I am trying my best to balance activities and I keep forgetting about this site because it is low on my list of priorities right now. I think one of the reasons is that sometimes it can be difficult to come up with material to talk about without always stealing everyone else’s articles for starting points, because right now I just do not have the time to surf the Web all of the time to find new stuff. I guess that is the downside of having a themed site.
So, I am debating whether or not I want to just expand my range of material that I will use here. I really want to keep the site up, but when I have things to talk about that do not fit here (which is more often than not), I end up neglecting this site. I will decide shortly what I am going to do.
One thing that may happen is that a couple of my friends and I may be working on a browser game with a post-apocalyptic theme. If that goes through I will update here.
Some of you may have seen the new movie coming out called Sucker Punch. From what I have seen, it has to do with dreams so the themes include a whole spectrum of genres including Steampunk. I think it will be an interesting movie.
Talk about neglecting my site; I have gotten so busy that I just have not even thought about this site recently. I am in a new course in school that requires a bit more attention then before; I have been working on one website for someone else as well as a new website for my guild; I got back into WoW because I felt my guild needs me; plus I have been beta testing two other games. I like to stretch myself a bit at times.
Anyway, I do have something relevant to post here. The other night I happened to catch one of my favorite films on cable. I have no idea why I do not have it in my collection, but seeing it definitely served as a reminder that I need to pick it up. The film is Brazil. I am sure most people who may read this have seen the film, but if not it is a must-see. There is something about the surreality of the whole thing, but it has always been a reference in my mind when I try to visualize a certain atmosphere for some stories. Though there are arguments of the “steampunk” attributes of certain elements like the computers (possibly more wirepunk), many are obviously influenced by the film in their creation of Steampunk art, such as the computer keyboards from old typewriters.
It is funny how these genres are finding its way into different aspects of our lives these days; I already mentioned the clockpunk content in W101 in my last post. I cannot say which game right now because of the NDA, but I am beta testing a new MMO that in the first few minutes of the starting zone, you create an object and then get an item that specifically has the word Steampunk in them. If anyone else tests games, they may know what I am talking about. And a clue for anyone that wishes to figure it out- the developer also did Jumpgate.
I play a lot of games, particularly MMOs. I have played and tested many, but only a few keep me interested more than the rest. The two games that have rated highest on my interest scale are EQ2 and WoW, both of which I have played more than others. But, for an unusual change of pace, there is another which I have been playing more of recently. It is called Wizard101, and is aimed to gaming families. Yes, it is a lot different than the usual lineup of action MMOs that I have played, but I find it unusually addicting.
Basically you are a growing wizard, exploring different worlds in the Spiral, and battling enemies in a turn-based, card-battle style. Now I do like some trading card games, particularly Magic: The Gathering, but I have never been a huge fan of turn-based games. But for some reason I enjoy this.
I have recently cleared one world called Marleybone (I am sure as a play on Marylebone), which is a 19th century London-style setting with characters like Sherlock Bones and the end boss Meowiarty. Yes it sounds a bit silly, but I think they did a relatively good job with incorporating classic characters and themes. Anyway, there are a number of elements which are very clockpunkian (if that is a word), such as the propeller-driven airships that take you to the different zones, the clockwork mobs and bosses, and even the inside of the Big Ben tower.
So much for my intentions to post something every day. I figured it would not last, but I thought I would be able to hold on longer than I did. But when things get busy, many times hobbies will suffer.
I really could not think of much to post this time other than the fact that for some reason I had an itch to watch Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Amazingly enough it was not already in my movie collection, so it was the perfect opportunity to add a new film to my (recently started) Blu-ray collection. And I guess it has been a while since I have watched it because I seriously could not remember any of it, so it was like watching a new movie. Of course my favorite part has to be the mobile airstrip; I love the concept of giant airships.
There was an interesting post at Steampunk Magazine discussing the potential of a steampunk society in a post-apocalyptic world, in response to another post at steampunk fashion regarding the same topic. Interestingly, I think it brings up other concepts to consider about the steampunk genre, one of which I briefly addressed on the “About” page of my site. I am referring to the idealization of an alternate reality to represent a relatively utopic environment to provide the atmosphere for much of the related art and literature.
