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Meiko

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Blog Entries posted by Meiko

  2. Meiko
    This isn't Bionicle or LEGO-related, but yesterday me and my car enthusiast friends got together to help a local boy's wish come true. Ryan, an 8 year old boy from my town suffering from a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer, had one wish this year, and that was to take a picture with a Lamborghini, his favorite type of car. Through the help of the car community, we made this happen, and put together an event that gathered tens of Lamborghinis and multiple other types of high end sports cars that Ryan liked (Porsches, Corvettes, Vipers, etc). The event was generously catered and the location was supplied by Lamborghini of Washington, who opened up the showroom today just for this event. They even let him Facetime with Valentino Balboni, Lamborghini's former chief test driver from Italy, and a huge icon in the Italian car world. I put together a video of this event which you can view on YouTube:
     

     
    The video has already started to go viral, and I had the privilege to have it aired on multiple TV networks last night and this morning. But it doesn't have to stop here. If you're feeling generous this holiday season, Ryan and his family still can use your help to get through this hurdle in Ryan's life. When Ryan was diagnosed earlier this year, he was given 12 months to live, but was put on an experimental treatment plan. If this works, Ryan has the chance to recover and go back to living a normal life, but if it doesn't, this very well could be Ryan's last Christmas. With the generosity of others, we can continue to make this a very special season for him. The following GoFundMe pages help support the cause:
     
    https://www.gofundme.com/x2e62te2j
    https://www.gofundme.com/aag4qz5w
     
    Thank you for your time and thank you ahead of time if you choose to help support Ryan and his family through this time in their lives. If you aren't able to donate, please go ahead and share the video anyways to help spread the word about Ryan and his disease, and to help spread awareness about pediatric cancer.
  3. Meiko

    McLaren P1

    By Meiko,

    not many people get hands-on with two McLaren P1s in one day... I guess I'm lucky in a way
     

     
    Quite an opportunity to see such a magnificent car in person and I just happen to have a LEGO set of it in a similar color! This McLaren P1 is a one of one in this satin orange finish and is chassis number 005. MSRP is $1.34 million USD and is easily worth much more than that already. Owned by a 21 year old here in Virginia.
  4. Meiko

    Photography

    By Meiko,

    As most of you know, I do professional automotive photography as my job/hobby outside of the LEGO community. Turns out I do more car-related stuff than LEGO-related stuff nowadays though, but some people asked me about my work while I was at BrickFair New Jersey, and while I had just bought 10248 Ferrari F40, I decided to try combining my two hobbies.
     

     
    You can see my other work (of real cars, not LEGO) at https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgebarnick/. This was the first time I've tried photographing LEGO and the first time I've done any sort of "automotive" photography at such a small scale. The settings for this shot were:
     
    18mm
    f/22
    30 sec
    ISO 100
     
    It is a two-image composite, one exposure focusing on detailed shadows and the other focusing on detailed highlights and mid tones.
     
    Just wanted to share that with anybody who'd perhaps be interested in seeing it.
     
    Cheers!
  5. Meiko
    Last blog I left off at the start of the public days of BrickFair. Nothing particularly special happened on either day. I did, however, get a delicious fish.
     
    Recapping on the weekend, I told myself not to spend any money at BrickFair this year because I have other priorities to spend my money on. I successfully did not spend any money on LEGO. However, taking into account the wings, taco bell trips, gas, and fish dinners, I spent over $100. Woops. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
     
    At the LEGO Group Q&A at BrickFair, Kevin made me take pictures since I'm a "professional" photographer. Unfortunately these were people that I was photographing and not cars, so they're not exactly all spectacular photos. There are some great photos in there, but then there are also the goodies (including this good one I took) that we can turn into more Kevin memes. Keep an eye out on the LAN Blog and Kevin's Flickr for some of those photos.
     
    I spent most of BrickFair with my bros at Beyond The Brick so keep an eye on their YouTube channel, as I made a cameo appearance in several of their videos (including the Christmas of Creation building activity brought to you in part by Brickipedia).
     
    I also just found this dank photo of me at the Organizer's Dinner that Kevin got.
     
    In other news, a friend told me to read The Fault In Our Stars (I'm only a few years late to that right?) so I did. I have revoked her privilege to suggest books to me for the time being, as I do not wish to be hit in the feels like that.
     
