which johnny depp?

captain jack sparrow?

or tonto?

i'll admit, i haven't seen the lone ranger.

it left the theatres too quickly.

but i do like tonto as a minifig.

and i've heard it's available on viaplay.

but i still think captain jack is my fave.

how about you? which johnny depp is your favorite?

* * *

one of these days, i'll write about something other than lego.

i'm just a little bit in love right now,

so you'll have to forgive me.

those play-doh folks really did an awesome job with wallace & gromit

we all know how much i love lego, so it's not surprising that i wasn't all that keen on this cynical piece in the nytimes (while otherwise generally being a fan of both the nytimes and of cynicism). i also read this one, which chose to be charmed by the branding of the movie, and is thus a little more positive. it's actually interesting that it's taken nearly a month for some negativity about this film to surface.

but both of these pieces and many of the others, in my view, give a bit too much credit to lego for a movie made by warner brothers and cleverly written and directed by phil lord and christopher miller. yes, there was an executive producer from the lego company and lego did, of course, protect their strong brand name and interests, but (you knew there was a but), giving them all of the credit is a little bit like attributing the cleverness of wallace & gromit only to play-doh.

like polymer clay in the aardman animations, lego bricks were a medium in the film - a vehicle on which to attach both visually and to tell a story. a human, funny, positive, charming, but also slightly politically subversive and even ironic (in its anti-capitalist message) story. it is postmodernism at its best, engaging all of the references of pop culture and childhood memories (from benny the spaceman to batman), rolling them into a rolicking good time of a movie that's self-referential, visually enchanting and has a positive message of believing in your own talents. it's a feel good movie. lego is lucky is worked so well, and some credit for that goes to the strength and positivity of their brand, but they don't deserve all of the credit. warner brothers played a significant part.

a little stroll through crimean history

i'm following with interest the events unfolding in the crimea. i really liked this piece in this morning's guardian/observer, which i think, in an even-manner, outlines what's going on, tho' there's more in this piece and it clouds the picture for me a bit. there are many facets to this story i'm trying to decide exactly what i think about the situation. i think it's hard for us to really get at the truth of what's happening, despite our instant access to information about it. so to try to understand, i dug in my memory to tolstoy's sebastopol sketches, the small tome of vignettes that some say makes tolstoy the first war reporter (i also think it's his best work, but that's the stuff of a different post).

the original crimean war (1853-56) was the first extensively-reported and photographed war. you might remember some musings on the roger fenton photos right here on mpc. it also changed the nature of war in many ways, including medically, as it was there that florence nightengale did her groundbreaking work. in the original crimean war, the russians fought the declining ottoman empire and were even winning, but thanks to napoleon and the brits getting involved on the ottoman side, they lost and ended up losing their black sea fleet. (that's admittedly the very short version of the story.) russia ostensibly got involved to protect the interests of orthodox christians in the ottoman empire, seeing themselves as champions of eastern orthodoxy everywhere. it was actually some trouble with various factions in the ukraine which made russia get involved in the first place. sounds familiar, eh?

well, in the accords after the war, the crimea ended back in russian hands, tho' they were prevented from establishing naval bases along the black sea, which crippled them there for years afterwards and probably served to prop up the dying ottoman empire for a few more decades.

as late as 1954, russia transferred administration of the crimea to ukraine, much to the dismay of the many russians living there, but they were all part of the soviet union so that was that. but those russians have remained russian and there are arguments for russia protecting their interests against a ukraine in chaos (no matter who has caused that chaos).

so i suppose by now you can tell that i'm actually inclined to be not that opposed to the russian "invasion." and i find it absurd and ludicrous that the US is making noise about getting involved, even going so far as to stick some hypocritical words in the mouth of the US secretary of state john kerry, "you just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pretext.' um, mr. secretary, i know it wasn't your administration, but wasn't there a rather recent invasion by your good selves in another little country called iraq on some trumped up charges of wmd?" how will we ever learn from history if we can't even remember it a mere decade later?

regardless of who is wrong and who is right (and there are undoubtedly many aspects of wrong and right on both sides), this isn't going to end well. but maybe a return to the cold war will do us good. we've been a little lost without it. and i don't just mean in the russian history departments of american universities.

if the glasses could talk

waiting. i imagine these glasses are proud to stand here, waiting for the gathering to begin. they know they're clean and lovely and lined up so prettily. they anticipate the wine and the conversations and the laughter ahead. funny memories relived and new funny memories made. and a weekend gone all too quickly.

lego as artistic medium

JCDC Versus LEGO from Bad Winners on Vimeo.

