Little Coloured Bricks

Photo Courtesy of Hive Mind

Punk is not dead not even in Legoland. In fact, there is a craze in many Lego cities of people dressed up in punk fashion. For many people being punk is a way of life but nowadays, the word “punk” has gotten to the lowest of lows because it is now considered a negative connotation of teenagers or young adults acting like punks –those who cannot be controlled. That definition however is just one of the many words that describe punk. Punk originated from punk rock, a music genre that was developed in 1974 in the US, the UK and Australia. Its roots can be traced back in what many call now as garage rock i.e. the excesses of rock music in the 70s.

Punk rockers always had anti-establishment lyrics and they produced their own records. The Ramones in 1976 were one of the very few punk artists who made it to the top. London’s Sex Pistols, another punk rock band was recognized as one of the driving forces of the new musical movement at the time.

Punk is still a genre in music of course but it has also created its own subculture, fashion, ideologies, and visual art. Punk subculture emerged in the US, Australia and in the United Kingdom after punk rock became very popular. Its ideologies brewed controversy during that time that punks became the forefronts in many political, philosophical and artistic movements that were likened to the youth culture before World War II. Amidst the negative publicity, punk was inspiration for many modern artists.

Punk is not dead because even today, many people still listen to the great music called punk rock. By 1977 however the subculture diversified and created factions such as pop punk, No Wave, the now very popular New Wave and 2 Tone, Oi!

Look at the cowboy movies from the 60’s up to the 80’s. What do you see? Here’s a hint: you might see the same guy appearing in almost every one of them and that cowboy is none other than Clint Eastwood, the meanest gun-toting, boot-slinging native westerner who has ever walked the land of the rich and the famous but that’s not all he is. He’s an actor, producer, composer and director – and for a certain time, a balladeer bitten by the country blues, too.

Photo Courtesy of Solid Steperoth

Clint Eastwood is the man behind the lovable matinee idol cowboy; in fact, he put the “man” in “going commando”. It is therefore not at all surprising that many have idolized his notoriety, and that even more try to capture his utter look of machismo with the cowboy getup. Now what is surprising is the fact that LEGO minifig fans have been making a custom replica of him using Jedi parts and rogue adventurers. Is it that Clint Eastwood doesn’t deserve his own LEGO minifigure for no apparent reason, or that he’s just too much of a man that it’s necessary to join two other male minifig parts, Luke Skywalker’s torso with Indiana Jones’ legs, just to make a toy macho enough to represent him? Because aside from his bad-ass looks, Clint Eastwood has kick-ass talents that have made many a grown man  shamelessly and very openly weep with envy. He’s received countless awards throughout his career that spans across six decades, he’s made himself a living icon of male potency, and he achieved setting an unforgettable fashion trend that just won’t quit – so why doesn’t he have his very own LEGO minifig?

LEGO minifigs have been all the rage since 1978, but more so in 2003, when skin color was added to the fray, and the LEGO universe opened a new dimension: race. And it’s not just African-American and Caucasian…even green skinned Martian men could exist now, too. Space pirates and wizards were also birthed soon after, but sadly, there still wasn’t an authentic cowboy with proper boot in sight, much more an Eastwood minifig. In fact, as previously mentioned, the closest thing that LEGO had to his minifig was an Indian Jones-Luke Skywalker crossover.

But to be fair to LEGO, a lot of famous people have a minifig only because it’s easy for LEGO fans to customize their minifig counterparts – but it’s never easy to make a Clint Eastwood anything. Add the fact that it’s probably time-consuming, costly and difficult to mass-produce boots for these LEGO minifigs, and you’ve got a pretty decent grasp on why there’s no Eastwood minifig.

And on second thought, maybe not having a Clint Eastwood minifig is a good idea. After all, a playroom might not look so playful when you know that an Eastwood minifig is lurking somewhere within the shadows of the room, waiting in a dark corner, watching your every move… Like the words of the man himself, “be careful with what you wish for, punk.”

Photo Courtesy of the DailyMail.co.uk

You have heard of Nathan Sawaya before, the Lego builder who is now 36 years old and has made building art out of the Lego bricks his profession and yes he is a lawyer –he practiced in corporate law to be exact and he left his high paying job to make Lego art. You might think that the money in Lego art is not that good but Nathan Sawaya get around 10, 000 pounds for each creation. Amazing isn’t it?

It started as a boyhood obsession and when Nathan finally grew up he went to college then to law school. He pursued a career that many parents dream of for their children but later on, he returned to building art out of Lego. It was probably a shocking decision but his brick building is now making him millions.

