Clockwork Gingerbread Steam Engine: Too Showy?

Hello again, all. The title is a reference to Girl Genius and the short Cinderella story. Regardless, I am contemplating a gingerbread house. My siblings have asked multiple times, "Why?". As you cannot eat them, the attraction is somewhat lost on a 13 year-old boy who is more interested in guns and the military.

I appealed to my cousin to help answer as I was knee-deep in plans. Her answer was simple: "Because it is awesome." Yes, we do awesome things, and the showiness is part of the fun- as I speak we have placed several jolly ranchers in the pre-cooked molasses cookies and they are melting into glass panes.

Anyone Know A Good Blank-punk Movie?

I was reflecting last night on the confusion that surrounds the term "steampunk" and "cyberpunk" as the family was watching "City of Ember", a film that perhaps would have needed a lot more fx and more advertising spent than the entire film budget, in order for it to be success. Not surprisingly, as clockwork boats moved out on an elaborate track in one of the scenes, my brother said, "Wow. I bet the steampunk enthusiasts went nuts over this."
I pointed out that it was a big difference between steampunk and cyberpunk. Steampunk: shiny, new, brassy and leather and clockwork gizmos that are impossibly advanced for their time; Mary Shelley wielding a raygun and HG Wells jumping into a commandeered Martian tripod. Cyberpunk: Grimy, plastic, vents, tubes - extremely clunky old equipment side-by-side with advanced tech, in the future, and The Matrix is a good example, when Neo wakes up in reality. The easiest way to tell cyberpunk is the forty tons of grime and dirt that seem compulsory.
Speaking of movie examples, I am looking for a good one to review- ideally something that is mainly steampunk. Stardust, probably.

Halloween Track: War of the Worlds

Uuuuuuuu-laaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!



This is my ultimate Halloween music- innovative, creepy, and melancholy by turns. Jeff Wayne put together a dramatic album based on HG Wells' The War of The Worlds and using the talents of Richard Burton, Justin Hayward, Phil Lynott, Julie Covington, and Chris Thompson.

The chances of anything coming from Mars were a million to one, they said. But come they did, and Jeff Wayne's utilization of Moog synthesizers and dramatic horns and woodwinds is the perfect way to portray the terror and call to bravery for humanity. More on this later!

M-more Madeira?

The description has been added above my blog address- and the quote is from the bbc series QI which, if you'll follow this possesses the distinction of being, according to America's BBC, far too intelligent for Americans to appreciate.
In one of the segments (look it up in ten seconds on Youtube) Phil Jupitus accuses Fry of having not beer goggles, but "madeira pince-nez". As Fry in all his splendiferous loveliness and fluffy Dickensian charm is one of the best rallying-points for the re-Victorianizing of culture, I had to include a reference to his Madeira pince-nez. I like to think of it as a movement towards"good-natured intellectual froth, seasoned with charm and upheld by strong aesthetic and moral principles". That being said, I hope to instill more gentility amongst the steampunk going forward- there's been too much confusion in the modern era between authentic gaslamp/steampunk fantasy and other cultures. Let's keep it classy, shall we?

Prelude to All Hallows: Musings on Monsters

"He ate my heart, he ate-ate-ate my heart, he ate my heart out...." - Lady Gaga

"The nineteenth century dislike of Romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass." - Oscar Wilde

