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Week 5 – Yuval Noah Harari

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Yuval Noah Harari (Hebrew: יובל נח הררי‎; born 24 February 1976) is an Israeli historian, the author of the international bestsellers Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2014), Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016), and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018) and our person of interest this week here on SiP goes 53.

An author we mentioned before, and one who made a profound impact on me when I first read his book Sapiens in 2017. I devoured it in one go and have since been promoting it in any conversation I had. So when we all jotted down names of persons for the #SiPgoes53 challenge, he was amongst my number ones.

A fellow Sapiens who wrote a thought-provoking book that made me pause and reflect on our history and our future. Sapiens gives indeed a “brief” overview of our species since the Stone Age. If you have not read it, I can warmly recommend it. For me, this one should be part of our educational system and mandatory reading for teenagers in high school as it gives a different insight in the minds of Cleopatra, Darwin and Tolkien alike. 

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TLM2 – A quick sneak peek

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The LEGO Movie Two Minifigure Series has arrived. Officially in stores as of February 1st. Yet the internet is buzzing with shops that have put them on shelves and so maybe you are one of the lucky ones that got their hands on the new crew already.

We got our review box from TLG on Friday, and we could not wait to unwrap it on IG and share a first impression with all of you. Now it is time to take a quick sneak peek inside the box, give our first impressions, while we wait for the nine creative reviewers to report back on their impressions.

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Just that little xtra

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LEGO decided earlier this year to create smaller little polybags with those little xtra‘s we as toy photographers tend to buy complete sets for. When they were first released we raided the LEGO store in Billund and were planning to do a review of this toy photographer’s delight. But as with so many small things, time passed by and so did the freshness date of these polybags.

And then we got a mystery mail from The LEGO Group if we were interested in reviewing the brand new LEGO xtra 40341 set.
No more info.
And of course, we said yes. Since Julien got the Minecraft sets to review and Stefan took the the speedcars , I ended up with the mystery xtra set. And I have to admit I was curious to see if the polybag series would continue or we would enter the next level of awesomeness in the xtra series.

A few weeks later I got an envelope in the mailbox, with three LEGO xtra 403411 sets inside (yes, three, do read on, there is another little giveaway coming up (you did see our speedcar giveaway, didn’t you).

Three little bags of the set 40341
Yes, do read on, there is a little giveaway coming up …
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And so it is Xmas …

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A happy Xmas from all of us to all of you. Santa has been spotted all over the world delivering packages to young and old and the Santa train is slowly on its way back to the North Pole for another year of well-deserved rest and winter fun. The NORAD crew is winding down and some of us still had one picture to shoot.

The last post

This is the last post in the little winter village advent series that started four Sunday´s ago. I knew from day one that Christmas day would be an awesome day to spend some time behind the lens. And I knew that doing some cooking in the studio was not a bad idea either. Having a white Xmas is something that some years need a little push.
But that is as far as advanced planning went.

Read more and discover what is cooking in the kitchen …
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The Fourth

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The fourth advent.
Three has gone by.
Next is the turning of the light. The winter solstice.
Officially the longest night of 2018 was last Friday, but to keep things simple we like to celebrate it together with Christmas, celebrated by many people all around the world. And the winter solstice in the Roman calendar.
So today is the fourth advent.
The last Sunday in preparation. And also for us, it was preparation.

Remember last week?

We ended with a cliffhanger.
The Winter Holiday Train 10254 reached the Winter Village Train Station 10259. However, the mystery ticket 0937 did not reveal its mystery.
Maybe it will today. Maybe. Do read on if you are into Christmassy Cliffhangers just like us.
It is after all the fourth advent.

Last week the train got connected.
Yet ticket 0937 still a mystery.

Back to the beginning.

So, connecting the dots. That is what the fourth is all about. We got a winter train, a winter train station and even a winter village fire station, but the story would not be complete without some serious tracks.
Not the music ones, but the ones from set 60198 which The LEGO Group kindly provided on the last RLFM days (yes, a review of that set is coming soon).

Are you ready for those tracks and get the beat running? Read on …
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The Cliffhanger

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Advent Number Three is upon us.
The true cliffhanger.
The final stretch of waiting for the turning of the light has set in.
One more Sunday until we hit Xmas.
One more Sunday until we turn the tide.
I mean the solstice.
The days will become longer.
More light to shoot outside.
The wait is almost over.
Yet, one more cliffhanger to climb.

Read all about cliffhangers here
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The Winter Village Station

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Second Advent.
The second Sunday in the period of advent. A week closer to the return of the light. Only two more weeks until the turning of the solstice.
Another grey and rainy day here in the Stockholm Archipelago.
A day of some LEGO building and exploring some photographic skills with LEGO Winter Village Station. A story that continues where the Winter Village Fire Station ended last week. The sequel so to say.

A set listening to number 10259

The Winter Village Train Station is still available in the LEGO shop and retails today for 70 EUR give and take. The set is maybe not the most inspiring one in the whole Winter Village series but it is connecting the tracks in our ever developing story… and provides for a good latte or should I say a Santa’s Eggnog or a Ho Ho Cocoa …

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The Corner Garage

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Last year around this time, The LEGO Group announced my absolute favorite set of 2018. And they are doing it again. The corner garage unveiled. 

The Corner Garage

The new Creator Expert 10264 Corner Garage is the natural extension of the Downtown Diner. No doubt,  I will be queuing at my local LEGO store here in Stockholm on January, 2nd to pick up my Xmas present. 

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Winter Village

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Today is the first Sunday of Advent. It marks the beginning of the Christian liturgical year, and it officially opens the period of Advent. A period of expectant waiting that finds its origins in the wait for the return of the light. The winter solstice. The longest night. A cup of hot chocolate and deep dark nights with fresh snow on a pale moon. Ahh, winter is coming. And so is the Winter Village Project. 

And so it begins.

Here in Stockholm, Sweden it is far from wintery yet. It feels more like the grey November we just left behind. So no better time and place to start the unboxing of the latest Winter Village set. A set that consists out of 1166 pieces, is considered 12+ and falls in the expert build category. A set that listens to the set number 10263 and made me think back directly to the iconic 10197 Fire Brigade.

A grey day here in Stockholm, Sweden.

This beautiful little build retails at 99 EUR in most European countries (89 EUR in Germany) or  99 USD in the US. In Europe this set is on backorder at the time of writing but orders are accepted on the LEGO store and it should ship by December 6th. The US was still shipping.

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Once Upon A Brick

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The new LEGO Ideas Once Upon A Brick set 21315 is available on the shelves today. King Kalle and Queen Victualia could not resist and got their own copy for their royal library. They both love a good book, and have a special place in their heart for historical pop up books and modern creations alike.  

The unboxing of the box. King and Queen ready to give it a go.

The book is created by Fan designers Jason Alleman and Grant Davis. Their names are on the cover of Once Upon A Brick. The book has been co-authored by Alan Talbott and Crystal Marie Fontan.  The official LEGO designers taking the LEGO Ideas into a production set. Their images can be found inside the booklet accompanying the book.

The Unboxing

First impressions of the LEGO Ideas box is that it is not the high end box we used to see for LEGO Ideas. It is a classic paper box you wont keep for posterity, and so the unwrapping went pretty fast. I am not sure if I should be disappointed. Or happy as the money went onto what is inside the box. 

King Kalle getting his scissors out.
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