Spring Training and LEGO stadiums

With friends at Spring Training and the hope that this is the year the Cubs will put it together -- it feels right to blog about the art of putting together a baseball stadium out of LEGO bricks.

I'm not the only one feeling this way, consider The Star-Ledger's Yankees beat writer Marc Carig's Tweet from yesterday:

In college, I built Tiger Stadium out of Legos. When my pal, a Japanese exchange student, knocked it down, he yelled "Godzilla!" I was mad. [via The Times Union]

For my money, the stadium standard has been set by LEGO Certified Professional Sean Kenney -- who put together a scale recreation of Yankee Stadium (pictured above) with more than 45,000 LEGO bricks in 2009. You can see more photos here and even buy prints for that Yankees fan or beat writer in your life.

[Image via SeanKenney.com]

LEGO City: Big Apple Edition

If shoemaker's elves ever went into brick-laying, this is the kind of project it would be easy to imagine them getting behind. German Artist Jan Vormann recently brought his public installation, "Dispatchwork," -- wherein he fills in the holes in crumbling walls with LEGO bricks -- to New York City [via AJ].

And in true big city fashion, most of the bricks had been removed by the time he had finished repairing holes around Central and Bryant Park. While some expressed wonderment, perhaps the quintessential New York response came from Jackie Rubenstein, who hadn't seen the bricks despite passing them for several days in a row:

"That's a New York thing. There are random things all across the city, but we're so quick getting around that we tend not to notice them."

Image by Jan Vormann.

I'm not sure what flavor Han Solo is...

I didn't realize how much of my knowledge of different LEGO bricks was connected to my sight, until I tried to put together a small LEGO police car in a blind build competition.

Now if you took away my hands and my sight -- I think I'd be in an even bigger bind. But that's not the case for a German teenager -- who comes to us courtesy of a television show in her homeland. She apparently can correctly identify Star Wars minifigures just by putting them in her mouth -- which considering LEGO bricks can be a choking hazard, I would not recommend trying at home.

I won't spoil how she does for you, but rest assured it's worth the four minutes and 36 seconds.

Couple friends and LEGO bricks

I've written about the concept of couple friends for newspapers -- wherein you can struggle to find couples that match up well with both you and your wife. And how the entire process is all too much like dating with rejection and the post-date analysis that goes on much too long.

Well, I didn't see this as a benefit until recently, but I have become a more desirable couple friend. It's funny to see husbands light up when I start to talk about LEGO bricks. And if the plastic bricks aren't enough of a grabber, I've always got Star Wars and Indiana Jones to fall back on before we get to the standard non-LEGO troika of beer, video games, or sports.

Men need an excuse to hang out and playing with plastic bricks turns out to be a great excuse. Although most spouses have no idea what their husband is getting into...

Image via Palo Alto Online.

Lights, camera, brick action

I don't admit it, few adult fans do, but when I'm alone with a LEGO car or collection of minifigures -- I'll set them in motion and act out some sort of scene on my desk. These are toys, they are meant to be characters in an imagination play.

What I have yet to do is film one of those delightful battles or epic quests -- capturing my imagination via stop motion animation. But others have, a "LEGO" search on YouTube turns up 499,000 results...

And now, potentially for the first time ever (feel free to offer up a correction Internet), a film festival celebrating animated brick films -- BrickFlix -- is set for May 5 in Durham, North Carolina, just one day before the Brick Magic convention starts in nearby Raleigh. It's only a matter of time before we see the fourth category for shorts at the Oscars.

Nathan Sawaya built my book cover

That's the official cover above -- so get out your photo printers and your framing equipment. This one's a keeper.

And that's not an optical illusion -- the actual title is made of LEGO bricks. In fact, the whole cover is a LEGO sculpture that sprang from the hands of LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya. He works with plastic bricks the way that others use clay or paint. His collection is currently part of a traveling museum exhibit called "The Art of The Brick," which will challenge your perceptions about the limits of building with LEGO bricks.

This is a perfect encapsulation of something that I noticed while researching the book that continues to fascinate me to this day -- that adults are capable of creating mind-boggling structures and mosaics from such a simple object. So here's to Nathan, I could have not asked for a more unique or interesting cover for my first book.

How you know you've made it

When I thought about the book coming out, I was primarily excited for two things -- to see it on the shelves of libraries and in bookstore displays. At both, I intend to stand close to the book, either remarking on its singular ability to change your life or suggesting that candy is hidden inside.

This morning brought an unexpected surprise via e-mail, which I would be remiss if I failed to express the odd mix of excitement and anxiety that sprang forth from yours truly. You, singular reader in Papau New Guinea (hello, by the way), can own your very own advance proof of LEGO: A Love Story -- courtesy of the good auction people at eBay.

So take a break from bidding on porcelain unicorns and Jonathan Bender jerseys to bid on the book -- there's free candy hidden inside.