    *abrupt end to blog*
  6. Meiko

    BrickFair (so far)

    By Meiko,

    Guess I'll make a blog for once about my BrickFair adventures
     
    Day 1:
    Didn't really do anything at the con besides check in and help set up sound system
    Did not bring any MOCs.
    Bailed on the con to go take car pics (what else is new) and get free buffalo wings courtesy of my northern virginia friends

    Day 2:
    Did a seminar that I did not plan for ahead of time. Winged the whole thing and according to some audience members I nailed it.
    Starbucks "chill sesh" with Beyond the Brick and Kevin Hinkle
    Organizers Dinner with BZPower ppl and LEGO ppl #darnitdanny
    Finally met Marcos Bessa in person
    Made Kevin Hinkle memes as per his request
    Got the biggest sundae I've ever seen as dessert. To quote Marcos, "that's not a sundae, that's a whole week".

    Day 3:
    Hung with Beyond the Brick fam
    Received sad news that one of my friends was killed in a motorcycle accident
    This.
    Hosted a "Christmas of Creation" activity with Beyond the Brick to give away ~100 LEGO sets in a community engaging activity. Christmas in July!

    Day 4:
    Have not done anything notable today

    And that's all for now ✌️
  7. Meiko
    Hey guys so in my further ventures of cleaning out "old" stuff I've been accumulating over the years I've got some unopened LEGO sets that I was looking to see if anyone had any interest in. Please note I'm not selling any of these yet and might not any time soon. I'd just like to know what any of you would be willing to pay for these. All are brand new in their packaging.
     
     
     

    40084 Accessory Pack (x2) - 2013
     

    Exclusive Tahu Mask - 2014
     

    1668 Special Offer Trial Size - 1992
     

    9440 Venomari Shrine - 2012
     

    5002203 Radio DJ Robot (x2) - 2014
     

    9557 Lizaru - 2012
     

    850487 Halloween Accessory Set
  8. Meiko

    Selling some LEGO shirts

    By Meiko,

    Hey guys, I've been going through all my old clothes that are way too small for me anymore and a few of them happen to be LEGO or BZPower related so I figured I'd see if anyone would like to buy them before I send them to Goodwill. None of them are torn and they're all clean and well-laundered over the years. I'll probably just ask $10 for each (covers shipping which is usually around $5 for a package and allows me to make a small amount of money off of it) unless you don't live in the United States where we'll have to work something out in regards to international shipping. If you want to name your own price offer, go ahead and I'll consider it unless it's lower than the cost of shipping. If you're so lucky as to want the shirts and live near me (Northern Virginia) I'll let you do local pickup and give you a lower price because I won't have to pay for shipping.
     



     

    1. Ninjago "Spin" Shirt



    Red - (size not on label; probably Youth XL)


     



     

    2. Ninjago Year 1 Shirt



    Navy Blue - Youth Large


     



     

    3. Ninjago Ninja Shirt



    Black - Youth XL


     



     

    4. LEGO Logo Distressed Shirt



    Black - Adult Small


     



     

    5. BZPower 2013 Shirt SOLD!



    Grey - Adult Small


     



     

    6. BZPower Shirt SOLD!



    Green - Adult Small





     

    7. Brickshirts Minifigure Patent Shirt SOLD!



    Blue - Adult Small


  9. Meiko

    Birthday recap and more

    By Meiko,

    I remembered I have a blog here.
     
    If you didn't know, yesterday was my birthday. Thankful it wasn't on Thanksgiving this year like it was last year.
     
    This came in the mail yesterday. It was super fun to build, especially since I was on the Creations For Charity 24 hour live stream while I built it. I'll be reviewing it on Brickipedia soon.
     
    The live stream was a lot of fun. I was in it for around 13 hours out of 24, with some sleep in the middle of it. A lot of fun people were on it too including Josh and Matt from Beyond The Brick, Kevin Hinkle, Nannan Z and various other great MOCists, Bryan from BrickWorld, and many others.
     
    I've been listening to Korn and Five Finger Death Punch songs an unusual amount lately.
     
    My first semester of college is almost over. Most memorable moments so far have been completing Crysis 3 over the course of all my Student Development classes, countless hours of GTA in Biology, and back to back Family Guy episodes in English class.
     
