This time it’s from TV Tokyo, where five Legomaniacs created 1,000+ piece Lego hamster* wonderlands.
First up is the ‘exciting fruit paradise’ – with a pineapple wheel, grape tree jungle gym, melon ball pool and a banana see-saw. According to the narrator, ‘it’s a hamster paradise!’.
There’s also a *yawn* Robinson Crusoe recreation, a pretty cool ninja house, a modern transformable block house and bizarrely, the Metabolic Syndrome Reduction Training House (メタボ解消トレーニングハウス).
The latter is for chubby hamsters struggling with the dreaded Metabolic Syndrome, one of those crazy health problems that became a major buzzword a few years’ back in Japan. The Training House features a bicycle wheel with a dynamo mechanism to power the front lamp (above), a treadmill, dumb-bells and even mini vermin-sized scales to measure progress.
*The featured hamster looks more like a mouse without its tail cut off. Or do all hamsters look like that? More importantly, do hamsters taste like guinea pigs? If so, find five delicious recipe ideas here.
As a child my family used to make almost annual pilgrimages to a Lego exhibition. There was always a theme - deep in space, deep in the jungle, etc, all painstakingly created by Adult LEGO® Hobbyists (as they are known in the biz).
This year, Seattle’s BrickCon has given Legoists the theme Big in Japan to interpret in their own creation. The public exhibition starts in October, but Iain Heath has started work on his Totoro-inspired piece already (above). It seems Heath is some sort of amazing Lego/pop culture overachiever, as evident in his Arnifornia:
If only the stage text was legible, we might really understand his art.
Images from the Living Brick. Anyone know what 宮崎トピア means? I understand Miyazaki (as in Hayao) but the ‘topia’ part?
***UPDATE 24 APRIL 2010***
Iain has informed us that the Conan-inspired text reads:
Governor Schwarzenegger, what is best in life? “To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!”
While Miyazakitopia is the creative name for his BrickCon collection. (This should be have been quite obvious, however I was somehow confused and could only think about アトピ (atopi, dermatitis)…) Awesome, thanks Iain!
Cameron’s dad’s Ferrari is expected to fetch more than £30,000 at a Bonhams auction on April 19.
Sure it’s not a real 1961 Ferrari 250GT California Spyder (the producers commissioned two replicas, one which they destroyed in the film), but it is a real piece of movie history.
