WoW’s Dalaran Cupola Library vs. Real Round Libraries

Games, Geek out!, Stunt Double

I was browsing my WoW screencaps for something entirely different when my eye fell on two shots from the Dalaran inscription trainer’s place. (This is in the Legion version of Dalaran.) Both are actually from inside the book-filled cupola: the first looks up towards the impossibly high ceiling, the second down towards the trainers’ room floor.

WoW Dalaran Inscription Tr Book Dome2 Sm

Screencap from the Dalaran inscription trainer’s place in World of Warcraft.

Screencap from the Dalaran inscription trainer’s place in World of Warcraft.

Neat, right? Well, I wondered whether anyone’s actually done anything similar for real and hit the Internet. And I found some!

Stockholm Public Library in Stockholm, Sweden

The functionalist stadsbibliotek was designed by Gunnar Asplund and opened in 1928.

Flickr Marcus Hansson Stockholm Public Library

Marcus Hansson on Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

Round Reading Room in the Maughan Library, King’s College London in London, UK

The Round Reading Room of Maughan Library, the main university library of King’s College London, can be found on the Strand Campus.

Wikimedia Kings College London Maughan Lib Round Reading Room Sm

Colin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Picton Reading Room in Liverpool, UK

The Picton Reading Room, completed in 1879, is now part of the Liverpool Central Library.

Flickr Terry Kearney Liverpool Central Library Picton Reading Room

Terry Kearney on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).

A home in Toronto, Ontario

Designed by Katherine Newman and Peter Cebulak, this two-level library is in a private residence in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Architectural Digest Toronto Ontario Home

Tony Soluri via Architectural Digest.

The Octagon Room, Islamic Studies Library at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The library is situated in the neo-Gothic Morrice Hall building that previously housed the Presbyterian College of Montreal from 1871 to 1961.

McGill Islamic Studies Library Klaus Fiedler Sm

Klaus Fiedler, McGill Library.

None of them are exactly the same as the game library cupola, of course: apart from the the scale of the rooms, the scale and direction of the bookcases might differ. But apparently it isn’t terribly far-fetched to make a round multi-storey library and pack it chock-full. 😀

Images: Stockholm Public Library by Marcus Hansson on Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Round Reading Room of Maughan Library by Colin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Picton Reading Room by Terry Kearney on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0). Toronto home by Tony Soluri via Architectural Digest. Islamic Studies Library at McGill by Klaus Fiedler, McGill Library.

Cross-posted from Co-Geeking.

New to Me: Majestic 3d-Printed Dice

Design & Designers, Games

Oh, wow, look at these 3d-printed dice:

MajesticTrinkets on Etsy.

They’re designed and made by Carolyn. She sells her dice under the name Majestic Trinkets through an Etsy shop and a Shapeways shop.

Shapeways Majestic Trinkets D20 Lace Brass

MajesticTrinkets on Shapeways.

Carolyn uses CAD software to design the dice, so they’ll be properly balanced. Some of the designs can be printed from a variety of materials.

Shapeways Majestic Trinkets D10 Spindown Nickel

MajesticTrinkets on Shapeways.

Very cool – what a wonderful way to channel your creativity. I love that she combines her training (mechanical engineer) and hobbies to make pretties for her fellow nerds. 🙂 Kudos!

Note: I wasn’t paid or perked to mention this; just passing along a good thing.

P.S. Visit MajesticTrinkets on Twitter for more photos of neat die projects!

2x WoW on Screen

Games, Geek out!, Stunt Double

I was amused the other night when, while playing World of Warcraft and re-watching Warcraft: The Beginning (the movie based on WoW), I flew my toon into Stormwind just as Alliance troops were forming up on the bigger screen:

It’s not quite Inception-level nesting, but I felt very geeky. 🙂

Cross-posted from Co-Geeking.

IRL and In-Game Sewing

Arts & Crafts, Games, Geek out!

This might be one of the very few times I’m doing the same thing in a game and in real life. Last week I both started looking for inspiration to sew something summery for myself…

…and leveling my WoW tailor:

The first of these projects is a part of my two-year resolution of not buying new clothes. (Apart from socks and underwear.) So far, so good on both endeavors; it’s great to return to sewing things to wear. Now, if only I could both play and sew at the same time… 😀

Fruits of Lunchtime Gaming Breaks

Bits in Spaaace!, Games, Geek out!

It’s been a turbulent week in the U.S. I’ve been struggling with the unbelievability of the political situation and how minor my everyday concerns feel in comparison. Then I saw this tweet by B.Zedan:

Folks who feel guilt about posting mundane life or project tweets: please keep them coming. Life continues even while we fight.

— B. Zedan (@BZedan) January 29, 2017

Life does indeed continue, as do projects and self-care, whatever form that may take. In that sprit, here’s a surprising and delightful detail from one of my current World of Warcraft projects – my main toon got a LEGENDARY piece of chest armor:

It was a random world quest reward. Holy moly! I didn’t even know legendary items could drop in this expansion.

And here’s a discovery from Suramar City: they have trees with star-filled canopies!

