BrickBuildr

Bricks on the Brain: Rail

2012-06-01T10:17:00.001-04:00

I've been sitting on this one for awhile... Speaking with Jake McKee, I offered to bring "Bricks on the Brain" back from the dead. The original web-site was written in ColdFusion... a language I'm not familiar with, but I have enough experience with PHP and other programming language, it wasn't hard to figure out how it works. I've decided to tackle a smaller sub web-site called Bricks on the Brain: Rail, that features some of Jake's 9V train creations with instructions. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Over the next few weeks/months, I'll try to bring back Bricks on the Brain (BotB). I need to convert the database, rebuild the page templates, then at some point, add a way to submit new content... seems like an easy task, but I'm cleaning the HTML up in the process, simplifying the data stored, and trying to maintain the integrity of the web-site, whilst looking down the road on how to better integrate it with BrickBuildr.

I have a few problems to consider... There are links (URLs) in the database to locations that are now defunct; which is not surprising considering the nature of the web and the age of BotB. Second, BotB maintained a user list and BrickBuildr has a separate/different user list. I could start over from scratch, but there are some good information already contained in the old BotB database that I don't want to loose... Once I merge the two user lists, I'll need to write some web-pages to add/modify/delete creations from BotB.

228 Web-Sites Added

2012-05-15T17:28:00.001-04:00

I have added about 228 web-sites to BrickBuildr -- look for them under the 'sites' menu on the web-site. I feel this is still the tip of the iceberg in terms of the on-line LEGO Community. This list doesn't include Facebook fan sites and Twitter accounts (which I don't feel inclined to add those at the moment, maybe as additional links down the road), or related Flickr groups... I'm trying to build the web-site/Flickr group relationship in the database -- this will take some time to accomplish.

The biggest challenge to creating a list of web-sites, is how to display information in a useful and easy to access... On one hand, I know our group's GFLUG 'brand' is a nightmare of web-sites where our club disseminates information -- we have information on Twitter, a Facebook fan of GFLUG page, a public/private Facebook groups, a public/private Yahoo Groups, on our main web-site, etc. With some of those web-site have more up-to-date information than others... Now multiply this by about by 50 LEGO clubs world-wide...

On one hand, I like some of the tools social media gives you... but on the other hand, it's made getting information out a chore -- multiple sign-ins, different user interfaces, no fine-grain control on how information is shared between sites, no concept of public/private information within groups...

AN ASIDE: If you haven't seen it, check out the web-site Swooshable. It maps LUGs, LTC, LEGO Events, location of LEGO Stores and theme parks onto a interactive Google map. It's a great resource of information... just needs a little updating.

Thinking down the road, this information is very dynamic; it's constantly changing. A web-site here today is gone tomorrow... Groups change names and directions... Funding and hosting costs are factors... Lost of interest in the hobby... Blogs change hands from Wordpress to Blogger... Thinking about an interface, information needs to be easily updated without too much hassle. "Brands" are no longer one web-site, but a whole string of URLs... calendars, event schedule, photos, discussions both public/private, sharing of documents & layouts... Then thinking about information from another perspective, once a new LEGO product is released, or somebody builds an interesting MOC, it's blasted across 20-30 blogs and personal fan web-site... And getting this information from one web-site to another means more data entry -- this no common language for sharing/exchanging these types of complex data relationships with other web-sites...

I'm over simplifying this, but a few years ago at Brickworld, there was a workshop, asking AFOLs what they think the biggest problems facing the LEGO Community; there was talks of fragmentation, lack of a central source for information... From what I gathered afterwards, people wanted a AFOL version of Facebook, thinking this would help. I thought it was naive.. the real issues is this lack of a common language for sharing multi-dimensional ideas related to our hobby -- be it information about our MOCs (where you can find pictures of it, textual inspiration, where it can be seen/shown, etc.), to LUGs (pictures at events, where our discussion go on, information about us, etc.), to news affecting our community.

...to be continued...

