Fun Defining Steampunk
A Fan of Prof Elemental put this together and it is a lot of fun.
Get up and dance around your recliner if you are so inclined.
Steampunk At A Glance
Steampunk is a sub genre of science fiction and fantasy literature. Steampunk works are usually set in Victorian era England and include mad scientists who build these overly-elaborate, steam-powered machines that can do everything from destroying the world to traveling through time.
Such vivid imagery has inspired art, music, fashion and lifestyle, and has also captured the eyes of Hollywood bigwigs. The result has been some visually stunning and highly entertaining movies.
Click here if you’re a steampunk enthusiast
One such movie is Prestige, starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. The movie is about two Victorian era illusionists, Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, and a dead woman, Angier’s wife.
The men become each others’ mortal enemies, obsessed with outdoing each other on the stage. Their quest for the greatest illusion of all times leads them to famed inventor and physicist Nikola Tesla. Tesla has a new machine ala steampunk.
There can be no steampunk without a machine, can there. This new steampunk contraption can teleport humans, but who is it actually going to transport? Angier or Borden? Of course, you will have to watch this brilliantly made steampunk movie to find out.
Probably the founder of steampunk, Jules Verne’s classic 20,000 Leagues under the Sea is now a Disney movie. It’s 1866, Victorian time, and ships are mysteriously disappearing in the Pacific Ocean. Legend has it that there is a giant sea monster that is causing all those ships to disappear. The monster turns out to be a steampunk machine – a giant, gothic submarine called the Nautilus run by mad-genius Captain Nemo. This inventive film features some brilliantly wonderful set pieces, great action and even greater performances.
Another movie that uses Nemo and the Nautilus is The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It’s a movie with breathtaking visuals, action sequences, steampunk machines including the Nautilus, a 6 wheeled car and bizarre weaponry, and the required madman out to destroy the world. LXG is your quintessential steampunk film.
Of course there are countless other films, anime and television shows that couldn’t make it to the list due to space constraints. These were just the top three – my top three.
If you’d like to join the Steampunk culture, click here to find out more.
Special Steampunk Shoes to Take You Someplace Special
I think we could see the birth of a new industry here.
I have some shoes similar and am going to see if I can Steampunk them.
A Further Look At Steampunk
If you have a laptop lying around that is more than a few years old, you might not think it is as high tech as when you first bought it. It may not even work right. But that old laptop is a piece of treasure for someone carving out steampunk masterpieces. All it needs is a few clockwork gears interlocked to an elaborate display, some iron arms and legs and voila! You have your own garage made steampunk masterpiece.
Steampunk has mushroomed to a subculture with its own magazine, blogs, websites and even fashion. Inventors who are part of this subculture salvage mechanical monsters, such as our old laptops, and handcraft them to produce intricately charming pieces of mechanical art.
Churning out such sculptures doesn’t cost an arm and a leg either. You could get pounds of scrap metal for just $20! But it does take hours of tinkering and welding. The result – artwork that uses yesterday’s junk to make it look like something from the future. That’s what steampunk is all about.
The latest craze in steampunk started in the early 90s and is largely due to the 19th writers H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. Both writers featured in their novels (The Time Machine and Around the World in 80 Days respectively) technology that was powered by steam and maneuvered by an elaborate manner of levers, switches and gears. They provided inspiration for others like William Gibson, James P. Blaylock and Michael Moorock who also wrote about similar steam-powered machines and gizmos. Fans of these books were inspired to rush into their garages and work on their own versions of steam-powered junk, only ending up with an art movement called steampunk.
Three decades later and this movement doesn’t seem to be losing any steam. Discarded iPods and other wonders from just-yesterday are being turned into artistic cut and paste monstrosities showing up on the internet, their proud inventors showing them off as proud parent show off their children.
Steampunk In Style At The Steampunk Fair
In just three months begins the Greatest Steampunk Festival in the World. There is going to more steampunk entertainment than ever before, with performances by Psyche Corporation, music by a Halo Called Fred and Great Steampunk Lowlifes – Amor Obscur, and the Midway Trickster – Steampunk Robin Hood. All that and a great party with lots of fun and games, buffet dinner and high tea at the Greatest Steampunk Fair of the World.
The Greatest Steampunk Festival of the World is set to start off with a performance by Igor’s Egg. These guys are extremely talented, extremely versatile and extremely fun. They’re also multi-talented – being comic book creators, authors, storytellers and art developers. They always have a great story to tell through their music and they try to keep their show highly interesting, spectacularly creative and thoroughly enjoyable.
If you haven’t heard of the Psyche Corporation, you’re in for a very pleasant surprise. The performance group incorporates all kinds of steampunk gadgetry in their shows – old radios, flashlights, steel origami cranes, robots and corsets. A show that will surely transport you to a retro-futuristic dimension.
And if you like to listen to music that totally not mainstream, you will sure enjoy a Halo Called Fred. Their music is not steampunk because of the victorianesque costumes they wear. It’s the music itself that’s steampunk. They use Tupperware as their percussion instrument of choice. They sing about steampunk monsters, Sesame Street characters, pirates, and being someone’s nose – to name a few.
Ticket prices are $60 for the Artful Dodger, $70 for the Gentleperson’s Gentleperson, $95 for the Gentleperson Adventurer and $120 for the Mad Scientist. The higher priced tickets come with a bag of goodies including t-shirts, posters, pastries and VIP treatment. At the end of the day you can sit for good old fashioned steampunk dinner buffet for just $55.
Don’t forget to dressup in your wackiest Victorian era steampunk garb and have a great time at the Greatest Steampunk Festival in the World.
Steampunk Magazine Site
Does the idea of steam-powered vehicles and spring-propelled gadgets really catch your interest?
Be sure to bookmark this site and check out steampunk magazine for all things “steampunk”!