Subject:
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Re: My fifteen minutes--master builder competition prep
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.mediawatch
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Date:
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Wed, 21 Jan 2004 02:54:13 GMT
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Viewed:
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2034 times
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In lugnet.mediawatch, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
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Maybe I can get Derek to call me and read the article aloud while I imagine a
photo of him.
-Brendan
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As much as I like the idea of Brendan fantasizing about me, here’s the
article...how many mistakes can you find? ;)
Derek
Career possible for LEGO buff
By Stephen Curran/Staff Writer
Capt. Derek Schin likes to play with LEGOs, but make no mistake: At his house
they aren’t toys.
In fact, any time friends with children visit his Santa Maria townhouse, the
children are strictly forbidden from entering what the average 8-year-old would
easily consider the coolest room in the house.
Upstairs, in what would normally be a master bedroom, the 29-year-old Air Force
missile operator and Pennsylvania native keeps his prized possessions - a
poster-sized self portrait, a New York Jets football helmet, a likeness of
“South Park” character Eric Cartman, a World War II-era B-25 bomber, and
countless smaller creations - all made from the multicolored blocks.
LEGOs are such a part of Schin’s life that he was sought out by an online
recruiter from the LEGOLAND amusement park in Carlsbad to compete for their
Master Builder position.
On Friday, Schin will compete against 26 other LEGO aficionados for the job in a
two-hour “build-off.”
“It would be a tremendous job,” Schin said. “Playing with LEGOs for a living is
hard to beat.”
The only problem is that the job - building and maintaining structures at the
park - pays $32,000 per year, about half what the Air Force Academy alumnus
normally earns, he said.
“I haven’t made up my mind,” Schin said.
Either way, Schin doesn’t expect his passion for LEGOs to dwindle any time soon.
He estimates that the likeness of Cartman, a TV cartoon character, took only a
few hours to build, but the airplane and helmet took about 30 hours. He created
the self-portrait using a special computer photography program a friend devised
to translate any image into LEGOs.
Fortunately, the fragile helmet was on his desk at Vandenberg Air Force Base
when the San Simeon Earthquake struck on Dec. 22. Cartman didn’t fare as well;
he had to be rebuilt, Schin said.
Schin believes he represents a growing national trend, people in their 20s and
30s who still enjoy the challenge of assembling complicated structures and
likenesses from the Danish toys, most of whom gather on one of several Web sites
devoted to LEGO enthusiasts.
On Lugnet.com - the International LEGO Users Group Network to which Schin
belongs - members frequently have spirited debates about issues important to
older LEGO builders.
The most recent controversy involves a slight change in the color of the gray
blocks, he said, holding up one of the new ones. Users also trade and sell
individual blocks of the more rare colors, he said, the most sought-after being
Maersk Blue, a shade created especially for the Danish shipping company.
Those blocks can fetch up to $5 or $6 each, he said. More common ones sell for
about 30 cents.
“If I get enough of these I can retire,” Schin said jokingly. “I’ll just keep my
money in LEGOs.”
Builders often divide themselves into two camps, he said. Those who consider
themselves purists use only the traditional blocks and design their work for
more artistic purposes. Others subscribe to a more progressive philosophy, using
the motorized Technic sets and newer Mindstorm packages, which incorporate
computers and infrared lights into the designs, he said.
However, there are strict rules to which both sides subscribe. For example, it
is considered a “cardinal sin” to cut or file the blocks. Using non-LEGO
knockoffs is not against the rules, but is frowned upon, Schin said.
Schin subscribes to the more traditional school of LEGO thought, using the
blocks as a creative release, he added.
“Well, I can’t sing and I’m not much of an artist,” Schin said. “So I build with
LEGOs.”
Derik Schin holds up his New York Jets helmet made of LEGOs, which took him
around 30 hours to design and put together. ///Photos by Aaron Lambert/Staff
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