There were many writers that influenced the Steampunk mouvement and no one more than Jules Verne. If you have time for the coming summer and after having visited the docks where you can see the Great walking Elephant, I advise you to go up-hill to the Jules Verne Museum. 3 floors of this ancient mansion of the Saint-Anne hill dedicated to the fabulous writer. You will have that unique chance to (re-)discover his work through original editions of his books, facsimiles of old movie posters and of course models of the Nautilus.

This museum is worth the walk for its collection but also for the magnificient view on the river.

Over at the Forum, discussion there on the creation of a Dieselpunk sub-board, got me thinking that there is (from my point of view as a retired railroader with 36 years in service) that there is a lot of potential for overlap and cross pollination between Steampunk and Dieselpunk.. I am old enough to remember the end days of the transition from steam to diesel power on the railroads and looking through my photo archives can find plenty examples of wonderful steam power in the Dieselpunk era. Steam power kept quietly working away, eventually going “behind the scenes”. As an example, there was a 12,000 HP triple expansion steam engine powering a rolling mill in Britain, until 1973, where its last job was rolling out steel plate for a nuclear reactor containment vessel. As another example, our beloved Steampunk airships didn’t really hit mainstream until after 1918, with even what is considered the “Golden Age” of airships being the early 1900′s, which takes them out of the Victorian era and plants them firmly into the Edwardian. In a nutshell, while I started out as a Steampunk, (I appreciate and enjoy Victorian history and culture, but really am a steam power fan first), I also seem to be a bit of a closet Dieselpunk by the definition generally agreed on. I am a sucker for Art Deco, and I enjoy the 1920-1950′s cultural era (heck, I can remember the late 1950s) just as much. I”d venture to say that the era I identify with most would be the inter-war era of the 1930′s, as portrayed particularly in the “Poirot” television series. Who can argue with such classic examples of styling as the de Havilland Dragon Rapide, or a Dreyfuss J3-A Hudson? I think the overlap might be a very interesting thing.  I’m sure this will cause some controversy, but don’t worry, BG will remain Steampunk, though perhaps with some occasional wanderings.. Thoughts?

Vernian process is proud to announce the pre-release version of our album “Behold the Machine”. Featuring 14 tracks of Steamwave goodness. At this time, the album will only be available in digital download format but the download is free. The pre-release mix will differs in a few minor ways from the final mix.

Behold The Machine Download

Vernian Process also have created some wallpapers featuring Myke Amend’s fantastic artwork for you to download as well.

<

p style=”text-align: center;”>640×480 800×600 1024×768 1280×960 1280×1024 1600×1200 1680×1050

Sadly,  Vernian Process ran into some unforeseen financial hardships during their tour, which has prevented them from being able to manufacture the official barcoded CDs and booklets for the time being. However,   they have set up a ChipIn widget to help with the repairs, and the cost of printing the CDs

This is the top showing the pot and a swirly color wheel.

Although without question a slot machine can be a VERY steampunk object this one tries really hard but for a purist like myself just misses the mark. (although sweet Clementine, did you see that pot?! 700,000 USD!)

Out of Order!! Curses!

As you can see on the left. The poor thing was in need of an engineer.  Sadly Bally’s of Las Vegas, NV looks down upon guest engineers and prefers them to be of the In-House variety.  Needless to say I could not play it.  Also frustrating was that  it was the only one of it’s kind on the floor.  After going to about 6 casinos that night I discovered (unless I just missed it which is possible) that it’s the only one on the strip!

Summary: I think it was a cheap grab at the aesthetic which is sad because they could have really made a legendary slot machine had they made one more mechanical.  At least give the one-armed bandit it’s one arm!!  sigh This is Shaunathan Sprocket, going back to the Roulette table to win actual money at a game played in the 19th century.  (now where was that European Wheel….)

I must admit that seeing this brought back memories of my early days with the railroad, worked a lot with teletype and message switching.  But we digress – The Aetheric Message Machine Company has taken texting to new Steampunk heights by adapting old teletype machines to receive text messages.

Now all I need to do is get 100 of these and an old IBM360/40 and I can recreate the teletype network centre of my early career.

The League of STEAM has released their first video Webisode “Monkey Business”. Well Done, Lads!

The Adventures of the League of Steam

Certainly!   Spotted these handcrafted glass beauties in Banff.

Archive Designs  has created (amongst other things) a Steampunk themed pub, the Bristling Boar. 

Some of their other projects include the HMS Intrepid Sapphyre.

Well worth stopping by and checking out their Blog .

How would Captain Nemo have embraced the whole Home Theater  concept? How would he have entertained Prof. Aronax &Co. had he the means and modern technology?

Perhaps, like this?

David Goldberg did just that, theming his home theater screening room after the Disney “Nautilus”  – Check his blog -  The Nautilus Screening Room , for details on how he didi it.

How about a few Steampunked Rides?

Lets start with something that actually was designed and manufactured by an automaker – The Leyat Helica:

    Leyat was a French automobile manufacturer established by Marcel Leyat in 1919.  The first model was called Hélica, also known as ‘The plane without wings’. The passengers sat behind each other as in an aircraft. The vehicle was steered using the rear wheels and the car was not powered by an engine turning the wheels, but by a giant propeller powered by an 8 bhp engine. The entire body of the vehicle was made of wood and weighed just 250 kg (550 lb), which made it dangerously fast. In 1927, A Hélica reached the speed of 106 mph  at the Monthley race track. Leyat continued to experiment with his Helica, he tried using propellers with two and four blades. Between 1919 and 1925, Leyat managed to sell 30 vehicles.

Next up – The Neverwas Haul:

Completely insane. It’s a Victorian house on wheels. Clearly the product of altered mind states, or simply lots of wood and Red Bull, this creation of The Berkeley Academy of Unnatural Sciences could only have been created for one purpose: to be the best Burning Man vehicle of all time. Fair to say, it’s succeeded.

Finally, for something completely different, the “Legway” – a steampunk Segway.

Both brilliant and almost completely impractical, it also oozes with steampunk style. Just look at the thing! Impossible to turn, slower and more difficult than walking, and though it’s very existence a biting piece of social commentary.Well Done, That Man!