Monday, July 21, 2008

Building with just a few ingredients

This is the week of building small cars. First up, a construction vehicle of sorts. I'm not sure of it's real-life equivalent, I just liked the final look.

It's only 10 pieces total, one of my favorite constructions to date. It also heralds one of the breakthroughs in building. Like cooking, at times, simplicity can be best. In talking to a fellow AFOL recently, he told me that he starts everything by searching for the most salient feature of a given project, whether it is the glasses worn by Groucho Marx or the arch of a Volkswagen Beetle. If you can boil a building or car or sculpture down to a series of small, recognizable pieces, then you can create something that is dramatically better than you expected when you start.

I am the Gordon Ramsay of LEGO enthusiasts, turning just a few ingredients into a culinary masterpiece. Well, not quite. I am not currently possessed of world-renowned skill, but I do have a propensity for swearing and referring to things as "donkeys."

If you need something fun playing in the background the next time you build, try The Moth Podcasts- a series of live stories told on stage.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

no donkey

Unknown said...

Okay, I finally understand that the book is part history, part memoir and part assembled from your blog. Not a problem (and the audiobook reader is quite good, for your information). Just wondering if it's too late to see a better picture of some of your "few ingredient" cars. I'm on chapter 10. Bought $75 worth of Lego yesterday and organized my neglected bucket of bricks by color and size while watching the SuperBowl last night.