LEGO Hess Truck

I've always associated Hess Trucks with Christmas. My brother and I got all the toy Hess Trucks for Christmas they released from 1985 to 1988, and there were those very Christmasy commercials for them on television. We also used to go gift shopping at a mall where there was a Hess station right nearby.

I've been reminiscing, and I got inspired to build a LEGO Hess Truck!





I'm quite proud of it. A tractor trailer is kind of a departure from the things I normally build. I wish I could get the lights to light up, but it's good enough as it is.

Gingerbear Cookies!

It is a tradition in my family to make gingerbear cookies. My mother and I made some this year.



The cinnamon candy is supposed to be a heart, but we were unable to find heart-shaped ones. Even hearts aren't really heart-shaped though, so I think it's alright.

LEGO Daniel is a little bit cold.

He came in like a wrecking ball!

I saw this at Target and had to get a photo.



All he wanted was to break your walls.

Faces Of Peppermint

I definitely wasn't expecting to find anything that would top the slang word, song, and hilarious sheet music cover, but when I looked up jelly beans on wikipedia, I also looked up candy canes. Not only did I find their history, but I also found this masterpiece.



The child clearly was so excited upon seeing the sign that he dropped his books, and his mittens just fell right off his hands. And whether or not they have that stance and clenched, possibly trembling fists, if you see that look in anyone's eyes, you'd be wise to stay out of their way.

LEGO Daniel is all bundled up for the cold winter weather.

And he's been building snow sculptures, such as this classic minifigure!



He also built this snow owl! (Not to be confused with the snowy owl.)



Then there's this Classic Space snowman who rocks the snow guitar!

mallow:yam

During dinner on Thanksgiving, my sister felt the mallow to yam ratio was unsatisfactory, but we were out of marshmallows, so she put fluff on her yams. I was trying to decide what to call it. Flufferyammer or Flufferspudder? Fluffertater doesn't work, so don't even try it, pal.

I looked up jelly beans on wikipedia.

I learned that "Jelly Bean" was a slang term in the 1910's and 1920's, meaning "a young man who dressed stylishly to attract women but had little else to recommend him." I might have to start using this term.

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wrote the popular novel The Great Gatsby and the short story The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button also wrote a short story in 1920 about this type of character called The Jelly-Bean. I had never even heard of it.

There's also a song called "Jelly Bean (He's a Curbstone Cutie)" which was written in 1920 by Jimmie Dupre, Sam Rosen, and Joe Verges. I love the artwork for the sheet music. The guy on the front cover really amuses me, and the splatter font that the title is written in is awesome.

A version of the song done by Phil Harris was popular in the 40's. I primarily know Harris as the voice of Baloo and Little John in the Disney animated movies The Jungle Book and Robin Hood.



Listen to the lyrics. "Won't drink that big old beer or wine, just eats his ice cream all the time." What's not to like about this young man? He dresses stylishly and eats ice cream all the time? I've gotta say, I kind of relate to this Jelly Bean character, being a stylish gentleman who doesn't drink but loves ice cream. If the ladies don't go for him, I think they probably just have bad taste.

Ode To Jelly Belly

A while back, my sister and her boyfriend gave me a Jelly Belly jar.

I love Jelly Belly, but only certain flavors. I refuse to get the 20 Flavors or 40 Flavors assortments, because they contain so many flavors that are unappealing, like buttered popcorn, coconut, and black licorice.

All three of those awful flavors are in that BeanBoozled assortment where all the jelly beans are put in pairs that appear the same, but one is supposed to be a "tasty" flavor and one is supposed to be a gross "weird and wild" flavor. It's some kind of demented party game. Somehow, all three of those awful flavors are considered "tasty" ones in the game, but in my opinion they don't seem much better than their "weird and wild" counterparts. Honestly, if it's between coconut and baby wipes, I am not sure which one I'd rather eat. It's a toss up.

The Jelly Belly assortment I love most is Soda Pop Shoppe. Every flavor is delicious, and each one is based on popular soda flavors. 7UP, A&W Cream Soda and Root Beer, Orange and Grape Crush, and Dr. Pepper. It's very rare that I see them in any stores though, so the Jelly Belly jar has been empty most of the time I've owned it.

