I realized yesterday that Halo 4 comes out in just over two months! How crazy is that? I still need to preorder my copy and make sure I take off from work. On the plus side though, the footage that came out of PAX this weekend helped me decide that I should go to the midnight opening for it. But what I really thought of when I had this epiphany was that I'm still three books out of date in the Halo series. I haven't read Cryptum, Primordium, or Glasslands. I've decided to rectify this by rea
Just so everyone is aware, the colors for some of the groups have changed. Now that the Reference Team is no more, the Reporters have adopted the old RK yellow. Retired Staff, meanwhile, have taken the Reporter orange. This makes them look similar to OBZPCs but still stand out (as opposed to the ugly-ish gray from before). Yep, so that happened.
If you had the opportunity to ask LEGO a question, what would you ask? Similarly, is there anything you'd like to ask TLG's very own Kevin Hinkle? I hear he's a pretty big deal. Post in the comments or send me a PM with your question. No guarantees that you'll get and answer (or one you'll like) but I'll try.
Tomorrow is August 2, 2012. That will be the eleventh anniversary of my joining BZPower. It is also the first day of BrickFair 2012 Virginia, the fifth such event held. (Congrats Todd!) BrickFair 2012 Viriginia will be the tenth AFOL fan convention that I've attended. Sunday, August 5 is my twenty-fifth birthday. A quarter-century! Monday, August 6, will mark my eleventh year as a member of the BZPower Staff. All this right after BZPower celebrated its eleventh anniversary. It's craz
Story time! Back in the shrouded mists of the past, there was a Bionicle fan named Carl. Carl really loved Bionicle, so much that he began creating his own card game. He contacted LEGO to tell them about his game and to offer it to them to use. Then LEGO cancelled Bionicle, and everyone was sad. But wait! The people at LEGO thought, 'Wow, this guy is really dedicated, we should get him in touch with our ace Community Coordinator for North America, Kevin Hinkle.' And then Kevin Hinkle was
I can't believe how long our little corner of the Internet has been chugging along. I'm kind of proud that we've continued on despite downtime, attacks, and all the changes in our audience and the Internet as a whole. It made me think about how long I've actually been on the Internet (it's a long time) and the things I've taken part of and the people I've interacted with. Here's a quick list of some of the communities I have been or am still a part of: Super Soakers Nerf Warcraft II Star T
A week or so ago I brought my car into the dealership for service and was sitting in the waiting area listening to some music when I realized someone was trying to talk to me and I couldn't even hear them. That reminded me how much I enjoy a good pair of noise-isolating earphones, which in turn reminded me how awesome it is to listen to music on quality equipment. The phones in question were Etymotic hf2s, and I could not recommend them any more highly. Before these I owned a pair of Etymotic
Man, it's been a while since I made an entry here, hasn't it? I remembered I had this PM waiting for a reply, so it's as good a reason as any for a blog entry: Without question, my favorite team is the New York Football Giants. Football is really to only pro sport I follow. I like it because there's only sixteen games (plus playoffs) so there's a fairly limited commitment compared to other sports. Plus it give me something to talk about with my coworkers. I used to follow basketball pretty
I don't know what the big deal is. He's a nice guy I suppose, unless he's being dumb. I have no idea how Becca puts up with him though, honestly. He's just always talking, even in his sleep! Love you bud!
So I mentioned over here about some hiccups during the upgrade. Nothing major, but it was all your fault. Yes you, the blogging populace of BZPower. Here's a quote from the IPS rep we worked with: Geez guys, you got a little carried away over here, you think? Anyway, they got through all the tags in the end, and hopefully it won't cause any problems in the future. As a result of this, however, I have changed some settings for tags: Maximum length per tag: 20 characters Maximum tags per
So I just saw the Castle Season 4 finale. Wow. Definitely don't want to spoil anything, but it was certainly a roller coaster of an episode. The ending has me excited for Season 5 and sad I have to wait all summer to find out what happens next. That, to me, is the mark of some truly great writing. I was also glad to see Tahmoh Penikett in there - he's a great actor and deserves a leading roll in something again. Maybe it's time to rewatch BSG...
