Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - Sunday Nice Things： Your New Favorite Kid Podcast

00:00:00.640 I don't think I can be your friend, Isabella said.

00:00:04.060 Rebecca's stomach flipped.

00:00:06.340 This is the love story of real hinge couple Isabella and Rebecca,

00:00:09.900 written and read by me, Temi Denton-Hurst.

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00:00:58.240 trying to get my kids psyched about them too. And we've recently been listening to them a lot

00:01:02.980 in the car. All three of my kids get really carsick, and that might be TMI, but you get it.

00:01:09.460 You know, it is barf-a-rama whenever we make a drive longer than about 15 minutes. And it's like

00:01:17.140 that scene in Stand By Me, If You Know You Know, the one at the pie-eating contest. And it's just,

00:01:23.900 it's a lot, and it's so much worse when they're looking at screens. As much as I love giving them

00:01:29.180 the screens because it gives me the peace and quiet that I so crave in the car, we've switched

00:01:34.000 over to podcasts, which they really seem to be enjoying. I mean, our go-to has always been

00:01:39.880 Greeking Out. If you haven't listened to Greeking Out, it is so fun. It is Nat Geo's podcast that's

00:01:46.900 a retelling of Greek myths without the incest, the rape, and the misogyny. It's a lot of fun.

00:01:52.000 our kids have listened to all of them probably twice. And now we've recently switched over to

00:01:57.360 The 10 News. The 10 News is a podcast that keeps them informed, and it's made just for them. So

00:02:04.120 they feel special listening to it. It's a news podcast for curious 8 to 12-year-olds, and they're

00:02:08.960 grown-ups. You will enjoy it too. And they've got five seasons that you can binge. Five, which I

00:02:14.540 love. They explore everything from sports, science, gaming, pop culture, entertainment, and so much

00:02:20.100 more. This episode is a deep dive in the Lego that I think your entire family is going to enjoy.

00:02:34.480 Come on, come on, come on!

00:02:39.320 Good morning. Happy Valentine's Day, Rye.

00:02:42.280 Happy Valentine's Day, Pam. What do you love?

00:02:44.760 Oh, wow. So many things. My family, my friends. I love my life.

00:02:50.040 I love Lego.

00:02:51.160 That feels like a Ryan answer.

00:02:53.780 I spent the week tracking down all of my old Lego bricks.

00:02:56.820 I even went to my mom's house and got my bricks from when I was a kid.

00:02:59.980 Whoa, I feel like that must have been a lot.

00:03:03.520 347,693 bricks. Last I counted.

00:03:07.760 What did you do with all of them?

00:03:09.420 I'm actually not sure what to do with all of them.

00:03:12.200 Do you have any ideas?

00:03:13.380 Maybe. Can I see them?

00:03:16.140 Um, sure.

00:03:17.160 Yep, this feels closer to 350,000 Lego bricks.

00:03:24.100 What am I supposed to do with all of these?

00:03:26.980 Wow, right.

00:03:28.560 Um, I think we need to look into this Lego situation.

00:03:32.500 Yeah, I'd appreciate that.

00:03:34.340 I'm Ryan Willard.

00:03:35.340 And I'm Pamela Kirkland.

00:03:36.880 It's Friday, February 14th.

00:03:39.040 This is a 10 News Deep Dive.

00:03:42.080 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

00:03:47.160 so i've played with lego bricks for almost my entire life lego is one of the most popular toy

00:03:57.040 brands in the world and appeals to humans of all ages whether it's a six-year-old or a 46-year-old

00:04:05.060 afols they're called afols what are afols adult fans of lego oh i'm an afol i'm gonna use some

00:04:14.740 your bricks to build something while we share five fascinating facts about lego the lego group will

00:04:21.140 celebrate its 93rd anniversary this year and was founded by a danish man named ole kirk christensen

00:04:27.780 christensen was a carpenter and the lego group began in 1932 when he was making wooden toys like

00:04:33.860 cars airplanes and yo-yos and also produced ladders and ironing boards at the end of 1935 christensen

00:04:43.140 decided on a new name and put two Danish words together, leg and got, which means play well.

00:04:51.160 And in January of 1936, the name Lego was officially used. It wasn't until sometime

00:04:57.220 later that someone realized that Lego in Latin means I assemble.

