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The Brick
Testament has been updated today with six new illustrated stories from the book
of 1 Samuel. It is the beginning of a brand new section of the website entitled
David vs Saul:
Saul Tries to Kill David
David Mutilates 200, Gets Married
Saul Tries to Kill David Again
Everybody in a Frenzy
Jonathan and David
David Lies to a Priest
(NOTE: For anyone unfamiliar with The Brick Testament or the Bible, please take
note of the content warnings for the stories before viewing.)
Enjoy,
-The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith
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Hey Brendan,
As usual, superlative work in every way! I was especially entertained by seeing
your reflection in the soldier’s chrome 2x2 dish shield about 4 or 5 pictures
into “Saul tries to kill David.”
Dave S.
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In lugnet.build.ancient, David Simmons wrote:
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As usual, superlative work in every way!
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Thanks, Dave!
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I was especially entertained by
seeing your reflection in the soldier’s chrome 2x2 dish shield about 4 or 5
pictures into “Saul tries to kill David.”
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Good eye. At some point after I started using the reflective silver armor for
Saul and Jonathan, I noticed that occasionally the reflections are a little too
clear for comfort. It was sort of troublesome for me because such details can
ruin the illusion of The Brick Testament being an all-LEGO world. The
reflections can reveal a nearby work area with piles of disheveled LEGO parts
lying around on a non-LEGO surface, or a distorted view of the photographer
snapping the photo. Or even
both! Yikes!
I assume you were referencing
this image where you actually get two views of me. Then there’s
this one with the subliminal advertisement for the
Ten
Commandments book (look in the shield on the right). That was not actually
intentional. I have a
giant poster of that book cover mounted on a big piece of foamboard, and I use
it sometimes to block the direct rays of the sun that come in through the
windows of my photo area.
Might be a good way to work in some easter eggs in the future, though.
Best,
-Brendan
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
<snip>
We missed you at Brickworld.
JOHN
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In lugnet.build.ancient, John Neal wrote:
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We missed you at Brickworld.
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That’s sweet. It really doesn’t feel right that I haven’t made it to a ‘fest
since PDX 2004. But at that event I made a foolish promise to some spacers that
at the next ‘fest I attend I’ll have a moonbase module.
Now I’ve been working on one for three years and it’s larger than any convention
hall could possibly contain. And by the time of the next Brickfest it will be
larger than the Earth’s moon itself.
At least I was wise enough not to make any promises to the trainheads.
-Brendan
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In lugnet.people, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
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In lugnet.build.ancient, John Neal wrote:
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We missed you at Brickworld.
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That’s sweet. It really doesn’t feel right that I haven’t made it to a ‘fest
since PDX 2004. But at that event I made a foolish promise to some spacers
that at the next ‘fest I attend I’ll have a moonbase module.
Now I’ve been working on one for three years and it’s larger than any
convention hall could possibly contain. And by the time of the next
Brickfest it will be larger than the Earth’s moon itself.
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Are you, by chance, married to Morgan Fairchild?
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At least I was wise enough not to make any promises to the trainheads.
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Well, there you go. We’ll see you in Detroit;-)
JOHN
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Hey Brendan,
Another great outing.
Pin the spear on the minstrel - I like the inset pillars on the wall of Saul’s
main hall. Also, the spear decoration is a nice idea, but I’m not 100% on the
execution. I wish the clips for the third and fifth spears were somehow in a
nicer arch with the other clips. I don’t have a good build solution to do so,
though. In 10-11 that’s a great solution to account for both whatever’s holding
the spears and also the holes in that tapestry piece and make them naturally
part of the scene. In 12, is there a specific identity for the guy standing
next to David who’s not just another soldier? He’s not in the next two scenes.
Unique wedding gifts - In the first scene I really like the front of that
building. What are those squares - the bases of jack stone pillars? Also the
wheel above the door is great - is that simply held by gravity? I do think
there are missed opportunities in this story for references to your homoerotic
reading of David and Jonathan - perhaps Jonathan should be hiding out watching
Michal watching David? In 18:22 I like the wall detail of having a gap with
studs above and below. Great floor patern as usual. A barrel overflowing with
bloody foreskins is gory in the manner we all want from the BT. In the wedding
scene, I love the flower garland. Threading those must have been a bear.
If at first you don’t succeed, kill kill again - Hmm, in 1-3 I don’t think that
lid is going to fit the barrel - won’t Saul be suspicious when he see’s David’s
fingers holding it up? :) The bridge, complete with Jar-jar head, is
outstanding. Is that head merely propped up there? I also like the micro
castle in the background - I’ll have to note that on microbricks. The scene of
lowering David out of the window is very effective, and using the teddybear as a
decoy is funny.
