Tag: LEGO

CARLSBAD – LEGOs…those colorful blocks that snap together so easily. Many view them as a childhood toy, but they’re serious fun among collectors and adult builders. They can vacation at the American LEGOland. They can get those rare pieces at LEGO stores across the country in malls. LEGO video games featuring Star Wars, Batman and Indiana Jones are all the rage. Keeping up with what’s happening in LEGO is about as foreboding a task as your mother keeping up with your LEGOs.

Joe Meno organizes the LEGO universe through BrickJournal magazine. The periodical announces upcoming products, events and how-to articles by top buildings. It’s a coffeetable magazine featuring all the LEGO pieces your kids lost under the sofa. The pages are addictive even for someone mildly interested in LEGO with illustrations that show how the plastic building blocks can snap into amazing works of art. For those who don’t want to clutter up their houses with paper products, BrickJournal can be viewed in electronic form.

Seeing how Joe Meno and I worked together at N.C. State’s Technician newspaper, I dropped him an email to find out how he discovered the “Bliss Job” while I stumbled into a life of crime.

PARTY FAVORS: What made you realize that BrickJournal could work as a magazine?

MENO: BrickJournal started as an online publication, and on launch, it was downloaded by over 50,000 users – that was a pretty obvious sign that something was up.

PARTY FAVORS: How much support do you get from LEGO?

MENO: The LEGO Group provided me with seed money to start the magazine in 2005 and continue to provide support with stories and sales support by selling the mag in its stores. I constantly get information and story leads from them.

PARTY FAVORS: What feature story has received the biggest response from readers?

MENO: Good question. Surprising enough, I don’t get many letters. I tend to get most of my feedback at conventions. The biggest response has come from the sixth issue, which had reports on the design behind the Space sets that are now out.

PARTY FAVORS: Is it relief to run a magazine that doesn’t have to put a Kardashian sister on the cover?

MENO: Yes. One of the running jokes with the magazine staff is to find some way to put some sex appeal in the magazine. Because we are a family friendly magazine, though, that is something that is really frowned upon.

PARTY FAVORS: Do you get people emailing you about the Eggo shortage?

MENO: Nope – though I do get that when I am at non-LEGO events.

PARTY FAVORS: How much time do you spend traveling around to various LEGO exhibitions?

MENO: Between the US events and the European events, I am at 5 events stateside and 3 events overseas – so something about every 6 weeks.

PARTY FAVORS: What sort of reaction did you get at Comic-Con? Do the booth babes like to talk LEGO action with you?

MENO: During Comic-Con, I have done presentations, so I have a tiny bit of status. However, most of the time I look like any other person there. The booth babes pay me just as much mind as they would do anyone else, but some talk about LEGO. It’s really funny when people first encounter the magazine – it’s not taken seriously at first, then once they open the mag, they start talking about what they built as kids.

PARTY FAVORS: What LEGO items get the most eyeballing at Comic Con?

MENO: Usually the exclusive sets for the convention.

PARTY FAVORS: How huge is Star Wars in the LEGO Universe?

MENO: Star Wars is one of their big sellers, and got many adult builders (like me) back into the LEGO hobby.

PARTY FAVORS: What is the most rare of the Star Wars set?

MENO: Out of the production sets? hmmm, good question. There was a play set of Cloud City – it was the first set to introduce Lando Calrissian. It was only sold at the LEGO stores and in the catalog.

PARTY FAVORS: Has anyone figured out how many LEGO bricks would be needed to create an actual size Death Star?

MENO: No, and don’t even think about it!

PARTY FAVORS: What’s the biggest object you’ve seen made out of LEGOs?

MENO: 16.5 foot long aircraft carrier. With aircraft, electronics, and interior. Insane work.

PARTY FAVORS: Are there other science fiction films that get Star Wars level LEGO love? Are there tributes to Alien or Battlestar Galactica on the horizon?

MENO: Yes, but they are a little harder to find. Battlestar Galactica has been the subject of some great models (the Vipers) at conventions.

PARTY FAVORS: What’s considered the most unpopular LEGO tie-in to a movie or TV show?

MENO: Currently Ben 10. Before that, Galidor.

PARTY FAVORS: Will they ever make LEGO sets paying tribute to Bea Arthur and Art Carney being in the Star Wars Holiday Special?

MENO: Probably not, but sooner or later, a builder is going to take the plunge:-)!

PARTY FAVORS: Has anyone made a LEGO bust of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory?

MENO: Not yet. See above.

