James May: New Lego & Meccano Engineering Series

This just in ...

James is an unhappy camper according to The Daily Mail.

Well that's certainly a new watch. Feels a bit like a flashback to the 80s. Swatch anyone?
article-1214729-067F77B2000005DC-512_468x419.jpg
 
Interesting... the article says the house uses 3.3 million bricks, but the bottom photo caption says it's a "?3.3million Lego house". Sounds like somewhere along the line someone got a bit confused. :rolleyes:
 
This just in ...

James is an unhappy camper according to The Daily Mail.

Well, some more publicity at least. I just wished they had mentioned the actual costs 50.000 pound for moving it. That would have given interested people a better idea.

I hope they will a last-minute organise whip-round and will donate the house to eg the toy museum that also took the Plasticine Garden.

But Tuesday is such a short time. :(

Perhaps I should apply for a job at Legoland. Considering this article, they desperately need someone who knows about marketing & communication.
 
Incidentally, I'll be at Denbies on Tuesday to see what happens. It's very short notice to organise this, but I do hope they don't use chainsaws, that'd be very wasteful on the bricks.
 
So, after we all faithfully promised not to post spoiler pics of the house, they're all over the place....:rolleyes:

Glad to see ell_sea_kay's fab fusker got a pic :) Hi Lynne, didn't need a reminder to remember you :D Just wish JM had arrived a couple of hourse sooner so you could have met him :(
But John's amazing work should've got a mention, and I love the way they said James used Lego to make utensils! Who made them now? ;)

Was going to go and see the house this weekend but am quite unwell with a heavy cold that's gone into my chest, so am trying to see all the interweb stuff related to it with my dodgy mobile broadband that keeps dropping out. :mad:

I do so hope someone takes this house, we all worked so hard it's heartbreaking to think of it being hacked to pieces. If they could only wait til my day off on Wed I'd happily dismantle it, singlehandedly if necessary, so the bricks could be used again!

Hope HeidiL manages to get down to see the work before it's gone...
 
I have an idea, you guys should dress up as suffragettes and dump manure in the estate's driveway. That always works when you want to send a message, right?
 
Hey, you. :D:D

*waves*
Hi Capra!
:D

Glad to see ell_sea_kay's fab fusker got a pic :) Hi Lynne, didn't need a reminder to remember you :D Just wish JM had arrived a couple of hours sooner so you could have met him :(
*waves again*
Not sure you would recognise my username - I've been dithering about which one to use!
I would have loved to have met him, but it was not to be. Pretty glad I left when I did - I got home at about 9pm and I was knackered the next day too.

Hope you get well soon - pity you won't get to see the finished article in situ, but if it's rescued from the chainsaws, you might still get to see it sometime :)

Ell_Sea_Kay
 
I mentioned the chainsaws to Him Indoors (I've made it down as far as his place in the midlands, and gawd my shoulders ache! Surprisingly hard work this driving lark) who works with chainsaws and whatnot, and he said if they try to cut the lego with them, things are probably going to go considerably and amusingly wrong and they should do it by striking upwards with rubber mallets.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be feeling up to the rest of the drive down to the parents as I wouldn't want to miss any Epic Fail that might happen on Tuesday.
 
James May said:
"I'm very unhappy about it. I feel as if I'm having my arm twisted into saying 'knock it down,'" May told the Daily Mail.

"Knocking it down is just wrong on every level. It's a really lovely thing -- it would break the hearts of the 1,000 people who worked like dogs to build it," he added.

DORKING, England, Sept. 20 (UPI)

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/09/20/Lego-house-even-has-working-shower/UPI-86731253469604/

I get from this he is trying to save it, but they are putting pressure on him to just tear it down NOW.

Hang in there James. All is not lost yet.
 
It's sad this has all devolved into DRAMA. If Lego makes the stink out of this that they're heading for right now, people are only going to remember the lawsuit and the magic of the project and program will be completely forgotten. I know they're a toy company, but it sounds like someone needs to grow up a bit.
 
Let's not forget that Denbies, too, have a business to run and that the grapes won't hang about until some other things have been done before they're ready to be harvested.
 
Ohhh the voice of reason. Plus the house did over run its time line by about a month, but even *I* could see the job at hand would take longer than projected.

And it is true I can only go by the pictures I have seen, so I really have a poor prospectus on how things actually are there, but it looks to me as if there is room to work around the house for a bit. Giving a Tue AM deadline is a little cold because even if they could come up with someone over the weekend, it is still going to take time to move it.
 
Ohhh the voice of reason.

The odd grumpy comment aside, that's what I've tried to be all along. I've got considerable experience of the peacekeeper role, and of keeping calm when I'm being yelled at for things that weren't my fault or responsibility, at home as well as in the office. I think working on the lego house has been the first time all four of us have done something together and not had it end in a blazing row or someone not talking to someone else, so it would have been worth it just for that!