00:05:04.200 What are you assembling, Pam?

00:05:06.280 Don't worry about that. In 1955, Gottfried Kirk Christensen, the son of Ole, had taken over the Lego group and implemented a philosophy that would change the company forever.

00:05:19.760 It was called the Lego System of Play, which chose to focus on the plastic bricks instead of the other toys they were making.

00:05:27.960 The system of play philosophy stated that the toy has to be compact in its dimensions without limiting the free expression of imagination.

00:05:37.800 It has to be reasonably priced.

00:05:39.740 It has to be simple and durable and yet offer unlimited play variety.

00:05:45.160 It has to be suitable for children of all ages and for both boys and girls.

00:05:50.060 It has to be classic in its presentation, meaning it wouldn't need to be updated and it has to be easily distributed.

00:05:57.240 it. A Lego employee named Axel Thompson explained it like this. The Lego system means that all

00:06:03.840 elements fit together, can be used in multiple ways, can be built together. This means that

00:06:09.100 bricks bought years ago will fit perfectly with bricks bought in the future. It means that a Lego

00:06:14.200 element not only has instant value, but will keep its value always. We will always make sure that

00:06:20.360 all bricks from yesterday, today, and tomorrow fit together. And that's why my Lego bricks from

00:06:25.280 childhood fit with my Lego bricks from today. Exactly. Do you know what the biggest Lego set

00:06:31.540 in the world is, Rye? Number four. Well, I mean, the biggest Lego set in the world is,

00:06:37.220 well, that's actually a two-part answer because the tallest Lego set in the world is the Eiffel

00:06:42.380 Tower, which is Paris, France's most well-known landmark. The Lego Eiffel Tower stands at 58.5

00:06:49.260 inches. That's almost five feet tall. And it has all the intricate details of the Eiffel Tower,

00:06:54.860 including the trusswork, elevators, a broadcast tower, and the French flag at the top.

00:07:00.340 The Lego Eiffel Tower has 10,001 pieces.

00:07:04.420 That's the tallest, but there's a Lego set with over 11,000 pieces.

00:07:10.140 And that's the Lego Art World Map.

00:07:12.960 Is it a map of all the art in the world?

00:07:15.460 Not quite.

00:07:16.700 The Lego Art World Map is a piece of art,

00:07:19.520 but it's a customizable map that lets you choose which continent you want at the center of it

00:07:25.120 and allows you to track your travels using small colored pins,

00:07:28.920 so you can pin all the places you've been on planet Earth.

00:07:32.220 Speaking of planet Earth, Trivia Master Owen once told me a cool fact about the Lego minifigure,

00:07:36.860 which is one of the most recognizable toys on the planet.

00:07:39.780 He said there are more than 4 billion minifigures on the planet,

00:07:44.180 which means if they were people, they would be the world's biggest population.

00:07:48.720 But there is one single minifigure that is more valuable than the rest of them,

00:07:53.140 which brings us to number five.

00:07:55.500 According to BrickEconomy.com, the most valuable Lego set is a Spider-Man minifigure

00:08:00.640 that was given out at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013.

00:08:04.920 Attendees were given a chance to win one in a raffle held at the convention.

00:08:09.320 Only 350 Spider-Man minifigures were made,

00:08:12.260 and the minifigure is currently valued at $17,812.57.

00:08:18.720 And that was five fascinating facts about Lego.

00:08:23.220 And I'm done.

00:08:25.120 Wait, did you just build a life-size Lego version of your dog?

00:08:31.340 Yep, this is Lulu.

00:08:33.380 But that still leaves us with hundreds of thousands of your bricks.

00:08:37.240 Maybe Cap has an idea.

00:08:40.160 All right, we're going to combine two things we love, Lego and hearing from you.

00:08:45.860 We asked you, the tenors, what your favorite Lego set was or original thing you built.

00:08:51.760 A tenor named DuhMinecraft said, I love Lego.

00:08:55.680 I, with some help, made a cool Lego world and most of it wasn't from a set.

00:09:00.660 My favorite set I built was a big T-Rex.

00:09:03.740 Thank you, loved the podcast.

00:09:05.660 And then gave some thumbs up emojis.