PARTY FAVORS: What is the oddest thing you’ve seen created with LEGOs?

MENO: Nudes. What was odd was not the nudes, but the fig leaves that had to be placed on them to keep them family friendly. Sad thing is, I had to request the fig leaves for a convention I was running.

PARTY FAVORS: What was the first complicated thing you made out of LEGOs?

MENO: Way back when I made submarines – 2nd grade or so. I was fascinated by Jacques Cousteau’s underwater voyages and read the books, so it was something of a natural jump to build little subs for my marine explorers.

PARTY FAVORS: How much of your LEGO collection was vacuumed up by your mother?

MENO: Not as much as was left behind when I came back to the US from Germany where my dad was stationed.

To experience the LEGO love, visit www.brickjournal.com.

LOBBYIST LOOT

Casino Jack and the United States of Money hits the DVD shelf on Sept 14. Now you can figure out what the heck Jack Abramoff did with all the lobbyist cash. Director Alex Gibney straightens out the tangled tale of the man who ripped off Indian tribes and paid his way into the White House. Here’s an interview with producer Zena Barakat done at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, NC:

NOOOOO!!!!!!

How could the Cartoon Network stop making The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack? What am I supposed to watch in the wee hours during my detox cool down? Who will understand me when I shout, “Adventure!” Spongebob goes on for a decade, but his nautical cousin gets yanked at less than 50 episodes. It’s a crime. Thurop Van-Orman needs to work for Adult Swim on his next project. This means Brian Doyle-Murray now can focus on The Middle.

MR MAYHEM

Congratulations to Dean Winters for his Mayhem series of All State ads. He’s back to his wheelhouse of portraying chaotic evil on screen. He’s crashing cars, eating seats and looking sexy while jogging. You can’t help, but watch him bring the FightClub feel to the ad world. Before these 30 second epics, Winters greatest role was the Irish-American inmate Ryan O’Reilly on Oz. You never knew which way his character would go inside the Emerald City. In this pitchman role, he’s going to cause destruction on the road and around the house.

What’s remarkable is a year ago Winters’ heart stopped for over two minutes. He had major surgery to survive. Now Dean is finally getting more attention than his time on 30 Rock and Rescue Me. If you enjoy his devious nature in the All State ads, get your hand on the Oz DVD sets. Here’s him as sexy jogger:

NIGHTMARE

I wake up to find Claire Robinson in my kitchen. She’s craves the fifth ingredient – my kidneys!

SANDRA’S FAULT

I’m sick of Hollywood getting behind Sandra Bullock in her divorce. If anyone is to blame for this tabloid ugliness, it’s Miss Congeniality. She’s the nice girl who married Jesse James, the biker outlaw. She’s the one who attempted to tame the pitbull into her precious lapdog. Should anyone be surprised that he wasn’t going to remain a clone of Father Knows Best for the rest of his life? Yet he’s the bad guy for not being her bitch. Why did he have to go to sex rehab to repair the relationship? If anything could have saved their marriage it would have been her going under the needle for extensive ink work. The man likes tattoos on his ladies. Why didn’t Sandy get her arms coated in Technicolor sleeves? She needed to do a little more giving in the relationship. Yet somehow she thought she could break him of that fetish. You can’t deny a man his core identity. At some point he’s going to revert to his true nature. She’s not a victim of a cheating husband. She’s the loser in a battle to break a man’s will.

RAGING TURTLE

Gamera is back with four of his eight Showa flicks finally getting the VIP treatment on DVD. For those needing a Mega-Monster fix, Gamera Double Feature DVDs are this Halloween’s must have collections. Forget those crummy discs that were lifted from low-fi AIP and Sandy Frank TV tapes. It’s time to upgrade to get the full effect of the massive radioactive turtle on the Cinemascope battlefields.

Gamera Vs. Gyaos / Gamera Vs. Viras has the turtle battle a bat creature and an intergalactic squid. Gamera Vs. Gyaos was the first of his films I saw when it aired on WLVI-56 in Boston’s Creature Feature. That was the late night companion to the legendary afternoon Creature Double Feature. Those were the glory days of UHF stations before the birth of infomercials. Gyaos is a giant bat-like creature with a flat top head and spiked teeth. He shoots lasers out of his mouth. He cuts off one of Gamera’s hands. However the turtle does not qualify for a handicap parking tag since Gamera can regenerate body parts. There’s a little boy with a yellow cap that gets to fly around on the turtle’s shell. Even with the kiddie angle, the battles are fierce as countryside model sets get destroyed with extra zest. Gamera Vs. Viras lets aliens in a bumble bee color scheme UFO kidnap a pair of bratty boy scouts. It’s up to Gamera to get them out of trouble. The kids repay the favor by helping Gamera beat a giant squid monster. He doesn’t quite put up the fight on the level of Gyaos. These boy scouts really need to get their ranks pulled.