Certain people were flinging accusations as to whose fault it was that it had over-run, that various problems occurred, etc - usually in the traditional direction of 'whichever person in authority isn't here today' - and I did what I could to calm that down, especially if it happened where the public might overhear. It's usually just venting frustration, I've certainly been part of a good few post-office blamestorming sessions in the 'licensed meeting-room'. Those can be useful to stop a project imploding and usually actually take the pressure off everyone a bit, so I understand its value and why it happens, but there's a time and a place and when it's something that's going to attract public attention anyway you have to be a lot more careful.

If that kid had just had a go at me in his youtube video I wouldn't have worried about it, but presumably because he didn't like me not letting him work on more interesting things (because he wasn't very good at making things structurally sound, not because I was 'playing favourites' or because he was a child. I had to have people I knew I could trust doing the more complex stuff.) he was attacking everyone, including, I believe, John, who built a lot of the more impressive stuff you've probably seen pictures of. He'd also caught at least one under-16 on camera, at which point you're getting into dodgy territory anyway when filming somewhere that isn't a public space.

There was a limit to how many people could work on any given thing at a time, even building the parts. Without the wooden frame things would have been done much more quickly and with fewer setbacks, but then again, a little adversity makes for better television, I'd think. Some of the most successful projects I've been involved in have been somewhat seat-of-the-pants and done mostly on back-of-an-envelope calculations, while most of the ones which never saw the light of day were ones which were planned and regulated to the last detail and so ground to a halt at the first setback while everything was replanned. Just because your plans are very precise doesn't mean they're right and you still need to build in a certain amount of time for unforeseen circumstances. No matter how many possible issues you plan and allow for, something you haven't thought of will come along and mess things up. I'm not a project manager - though I have done it, when necessary - so I can't say how much time I would have allowed, but it probably would have been less than working around that frame added.

Whatever happens to it, aching shoulders and destroyed hands aside, I had a great time doing this. Until I got home, I didn't realise how much it had boosted my mood and my confidence, or indeed how much of a hit I'd taken from the series of dead ducks I'd been involved in at my last permanent job. Having the house demolished won't do anything to that improved mood, any more than it does tearing down the tech tower, stage and lighting at a convention once it's over. The fact remains that we did get the job done.

If we're completely honest, we all knew that it was probably only a temporary structure, Legoland taking it was only a possibility and moving it would be a big job. I did consider that perhaps it was even impossible, due to the size of the tracks between the vines and indeed the construction of the platform.

Tear-down is usually part of the job as well, so it seems a little strange to not be involved in it, which is part of the reason I'm going back. It'll take time to demolish as well, if they're sane about it, (though on site a couple of people suggested just getting Clarkson to drive a truck into it or blow it up) so another reason is that I'm curious as to how they are going to do it. My last reason is that my Vera hasn't seen my car yet or been driven anywhere by me, so as she spent years ferrying me about when I was a kid, it seems only fair I should return the favour for a while.
 
Quite right HeidiL! :thumbsup:

There were a lot of egos on site and some bitchiness - which is the same in an office, a vet clinic, wherever, because people are people no matter what they do for a living. In the main though, we had a great time, I met some fab people and for the first time in a long time felt like I had a life! :)
I have Wed off & if i thought there was going to be anything still to see I would make the trek over to Surrey one last time (phlegm overload/sinus infection permitting!).I'm sure HeidiL will let me know if it's worth rocking up. Ever since I went back to work I have been pulled in 2 directions, I tried to do everything at once, which is probably why I'm sick now.
Why can't somewhere like the Tate Modern take it on? They could take one side off and exhibit like a doll's house. Surely it's as much a piece of art as anything produced by Tracey Emin or Damien Hirst, in fact probably more so ....;)

I did wonder, though, if Denbies couldn't work around the house, as it is in a clearing. Yes the ends of a couple of vines are quite close, but not so much as to majorly affect their harvesting equipment/yield.

As a side-note, guys if I'd known they were going to plaster "insider" photos all over Top Gear, I could've given you much more in-depth reports and pictures, but then I am a woman of my word!

Can't wait for the series!
 
I'm a bit puzzled now what all the rush is about. The management of Denbies have now stated that as far as thay are concerned the house can stay there until the end of the month. :|

Denbies Vineyard website

Article in Get Surrey

It makes me wonder if maybe they want to film the demolition to include in the series? :(
 
It could be a labor issue for Plum. They may simply not have the staff and resources to wait until October when they'll be deep into post production.
 
But they wouldn't need to film it, would they? Maybe it's an insurance thing.

As far as post-production is concerned, I'm pretty sure all other five episodes are almost ready. The dvd is still scheduled for early December and the book for the beginning of October, so the series will probably start in a couple of weeks. :)
 
I'm a bit puzzled now what all the rush is about.

The project overran, and the production company need to get things wrapped up as soon as they can because, as a small company, their resources will have been stretched pretty drastically by this, and they'll have other productions they need to be working on that Toy Stories can't encroach on. Denbies may still be able to afford the space, but it appears to be the production company that needs to get moving on taking it down. I'm glad to see the bricks have all been allocated to charities though.
 
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