Minecraft | A Skyrim Inspiration

    I wanted to let you guys know that I have started a new project on the server.  So far, only my brother and I are working on it.  It's called the city of Alimar.  There really isn't anything special about it either, except it was inspired from Skyrim.  As you know, I have been playing Skyrim since December 23, and I love it!  You guys also need to be looking forward to tomorrow.  I will be showing you guys what we have done so far with the city.  And trust me, it's looking good.  Once we get a couple of my friends to help, the project will speed along quite nicely.  Also, I'm still not sure on our adventure map.  I think we have all called it quits, but that may change sometime in the future.  (We haven't truly decided.)  I am probably going to post two posts tomorrow!  (Most likely both being Minecraft)  Anyways, tomorrow will include some cool stuff all of you need to take a look at.

Today's ArchiPic #85

Stratosphere Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas, Nevada, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

    Today's ArchiPic is the Stratosphere Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas.  The tower is the tallest observation tower in the United States and the tallest structure in Las Vegas.  It stands at 1,149 feet (350.2 m), and is accompanied by an attractions throughout the tower.  The first one is the tallest thrill ride in the world and it's called Big Shot.  It stands at 1,089 feet.  Opened in 2005, the Insanity is the world's second tallest thrill ride.  It dangles the riders over the edge and spins them around at over 40 miles per hour.  The third and fourth are SkyJump Las Vegas and X-Scream.  SkyJump Las Vegas is a controlled descent bungee-jump ride.  This piece of architecture is unique in one way: it is one of the few that people use to scare the living heck out of themselves!

Information found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratosphere_Las_Vegas

Today's ArchiPic #84

 The Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California -  Pictures courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

    For Today's ArchiPic, I decided I wanted something different than we normally see.  Out of all the cathedrals I've seen, I have never seen one like the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California.  It is truly one of a kind, and better yet, all of it is glass.  The glass is stuck to silicon to provide better support, thus the cathedral can withstand an 8.0 magnitude earthquake, allowing it to bend with the earth and not crack.  The Garden Grove Community Church moved to the building in 1981, when it was officially dedicated to the church.  Although the Crystal Cathedral isn't made of crystal and is not truly a "cathedral", the building is a special piece of modern architecture, and its design is very unique.  A cathedral with a glass exterior, silicon supports, and a keen sense of creativity make this cathedral one of the best I have ever seen!  (even though it isn't a cathedral!)  

Skyrim Introduction

 Welcome to a special introduction post on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

    Bethesda's latest work of art, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, was rated 10 out of 10 on Xbox Magazine and is said to be one of the greatest games of all time.  It was released on November 11, 2011, and a month later, I got my hands on it.  I was looking through some Minecraft videos when I saw a guy referencing his houses to a game called Skyrim.  I looked it up, and when I did, I was awestruck.  Never in my life had I seen a game with so much detail.  (Bethesda did an amazing job!)  Any place you see, you can WALK there.  There are no limits to exploration.

    And if you know me, I love architecture, and I also love adventure!  The Skyrim world has over 100 possible locations to discover, and with the unlimited quest system, I was in disbelief.  (You could literally play the game forever!)  I have been playing it since December 23; the amount of content is endless and so is the game's architecture.

   As you can obviously see, the game's graphics are striking, but what's even cooler, is the architecture.  Dragonsreach is one of Skyrim's most beautiful palaces.

    That's it for this introduction, but as for the new Skyrim series, I think I should have a lot in store.  Since I don't have a copy of the PC game, (I play on Xbox) I will have to get pictures off the internet instead of getting them from in the game directly.  That means I am very limited to what I can show you guys.  Hopefully this series works out!  I'll see you next time!

References:

>> Elder Scrolls/Skyrim Wiki

>> Skyrim: Official Site

New Year's Resolutions...Trust Me...I'm Trying

    As you know, I made a New Year's resolution on my blog, and I said that I would try my best to post every day through the rest of the school year.  Well, it's hard to do that.  Trust me, I'm trying!!!  You could call this a post, but technically it's not a TRUE post.  Anyways, what I'm really TRYING to say is that if I skip a few days of posting, don't think I made an actual promise to post every day.  And come to think of it, I am posting right now so....yeah.  There will be more posts tomorrow...hopefully!

