Are You Kidding Me? A Working Lego Turntable! – I Really Want This!

March 26, 2015 / ds barrett / 4 Comments

Anyone having read this blog knows that I love Lego and I LOVE vinyl. Well, holy rotating crap Batman!… some beautiful genius in South Korea has combined them to create this gorgeous working turntable.

So, I’m looking at my Facebook page and this video pops up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFSXsOpm2MY

Now, having watched the youtube video, it does sound like crap, but youtube has a whole bunch of working turntables built with lego… they also sound like crap.

The one from the video uses parts from an audiotechnica with Lego, and puts the sound out through speakers that are also built from Lego. I would be curious to hear it with real speakers. In fact, I would be curious to see a turntable built with Lego and really great parts from an old turntable that could be run through a stereo. To date it seems that the ‘master builders’ have been using Lego motors instead of the ones housed in a real record player. So, it might be a great project for someone to try using the Lego for buttons, switches and housing while getting the internals to work with genuine turntable parts. Having no electronics aptitude, it isn’t a good project for me, but someone could probably do a good job.

AND – when they do – I want one!

With a Lego instruction booklet so that I can put it together and feel like an eight year old genius who just built a turntable out of lego… first play would go to the White Stripes.

Here is the original article that got me dreaming about this.

D’oh – I waited too long! Or Simpsons House almost gone – Kwik-E-Mart almost here!

March 26, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

I had an awesome birthday last year. Small gathering of family, good conversation, and people who know me well enough to pick the most awesome of gifts… it was a great day!

My wife and kids got me this:

How cool is that eh!

It took almost ten hours to build which I did over several sittings and it now has a place where it is prominently displayed so that the world can see just how much of a geek I truly am. For any of you thinking about it, the original price tag is a hefty one, and the re-sale value is through the roof.

First thing to know is that the Lego store still has them priced at $229.99 Canadian. Unfortunately they also have marked it as ‘Hard To Find’ which means that it will soon slip into the Sold Out category.

Resellers on e-bay are already listing new & unopened sets at over $300.00 American. It is crazy, but once the set sells out some people will be willing to pay that price or more. Depending on how you see this (toy vs. collectible) it really isn’t surprising. The show has hit 25 years while still remaining popular, and the Lego set has 2523 pieces and is detailed from the garage right down to the ‘property of Ned Flanders’ barbecue. The original set was sold with six minifigures, while 16 others were sold separately in individual packages. Some kids at my sons birthday parties were getting up close and personal with the minifigures, even reading the little things that characters had in their hands.

In Fact, even the minifigures are going at crazy prices for the complete set of 16. The lowest price I spoted on kijiji was $90.00 while most people were asking well over a hundred. If you like them, but don’t want to pay those prices, a new set of Simpsons minifigs will be going on sale May 1.

Of course that is also the day that Lego releases the Kwik -E- Mart.

Direct from the Lego store it is also priced at $229.99, has 2179 pieces and includes minifigures of Homer, Marge, Bart, Apu, Chief Wiggum and Snake. It looks very cool.

Now, how many days until July?

Superchunk: I Hate Music … (Just Kidding, because no one can hate music and do it this well)

February 21, 2015 / ds barrett / 1 Comment

There were quite a few bands that my roommate was into that took a bit of time for me to agree on. Usually it was pretty back and forth; I introduced him to Dinosaur Jr, he replied with Urge Overkill; I put on the Lemonheads and he replies with Sugar, but some stuff didn’t really stick.

Superchunk was one of those bands for me. I could appreciate what he was hearing, but other than the odd song (“Slack Motherfucker” is a frickin’ anthem of undeniable proportion) I just couldn’t get beyond the throwing then into a mix tape. Full albums just kinda slipped by me and never stood out in the collection as more than filler space.

So here we are more than twenty years later and Superchunk has me re-evaluating my attitude with an awesome frickin’ record, that even makes my kids play air guitar. Of course their excitement might have more to do with the fan made Lego video for “FOH”, but they really don’t need to apologise for that.

“Me & You & Jackie Mittoo” bursts out with ‘anthemic’ glee as Mac McCaughan sings “I hate music – what is it worth?/ Can’t bring anyone back to this earth / Or fill in the space between all of the notes / But I got nothing else so I guess here we go.”

