Kicks from Plastic Bricks

By Lisa McLaughlin

How It Started: Grownups playing with Lego bricks Judgment: Why should kids have all the fun?

The box clearly says Legos are meant for kids from 18 months to 5 years old, but adults are enthusiastically ignoring that advisory and finding their own uses for the plastic building bricks. The music video for the White Stripes' Fell in Love with a Girl uses animation to re-create the band out of Legos. Lego art is also hot, with collectors commissioning mosaics and sculptures from artists like Eric Harshbarger for upwards of $800, including the Mona Lisa done in the form. And then there are the websites devoted to Lego creations. At thebricktestament.com Lego fan Brendan Powell Smith has faithfully re-created 50 stories from the Bible using only Legos. There are also sites devoted to Lego depictions of Lord of the Rings and scenes from Shakespeare. Lego porn sites, perhaps inevitably, have sprouted too, definitely not child's play. --By Lisa McLaughlin