00:09:08.060 Ooh, that's epic.

00:09:09.200 I've never built a Lego T-Rex.

00:09:11.320 A tenor named Ben the Bomb said,

00:09:13.360 My favorite Lego set that I made is 2,125 pieces and is Lego Himeji Castle.

00:09:20.940 I didn't even know they made a Lego Himeji Castle.

00:09:23.700 A tenor whose name I cannot pronounce said,

00:09:25.900 The favorite thing I've built was a scooter for Spider-Man.

00:09:29.680 It's like a Vespa, and it has vents and gold in a compartment.

00:09:33.800 Yeah, I'm not Spider-Man, but I want that scooter filled with gold.

00:09:37.320 Please and thank you.

00:09:38.020 Sister and brother tenors Talia and Felix told us that their favorites are the Harry Potter Hogwarts Hall and the Marvel Dancing Group.

00:09:46.140 Maybe it's time for a Harry Potter Guardians of the Galaxy crossover.

00:09:50.380 And a tenor named Kiki's Quest said,

00:09:52.420 My fave Lego set that I built was a friend's shopping mall. It was really fun, but it took more than four days to build it.

00:10:00.220 It would take me four months, possibly four years, to build a friend's shopping mall. So I think you're doing great, Kiki.

00:10:08.020 and we've got some emails. A nine-year-old named Aiden said, I love the show and I listened to it

00:10:14.180 in the car with my dad. My favorite Lego I've built is the Eiffel Tower. Hi Aiden and hi to

00:10:19.880 Aiden's dad. I'm impressed you built the tallest Lego set. And last but certainly not least,

00:10:24.840 Tenor Cameron said, the coolest thing about Lego is that it has age ranges for all ages.

00:10:31.020 The coolest set I've ever built is a three-foot, one-inch destroyer that I've spent over six

00:10:36.560 months on. A photo of the build was attached, and I have to say, it was amazing. Great work,

00:10:42.560 Cameron. Keep on building. Wow, I'm really inspired to make something now.

00:10:51.900 Oh! Ryan! Get in here!

00:10:56.020 Uh-oh!

00:10:59.060 Hello, Ryan. Do you know why I've called you in here?

00:11:02.280 Uh, based on the length, pitch, and fury of your stream, I'm going to guess that you stepped on a Lego brick.

00:11:10.940 Correct. I also noticed you've been storing thousands and thousands of Lego bricks in the office.

00:11:16.960 Yes. Yes, I have. Which begs the question, do you have any ideas of what I could or should do with them?

00:11:23.740 Actually, I might have the perfect solution to your Lego brick situation.

00:11:28.020 Have you ever heard of Pass the Bricks?

00:11:30.140 They're a cool organization founded by a teen, Charlie Jeffers, and now run by his sister, Lucy.

00:11:35.820 I had a chance to talk with Lucy about what they do.

00:11:38.360 I've not heard of them, but I'd love to listen in.

00:11:41.560 Hi, Lucy. So happy to have you here with us today.

00:11:44.360 Can you explain to our listeners what Pass the Bricks is and how long it's been around?

00:11:49.820 Thank you so much for having me just to start.

00:11:51.980 and Pass the Bricks is a non-profit organization that repurposes used Lego bricks into new sets

00:11:58.260 for kids in need. So we do that through a four-step process. So first we collect Lego bricks.

00:12:03.900 From there, we're going to sanitize and sort them, which is a whole process. And then once

00:12:08.700 they're all clean and sorted, we build them and then package them into new sets. And then they

00:12:13.620 are distributed and packaged to kids in need who will benefit from them. So that's the general idea

00:12:19.300 of it and I guess our goal as a non-profit organization is to create widespread behavioral

00:12:25.620 change so that people can see Lego bricks not just as a toy that we don't always think about them

00:12:32.560 as a privilege but they are because they are so expensive and we're really looking to create more

00:12:38.720 opportunity to support sustainability and to give kids who might not have the opportunity to buy a

00:12:45.100 brand new Lego set, a chance to play with them and get to have the same joy that a kid who is

00:12:49.720 more fortunate would have as well. Really wonderful. How did this all start? Where did

00:12:53.620 the idea come from? The idea came from my older brother. His name is Charlie. It started with him.

