Fictional World: Namek, the home of the Dragon Balls

Hey there bloggies! today’s fictional world review it’s about Planet Namek!, fairly known by most of you, from the Dragon Ball anime series!, so why don’t we jump right into it?

Old Namek, Dragon Ball Series

Namek as known in human language is a planet in the universe of the Dragon Ball series and of course the home planet of the Namekians (Such as Piccolo, Kami-Sama and Dende among many many others) and thus, home planet of the Dragon Balls themselves (a set of spheres said to grant any wish to those who collect all seven of them).

Namekians, Dragon Ball Series

Dragon Balls, Dragon Ball Series

The planet itself is mostly covered in water with just a few islands, where the Namekians live (about 100 of them at the time of the Namek saga in the Dragon Ball series). A world where night is unknown, for it has three suns that take turns to light the surface.
The life in the planet resumes mostly to fish, frogs, dinosaurs and of course: lots and lots of threes, the reason the atmosphere is breathable for humans. The sense of time is a little different from the earth, for a year only lasts supposedly 130 days (a day being the time until the first sun comes up again, and a year being the time it takes the planet to travel its orbit). It is said though that Namek is supposedly at almost 440,640,000,000,000 km, equivalent to 46 lightyears (based on the claim that for Kami-Sama’s spaceship, it would take 4 seconds to get to Jupiter but 34 days to get to Namek).

Nameks Oceans and Islands, Dragon Ball Series

Spaceship in Namek, Dragon Ball Series

Geological Formations in Namek , Dragon Ball Series

Architecture in Namek (And Vegeta), Dragon Ball Series

The visuals of Namek consist mostly of green colored oceans and skies and blueish colored plants, as for cliffs and mountains its just the same as it is here on earth. As some of you may know [Spoiler alert] Namek was destroyed by Frieza in Dragon Ball’s Namek Saga, but it was later restored with the help of the Dragon Balls to the “New Namek” where Namekians could live in peace once again! [End of Spoiler].

New Namek, Dragon Ball Series

So tell me bloggies, what do you think about this world?? which other worlds you find interesting or would like to hear about?, tell me about it in the comments!

Place Review: Mount Roraima, a Plateau of awesomeness

Hey there Bloggies!, as you can see i haven’t been able to keep up the updates on their planned date but i’ll try to keep it up for ya! so lets do this!
Today’s review is a mystic and incredible place on earth: Mount Roraima, located between Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil.

Guyana, Mount Roraima Tepui. Photo by Klaus Fengler Check out his Website!

Mount Roraima as you can see in the photos is a giant plateau with cliffs up to 400 meters height, a place that inspired fantasies and the scientific eye itself.
Its recognized by the indigenous people of the region like an alternate plane, a starting point for myths and legends, a world filled with extinct animals and organisms never seen before, inhabited by monstruous nightmares.
Mount Roraima functioned as inspiration for “The Los World” novel by Conan Doyle, it was too the filming place for the award winning documentary “The Real Lost Worlds”, where a team of scientists take off to explore Mt. Roraima’s Caves, and of course origin of the “Paradise Falls” idea where Pixar’s Movie “Up” revolves around.
The Roraima Plateau is considered one of the oldest geological formations on the planet, dated to almost 2 billion years ago.

Photo by Paolo Costa Baldi

Photo by Hiker Cissa Solo

Photo by Hiker Cissa Solo

Photo by Robelen Bajar

A fantastic place filled with waterfalls, forests, mist and caves that makes some of us to dream of fantastic worlds and creatures in situations and events that may never take place again, for me it’s an enormous source of inspiration, what about you? would you go there? would you dream of this awesomeness?

Feel free to tell me what do you think and of course of recommend me more awesome real places!

Photo Phriday: the love Beach (one day later)

Love Beach, Photo by Enrico Avila

Sooo… tonight im sharing with you this photo i took yesterday! its from the love beach here in Cabo San Lucas, and a few meters away there’s the divorce beach, so you know, there’s beach for everyone who needs it i guess.

I’m not quite in the mood for writing today so i’ll just leave this here and encourage you to comment on it! what do you think?? have a great weekend!!

The World Alchemist

The Future: Eclipse [Destructoid]

Hey there Bloggies!, soooo i’ve posted an entry on Destructoid’s “Community Assignment”: “The Future of video gaming

If you didn’t knew, destructoid is a pretty big blog about video games, be sure to check it out from time to time just to see what’s coming!.
Every month the guys of Destructoid give their readers a “Community Assignment” [Here some examples], this month’s assignment for artists was about the future of videogames, so i’ll leave here with you my entry! feel free to comment on it!

Eclipse Concept by Enrico Avila A.K.A. World Alchemist

The future of Gaming
Inspired by Ernest Cline’s Ready player one, i see us in a sad future, where people no longer want to be right next to each other, a world where all social interaction is made online, a world where economy an politics are rotten (so… pretty much like the actual world we live in).
I see the future of gaming as a “Breather” from a decaying reality, a chance for me to be who i want to be and to do what i always dreamt of doing.
The eclipse concept is a gaming rig designed for that, a single player immersive experience, enhanced by visual projections, motion capture and surround sound.

Be the hero you want to be and let that be the sun behind the eclipse that is a sad reality.

Feel free to follow, like and comment the entry Here!

Review Monday: The gate to hell, Derweze

The Gate of Hell, Photo from far away in daytime, by Team Detour, 2013

Hey there bloggies! so today is the start of a new week and a whole bunch of new experiences for those of us whom are willing to take them, and what a better way to kickstart my week than to let you know about this place: “The Gate to Hell”, so let’s dig into it!

