Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Morning, I think, is a time to prime the pump. It’s a time to listen my sleepy head, linger over coffee and, perhaps, engage in idle conversation or frivolous banter that challenges perspective. Granted, I can do that anywhere; but why not here?

Maybe I should take all those dieing threads as a hint but I haven’t tried the direct approach. So . . . if anyone wants, maybe “Morning Coffee” can be a place for folks to sit a while and chew the fat. Offer up a starter, tell a joke, or wonder out loud what you have in store for the day.

I noticed pictures this morning of the holiday windows at Bergdorf Goodman in NYC. Not only are they really beautiful and mythological in theme, one of them is really quite steampunky. Love!

Sommer Leigh wrote:I noticed pictures this morning of the holiday windows at Bergdorf Goodman in NYC. Not only are they really beautiful and mythological in theme, one of them is really quite steampunky. Love!

Cool. Links? I just discovered steampunk. I haven't read any (unless you count the Golden Compass series) but I like the imagery.

Watcher55 wrote:

Sommer Leigh wrote:I noticed pictures this morning of the holiday windows at Bergdorf Goodman in NYC. Not only are they really beautiful and mythological in theme, one of them is really quite steampunky. Love!

Cool. Links? I just discovered steampunk. I haven't read any (unless you count the Golden Compass series) but I like the imagery.

I wouldn't call it straight (traditional? Is that even possible?) steampunk, but it definitly has some influences from steampunk and victorian imagery. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/524 ... otostream/

I'm a big fan of steampunk, though my experience with it has mostly been through art, costumes, video games, and music. I've only read a couple of books with a steampunk theme. Leviathan and Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, and I'm currently reading Worldshaker by Richard Harland.

Abney Park is a FANTASTIC band with a steampunk motif. I particularly like their song Airship Pirates, but that whole CD is beautiful. I've only heard a couple of songs off their new CD.

If you like video games at all, the computer game Arcanum is a fantasy RPG in steampunk. It is sort of Lord of the Rings if it had gone through a steam driven industrial revolution.

My BFF is getting her masters in costume design and she is also smitten with the steampunk look. She incorporates it into a lot of her designs and work. In fact her thesis this spring is Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale done up in steampunk inspired designs. I'm looking forward to going and seeing it.

Sommer Leigh wrote:

Watcher55 wrote:

Sommer Leigh wrote:My BFF is getting her masters in costume design and she is also smitten with the steampunk look. She incorporates it into a lot of her designs and work. In fact her thesis this spring is Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale done up in steampunk inspired designs. I'm looking forward to going and seeing it.

THAT is cool. Is there going to be a DVD?

I'm not sure, but when I drive up there to see it I'm going to take lots of pictures. I'll share some here!

Sommer Leigh wrote:If you like video games at all, the computer game Arcanum is a fantasy RPG in steampunk.

I LOVE video games, and I'm usually really good at them. And I loved Arcanum, but I gave up because I kept getting stuck on one of the major tasks in the first city. I could never figure out how to get the guard to let me through the gate. Even walkthroughs never helped.

Margo wrote:

Sommer Leigh wrote:If you like video games at all, the computer game Arcanum is a fantasy RPG in steampunk.

I LOVE video games, and I'm usually really good at them. And I loved Arcanum, but I gave up because I kept getting stuck on one of the major tasks in the first city. I could never figure out how to get the guard to let me through the gate. Even walkthroughs never helped.

Ick! I remember when I played through it it was a little buggy and sometimes things wouldn't work the way they were supposed to. But it was a really neat game.

My sister dreamed she had insomnia. Does that mean something?

Watcher55 wrote:My sister dreamed she had insomnia. Does that mean something?

I don't know that it means anything, but I had some weird video game dreams last night.

Slurp! Slurp! Now I'm sufficiently caffeinated to type. Idle conversation and frivolous banter are my middles names. They're what the 'T' stands for.

You have probably read more steampunk than you think, Watcher55. THE GOLDEN COMPASS is just one of several books and series and movies and TV shows that have been retrospectively claimed by Steampunk or Dieselpunk. Almost any latter-day Victorian fantasy can be reclassified as Steampunk, much to the chagrin of some purists. Even Jules Verne has been co-opted.

Scott Westerfeld's excellent LEVIATHAN and BONESHAKER are both set in an alternative World War One, and are therefore really Dieselpunk, currently a subset of Steampunk, but soon set to take the world of publishing by storm! (Guess what my WIP is...)

BONESHAKER is alternative Nineteenth Century and therefore Steampunk. I have WORLDHAKER, but have not begun reading it yet.

But maybe Steampunk is not sufficiently idle and frivolous for this thread. So, here's a silly riddle to compensate and follow the insomnia theme. What do you do if you're an agnostic dyslexic insomniac?

So could the case be made for including Pinnochio?

Pinocchio as steampunk? I believe he's considered MarionettePunk, a derivative of PuppetPunk.

Foiled again! But I'll harpoon you yet, Watcher55! Oh, wait...That's white whales...Or maybe white elephants...

J. T. SHEA wrote:Foiled again! But I'll harpoon you yet, Watcher55! Oh, wait...That's white whales...Or maybe white elephants...

Wait a minnit now, y'all still got a riddle from the other thread.

How did I derive this number - 8549176320?