a little big.
It's over 100 pages, rough estimate (I am about to paginate and am calculating a page count)!
I was expecting this one to be smaller. But since it is the Megastructures issue, I guess that works.
What's in line for this issue? How about:
an article on Malle Hawking's aircraft carrier?
an article on Matt Chile's roller coaster?
an article on Adam Tucker's skyscrapers?
They are all big!
And there's also instructions, model galleries, and a couple of surprises!
And it's coming soon!
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Forgot another part of the Grand Plan...
an Event Calendar.
This will be announced soon, but I am playing with it.
The key to this will be event organizers posting to me announcements.
Thoughts?
This will be announced soon, but I am playing with it.
The key to this will be event organizers posting to me announcements.
Thoughts?
BrickJournal's Grand Plan
I've been part of the AFOL community since 2002 - that's when I actually made the jump from the online community to going to an event: BrickFest.
Since then, I have been doing what I can to be a positive part of the community, either by building or by working on events. And I have been able to watch growth happen - and it's been positive and negative.
There is a major dynamic that I have noticed:
Generational - this is most obvious in the American AFOL community. While overall the community is not that old, the US community really bloomed around 2000. It's now 2006, and what that means is that there is a generation's worth of time that has passed.
A brief aside - I worked at the Disney Store in the late 90's, and I learned a lot there beyond simply working. Much of how I do things I learned from there, and not from where I worked for my profession. One of the things I learned was that back then, videos were released every 7 years for a reason - a new generation of kids would be available to see them (and parents to buy them).
How does this affect us? Well, the most obvious effect is that the leadership of community (or aspects thereof) has gotten older...and not adapted. I feel that there really hasn't been any thought devoted to what lies ahead for the community. There are immediate actions done for the next convention or event, but long-range goals are simply not made.
So the big question is: where does the community want to go?
I have been thinking on this for some time. And I have been working to make things happen...
My thoughts have been toward organizing community resources - I have mentioned this to people at LEGO and at BrickFest when I do my roundtable (okay, it's not a roundtable, it's more like I take questions about BrickJournal's Grand Plan®), but my thoughts are not that well-known (and probably not taken that seriously, either).
So here is what I am working on:
BrickJournal: The magazine. Yes, it will be printed. Hopefully by next summer (hey, I was dared, so I have to do it), and the groundwork is being established now. The magazine is planned to be the AFOL counterpart to the LEGO magazines - so there will be an active partnership with the LEGO Group on this. This partnership will maintain the independence of the Journal, so it's a win-win for everyone.
Multimedia - Event DVDs? It's a strong possibility in the next year to have DVDs with footage from events everywhere. I'd also like to see DVD's spotlighting builders - can you imagine a DVD that shows how a builder does a model by showing the builder working on a design and building it - and then having instructions on the DVD? This could be a bonus for subscribers.
Online - BrickJournal needs a true website, and one that has content to enhance stories in the magazine. Also, this would be great to post the quick news that happens between issues. The site would be a great central point for people to learn about the community and hobby.
Offline - The community needs a "Memory Alpha" to keep artifacts and information from the community. Like LEGO keeps the Vault, the community needs to keep an archive. LUGNET has become an archive, but a real archive would be real nice. This would be something for people to gather research to create new projects and events.
Events - Yep, heading there too.
Simply put, if the community wants to go forward, it needs to look ahead and also know where it's been.
and if anyone is interested, drop me a line!
Since then, I have been doing what I can to be a positive part of the community, either by building or by working on events. And I have been able to watch growth happen - and it's been positive and negative.
There is a major dynamic that I have noticed:
Generational - this is most obvious in the American AFOL community. While overall the community is not that old, the US community really bloomed around 2000. It's now 2006, and what that means is that there is a generation's worth of time that has passed.
A brief aside - I worked at the Disney Store in the late 90's, and I learned a lot there beyond simply working. Much of how I do things I learned from there, and not from where I worked for my profession. One of the things I learned was that back then, videos were released every 7 years for a reason - a new generation of kids would be available to see them (and parents to buy them).
How does this affect us? Well, the most obvious effect is that the leadership of community (or aspects thereof) has gotten older...and not adapted. I feel that there really hasn't been any thought devoted to what lies ahead for the community. There are immediate actions done for the next convention or event, but long-range goals are simply not made.
So the big question is: where does the community want to go?
I have been thinking on this for some time. And I have been working to make things happen...
My thoughts have been toward organizing community resources - I have mentioned this to people at LEGO and at BrickFest when I do my roundtable (okay, it's not a roundtable, it's more like I take questions about BrickJournal's Grand Plan®), but my thoughts are not that well-known (and probably not taken that seriously, either).
