Friday, April 23, 2010

Viva la Steampunk Revolution

As a genre/subculture/fashion steampunk is fairly young. The term was first coined in the 1980's by K. W. Jeter. And of course, it was HG Wells and Jules Verne who first wrote what is now considered steampunk; but for them it was simply science fiction. Anime employs steampunk, as do many movies and novels. As an art form there are many artist creating steampunk pieces, ranging from clocks to computers. There were even a few steampunk fashion lines shown recently at different area’s fashion week (Boston's being the most notable). So what does all of this mean?

Embrace the Steampunk! It is likely that you have already done so without noticing. Here is a partial steampunk list with qualifiers:

Music:
Dr. Steel
Abney Park
Human Wine
Gilded Age Records

Movies:
Steamboy
Howl's Moving Castle (fantasy)
Back to the Future III
Brother's Grimm (Fairytale)
Golden Compass
Hell Boy
Return to Oz
Tin Man
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Diesel Punk)
Time Machine
Van Hesling
20,000 Leagues under the Sea
Wild Wild West (movie)
Atlantis (Disney movie)
Treasure Planet
Last Exile
Secret of Blue Water

Short Film:
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
Gentleman's Duel

Games:
Fallout
Bioshock
Final Fantasy (Almost all of them)
Edge of Twilight
Crimson Skies
American Magee's Alice
Machinarium
Steambots
Neosteam
Wild arms
Arcadium

Wait, you loved some of those movies, games, etc? Well, there is plenty more out there. There are steampunk groups in major cities, conventions, and much more. Are you ready to go hardcore?

Loving the Steampunk,
J.R. West

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