More Updates

2012-05-07T17:26:00.000-04:00

One of my ideas for BrickBuildr is to (down the road) better integrate the web-site with Flickr, Facebook, Google+, and Open ID. I honestly don't want to store any passwords on BrickBuildr; so you'd simply log into one of the partner services, and if BrickBuildr is an authorized web-site, you'll be redirected back as being logged in, with access to your information... Since most of the 'accounts' on BrickBuildr originate from Flickr, Flickr integration is easy enough to do; so as of last Friday, if you sign into the web-site via Flickr (instead of using the 'join' button), you can by-pass reCaptcha...

You'll also noticed on the web-site that I removed the list of 'friends' web-site from the left hand side, and I added a drop down item called 'sites' -- all of that information have been moved there. In it's place, I've added a few images with links to web-sites I enjoy and a few up-coming LEGO (US) conventions.

There are a large number of LEGO fan sites. If you read through my On-Line LEGO Community presentation, you see I only touch the tip of the iceberg. The decision to move the list of web-site it's partly spurred by my desire to expand upon that list. And somehow figure out a way to organize the list... and somehow pull out/highlight some of those web-sites in a better fashion. For right now, the list is crude -- just the web-site name and URL. But that should change over the next few weeks.

Using ReCaptcha with BrickBuildr

2012-04-30T22:50:00.001-04:00

Updating a iPaB wall just became easier. After adding the inventory for Legoland Florida, I got tired of entering the two digit code, very quickly! I figured integrating ReCaptcha into the web-site was long overdue. :)

So please enjoy and let me know if there's any problems.

Incredible Robot Locates (Electronic) Components on Demand

2012-04-27T13:12:00.001-04:00

I LOVE this idea! It's an Incredible Robot Locates (Electronic) Components on Demand. I'm thinking it needs to help me find LEGO parts... and it needs to be slightly bigger. :) It's voice activated (which is a little wacky, almost circa 1983), but versatile enough to find multiple variations of a component.

I hope he open-sources the project. :)

“Little Guys… In Space!”

2012-04-20T16:17:00.000-04:00

Many of you know about LEGO's Cuusoo web-site. On one level, it's a neat way of crowd-sourcing product ideas; separating out the "wants" from a few individuals, from ideas that are potentially in demand. The down-side to it: people's taste are fickle and most of the current ideas proposed are more licensed products (not very many original ideas). But there have been projects that I do support, for instance the Palette Buckets (a similar idea I had many years ago when I was looking to build larger castle structures), the Buket 'o Plate idea (because honestly who has enough plates?), and LEGO Phineas and Ferb ('cause I like the show).

The Minecraft Cuusoo project reaching it's goal of 10K supporters, really didn't surprise me; I've been playing the game and following it on reddit for some time. I see how much of a fan following it has, and one word from Notch can make/break a web-site; so by Notch tweeting the project, I knew there would be no problems hitting that goal. I was a little surprised by the Shaun of the Dead project; other than Simon Pegg mentioning it on Conan, I didn't realize it had a cult following that big. :) Don't get me wrong, I like Simon Pegg and Nick Frost films and TV shows, but wow... that's amazing!

On another topic, our LUG had been approached about doing a large scale model; turns out that finding funding to start building the model has been difficult to secure. One of the ideas I had back in October was to find funding via Kickstarter -- I hope to post more details later if we decide to take this route. But in general, I think this is a great venue for raising money to help fund future LEGO projects -- in theory, I'd hope they be charitable in nature, but I can see helping out the occasional 'starving artist'. But I can also see it help fund art projects that a small group of people couldn't accomplish alone... assuming other people believe in the idea and pledge their support.

If you haven't seen this yet, please check out David Pagano's Kickstarter project, “Little Guys… In Space!”

LEGO Foliage

2012-04-19T17:44:00.003-04:00

So it recently came up on GFLUG's private Facebook group that a 3rd party is making LEGO foliage in fall colors (orange, yellow, burnt-browns, etc.). Personally, I like the idea... And I might purchase some in the future, assuming LEGO doesn't hijack the idea. But thinking a little deeper on the subject, it seems that it's time for an over-haul on LEGO vegetation -- more tree options, shrubs, more leaf options, more vines options, new plants, etc. Minifigs have gotten a lot of attention lately, why not LEGO foliage? :)

We-Brick.com, An AFOL Dating Web-Site

2012-04-01T11:22:00.003-04:00

Looking for that special friend to build with? Looking for that relationship that just snaps together like LEGO bricks? (There's a joke there about 'clutch', but I don't know what that is...). Try we-brick.com! :)

