Lego – M-13 Carbine

After noodling around with some blasters for a big mecha-robot I want to make, I refined some of those ideas to look a bit like a modern carbine.

It features all the usuals – muzzle brake, back up iron sights, adjustable stock, vertical fore grip, variable mode light, holographic sight.

Detachable holographic sight and box magazine.

The light is an all in one infared laser designator, infared light emitter, variable lumen and variable colour mode incandescent light.

Fun little project. Like all other Lego creations, I love walking that balance beam of trying to make something that is recognizable to someone as what I intended it to look like, what the parts as they exist allow me to do, what will function structurally, what I have available to me, what my imagination can come up with, etc. I may have said it before, but it’s just a great mental workout.

I kept trying to make the receiver as thin as possible. Lego has a 1x1 brick with an axle hole in it (part #6541), but being an axle hole it allows everything to spin. I wish they had a 1x1 with a keyhole in it (ie a hole that locks an axle element in place) but for whatever reason this doesn’t exist and I can’t really deduce a good reason why it doesn’t exist. There is however a 1x2 brick with a keyhole in it (part #32064), so I used it. Makes for a much wider receiver than I really wanted, but it did make for a very solid structure. All my efforts to keep it thin, meant a very weak structure. The stock is also much wider than I wanted, but once again the limitations of the pieces that exist, and that I had access to dictated the end result.

S.o.t.D. – Rebel Music (Dub Mix) – Bob Marley

Rebel Music (Bill Laswell’s Ambient Dub Mix) – Bob Marley

If I had to pick ten CDs to take to a desert island, Legend by Bob Marley and the Wailers would be on the list. But Bill Laswell’s ambient dub remix album of some of Robert Nesta Marley’s finest tracks, Dreams of Freedom from 1997 would also be on it.

S.o.t.D. – The King Is White And In The Crowd – Simple Minds

The King Is White And In The Crowd – Simple Minds

This is one of several bands whose first two or three records I thought were great (Human League, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) and who then become way too calculatedly poppy for my tastes.

S.o.t.D. – It’s You, It’s Me – Kaskade

It’s You, It’s Me – Kaskade

Love all that stuff coming out of the San Fran area in the late 90’s. Loads of smooth, sexy, funky house, like this.

S.o.t.D. – Swing – Japan

Swing – Japan

One of the very first bands that I got into. I didn’t like their first few albums as they were all a bit glammy. Their last two albums or so delved into a far richer and more complex sound. I still like this stuff thirty years on, and I think it has aged very well.

That bass line alone is just mental.

S.o.t.D. – Offering/Reminder – Saqi

Offering/Reminder – Saqi

Scale Clamshell Bucket

These are things my father made, and I think they’re so impressive I wanted to show them off.

I should explain that my dad was a watch maker, a tool and die maker, and an instrument (medical, not musical) maker. This explains why he had the skill and patience to do something this finicky and precise.

Among his many other interests he liked model trains. Sometime in the fifties, maybe sixties he made these in, I think it might be O scale, or maybe HO scale, clamshell bucket, also called a grab sometimes. 

The larger variant.

I’m no expert, but I believe clamshell buckets are used more for things like loading and unloading ore and aggregate, and dredging, and I think in sandy soil as well. I don’t believe these are used so much for excavation of hard soil and the like. 

This one works by means of a small pin and latch. It has to be tapped in order for it to open, ie. set the bucket down in the dump truck being loaded, the latch comes off the pin, it opens, the content spills out, it’s open for grabbing the next load, set it on the material to be picked up, the latch grabs the pin, it closes around the material, and can be hoisted for transferring.

I think on a real clamshell bucket, the operator can open and close the bucket from inside the crane. I don’t think the real ones need to be tapped in order for them to open. A limitation of the scale and the medium I suppose. But whatever, it works.

The first one he did was for I think O scale, or maybe HO scale, and then when it worked to his satisfaction he did one for HO scale, or maybe N scale.


He sawed and filed and drilled and machined all the parts from brass. In the smaller scale version, it’s a little over an inch wide and inch high.

After that he tackled an electro-magnetic one that could be opened and closed with the push of a button.

I’m under the impression that he designed these and sold the rights to a company, but he may have merely copied these to use for his own model train layout. It looks very similar to something a British company, Tri-ang sold. (Write-up about it. I gather it is very collectable and hard to find.) I really don’t know for sure what the facts are. Did he create this and sell it to Tri-ang, or merely copy it? He’s not around to ask any more. 