    I can now legitimately call myself a professional automotive and portrait photographer having made decent cash on various photoshoots recently. You can follow my photography on the following sites: 500px - Facebook - Instagram - Flickr
     
    About a month ago I was in a bad car accident where a large deer ran into the car. No substantial injuries (except for the deer), and the EMS, police officers, and insurance agent were all surprised that, given the conditions, I kept the car under control and everyone inside safe which is good though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm looking at buying another car soon.
     
    At the start of this month, the LEGO Ambassador Network launched, being my first official year as a LEGO Ambassador. It's been a great privilege.
     
    I've almost certainly left some things out but most likely nobody reading this cares (and frankly I don't either).
     
    Bye.
  12. Meiko

    TF2 Event #2

    By Meiko,

    Anybody interested in playing tomorrow night? I might make it a regular thing on Sunday evenings. 9pm, feel free to come early or later.
     
    173.72.194.6:27015
     
    ^ there's the IP. There will be an invite thing to everyone in the BZPower Steam group. Is mvm_mannhattan and mvm_rottenburg good?
  13. Meiko

    BZP TF2 Event #1

    By Meiko,

    Who's up for a preplanned TF2 event on the BZPower server I'm hosting? How about Saturday evening/night EST?
     
    Server IP has been changed, for those who have to old IP saved:
     
    108.44.211.182:27015
     
    Hit me up on Steam if you're interested, as I'll have to make sure the server is set up and able to handle enough people. Give map suggestions in the comments, and let me know if you want to participate (or if a different time/date would work better for you.)
  14. Meiko

    BZPower TF2 Server?

    By Meiko,

    Title mostly self-explanatory. I'm considering hosting a BZPower TF2 server. Anyone interested? It'd be on the east coast (Washington DC area), so for those a significant distance from there, be mindful that you wouldn't have the best ping.
     
    Some things I need to know:
    First of all, who is interested?
    Should I leave it running 24/7? I have no problem with doing so, just want to know though.
    Should it be password protected?
    Should there be occasional scheduled "events" that would be planned ahead of time?
    What kind of map cycle should there be? What maps do you like?
    Any SourceMod plugins that should be used?

    Also, if you aren't already, be sure to add me on Steam.
  15. Meiko
    I don't blog enough
    I've been really inactive on BZPower lately
    My birthday is this month
    20 days until Doctor Who 50th anniversary
    I got a job at Brickset as a news editor and database administrator today
    I left my position as administrator at Brickipedia for a while for various reasons
    I need a new phone (Nexus 5 pweaaaseee)
    I found this really catchy song by We Came As Romans
    I still don't understand why boys like My Little Pony
    Halloween was boring this year by the way
    Is it Christmas yet?
    If anyone wants me to, I'd be gladly willing and able to host a Team Fortress 2 server for BZPower
    Or a Minecraft server
    Or really any online game
    Leave your comments below please
    Thanks

  16. Meiko

    Links!

    By Meiko,

    Look the policy changed! So I can actually link to sites like Facebook without having to annoy Black Six on AIM now!
     
    Well
     
    yeah
     
    so
     
    LINKS:
    Facebook (mostly posts about my personal life, but some LEGO-related stuff too)
    Twitter (same as Facebook)
    Tumblr (mostly just bands and fandom stuff)
    Instagram (my boring self and pictures of where I go)

     
    Oh and I changed my blog name
  17. Meiko

    Deadpool

    By Meiko,

    is awesome
     
    So I pre-ordered the game last night at midnight, and have been playing it all afternoon. It's so awesome!
     
    I took screenshots too:
     





  18. Meiko
    As many of you may have noticed, Brickimedia has been down for almost 48 hours. The cause of this is that our host, RamNode, was attacked by a competitor webhost company. More info can be found at the two links below:
    https://clientarea.ramnode.com/announcements.php?id=182
    https://clientarea.ramnode.com/announcements.php?id=183

    RamNode had many backups of most of their servers, but, sadly, Brickimedia was not one of these. What this means is that all content has been lost from Brickimedia, all of its wikis, and any other content hosted on our server. We are doing what we can to recover some of the losses, but sadly, many of it will be lost. Although the users are not worried about the loss of their contribution history, many are upset by the loss of their customs and the encyclopedia.
     