UPDATE: This was an April Fools joke if you didn't catch it. :)

The Stock Room

2012-03-29T10:08:00.003-04:00

So this feature probably shouldn't have taken this long to implement, but I got a request to add the Saarbrücken, Germany store (a 8x6 wall) with a few extra columns to indicate parts the store might have in the back room. After thinking about it, it really wasn't that hard to make that happen. I have gotten some requests in the past to do this for stores that combine similar parts into the same container, but how to solve the problem just didn't "click" until now. *smack head*

Anyway, I'll probably start adding a 'stock room' column(s) to some of the German stores first. If you think your neighborhood store needs a stock room column, let me know.

I've also gotten a few other great suggestions to show some basic PaB statistics, but I'm also pondering a upgrade to the web-site's look-n-feel... I'm hoping to get to both soon.

New Colors & 12 New LEGO Stores

2012-03-13T17:11:00.001-04:00

Just a quick update: I've been asked to add trans-purple and dark purple to the list of available part colors; these colors are turning up on the Copenhagen, Denmark PaB wall. I ended up taking a few minutes to add all the new 2012 colors to the database as well, so now the drop down list of colors are all colors produced in 2011-2012... Granted, some of these color probably will not show up in PaB, but they're there just in case.

According to the newest LEGO Store flyer, there will be some new stores opening up this summer. I took a few moments to also add the 12 new stores to the database.

Remember, e-mail me at brickbuildr@gmail.com if you run across new parts, new colors, or if you find out the dimensions of any undocumented store.

What 3 LEGO Projects Do You Find Innovative? (Part 3 of 3)

2012-02-09T14:46:00.000-05:00

So I'm not going to harp on this one. I was a beta tester for LEGO Universe, and honestly, I really enjoyed it. I think in the few months I played, there wasn't too many bugs or problems with it; but I also felt that it was never fully integrated into the on-line LEGO family... which could have been said about the product in general. This one, I think LEGO realized it too late that the project was slowly bleeding the company dry and about the time the leak was looked at, it was too late to salvage house; which is shameful.

I think the game was ahead of it time, never marketed to the right audience, and it was innovate in it's own right -- in the broad sense, it's just like any other MMORPG with achievements, quests, bag space limitations, game economy/commerce, etc., but it had a building aspect, great artwork, and so much potential for product tie-ins.

For years, I've felt like LEGO themes that lacked a Hollywood license also lacked a good back story. I've grown up on comic books and graphic novel style of story telling, and the one thing that turns a average good story into a great story is the invention of deeper back story and connective multiverse around it... they layers of narrative. LEGO Universe could have done this for their NinjaGo, Atlantis, etc. themes. Tightly layering the story lines between box art, in box comics, the LEGO magazine, commercials, short cartoons, and finally their character's further adventures in LEGO Universe...

What 3 LEGO Projects Do You Find Innovative? (Part 2 of 3)

2012-01-05T20:04:00.001-05:00

So to continue on, my 2nd choice for my "3 LEGO Project Do I find Innovative" is a website that's recently come to my attention called Pinterest.com. A few weeks ago, I overheard a few of my co-workers talking about a web-site where they've been collecting idea for a few craft projects for around the house -- one is a mother with small child, the other is an expectant mother. They talk at lunch about collecting inspiration material and sharing ideas piqued my interest. On the web-site, you bookmark images or web-pages that give you source of inspiration; you pin those images to a virtual pinboard to organize and share ideas. You have to be invited to the web-site (it's still in beta), it took me about a week to get an invite via the web-site, but send me an e-mail if you want me to send you a more immediate invite.

I've book marked a few MOCs that inspire me. I have a big castle project floating around in my head, so I've been collecting works that inspire me to keep building. :)

What 3 LEGO Projects Do You Find Innovative? (Part 1 of 3)

2011-12-14T15:19:00.001-05:00

I posted a question to a friend of mine: "What 3 LEGO projects do you find innovative?" And recorded his response. But failed to think on the question myself (work ended up getting in the way) and failed to come up with my own answers. I'm hoping to post his answers as a podcast soon, but in the mean time, I've had a little time to think on the question and will try to post my response here.

