I've had the chance to start building (after a long lag period) so I can hustle and bring some new stuff to BrickFair. So far I've dabbled in Steampunk (I am the coordinator after all) and fiddled around with Brickbadge possibilities. I wanted to stray away from the stereotypical brown and slapping on gears, but I think the result is more post-apoc than giving two baddie Victorian ladies a buzz-saw tank. And as my brother pointed out I really should put a boiler on the back (with steam) to sh
Don't misunderstand me, I'll buy a paperback book out of necessity most of the time. I just bought Redshirts and will probably buy Mistborn soon too, in paperback. Usually that's all that is around if I'm buying something new because by the time I get around to buying it to read it's in paperback. But when a book as wonderful as American Gods comes into my life, I want to make sure it will stay with me for decades and still be intact with every read. -CF
I have a question for everyone: What is your preference between hardback books and paperback books? And not just in general, but new books, older books, favorite books, read-it-once-then-donate books, etc. See, I work at a bookstore, and constantly I'll hand someone a hardback (because it's new or is still selling well even after being out for half a year or more) and they'll ask "Is it in paperback?" (Um, no, this new Dan Brown book came out yesterday. It's in hardback because they know they'
-Build some (like 4) steampunk stuff for the cool steampunk minifigs I've made -Make sure I use more than just brown. Use gears and functionality. (As if that needs saying.) -Build something for the Pharaoh's Quest collab, because Greg is part of WAMALUG and super-cool. -Build my secret Galaxy Squad idea which only works this year. -Build a 16x16 Micropolic thing because that theme is super-cool and I keep forgetting to. -Mope about not building any new Bionicle stuff since 2010, but bring all m
Funny how many customers who I've never met assume I'm asking about their well-being and reply, "I'm good," when I'm merely saying "good morning" to them as they come into the bookstore. And by golly the amount of snark I repress could fill a swimming pool. (Or a book...hehe.) And no, we're not going out of business. (And even if we were, what are you going to do about it?) -CF
As per my front page news story, I'm up for interrogation this month in the BZPowercast. Which means I need questions to answer! That's where you come in--ask me anything! Anything? Well, sure, but we'll have a whole lot more fun with geeky questions or real questions inquiring about various aspects of life. And any gobdlygook nonsense will probably be ignored as it's hard enough when put on the spot being asked about the average velocity of an unladen swallow (you've been warned). Leave que
My LUG gets to display at the LEGO Store(s) in the area, and April was my month for Tysons Corner's LEGO Store in Virginia. While Marvel's Avengers Vs X-Men comic event was mediocre in the summer of 2012, I can't deny the inspiration it gave me: Topic here. Brickshelf gallery here. Can you guess which part is my favorite? The Avengers are fighting the X-Men because they want to apprehend a mutant (Hope Summers) who they believe might cause destruction to humankind if the Pho
Velox continually posts interesting blog entries about books and what he's reading/has read/will read. Which reminds me that I have such topics to blog about. But my blogging has been sparse, and I need to make such an entry interesting. But I hope that if you share my enthusiasm of reading that you will chime in. Without further ado, a glance at my to-read list from now until May: 1) American Gods by Neil Gaiman--I'm currently reading this and loving it! Gaiman crafts a story so well that s
I threw this together in about 40 minutes: ----- I haven't built a Bionicle thing in a few years. I threw something together back in 2010, and I'm pretty proud of the toros/head/arms, but the legs need work. I'm out of touch with the constraction medium. But I am displaying at my LEGO Store's "Window Into the Community" display in April and decided upon one of two themes: Avengers Vs X-Men (based on last year's comic event) or Bionicle, because nothing sticks it to the man like displaying a 3
There comes a time every year where I must place some words on a badge for BrickFair. Luckily my name and location is not required, and not necessary for me because I already have engraved bricks with my name(s) on them. So now it's just a matter of putting some cool text there. But I don't know what I want to put on them! My first thoughts were "From Outer Space" for the location badge, but that's not nearly clever enough. I was also thinking of having "DFTBA" be one of the bricks, but I'd
A few weeks ago I visited New York City for my first time with one of my best friends! It was amazing in all kinds of ways, but mostly because I got to geek out at various appropriate times and take in sights I had never seen before. It was all pretty fantastic. Throughout our trip I got to visit many places on my "to do if I visit NYC" list, including... (pictures) Going into the Times Square Toys R Us LEGO section Seeing the outside of the [Will Smith alien movie from 1997] building entrance
I got a blast from the past tonight as I tidied up my room a bit, which meant taking the instructions from the recent LEGO sets I've gotten and putting them in the box with all my other instructions. Normally that would just mean I'd toss them on top and move on, but the box was a mess. So I took everything out, arranged the instructions by paper size, and put them back in an orderly fashion that will leave room for more instructions throughout the year (but probably not much longer). Whilst