Gamera Vs. Guiron / Gamera Vs. Jiger reminds us that Gamera is a friend to all children since kids are extremely involved in both adventures. Two boys stumble across an empty spaceship at the start of Guiron. They don’t even think about alerting the authorities. Instead they climb inside and start pushing buttons. This leads to them being transported across the galaxy to a planet where the monster Guiron dominates a futuristic society. Guiron has a knifeblade for a head and fires Ninja throwing stars. He butchers up a cousin of Gyaos. The evil women on the planet have evil plans for the boys. It’s up to Gamera to visit the planet and save the them. The things this turtle has to do to help children is rather annoying. Jiger takes us to the 1970 World’s Fair in Osaka. Why aren’t World’s Fairs cool anymore? After Knoxville, they just lost all steam. Imagine the surprise of the folks in Osaka when they also hosted a super monster battle? Jiger gets summoned to the site after idiots decided to locate the giant idol she protects on the fairgrounds. Gamera doesn’t have a chance battling her. The turtle gets frozen and something squirted down his throat. It’s up to two kids to use a mini-submarine to go inside Gamera to revive him. It’s like a life-size version of Fantastic Voyage. Can the kids get out before they’re digested?

All four films feature both the Japanese soundtracks and their original English dubs that you heard on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Shout! Factory will announce a date on the Gamera Vs. Zigra and Gamera: Super Monster double feature set that wraps up the original run of Gamera before he was revived in the mid-90s. Remember that Gamera is extra cool since he had a guest shot on this season of Mad Men.

DVD SHELF

StarCrash: 2 -Disc Collector’s Edition – Roger Corman’s Cult Classics brings together the greatest talent in the universe in a movie that’s got a special effect that’s beyond Star Wars. Did you say, “What?” Nothing in George Lucas’ vision compares to the beauty of Caroline Munro saving the universe in a bikini and high-heeled boots. The British beauty plays Stella Star, an outlaw who is the only hope in battling the evil Joe Spinell (The Godfather and Rocky). She does get assistance from a robot that talks like Slim Pickens and the legendary Marjoe Gortner (creepy guy in Earthquake). Her goal is to rescue a young prince who would one day rule Germany – David Hasselhoff. The Hoff and Marjoe have a battle of the man perm locks. Their hairdos make stylists weep tears of joy. Of course the greatest reason to watch the film is the exotic Munro. She’s a Bond girl, a Hammer hottie and the lady with the eye on her hand from The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. She’s still hot since the bonus features include a recent interview with her. She has plenty of memories working on the Italian set with the mega stars. She’d go on to do two more films with Spinell: Maniac and Fanatic. Stephan Romano does an amazing job of telling the history of the film. The guy had to make two commentary tracks to give us the goods. He was working on a book, but this is so much better. Special Effects director Armando Valcauda gives us a pictorial history of his life and work on the film. Turns out he wrote Ray Harryhausen and Ward Kimball while learning his craft in Italy. There words inspired him. For those who adored StarCrash at the drive-in, prepare to be thrilled by a top notch transfer. There’s a Blu-ray version if you want to see Caroline Munro in 1080p. She’s so much hotter than Princess Leia and her bun braids.

Flash Forward: The Complete Series captures what appeared to be the next big puzzle series since Lost was wrapping up. It had a great premise about everyone in the world passing out for 137 seconds. Why did it happen? What was being done as we all slept? The cast was top notch with Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) and John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go to the White Castle) as FBI agents putting together the pieces. They even had Lost cast members Dominic Monaghan and Sonya Walger. The FBI discovers that during the blackout people get a glimpse of what will happen to them on a future date. The series only lasted 22 dates, luckily viewers aren’t quite left completely hanging. They do take us up to the Flash Forward date. The bonus features include deleted scenes and bloopers. They break down what it took to make the world black out. Make sure you don’t fall asleep while watching the show cause you’ll wonder what really happened while you were unconscious.