00:12:58.720 We both have loved Legos since we've been really little, but he especially has loved Legos since

00:13:03.620 he was super young. And I think he came to the idea when reflecting on the fact that he has been

00:13:09.000 so privileged with having Legos his whole life and whenever he wants to get a Lego set, it can be a

00:13:14.120 birthday gift, it can be a Christmas gift, but there are kids all across the world who don't have

00:13:18.200 that luxury of getting Legos when they want, of getting to open a brand new set and to play with

00:13:24.880 it and build with it, but it is a universal joy. So I think he thought like, how can we create

00:13:30.440 opportunities for more kids to have access? How can we create more access to play? And from there,

00:13:36.640 it was like, how are we going to mobilize this? How are we going to create real change that can

00:13:41.100 be picked up by people and picked up globally, which I think we're starting to see, which is

00:13:45.980 super awesome. And then how does it work with the ambassadors that you have? And how many cities,

00:13:51.260 how many do you have? We're at 189 cities and counting globally, which is amazing. And I can't

00:13:58.140 even believe we get to say that today because it just started obviously out of our living room.

00:14:02.040 I'm looking right now at the website, just as we get this earlier today. And then internationally,

00:14:07.200 Argentina, all the way to the Philippines, which is crazy, and Dubai, Singapore, Thailand,

00:14:15.760 Peru, like amazing places, Poland, Panama, New Zealand. We're so lucky to be able to list those

00:14:22.380 off. And it's all because of these amazing ambassadors who are able to take so much time

00:14:27.060 and energy and put it towards this organization and really help us spread our message. So yeah,

00:14:32.360 that's amazing how do you find the organizations to then donate the bricks to we started I think

00:14:38.800 the first one was the boys and girls club and at first it was definitely and it still is today

00:14:44.220 reaching out to them and saying we have these Lego bricks and we're super lucky to have the

00:14:49.420 ability to have a relationship with many different charities and organizations and it's I think it's

00:14:55.980 it is still growing as we speak which is awesome yeah I think it goes both ways any donations that

00:15:02.000 have been very surprising surprising i would say sometimes you'll get i think we got like a lego

00:15:07.200 death star which was what wow yeah so sometimes we'll get big sets which are also super fun because

00:15:12.920 when i like especially last summer i loved like like there would be a whole lego set up in our

00:15:17.300 living room so i'd go and i'd go build stuff because it's so fun how do you decide what sets

00:15:21.980 to make do you are there certain ones that you find are more popular or is it really just up to

00:15:27.360 the ambassadors? Definitely up to the ambassadors. You can make little things like I made these

00:15:32.960 little boats. I think they were about like 10 pieces over the summer. And I just found like

00:15:38.200 20 of the same piece so I could replicate it 20 times and then just knock those out. So sometimes

00:15:43.520 those little sets are super easy, little birds, little boats. But what the kids usually generally

00:15:49.180 love is minifigures because that's a super fun thing to play with. So when we create scenes like

00:15:54.020 a cafe or a restaurant or a park including three minifigures or having like maybe a toy dog like

00:16:00.580 those are always little fun things to include because we always get good feedback towards that

00:16:04.520 that's a fun thing to play with is a nice minifigure so that is something that we definitely

00:16:09.460 see a lot of or definitely I use a lot of what I build. What's your dream for the future of Pass

00:16:14.740 the Bricks? Great question I have obviously like a year and a half more until I'm off at college so

00:16:20.580 my dream for just when I'm here is able to just continue what my brother Charlie did just to

00:16:26.160 try to incorporate more ambassadors more cities um our goal in 2024 was to reach 25,000 kids at

00:16:32.620 the Lagos which we achieved so I think for 2025 we were thinking 30,000 kids my goal specifically

00:16:39.400 is I like we got to work on our Instagram a lot and just that sort of publicity I can definitely

00:16:45.460 focus on so I think that's going to be a personal goal of mine but outside of myself I hope I think

00:16:51.200 our central hope is that the message of changing our behavior towards Legos and what they really

00:16:56.740 need as not just a toy but really as an access to play and as like a tool for learning and that's

00:17:03.880 something that can really unite all kids across the world being able to create more access to that

00:17:10.580 privilege is something very beautiful and something that we're very proud to be able to do.