Today's ArchiPic #83

Computer Rendering of the future Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

    Today's ArchiPic is the Kingdom Tower.  Approved for construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Kingdom Tower will cost 1.23 billion US dollars and will be the first building in history to reach the one kilometer mark.  It's a true feat in architectural engineering and will eventually stand at 3,280 feet.  (1 mile/1,000 meters)  If you can do the math, it will be 568 feet taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.  Dubai's super-structure will soon not stand as the tallest building on the planet.  In 2016-2017, Kingdom Tower will dominate the skies of Jeddah and prove to Dubai and the rest of the world how fast architecture is accelerating.  Over 200 floors will make it hard to transport guests up and down through the building right?  With elevators that will only take around 12 minutes to get to the top, that won't be a problem in this super-tall skyscraper.

References:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Tower 
>> http://inhabitat.com/insane-mile-high-kingdom-tower-given-green-light-by-saudi-arabia/ 
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa

FyreUK's Aquila

    As you probably know, the FyreUK team has been putting out Minecraft timelapse videos on their channel for a quite some time now.  And on December 20, 2011, they made their biggest timelapse of 2011.  Over 16 hours of work in a one week period with over 30 people, FyreUK made the great city of Aquila.  (If you didn't know, aquila means "eagle" in latin.)  It was built as part of The Syndicate Project's Minecraft series.   Aquila includes a harbor, industrial district, huge residential area, castle, and underground enclave that was put together in one final build.  It is absolutely amazing, and it's crazy how much detail was put into it.  If you have a YouTube account and like their videos, I recommend you subscribe to them! 

    FyreUK even put a download link to their build in the video's description.  For a full list of links, go to the references below.

References:
>> FyreUK's YouTube Channel
>> The Syndicate Project's YouTube Channel
>> FyreUK.com


     

Happy LATE New Year's!

    HOLY PIG!!! I forgot to say "Happy New Year's!"  I guess it's now late New Year's so...happy late New Year's!  Instead of my normal non-sense, I decided to post an update on what's coming up.  More interesting architecture is arriving on my blog either this week or next week.  (Including a new HOUSES 1O1, Dazzling Designs, Minecraft, and maybe some Skyrim.)  This New Year is going to be a great year for the art of architecture.  New discoveries, new designs, and even more architecture is coming in 2012 than ever before. 

    I bet you all have heard of the New Year's resolution thing, where people promise themselves and others to do something different and better than the year before.  Well, I am about to make one right on this post for my blog.  I, after only seconds of thinking about it, have decided to try my best to post at least once a day for the rest of the SCHOOL year!  I will post on the weekends too!  (THAT'S A SHOCKER!!!)  Now before you go and put words in my mouth, there are exceptions.  When the world ends this year, I will not be posting anymore posts.  (I'm sure all of you knew that already I just wanted to point that out.  Don't worry, I'm just kidding!  I fooled you guys for a second!  Didn't I?)  Anyway, if I REALLY am busy one night, (because of homework or something) than of course I won't be able to post.  Also, I obviously have priorities that are more important than my blog.  That's all I have to talk about for now.  I guess I will see you guys later this week or next week!  Enjoy the...ARCHITECTURE to come!!!

Some Things Worth Sharing...

I'm here today to talk about some things worth sharing with you guys.  First of all, is the adventure map, second, is a game called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and last, is a congress bill called S.O.P.A. 

Our Adventure Map on Minecraft   

For the adventure map, we started on the third city and finished 5 good sized buildings.  We've been thinking hard about the map and the storyline, and after some pondering I realized this was a bigger commitment than we were expecting it to be.  When we first started this map, I didn't think it would take too long.  (maybe a couple of months at the most)  But sadly, I don't think that's the case.  For it to be fun and enjoyable, it almost needs to be a game within itself, long and expansive.

The pictures above were taken on the Adventure Map in the town of Sidka.

    All of us are feeling mixed emotions about it.  We feel like it's starting to become a commitment that we really don't feel like getting involved in.  I also do not feel like putting the time into it that it requires.  And besides, I think we all have a lot more fun taking our time and building things just for the sake of building, not so we can finish a deadline or an adventure map within a set time frame.  Now this doesn't mean the end of what we have started.  We will all be seriously thinking about whether we should or shouldn't continue the project.  I will also take into consideration that we don't have to set a deadline by any means, because if we wanted to, we could take our sweet time.  No one is really pressuring us to finish it any time soon.  (even within a couple months)  But unfortunately, there is also a big problem with the NPC plug-in that we run to have those non-player characters that you see in every fantasy game.  It tends to eat up the server's memory and lags it very bad.  So until the developer fixes the issues, we will NOT be able to continue making the map.  We will just have to see how it pans out for us. 

