The Steampunk Librarian

"perhaps they will require a navigator..."

For those of you not in Cincinnati, here's the weather I'm looking at right now. Whee!

 

Anyway. Far away in the much warmer San Francisco Airport, an exhibit titled "Out of this World! The Twentieth-Century Space Invasion of American Pop Culture" is currently at Terminal 3. If you happen to be passing through, check it out.

 

There's a book out about jetpacks! And there's even a bonus website with all the science!  Another book in the works will feature Jeff Vandemeer's writing and Eric Orchard's illustrating -- you may remember both of them from previous posts. Can't wait.

 

Over the weekend, we got together with some fellow steampunk types and watched The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello. If you haven't seen it, you should, even if steampunk is not your thing -- it's a short, animated, Academy-award-nominated film with sci-fi and humor and romance. And it's pretty, too!

 

We leave you with the demure appeal that is The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie Robot, courtesy of artist Wade Marynowsky. Enjoy!

we briefly interrupt this transmission for breaking history

No steampunk today, just inauguration news and links over at the other weblog. We'll get back to the history that never was next week; right now it's all about the history that's going on right now!

 

(I did love Warren Ellis's latest Twitter post: "I think I might just turn Twitter off until after the Obamascension. Not going to get a lick of fucking sense out of the Yanks for a while.")

of poppets and berkshares and gallifrey

Geeky steampunk types, take note: doesn't this Gallifreyan wall from The Invasion of Time look awfully, well, steampunk? (I saw this episode over the weekend. Yes, I am a geek.)

 

I've mentioned both Lisa Snellings and Jessica Joslin before, but they both have new and wonderful stuff to share, with Lisa's inquisitive begoggled poppets and Jessica's current exhibition in California. Go look!

 

A word of caution to anyone experimenting with making steampunk jewelry and art: you may want to check for radium. Seriously. This is not one look we want to bring back.

 

There seems to be a growing emphasis on local over global lately, with the economy and all, and one odd result is the growth of local currencies. I saw this on WorldChanging and was startled to find that the featured currency is from the Berkshires, and I really should have known about this since I'm out there to see my family every so often. (The currency is pretty, too!)

 

From the depths of Improbable Art, which is always entertaining, rises the Televisor Museum International. It's been around for a while, but is perfectly Teslian in its web design and needs appreciation from the masses!

new year, new projects, new thoughts

The beginning of the year's always a good time to observe anniversaries, it seems. Big Ben turns 150 this year, and a website's been set up for the commemoration. (Incidentally, Big Ben was originally the name of the bell, not the clock tower. Now you know.)

 

Paleo-Future points to a New York Times editorial from 1909 which speculated on the world of 2009. Apparently automobiles should be obsolete by now. We should really work on that.

 

What's Next has the 2009 map of trends up, although I'd recommend you not try to see it via dialup. It's in PDF and it's massive.

 

If you're looking for a fun project to start off the year, get thee to the LEGO Flickr Steampunk Contest! You have two months to create something amazing. If you'd rather read about creations than create, you can check out the progress of Keith Newstead's A Steampunk Romance, or help Eric Orchard come up with some ideas for a new weblog focused on anachronism in science fiction art and literature.

 

Speaking of anachronisms, it's hard to pull off an old-time movie look properly, but Karl Lagerfeld comes pretty close in this teaser for a silent film on Coco Chanel.

 

And finally, if you're in the middle of the icy season like we are, you can stay inside and steampunkify board games, like this fun Monopoly modification!