Spoiler alert: Once you graduate college you suddenly find plenty of time to read books that have been on your list for years, because homework is nonexistent! While I read a lot over the summer, fall and winter, I have only just recently been pushing through books left and right. Being ambitious, I hope to read 40-60 books next year, including, but not limited to: The Cassandra Project NW American Gods Ready Player One Gone Girl Cloud Atlas The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo World War Z Tinker
I'm going to copy Velox (again) by listing my favorite books and authors I read in 2012. I've read an incredulous amount of books since graduating, compared to how little time I had to read during college overall. It also helps to keep reading, and to have a few different genres worth of favorites in the back of my head, due to my employment at a bookstore. My top author, if you hadn't guessed, is John Green. I got to meet him at the National Book Festival in DC in September, which was awesome
I'm copying Velox in examining the books I've read in 2012. It allowed me to look back at what I've read this year, and a lot of that happened after I graduated. But I still got a few books in during my last semester in college. Best Books in 2012 1) Best Book You Read in 2012? Like Velox, I can't choose just one. I like his system of choosing the top five, which is also hard: ~The Fault in Our Stars (TFIOS), by John Green--It's like Green takes all these wonderful ideas you had floating aro
Finally, after 14 years, we finally get a Rancor pit LSW set! It's just a little... small. The rancor, the set, but certainly not the price ($60, 380 pieces). I've been in favor of something made from constraction pieces, and then of course something larger. This guy is Hulk/Troll sized, nowhere near the size of the Rancor. At least we finally have one. -CF
I finally saw Ruby Sparks! Wow, so good! Quite near being perfect (one little quip in the reply), amazing characters, well written to push characters to their limits and show them in various lights, and self-reflective on what makes a person and how you can't really change someone. I slightly teared up at the end. I hadn't thought a movie could do that for me, but it did. Quick summary: A writer who is terrible with girls starts writing the girl from his dreams, in hopes to get rid of his writ
A big thanks to everyone in the last entry about reading a book versus listening to it on CD. There were many good arguments made towards the difference between enjoying a book through reading it versus listening to someone else read it (and Aanchir even wrote an essay. Bless. His English teachers must love him) and some points I had not considered. So coming off of Eyru's suggestion, I'm going to focus on just reading at least 10 pages a day. I started that last night and eagerly want to pick
Is listening to a book on CD versus reading the actual book cheating? Basically, it took me 5 or 6 years to read The Fellowship of the Ring. I didn't pick up The Two Towers for about 3 years later, and I'm still reading it off and on a year and a half later. I'm a big believer in reading the book before seeing the movie, but my roommates had other plans. (But boy are the extended editions awesome.) I figure I can spend about $35 on the trilogy on CD and take about 13 hours listening to the b
I've made it a point to get 2 of every helmet seen in the second wave of Space Police III (grey), the white and pink spacemen, the black cyborg, and Alien Conquest (weird light blue) (is that all?) in recent minifig history. So if i want even just one of all the pretty Galaxy Squad helmets, looks like I'll have to get each set. Which sounds like an awesome idea! -CF
Just kidding. I haven't shaved for over a week. -CF Speaking of November, I'm having a really hard time being motivated to start NaNoWriMo this year. I just have so much other stuff going on that I don't want to neglect by insisting I type on my computer for a few hours each day. That, or I don't have a story formed yet. If I did I'd probably want to jump right in. I was thinking of retrying one of two stories I've tried for the past two years, one steampunk and one sci-fi. And now I'm thi
I just finished reading Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli! The feels! Such a fantastic piece of literature, it spoke to me in ways that reflect my appreciation for similar John Green books. It tore out my heart and broke it and put it together and ripped it up again and and and... uggg the feels! Heartbreaking moments, happy moments, moments where you jump up and down in joy and others where you want to punch the main character in the gut because he's being a typical high school boy that cares more o
I am sending out the second batch of BrickFair MOCs today before work. Sorry it's taken so long--between two people receiving MOCs for two conventions, there was a lot to sort through and a lot of addresses, usernames, and MOCs to match up. And return shipping.* So if you sent something to BrickFair or the convention in May/June, expect your MOC to arrive soon (unless it already did!). Unless these are your MOCs, in which case I have no idea who they belong to and I need you to PM me. (Otherwi
And today the Whovians shall watch Doctor Who and experience heartbreak as we have never felt before. My girlfriend and I are aiming for a BBC livestream so we can watch at 2:30 instead of abandoning our friends at 9:00. Or waiting a few days. -CF