I Hate Music is a brilliant alt-rock masterpiece that arrives twenty years after such things were ‘so-called’ fashionable. It’s fuzzed out guitars and vocals seeped in blasts to match. The overall sentiment a ‘tongue in cheek’ “screw you – I play rock ‘n’ roll because I want to, mixed with some of the darker crap that comes with… well for lack of a better term – being a fuckin’ adult.

http://www.mergerecords.com/i-hate-music

Beyond the tunes, the vinyl packaging for I Hate Music is phenomenal. For just a couple bucks more than the standard black disc, you get 150 gram coloured vinyl with a extra 7” inch single of unreleased material… and the damn 45 is white vinyl to boot. (You also get the download card, to put the album on your device of choice.)

So now that I Hate Music has finished playing I’m looking through my old CD’s for Superchunk’s Foolish with a sheepish grin on my face. I’m wondering if I should have been paying closer attention to my roommates pontificating about the finer points of Afghan Whigs or the Archers of Loaf or…

Lego Ghostbusters- Collectors Corner

January 28, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

With Paul Feig having announced his cast for the Ghostbusters re-boot, I figured it as a good time as any to look the original series in Lego. For those of you that didn’t know, Ecto 1 was released in the popular brick toy along with mini figures of the cast a few months back. The unique thing about this project is that the idea for it didn’t come from the minds of Lego itself, but rather from Lego fans and enthusiasts.

http://shop.lego.com/en-CA/Ghostbusters-Ecto-1-21108

Starting a couple years ago Lego started a line called Lego Ideas. Fans were asked to create their own designs and submit pictures to be evaluated and voted on. Lego Ghostbusters is in fact number 6 in the series. Others have included the Back To The Future Delorien, a Minecraft set, NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover, and a few others.

What’s cool about this is the process with which they get picked. As mentioned before, the fan (designer) submits plans and photos to lego. The picture is posted on the Lego site and if it gets 10000 votes by people who visit said web page, it goes before a review board. The board then decides if the design gets built, and if it does, not only do you get credit for the design, but you also get a portion of the royalties. (for more info go to https://ideas.lego.com/howitworks) Other sets being considered right now include:

The Big Bang Theory

Doctor Who

Star Wars – Lightsabres

The good news is that some of the sets are still available. The bad news is that it likely won’t be for much longer. You can still buy the set at normal retail prices from the Lego Store, but a peek at e-bay shows people already trying to make an unhealthy profit in the collector market.

Collectors Corner – Christmas Lego

December 19, 2014 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

Collector’s Corner – Christmas Edition #2

So you’re in a panic about what to get that favorite someone. They like puzzles. They like Christmas. They like to be surprised. Well folks, Lego isn’t just for kids. It is a (depending on the set) giant jigsaw puzzle that once put together is cool collectible and talking point. They look great on the top of a bookshelf, an end table or on a display shelf.

Or…

If you get a Christmas set, putting it together each year can be a tradition.

And…

If you get tired of it, you can sell it on e-bay for about three times what you paid.

“WTF” you say… well I’m deadly serious about this.

The right set of Lego has extremely high resale value. Take the 2012 Christmas set.

Released in the fall of 2011 as Lego set 10222 Winter Village, it had 822 bricks and sold for $79.99 in Canada.

Take a quick trip to e-bay and it is being sold for anywhere between $250 and $400 USD.

“But that’s INSANE” you scream!

Maybe so, but Lego isn’t just a cool gift. If you have all the pieces and keep the box in good condition, it doesn’t matter that it is opened, the right set will hold the value or better.

This year’s Christmas set falls under the Lego Creator banner has 883 bricks and is called Santa’s Village (set #10245). It sells for $89.99 in Canada.

Even as I’m writing this the online Lego site is sold out, but the Lego Stores still have stock. They also have the Winter Village Market (set #10235) which sells for $129.99.

It is also sold out online but still in Lego stores.

So, it is either a good purchase as a collectible or an investment. Of course, I’d rather build it as part of the holiday tradition, but I’m a bit of a geek that way.

barrettbites

Vinyl and Collectibles reviewed and geeked about!

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