constructed by Bryant Varney at Northern Michigan University

Empire State Building (Fall, 2001)

Rockefeller Center (Christmas, 2003)
Noteworthy:  Applied for Guinness world record but was denied.  Made an appearance on NBC's Today Show (Saturday, 13 Dec 03).

Rockefeller Center demolition (29 Jan, 2004)

Leaning Tower of Pisa (Jan, 2005)

Leaning Tower of Pisa filmed coming down (Mar, 2005)
(video provided courtesy of the Lake Superior Community Partnership and filmed by MediaBox)
(be patient as it loads - it takes about 30 seconds before you can view it)

Noteworthy:  This film has been linked to and / or added to other websites.  Three notable websites are "Compfused.com", "ebaumsworld.com", "IFILM.com", & "Break.com".  I've been receiving a number of emails from urban legend / myth websites that want to know if this was a staged event (17 Jan 06).  I was asked by one of the production teams that do the VH1 countdowns if they could use this footage for their Junk Websites countdown.  I said they could (17 Jan 06).  David Latham, a scout for NBC's "Most Outrageous TV Moments" has requested the use of this footage for the show.  I am now getting clearance from the reporter and the company that filmed it (31 Mar 06).  NBC's program “Most Outrageous Moments” broadcasted this video clip on Tuesday, 09 May 06 at 8PM.  NBC doled out $1000.00 for the use of the footage which went to pay for a laptop for the Lake Superior Community Partnership  (13 Jun 06). 

Click here: for the photo op featuring me, Mike Roy, Vice President of Finance for NMU (the clumsy reporter), Amy Clickner, CEO of L.S.C.P. and John Major from Media Box who filmed the toppling along with the check for $1000.00 given to L.S.C.P. by NBC for the use of the footage (16 Jun 06).

Mina Matsumoto from Duo Creative Communications (T.V. production company assisting for Japanese T.V. media based in San Francisco) asked me if this video clip can air on Japanese television (02 Jun 06).  Lake Superior Community Partnership has granted permission and has sent a demo tape (16 Jun 06).  Morgan Landau, Associate Producer for The Maury Show, has requested use of the video clip (19 Oct 06).

Sears Tower work in progress (May/Jun, 2005)

Sears Tower (Jun, 2005)
Noteworthy:  Applied for Guinness world record but was denied.  The National Review (online) put a link to the Sears Tower Jenga tower on their BLOG ROW "The Corner" page (18 Oct 05).  Maria A. Sotiropoulos from Discovery Channel Canada interviewed me for a segment to air (19 Oct 05).  Steve Patterson from the Chicago Sun Times interviewed me for a story (19 Oct 05).  Applied for a Ripley's Believe It or Not entry (19 Oct 05).  Daniel Reilly from FHM magazine out of New York enquired about an interview for a story for their March 2006 publication (31 Oct 05).  The Sears Tower project has spread like wildfire across the internet.  Photos, blogs, and articles about it have reached the four corners of the globe and now gets 12,000+ hits when GOOGLED.  That is almost as many hits as there are blocks in the tower (03 Nov 05).  Sears Tower is the first entry (and most popular hit) when GOOGLED for "Jenga tower" (10 Nov 05).  Me and a great pic of the Sears Tower appear in the April issue of the American edition of FHM magazine (08 Mar 06).

Sears Tower robots took down the tower with human assistance (30 Nov, 2005)
Noteworthy:  Three NMU departments will contribute their efforts for demolition: communication and performing arts, mathematics, & physics.  The Upper Peninsula of Michigan's TV6 News team was present to film its coming down and a segment aired later that night for both the 6:00PM and 11:00PM news.  I've been asked by Marcus Robyns to supply the NMU Archives with any documentation including: news articles, photographs, & video footage of the Jenga projects I've constructed at NMU over the years (01 Dec 05).

Sears Tower demolition film #1 (30 Nov, 2005)
(be patient as it loads - it takes about 30 seconds before you can view it)

Empire State Building (made of cinder blocks) (25 Jun, 2007)

My friend SVEN - another Jenga tower builder from Berlin, Germany!
The only other person I know who builds with Jenga blocks on the same scale as I do is a guy named Sven from Berlin, Germany.  Sven is not a purist like me.  In addition to Jenga blocks, he also uses a block called "MDF".  Check out his impressive scale models of monuments, government palaces, etc!