BZPower has had a Calendar for a while now. It's seen intermittent use over the years depending on how the staff feel at the time. I just discovered a new feature that must have been added with the recent upgrade - RSVPing. Now events can be created with the option to allow members to RSVP to them. So now for real life kind of meetups, or even for contests on BZPower, we can keep a running tally of who is going. To test it out, I've added two upcoming LEGO Conventions: Bricks Cascade 2012 Br
It's already been nearly a week, but I'm finally getting around to making an entry about PAX East. In short, it was awesome. I took the train up last Thursday, from Maryland to Boston. It was my first time on Amtrak in a few years (since BrickFest 2006) and it was a pretty good experience. Longer than flying, but less of a hassle than dealing with airports or driving all the way up. It was about seven hours, and thanks to free Wi-Fi I was even able to be somewhat productive. Once in Boston
Since I have the current RPG contest on the brain, I thought that might be an appropriate topic for a Behind BZP. But first, some questions. Mailbag 1. It's fairly close to the top, actually. That said, I can give no ETA on when things will change. 2. They're like the staff anywhere else, except moreso. They have real lives and get busy. I can't say when they might start showing their faces more often, but I always hope it will be soon. There's always a possibility of appointing more staff, bu
I've had these sitting in my inbox for a bit, and I figured before they became completely irrelevant I should do something about them. Mailbag 1. Time. I really don't have the time even if I wasn't the Forum Leader over there. And not that I do a huge amount (other than reading through all the contest RPGs, dealing with reports, and running the contests - you know, little things), I haven't seen any other staffer maintain a level of activity in there that I'd be ready to hand things over to
To get things out of the way, if you're one of the frightening large number of people I've encountered who have never seen Star Wars, this entry is not for you. Instead, go find someone who has and tell them to read this, and then they will help you watch Star Wars. Since Episode I made its way into our lives in 1999, a new issue has been raised in the land of Star Wars fandom - what is the right way to watch the movies? And furthermore, how would you show them to your kids/someone who has nev
Hey everyone, now that I'm all done with Toy Fair coverage I thought I would do two things. First - update my blog more regularly again. Second - talk more about Toy Fair! I just can't get away from it, can I? Behind BZP - Toy Fair This was the eighth year I've been invited to a part of Toy Fair by LEGO. The way they've handled the event has changed over the years. Originally they had a private show room they would give us a tour of. Then they had gala events for a couple years where they'd ma
Sometimes real life takes priority over BZPower, unfortunately. This weekend, starting about three hours ago, is going to be a busy one. I'm not sure if/when I'll have time to post more Toy Fair coverage, but I'll bring what I need to work on it with me just in case. I'm going to see a presentation of the play 'Shakespeare Abridged,' tonight, which I hear is hilarious. Then I'll be helping a friend move into some new digs. Then I have some other possible plans. It should be a fun time, but put
I'm hard at work going through the pictures I took this morning at Toy Fair. Hopefully I'll be able to post something later today. To give you an idea of the work I have to do, and also what to expect from our coverage, here's counts for the pictures I took of each theme. Please note that I'll be taking out the bad ones and the duplicates so you won't be seeing this many posted: Bricks & More: 6 Cars: 6 City: 33 Creator: 12 Dino: 16 Duplo: 9 Friends: 26 Games: 10 Hero Factory: 52 Lord of t
In case you were wondering, I never said I was going to post these every Sunday. Mailbag 1. Tough question. I might have to go with Indiana Jones, because he's awesome. 2. Blue. No, yellllllow! 3. 6 (See what I did there?) 1. Yes. 2. Yes. 3. I'm a computer engineer working for the U.S. Army. fishers wins with this outstanding suggestion for a Behind BZP. Want to see your questions answered? PM them to me and put 'Mailbag' in the subject line. Being an Ambassador I had to go back and l
Shhh, this is a secret. You guys are the first to hear about this, because I trust you for some honest feedback. Before the upgrade there was a 'Gallery' link that people always asked us questions about. The feature was never turned on, mainly because we were worried that hosting images on BZPower would adversely affect the performance of the site (even more). Things have changed, and now we have a new server and fewer active members. What would you think if BZPower had a gallery where you c
I had only one question in my inbox for a mailbag this week, so I thought I'd share that first and then go on to the topic of this entry. Mailbag I like how you tried to set me up for a nice Behind BZP there. Unfortunately, we outline that process very well right here in the Staff Information topic. That doesn't mean I can't use it as a springboard though. Want to see your questions answered? PM them to me and put 'Mailbag' in the subject line. Assigning Staff So once a potential staff mem
As I discussed last week, I was thinking of ending my Weekly Update series. And I am. Last week was the last one. It had become too much of recap of the news than anything substantial. You can get the same content from reading the front page. So I'm trying something new - 'Behind BZP' - where I'll pull back the curtain a little on the things the staff an I do. It won't be every week, but I'll be doing it as often as I can think of things. If you have something you'd like to see me talk about s
So just about exactly a week ago, I found myself sitting in Casey's at the Sheraton in Birmingham, AL with Jim Foulds, Kevin Hinkle, Watashi Wa, Emzee, and Abner (an AFOL who I've met at almost every LEGO convention I've been to). In case you're not in the know, Jim and Kevin work for the LEGO Community Team. It has a different name, but they change it every six months so I don't bother remembering. We came up with the best idea. Kevin was telling us about the many times he's driven through
