Thanks!
haha "Mr. Datamancer"...that still cracks me up.
Yeah I had to sit down with that question for a while. I guess I had never really thought about it before. Also, after Jake's awesome answer, I felt like I had to get all philosophical about it too, but due to a lack of time, I finally just broke down and wrote out some broad strokes.
It was just something I was always drawn to, and I never really stopped to define it. I have tinkering in my blood, and I've always been attracted to loud, dirty and heavy machinery. I've always felt that I existed in the wrong era. I've always envied an age (and this might have been merely my own romanticized, modernized view) where people conducted themselves with dignity and polite decorum...an age of chivalry without condescension or misogyny...of class without elitism....of sophistication without pretension (this is usually relative to social standing).
On the other side of it (the "-punk" i guess), I've always loved steampunk's almost defiant, sort of ramshackle refusal to accept the world around you as it stands. Steampunk seems to take this "punk" concept and apply it to invention and its subsequent effect on culture. Relating to VonSlatt's statements of the personal Industrial Revolution, the average barn or garage tinkerer was capable of mastering the height of technology at the time. The tech field was wide open to anyone with a little know-how and cleverness. This sort of freedom and "techpunkery" is starting to slip away from us, which I think is what accounts for much of the Hacker, Phreaker and Modder resurgance as of late....the DIY culture. You can even apply this to the recent "Gearhead Renaissance", as I've been calling it. All of these TV shows have sprung up like Overhaulin', American Hot Rod, American Choppers, Rides, Destroy My Ride, etc, etc that are all geared toward independant DIY customization as opposed to the rampant consumerist brainwashing of the last few years.
Like I said in the interview..."it's a reaction". It feels like humanity's stubborn mental backlash against being told what to do, what to buy, how to look, etc., for too long.
.....Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.
Funny visual relating to "steam" and "punk", I guess::
While I was writing this, I was reminded of waaay back in the day, when I was into the krust punk scene....you know those little bum flap things that a lot of squatter punks wear so you don't freeze your butt off sitting on concrete? Well I had one that I made, but it was a little set of black suit tails. hahaha I had completely forgotten about that until now.
-~D~-