So here is what I am working on:
BrickJournal: The magazine. Yes, it will be printed. Hopefully by next summer (hey, I was dared, so I have to do it), and the groundwork is being established now. The magazine is planned to be the AFOL counterpart to the LEGO magazines - so there will be an active partnership with the LEGO Group on this. This partnership will maintain the independence of the Journal, so it's a win-win for everyone.
Multimedia - Event DVDs? It's a strong possibility in the next year to have DVDs with footage from events everywhere. I'd also like to see DVD's spotlighting builders - can you imagine a DVD that shows how a builder does a model by showing the builder working on a design and building it - and then having instructions on the DVD? This could be a bonus for subscribers.
Online - BrickJournal needs a true website, and one that has content to enhance stories in the magazine. Also, this would be great to post the quick news that happens between issues. The site would be a great central point for people to learn about the community and hobby.
Offline - The community needs a "Memory Alpha" to keep artifacts and information from the community. Like LEGO keeps the Vault, the community needs to keep an archive. LUGNET has become an archive, but a real archive would be real nice. This would be something for people to gather research to create new projects and events.
Events - Yep, heading there too.
Simply put, if the community wants to go forward, it needs to look ahead and also know where it's been.
and if anyone is interested, drop me a line!
BrickJournal - the fun part...
BrickJournal is a big project to do, but it's never dull. There is a lot of e-mail flinging that goes on and followup, which can be hard to keep track of.
But getting e-mails from AFOLs in Germany and interviews from LEGO staff (among other people) is simply fun. It's a little like Christmas when I get a story - I don't know what to expect. I know that I will learn something everytime, which makes things exciting to me.
The best part for me is getting layouts done - after getting the raw stories and photos, it's a challenge to work things out to a page design. But when it happens, it's almost magic.
The real magic is placing everything in place in the mag - this is like fitting a puzzle together. Right now, I'm getting the pieces rounded up to build.
So is this hard? Yes.
But it's almost as fun as building:-)
But getting e-mails from AFOLs in Germany and interviews from LEGO staff (among other people) is simply fun. It's a little like Christmas when I get a story - I don't know what to expect. I know that I will learn something everytime, which makes things exciting to me.
The best part for me is getting layouts done - after getting the raw stories and photos, it's a challenge to work things out to a page design. But when it happens, it's almost magic.
The real magic is placing everything in place in the mag - this is like fitting a puzzle together. Right now, I'm getting the pieces rounded up to build.
So is this hard? Yes.
But it's almost as fun as building:-)
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
More on studless
Some things I noticed that I neglected to mention before:
Studless beams are in odd-numbered lengths. I originally thought it was really strange, but as I was playing with the parts it dawned on me why this is so:
Odd numbers have center studs. If you look at the NXT sensors, they have a place for one beam to nestle in the sensor's centerline. This is really convenient for building, as a central 'spine' can be built for a robot - even the NXT brick is an odd number of studs across.
This is probably why there isn't much done to make jumper parts to go between studs.
Studless beams are in odd-numbered lengths. I originally thought it was really strange, but as I was playing with the parts it dawned on me why this is so:
Odd numbers have center studs. If you look at the NXT sensors, they have a place for one beam to nestle in the sensor's centerline. This is really convenient for building, as a central 'spine' can be built for a robot - even the NXT brick is an odd number of studs across.
This is probably why there isn't much done to make jumper parts to go between studs.
Non-LEGO Item: Guilty pleasures
I watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives.
and now I watch them online.
Why?
I watch Extreme Makeover because of the general message - once you go past the reasons behind the sponsors, this show is about making a difference in someone's life. We each have the ability to make things positive for others, and to be honest, it doesn't take a Sears sponsorship to do it, it can be something as simple as giving a smile to someone. I also really like the idea of surprising people - "you want this, well we looked around and found THIS!" So I watch the show when I can with my mom.
I also watch Desparate Housewives with my mom. The show is generally good - and there's always one scene that is laugh-out-loud funny. And there's usually a scene that is really moving in every other show.
Gray's Anatomy is a nicely-crafted show. The characters are very human, and I really enjoy watching them grow as times go on (although growth can be a interesting way of explaining some of the things that happen). I used to watch ER back in the day, but this is a lighter, fluffier version.
Shows I used to watch:
Star Trek and ST:TNG - but I love the classic series much more than TNG - but Picard was a really good character.
X-Files - until the conspiracy went nuts.
Who's Line is it Anyways - the British version (ahem)
The Man from UNCLE - nicely written shows, believe me
Batman - Holy (fill in the blank)!
Shows I should be seeing:
West Wing
24
Battlestar Galactica
Stargate
But I haven't the time.....
and now I watch them online.
Why?
