Hi!
My wife pointed me here recently, although I have been a lifelong fan of a variety of anachronistic
subcultures ... er...
communities, science fiction, philosophy, invention/tinkering, music, art, and non-disposable culture, so it feels a lot like home. I'm kind of an oddball everywhere, so I expected I may be one here as well, but after looking around it seems "eccentric" is fairly... um... normal (no offense).
What attracts me to steampunk is the obvious technology combined with well-designed and artistic presentation, the hardiness of the materials, the hats, the lack of an obvious consumerist culture (so far), the variety of dress, and the general civility. I am addicted to visible tech (like cogs, gears, etc.) and love reconstructed/repurposed "art" objects, functional or not, although I definitely lean toward function over fashion, I appreciate both quite highly.
I love making things, especially from junk, and part of that aesthetic is what appeals to me as well, and also may explain why I tend to love post-apocalyptic things so much as well. I'm into bicycles, scooters, carpentry, painting, and am interested in learning more about metal working as I've been jonesing to do a few bike/motorcycle project ideas swirling around in my head. I also play music which is kind of cross-genre and anachronistic in its own way.
Finally, I've been rehabbing a 120 year old folk Victorian house; not necessarily doing it as a "Restoration" but still wanting to keep some of the original spirit to it. Seeing the inner guts of some 100 year old technology really makes you appreciate both the old and the new. Sure, that knob and tube wiring looks scary as hell (and it is, frankly), but it's also survived a long time. I often wonder if the same could be said of many modern building materials. Then again, there are a lot of great inventions that apparently weren't standard back then, such as proper venting of a plumbing stack....
Anyway, I digress. Nice to meet you all. I’ll post some pics of me, the scooters, the house, etc. soon. In the meantime, here's a neat pic of my Great Granduncle's (second from left) band a distant cousin sent me, and it's crazy: he looks almost EXACTLY like me. So much so that a friend of mine thought I photoshopped my face onto him.
