Tag Archives: #atozchallenge

“O” is for The Others

Posted on by Standard 6

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When I was brainstorming for the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, I hit a road block with the letter “O”. Sure, there are lots of pop-culture references that start with “O”, but the trick was to find one that resonated with me, and one that had some sort of significance to me, as well as a story to tell. My wife suggested that I make the post about October, because we used to buy a lot of movies in October. Walmart always discounts horror movies around that time of year, and we used to stock up on them and have a month long horror movie fest. That opened the door to make a LEGO-fied post on just about any horror movie. So, while I was thinking about a horror/thriller movie I really liked, it suddenly occurred to me that one of my favorites actually started with the letter “O”! It’s funny how obvious answers sometimes elude you…

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The “Nicole Kidman” Minifig that I made for this LEGO-fied “The Others” poster.

The Others was a movie that came out in 2001, starring Nicole Kidman. It is a ghost movie, which is my favorite kind of horror/thriller. This one was particularly good because it had a surprise ending. I won’t say more than that here, in case there are readers out there who have not seen the film. But, if you like movies about hauntings, this is definitely one to watch. It is not a flat out horror movie, but it does provide suspense and few good jumps.

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The Others movie poster LEGO-fied!

Making the poster was pretty easy. It was just one shot of my custom “Nicole Kidman” Minifigure, and some Photoshop for effect. Feel free to leave your thoughts on The Others, or anything else related to this post in the comments below. This post was made as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge (click here to visit the official website for more information).

Until next time,

-Tom

“L” is for Life of Pi

Posted on by Standard 2

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For the twelfth day of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, I have another Canadian entry for you all. Today, “L” is for the Life of Pi, which is a book by Canadian author, Yann Martel. It is the story of an Indian boy who survives the sinking of a ship carrying zoo animals. He subsequently spends over 200 days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. The book was released in 2001, and turned into a movie in 2012.

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The LEGO water bottle photo used in my LEGO-fied Life of Pi poster comes from the Dance Instructor Minifigure in series 17.

I read Life of Pi one summer as I was working on a research project studying toads in southern Ontario. The actual research work took place at night, because the toads were most vocal when it was dark, and subsequently easier to locate for data collection. This meant that my days were largely free (apart from sleeping, since you were up late into the night). But, there really wasn’t much to do since we were in a rural area with only a small town nearby. So, I read a lot of books. I got a copy of Life of Pi as a gift from my sister. It was signed by Yann Martel. I read it pretty quickly during those sunny days on the shore of Lake Eerie (our research base was within walking distance from a nice beach). It was an enjoyable read.

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This is the main tiger shot used in my LEGO-fied Life of Pi poster. This tiger came in set 60162, the Jungle Airdrop Helicopter.

I love big cats, especially tigers. So, when LEGO started producing big cat figurines in the summer of 2017, I had to collect all of them. Naturally, I wanted to use my LEGO tiger in one of my LEGO-fied projects, and since I really liked the the Life of Pi, I decided to recreate the movie poster. For the main body of the poster, I placed my tiger in a rowboat from the 1990’s pirates sets. The Minifigure of Pi was made using a turban piece from the Prince of Persia sets. The face is from a Jungle Explorer in the City theme. The torso is from the Lifeguard Guy Minifigure in series 13. The loincloth legs are from the Egyptian Warrior Minifigure, also from series 13. The water bottle in the foreground comes from the Dance Instructor Minifigure in series 17.

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The shot of LEGO Pi and the tiger used in my LEGO-fied Life of Pi poster.

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts concerning anything in this post in the comments below. This post was created as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. You can click here to visit the official website for more information.

Until next time!

-Tom

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Life of Pi movie poster, LEGO-fied.

“K” is for Kill Bill

Posted on by Standard 4

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For day 11 of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, I have LEGO-fied the poster for Kill Bill – Volume 2 as my entry for the letter “K”. Kill Bill was a two-part film that came out in 2003, and concluded in 2004. I am generally not huge fan of Quentin Tarantino movies, but I did rather enjoy these two. I grew up training in karate, but took a hiatus from martial arts after reaching the level of international competition in ’99. After a few years off, movies like Croutching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Matrix trilogy, and Kill Bill reignited my spark. I went through a bit of a martial arts movie phase at that point, and Kill Bill was among my favorites due to its odd mash-up of martial arts, anime, and westerns. Ultimately, I ended up taking a few jobs that took me away from home for months at a time, and martial arts fell by the wayside again. I have often wondered if I should pick it up again.

