LEGO Kabuki, and Other Stuff

This figure from the Kabuki stage is a helpful commoner who assists the hero by hatcheting a mooring cable on a river ferry. I couldn't replicate his hair properly, so I did some guess work.

Only one more to go, and then I start on LEGO Zulu Wars!


The job hunt continues, with some helpful mentoring and guidance. I've been looking at companies in California as well as here in Minnesota, and the art of tailoring my personal-self pitch has been a fun and challenging enterprise.




I actually finished this weeks ago and delivered it weeks ago [sic redundancy], but haven't put it up on this blog before (I think). So this was a birthday gift commission, playing up the couple's shared interest in poodles, pottery throwing, and stand-up comedy. Pretty fun job! I do commissions like this, too, if you out there in IRL-Land need a snappy gift...



In a 180 degree turn, a few days ago, while I was on a walk, I saw the most amazing thing. But before I can tell you it, a little back-story is necessary:

There is a strip mall on Lexington Avenue and the corner of Larpentuer Avenue in Roseville, MN. It's got the usual handful of shops and restaurants, all of varying degrees of success. On this strip, there are probably 4 or 5 empty stores, but stores like the Dairy Queen (the first in Minnesota!), Key's Cafe, Embroidme, and Music-Go-Round make it easy to ignore the blank fronts.

One of these fronts was filled in with a Little Caesars pizzeria.
So what? A new pizza place? Who cares? Well, Little Caesars evidently does- what went on in the first week was jaw-dropping, starting from less-awesome to most-awesome:
1) Kids standing on the corner waving big orange foam hands with a deal printed on the palm.
2) Some schmuck in a Little Caesar mascot suit to wave at traffic.
3) A popular-hits radio station van with drawings and a spin wheel
4) Hot-air balloon on the roof (sort of like the kind at used car lots)
5) Night-time searchlights

This where I tell you the most amazing thing, that I saw on my walk, that Little Caesars did:
6) A biplane with banner circling the general area.

A BIPLANE! Who advertises with a planes these days? Who has that kind of money? Well, evidently Little Caesars does, and I've chosen to take that as a sign that things ARE getting better. Naive? Probably, but in times like this, when something amazing happens, you have to stand back and notice it.

TTYL!