"I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." - Victor Frankenstein

Ah yes, what story of perverted natural philosophy would be complete without an abomination of science?
Monsters- why do we have monsters? Why on earth does it make sense for a large portion of the population to put on a rubber mask and run around shrieking? And why does an equally large amount of people obsess with them?
A little backstory on this- my brothers have worked at the Colonial Gardens' Haunted Hayride for several years now. I joined last year and work in an undisclosed segment of the Haunted House portion, which is a pitch-black maze where the only people allowed to have lights are the monsters that are waiting at every dead-end stop to jump at you. The odd part about this job is that it provides me with a unique post for observing how people react to evil. In a lot of ways, monsters are tangible symbol of evil- cancer, disease, death, cruelty- the monster is a walking talking shouting menacing form of things that shouldn't be allowed to exist in a rational, God-created world. And because they are evil, how people deal with them (even the garden-variety Haunted House characters, which they know are just trying to entertain) can be quite telling.
One mother with her kid leans in and coos at the front-door. "See, Briana, that's not a real monster, it's just a mask, see?" (Note: this is horribly embarrassing for the monster). Message: monsters aren't real. Things aren't that bad. The kid remained unconvinced and tried to get even more behind her mother.
There are those whose first reaction (regardless of their best intentions) is to swing at a monster that jumps out at them. This type of unfortunate has a very boring experience, because once that happens, he'll have a hellish time getting out, at which point the manager will be waiting to kick him off the premises.
Shockingly, the ones who curse the most are fifteen-year-old girls, who apparently decided the best way to deal with evil is a steady stream of foul language.
The fathers (bless 'em) go through the house laughing most of the time, and seem happier the more scared their kids get- they love it when one monster catches a kid's name and repeats it, until it seems like the entire house knows who little Connor is and wants to meet him. These wise men have decided to acquaint their children early with evil, and prepare their kids for a life of dealing with real monsters.

Steampunk, Augustan Style?

'Tis hard to say, if greater Want of Skill
Appear in Writing or in Judging ill,
But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' Offence,
To tire our Patience, than mis-lead our Sense." -Alexander Pope
I do think that steampunk should not be overly-associated with the Victorian era. The elements are there, yes- the Industrial Revolution and the advancement of sciences and exploration, makes it a facile conclusion to attribute the popularity of the Grand Aesthetic of Steam and Brass to its relevance to our own time. What now, if we went further back... to the more mechanical (clockpunk, if you will) Augustan age?
Augustan Age- that period sparked in 1688, the "Glorious Revolution" when England submitted to the reign of William and Mary, followed shortly thereafter by Queen Anne and after her, the Hanoverian Kings. Directly after the Glorious Revolution, the two main political factions were the Whigs and the Tories, each having espoused the betterment of the nation, liberty, and trade as their cause, and vociferously denying the opposing party's ability to accomplish the same. And like our modern polemics, there was a new stage on which to carry their arguments and promote their views- the pamphlet, as opposed to the editorial, and the periodical essay, in place of the political blog.
For these reasons, why not see more speculative science fiction set in this era? One might see alchemy re-imaged as having more of natural philosophy to it, and some more differences ascribed to the parties- for instance, if the Tories were opposed to advancement in alchemical enterprises as Meddling in God's Business, and the Whigs on the other hand denouncing clockwork and mechanical engineering curiousities as "unprofitable debasement of materials and men".
Although I have been told that Neal Stephenson (of Snow Crash fame) has done some similar work in The Baroque Cycle, haven't had the chance to read it (I'm lucky to get to work on my thesis, never mind recreational reading). Regardless, I hope to see more people exploring this period of history for thematic elements (and the Neoclassical ideas associated with it) as the steampunk phenomenon develops.

Favorite Track off "Aether Shanty" Album

I'd love to have a video for this to post, but Abney Park doesn't have the resources, and I don't have the time. I like to listen and imagine a George Eliot style of tragedy...although I don't think anything she'd write about such a situation would be very forgiving on either side. Thoughts of "The Veil" come to mind.

So, My Friends Are Specializing Their Blogs

Which just makes me think about posting regularly on mine. If I do, it's going to be a whole lot of tea, teapots, in addition to ideas from my steampunk obsession. I better finish soon! Unfortunately a semi-romance is also taking up some of my time.

Eureka (I have it!) I am currently re-purposing some clothes into steampunk gear. Right now I have a rather naff tweed blazer (H&M made, but not really their best stuff) that I'm turning into a waistcoat), a pair of striped trousers that will be (someday) jodhpurs, and a nice bibfront shirt that will be worn with leather bustier and detached sleeves (slightly more Steam than most of my clothes). It's mostly been seam-ripping lately but I want to complete them soon.

Stephen Fry's Exciting Position on Urban Outreach

Also: To anyone who googled "Stephen+Fry+exciting+position", I suggest you drink a cup of chai and calm down.