    I will keep you updated, but you can get more up to date information at our Twitter @brickimedia
  19. Meiko

    Chima Online

    By Meiko,

    So I spent all day playing the closed beta of Legends of Chima Online with some friends from Brickipedia. It's really fun and addicting and glitchy.
     
    Anyways, check this topic if you want beta access! http://www.bzpower.com/board/index.php?showtopic=10010
  20. Meiko
    Well, as you can see, I'm mostly inactive here on BZP anymore. Aside from BioniLUG, I've barely read a single topic recently, nor have I posted much at all. I guess it's three main causes for that...
     
    First, I really do not care one bit about Bionicle anymore, and it seems that any time people get the chance, they get all dramatic with "I guess this is the end", "I will wait for its return", etc. When I see that, I try not to be rude, but all I wish to say is "Grow up and move on". I know it's okay to have a strong passion and to have a love for a certain fandom, and I often vouch for others who feel that way, but all this has been carried on waaaay too long in my opinion. There are plenty of other good LEGO themes, and if you only liked LEGO for Bionicle, then deal with the fact that it's over, move on, and find something else to do...
     
    The second reason, and probably the main reason I've been inactive here is the lack of general LEGO discussion. Like I said, I really don't care for Bionicle anymore. There are other LEGO themes and topics I like to discuss. I've been more active on other forums and websites recently, and I really wish BZPower had a better community to discuss what I am interested in.
     
    Third, a lot of my time has been pre-occupied with other things. First of all, school has sucked this year (academics-wise; I've made a ton of awesome friends). I also got involved with the Brickimedia Network after they recognized me for my development and server administration skills. It's definitely been a fun experience, just because of how successful it's been, and I absolutely love engaging in their community. I've also been working with Swert on server and other backend work for BS01 and HS01, such as a new skin for HS01.
     
    I am still trying to keep up with BioniLUG, since that does seem to be the one thing holding me on BZPower, but at this point my attachment to the site is dwindling, and I'm starting to feel bad about it. I've always loved BZPower, but I don't find much to do here anymore. I'll see how I feel at BrickFair VA this year...
     
    Thank you for listening to my rant. Feel free to reply. :/
  21. Meiko

    Introducing Brickimedia

    By Meiko,

    I'm proud to announce a new network for LEGO fans and sites (primarily wikis, which is all we host at the time, and plan to host): Brickimedia! Brickipedia, the popular LEGO wiki hosted on Wikia and several other LEGO Wikis have moved to Brickimedia by today, completing the current network of the sites.
     
    I did a lot of work with some people I just met when starting this project to set up the server and the wikis. If you're curious, the interface and experience may be similar to what you know on BS01, The Ninjago Wiki, or other independent wikis. Brickimedia will be cooperating with many other sites, including sites like Brickset to integrate information from the Brickipedia wiki to bring a more unified, easy, and complete online LEGO information on various sites you visit.
     
    Sites like BS01, Brickset, The Ninjago Wiki, or The Chima Wiki won't be moving to Brickimedia, but will support each other as 'partners'. I plan to talk to Black Six some time this week about what can be done with the Brickimedia network to make it BZPower-friendly, and what could be integrated on the sites.
     
    More information regarding the Brickimedia network can be found at http://www.brickimedia.org and if you have further questions, be sure to ask in the comments.
  22. Meiko
    As many of you have likely noticed, The Ninjago Wiki and The Chima Wiki are not accessible.
     
    The reason for this downtime is that we just bought a brand new server, with much more RAM, bandwidth, and space! The downtime wasn't planned to be this long, so I wanted to give you an update if you don't follow any of the sites' social network pages.
     
    When the sites come back up though, everything will be the same, and the site will be much faster than before.
  24. Meiko

    Happy Easter and...

    By Meiko,

    First off, Happy Easter everyone! Go eat chocolate and watch bunnies even though that has nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ.
     
    Also, tomorrow is my 6th anniversary of joining BZPower! Why does it feel like it's been longer than 6 years?
  25. Meiko

    BioniLUG Update

    By Meiko,

    So apparently my purchase of a membership isn't in the system, according to Black Six. Thank goodness I have the PayPal order receipt to prove I bought that. I'm not going to re-purchase something like this, let alone something I have to continuously pay for every year. I hope this gets resolved soon. Has anybody else had problems like this with the BZPower store?
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