Do the hokey pokey - Hmm, I’m not a big fan of the teepee; it seems very out of
place, though once you’ve committed to teepees, the microscale versions are a
cute solution. In 24, the tall naked Saul is surprisingly effective.
BFF - More forays into the homoerotic reading of David and Jonathan. While I
understand that this is a potential reading of this relationship, and it fits in
with the less than reverent treatment in general, I do have to say that I don’t
like way that some will assume that any close male relationship must be so
(like, for instance, Jesus and John, or Frodo and Sam) (btw, I’m not saying that
you do this in general), especially in this case since David is sort of
aggressively heterosexual - multi wives, having Uriah killed because he was
lusting after Bathsheba, many children. Of course one could argue that this
simply says he was aggressively sexual and that he could have been bi, but this
was in a very anti-homosexual culture. Anyway, I’m sure others have discussed
the relationship of David and Jonathan to death, and I’m generally more
interested in the LEGO aspects. That said, the “running into the field” scene
is great and very romantic - maybe it could have used a few flowers in the
field. In general this whole story was very well shot. In 33 I particularly
like how the spear is suspended off-screen. In 35,41 I don’t think the kneeling
David works very well - at first I was confused as to what that was supposed to
be. In 41 there’s a nice subtle bending of David’s legs that is effective.
Hee hee, he said “nob” - The floor here is very nice. At first I thought it was
a headlight mosaic, but it’s just plain old studs-up tiles (hmm, maybe that’s an
oxymoron). Also the wall made of Jack Stone pillars is good. Doeg lurking in
the background is very effective. I assume we’ll see him again. I like the
all-yellow alcove set off from the gray room. In that alcove, what is the
groove in the wall about 6 bricks above the floor? For some reason I’m not a
fan of the cloth wrapped around the sword - it somehow seems “unLEGO”, even
though I assume that is official.
Looking forward to the next installments.
Bruce
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In lugnet.build.ancient, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
Thanks!
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Pin the spear on the minstrel - I like the inset pillars on the wall of
Saul’s main hall.
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Those are the very same pillars seen in Saul’s throne room. Modular building is
fun.
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Also, the spear decoration is a nice idea, but I’m not
100% on the execution. I wish the clips for the third and fifth spears were
somehow in a nicer arch with the other clips. I don’t have a good build
solution to do so, though.
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Yeah, I tired out numerous configurations of elements to try to get a nice fan
shape for the spears and that was the one that looked best, but it’s not
perfect.
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In 10-11 that’s a great solution to account for
both whatever’s holding the spears and also the holes in that tapestry piece
and make them naturally part of the scene.
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Behind the tapestry’s hole is a 1x2 technic brick with the cross-shaped hole,
and the spear is wedged into that to hold it up.
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In 12, is there a specific
identity for the guy standing next to David who’s not just another soldier?
He’s not in the next two scenes.
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That’s David’s armor bearer. He’s not mentioned in the Bible, but it seems like
the custom is for the leaders of the army to have their own armor-bearers (like
Jonathan and Saul have in other stories) so I figured David should have one. I
think originally I was going to have him holding more of David’s armor. Getting
this series of photos right was a little tricky because it’s where I’m having
David age into a new look. I didn’t want him to be wearing his helmet in this
first shot of him as an adult so that the red hair could be the continuity to
tell you that this is the same character. I think I was going to have the armor
bearer holding his helmet, but then decided the helmet was just too gigantic and
messed up the scene.
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Unique wedding gifts - In the first scene I really like the front of that
building. What are those squares - the bases of jack stone pillars?
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Yes. I had noted that the bottoms of those pillars had a nice shape, and wanted
to try using them in some sort of patterned surface.
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Also the wheel above the door is great - is that simply held by gravity?
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Yes, again. Gravity: the secret LEGO connector.
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I do think there are missed opportunities in this story for
references to your homoerotic reading of David and Jonathan
- perhaps Jonathan should be hiding out watching Michal
watching David?
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Maybe. Didn’t want to overdo it, though. I did have Jonathan crying at David’s
wedding. But I really didn’t want to put too much in there that’s not stated in
the Bible.
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In the wedding scene, I love the flower garland. Threading
those must have been a bear.
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Yeah, that was no fun. :) And then out of the photos I took for that wedding
scene, I almost decided on one where you couldn’t see the garland at all. But
my desire to show off my threading work won the day.