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The LEGO Uma Thurman that I created for my LEGO-fied Kill Bill project.

I chose to do Kill Bill – Volume 2 for this poster even though the Volume 1 poster is more widely recognized. Part of the reason for this was that I don’t have a yellow body-suit reminiscent of what Uma Thurman wears on the cover on Volume 1. The other part is that even if I did, a yellow body suit on a yellow Minifigure would make said Minifigure look naked. The poster itself was pretty easy to make. I made my Uma Minifig using the body from the Jewel Thief in series 15. The hair is Supergirl’s from Brainiac Attack (76040), while the samurai sword and face are from the female samurai included in series 13.

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Kill Bill, LEGO-fied!

Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments on martial arts/Kill Bill/etc in the comments below. This post was made as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. For more information, you can click here to visit the official website.

Until next time!

-Tom

“J” is for Jagged Little Pill

Posted on by Standard 1

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Today’s post for the A-to-Z Challenge is a Canadian entry. Canada has produced a lot of great musicians, but one of my favorites has always been Alanis Morissette. While the world was introduced to her in 1995, I actually remember her from one of her earlier releases in 1991, a song entitled Too Hot from her debut album, Alanis. I have chosen to make my LEGO-fied cover for Jagged Little Pill, since most people know Alanis for that album, and it happens to be my favorite of her records. However, unbeknownst to most, Jagged Little Pill was actually Alanis’ third album. The first two were originally only released in Canada, and were much more dance/pop oriented.

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My LEGO representation of Alanis Morissette used for my LEGO-fied Jagged Little Pill cover.

I was in middle school when Jagged Little Pill hit the airwaves. Oddly enough, even though I lived in Canada, I actually heard the first single from the album while I was on vacation in Finland, visiting family. One might even say isn’t it ironic? (See what I did there?) I remember watching the video for You Oughta Know on Jyrki, a Finnish music countdown that aired on TV at the time. Funny story about Jyrki, it was actually based on the Canadian Much Music, but I digress… I recognized Alanis’ characteristic voice immediately from the days of Too Hot, and I recall also thinking what a change her sound had taken since those early days. While the difference between 1991 and 1995 does not seem that great now, in those days it seemed like an eternity to my pre-pubescent mind. I bought the album when I got home from my trip, and it was one of those albums that pulled me in with every song the first time I listened to it. Only Aerosmith had managed that prior to that point in my life with Big Ones.

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The other angle of my LEGO “Alanis” used in the production of my LEGO-fied Jagged Little Pill cover.

This LEGO-fied post was one of the first ones that I tried my hand at for this challenge, so it is a little less sophisticated than some of the others I have done. It was originally meant for the letter “A” (as in “A” for Alanis), but the list has gone through several re-organizations since I first conceived of this idea. The Minifigure was just made using a random assemblage of the parts from my collection, and photographed in two different positions.

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Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill album cover LEGO-fied.

What memories do you have of Jagged Little Pill? I would love to hear your thoughts on that, or this post in general, in the comments below. This post was created as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. You can click here to visit the official website for more information.

Until next time!

-Tom

“I” is for Imagine Dragons

Posted on by Standard 2

For day nine of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, I have gone with Imagine Dragons for the letter “I”. Since their debut album in 2012, Imagine Dragons have consistently put out music that I like to sing along to (alone in the car when no one can hear me). They have even earned a place on my favorite artists playlist. I started listening to them when my sister introduced me to one of their early singles, On Top of the World. It remains one of my favorite songs to this day, and is a tune that I never get tired of listening to. While Imagine Dragons have now released three albums, I have decided to go with their first one for my LEGO-fied post, since it is the one that introduced me to the band.

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The original photo that I worked into my LEGO-fied Imagine Dragons album cover.

To recreate this album cover in LEGO was actually not too complicated. I made stacks of 2×2 bricks of varying heights, and placed a LEGO mini-Minifigure on top (these often come as trophies or action figures for actual Minifigures). I tried it with a regular Minifigure as well, but the proportions felt off. The background and titles were created in Photoshop.

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I felt that using an actual Minifigure through the proportions off when compared with the actual album cover.

What is your favorite Imagine Dragons song? Feel free to leave your thoughts on this, or anything relating to this post, in the comments below. This post was created as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. You can click here to visit the official website for more information.

Until next time!

-Tom

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The Imagine Dragons Night Visions album cover recreated using LEGO.

 

“H” is for Holy Alphabet, Batman!