00:17:16.540 So just seeing how far we can go with that is really the ultimate goal. Yeah.

00:17:20.480 Thank you, Lucy. This is really wonderful. I love the organization. I think I know

00:17:25.540 someone in my household who will be doing his research and reaching out to be an ambassador.

00:17:31.440 Thank you very much. Thank you so much for your time. I would love for your son to be an ambassador.

00:17:36.620 that is amazing. And I would love to give them a million Legos or just talk about it. It sounds so

00:17:42.920 fun. What a great organization. Thank you, Cap. And some really cool news to share. We're working

00:17:51.980 with Pass the Bricks to get Lego bricks to kids and families who lost theirs in the LA wildfires.

00:17:58.120 We'll have more updates on this in a future episode. What do you think, Rye? Do you want

00:18:02.120 to donate your lego stash to pass the bricks absolutely i would love for them to go to people

00:18:07.800 that want and need them but i'm gonna save some for a certain someone welcome to the trivia room

00:18:17.480 what up owen hey rye why are you bringing a big bag of trash into the trivia room

00:18:22.840 uh it's not a bag of trash it's a bag of treasure i brought you some lego bricks in case you wanted

00:18:28.600 to upgrade your Lego brick trivia throne.

00:18:31.400 I'll give them to you if you let me do some trivia.

00:18:34.980 Whoa. Game on. Step on up.

00:18:40.660 What is going on here?

00:18:45.740 Trivia on the 10.

00:18:49.620 Today's a tricky one, and it has to do with round things

00:18:53.320 that most people use on a daily basis.

00:18:56.400 Donuts?

00:18:57.000 No, not donuts. I'm talking about tires. Cars don't work without them, but according to the

00:19:03.660 Guinness World of Records, who is the largest tire manufacturer? A. Michelin, B. Bridgestone,

00:19:12.880 C. Goodyear, or D. Lego? Um, I don't even have a car and don't know much about tires,

00:19:20.000 so I'm going to guess A, Michelin.

00:19:22.860 The answer is D, Lego.

00:19:28.860 That is so crazy.

00:19:30.680 I never would have thought that.

00:19:32.260 Well, you earned these.

00:19:33.980 Thanks.

00:19:34.720 I'm going to use this topic of the Lego Trivia Throne

00:19:37.280 and add some wheels to it.

00:19:39.260 Cool.

00:19:43.520 All right, Ry, we did it.

00:19:45.020 We successfully got rid of all your Lego bricks.

00:19:47.880 We did.

00:19:49.020 Though, if there are any left on the ground that you step on, those are probably Owen's bricks.

00:19:54.680 Right. What are you going to do with all that space you have now that your Lego bricks are gone?

00:19:59.160 Well, now I have space for the Formula One Lego sets coming out this year,

00:20:02.740 and the Nintendo Game Boy set coming out this year, and-

00:20:05.800 Okay, okay, okay. Before we go any further, here's a quick note for the grown-ups.

00:20:11.340 And two extra notes for the grown-ups.

00:20:13.500 You can now get ad-free versions of our episodes when you join the Tenors Club on our website.

00:20:18.440 And if you want to help support The 10 News, you can make a tax-deductible donation at the link in our show notes.

00:20:23.940 The whole team thanks you for your support.

00:20:29.740 The 10 News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.

00:20:36.540 The 10 News creative team is busy playing with their Lego bricks and includes Tracy Not A Crooks, Adam the Great Bambino Bernard, Brian Not Ryan Douglas, and Carson Not So Harry Potter.

00:20:46.880 big thanks to owen not slowing down for anybody and the biggest thanks and 10 new snaps to everyone

00:20:53.460 who sent us their lego comments for this episode our production director is jeremiah tittle and

00:20:58.500 our executive producers are donald not dim but albright and show creator tracy takes the leads

00:21:04.180 kaplan i'm pamela kirkland and i'm ryan willard thanks for listening to this 10 news deep dive

00:21:09.980 you matched on hinge you're vibing then her energy completely changes what do you do

00:21:19.160 i'm raven smith and i wrote and read a real love story about this exact

00:21:23.660 sitch listen to the free audiobook now

Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - May 11, 2025

Sunday Nice Things： Your New Favorite Kid Podcast

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