NCIS: Los Angeles: The First Season contains the big freshman hit of the year. How could it not be a hit with the tag team of LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell. It’s the GOAT and Robin kicking ass as part of the NCIS Office of Special Projects force. The spin-off of the hit NCIS ramps up the action with the procedural. They go after spies, terrorists and mobsters that have proven to be a threat to our national security. The unit is led by Linda Hunt (Dune) in an outfit that makes her resemble Edith Head. The boxset contains the original introduction episodes, “The Legend” which aired on NCIS. The 24 season one episodes take us inside this crack unit that goes to extremes to stop the bad guys. LL and Chris look good when the pressure goes high. The bonus features explain the spin-off and tour the sets. There’s even the video for LL Cool J’s “No Crew Is Superior” along with the making of footage. Did you notice the song title’s initials are NCIS? That’s why he’s the GOAT.

Brothers and Sisters: The Complete Fourth Season takes us inside the Walker family of Pasadena. See what happens on the days when the town isn’t shut down for the Rose Parade. The family is involved in Ojai Foods. Sally Field is the matriarch with an extended family that includes Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal), Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) and Patricia Wettig (thirtysomething). Like all good primetime soap operas, this season provides plenty of thrills, scandals and dark revelations. The big thing is the company might have cooked books. The only thing that can save them is their latest wine. If it doesn’t win big awards, they’re going to be wearing barrels. Later there’s a hunt for matching bone marrow. It wouldn’t be a season without a confusing wedding. This is the last season for Rob Lowe since he’s jumping over to Parks and Recreation on a rival network. Deleted scenes and bloopers are on the bonus features. There’s plenty of featurettes showing how the cast have bonded over the years. Plus there’s footage of the fourth season’s red carpet premiere.

Criminal Minds: The Fifth Season gives more cases from the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. Thomas Gibson (Eyes Wide Shut) and Joe Mantegna (The Simpsons) attempt to out think serious evil doers. “Nameless, Faceless” opens the season with the cliffhanger about a killer going after an emergency room doctor. “Reckoner” takes Mantegna back to his hometown since a hitman is icing the neighborhood guys. “Hopeless” suggests a group of people are thrill killing in Washington D.C. Later they’d be called “The Death Panel.” “Cradle to Grave” is extra creepy with their target knocking up his victims and killing them after they give birth. “Risky Business” suggests kids in Wyoming are killing themselves after being on the internet. They get the internet in Wyoming? “A Thousand Words” has the team deciphering a killer’s tattoos to find where he’s hidden his final victim. “The Internet Is Forever” lets a serial killer find victims and post their murders online. This cop show really hates the internet. The 23 episodes on 6 DVDs.

The Guardian: The Second Season give us the middle season of Simon Baker’s first major American TV series. Before he was The Mentalist, Baker was a lawyer who had to work off 1,500 hours of community service for being busted for his drugs. He gets assigned working with kids. Between the pressures of working for his father’s law firm and the community service, he might go back to the drugs. His cold dad is Dabney Coleman (Buffalo Bill). The big guest star of the season is Farrah Fawcett (Charlie’s Angels). She’s hooked up with Dabney. How can she resist the Guardian and go for grandpa? Will Ferrell plays an attorney in “All the Rage.” Baker’s a little more intense in The Guardian than his glib Mentalist character. But it does show he’s got hard dramatic chops. The 23 episodes are spread over 6 DVDs.

The Good Wife: The First Season was a surprise hit since it seemed doomed to be one of those “how could this fail” series. The movie was torn from today’s headlines as Chris Noth gets sent to prison as part of a sex and corruption scandal (like John Edwards will be doing in the near future). His wife (E.R.’s Julianna Margulies) goes back to being a lawyer in order to support her two kids. How could she not know her man was going to be in a sex scandal since his campaign manager is Alan Cumming (Spice World)? The show has a few favorite faces recurring including Peter Riegert (Boon from Animal House). Gary Cole (Midnight Caller) pops up as a ballistics expert that has his aim set on Christine Baranski, the senior partner of the wife’s law firm. Margulies keeps this show from devolving into a lifetime wife screwed special. The bonus features including deleted scenes, commentary tracks, behind the scenes featurettes and a look at recent real political scandals. At least her husband wasn’t exposed as wearing diapers while seeing hookers. The 23 episodes come on 6 DVDs.