Until recently when I found a Snapple assortment.



Curiously though, all of the flavors are based on Snapple fruit juice drinks. I do love some of the juices, such as Kiwi Strawberry, but I think iced tea flavors could be amazing. Imagine the Snapple raspberry iced tea in Jelly Belly form. Yum! Truly a missed opportunity, but I enjoy this Snapple assortment anyway.

All Hallows' Eve is over. So I built this LEGO vignette.

It was inspired by another vignette I saw recently created by a friend of a friend. It featured the two of them and another friend drinking tea in their living room.

Happy Halloween!

The sister came to visit. I gave her the Hello Kitty Halloween cookie house I got her, but she's going to save it for next year since I got it to her so late in the season. I really love that she's dressed as Dracula, of all the things they could have picked.



We had a graveyard dessert my mom made.



One of the marshmallow ghosts had amazing hair.



My sister thinks he looks like Conan O'Brien.

LEGO Skeleton Bunny Minifigure

I made this creepy minifigure. He's a glow-in-the-dark skeleton in a bunny suit. He kind of looks like Frank the rabbit from Donnie Darko.

I went to a Halloween party over the weekend.

My friend and I went as purgers. I'm the one in the stylish cardigan.



Don't worry, we were polite.

Monster Cereal Treats!

In 2011 we made some cereal treats to bring to a Halloween party. We used Count Chocula, Boo Berry, and Frankenberry cereals. Cereal treats use marshmallows and those cereals have little marshmallows in them, so the idea just seemed natural. They're much more festive than regular Rice Krispies treats. It's also fun cutting up the cereal boxes to make the little signs.



This has kind of become our thing now. Last year we even made Lucky Charms treats to bring to a St. Patrick's Day party. Unfortunately I neglected to get a photo.

This year we were going to a Halloween party again, and it just so happened to be the year that saw the return of classic monster cereals Frute Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy, so we made treats out of those! I also bought a bag of pumpkin spice marshmallows, so we made a batch of pumpkin spice Rice Krispies treats. Although I normally love pumpkin spice anything, I wasn't really a fan of these for some reason. The cherry flavored Frute Brute treats and orange cream flavored Yummy Mummy treats were wonderful though. The colors of all the treats this year were pretty autumny.

LEGO Daniel is dressed up as a pirate for Halloween!

And he used his cutlass to carve that pumpkin into a Jack-O-Lantern!

Ghost Halloween mini paper lanterns.

I know I really talked up those Jack-O-Lantern Halloween mini paper lanterns last year, but as cool as they are, after having all of them up for a short time, I realized the ghost ones are clearly better. The black paper looks surprisingly great lit up, I like the little ghosts, and it's a bit difficult to get the faces on the Jack-O-Lantern ones to line up how you want them. There are ghosts on every side of the ghost ones though, so you don't have to worry at all about how they line up.

Ghost Halloween mini paper lanterns for the win!

Halloween Mood Table 2013

I wasn't sure Matt from Dinosaur Dracula was going to put together or post about a Halloween mood table this year, but I'm really glad he did. It has become an important tradition for me, even though I have only been doing it for a few years. So last night while listening to music that I consider to be seasonal and sipping apple cider, I put my Halloween mood table together as well.



Not a lot has changed. Same scarf and table I always use. There are speakers under the table again, so I can plug in my iPod anytime and blast the aforementioned music. This was probably the most exciting improvement last year, and it's still just as exciting. Trick Or Treat, Chickadee.

The werewolf figure is back weirding everyone out (or turning them on) with his tight, unbuttoned shorts.

Behind the werewolf is a half-eaten bag of Starburst candy corn. I really dislike regular candy corn, but it's such an iconic Halloween candy that I always feel like I'm missing out. This year, Starburst gave me another chance! I was afraid I still wouldn't like them, but they're not bad. But that's probably obvious from the fact that I ate half of them before October even started.

The LEGO minifigures are back, including last year's LEGO Dinosaur Dracula. But hold on, a new horrifying minifigure moved into Table Town. A glow in the dark ghost! It's such a classic figure, and it's from one of my favorite sets when I was a kid, Black Monarch's Ghost.



One obvious new addition is the adorable paper lantern. I actually got that last year late in the Halloween season and neglected to post about it. My sister bought three of them from a dollar store, kept one, and gave the other two to our cousin and me. Lantern buddies!