Posted on by Standard 2

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Holy Alphabet, Batman! It’s the eighth day of the April A-to-Z blogging challenge! Being a big Batman fan, I couldn’t resist throwing that one in. I thought it was appropriate for the challenge. And, yes, Robin did actually use the “Holy Alphabet” line in the 1960s Batman show (I believe it was episode 15 – Joker Goes to School from March 2, 1966). I used to watch re-runs of that show on YTV after school. It is cringe-worthy in its campiness, but a classic none the less, and a defining moment in Batman’s history.

The LEGO Mr. Freeze that I used in my LEGO-fied poster.
The LEGO Poison Ivy that I used in my LEGO-fied poster.

Speaking of camp, today’s LEGO-fied post is all about another such moment in Batman’s filmograpy… 1997’s Batman & Robin. I was halfway through high school when that movie hit theatres. Having the sophisticated movie taste of a teenage boy, I actually liked the film when I first saw it. As such, it is one of those movies that I will always like because of nostalgia. It really is an awful story, but it is reminiscent of the tone of the 1960s Batman, and was meant to be a more family friendly film. One thing I really remember about the original theatrical release is that I loved the poster. I thought it was really cool.

The LEGO Robin that I used in my LEGO-fied poster.
The LEGO Batgirl that I used in my LEGO-fied poster.

For today’s LEGO-fied post, I have recreated the Batman & Robin poster that I loved so much as a kid, but for The LEGO Batman Movie. When I set out to make this post, my goal had been to actually recreate the original poster. But, most of the characters in it were LEGO Batman movie Minifigures, so the direction ended up changing part way through the process. The LEGO Batman Movie shares an element of campiness with the 1960s Batman, and Batman & Robin. It even blatantly makes fun of the show and film. I figured it was appropriate. I changed the actors’ names from Batman & Robin to the voice actors’ names from The LEGO Batman Movie. The credits on the poster are also for the LEGO version.

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The LEGO Batman that I used in my LEGO-fied poster.

In terms of the Minifigures used, Robin and Batgirl are from the Catwoman Cycle Chase set (click here for my review), which was the first LEGO Batman Movie set that I got. Batman is from one of the movie sets, I don’t remember which one (he is pretty much the same in all of them anyway). Mr. Freeze is from the Mr. Freeze Ice Attack set (click here for my review). He is the Minifigure that really originally inspired this project. I took a photo of him last spring that reminded me of the Batman & Robin poster, and that started all the brainstorming for this project. Poison Ivy is from the Scuttler set (click here for my review). After taking the aforementioned photo of Mr. Freeze, I really wanted this version of Poison Ivy to finish off this poster. It really is the nicest Poison Ivy that LEGO has produced so far. I finally got it when Chapters started liquidating their Scuttler sets at 40% off.

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My LEGO-fied LEGO Batman Movie version of the Batman & Robin movie poster.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts/memories surrounding the 1960s Batman, Batman & Robin, or even the LEGO Batman Movie in the comments below. This post was made as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, you can click here to visit the official site for more information.

Until next time!

-Tom

“G” is for Game of Thrones

Posted on by Standard 4

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Is there anyone out there who is not watching Game of Thrones? I love the show. I also loved the books. I read all of the books (that have been completed so far) before watching the show. The show has moved past the books at this point though. I have not yet watched the latest season because my wife and I decided to re-watch the whole series this year. We got the box set during the Boxing Week sales, and have been slowly working our way through so that all of the details will be fresh in our minds when we get to the newest season. There are so many characters and plots that it is hard to remember everything sometimes. The books have even more characters… I might have to re-read those before the next book comes out. It has now been a few years since I read them, and I doubt if I remember everything that was going on. Plus, it it all muddled with the show at this point, which has strayed from the books in later seasons a little (for time and production constraints I would imagine).

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The Iron Throne and “Ned Stark” Minifigure that I came up with for my LEGO-fied Game of Thrones poster.

For my LEGO-fied Game of Thrones poster, I chose to do the advertisement for season one. It features a LEGO version of Sean Bean sitting on the Iron Throne. The Minifigure I used is a mixture of different parts, but the body is from the old ’90s knights sets that I had as a kid. I designed the Iron Throne myself using my collection of bricks and LEGO swords. I made this poster last fall in preparation for the A-to-Z Challenge, but when I made it, I did not think to photograph the throne by itself… I wish I had, because I have since taken it apart. While I am sure I could design it again in a pinch, it did take me a while to come up with a design that I really liked.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below, be they about my post or Game of Thrones in general. This article was created as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, you can click here to visit the official site for more information.

Until next time!

-Tom

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My LEGO-fied Game of Thrones poster.