altered matchbook & exodus according to lego

Here's a project idea I've been toying with. I acquired a bunch of old matchbox stickers a while back intending to use them for collage but many of them are so lovely I hate to cut them up. I got the idea to use them for their original purpose, as matchbox covers, only with some added embellishment to make the art really stand out. This was my first experiment. I painted an ordinary small matchbox, glued the sticker and some gold stars to it and smudged it with some ink from a stamp pad to "age" it a bit. I haven't been burning the candle at both ends lately, so I haven't got enough empty boxes to play with yet. When I do, things will get hot. I'll be on fire. ha.

Do you like LEGOs ? Do you love Charlton Heston in "The Ten Commandments" ? At last there is a website which combines the best qualities of this colorful toy and the epic movie that coincidentally were products of the same era (the movie was produced in 1956 and according to one source the toy was patented in 1958). The site is The Brick Testament. Here you can find stories of the Bible illustrated in exquisite detail by the Reverend Brendan Powell Smith, who by the way, doesn't appear to have any official religious credentials. I hope you enjoy his amazing creations as much as I did.

My mind links things in the oddest way. One year ago today there were nationwide demonstrations supporting the rights of the many immigrants from Mexico who live in the U.S. There is a similar demonstration planned for today. At the same time a local community, Farmers Branch, is attempting to prevent anyone who cannot demonstrate U.S. citizenship from being able to live within its city limits. The juxtaposition of today's demonstration with Palm Sunday and my discovery of The Brick Testament prompted me to edit some of the verses in Chapter 1 of Exodus, towit:

1:5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Lorenzo de Zavala [native Mexican & Texas statesman who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence & supported the rebellion against Mexico] were seventy souls: for de Zavala was in Texas already.
1:6 And de Zavala died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.
1:7 And the children of Mexico were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
1:8 Now there arose up a new king (George Dubya Bush) over Texas & the U.S., which knew not de Zavala.
1:9 And he said unto his people, Behold the people of the children of Mexico are more and mightier than we:
1:10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, wherein there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Dubya treasure cities, Los Angeles and Chicago.
1:12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Mexico.
1:13 And the Republicans made the children of Mexico to serve with rigour;
And they made their lives bitter with minimum wage, in construction, and in cleaning, and in all manner picking crops in the fields; all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with minimum wage.

Well, we all know how the first story ended for the Egyptians.


A brief history of LEGOS.