Secret Santa LEGO

Life has put my dream project on hold, but I have kept my hand into LEGO just to keep myself sane. In this case, I signed up for a Secret Santa exchange through the members at BrickLink. My designated guy expressed a liking of Pirates of the Caribbean sets, so taking that as inspiration, I created a spiffy treasure chest (with loot and monkey)!


The priciest piece that I had to order were the six tan arches (Part 6183), which were only available in a couple of Star Wars sets from 2003 and 2004. Overall, I'm very pleased with the result. I can only hope that the LEGO fan in Montana I was assigned likes it as well. Merry X-mas!

Chiwetel Ejiofor Quote of the Month: November 2011

There are some movies that are required to pull off an interesting balancing act. Two characters are thrown together that appear to be polar opposites: One is uptight and the other is wild and crazy. This is the classic buddy cop mold, but it's used for much more than cop movies. The balancing part is having both characters appeal to the audience without going to an extreme with their behavior so that it turns them off.

We get a prime example of that with Talk to Me. In that film, we have a wild and crazy ex-con DJ named Petey Greene (Don Cheadle) and an uptight radio station executive named Dewey Hughes (Ejiofor). From the beginning of the movie, we like Greene and his over-the-top personality, but we also feel bad for Hughes and the trouble that Greene has given him. So when the two meet in a pool hall to settle their differences over a game of nine ball (while a crowd of bar patrons look on), It's nice to see Hughes totally turn the tables and surprise the hell out of Greene:

Greene: "I'm about to run this rack."

Hughes: "You're chalking up your cue a little heavy there, ain't you? I mean, that ain't your cellmate's dick you're holding."

(Man in the crowd laughes)

Greene: "Just for that, I'm gonna drop the nine ball off the break."

Hughes: "Nigga, you couldn't drop your drawers to fuck The Supremes if all three of them was lying butt-naked on this table."

(Astonishment from the crowd)

Hughes: "What's the matter, big time? You thinking about all that money lying in your lady's lap? Is that why you're sweating? Or maybe it's all that whiskey you've been sucking on. Or maybe you're sweating 'cause you know that even if you give it your best shot, you still might leave 'em standing. 'Cause this ain't Lorton anymore. This is the real world. And you ain't shit out here."

Green: "Are you through?"

Hughes: "Knock 'em down, champ."

(Petey breaks and fails to sink a ball)

Petey: "Damn!"

Hughes: "Too bad, big time. I had faith in you. One ball, corner. (sinks the one) Two ball, side pocket. (sinks the two) Three ball, corner. (sinks the three) See, negroes always think that if you speak correct English, or you wear clothes other than clown suits, that you're not real. Four ball, side pocket. (sinks the four) And to you, what's real is a nigga loud-mouthing, right? Telling everybody how bad he is while he's looking for a handout. Five. (sinks the five) But you give him a chance to take what's his, and he can't sink one single ball. Six. (sinks the six) Lucky seven! (sinks the seven, the crowd is impressed) Now, you were so busy running your mouth, you never really asked yourself why I chose a pool hall to meet. 'Cause this uppity nigga could never have grown up in these projects, or made his way through school hustling dumbass niggas who thought he wasn't down. (sinks the last two balls) They call me Mr. Hughes. Grew up in the Anacostia projects."