To me it’s just a great example of what an ingenious mind and talented hands can come up with.

S.o.t.D. – Tischtennis Im Regen – Das Kraftfuttermischwerk

Tischtennis Im Regen – Das Kraftfuttermischwerk

I like the description of this I found on their labels website. “Like a carefree boat trip down a meandering, gently flowing waterway on a balmy summer day that ends in the cool shade of a secluded tree-lined beach.”

S.o.t.D. – Sorrow – Future Bound

Sorrow – Future Bound

Smooth, jazzy D&B. The way it ought to be.

S.o.t.D. – Rue The Whirl – Boards of Canada

Rue The Whirl – Boards of Canada

I think...it may just be possible...that Boards of Canada is the recording project that in all my many years of listening to lots, and I do mean loooots of music, is the one that I love the most.

S.o.t.D. – Life’s What You Make It – Talk Talk

Life’s What You Make It – Talk Talk

Brilliant stuff.

S.o.t.D. – Tricky Tricky (Insinio Remix) – Röyksopp

Tricky Tricky (Insinio Remix) – Röyksopp

Funky little chugger, bit bubble gummy with the female vocals, but I like this.

Bibliophilia: A Story as Sharp as A Knife – Robert Bringhurst

A Story as Sharp as A Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World – Robert Bringhurst

Bringhurst wrote one of my bibles, Elements of Typographic Style (anyone who works with type needs to own and study this book diligently), but the man is an awe inspiring multi disciplinary wizard. Besides being a published poet with numerous works to his name, he is a noted and gifted book designer, studied architecture, linguistics, and physics at MIT, and comparative literature and philosophy at the University of Utah, has a BA from Indiana University and an MFA in creative writing from UBC. His list of accolades is lengthy. In addition to all that, he taught himself to read, write and speak Haida. He claims (and I don’t think it’s hyperbole) that the Haida myths rank among the great literature of the world.

S.o.t.D. – Space Shanty – Leftfield

Space Shanty – Leftfield

I mentioned a few days ago how Reeferendrum by Fluke has been a mainstay on workout mixes. Same goes for this amazing tune.

Lego – Blasters

Just a couple of ideas I whipped off tonight. I have ideas running around in my head for a mecha-robot thing I want to try making, and explored some ideas for a blaster thingy for it.

Nothing very serious, but a fun little thing to spend a half hour on. Some of the ideas work, others don’t. But to me that is part of the fun of designing anything. They’ve already been ripped apart to try another approach. Eventually I’ll end up with something that feels right.

6° of History Teacher

I’d met Carren a few times through my friend Michelle at shows. Michelle and I were at a concert and I mentioned how I needed a veterinary second opinion, and/or needed a different vet. 

“Oh talk to Carren. She works for a vet, who happens to also be her next door neighbour.”
I pull out my little phone book to write her name and number down, and ask for her full name so I can put it under the correct letter.
“Carren Elder.”
“Hey my grade 7 and 8 history and geography teacher was named Elder.”
“Uhm...was his name Nelson by any chance?”
“Yeah!”
“That’s her dad!”

He was one of my favourite teachers. In grade 7 history I ended up with, get this, 109 as my final mark. I got perfect on all the tests, one mark short of perfect on the exam, and then he also had a bonus project that people who were doing really bad could do for some extra marks. The project was on Vikings. Uh, hello? Vikings? Awesome! How could I not do something on that!? So I did that as well. Got perfect on it. He said it was the highest mark anyone had ever gotten in all his years of teaching.

Carren and I get on really well, and I’ve been at their house a bunch of times over the years. Kind of funny hanging out with your childhood teacher as an adult. I kept referring to him as Mr. Elder.

“It’s all right, you can call me by my given name you know.”

“Okay Mr. Elder. I mean Nelson.”

And in another funny small world twist, my girlfriend was in a choir that Carren’s mother was in also. The two of them got along very well. Amusing when the connection emerged.

S.o.t.D. – Failure – Swans

Failure – Swans

Dire, dour and depressing, yet achingly beautiful. I can’t help but love Swans.

Sosoetry – Leo Zulueta

I’ve been a huge admirer of Leo Zulueta for a long time. I first saw his work in 1982’s Tattoo Time #1: New Tribalism, and I was hooked. My pal Mike gave me a copy of his Borneo designs book a while after that. Seeing examples of his work in magazines over the years, and then the segment devoted to him in Modern Primitives cemented it all.