My sister's is the jack-o-lantern, our cousin's is the ghost, and of course mine is Frankenstein's monster.

Another new addition is two scented candles in jars that the same cousin mentioned above gave me. They're merchandise from the very Halloweeny movie The Nightmate Before Christmas, and each candle has different art on its label, which is very cool. The scents are Mountain Berry and Black Cherry.

Unlike some people he overhears in restaurants...

LEGO Daniel's very interested in the mating habits of the pink flamingo.



I know it's huge and kind of ostrich-esque, but I think that's a little bit revealing about said mating habits, isn't it?

And yes, I cheated by connecting the neck to the body using tape. Go ahead and call the LEGO police. They'll never take me alive!

Eavesdropping, Part I: Know-It-All

Droppin' eaves left and right.

I overheard part of a conversation between two people in a restaurant today. It may not be ethical, but it can be fascinating.

"I know I sound like a know-it-all... but I'm really not, because if I open up the Encyclopedia, I don't know any of that stuff. I really only know about stuff that I'm interested in. I'm not interested in the mating habits of the pink flamingo."

Happy Birthday, Lava Lamp!

The lava lamp (also known as the astro lamp) was invented 50 years ago today in 1963. Fun Fact: I have a lava lamp on my desk.

To celebrate, LEGO Daniel is hanging out with his lava lamp all day.

Fun Fact: When I was a kid, the LEGO town I had in my room had a few lava lamps in it, and I built them the exact same way, using a goblet as the base. Then years later, LEGO released a VW bus set with the same exact lava lamp in it.

Friendly Faces, Part III: LED Mouth Light

This LED Mouth Light is terrible at being an LED Mouth Light. It is not comfortable to wear, it makes you gag almost constantly, and for full effect you have to walk around with your mouth open like some kind of mouth-breathing neanderthal. What it is good at though, is having a really friendly face. Look how happy he is!

Since his four LED teeth light up when you press his nose, it's like he's wearing a Mouth Light. A Mouth Light wearing a Mouth Light! What's really fun about this is that the bits that fit over your teeth could be interpreted as either bizarre ears, or arms. I prefer arms. It makes him look so much more excited.

Are you alright, Wikipedia?

It sometimes really amuses me when a page on Wikipedia is badly written or contains little irrelevant bits of information that haven't been taken down yet. This page I just found while working on a new post for INT. A CINEMATIC MIND - NIGHT has examples of both.

"Shooting star is a common name for the visible path of a meteoroid as it enters the atmosphere, becoming a meteor. As it enters the atmosphere the meteor burns and vaporizes. If the meteor survives the entry and lands on the surface of the Earth, it is classified as a meteorite. If a meteor hits earth it becomes a meteorite. Nick ate lead paint as a kid"

Friendly Faces, Part II: Shop Vac

This Shop Vac is also a happy seal. He flicks his tongue back and forth.

LEGO sets based on The LEGO Movie!

I recently talked a little bit about The LEGO Movie that is coming out early next year, as well as the possibility of sets being based on the movie. If you haven't done so yet, you should check out the trailer for the movie, and then read that post I did. I guess I'll get a chance to get that cowlick hairpiece after all! It was announced today that they'll be making LEGO sets based on the movie.

Part of the press release also said that there will be a new line of 16 collectible minifigures based on new and "new again" characters from the movie. I don't want to get my hopes up, but between the sets and the 16 collectable minifigures, maybe we'll get to see one of my favorite characters from the trailer...

Bring on that 1980's-something space guy!

My Custom Classic Space Minifigure

Using my flea market LEGO minifigures and photoshop, I made this Classic Space figure in the style of the original minifigures.

Obviously the logo is just put on there with photoshop, but I'd love to get a Classic Space sticker so I can actually make it. It would actually be even closer to authentic, because I think the original minifigures only had stickers instead of printing.

Probably the worst fortune cookie fortune I've ever gotten.

Especially since I am a loyal fan of Hunan Beef and Wonton Soup.

No thanks, fortune cookie. No thanks forever.

I'm off to see Man Of Steel this weekend!

The LEGO Movie, and some Flea Market LEGO!