Born on July 10, 1973 in Colville, Washington, Sawaya went to New York University for his bachelors and law degrees. He worked for Winston & Strawn until he won a competition for the Lego Master Model Builder. After working for LEGO for 6 months, Sawaya decided to open his own studio in New York City. He may be a lawyer but he is also a certified professional when it comes to building Lego art.

By the year 2007, the lawyer-turned-artist had his own exhibit at the Lancaster Museum of Art. Photos of his work are posted at his website “The Art of the Brick”. The said website is focused exclusively on the utilization of Lego bricks as a medium in art.

Some of his work are at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York while others are at the Time Warner Center in New York City, Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington, Legoland California in Carlsbad, California and at The Toy Museum in Bellaire, Ohio.

Photo Courtesy of Vladimirpetkovic.com

New Lego stores will be opening on May the 27^th to the 29^th. These stores include a Lego shop at the Houston Galleria in Houston, one in the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, New York, one in Queens Center in Elmhurst, New York, the Rockefeller Center in New York City, the Aventura Mall in Miami Florida and one in Wiesbaden, Germany.  If you are near these areas, you can visit the Lego store and get Lego bricks at discount prices. There are also exclusive gifts if you make a purchase. In the Wiesbaden store in particular, you and your kids can build a 2 foot tall Lego R2-D2. You can also let your child do the building while you watch his or her progress. This can be a great activity for parents and their children. There are exclusive gifts to be given if you go to the store on May 27 to the 29^th.

In other news, there is an upcoming master builder event on May 14 to May 16 at the Colorado Mills Lakewood Lego store in Colorado. Lego fanatics can also take a Lego education class at any Lego store provided they have a master builder event. Adults can learn with their children at a rate of $20 per child. Sometimes, adults cannot attend these classes but if you request from the Lego store near you to hold an event for both parents and children, they might be able to hold such an event for those who are interested.

Learning through building is a great way not only to improve the creativity of your child but also to boost his or her confidence in building things. If you want to teach your child how to build but do not know how to. There are monthly mini model building activities in every Lego store and your child will definitely benefit from these monthly classes.

Many have said it time and again, but this knowledge bears repeating: LEGO blocks are a fantastic, ingenious toy that channels the imagination early on, and can do so even when its possessor has grown old alongside it.

The same can be said about LEGO minifigs or minifigures –blocks made of the same material as any other LEGO block, but are in the form of miniature humanoids. These inventions took the world by storm in 1978 and has thus given the LEGO universe an entirely new line of various products ever since – not to mention quadrupled sales and a fan-base that’s been globally expanded tenfold.

Now you’d think the LEGO guys in Denmark would’ve been satisfied with that, right? Well, in 2003, they did something better – something that changed the face of the minifig industry: they introduced a new skin color, giving the tiny humanoid figures race. Soon you could tell the Afro-American minifigs from the Caucasian ones, and without that distinction then many minifigs reflecting our reality’s history wouldn’t have been born. One of those minifigs, of course, is the ever-controversial and world-renowned politician Adolf Hitler. After all, if every minifig was the same and had no distinctions whatsoever and someone integrated a Hitler minifg into the LEGO world, Hitler would probably turn on his grave. What many people don’t know is that he was an artist, and as such, prized uniqueness and superiority above all.

Adolf Hitler was born as a citizen of Austria in April 20 1889, and died as a political leader of Germany 56 years later, but the time between his birth and death were most interesting and full of controversy, to say the least. Many historians say that he was infantile, or “persistent in remaining in a child’s world of being aware of no one but himself and his own mental images”[1], and that he was a decidedly gifted child, though easily lost his temper. But we all know that artists are mostly sensitive and prone to expressing feelings impulsively. Hitler was just human…and now, he’s a LEGO minifig, too. All thanks to the wonders of LEGO minifig customization.

Hitler wanted many things: to destroy his perceived evils like communism, national discord and insurgency from the working class, to build a better, more financially stable Germany, and even to be a successful painter, musician, and architect. And although the last bit was left unfulfilled, he still got one thing that he didn’t ask for, that many others desire: to be immortalized as a minifig and to become a part of the infamous LEGO legacy. Maybe if LEGO blocks were around then, he would’ve had a more suitable conduit for creativity at an earlier age, avoided becoming a frustrated artist and everything would’ve turned out better.

Yet for all that he’s done, does he even deserve the publicity? A lot of things about Hitler had been said – and most of them have been negative sentiments – but there are a few filmmakers that don’t blame the man for his actions, and say that he is simply a product of his era. And if we can’t believe the words of people from Hollywood then what kind of dimension are we living in? If Tinsel town speaks, we listen; otherwise the world we know will collapse under a rule of chaotic anarchy.