Grey’s Anatomy: The Complete Sixth Season marks the end of Katherine Heigl as Dr. Izzie vanishes half way through this collection. After nearly a season and a half of issues, she was finally written off so she could spend more time making movies your girlfriend will watch repeatedly on HBO OnDemand. The season opens with the staff feeling the death of George (T. R. Knight). But things don’t remain too depressing as the medical staff gives themselves an IV drip of Spanish Fly. Even after six seasons, these people still get turned on in their scrubs. Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey are still frisky even after getting married. There is plenty of medical emergencies including saving a patient that’s parents want to donate $25 million to the hospital. Pop tarts guest star with Mandy Moore and Demi Lovato checking into the facility. Kate Walsh returns for a Private Practice crossover episode. The big bonus is Seattle Grace: On Call – 6 Webisodes. See how the little doctors live.

Private Practice: The Complete Third Season allows the spin-off of Grey’s Anatomy to also spin a character into the grave. I won’t spoil it for folks who wait till the DVD sets to watch a series, but it’s a extremely dramatic death with a lot of jeopardy for a spouse. Nothing happens without drama in a medical soap opera. Chandra Wilson from Grey’s makes a crossover visit to help with a surgery. Kate Walsh finally hooks up full time with Tim Daly which causes custody drama with his ex-wife. She’s not happy that the nice lady doctor wants to be her daughter’s new friend. The stress of this ends up with Kate hooking up with Taye Diggs – who didn’t see this coming from the first season? The question of will this romance last gets tested by the tragic demise of one of the main cast members. It’s carnal lust wrapped up in human carnage. The boxset includes Kate Walsh talking about her favorite moments, deleted scenes and bloopers.

Woodshop brings a comic touch to the most fearful course in high school: Shop Class. An honor’s student is about to have his Ivy League dreams destroyed when a disaster in the science lab implodes his GPA. He makes a deal to endure a Saturday in shop class to wipe out his failure. What the brainiac didn’t calculate was enduring Mr. Madson (Jesse Ventura) and unbalanced classmates. This is Breakfast Club meets The Toolbox Murders. There’s a proper mixture of fear and laughs around the discarded wood pile. This is Ventura’s finest work since he had act like Hulk Hogan could wrestle. Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files) also appears. The sad news is this was the final performance of Don S. Davis. He’d become a cult favorite with his roles as Major Garland Briggs on Twin Peaks and his promotion to Major General Hammond on Stargate SG-1. He’s the principal who strikes the deal with the disgraced honor student. You can pick up the DVD or check your cable’s Video OnDemand service to relive the horror that comes from the drill press in the hands of a high schooler.

Wall Street: The Insider Trading Edition brings us back to that time when greed was good. In preparation for the upcoming Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps film, the original Oliver Stone pic gets a brand new edition. This is the story of a young man (Charlie Sheen) who gets lost under the spell of an investment titan (Michael Douglas). At first he is the dutiful student, but he slowly wants to find capitalism with a heart. He realizes money isn’t everything. You have to watch out for the workers at these companies. Damn shame this was a fictional film cause we probably wouldn’t be in this fix if the soulless vampires of Goldman Sachs had taken this to heart. The bonuses include a Wall Street Fact Exchange Scrolling Trivia Track and a featurette meant to excite you over the upcoming return of Gordon Gekko. What’s thrilling about the original is Charlie Sheen being full of potential instead of a tabloid trainwreck.

Janeane Garofalo: If You Will returns the former Air America and 24/7 object of Bill O’Reilly’s hatred to the comedy stage. She’s cracking jokes on stage at Seattle’s Moore Theater. She admits to her commitment to spanx. She lives in them. She confesses to being asexual to the undelight of her boyfriend. The new lifestyle has allowed her to blow off time wasting things like shaving her legs. This revelation is shocking since she was my major crush from 1994-1999. I didn’t stalk her, but ran into her in a comedy club on Pedro. She was nice to me even though I was plotting a sandwich using her and Sarah Silverman. They were both there. If only they had Ax body spray back then. Back to the new Janeane with buff arms. She claims you can get hand cancer from cellphones. The is a good tip about visiting a website dedicated to a woman farting on cakes. She confesses to being clueless about the computer jargon she used on 24. What an actress. She does get political when she warns Interpol that they might do a better job stopping genocide around the world if they weren’t also filling their plate stopping DVD bootlegs. Her routine doesn’t turn into a leftie version of a Glenn Beck rally. She’s talking about finger banging, dog parks and old women with “Ask Me About My Grandchildren” sweatshirts. She might be the last female comic to not constantly talk about “her gays.” The bonus includes a few snipped jokes. For those who dug Janeane’s reflection on life back in the ’90s, she’s returned. Although you still won’t want to show this when your Fox News fanatic grandmother is in the room.