The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide

In an email tonight a friend noted to me that she’d once met Lindsay Wagner, which I thought was pretty cool since I’d been a huge fan of The Six Million Dollar Man as a kid. And of course, you all know your TV spin-off trivia well enough to know the connection between those two shows. I’m not betting against you on this one.

So I thought to myself, “self, which famous people have you met over the years?”

Below is the short, but mostly complete, list in chronological order:

- Ernie Coombs

- Leah Adler

- Alfred Yankovic

I’ve also met a lot of musicians over the years, but the list above is probably the most “famous” of folks that I’ve met. Not that fame itself particularly impresses me. It doesn’t. What impresses me are people who are genuine and kind. And for the record, the people on my short list above were all genuine and kind.

Allan

I’m not sure why, but I find this story utterly fascinating:

Scientists Grinding ‘Perfect’ Spheres

Though it does leave me wondering how many imperfect spheres there are in the world.

Allan

It was with great sadness this morning that I heard about the passing of writer Kurt Vonnegut. Half of one whole shelf of my book collection is dedicated to his work. If you haven’t read a Vonnegut book I highly recommend you head to your local library, used book store or to Amazon.com and get started. While Breakfast of Champions is one of my personal favorites, it can be a difficult read if you’re not familiar with Vonnegut’s style. You may do better starting with Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle or Timequake as your first exposure to this uniquely talented wordsmith.

He will be missed.

Allan

So here’s something I find odd….

On Amazon.com I keep another blog running. The entries there are almost entirely related to ULBG or at least to something related to LEGO in general. (As opposed to this blog where I will sometimes post about non-book or non-LEGO related topics.) And so I find it odd that my last blog posting on Amazon ended up getting two negative votes. Well, that is to say that “0 of 2 voters liked this post". Read another way, “2 voters didn’t like this post.”

Now, let’s suppose for a moment that the posting had been completely self-serving. Suppose it had been for no other purpose except to promote my book. And to be honest… some of the postings are just that. They are nothing but self-promotion.

But the posting in question isn’t one of those. It’s a very simple posting about the most recent issue of BrickJournal that got released. “But wait, don’t you write for BrickJournal?” Yes, I can hear you asking that right now. True, in the past I have written articles and created instructions for the magazine but for the last two issues I’ve done nothing but copy editing. (Actually, that’s been more work than writing articles, but that’s another story.)

So by posting a note about the most recent issue of BrickJournal all I was doing was trying to promote the magazine and the contents that it offers, for FREE, to anyone who might be interested. Doing so doesn’t help me in any way to sell any books. So it strikes me as odd that anyone could justify labelling that posting as not useful.

But, of course, this is the net and what one person can do one one site can be equalled out on another. So now you’ve read my counter statement to those people who didn’t like the posting. As much as I believe people should express themselves, I’m left to ponder… how exactly do you not like something free AND related to LEGO? Ya gotta wonder.

And now you know my side of the story.

Allan B.

As ‘fans’ of LEGO toys, I’m sure some of you can understand the love this fellow must have for the movie A Christmas Story. I mean, imagine not just collecting some memoriabilia from a film, but rather buying the actual house and restoring it.

Wow… now that’s a fan.

AB

In case you missed my article in The Daily Planet, I’ve reprinted the complete text below.

I’ve always enjoyed great movies. In fact, it was both Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark that influenced me into pursuing filmmaking as a career at one point in my life. While I didn’t end up being the next George Lucas I did retain my love of movies. And way back then, in the days of Star Wars and Raiders there was another block buster movie that left a strong memory with me. It was, of course, the 1978 classic Superman staring Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder.

So when the trailers began running for Superman Returns I started to get very interested in seeing it. Since it looked like it a flick that might better be enjoyed on the big screen I decided to take in the matinee this afternoon. While going to an actual theater is sort of against my professed love for DVDs and home theater, I think I made the right choice in this case.

This is a huge movie. It’s absolutely brimming with massive sound and visual effects that simply would not have been properly served on my 27 inch TV here at home. For instanace the details are so rich and sharp that when you see a close-up of the ‘S’ on Superman’s chest you can see the fine texture of the materials used to create it.

