The Steampunk Librarian

steampunk past, present and future

The past: The Extraordinary Voyages of Jules Verne suggests that perhaps Verne was involved in Gnosticism, coded messages, and more! The trailer is online. Has anyone seen the whole thing? How is it?

 

In 1888, Alaskans believed a mastodon was on the loose. Bigfoot sighting? Aliens? A robot elephant?

 

In the present day, we have a lovely steampunk caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, created by artist Bryan Coffee. It's now showing as part of the Noxious Fumes exhibit at the Rivet! 

 

Another artist to watch is Andrew (aka Android) Jones. Beautiful stuff.

 

Sex and steampunk? Yes!

 

The future! Abney Park has worked out some agreement with Airship Ventures, and on October 31st you could be part of a dirigible voyage over the Bay Area. Wow.  What better way to spend Halloween, I ask you?

 

For those on the other side of the country, the Brooklyn Indie Market is holding a steampunk-themed event on October 25th. It looks like great fun.

 

If you're nowhere near San Francisco or New York, you can lose yourself virtually in the City of Ember and play a pipeworks game. I am normally okay at these things, but so far I have flooded the city numerous times. Oops.

whom are you going to telephone?

It's steampunk day, and not only that, we have steampunk links sent in by others! Many thanks, everyone!

 

From Julie: an amazing clock called the Chronophage, or "Time Eater," has been unveiled at Cambridge University, and Stephen Hawking was there for its debut! There's also a video at the university's website which shows the clock in more detail (and, in doing so, shows close-ups of the most terrifying Giger-esque grasshopper ever conceived. Yikes.)

 

From Dan: Bill Bailey's website is all steampunkified! I've been watching Bill on QI and never even thought to look at his website. I am duly ashamed.

 

Stephen H. Segal of Weird Tales participated in a steampunk panel at DragonCon, and gives some possible reasons for steampunk's recent surge in popularity.

 

An example: steampunk weddings! I've heard of a few, but this one includes a huge online photo gallery. Hooray!

 

And finally, do not fret about the EPA trying to shut down the Ghostbusters; now we have the steampunk ghostbusters, which will do the same job but with much more style and panache!

"A pretty way of coping with the truth"

For the well-dressed neo-Victorian, Umbrella Today is a nifty little 2.0 idea -- it tells you if you need to take an umbrella when you go out each day.  (Swiped from Geistweg.)

 

Gizmodo has declared it dead, but Bruce Sterling's "User's Guide to Steampunk" nails what attracts people to this sort of thing: "Steampunk is popular now because people are unconsciously realizing that the way that we live has already died. We are sleepwalking. We are ruled by rapacious, dogmatic, heavily-armed fossil-moguls who rob us and force us to live like corpses. Steampunk is a pretty way of coping with this truth." (Kudos to Jake von Slatt for finding this!)

 

I was busy being far away, visiting babies and watching trees fall while La Princesse performed in Liverpool, but fortunately there's video footage.

 

Also, Brass Goggles seems to have broken while I was gone -- luckily, some ingenious refugees have set up Spare Goggles for the interim!

 

Recent discoveries: Jeremy Mayer creates amazing creatures from discarded typewriters, while Eric Orchard creates beautiful illustrations and stories on his weblog. Go and explore!

Steampunks for Obama!

An update! In the comments from the last entry,  Luke says, "I too noticed the lack of steampunks for Obama buttons... So I made one." How completely wonderful is that?

 

Also, the huge mechanical spider (named La Princesse) is moving around in Liverpool! There's a vague sort of schedule of her movements, in case you're in the area.

 

I'm going to be out and about next week and probably not posting, but will be back the week of the 15th. Thanks for reading, everyone! I appreciate it a great deal.

the revolution will not be telegraphed, but you can own the t-shirt

 

DragonCon took place over the long weekend, and the steampunkers seem to have been out in force. (Also, for non-steampunks, there were some truly awesome costumes, like the Master from Manos and several people dressed like Venture Brothers characters.)

 

In the excitement about IndyMogul doing a steampunk-related episode last week, I didn't even notice that it was part of a week-long crossover series with ThreadBanger. Good stuff, there!

 

The latest fashion accessory informs you that the revolution will not be telegraphed. Take that, Samuel Morse. Also, there are Emo for Obama buttons and even Thereminists for Obama buttons, but there are no Steampunks for Obama buttons? I protest! (The entire list is wonderful, however.)

 

In the future, wind will power the world! Well, hopefully. In the meantime, you can see this neato LEGO windmill, which is sadly available only to Vesta employees. However, they've also provded a handy guide to building your own.

 

Have I linked to the Victorian wooden submarine before? I think I may have. It's always worth a second look. And if you are attracted to strange ruins, abandoned buildings, and murky machinery (and you should be), this compendium of Flickr galleries should keep you absorbed for hours.