March of the Typewriter! Topic: Steampunk

[alivemagdolene]

It's the March of the Typewriter project! I'm glad I didn't even bother to do it day by day since I knew that wouldn't work and here we are a week into March.

I'm slightly cheating since despite my begging you all for topics, my first is something that I've wanted to write about for a long time.


The skirt sold me on the graphic.

TOPIC: Steampunk

Many years ago, I heard the term "steampunk" and saw this graphic:


Bigger picture and alternate angle here and here.

I made the mistake of interpreting the term entirely by the photo. While I (obviously) did come to find out what steampunk actually is and means, I'm kinda disappointed that it's not what I originally thought.

So what did I originally think?

I thought it was what I always thought of my philosophy on "vintage" things: it takes the aesthetics of the era and combines them with the advancements of the modern day.

You can have your fully-functioning PC, and it's delightfully decked out with oversized typewriter buttons. You have your fully-functioning monitor, and it looks like an adjustable picture frame. You have your fully-functioning mouse, and it looks like a part of a telegraph.

You can have your progressive society that continues to progress and work for justice, and it's delightfully decked out in vintage attire, bopping along to Cab Calloway and Helen Kane, digging the new Silent film.

The mind reels! Mp3-players that look like vintage powder compacts!
SMART PHONES THAT LOOK LIKE VINTAGE HAND MIRRORS. A TV AND DVD-PLAYER/BLU-RAY DEVICE THAT LOOK LIKE A VINTAGE MIRROR and VINTAGE BRIEFCASES, GODDAMMIT.

So you can imagine that I was a little disappointed to learn the actual, admittedly still pretty cool history/meaning of the term.

But my original concept of steampunk was what I take with me about vintage things and what I'd love to see really take hold.

Comments

[queer-theory.livejournal.com]

You have more faith in my singing ability than I do. I think we'd sound lovely together, and I wouldn't drown you out at all. :D

And after those three, we'd each dress as our favorite classic film stars. Perhaps we can take a series of photographs in the style of these favorites. I volunteer for this one...

[alivemagdolene.livejournal.com]

I support this like burning, burning in a good way.