Suramar is the first city in the game that actually feels like a city, and it’s gorgeous to boot. We saw a significant leap in terrain design from Cataclysm to Pandaria, and Legion looks even better. If it weren’t for those pesky guards we need to avoid in the City, I could spend a long time just wandering around, discovering amazing details like this.

Long Weekend Playing

Games, Geek out!

The latest WoW expansion was the main entertainment for us this past weekend.

WoW Legion DruidStart5

So far everything I’ve seen is visually gorgeous. The new animations are great even with lower graphics settings (I especially like the ore nodes collapsing when mining), and there are quite a few of them. No wonder the system requirements are so much higher than for previous expansions. I was also amused how certain areas match some of my transmogs. The screencap above is all warm browns, purple and a dash of green like my main druid’s current mog.

In my book, Blizzard’s decision to launch Legion before Labor Day was great – an extra day playing. I’m looking forward to exploring more, and there will definitely be more WoWing this week.

But right now I’m quite happy to get back to the IRL grind. You know you’re officially An Old when several days of a favorite activity wear you out. 🙂

Discoveries: WoW Classes as Brands

Design & Designers, Games

Creative Director and artist Matt Stevenson shared his designs for World of Warcraft classes / specs imagined as real-world commercial brands. Wow! I’m seriously impressed not just by the top-notch designs, but by the imaginary products the brands have been applied to. Here are a few of the best, IMO:

Matt Stevenson / dcmjs on Imgur.

Matt Stevenson WoW Brand Fury Warrior

Found via BlizzardWatch. Stevenson also designed a retro-feel set of minimalist WoW class posters (available for sale on Etsy). My favorite is the balance druid poster:

Etsy Matt Stevenson SBTRCTV Balance Druid

Matt Stevenson / SBTRCTV on Etsy.

Very nice work! Check out his business website at dcmjs.com.

Note: I wasn’t paid or perked to mention this; just passing along a good thing.

WoW Style Easter Eggs

Arts & Crafts, Games

A thing I’ve just become aware of is painting your Easter eggs with WoW-themes. Twitter user TheFussypants painted these fabulous eggs:

TheFussypants on Twitter.

…and DeviantArt user Devilflower-chan made a set of five:

geeky_easter_eggs_by_devilflower_chan-d3esqzs

Devilflower-chan on DeviantArt.

Nice! I really like both sets. I don’t know about you, but I’d have a hard time cracking them for eating.

Down the Rabbit Hole!

Games, Geek out!

The latest World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor, dropped while we were asleep. Husband and I already took an hour this morning to play the intro on our druid pair before work.

On the basis of in-game chat it seems many people have called in sick or taken the day (and tomorrow!) off. We’re being responsible adults during the day, but come nightfall, oh, we’re so going to be glued to our screens! Whee!

Geeky Color Combos: Channeling Thunder Bluff

Colors, Games, Geek out!, Inspiration

Welcome to the first Geeky Color Combos post! Yes, it’s yet another regular feature filling up the blogosphere. I hope you will like it nevertheless. 🙂

You know those design recommendations that urge you, especially when hesitant, to start with a picture and base your color selections on it? Here are some ideas on how to achieve it with a geeky starting point. I’ll select a photo, a painting, a still, a screencap or the like that is geeky in some way, and use mainstream photos to illustrate how a color combination pulled from that model image might work in real life.

For the inaugural image I chose a screenshot from a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game I play. Thunder Bluff is a city in World of Warcraft (WoW), a MMORPG (role-playing game) by Blizzard Entertainment Inc.

Screencap from Thunder Bluff in World of Warcraft.

The culture of Thunder Bluff is loosely modeled on Native Americans. The city sits atop a high, three-tier mesa – how about those views! Red, aqua and white appear everywhere on building exteriors, tent-like roofs and other outdoor elements like totem poles.

Red, aqua and white is a versatile and eye-catching combination. If aqua isn’t a favorite – as it isn’t for me – tweak it towards teal blue or turquoise or even light blue. You can also adjust the shade of red to your liking from cranberry to soft coral red, or drop small amounts of another color into the mix. The combo also works in different situations. For example, when picking wall paint colors:

From the home of Alison and Jeff Allen.

…when considering the overall colors for your space:

From the cottage of Halla Bára Gestsdóttir and Gunnar Sverrisson.

…when picking furniture and/or accents:

Top row: Felt flower wreath by oKIDDo on Etsy. Bottom row: Hammary kilim rug bench and Ikat decorative boxes from Lamps Plus.

…when decorating for an event or holiday:

Melanie Owens, Inspired Events.

…when branding your business:

The Maersk Group.

The Maersk Group. What an incredible presence these ginormous ships have when painted in bright colors!

…and when picking outfits:

Clockwise from top right: My Little Monster hoodie by dkoss2 on Etsy; men’s check shirt with aqua overcheck from Racing Green; colorblock romper dress from Love to be Chic; candied bright nails by Smashley Sparkles; shoes unknown, found via Be a Fun Mum; girl’s outfit by Bella Bliss.

…apparently even by yours truly:

Totally channeling Thunder Bluff without even realizing it! (Trying to take a self-portrait is really hard for me. This is an attempt on the stairs that got “artistically” blurred. Director’s intent all the way, heh.)

Any additional great uses of red, aqua and white? Do share!

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