A couple of points come to mind here. One, as I mentioned, is the fact that though particular genres such as cyberpunk typically tend to portray a more dystopian environment due to the many factors that may have caused such a world to evolve to such a state, I believe that there must still be a sense of idealization that flows within that makes the genre so attractive to those that create or follow related works. For instance, the cult classic Blade Runner tells a story set in an environment that if it were a reality, I am not sure how many of us would truly be very happy campers, yet when engulfed in the story and the atmosphere it is almost entrancing, making you (or at least me) wonder what it would be like. Maybe it is like being attracted to the “bad boy”; even though you know it is not really a good thing in reality. It is the mystery, the possibility, and in a huge part, the escape and change from the sometimes mundane reality that some of us may live.
My second point relates more specifically to the idealization of the steampunk world. I believe that people want to keep the beautiful and classy Victorian setting on which steampunk seems to be rooted, and from that there is a natural tendency to visualize steampunk as a more utopian world. Not considering the downsides to actually living in the 19th century, the era was prosperous and generally peaceful, so it does seem a fitting foundation to base a utopian alternate reality. But what some people seem to forget about steampunk is that it is an alternate reality that is born and lives in our imaginations (even though we try to make it reality sometimes). That means that there is no hard and fast rules by which steampunk or other genres must abide by. Sure, we generally try to keep the basic elements at the risk of losing what makes them what they are, but people seem to get so locked into specifics that we lose any creativity when developing the worlds.
So after reading the posts about a post-apocalyptic steampunk world, I was suddenly reminded of the fact that steampunk does not have to be a utopian world. Unfortunately with all of my other activities and hobbies I have not had much opportunity to read a good share of steampunk literature, so if anyone that reads this knows of any please feel free to recommend some, but steampunk in my opinion could quite easily be a dark and dystopian post-apocalyptic world. The fact that steampunk is an alternate reality, that is an alternate time line that may have branched from a point in the Victorian era, means that there is any number of possibilities for which direction the world could have gone.
I think you have to consider the practical and the potentially impractical but possible aspects when creating things that combine reality and imagination. Though you may want to keep true to historical traits and influences, you cannot limit yourself when being creative.
Though they will most likely be making their 2010 release, certainly not the June 2010 release, I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming release of Syberia III. (I generally dislike referring to wikipedia, but there is no good page for the game on the Microïds site). I dug up my old copies of Syberia and Syberia II recently as a result of my revived motivations to involve myself in my current hobbies and have been playing them when I have time. Along with the Myst series, Syberia has always been one of my favorite games, though it does seem a bit antiquated after testing and playing so many new PC games. But I still absolutely love the environments and clockpunk feel. It is definitely a series I would recommend for anyone who likes steampunk/clockpunk themes and has not played it. And look out for Syberia III on PC and PS3 sometime probably at the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011.
I am a big believer in signs. Not the kind that you hold at a football match or marching down the street in protest, but the kind that let you know you are on the right track. It is like those time of unlikely coincidence where two unrelated points of interest or ideas suddenly reveal their connection and you have that realization that things are coming together as they should.
I am not going to get into any detail now, but as I mentioned earlier, I have been gathering notes for a writing project. Well, tonight I was doing a bit of research on some of the random ideas that I had jotted down as possibilities and all of the traits that I look for to give my ideas a green light in any project were all present. These are just simple things like checking how commonly used words or ideas are (I usually just Google them) so that I am not too cliché or unoriginal when writing. Or tonight, while researching some character names that had just come to me while free writing, I discovered that one in particular has an unusually integral relation to one of the main themes of this site.
Anyway, my point here is that I like when I get signs that some of my work may actually pay off. And also that this project may get rolling a lot quicker than I expected.
On another note, Brass Goggles posted an article about a group building a pirate ship for Burnin Man. I really want to go this year but I probably will not have the money or the time, but I think I may just buy one of these neat Tripods that they are selling at Lost Machine to help fund the project.
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