But let me step back a minute. There’s more to a good movie than just loud explosions and a guy flying super fast through just about every type of material you can think of. There’s a story that needs to be told. Or, in the case of many movies today, there’s no story at all. I’m really happy to report that the long wait for this movie to be made was worth the wait. The story has been carefully crafted and there are few, if any, major problems with plot or pacing.

There’s also the look of the rest of the film; that is those scenes where things aren’t blowing up or falling 50 stories to the ground. There’s the quiet moments where the characters interact and reveal themselves to us and to each other. At every turn director Brian Singer has taken incredible pains to make sure that these aren’t just cardboard cut-outs strutting about in a 2D world. Metropolis really comes alive in this movie… more so I think than in the 1978 film and definitely more so than Gotham does in any of the Batman films. This city and these people feel as real as you can imagine and that’s a tough thing to pull off when the main character is essentially an alien and has powers no mere mortal can ever hope to experience.

It’s this love of character and this comittment to story that allows Singer to pull of what I think is perhaps my favorite ’super hero’ film to date. Yes, I liked Spiderman 2 (not so much part 1) and I really liked the first Batman movie but many (most?) of the other super hero flicks just don’t get me excited enough to sit in a dark (and sweltering) movie theater on a sunny Sunday in July. This one did. And I am glad for it.

Without giving away any of the secrets of the story let me just say that if you’re a fan of the first Christoper Reeve Superman movie, then you must see this new film. There are numerous moments/lines that clearly pay homage to that era of the Superman chronicles. But they aren’t cheesy and they aren’t disrespectful. They are simply there to be enjoyed.

Fly, don’t walk, to a theater near you and catch the man of steel before he leaves the big screen. Yes, I’ll certainly be getting the DVD when it comes out, but it just won’t be the same effect sitting on my worn old couch with my remote in hand. But it’ll still be fun.

Allan

Along with a couple of great LEGO sets (that I’ll write about later) I got a fantastic book for Christmas this year from my parents. I want to mention it here because if you’re like me and enjoy building with LEGO then chances are you probably also have some other childhood toys and games that you remember fondly.

Author Tim Walsh has written a really amazing book that chronicles all of those playthings not just from your childhood and mine but right back to the turn of the 20th century.

The book is called Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them. Here’s the very classy looking cover art:

And rather than go on and on about the book here (and I could do that) why not stop by Amazon.com and check out my complete review. I gave it 5 stars and when you read the review I think you’ll see why.

More on ‘LEGO for Christmas’ coming soon!

Allan

How cool is this:

FutureMe.org

It’s a site that lets you send an email to yourself X number of years from now.

Yikes… I just realized I hardly know what to write to my old high school buddies anymore, how am I going to decide what to write to myself in the year 2025?

But I’m going to send something… it’s too neat of an idea to pass up.

And these guys obviously are not trying to get rich. In fact you have to look pretty close to even find the mention of donations. So if you decide to use the site, why not send them a buck through the Amazon.com Honor System.

Now, let me see.

I’ll figure something out.

AB

O.K. it’s not really snowing that hard.

And I’m not home because of the snow, but rather I’m on holidays.

But….

I did still have some digital photo fun this afternoon.

I downloaded a freeware program known as The GIMP or “GNU Image Manipulation Program". Kind of like Photoshop, only free.

And I wanted to try one of the tutorials I found called selective colorization, by Eric R. Jeschke. So I loaded up a digital photo that I’d taken this past fall and followed along through the tutorial. I think it came out pretty good:

And there you go. LOL

AB

One of the interesting things about having the book come out has been watching the traffic that now comes to apotome.com. I use a hit counter that tells me (among other things) the country of origin, the browser you’re using, the pages you’ve visited and most interestingly…. where you’ve come from. And that can often be the search results you found when using a search engine like Google.

And one particular search that people seem to do on Google is for the words, “LEGO builder". Without fail I get at least one person a day visiting my site who has searched on this exact phrase… usually on Google. The link ends up looking something like:

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=LEGO+builder&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Are you one of the people who found this blog or apotome.com by searching for those words? If so, I’m curious to know what you were looking for. I ask this because I find the choice of words to be interesting. Were you looking for something about your hobby… that of a LEGO builder? Were you looking for someone to build something for you… a person who is a LEGO builder? Or was it something entirely different that you had in mind? If you are one of the people who did that exact search and you don’t mind sharing your intent, I’d really enjoy hearing from you. It’s just something that’s made me curious for a while now, so I thought I’d post the question for anyone to respond to.