I didn't expect to be that interested The LEGO Movie, but it looks pretty fun. I love that it resembles stop-motion, rather than having the blatant CGI look they usually use in LEGO movies. It's charming and actually has a LEGO feel. I also love that the "1980's-something space guy" has a cracked helmet and partially worn-off Classic Space logo. As probably anyone who ever owned those figures as a child knows, those details are so true to life. It would be pretty meta if they made sets based on the movie and had the space guy with a cracked helmet and partially worn-off logo. I don't know if that would be possible though. And the main character has a cowlick! As someone with a pretty unruly cowlick, if that piece exists, I want it! Anyway, this trailer really got through to this big old grump, and now I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.

I got some cool retro LEGO stuff from a flea market, including some very old minifigures that are in surprisingly good shape. I actually got these a while back, but hadn't gotten around to posting them. Seeing the trailer for The LEGO Movie motivated me to finally do so.

The first two of them are examples of the original minifigures, which were a precursor to the modern minifigures. I believe they were in sets from 1975 to 1978. They have arms and legs that don't move and a yellow head without a printed face. I never had any of these as a kid, probably because I wasn't born until the mid 80's. I was always aware of them, and found them appealing, so I thought it would be cool to own them now. And I was right! It is!

The other two figures are astronauts from the Classic Space line, which was sold from 1978 to 1987. They feature movable arms and legs, and they each have a simple smiley face. They're missing their air tanks, but that's fine. Other than that, and of course being in better condition, they're just like the space guy figure that's in The LEGO Movie. Also, the astronaut in white is just like the one on the shirt of LEGO Daniel!

I'm shocked by the condition these figures are in. Whereas my old LEGO toys were played with for over two decades, I'm guessing these figures were played with only a short time before being put away for maybe thirty years. The spacemen don't even have cracked chin straps! What kind of freak child owned these!?

I also bought a LEGO Idea Book, but from another vendor. It's pretty interesting that it's from around the same era as the figures I got. It was published in 1977, and it's also in pretty great condition. I have a LEGO Idea Book from 1990 and it is beat the hell up. So either this was also barely used, or it was owned by some other freak of a child who took ridiculously good care of his belongings. I bought it for $1, which is of course one penny more than it cost back in 1977.

I love LEGO Idea Books! They have so many fun little things to look at and make, and this one features those original minifigures. Here are a couple of examples of the things in this book:

This ferocious monster! That's how people unfairly see him anyway. But he's not hurting anyone. All he wants to do is dance!

There are also instructions to build what I can only assume is a man pushing a wheelbarrow filled with rolls of toilet paper.

Dancing monsters, toilet paper wheelbarrows... These scenarios could fuel a child's imagination for years!

A brownish area... with points!

The kid on the box of the First Act Discovery drum set has a familiar hairstyle.

Researching sharks on the internet.

I was wondering about if sharks feel emotion and whether or not they are capable of developing an emotional attachment to a human, so I did some research. Instead of finding answers to my questions, I just found a bunch of other things that had nothing to do with what I wanted to know.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Black people getting attacked by sharks?

A conversation with a great white shark about fear.

I made a LEGO minifigure of myself!

I have built vignettes in the past that featured a LEGO minifigure of myself, but it has been several years. A lot of new LEGO elements have come out since then, and maybe my appearance has changed some, so when I was in the mood to play with LEGO yesterday, I decided to make an updated figure of myself.

He's a cool guy. He likes to hang out with LEGO Batman, LEGO Hip-Hop Troll, and LEGO Dinosaur Dracula.

Unfortunately I don't have the awesome Spaceman shirt that the LEGO minifigure of me is wearing, but he doesn't have a LEGO version of my guitar either, so he's forced to play that Flying V instead. We can't all have everything we want.

I used the head of LEGO Indiana Jones for him, but don't read into that at all. I don't think I look anything like the very handsome Harrison Ford. I just think the LEGO head somewhat resembles my own, with the crooked smile, and the facial hair that resembles the stubbly beard I often have as a result of my not liking to shave.

Creepy Antique Clowns

My cousin and I went to an antique store recently. I didn't buy anything, because every item was so ridiculously overpriced. Here are some creepy antique clown items I found but absolutely did not purchase.