To be honest it's a tough question to answer, considering it'a a hobby based on being innovative and there are so many aspects of the LEGO fan community to choose from... Not to mention, we both have been in the LEGO fan community a long time, so being a little jaded, it was hard to come up with some answers. And it's meant to be a tough question to answer, because we both agreed we shouldn't give the 'because it's cool' answer.

So here's the first of my 3 choices:

The NXT Blimp Project

Our LUG has been working on LEGO boat racing for the past few years, with an annual boat race. There's been some fun races & interesting solutions to the proposed problem -- to build a boat from LEGO and using only LEGO power, design something that is fast and maneuverable on water. But in the back of my head, I been thinking about the next evolution in LEGO racing... We could do submarines, but that's too obvious. So I had this thought of, "Wouldn't it be fun to do a LEGO blimp race?"

See at Brickworld (where I first had this thought), there are these long hallway in between ballrooms; the perfect platform for this type of race. I'd like to see a LEGO blimp zip down the hallway. I was envisioning stationed hula-hoops to fly thru and fans that would blow air up, causing "wind hazards" to navigate around. The problem was (a) how much helium would you need to keep something floating about 5-10 feet off the ground, (b) how could you control it, (c) would it be small enough to fit through a hula-hoop, (d) how much of it would have to be non-LEGO.

Then I saw the above NXT Blimp Project, I realized we're one step closer to seeing a LEGO blimp race to be actualized. :) The design is simple. It's NXT controlled. Might be too big to fit through a hoop, but I'm good with that. And it looks like most of the components are LEGO.

Honestly, I'd like to see this project become affordable and maybe slimmed down for a hobbyist... Maybe as a LEGO Cuusoo project.

UPDATE: Oh, and post your 3 choices as well in the comments or send me an e-mail.

GFLUG's "Art from A Toy" Art show

2011-11-28T09:19:00.001-05:00

Here's a short video from GFLUG's "Art from A Toy" art show at Polk State College in Winter Haven. Not exactly our largest display, but it's drawing great attention for the college's art gallery.

Watch this at Tampa Bay Online

"Something not on top" heh.

Festival of the Masters 2011

2011-11-12T16:16:00.001-05:00

Fish in a Bowl,
originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Festival of the Masters is happening this weekend at Downtown Disney in Orlando, FL. GFLUG has a LEGO display right outside the LEGO Imagination Center -- the side nearest to where McDonalds use to be.

This year our theme is "Water, water everywhere!" This year, my wife built "Fish in a Bowl" as seen in the picture & I built something related to Middle Earth. Because of the way Veterans' Day fell, Friday was abnormally crowded.

Pictures will be posted to Flickr soon. I'll do a follow up post in a few days with links to photo sets from this year's show.

Ford Legoredo built in Minecraft

2011-11-08T22:46:00.000-05:00

[Build] Fort Legoredo (6762) built using LEGO instructions, 1 block is 1x1 brick

By KenneyWings

So this is the 2nd LEGO model I've seen built in Minecraft... It's pretty neat. Looses something in translation, but nevertheless, it looks cool.

The Wizard of Oz Children’s Educational Exhibition

2011-10-21T10:39:00.001-04:00

The Wizard of Oz Children’s Educational Exhibition,
originally uploaded by mhuffman.

I was asked by the Henry Ford Museum if I wanted to display my Wizard of Oz MOC at the The Wizard of Oz Children’s Educational Exhibition going on now, til Jan 9th, 2012-- I was more than happy to loan it to them... assuming it was still intact and I hadn't already used the parts in another creation.

I'd like to thank Steve R. from MichLUG for putting it together for me, since I couldn't be there to do it myself.

How Full is Your PaB?

2011-09-30T15:02:00.002-04:00

One of the suggestions that have come up for iPaB has been some type of indicator of how full a wall container is... I think way back when I started this project, I had a similar idea -- not only would I like to know what parts are on the PaB wall, but how plentiful are they. So I looked for a 'progress bar' example in CSS, found it simple enough to implement on a web page; added a field to the database, updated the form, did a little testing and voilà! By indicating 'near full', you see the a bar like (6,1); 'near empty' will be like (5,1); 'quarter full' will be like '(6,2); 'half full' the bar will be like (6,3); and 'three quarters full' will be like (6,4). I might work on touch up the graphic a little, but let me know what you think. Hopefully you'll find is useful.

