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San Francisco, 1:48 PM
Mon Nov 9
21 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/07/09
"She can only tolerate things that could have been worn, to a general lack of comment, during any year between 1945 and 2000. "
Everything they show would have been glaringly comment-inducing when worn by a woman before probably the mid-sixties... Certainly before the mid-fifties.
-Kle. #williamgibson
11/07/09
I love the idea that, with Gibson's work, we're moving back from a not-so-distant future to a not-quite-there-yet present.
Give it another two books and he'll be predicting tomorrow. #williamgibson
11/06/09
In a strange way it is that mentality, that awareness of fashions semiotics, that creates an elitism in style. It is what makes certain designs and brands more desirable, and therefore more marketable.
I suppose Cayce's ability to sense this is what makes her a sought after coolhunter. #williamgibson
11/06/09
i have purchased at least 8 copies. 1 permanant copy, several loaner copies and several gift copies.
it is my answer to, "whats your favorite book?" #williamgibson
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10/22/09
10/21/09
I don't get steampunk. It seems like an overly elaborate excuse to wear goggles and make shitty clothing with bronze all over it.
The people who have festivals about it seem like the kind of BS hippie artsy fartsy types that would through a festival about anything.
Not to mention the fact that it seems like the only reason its so prominent is because it gives fangirls a reason to wear bodices and corsets while gushing over how good Firefly was.
Ok. So, it isn't all bad. #steampunk
10/22/09
I fully endorse this steampunk thing. #steampunk
10/22/09
...and firefly WAS good, after all... #steampunk
10/21/09
10/21/09
Chris H.
[www.double-dragon-ebooks.com]
10/21/09
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10/21/09
So, steampunk is taking longer to recede back into the greater mass of Speculative Fiction than I thought. Fine. Have we totally lost interest in the Future? Is looking ahead just sooo 20th century? As a technology advances it gets less bulky and complicated. What the hell kind of industrial design keeps all this exposed gears and tubes just to look cool?! If the Victorians, Wilhelmians and other muttonchop types had all this cool tech much earlier, yes it would have changed the world. But, and this is crucial, it would have continued to change! Spats, top hats, and frilly parasols wouldn't stay in fashion any longer than they did here.
I challenge the steampunk hobbyists to show us visions of what these worlds would look like in 1920, 1960, and today. Remember it's not so much a parallel world as a divergent one. Also, airships may be cool but probably never very practical. Ekranoplans however...
I really do adore allohistories and alternate worlds, but why are only re-imaginings of a hyper-industrialized 19th Century this damn prevalent? I think it's because this is a period of history where many modern laypeople begin to recognize stuff that starts looking familiar.
Okay, I'm done.
for now...
#steampunk
10/21/09
I think society as a whole may have lost interest in the future. When I was a kid, the future was the 21st Century and everyone was looking forward to it. Now the 21st Century is here and it is a mess. We're plagued by concerns over the climate, the US is at war on two fronts, terrorists make the news weekly if not daily, and we're worried that some rogue state may set off nukes. Nobody wants to look forward anymore. Instead, to borrow an X-Files catch phase, we want to fight the future.
Some of the most popular recent science fiction, at least at the movies and on TV, has been set in either the past or present day. The Battlestar Galactica re-boot took place 150 thousand years ago in a society that rejected what we would think of as "futuristic" technology, when they arrived on Earth they rejected their older tech as well. The Transformers movies, for all their fancy robots, take place in the present day. The Stargate series feature aliens and spaceships but is set in the present day. JJ Abrams' Star Trek re-boot, one of the few recent science fiction films set in the future was set in that series' past and was essentially a work of retro-futurism. Terminator Salvation was about a desolate, miserable future that was essentially an extension of our anxiety about the present. #steampunk
10/21/09
NBC trainer: See, the masks even have straws that you can insert into your canteens, so you can drink while wearing them.
Wiseass private: But what if you have to eat? And who even carries canteens anymore?
NBC trainer: Well, if we actually have some sort of NBC attack, you're dead long before you can get your gear on anyway, so don't worry about it. So anyway, this exercise is to make sure you are all confident in your gear, in case you have to use it in an emergency! #steampunk
10/21/09
=raises hand= someone posted a dollar store DIY version of this
[dollarstorecrafts.com] #scifashion
10/21/09