Then have a gander at the latest site to feature Steampunk (and other ) genre music. The PhonoVault is a new sales site, devoted to Avante-Garde, Dark Roots, Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Balkan/Gypsy music, Hokum Blues, Victoriana, Chamber Pop, Cabaret, Gothic Country, and Neo-Vaudeville. PhonoVault currently has online stores catering to both the US and UK, carrying an eclectic mix of music. Stop by and have a look.
Or perhaps not, as is illustrated by this wonderully offbeat and steampunk statue at the North Central Community College in Petosky, Michigan.
A potpourri of Steampunk stuff submitted by our readers.
Halloween’s coming! : A Steampunk Pumpkin
Mikko’s works: Mikko Anttonen’s Deviantart page
A Steampunk Sewing Machine: Binaebi Akah’s Ceramic Art
Steampunk Miniatures: Pax Limpopo Miniatures
Those should help avert the Monday blahs!
Good day, ladies and gentlemen! After our first report there is, of course, more than enough left to discover in the realm of dieselpunk so let me share another good bunch of links with you today.
The website Dieselpunks has the pulp works of George Gross and the high flying adventures of Laurent Negroni and Elly Beinhorn on offer, all certainly worth checking out.
New at The Gatehouse is the hosted blog Cinema is Cinema by Sjón Refur, discussing period film from an expert point-of-view.
Dr Damon Molinarius, “steampunk, polymath, philosophe, chrononaut, explorer of the ideal,” posts at the blogs Strange Undisciplined Dreams of Great Things and posts steampunk art and fiction at Strange Dreams. Recent features of interest include steampunk short stories and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
The Flying Fortress had an interesting post some time ago about the Second Industrial Revolution: a significent event in the economic development of Germany, Japan and the United States for it forebode their predominance in early twentieth century technologies. The advent of electricity, mass-production and consumerism defined the Edwardian era as well as the Roaring Twenties and, as such, it is one of those things that makes dieselpunk definitely different from its big brother, steampunk.
For a look into the future that never was, visit David Szondy’s Tales of Future Past: a bit old but still updated every now and then with wonderful stuff.
And for a little fun, visit The House of the Dead: Overkill where you can make your own grindhouse/exploitation film poster. We must warn you though: “this is adult entertainment!”
Artwork by Stefan from Paris.
In the final day of our mini raygun extravaganza, lets have a look at the rayguns of our youth (ok, my youth, then, I rmember having the Dan Dare PlanetGun”. )
Some of the most popular props used in 1950s space opera were ray guns. At least twelve toy space guns were sold in association with television space adventure shows during this period. Merchandised as premiums or sold as toys in retail stores, these space guns,are among the most beautiful and intersting space toys produced at the time, and they encouraged children to “play along” and more completely identify with their favorite space heroes. Heck, they were just plain fun, too.
While the site linked is mainly a sales site, it does have a marvelous selction of vintage toy rayguns for your perusal and enjoyment. Vintage Toy Rayguns
In keeping with the Raygun theme started yesterday, we’d like to bring to your attention the latest rayguns from Weta, our long-time favourite producer of rayguns for distinguished gentlefolk adventurers.
New from Weta, is the Righteous Bison Indivisible Particle Smasher, touted as: “no ordinary raygun. Far from it….The Righteous Bison can take a fair amount of man-handling. And even more woman-handling! The result, ladies and gentlemen, as I’m sure you agree, is nothing short of pretty good. The gun is about the same weight as a small brown trout (or two pints of Pale Ale) and can be fired continuously without exhausting the sportsman. Much like a good man-servant.”
Also new from Weta, is the Victorious Mongoose – Miniature Edition, which according to Weta is: “Based on the full size Victorious Mongoose, it measures a mere couple-of-thumbs-and-a-bit and is absolutely exquisitely detailed by Minisculisation Virtuoso, Dr Tremont. Made from confoundingly weighty metal, it has some rather uncomfortable-looking protrusions, so we recommend not swallowing. If swallowed, we can only recommend something really strong follows it.”
These two new additions to the Dr. Grordbort line are built with the typical attention to detail and craftsmanship, that are the hallmarks of Weta’s work. Well worth checking out.
What could be the more perfect weapon for an aspiring Steampunk Adventurer, than a well crafted and superbly lethal Raygun?
In that vein, what could be more perfect than a nice toy raygun to get that youngling Steampunk Adventurer started off? Here’s a nice little collection of vintage toy rayguns, for your enjoyment.
The classic Steampunk submarine, is of course, Jules Verne’s Nautilus. The submarine that everyone thnks of, is the classic Disney version by Harper Goff.
<
p style=”text-align: left;”>But, does that really match up with what Verne saw in his mind as Nemo’s grand and terrible vessel? Some folks have other ideas… Michael & Karen Crisafull’s Nautilus Designs.
<
p style=”text-align: center;”>Dave Warren also has some thoughts on the matter.
Dave Warren’s Nautilus.
Another good resource is: The Disney Nautilus., with an especially good ‘Behind the Scenes’ section.
To coincide with the steampunk exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science Steampunk Art @ Oxford, Steampunk Magazine are organising two days of music, dance, and exploration in Oxford over 13th and 14th December. The meetings on the 13th are free and open to all, starting with a look around the exhibition and followed by a tour around Oxford’s Victorian Christmas markets. The day after there is an afternoon of dancing, where Lady Jilian Spagthorpe will be teaching a waltz, a polka, and a Regency set dance. In the evening, there will be music from Sunday Driver, Ghostfire, and The Men That Will Not be Blamed for Nothing. Ghostfire have promised a repeat performance of ‘Calibernus’ (the waltz they played at Asylum in September) while Sunday Driver are providing the opportunity to practice the Regency set dance, and The Men will be entertaining us with a polka — so that everyone has the chance to practice their new-found footwork. More information is available at: Steampunk Soirée.
It’s Thanksgiving Day up here in the Great White North. Its a time for family and the kids and grandkids, so I’m off today. I’ll be back at the blog tomorrow, so for now:
Cheers Harold
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