LEGO has a free application for Mac OSX and Windows that allows you to create LEGO models out of 763 different bricks. When your model is done, you can actually upload it to the LEGO website and buy a kit with all of the pieces you need. I haven't played with it yet, so I have no idea how expensive that might be.

Here's the LEGO Digital Designer page which has a link to the download area.

Posted by Carl at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This was a question that I asked at a bible study tonight. The study was about Psalm 1, which is also known as the first psalm. I had to confess two things: that God isn't on my list nearly as often as He should be, and that I really, really, really was excited to purchase the LEGO Indiana Jones game.

I've only played about 20-25% of the game (not including all of the "secret" things you can do in the game like, well, I'm not sure because I haven't figured them out yet) and I've enjoyed it immensely. There's one part where you can have your LEGO Indy build a large LEGO truck and then you can jump into it and run over little LEGO Nazis. That's worth the price of admission right there.

But don't take my word for it! Here's a review on MSNBC that is positive, although it compares it (unfairly I think) to the LEGO Star Wars game.

(I should take a moment to explain that I'm aware that the juxtaposition of mentioning Psalm 1 and running over LEGO Nazis with a big LEGO truck may seem odd to some. Others, however, probably just haven't thought enough about it to realize that yes it's pretty odd.)

Posted by Carl at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To give you some perspective, that's older than me - so you know that's pretty old. I hope I look as good as the shiny plastic bricks when I turn 50. That's not to say that I WANT to be a shiny plastic brick, although with the way 2008 is going so far I would entertain the thought.

LEGO.com has an invitation to shop at their site. They claim they have over 100 new items, which is roughly 2 or so for every year.* I remember the day I was introduced to LEGO like it was yesterday...I was eight years old and visiting my friend Jimmy Karkowsky. He had all sorts of LEGOs and was some kind of child prodigy. He had worked up a LEGO guillotine** and was conducting mock trials with little LEGO criminals and juries and meting out LEGO justice as only an eight-year-old can do. I have to say I was hooked, and even today I wonder where the LEGO guillotine set is. Surely that would be a hit amongst the youth of today.

LEGO's site does has a brief announcement about the anniversary here, which contains an interesting trivia question: What is the melting point of the granules that form the LEGO bricks?

*This was a hastily written post, as is abundantly evident from the spelling and grammar, and I can't confirm this math is correct.

**The Blog Hero legal team, also known as Sven, has asked that I clarify that this story may or may not be entirely made up, and that in no way, shape or form does Blog Hero Inc., Blog Hero LLC, and Blog Hero staff, heroes or heroines, or Sven, condone the beheadding of little LEGO people, be they criminal, innocent or deeply misunderstood. Blog Hero is filmed on location with the men and women of law enforcement. All LEGOs are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

(Thanks to all Alert Readers that emailed this, as I would have otherwise missed it, being held in rapt attention by the vending machine at work.)

Posted by Carl at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Odds are, if you know what the title of this post means, you've already heard the news. If you don't know, you probably haven't heard the news nor do you care too much. But I love LEGOs too much not to mention this.

A press release on LEGO's site announced that they've picked a developer to work on their MMO - Massively Multiplayer Online game. In addition to the PR, LEGO has a page here where new info looks to be posted.

I've played both Star Wars LEGO games for the Playstation 2 and just loved them. It's such a fun, nostalgic and friendly game. Sure, the Wookie grabs people and rips their arms off, but they're just LEGOs! No blood and gore. No getting shot in the head. It's just a brilliant way to create an adventure game. I would expect that the MMO experience may model those two games - and if they're creative enough they should have Lucas allow them to develop a Star Wars area. It will be interesting to see how this evolves.

Posted by Carl at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A coworker (or, if you prefer, a co-worker) noticed my LEGO® army building at work today (in preparation for my attack on Henry, naturally) and asked if I had seen the LEGO® Bible. Being well-versed (no pun intended) in all things LEGO I said "Of course!" Okay, I made that up - I have never heard of this site where someone is reinacting the Bible out of LEGOs. I've only looked through a little of it, but it seems quite amazing. (Disclaimer: Before you sit the kids down and start clicking willy-nilly* it would probably be prudent to check it all out first.)

*The author wishes to apologize for the use of "willy-nilly" and assure the audience that it won't happen again, and if he had even two conscious brain cells to rub together he probably could have come up with something a little more creative. Thank you.

Posted by Carl at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No sooner do I unveil my plan to assemble the largest LEGO® army in history in an attempt to conquer my workplace - beginning with my nemesis Henry - than LEGO® reorganizes and experiences production issues. This means that they are apparently selling out of all of the popular LEGO® sets right before Christmas. Alert Reader Andrea sent this link to this article by the AP with the blood-curdling title of "Lego Says It's Running Out of Toys." As a curious aside, the AP didn't render LEGO in uppercase, even though the company itself does.