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

On the other hand, is a game made by Bethesda called Skyrim.  Bethesda is a video game company most famous for The Elder Scrolls Saga, a group of open-world fantasy games, and the Fallout Series.  Skyrim is the fifth game in the saga and is set on a province called Skyrim on the planet Nirn.  And of course, this game is also a free-roam fantasy/RPG game.  Some big things about this game are the architecture and the scenery. 

A look inside Skyrim's geography courtesy elderscrolls.wikia.com.

   

    Both are beautiful and the details in this game are amazing.  Intricate architecture, auroras, fish in the rivers, birds in the sky, and even collectible flowers of all kinds dot Bethesda's virtual landscape.  Skyrim is one of the most, if not the MOST beautiful game ever made.  Anyway, this game is beyond words, and I'll be showing some architecture from it soon on my blog.

SOPA

Lastly, I have some very concerning news.  A big, destructive bill has been tapping Congress on the shoulder, asking to be accepted as a law in the U.S. Constitution.  It's called the Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA.  It was set to be voted on December 21, 2011, but gladly, the vote was postponed until late January in 2012.  Basically, what the bill says is that the government has the power to shut down any site that has any type of copyright infringement.  Doesn't sound that bad does it?  Well, it is very bad.  Let's say that there was some minor video on YouTube that included copyright infringement.  Not just the video would be blocked, but YouTube.com in its entirety.  The bill was started by companies that said that their revenue was "dramatically plummeting" because of online piracy.  This is not the case at all.  For instance, the Motion Picture Association, who by the way signed on to this bill, have had sales the past five years that have gone up 25 percent!  The bill gives the companies and the government way too much power for taking down entire websites.  And it shows how people are so greedy about money.  It pretty much would turn our free Internet into what places like China and North Korea have.  It is NOT to that extreme, but very similar.  It has the power to take down all the things we love about the Internet, like Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  It also means that blogs like mine can be shut down.   Now, there are a lot of people that explain this bill way better than I do.  So I suggest you check out this video by TotalBiscuit below.  He is a UK law graduate, a video commentator, and YouTube let's player.

   If you want to stop this bill, you can contact your representative, or sign a quick petition against the bill.  Information about all of this can be found on the references below. 

References:

The following are all references from TotalBiscuit's video:

>> http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/ngd4r/i_work_in_news_this_is_how_...

>> http://tinyurl.com/techdirtsopa
>> http://reddit.com/r/sopa
>> http://www.americancensorship.org
>> http://tinyurl.com/universalcensors
>> http://tinyurl.com/writetocongress
>> http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet
>> http://t.co/vIhyPU9z
>> http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/12/sopa-vote-delayed/
>> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/free-speechs-weak-links-under-internet

The following are references I used on this post:

>> Minecraft Far Lands or Bust #103 - SOPA In Your Eyes

>> Skyrim Wiki

>> Skyrim: Official Site

On a side reference:

>> I would like to thank Kurt J. Mac for raising more awareness about the SOPA bill, which he talked about on episode 103 of his walk-a-thon for Child's Play Charity called "Far Lands or Bust"  (I would suggest checking him out!)



Today's ArchiPic #82

Photos by Werner Huthmacher

    Today's ArchiPic is the Albrechtsburg castle in Meissen, Germany.  The castle is now a place where the residents can look back in time by seeing the art and history of the small, river town.  Richly decorated, aluminum, glass, and mirrors make this castle a very intricate place to be.  Much like a time warp, Albrechtsburg is 540 years old, and it has very old artifacts, possibly dating back to the 15th century. 


   
    It was restored way back in 1970 and was open to the public but was never turned into a museum.  That's why interior architects Carsten Gerhards and Andreas Glücker turned this place into an architectural time warp.  They completed it in May of this year, and the castle has a total of about 53,800 square feet of space.  It's a great example of how a castle can be turned into a museum while still incorporating that infamous European style of spatial structure, vaulting, windows, and staircases.

Read more at http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/recordinteriors/2011/Albrechtsburg-Meissen.asp