In the mean time, I've added two new stores, Brighton, UK and Milton Keynes, UK.

Updates

2011-09-13T12:09:00.001-04:00

So friends aren't too keen on the tsunami idea... I was thinking something tasteful and respectful, but the idea was still shot down. *sigh* So back to the drawing board few a new water related idea...

Got an e-mail about adding the Liverpool, UK LEGO store the other day -- it's been added. In the process off adding it, I noticed that there's to be a 2nd Toronto and Miami store, along with two new stores in California soon -- this is exciting.

Some new parts have been showing up on the wall as well -- I've been updating the database. If I've missed anything, please let me know.

My LEGO Creations

2011-09-05T01:15:00.000-04:00

Festival of the Masters is coming up soon. I've been spending some time thinking about what I'm going t build this year... Our theme is "Water, Water Everywhere." A little silly, but with the tsunami that hit Japan earlier this year, it's a little apropos... Maybe I should do a flooded Japanese fishing village...

So to get inspired, I've been creating some galleries and a new MOC collection on Flickr of my LEGO creations. I've also updated my MOCPages account to reflect my new LEGO creations as well.

Looking for Feedback

2011-08-29T22:26:00.000-04:00

As many of you already know, Legoland Florida will open its doors on Oct. 15th, 2011. Most of GFLUG has talked about going opening day & most of us have annual passes so we'll be there for the preview days as well. I expect it to be crazy, so I'm mentally preparing myself now for it. :)

I'm curious to know how many people are planning to be there for the grand opening and how many of you are planning to hold off a few weeks before coming down?

In the back of our LUG's mind, we've been thinking that we'd like to host an informal get-together -- maybe see if the park will give fans a back-stage tour of the park.. maybe have a build/Q&A session with a Model Builder from the park, focusing on what it took to open the park... maybe asking the park for a small space to display fan LEGO creations... maybe organize a few after-hours activities for fans... something casual, not crowded, or fast paced... something that could happen a few weekends after the grand opening or after the major holidays, after some of the craziness has died down... So we're looking at a few possible dates. Oct. 29 & 30 -- Brick Or Treat Weekend -- or something after the first of the year.

I'm not looking for commitments, just throwing the idea out and seeing what the fan community would like to see/do at such an event, if our LUG was to help plan one. I love to hear what everyone thinks.

Thanks,
--Mike.

xposted: http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=55710

Brickfete - LEGO Fest - Toronto - July 30th

2011-07-18T15:12:00.003-04:00

Brickfete - LEGO Fest - Toronto - July 30th,
originally uploaded by Janey Red Brick.

If you're in the area, there will be a LEGO convention in Toronto, Canada -- Brickfete -- July 28th to 31st, with public day on the 30th.

Check out the Brickfete group on Facebook.

Brickworld 2011 in Chicago

2011-06-03T10:44:00.001-04:00

This coming father's day weekend in Chicago, Brickworld will happen. If you've never witness a LEGO convention, this is one of the larger ones in the US. Details of the schedule is starting to show up on-line & it's shaping up to be a fun filled event this year.

On a personal note, we've gone to Brickworld 3 times out of the past 4 years & won't be going this year. :( Between changing jobs, other vacation plans, and Legoland FL opening up just around the corner, we decided to stay home this year.

Orlando Attractions Magazine - Episode 21

2011-04-27T11:14:00.000-04:00

brickbuilder711 has shared a video with me:

From about 9:44 to about 17:15 is the segment on the newly remodeled LEGO Imagination Center in Orlando, FL. Some of my pictures don't do the new store justice, but this interview with Justin Tripp, VP of LEGO Retail Stores, does a great job summing up the changes to the newly reopened Orlando store.

Orlando's LEGO Imagination Center

2011-04-12T13:53:00.002-04:00

IMG_2296,
originally uploaded by thumat2002.

Todd Thuma uploaded some pictures of the remodel to the Orlando LEGO Imagination Center to his Flickr account -- taken last weekend. As you can see, progress is coming along.