3 posts tagged “festivals”
First off, Aloysius is conquering the legions of steampunks online and corraling them at the Steampunk Ning Empire. Events, photos, a forum, and much more are to be found! (He's a benevolent tyrant, so it's okay. I recommend you join!)
More events taking place this year include "Sphinx & Drinks" at the Egyptian Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose this July and WindyCon (featuring a steampunk theme this year) in Chicago this November. Start planning now!
The Punchdrunk theatre company recently had a wild gear-laden installation under London's Waterloo Station -- photos are online and there are rumors it may return in the fall.
You know steampunk is getting mainstream when there are actual "steampunk jewelry" suppliers online, by the way. Not that I'm complaining, as I'm one of the types who want this look and art in the mainstream so that it's easier and cheaper to find!
These steampunk rides, on the other hand, will never be mainstream, but they are amazing and worthy of wonder for that very reason.
And finally, for those of us who also love the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s: Dieselpunks!
One of my spam messages yesterday had the subject line of "oyster perpetual cosmograph." Sounds vaguely steampunkish, doesn't it? And off we go...
I was reading details of William Gibson's induction into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and noticed that steampunk was mentioned as a literary genre. I poked around a bit and found that the Hall even lists a steampunk bibliography. I guess the term really has made it! However, the genre discussions continue, as detailed in this post on Futurismic. An excerpt that caught my eye:
For example, Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) might be dismissed as needlessly fantastical if seen as a detective story, but if seen as a work of steampunk cinema, it takes on a whole new set of meanings - despite the fact that it is rather unlikely that the writer or director had even heard of the term at the time.
(I have a deep and abiding love for this film, as anyone who knows me can attest, and seeing it listed as "steampunk cinema" delights me no end.)
The steampunk portals are arriving, slowly but surely! The Steampunk Feed is open for business, and the brand new SteamList aims to catalog the steampunky stuff available on Etsy. Another source of inspiration is the Steampunk Lab, which shows off items from all over the web. And Coilhouse, which has all sorts of great bits to it, has a steampunk category.
From Cassandra: Gogbot looks like a steampunk-oriented festival taking place this fall in the Netherlands. The site is in Dutch, but I did see that one of the bands performing is named Singing Tesla Coils, so you know it's going to be an interesting time!
Marconi News specializes in collages of "visual fabrications, chronological confusion and technological deception." Of course, I love it.
I also love the Process Indicator. It's for indicating processes, it is!
And lastly, space westerns may be a bit of a tangential interest, but many a steampunk story has a space and/or a western angle to it. It's a great site, regardless of your leanings.
The steampunk festivals are coming! If you're near Arkansas this summer, the Ravenwood Festival will be something to see. (As an aside, it's interesting to see just how goth the steampunks are becoming. It was always a component, but this festival has Voltaire as a top performer!)
Steampunk improv, on the other hand, sounds like something completely new. I wish I could just pop over and watch a performance of The Journeys of Professor Pleasant Pennywhistle and his Spatial Relocation Portal firsthand; if anyone does (or has), let me know!
'Tis the season for anthologies; Cory of Voyages Extraordinaires has an anthology available for the downloading at his excellent website.
For the tinkerers and the artists alike: it's not too late to enter the Artbots 2008 competition!
I think the iTea would make an excellent part of a steampunk party or living environment. The tea cups and table could be embellished, and the technological spiral of information that the device emits could become part of the design as well.
I also think that Wirepod would be a wonderful addition to a steampunky library or study. Some commenters think it's too much, but I think it's a great - and elegantly Victorian, especially if decorated - solution to ugly wires. Apparently this is going to be part of a Wiremore product line, but I don't think it's available just yet.
I can't believe I haven't heard of Adele Blanc-Sec until now. A feisty Victorian-era woman who fights monsters and then goes into cryonic hibernation for a few decades? Wow! Rumors are swirling about a possible movie in the works.
