Gen Y-er On The Loose

Friday, June 7, 2019

I've Given Up Trying To Think Of Creative Titles For These: Bricks Cascade - Year 8

Bricks Cascade

Portland, Oregon

February 28 - March 3, 2019

This year's Bricks Cascade was a little bit different for me. I opted not to take any time off work -- nor did our school holidays naturally fall during the con, as they were nice enough to do in 2018. As a result, I missed some of the games on Friday as well as the Opening Ceremonies. Ah well.

I was there Thursday evening to set up some MOCs. Then on Friday evening I arrived in time for the WAFOL (Female LEGO fans) meet & greet dinner.

On Saturday, during public hours, I got a surprise visit from my brother, sister-in-law, and nieces! This was my nieces' first time to the con, and my brother's first appearance since 2014.

4-year-old J was mesmerized by Ben's Funland, naturally.

The girls lasted about an hour, but seemed to really enjoy all the things... especially those that either moved or could be climbed upon.

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I played only two games this year. I did the sadistic Build-in-a-Bag...

And, on Saturday evening, I participated in a kind of Master Build game using pieces from one of the new LEGO Movie 2 sets...

Below: This set's designer, and Senior Designer for LEGO, Nicolaas Vas, signs autographs...

Earlier in the day, he gave a presentation and did a Q&A. Those who were in attendance got a ticket for the evening's game.

We were each given part of the set and told to build something. I built this...

Here are a few of the other builds. There was so much creativity!

This year I wanted to get a team together for Team Speed Build. I did recruit enough people to form a team. But the sign-up happened at 8pm Friday at the front desk, just as the nightly meeting was ending. By the time I got back to the hall, there was already a line in front of the sign-up sheets. By the time I reached the front of the line, all the slots were filled.

Bricks Cascade is great in so many ways, but I really wish they'd consider going electronic for game signups in the future. There are still occasional problems with this method, sure, but it's so much less stressful than the "first come" method. If I don't make it into a game, that's fine. But I guess I'd just rather that the reason be "random draw!" rather than "you didn't run out of the meeting early enough and camp out in front of the registration tables, fool."

In the end, though, the Team Speed Build took place in front of public on short tables, so really? Maybe not getting into it was for the best... this time.

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Meanwhile, out on the display tables...

My Kitchen Exhibition ballooned to 7...

...with the addition of a 1930s model...

...and an Edwardian vignette...

I had fun making an industrial Microscale playground...

A challenge was put out to make a MOC that included an "Octan" piece, and so Quacktan was hatched...

LEGO mazes aren't a novel concept, but I wanted to make one of my own. It was fun watching kids standing before it throughout the con with their little fingers moving around in the air, "tracing" their path to victory. :)

I also added 2 new "toy" MOCs -- the TV/music box and the Lite-Brite.

My modular LEGO store made its Bricks Cascade debut. (It's perpetually winterized, now, as it is expected to appear at future Festivals Of Trees...)

Green Gables: Version, uh.... I can't even remember. 4? 5? But it has interiors! And the fireplaces light up! More pictures to come... someday.

I've been bringing "Old West" MOCs off and on for a few years, and this year some folks wanted to do a full collaboration.

(The dinosaurs took over on Sunday.)

So I rebuilt my barn....

And also contributed my Dry Goods Store, Hotel, Abandoned House, and Sheriff's Office.

I also threw together this Superman mirror vignette that's based off an old Superfriends episode.

That's pretty much it for my MOCs... I think???

Here were some of my favorite builds from other people:

This was a really cool build... the TV screen "scrolled" and Mario really jumped!

That's it for this con! I've got another post coming up about BrickCan 2019, so keep an eye out for that!

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Previous Bricks Cascade blog posts:

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Glossy Time Capsules #11: The Disney Channel Magazine - June, 1985

Glossy Time Capsules #11

The Disney Channel Magazine

June, 1985

Price: Free for Disney Channel subscribers

I own exactly one issue of this magazine, which I only bought (at an estate sale or something) because it had Robin Hood on the cover.

However, perusing the list and photos of other issues, I'm beginning to desire more of these. Look at those covers! Pollyanna! Anne Shirley! Mary Poppins! Road to Avonlea! MISS BLISS!

We never had The Disney Channel growing up. It was presumably a Rich Kid Thing, and either I didn't know any kids of that status, or the ones I did know were too modest to mention that they got this premium channel.

The good news, for this deprived 80's child who didn't even have basic cable until the age of 17, was that a lot of the Disney movies debuting over there made their way onto regular ol' broadcast TV within a year or two, giving the rest of us a chance to enjoy them. As for those movies and shows that didn't cross the great divide, well, there was always the local video store or the public library, or... total obscurity.

Yes, sadly, there must have been a lot that didn't cross over, because looking at what was offered on The Disney Channel in good old 1985, I'm seeing a lot of unfamiliar faces....

The Red Balloon, sure, I know that one. It was one of those easily-accessible VHSes in the 80s that happened to also be rated G. Parents and teachers loved it.

I've lived my entire life, however, never hearing about nor seeing The Boatniks (1970), Sea Urchins (TV, 1980), The Golden Seal (1983), or Little Dragons....

Two Karate-Trained friends, a gang of Motorcycle Toughs, and a Trendy Grandfather!?!? Say no more! Movie over, all problems solved forever!!!

Xenophobia leads to attempted murder.... hmmm, where have we seen that before...? :(

A gang of young vandals -- my oh my! Well, at least they're only out to destroy a boat, not shoot someone's plane out of the sky.

Wow, The Disney Channel did seem to love showing movies that included "gangs." In Escapade In Florence, it's a gang of international art thieves.

TDC seemed to love thieves, too. In The Moon-Spinners, it's a jewel thief...

There also seemed to be an affinity for movies about heists in foreign lands.

Although you could occasionally have a good "antique art" mystery right at home...

But then, of course, there was the ULTIMATE Disney movie about gangs (of merry men) AND jewel thieves IN foreign lands (well, England)!! And that was none other than....

HECK YEAH ROBIN HOOD!

And, when all that got to be too much, you had Five Mile Creek, an Australian TV series about, um, coach drivers?

Nicole Kidman, though!

Meanwhile, in preschool programming...

Circus life... under the big top wor-orld....

SO MUCH TO SEE

NO TIME TO WASTE

And while you weren't able to see this on the Disney Channel (apparently?) you could certainly buy it on VHS and own it FOREVER...

Strangely, that's nearly it for ads in this magazine, although of course they would like us to buy some Disney merchandise, so long as we're here....

But why, in a legit Disney magazine, does Mickey Mouse look like a knockoff toy from a foreign land?

Is his face secretly filled with stolen jewels? Is this all part of an elaborate heist? Does it involve gangs? I really hope it does.

For $12.95, you could own a towel with the word Splash on it, in honor of the 1984 Tom Hanks/Daryl Hannah hit movie.

Which had, it seems, recently aired on The Disney Channel.

Ray Norman of Virginia even deigned to write in to announce that he's happy nothing "adult" was left out of the broadcast. No superimposed seashells on any mermaid breasts, thank you very much.

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So... what else did The Disney Channel Magazine offer its readers?

Why, articles, of course!