6.2.2010 by Traveler.

Just a quick entry, because I will not have time for more today:

There is a iPod game comming up, already free for Mac, that has a cool retro and steampunk feel to it. Steampunk because of the obvious aesthetics and retro because it looks so much like a classic Jump’n Run from the C64 days… Ahhh… The days of my youth…

Check out the video and the website:

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5.2.2010 by Traveler.

Right then…

A Steampunk should always grasp an opportunity to attend or participate in cultural events which fit the genre and so I did…  (I seldom get the opportunity anyway these days, I guess the people 120 years ago had it easier)

Sherlock Holmes seems to be all the rage these, there’s a new movie out, there’s a new trend in fashion:

(Steampunk/Dieselpunk elements going mainstream?) and of course, there are some literary events going, bringing the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the masses. It was such an event that my wife, two friends and me amongst about fouty other guests attended yesterday, it was held in a mid-sized café Munich, the NIEDERLASSUNG:

The reader, Deef Pirmasens:

Atmospherical music by Sascha Bibergeil:

The story read was The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (German translation from 1905). I must admit, to my shame, this was the first time I had contact with Sherlock Holmes that did not involve a televison series…. Admission fee was € 6 and it was six Euros well spent.

It was a thorougly enjoyable experience, Deef has a very pleasant voice that is easy to listen to, he gave each character his own unique voice, adding to charcter and depth of the experience and Sascha’s guitar play was most enjoyable and fitting and contributed greately to the atmosphere. I also found the story most intriguing and have to applaud the genius of Sir Doyle for creating such a brilliant mind like Holmes’ in his own. This very enjoyable reading of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle is going to be the bar against which the Sherlock Holmes movie will be me meassured. We will very likely go see it this weekend.

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4.2.2010 by Traveler.

I ask myself:

Shall I get a hat? I’ve got two steamy caps (one of them a flyer’s cap) but they are only good for the colder part of the year. The question is, shall I get a steampunky hat for the summer? I’ve got an Australian (or very likely fake-Australian) bush hat but since I’m more the gentleman steampunk, wearing it with the rest of the ensemble would destroy looking the part. So the question remains:

Should I get myself a top hat, a bowler or a Bogart (which would be more on the Dieselpunk side), like the one shown in a previous post (the one about smoking). I guess the bowler is somewhat out of the question, since it reeks too much of English clerk to me (as in: Ministry of Silly Walks) and always reminds me of Charlie Chaplin. It really comes down to either a top hat or a Bogart. Hmmm… Luckily, there is quite a good store for hats here in Munich, I guess I just check what suits me best.

And there is sitll the matter of money… These things don’t come cheap and certain items I do not buy used. I shall see how much the hats actually cost and then I will probably decide not to get a new hat after all…

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3.2.2010 by Traveler.

Two images I simply had to share, they are too cool to pass by. The first one is supposedly pre-Great War but I am somewhat unsure about this. It is very steampunk, though The second one is just one great poster motive for fighting nerds. It basically says “This happens when Tesla goes bad”.

So please, enjoy:

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1.2.2010 by Traveler.

Right, so here it is, the first episode of chapter two of Riese!

Please watch first before you read on, I speculate further down and the speculation contains a few spoilers. So, please enjoy the episode:

Now for the speculation and the spoilers:

The episode takes place in the vicinity of a town called Vidar. Vidar is another name taken from the Edda. Vidar is a son of Odin/Woden destined to avenge his father’s death at Ragnarok and a new character by the name of Rand, apparently a military leader, mentioned the enigmatic Siegfried. For those of you not familiar with the online alternate reality game surrounding Riese, Siegfried already made an appearance there, as someone with some inside knowledge of the sect and member of the resistance.

Now the speculation: A battle is planned to happen in or around Vidar, could this be a Battle of Vengeanc? And could this battle stop Eleysia’s military expansion for a while thus triggering increased activity by the sect and Amara?

And another speculation: Could it be that Trennan harbours some feelings towards Amara and/or Riese or feels some guilt towards Riese, judging from his responses during and after the bo exercise?

Hmmmm… It’s great to speculate!

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31.1.2010 by Traveler.

Oh joy! Tomorrow (judged by CET standards) the next chapter of Riese the Series will be released on their website and on Youtube (and a few other platforms). For me this means that when I get up tomorrow at around six in the morning, by the time I am finished with my breakfast I will have a visual treat waiting for me on the ætherweb.

At special times it really feels especially great to be a Steampunk.

I sincerely hope that Riese continues for quite some time. Even judged by the standards of other steampunk webseries around it is by far the best and most professional.
On a more global scale I have yet to find another webseries, no matter the genre, that so much captures my attention. Granted, Riese has two elements on its side: Steampunk and Germanic mythological influence. Both things I  am very much interested in.

The only point of criticism I have is the length of the individual episodes, they could be a little longer… But OK, this is just the standard complaint of a fan, so never mind…

So, do not miss  tomorrows/tonights release of the first episode of Riese’s second chapter. I am definitely going to watch an enjoy it.

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30.1.2010 by Traveler.

The classical Steampunk era,  i.e. when the grand old masters were still around (the lifetimes of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells etc.), also featured a lot of then-contemporary authors who wrote about supernatural occurences. Dracula and Frankenstein comes to mind. Now, what I have found so far, although most Steampuks would not deny the influence of the likes of Bram Stoker and the later pulp authors like Lovecraft on the genre, the Paranormal Investigator seems to be rather underrepresented in the scene. Most people I have met in real life or online seem to be of the Airship/Zeppelin Crew (various ranks), Airship Pirate crew, adventurer or mad scientist/tinkerer persuasion.

Has the paranormal fallen out of fashion or is this a facette so well represented in the “common goth scene” that it never really  took root in the Steampunk scene? Any oppinions on the matter?

It may also well be that I am simply hanging out with the wrong sample crowd and you get a lot of paranormally inclined Steampunk characters in other places…

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29.1.2010 by Traveler.

Right, for a number of reasons I have decided to do a little bit more Steampunk related things in German. I have therefor started another blog (in German) which, unsurprisingly, is also named Daily Steampunk.

The Blog can be seen here Daily Steampunk auf Deutsch.

It is not much yet, just one post and I will very likely not do as much on the German blog as I do here, but I made a similar announcement some weeks ago, regarding the novel I am working on. So let’s see how my German Steampunk Blog is going to turn out.

And here’s a cross post from the blog, another Zeppelin:

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28.1.2010 by Traveler.

Do you want to write a novel? Are there ideas dancing in your head, yeth they will not crystalise into a plot? Are you suffering from writer’s block or are you simply unable to come up with anything?

In all these cases, there is hope for you (yes, YOU!).  Clickon the Wondermark Fiction Generator Logo below and marvel at the wonderful plot it generates to spur your career as a writer to unknown and unknowable hights, trajectories… Whatever… Just try it, it’s fun and safe to play with:

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27.1.2010 by Traveler.

According to various sources, the US military plans to deploy a high-altitude spy blimp for missions you need a spy-blimp for… As a Zeppelin Enthusiast™ I am looking forward to it and am quite excited about it.

As a military ley person, I ask myself: What can this expensive piece of equipment do that satellites and drones do not cover already?

Oh well… Government spending. Here’s a visual overview of planned capacities:

And as an added bonus for today. Check out this futile game (and tell me how often you played it before you gave up…)

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