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If at first you don’t succeed, kill kill again - Hmm, in 1-3 I don’t think
that lid is going to fit the barrel - won’t Saul be suspicious when he see’s
David’s fingers holding it up? :)
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Heh. Too true.
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The bridge, complete with Jar-jar head, is outstanding.
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Thanks. I like how that scene turned out. I was getting tired of all the
photos set in Saul’s throne room, so I wanted a very different looking location
for some of the shots set at Saul’s royal palace.
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Is that head merely propped up there?
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Again, it’s gravity at work. And a little friction, I guess. I had tried
connecting Jar-jar’s head in some standard way, but it looked too bulky. To
have it stay in place like that, though, I had to tilt the whole scene up in the
foreground, so the head is leaning back against the bridge.
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Do the hokey pokey - Hmm, I’m not a big fan of the teepee; it seems very out
of place, though once you’ve committed to teepees, the microscale versions
are a cute solution.
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It’d an odd choice I realize. A few translations refer to the “huts” at Ramah,
and I didn’t know quite how to portray that. Seems to be some sort of prophet
summer camp or something.
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BFF - More forays into the homoerotic reading of David and Jonathan. While I
understand that this is a potential reading of this relationship, and it fits
in with the less than reverent treatment in general,
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I’m not sure I’d agree that portraying Jonathan and David’s relationship as
ambiguously homosexual is irreverent. That implies that not doing so (or doing
the opposite) would be reverent?
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I do have to say that I don’t like way that some will assume
that any close male relationship must be so (like, for instance,
Jesus and John, or Frodo and Sam)
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I think it’s far more pervasive to assume that any close relationship between a
male and a female is romantic/sexual. But people rarely take offense at that.
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especially in this case since David is
sort of aggressively heterosexual - multi wives, having Uriah
killed because he was lusting after Bathsheba, many children.
Of course one could argue that this simply says he was
aggressively sexual and that he could have been bi,
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Yes, if indeed the author of 1 Samuel intended the character of David to have
homosexual feelings toward Jonathan, then I think we would have to label such a
David as bisexual. Unless all of that heterosexual stuff was some huge cover-up
operation. :) But that’s not my theory.
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but this was in a very anti-homosexual culture. Anyway, I’m sure others
have discussed the relationship of David and Jonathan to death, and I’m
generally more interested in the LEGO aspects.
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Basically I am trying to follow the text in not explicitly interpreting the
relationship as homosexual, but illustrating it in a way that captures the
suggestiveness and ambiguousness of the text. It’s entirely possible that the
author of 1 Samuel did not intend for the relationship to be seen as homosexual
at all, but in that case, the author chose some pretty surprising ways to
describe it.
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In 33 I particularly like how the spear is suspended off-screen.
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There’s some LEGO support holding it in place, but I’ve already forgotten what I
used. But I agree that shot came out well.
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In 35,41 I don’t think the kneeling David works very well - at
first I was confused as to what that was supposed to be.
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That’s a shame. I thought I’d finally come up with a good way to show someone
in a prostrate position, but I guess it doesn’t come across so well.
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Hee hee, he said “nob” - The floor here is very nice. At first I thought it
was a headlight mosaic, but it’s just plain old studs-up tiles (hmm, maybe
that’s an oxymoron).
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I was so pleased when tan, light gray, and dark gray 2x2 tiles became available
at LEGO.com’s Pick-a-Brick! And yeah, this pattern came out awfully similar to
ones I’ve done with the headlight bricks.
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Doeg lurking in the background is very effective. I assume we’ll
see him again.
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Yes, in fact, I’ve already shot some more scenes with Doeg for the next set of
stories.
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I like the all-yellow alcove set off from the gray room. In that alcove,
what is the groove in the wall about 6 bricks above the floor?
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That’s a 2x12 brick with the slat for the hinged garage pieces.
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For some reason I’m not a fan of the cloth wrapped around the
sword - it somehow seems “unLEGO”, even though I assume that
is official.
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It is indeed official, but hard to recognize when wrapped up like that. Wasn’t
sure how else to portray a sword “wrapped in linen”.
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Looking forward to the next installments.
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Me too!
Very nice to have you comments again, Bruce.
-Brendan
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Awesome work as always Brendan.
Interesting way to use hinge bricks for minifigs, it’s surprising you didn’t do
so earlier (as far as I remember).
On a separate note, gay men the world over have used the “Jonathan & David”
couple for centuries as an example to try and get the church to accept
homosexuality.
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