My friend Anthony Veilleux went down to LA back in 1993 and worked at his shop for a fortnight. Later Anthony turned one of the pieces of flash that Leo and Alex Pacheco had collaborated on into a 3D version. 

I finally got to meet him at the 2002 Northern Ink Xposure, and really enjoyed chatting with him. 

The next year he came down to the shop for a guest stint. Super fun to hang out with him and his wife Dianne Mansfield. Getting to see all of his portfolios and photo albums was really inspiring.

My birthday happened to fall during the time he was here, so he offered to do a tattoo for my birthday. I had a folder full of designs I had done, so I just let him pick one he wanted to do.

Great fun. After hanging out with him for a week, I jotted down this little poem about him.

(Leo also appeared on an episode of the terrific, but far too short lived show Tattoo Wars. 

Two excerpts.

http://tlc.discovery.com/videos/tattoo-wars-shorts-tattoo-macine.html

http://tlc.discovery.com/videos/tattoo-wars-shorts-godfather-of-tribal.html

About the only tattoo magazine I ever bother with any more is Tattoo Artist magazine. While you need a subscription to read the whole article, it does show a few pictures.
http://www.tattooartistmagazine.com/issue6/leozulueta.html)

Leo Zulueta is a wee Filipino
but has the power of El Nino
from a young age he had an interest in body arts
but felt there had to be more than roses and hearts
when he was a young punk
he didn’t go for that old junk
so he began to study and draw
but his talent was still raw
he was tutored by Don Ed Hardy
who wouldn’t tolerate him being tardy
got mad when he came in inebriated
and praised him when he created
“go forth and learn Leo
about the art of Borneo
study the designs of Samoa and Fiji
the tattoos of Tahiti and Hawaii”
his efforts anything but halfassed
he realized the future lay in the past
when they put together “New Tribalism”
did they realize it would unleash revivalism
he brought to prominence a style
that had been dormant for a while
did what many folks thought unviable
the reemergence of an idea named tribal
his awesome work at Black Wave
made him many peoples fave 

“we saw that work and something overcame us”
everyone from the unknown to the famous
from rockstar to office clerk
all wanted some of his fine work
including Motley Crues Tommy Lee
who he’d just as soon never again see
he’s one of the worlds great tattooers
one of that scenes shakers and doers
he knows this art has survived the ages
because it contains the wisdom of the sages
carefully etching in thick black lines
he grasps these are timeless designs
he really values the negative space
and it’s contribution to flow and pace
putting in shapes that are bold
because he knows they’ll hold
when he gets into the groove
his needles deftly move
he tattoos very gently
like a ride in a fancy Bentley
he makes it feel like a ritual
so nice it could become habitual
his library is a bibliophiles cornucopia
for lovers of smut it’s a porn utopia
his sartorial style is really tip top 

dapper even when wearing flip flops
scooting past on his long board
with all the grace of a regal lord 

S.o.t.D. – Zero Gravitation (Beatless Remix) – Johan Agebjörn

Zero Gravitation (Beatless Remix) – Johan Agebjörn

A tune to listen to while you spacewalk for sure.

Lego – Tattoo Machine

After sitting around with friends tinkering with tattoo machines I had the idea to try making one out of Lego.

Boy is this thing light.

Okay, so I was thinking of doing a sleeve with a wizard riding on a gryphon doing battle with a barbarian riding on a dragon.

He likes it!

Turns out someone has built an actual functioning tattoo machine out of Lego.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5NmLDMSzGA&feature=player_embedded

V = B0 + B1 *Dˆ B2 + B3 *Dˆ B4 *Hˆ B5

On a wander through the Royal Botanical Gardens a while back, I came upon a neat piece of art.

It’s on a side path, one that only leads to a locked service gate, so I wonder how many people actually get to see it. From a distance it almost appears to be a bunker.

V = B0 + B1 *Dˆ B2 + B3 *Dˆ B4 *Hˆ B5 is the mathematical equation used by foresters to calculate the total cubic volume of wood in a tree by measuring its girth and height while it is still standing.

Using this formula, science and conservation staff of Royal Botanical Gardens calculated the total volume of this red oak (killed by gypsy moths) before it was cut down.

The resulting work is the entire tree, from the largest sections of the trunk to the smallest branches, cut into cubes and packed as a solid block in its original location.

The artist is Neville Gabie, who hails from the UK and the piece was done in 2008.

Some more info about this and some of the other exhibits can be found here.