Derweze was a small village located in the Karakum desert (sadly this village was disbanded in 2004, just for… kind of selfish reasons), right in the middle of Turkmenistan, it was a kind of small place, but with great surprises as you may have already figured out.
The Derweze area is really rich in natural gas and when discovered back in the 70’s by the soviets, the drilling rig had a little problem, it collapsed, leaving a 70m diameter hole in the ground.

The Gate of Hell, Photo from far away, by Team Detour, 2013

Natural gas is really poisonous, so the soviet scientists decided that the best choice was to burn it all off, expecting this would take a few days.

The Gate of Hell, Silhouettes photo, by Team Detour, 2013

And as you can imagine it was a big surprise when even *now* more than 40 years later the hole is still burning, thus, earning the nickname “The Gate to Hell”.

The Gate of Hell, Photo by Team Detour, 2013

I always thought that places like this only were real for movies and video games, but here i am writing about it, it kinda reminds me of a Sarlacc from Star Wars just after eating some chipotle.

The Sarlacc from Return of the Jedi

The Gate of Hell, Photo by Team Detour, 2013, preparing to take a selfie!

Photos by Team Detour! check their awesome website and read about their experience here!

So what do you think of it guys?, what does it remind you of?
Feel free to recommend me places to review! as for today is Review Monday! for real places, don’t forget to come by on wednesday for the Fictional World Review!.

The World Alchemist

Motivational: How to build a fictional world!

Hey there! well a few hours ago i stumbled into this awesome video titled “How to build fictional worlds”, Kate Messner author of “Sugar and ice” and “Eye of the storm” explains to us how does she do it!, i haven’t had the opportunity to read her words, but after this i’m sure i’ll do it.
So i’ll leave you with some of her knowledge!, just click play and enjoy!

So for me, it comes down to this:

“here are some questions and methods i’ve used to help build the worlds my books take place in”

1.- Set up a place in time, past, present or future
2.- Create a timeline of how the world came to be
3.- What rules are in play here? laws of physics, laws of society and punishments for those who break them
4.- What kind of government this place has? who has power and who doesn’t?
5.- What do people believe in here?
6.- What do this society value the most?
7.- What’s the weather like in this world?
8.- Where do the inhabitants live, where do they go to school or work?
9.- What do they eat?
10.- How do they play?
11.- How do they treat their young and their old?
12.- What relationships do they have with plants and animals?, and what to they look like?
13.- What kind of technology exists?, transportation, communication, access to information
14.- Once you know your world, just set your characters free in it and see what happens
15.- How do this world you’ve created shaped the individuals who live in it? and what kind of conflict is likely to emerge.

Of course these points are not necessarily to be used in that order, or even to use them all, but i think Kate Messner gives us a great starting point for us creating our worlds for video games, movies, books or whatever the reason you are building worlds for! give it a go and experiment with this, i’m sure you won’t regret it, revive *that* story beneath all those notebooks, pages and drawings on your desk!

PhotoPhriday: Hong Kong night Skyline

Hong Kong skyline at night, Photo by James Clark

Hey there Bloggies!, as you may or may not already know, all fridays i upload an awesome photo , sometimes taken by me and sometimes taken by wandering people, this photo was taken by James Clark (Here is a link to his website)

What do you think of the skyline photo?
I chose it because i personally love the colors on the sea
Remember, you can send me photos or info about places you’d want me to review! have a great one!

Fictional World: The world of Limbo (The game)

Limbo, the Game screenshot

Ah the world of Limbo! (the game), this is a world i wanted to share with you all bloggies!, for it’s mysticism and visual aspect.
Limbo is a video game developed by Playdead in 2010, it’s a game with an extremely strong concept, to always be on the “edge”

Limbo, the Game screenshot

You take the place of a nameless child searching for his sister, you’re introduced in a macabre, monochromatic, misty and nearly post-apocalyptic world.
Between forests, caves and plains of an unmatched confusion the environment of this game tests us physically and mentally and gives us an insecurity that just a few indy thriller games can achieve.

Limbo, the Game screenshot

Limbo, the Game screenshot

Limbo, the Game screenshot

What do you think of this world bloggies? for those of you who haven’t tried Limbo yet i highly recommend it! just give it a shot and you won’t regret it!.
World alchemist out!
P.S. feel free to tell me about your favorite video game worlds, cities or places!

Review Monday: Power Plant IM Cooling Tower, Belgium

David Baker Photography

Hey there Bloggies, so a couple days ago i was surfing the net when i came across this place! a cooling tower for an abandoned power plant in Belgium, i think it’s worth sharing with you guys!

David Baker Photography

A brief history about this place: the IM power plant is located in the town of Charleroi, province of Hainaut, Belgium, it started operations by 1930’s and supplied electricity for over 6 million people.

This was a cooling tower for the carbon-powered energy generator and ceased functions by 2006, as of today it is in demolition queue.

David Baker Photography

Personally i like a lot seeing these man-made structures consumed by nature, it almost feels like they’re going back to where they came from, and as a matter of fact i´m not a big fan of emissive fuels such as oil and of course, carbon.

David Baker Photography

That doesn’t turn off for me the hype to admire this place, which by the way is annually visited by many photographers and urban explorers, so tell me bloogies, what do you think of it??

David Baker Photography

Late PhotoPhriday: The Arch

The Arch, Cabo San Lucas
Photo by Enrico Avila

So… you see bloggies, i’ve been in Cabo for like three weeks, maybe more, but i’ve been really busy, you know… living the hard life.
I wanted to share this pic with you guys, this awesome rock formation is called “The Arch”, it’s in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, México.
Also i wasn’t able to upload photophriday on friday, as you can tell, but i did it now, so no biggie, let me know what you think of this photo! (i’m no photographer, but i do want to learn!) and feel free to share awesome photos with me so i can post them here!
See you around!