I watch Extreme Makeover because of the general message - once you go past the reasons behind the sponsors, this show is about making a difference in someone's life. We each have the ability to make things positive for others, and to be honest, it doesn't take a Sears sponsorship to do it, it can be something as simple as giving a smile to someone. I also really like the idea of surprising people - "you want this, well we looked around and found THIS!" So I watch the show when I can with my mom.
I also watch Desparate Housewives with my mom. The show is generally good - and there's always one scene that is laugh-out-loud funny. And there's usually a scene that is really moving in every other show.
Gray's Anatomy is a nicely-crafted show. The characters are very human, and I really enjoy watching them grow as times go on (although growth can be a interesting way of explaining some of the things that happen). I used to watch ER back in the day, but this is a lighter, fluffier version.
Shows I used to watch:
Star Trek and ST:TNG - but I love the classic series much more than TNG - but Picard was a really good character.
X-Files - until the conspiracy went nuts.
Who's Line is it Anyways - the British version (ahem)
The Man from UNCLE - nicely written shows, believe me
Batman - Holy (fill in the blank)!
Shows I should be seeing:
West Wing
24
Battlestar Galactica
Stargate
But I haven't the time.....
Other fun things...NXT and studless building
So I'm playing with an NXT now, and my family and friends are wonderinng why I have been obsessing over it every weekend.
Well, it's because I only have weekends to focus on it. Weekdays, especially now, I am working on BrickJournal stuff and other sundry projects. I play on the weekend, and I play hard doing late nighters figuring out the NXT.
It's a jump to go from LEGO stud building to studless building - it's like trying to figure a foreign dialect of a language, like pidgin English. A builder understands the fundamentals, but learning to do exactly what you want is tricky.
An important difference that I have noticed is that the beam thickness is based on 2 plates - which means that everything is defined by mutiples of twos in construction. This simplifies things quite a bit, sorta. Brick building is defined by threes - three plates equal a brick in height. Attaching a brick to a beam with Technic pins will result in just under a plate in space hanging out the bottom. A plate placed on the bottom will fit with a tiny space above the stud - unusable space.
But studless has advantages - construction is based on pins. These pins are longer than a stud is tall, and are lipped, so once set in place, it takes some effort to displace them. Conceptually, that means that instead of building:
plate bottom to plate stud = 2 plates
its
beam to pin to beam = 2 beams (which is 4 plates in height)
You end up creating studs with the pin.
Another factor is that the tolerances allow for more 'slop' or flex, which make studless models a little flex for movement, which is a good thing most of the time.
One slightly frustrating thing is that there are not very many ways to move a beam a half stud. The most obvious way is to use Technic bricks which mostly have a half stud offset (a 8 stud Technic brick has 7 holes) 1 and 2 stud bricks can have same stud holes set in, but larger bricks are always offset. After that, well, it's tough.
I fnally started understanding studless when I realized it's a lot like plumbing - you build with pipes and the pins are the joints. More often than not, you aren't building things, but frames for things.
So am I frustrated with this? Sometimes, but I am learning. And that's the most important...
Now, programming.....wow, THAT's tricky!
Well, it's because I only have weekends to focus on it. Weekdays, especially now, I am working on BrickJournal stuff and other sundry projects. I play on the weekend, and I play hard doing late nighters figuring out the NXT.
It's a jump to go from LEGO stud building to studless building - it's like trying to figure a foreign dialect of a language, like pidgin English. A builder understands the fundamentals, but learning to do exactly what you want is tricky.
An important difference that I have noticed is that the beam thickness is based on 2 plates - which means that everything is defined by mutiples of twos in construction. This simplifies things quite a bit, sorta. Brick building is defined by threes - three plates equal a brick in height. Attaching a brick to a beam with Technic pins will result in just under a plate in space hanging out the bottom. A plate placed on the bottom will fit with a tiny space above the stud - unusable space.
But studless has advantages - construction is based on pins. These pins are longer than a stud is tall, and are lipped, so once set in place, it takes some effort to displace them. Conceptually, that means that instead of building:
plate bottom to plate stud = 2 plates
its
beam to pin to beam = 2 beams (which is 4 plates in height)
You end up creating studs with the pin.
Another factor is that the tolerances allow for more 'slop' or flex, which make studless models a little flex for movement, which is a good thing most of the time.
One slightly frustrating thing is that there are not very many ways to move a beam a half stud. The most obvious way is to use Technic bricks which mostly have a half stud offset (a 8 stud Technic brick has 7 holes) 1 and 2 stud bricks can have same stud holes set in, but larger bricks are always offset. After that, well, it's tough.
I fnally started understanding studless when I realized it's a lot like plumbing - you build with pipes and the pins are the joints. More often than not, you aren't building things, but frames for things.
So am I frustrated with this? Sometimes, but I am learning. And that's the most important...
Now, programming.....wow, THAT's tricky!
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