So what does this mean for you? Well, the first thing you need to do is consult your Christmas Shopping List, also known as the Holiday Shopping List, and see who on there might want a LEGO something. That person then needs to be prioritized. Wives, children and parents are A-listers and if they really want a LEGO something you'll be forced to go to eBay and pay ten thousand dollars for the latest Star Wars or Harry Potter LEGO thing. If the person is a cousin, aunt, uncle, Harry Belafonte, a husband or the Japanese Mafia, then you're dealing with a B-lister and you can substitute something reasonable like something from the AccuMall, chocolate, drums, BlogHero wear, cymbals, vitamin E or nunchakus. Anyone else on your list is a C-lister, like convenience store clerks or weather company co-workers (I mean, coworkers), and you probably shouldn't be buying them LEGO somethings anyway because they'd just have to reciprocate with something and, well, they don't know you intimately and will just get stressed and have to resort to a gift card or something from the AccuMall. And really, who needs that extra stress during the holidays? Exactly.

I just put a few bids on some things on eBay; I'm "Bloghreo32" in case you think you can get in there and do battle with me (I had some trouble typing, hence the name) but be warned: I have a whole group of A-listers who want little LEGO Chewbaccas and Boba Fetts and they will not be denied.

Note: The image above is the author's graphical depiction of the sadness all little boys and girls are going to feel Christmas Morning when they open their presents and discover not LEGOs but barometers and weather stations because LEGO could not meet demand. No offense is intended towards LEGO, the LEGO Group, LEGO shareholders, hard working Denmark folk, hard working LEGO employees who have been relocated to the Czech Republic and Mexico, or the Japanese Mafia. LEGO toys are really very joyful and almost never cry except at night after a day of being ignored because you were too busy with your Playstation 2.

Posted by Carl at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's the answer to yesterday's LEGO Ninja Hunt, which has no doubt been keeping you up all night. You can click here for the image, as I didn't want to spoil the fun for anyone who hasn't yet played but who still wants to. You can click here for the LEGO® Ninja Hunt™. Unfortunately there are no valuable prizes involved. Management regrets the lack of cool valuable prizes.

Posted by Carl at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight we had drill practice. My LEGO® army and I, that is. The photo above shows them right before drill practice, when they were just standing around all awkward-like trying to make conversation even though they don't know each other very well (different walks of life, and all.) I expect to have them whipped into shape before they go into battle. This is only a small portion of the army. There are actually 23,000 LEGO soldiers off-camera that you can't see. They were milling around trying to make conversation too.

As you know, (if you've been following closely,) I'm amassing a LEGO army to conquer my office. I expect that once Henry is subdued the rest of the meteorologists will fall faster than brownies at a potluck. I've been very fortunate so far in my recruitment efforts - I've managed to secure a red ninja, a black ninja, and Santa Claus, who as we know is a Jolly Old Ninja. See if you can spot all three in the picture above. (I'll have the answer soon...I wouldn't want to leave anyone hanging. In the meantime, if you MUST know NOW, I take Paypal.)

Posted by Carl at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

As some of you may remember, I decided that I was going to take over the office with an invincible, havoc-wrecking, fear-inspiring, unstoppable army of LEGO® people. I started by raiding the kid's LEGOs which only yielded parts of LEGO people, which I did manage to use to build a few Frankenstein-like creations. (You know, pirate hat, smiling face, farm body and space pants. That sort of thing.) So I was forced to resort to eBay, but then my funding suddenly dried up. However I stumbled across a secret recruiting source that has allowed my ranks to blossom. And it's not every day that you have blossoming ranks.

So things were going well when I made a tactical blunder™ and left my blossoming army in a bag on my desk. A coworked stopped by and said, "Hey what's this?" and picked up the bag. I cleverly replied, "That's the beginning of a LEGO® army that I'm going to use to conquer the entire office, BWAH HA HA HA HA!" He left quickly.

I think he's going for back up.

Posted by Carl at 9:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I wanted to update everyone on Operation: WeatherCoup. It appears that I've run into a small snag as my funding has suddenly dried up. ("You bought WHAT?!?") I'm sure this is only a temporary setback, and I should be back on track recruiting the finest LEGO® Warriors available for my office coup any day now. At the moment I'm forced to build soldiers out of spare parts. Above you'll find the Sith Lord of Pizza, Darth Deep Dish. If the saber doesn't finish you, his pepperoni and anchovies definitely will...

Posted by Carl at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I spent some time on eBay, with the hopes of amassing my army. I confess this is going to be harder than I thought. For example, I found a nice Jedi warrior - he had a special double-bladed light saber - but he was $20! And that was without the super saver shipping offer of $29.95 and the handling fee of $12.95.

Still, I could see him doing some sort of force thing on Henry. Maybe send him to the break room at the beginning of the assault. ("These are the Tastykakes you're looking for...")

After discovering what my army was going to cost I went through the kid's LEGOs figuring there was a fortune to be had in there - or at least some grunts for the army. All I could find were pieces of people. I mean, even the arms and hands were ripped out. It was as if millions of LEGOs suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

I'll keep everyone posted on my efforts. Don't, ah, tell anyone at work. You know, the element of surprise and all.

Posted by Carl at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've decided that I'm going to amass an army of LEGO® People and take over the office. I'm not sure how many I'll need; probably a thousand or so. I'm going to start with athletes, Jedi and military personnel because I figure they'll be tougher than, say, the Pizza Delivery LEGO® Guy (although he comes with a pizza stick™ thing which he could use as a weapon.)

I figure about a hundred could take Henry out, and from there the rest will fall like dominos.

(Apparently, LEGO® People are highly collectible.)

Posted by Carl at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)