I apologize for the blurriness of this first photo. I guess none of these clowns look especially creepy (just a regular amount of creepy), but it's a very bizarre picture. It has one of those weird hobo or tramp clowns, and what's with the floating disembodied clown heads?

In the next picture, this little clown fellow looks as disturbed as I feel, but he made me this way. I'm not sure what his excuse is. There's another half a barrel behind him with his legs sticking out of it though, so I guess that might give some sort of hint as to why he's making that awful face.

This final clown was part of some big display or perhaps a beanbag toss game that seemed to be for Mardi Gras. It had other clowns, but none of them affected me as much as this one. He certainly does not look happy. Look into those eyes!

HE WANTS TO EAT YOUR SOUL

zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZESTY

Sometimes I have dreams that I wish were real experiences simply because I'd love to be able to tell the story as if it really happened rather than having to start with something like "I had a dream where..."

This is one of those dreams. It's realistic enough to have been real, but it just amuses me so much.

I had a dream where I was grocery shopping with somebody, and we were discussing the differences in taste between various types of apple. At one point we must have disagreed, because the discussion sort of became more of a debate. Then I feel it officially became an argument when they yelled about something being zesty. I don't think I'd ever heard someone yell that word before.

James Blake's new album Overgrown

I don't post consistently, but at times I'm a little surprised to realize I neglected to write about something. One of those somethings is musician James Blake's self-titled debut album.

I had gotten into Blake after seeing and clicking on an advertisement for his music video "The Wilhelm Scream" on youtube. I'm a big fan of movies and of sound designer Ben Burtt, so I knew what the Wilhelm scream sound effect was, and the title of the song intrigued me. It might be the only time I've ever clicked on one of those ads on youtube. I didn't even know if I liked the song at first, but it made an impression (maybe that's too weak a word... impact?) on me, and I ended up getting the album. I found it to be really weird, thought provoking, and even confusing, which is strange to me because I've heard so much weird, experimental music. It became one of my favorite albums of the past few years though. The electronic manipulation of more traditional music sounds like piano and voice are really interesting, and a lot of the songs have very strange arrangements and structures. It has influenced me a lot as a musician.

The other day, Blake announced that he's releasing a new album called Overgrown on April 8th. The first single is called "Retrograde", and it's available today. You can watch the music video below. I really like the song and the video, and am excited to hear more.

I heard Beyonce beat Football at the Super Bowl.

I'm not surprised. It looks like she had one hell of a defensive line.

"The Loop Closes" and "How Long?" by How To Destroy Angels

Last month the band How To Destroy Angels released a third music video from their recent EP An Omen. The video was for the song "The Loop Closes".



I like An Omen, but I don't love it. Nothing on it really jumps out at me that much I guess, and it's not as fun to listen to as their first EP. I also really like when EP's are like mini albums, and I'm not sure why, but An Omen doesn't quite feel like one to me. That's just my personal taste though when it comes to EP's. A few of the songs on the EP will be on the band's first full length album, Welcome Oblivion, which will be released on March 5th. I've been hoping I'll like the songs more in the context of the full album.

Although I've been looking forward to Welcome Oblivion, I wouldn't describe it as excitement. That changed yesterday when the band released a new music video, which is for a new song from the album called "How Long?". The video is directed by Shynola.



Besides it just being a really great looking video, I really love the song. In my opinion, it's a lot cooler than anything on the EP, and I love how catchy it is. I'm officially excited for Welcome Oblivion.

David Bowie's new album The Next Day

I'll admit I was wondering if David Bowie would ever release a new album, and I would have been fine with him retiring from music, as long as that's what he wanted. What it comes down to is that I wouldn't want him to release a new album just to please his fans.

January 8th was his 66th birthday, and catching just about everyone in the world off guard, there was an announcement that there would be a new David Bowie album this year, titled The Next Day. Along with the announcement came a music video for a new song from the album called "Where Are We Now?"



Bowie had been working on the album for 2 years before the announcement, with producer Tony Visconti and several musicians he's worked with in the past, like Earl Slick, Gail Ann Dorsey, Sterling Campbell, Gerry Leonard, David Torn, and Zachary Alford. It's amazing to me that they managed to keep it a secret in this day and age, and I'm glad they did, because it was a fun surprise.

