“You know, it’s a bit silly having that ‘worst’ rating for this Lego 250 review series. I mean, I’m a fan. Most of the sets I bought myself. It’s a bit much to expect that I’m going to hate many of them. Anyway, let’s see what I’ve got next……………….. Ah.” Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW: 76064 SPIDERMAN vs GREEN GOBLIN”
Month November 2019
FOR OUR BLAKE
It was eight weeks ago today that Blake left us. Today, Luscious and I had these done.
“Me hath the main of much bereaved.” (Sonatorrek, Stanza 10*)
My chest, Luscious’ arm. The vikingr compass he wore above his heart.
For our boy.
(*This comes from the translation I read at Blake’s funeral. If it’s incorrect, or you have greater knowledge, please don’t tell us right now. It’s not our time to hear it.)
LEGO 250 REVIEW:70911 PENGUIN’S ARCTIC ROLLER
Naturally, when you hate a movie, the first thing you do is run out and buy the merch, right? In other news, the Lego Batman Movie makes the Lego 250 review list. Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW:70911 PENGUIN’S ARCTIC ROLLER”
LEGO 250 REVIEW: 9441 KAI’S BLADE CYCLE
When is Lego at it’s absolute best? When it combines playability, rebuildability, and a certain insanity in its design brief.
On a completely unassociated topic, it’s time to introduce Ninjago to our Lego 250 review list. Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW: 9441 KAI’S BLADE CYCLE”
C/2-1 = 1000E
I turned 49 this week. Lucky me: I’ve now lived longer than the likes of Hawley Harvey Crippen, Al Capone, Joseph McCarthy, and Charles I.
I won’t deny, it’s not a good time. After a positive start to the year, everything has turned to dust. My weight has ballooned again. My writing has shrivelled and died. All the things I can to Karratha to achieve have faded and become ash. I’m sunk in misery, and it’s no real secret as to the reasons behind it– firstly, the death of my father, and the realisation of just how little it meant to me; and then, of course, the loss of our son Blake to suicide. Against such things, and the grief under which our family is struggling, it’s hard to find any positives in the world.
They exist, of course, in the lives that our other children are living, and the plans we see them making and carrying out. And I’ll talk more about those elements of our life more in my yearly round-up.
For now, I take pleasure in the gifts I have received from my loving family, and simply hope that my 50th journey around the sun brings better experiences than my 49th. It surely couldn’t bring worse.
LEGO 250 REVIEW: 60194 ARCTIC SCOUT TRUCK
Time for another Lego 250 review. It’s beyond time we left all the licencing, and special themes, and special events, and bells and whistles and falderal and gewgaw behind, and concentrated on the core of Lego’s popularity. The base upon which all other themes stand. The gold standard. The theme that lit the flame of our childhood creativity and remains central to Lego’s plan for plastic domination.
It’s time we talked Lego City.
Sort of.
Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW: 60194 ARCTIC SCOUT TRUCK”
DAY TWO
Day two of my self-enforced return to writing via Nanowrimo. I’ve set myself a target of 500 words per day, and so far, I’ve managed just that. 506 yesterday, 780 today. Small feed compared to some of the days I’ve had in the past, but the past is just that. Nothing I’ve done before matters.
I’ve managed two five hundred-word days in a row, for the first time in at least two years. So far, so good.
ON WRITING, OR THE NOT THEREOF, OR FINDING YOUR FEET IN THE DARK WITH YOUR EYES POKED OUT.
It’s been a terrible couple of years. For a variety of reasons — workplace bullying, depression, and family tragedies being amongst those you know about — my writing output since Magrit saw publication in 2016 has dropped to zero, and that only because it’s impossible to write negative numbers of words. I haven’t sold anything in something like two years, haven’t seen myself in print since I don’t know when, and earlier this year decided that I was no longer going to consider myself a writer. That course had run itself. I was toasted.
LEGO 250 REVIEW: 7950 KNIGHT’S SHOWDOWN
From the futury-futureness of space, to the Lieberal Party dreamscape of the medieval past. Today’s Lego 250 review touches on one of the mainstays of the Lego empire — at least until Harry Potter came along and fucked it up for everybody — the world of knights and armour.
Lee Battersby 