LEGO USSR 8

Vladimir Putin, in his KGB days. This, if my research isn't totally bogus, is what a KGB's Class-A looked like. I gave him a AK-47 cause Putin looks badass with heavy artillery.

I've gotten the next few of these lined up, and I'm close to finishing this series. The next one I'm plotting is "Indigenous Peoples," focusing on minority ethnic groups, such as the Sami (Lapp), Utari (Ainu), Khakassians, Hmong/Mong/Miao, and Australian Aboriginal. I'll include a few Native Americans for good measure.
You might notice multiple versions of the groups names, including ones they might take exception to, but I'm including them to help people who might be more familiar with that name, and encourage them to use the preferred nomenclature.
In choosing, I'm going to only include groups that still exist, have a distinctive cultural costume or flourish, and at least one from each continent.

More to come!

TTYL!

LEGO USSR 7

Gorby!
Quick- what do you remember about this man: his freeing up of the media and more or less bringing communism to an end in the USSR, or that birthmark? If you picked the latter, then Wiki this guy (and [tongue-in-cheek] shame on you!).

Somewhere online, there's a picture of Gorbechev and Obama meeting in the white house a few months ago. It's pretty awesome!







Cool, huh? Jp and I've been getting into Godzilla big time for the last couple of weeks. I'm most pleased with the Gigan, but I think the traditional Godzilla (as opposed to Space Godzilla) is a better crowd pleaser.



Despite it barely becoming the middle of October, we're getting ready for Christmas here at Wet Paint. We had this shipment of this utterly charming German paper activity kit, a Bastelbox by Folia. Really cute, but determining it as a regular stock or a holiday stock has been a talking point of cultural philosophy.

TTYL!

LEGO USSR 6

Joseph Stalin! The big guy in Double Yew Double Yew Two! I had fun with this piece of work's mustache...
Sorry for getting out of the daily/near-daily update scheme. I'm working full time now (as I've mentioned), which makes things difficult when it comes to this...



I'm a Moleskine sketchbook fan myself, but at Wet Paint, we've been having fun with this sketchbook by Clairefontaine.



Here's what I've contributed to this community project. If you're in the Twin Cities, Saint Paul especially, drop by the store to contribute to this project! More at Wet Paint's website.



I'm going to try not to turn this blog into a venue to pimp art supplies I sell at Wet Paint, but this one is pretty cool: Yasutomo Hi-Glider. This is like a yellow-gel crayon that extends like a lip-stick stick, writes like a felt-tipped highlighter, can shade like a charcoal pencil, and get this: will not bleed or smudge. I'm just... wow, this thing is soooo cool!



On the 17th, my friends Jp, Andrew, Jason, and I went to the State Theatre in Minneapolis to see a live Kevin Smith Q&A. It was a blast, but I never got a chance to ask my question(s). If I had the chance, I would ask:

1) Desert island top five DVDs; You only get five discs, so choose wisely! If you want all four discs of the fourth season of The Simpsons,, then you get only one more disc. A collector's set or multi-disc don't count as one.
2) Who would play you in a bio-pic of your life; has to be an actor who's still alive, and at least 20 years within your actual age. For me? I'd love for Kevin Smith to play me.
3) Can you give me some advice on podcasting?

I had tons of fun, and watching Smith work the crowd was mesmerizing. Dick and fart jokes are better with a mixed group!

TTYL!

LEGO USSR 5

Nikita Khrushchev; despite his calming effect and significant departure from the policies of Stalin, this guy was pretty wacky. He's an interesting icon, because all we remember of him for the most part is Bay of Pigs, and his famous lines at the United Nations of "Мы вас похороним!", or "We will bury you!" while banging his shoe on the desk. Further research says he had a lot more to say, and that the quote was poorly transliterated, but...



Job at Wet Paint is going great- what's funny is that I've been dropped into Back To School season, which is making the air charged with excitement and kinetic energy. Very stimulating, but also making me realize I need a new pair of shoes. Oof!



We recently picked this up at the store- Yoropen. We've had for a while the more expensive versions of this ergonomic pen, but now we've got the Yoropen pen and pencil for the masses. This things are great at $3.00 a pop.

TTYL!

LEGO USSR 4

Sorry for the lack of daily updates- work and MN state fair, and Labor Day... Sigh... excuses excuses excuses!
Here's a Soviet soldier, circa WWII. His gun is an AVS-36.

TTYL!