Steampunk in the Boston Phoenix
Link (Thanks, Jake!)
The 19th century ushered in the era of the amateur: a wild-eyed tinkerer in a lab had the capacity to stumble upon a discovery that just might alter society, a common theme paralleled in Victorian and Gothic fiction and, now, in Steampunk. “I find the optimism of Steampunk rather refreshing,” says Rich Nagy, a/k/a Datamancer, a popular Steampunk artisan originally based in New Jersey but now living in California who was represented at the Maker Contraptor’s Lounge. “Steampunk has a way of making technology, which is becoming more transparent and taken for granted every day, seem novel and fun again,” adds Nagy. That much is clear in his finely wrought pieces, like the “Computational Engine” computer casemod and his sophisticated “Steampunk Victorian Laptop,” a Hewlett-Packard ZT1000 laptop with a clockwork-under-glass display that, when it’s closed, looks like an ornate antique music box. It turns on with a clock-winding key. In effect, Steampunk is poised to bring the proletariat craftsman his 21st-century renaissance.Though Steampunk’s artisanal outputs have stolen much of the mainstream limelight so far, there is a whole other creative side to the scene that has received little attention in comparison. Countless bands have formed, filing their music under the Steampunk genre or citing Victorian fantasy as a muse. One of them, Vernian Process, is the solo project of San Francisco–based Joshua Pfieffer. A true testament to the notion of the ambitious dabbler, Pfieffer has no musical training, and writes songs with the aid of basic audio-production software. “The atmosphere is actually more important to me than writing good hooks, or melodic structure,” he says of his music, which he makes free to download. “I feel that what I do represents the genre as I would like it to sound.”
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I think you mean it's a wicked long feature, Cory. No commas allowed!
I always think of Abney Park when I think of steampunk bands.
I think they're technically steampissas.
"When the characters from Crossing Jordan show up on Las Vegas"
Really?
Could somebody please explain why "steampunk" is interesting or cool? I missed the original memo...
Just keep saying "splendid" and they'll leave eventually.
They're harmless enough. Let 'em have their fun.
MMBB
OK, I'm noticing you, happy? Now go find a thread you LIKE.
Actually, Takuan, I keep wondering if we're ever going to have that conversation...
If they were actually making clockwork and/or steam-powered whosawhatsits, that'd be cool.
What they are doing is gluing gears to shit.
It's... Well, it's pretty. But it's about as interesting as country stenciling, or any other inane arts-and-crafts obsession.
MMBB, Steampunk is cool because Cory Doctorow likes it. Cory is cool (most of the time), so if you want to be cool like him, you'll love it too! Resistance is futile! You will be assimilated by the BoingBoinganism and then you will happy. I promise. Just ask Takuan.
#8-- You aren't hanging with the right people. I *DO* haver friends that are making clockworks and steampowereds. Not to mention corsets, bustle dresses, goggles...
Number 10, would a modern women (who was not acting)wear a corset? Whale bone to be sure, or like material. If only more women would follow that trend! I long for the days of corset-bound-wasp-waisted women in petty coats and layers of silk taffeta. A fashion statement like that had more to do with men controlling women, keeping them all bound up and looking "better."
#10 My eyes! The goggles do nothing!
#11 I can imagine that corsets aren't fun to put on or to wear. Some of them are nice to look at, though, and very fun to remove!
Jeff @ 11
I long for the days of . . . women in petty coats
they're petticoats, actually.
tho i know a few women who not only wear the other kind, but flaunt them.
men, too.
;)
Jeff@#11 - you said:
'A fashion statement like that had more to do with men controlling women, keeping them all bound up and looking "better."'
You know, that was my take on it originally, but it's kinda not true. I'm not really qualified to comment much beyond that - but go talk to some women who are into corsetry, I guarantee you'll find it interesting.
Now that steampunk has been in the NY Times and this Boston alt-mag, can we declare it as having jumped the shark and let it die a death worthy of heroin chic, Zubaz pants, and shaved Nike logos?
That laptop is wicked pissa!
You know, I think there'd only be half as many steampunk articles posted if they didn't bring inane, crabby fits out of people every time. It's like you're daring him to post more, and if it were me, I'd make it Steampunk Week just to prove a point.
I may not find every one of these interesting myself, but christ. Whining about a blog's chosen subject matter is probably the most tiresome use of the internet thusfar.
Thanks for the typo fix. At least the word Petty is probably just an anglicizing of Petit, or some other French word that means small. I should OED it. And I guess a person can get into any kind of clothing fetish with out any regard for the clothing's historical significance. Look at all the leather fetishists out there, most of them driving Harleys.
+1 to "glueing gears to shit"
-1 to "most tiresome use of the Internet" - whining about post comments is even more tiresome.
Jesus, people, STFU already. You mean with the volume of content this blog outputs daily, to say nothing of the million other blogs out there, that a liberal estimate of 5% of the posts here alone have something to do with steampunk is so distracting that you feel the need to bag on it? Seriously? Do you also go over to Fark and complain about the frequency of posts about Florida and/or beer? That is the very definition of a troll. Go get laid, for fuck's sake.
Back on topic: There are some interesting ruminations on the popularity and significance of steampunk in this discussion on io9.com, including my own. I think it goes a long way towards explaining the phenomenon, for better and for ill.
License Farm, there are probably a few good reasons to complain about something. Even if it's complaining about complaining. I think it has to do with stress reduction. So, people find targets.
I long for the days of corset-bound-wasp-waisted women in petty coats and layers of silk taffeta.
Corsets aren't just for the ladies anymore. Give yourself over to absolute pleasure. Swim the warm waters of sins of the flesh.
Thank you, BB, for the great Steampunk posts.
I'll gladly read and enjoy them all.
Dear Kyle:
Any aesthetic is LARGE. As in BIG. As HUGE as humanity. Yes, people who BUILD laptops powered by lumps of coal are way cooler in technic than those who paint pictures of laptops powered by lumps of coal with no idea of how to actually DO it.
So? SO? SO GODSDAMNED SOOO!!
So... So if we accept this as cool, we have to also accept country stenciling as cool, and I'm not in any way prepared to do that.
I also have a theatre background. We made stuff all the time. I appreciate taking something and turning it into something else for fun, but what do you do with it once you're done? Nothing. You turn it in for a grade and then put it in your dorm room for awhile and finally go, "What the hell is this? And why do I have it???" and throw it away.
Gluing gears to laptops or guitars doesn't make them cooler laptops or guitars. It makes them junk.