in light of bill's comment that LEGO isn't really that creative or unique when it comes down to it, i had to share this 3D animation based on a real fashion show featuring LEGO-inspired fashion from french designer jean charles de castelbajac back in 2009. although i will grant that i will likely never create something new and unique from LEGO (i'm a building-instruction follower), there are many people who make unique creations using LEGO as an artistic medium the same way that people use wood or paint or textiles. often with amazing results. 

on an even keel

i have had the best possible start to my new job. it's a great company. i'm surrounded by creative, motivated people and i have a great boss. there are moments of actual playing nearly every day. and i am surrounded by sources of inspiration. i have been given time and support to read and learn and absorb the information i need to be able to do my job. it is absolutely as you would hope your job would be in every way.

it makes me tired in a different way than i've been tired in a long time. and it also makes me awake and engaged in a way i hadn't been in a long time. the kind of projects i've worked on in recent years have been quite solitary. i find it both energizing and tiring to be around a lot of new people. trying to feel centered in the midst of these often conflicting feelings is an exercise in balance. and i'm not always equally good at it. today, i'm on a kind of high. awake and feeling like it will be hours before i sleep, just like my old patterns (i've been a night owl for some time). other days, i come home and want to go to sleep early because my brain is full and my instinct is to go to sleep and dream to process it all. the brain is wonderful that way. and this evening, it apparently thinks it's best that i stay up and write about it (my usual mode of processing). i've learned that i need to go with it, whichever mode my instincts choose, somehow they know best.

if we listen to ourselves, we do know, at our core, how to stay on an even keel. it's just a matter of tuning in.

don't make me get out the kragle

it's not only here on the blog that i've got lego on the brain. of course, much of my brain is taken up by learning about my new job. but it's also entered my sleeping hours in the form of dreams. or rather nightmares. nightmares of failed meeting room bookings and running around in panic, trying to find a space to meet. nightmares of running into old frenemies in the personnel shop (a place i haven't even been yet and where they wouldn't be allowed to be since they don't work there). why is it that you can't delete people from your unconscious mind the way you can from your facebook or linked-in?

i mentioned the other day that i had a tale to tell about minifigures. there is a bowl of minifigure parts near my desk and in looking through it, i realized that it really, really bothers me when they are put together differently than they are meant to be. there is, in that bowl, a head that isn't chicken man's real head with the chicken man costume head on it paired with a baseball torso and legs that don't belong. and in all honesty, it makes my hands sweat just thinking about it. i have a few minifigs from the lego movie on my desk as well and to demonstrate to my colleagues how it makes me hyperventilate, i switched the hair on wildstyle and president business. but i had to quickly put it back (tho' strangely president business' squarey hair made western wildstyle look a bit like queen elizabeth I) because it was making me a little bit ill.

but then i stumbled across this article via twitter and i realized that i'm not alone in my ocd (if you've seen the lego movie, you know it's a theme there too). the whole movie centers on the kragle, which is a tube of crazy glue. and while i don't really want to go that far, i have realized that i am a lego builder who wants to build and display, not build and play. i think you should build it and leave it as it is, not making any adjustments or messing with it and definitely not taking it apart again.

but today, i had a homework assignment for a morning meeting tomorrow. we were all given a small set and asked to build it. we will have breakfast together and go around the table and tell about our building experience. my set is a creator 3-in-1. which means that it comes with the parts to build three different things. but in order to do that, you have to take apart the thing you built and rebuild it into another of the things - in my case, a helicopter, plane or boat. i like the plane best and built it first. but then i realized that i was supposed to take it apart and try one of the others. so i made sabin do it while i left the room. and then i came back and built the boat.

i was going to leave it intact for a proper photo tomorrow morning (you can see i took this one after the light went), but i just had to take it apart and rebuild the plane, it's my favorite of the three in this set. and it was a big step that i was able to disassemble the boat myself. these are small builds and good practice for me, who didn't grow up with lego (i had a pony). i also realized that i never really helped sabin build that much of it either, so i've not had much practice. i don't think i'll ever really become a person who makes amazing things up out of my head, but i will overcome my inability to take it apart and mix and match (and if i can't, there must be meds for that). and i am in awe of those who can build their own creations.

it was a big step that i took the girl scientist's head (series 11) and used it for my mini me for my photo series. and i haven't even put her back yet. i put the girl scientist back on my minifigure shelf with the wrong head on. and my hands are hardly sweating at all when i think about it. (note to self: repeat 100x in hopes that it will become true.)