentry. Why? I don’t know. Anyway, behind them is my Imperial wall, completely brick built. As I said, I am happy with this little build and it yielded a bonus pic for this week, so win-win as far as I am concerned.

I hope you enjoyed my pics and and a look at how they were created. Come back next week for more #60BrickbyBrick!

60 Brick by Brick: Build 0.1

I posted earlier today about LEGO, and without rehashing, this is my first LEGO build of my #60BrickbyBrick challenge. To read what I’m on about, hit the LEGO link at the top of the page and find the article “Brick by Brick: 60 Years in the Building”.

So here is the LEGO set I started with, the second smallest of the new 60th Anniversary LEGO sets available, with only 186 pieces. The challenge is to build something with only those pieces available. This turned out to be quite a challenge! The set actually came with an instruction booklet, which would have allowed me to build the car, robot, and parrot shown on the box, but I didn’t want to go the curated route. I wanted to build something unique and fun, like I used to do before all the pieces in the world were available to me. So I did.

Earlier today I received another fun order of swag, and with it something that got me in mind of the post-apocalyptic. You can see the box is already asking about the future, so I went with that theme for this build.

With these pieces, I began. First, a minifigure emerged, part of the reason I bought this set and not the smallest of them, this one came with a person.

This person begins androgynous, with a choice of either “girl” or “boy” hair. I opted for the helmet, because the air is probably a little toxic in the post-apocalyptic environment this person inhabits, but the boy look because I am a dude. So…what to build, little man?

I decided on a vehicle, after first deciding that I didn’t have the requisite pieces needed for a shelter of some kind. So I tinkered and built and rejected this piece for that. Eventually I decided to go as eye-searingly colorful as possible because I wanted to hearken back to a time when I couldn’t color coordinate an all-black or grey vehicle with artistic color touches. Also, all I have is ALL THE COLORS so that works. Any vehicle needs wheels, so I got a few. Interestingly, the largest tire manufacturer in the world is LEGO, not any of the brands meant for larger, human-size wheels. I find this hilarious. Anyway, I continued to build. Halfway through (and forgive my lack of iterative pictures, I always get caught up in the build and forget to take interim pictures) I decided my post-apocalyptic man needed a robot companion, so I built a simple, if sad looking, robot.

At last, the vehicle, too, was finished.

With seat for my little pilot and room behind for his robot companion. It’s difficult to see, because, again, I didn’t document well, but my robot wouldn’t actually fit without some modification to the vehicle, so I had to remove the seat. However, the rest of the vehicle is as appears here. So what next??

Only time will tell. I seriously had fun, like I was 9 again, building with LEGO on my bedroom floor, only this time I was at a table like a sensible adult because my knees won’t do floors anymore.

I hope you enjoyed the February #60BrickByBrick. Come back for more in March!

Brick by Brick: 60 Years in the Building

This year is the 60th anniversary of the LEGO brick. As any of you know who know me, I love LEGO. I find it interesting that I have been around for half the life of the LEGO brick given how much joy and entertainment LEGO has brought to me, personally. My love of LEGO really took off when it bought the license from Lucasfilm to produce Star Wars LEGO, though I had been building X-Wings and the Millennium Falcon long before. Suddenly my two favorite things coincided and I was in geek heaven.

For nearly 31 years I have built, photographed, bought and sold, and enjoyed LEGO in many different ways. This year, for their anniversary, LEGO has produced several new sets, each with a different theme, to return to their roots of unlimited imagination and creative building. Sure, constructing an X-Wing according to the directions is fun, and you end up with a cool (dis)play model, but sometimes just staring at a pile of bricks and putting two and more together until you create something unexpected is even more fun.

To that end, and to foster a new era of LEGO building and photography for myself, I bought one of the smaller 60th anniversary sets. To commemorate LEGO, and challenge myself to be creative throughout the month(s), I want to use the set to construct a random creation and photograph it. Given the 60th anniversary, I want to create 6 unique builds from this one set, one build per month for each decade of LEGO, debuting at the end of the month. For the other three weeks of the next six months, I want to continue to photograph my minifigures in unique ways. When I finish, I should have built and documented six builds and eighteen minifigures.

This sounds like fun! And, I will start building today! Follow my instagram @philredbeard to see iterations of my builds, but for each final model and minifigure photo, I will post them here on my blog.

Perhaps join me on the journey, #60brickbybrick and if you do, contact me on social media and let me see your creations!