It may sound silly, but knowing this album is coming out this year and having to wait for it is really exciting to me. Part of being a fan of a musician is looking forward to the release of their next album, and specifically as a Bowie fan, I haven't experienced that yet. Although I liked a handful of Bowie's songs already, I don't think I really became a fan until I heard Danny Lohner's remix of "Bring Me The Disco King" on the Underworld soundtrack in early September 2003, and Bowie's last album, Reality came out only a bit later that month.

I don't know what I think of the album cover for The Next Day, which was created by Jonathan Barnbrook. I think I understand the concept, and even really like the concept. I just don't really like the execution or end product. I think the artwork for Bowie's album Heathen already explored similar themes and did a much better job of it while also looking beautiful, with images of Renaissance paintings slashed and splattered with paint, pages from books ripped and shredded, crossed-out typing, a faceless Bowie. Looking at the cover of The Next Day and the artwork for Heathen, I almost can't believe they were done by the same guy. It's not that big of a deal that I don't like it though. It's not like it would be the first Bowie album cover I'm not really a fan of. Maybe after hearing the album, the cover art will grow on me more. If not, maybe I'll use this image as the cover on my iPod. Right now I like that image a hell of a lot more than the actual cover.

It's been reported that Bowie doesn't want to tour to support the album at all, and I'm also fine with that even though I've never seen him live before. If memory serves (I mean memory of what I've read. I wasn't alive yet back then), Bowie didn't tour to support Low unless you count the tour he went on after Heroes came out, but that was over a year after Low was released. I don't think that going on tour should be expected of a musician after they release an album. Going on tour can take up a lot of time and energy, and maybe they'd rather just spend that time and energy on other things. It's also been said that Bowie would like to get back into the studio later this year to work on another album, and I think that's great news.

Friendly Faces, Part I: Old Navy Dress Shirts

This is my good friend Philip K. Shirtovsky. He has great fashion sense. I found him in the clothing store Old Navy.

Taco Bell & Rudeness, Part II

I forgot about it until tonight, but I wanted to post about it because it amuses me.

Recently I was at a Taco Bell, and I was standing in front of the counter to pick up my food after ordering. After picking up his own food, a "gentleman" was headed to a table somewhere, and where I happened to be standing was in his path. Rather than go around me using the more than adequate space I left to my side, he apparently decided he wanted to continue in a perfectly straight line, requiring me to move instead. And rather than saying something even remotely polite like "Excuse me", what he decided to say to me was "Move, dude." I'm not sure exactly why rudeness like that amuses me, but it made me laugh.

This is, of course, not the first time that someone has been rude to me at Taco Bell. Maybe he and that girl in Florida are related though, and being rude at Taco Bell runs in the family.

Mike Crowley

I woke up this morning to the upsetting news that my old friend Mike Crowley had passed away. I met Mike years ago through the online LEGO community, in which he went by the name Count Blockula. I never met him in person, but I was among the many people fortunate enough to get to know him and interact with him over the internet. I think that his creativity and just the quality of person and friend that he was has been a big inspiration for me and just about everyone that knew him.

Mike hasn't been very active in the LEGO community or online at all really in the past several years, and I've missed him a lot. I was always hoping he would come back someday and that it would somewhat resemble old times. Every year I still wished him a happy birthday on facebook. I knew that his birthday was coming up again soon this year, and was intending to wish him a happy birthday, like usual. I can't believe I'm writing this instead. There are so many memories going through my mind right now...

...I remember so many of the cool things he'd build out of LEGO. Sesame Street, Mario Kart, Snowblower Man, WeeFormers, and all of the Star Wars characters and animals he'd build. And I've spent much of this morning going through his flickr photostream looking at each of those things...

...I remember experimenting with the various LEGO building techniques and styles he developed, and sometimes showing him the stuff I built...

...I remember him being an early supporter of my music projects. For a long time, he had a banner on his myspace page promoting my music. I always really appreciated that...

...I remember him messaging me in the middle of the night sometimes. He would have trouble sleeping, so he'd get on the computer, and I was often the only other person online at that time of night. If I remember right, he called me his "late night buddy"...

I miss you, Mike. I'm happy to have ever had you as a friend, and as a late night buddy.