Please feel free to email me with your story.

All the best,
Allan B.

Despite the fact that the shuttle fleet is now grounded, it was impossible to escape the fact that today’s space walk and repair mission wrote a new chapter into manned spaceflight history. Many months ago, as I was writing Chapter 10 of the book I wondered to myself if anyone would be interested in a shuttle model. Afterall, the Columbia tragedy was still relatively recent and at the time it looked as though the return to flight was still a long way off for NASA. But watching a live video feed of the repair operation this morning made me remember why I’d wanted to include a spacecraft in the book in the first place. It may not have been as exciting as the first moon walk, but watching an astronaut (from the POV of his own helmet cam) reach out and work on his own ship while in space was a memory I won’t soon forget.

Allan

Among other projects one of the main models in The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s
Guide is a mini space shuttle. I picked it because it made for a great
design exercise and also because I’m a big fan of the space program. So it
was great today to see the shuttle fly again today. I was lucky enough to
listen to some of the final few minutes of countdown before launch. And
from some of the images I’ve now seen on the web and on TV tonight, it looks
like it was a fantastic start to the mission.

Regards,
Allan

In an email a few days ago I mentioned to my copy editor that I was still on a dial-up internet connection. The chapters and images from the book get zipped up but even then the files are still often quite large and sometimes seem to take forever to send out over the modem. She replied back with this short anecdote that I thought was really funny. So with her permission, I’m reposting it here:

Yeah, dial-up is a pain, isn’t it? I live in a place so rural that some cows
knocked over the telephone lines and destroyed my Internet connection/office
phone line yesterday. The phone technician came to apologize for my
neighbor’s lack of cow control. He said that while he was trying to fix the
line, the bull was attacking the back of his truck!

So the next time you can’t send an email… look outside and see if the reason is roaming around your neighbourhood.

Allan

This past Saturday was a pretty spectacular day where I live. Clear skies, no wind and lots of sun made it the perfect day for a bike ride.

For me, cycling began as a way of avoiding commuting to work by bus. That was a few years ago and I was living then in a much larger city. Today, cycling has become a more relaxing activity, though I still get to work that way so long as there’s no snow on the ground.

My first bike (as an adult cyclist) was a beefy out-dated over-built mountain bike. Not the ideal commuting vechicle, but it got me around. My wife, on the other hand, had gotten a bike a few years ago that was much more comfortable. It was a Norco cruiser, a reproduction of an old 50’s style beach cruiser, complete with white wall balloon tires, shiny chrome fenders and even a cool bell. I knew, from the moment I rode it for the first time, that I wanted a cruiser some day too.

As luck would have it, I found one. Literally. I found a bike that was on its way to the dump and to be honest it looked like that was where it belonged.

Last summer I found a Roby single speed light-weight in pretty rough condition. It had been repainted (at least partially with a brush) and was covered in various layers of rust, dirt and overall neglect. The tires were flat, the chain nearly frozen stiff by lack of oil and the mattress-style saddle looked as though it had hosted one too many fannies in its day.

With a little paint remover and a lot of sweat I stripped the bike completely down, taking the frame right down to the bare metal. In repainting and reassembling it my biggest surprise was that once I was done it still worked! Not bad for a first time bike mechanic.

Here is the before shot:

And here is the same bike a month later:

The only compromises I made to the original style of the bike was to replace the saddle with a more modern gel-filled version and to replace the hand grips with fancy ergonomic versions that make long rides much more comfortable.

The paint is not the original scheme either, but rather a two-tone flat black and cherry red rat rod design that I came up with. This bike looks mean. Well, as mean as a bicycle can look I guess. LOL

Now if you’re a cyclist and you’ve never ridden a single speed before I highly recommend that you give one a try. Borrow one from a friend or drop into your local bike shop and take one out for a tour. Contrary to popular belief, a single speed is not more difficult to ride than a multi-gear monster. In fact, not having to worry about changing gears leaves more time for enjoying the sights.

But remember… if you’re going out for a ride, don’t forget your helmet!

Later,
Allan