This week has been dominated by one major thing for me, an that's been booking the Asylum. The Asylum is Europe's, if not the World's, biggest Steampunk convention held every year for the past four years in Lincoln, UK. We wanted to go last year but missed out, mostly because of being unable to afford it and going to see Owl City instead, but this year we've decided to save up and go, at the expense of a holiday.
I should probably back up a bit here, as some of you may have got confused the moment I said 'Steampunk'... It's a hard concept to explain, especially when the word contains the word 'punk', but I shall try my best to explain my view on this rapidly growing subculture. The way I see it, punk means going against society's expectations, which in the 70s meant anarchy and destroying symbols of authority, but today society seems to expect this sort of behaviour whether it's due to chavs vandalising local amenities or country-wide riots, so the central ethos of steampunk is the old British motto of 'keep calm and have a cup of tea', therefore defying society's expectations in a different way. Once the punk part has been explained, only then do I get asked what steam has to do with it, and the simple answer is because we glorify the age of steam. Of course, it's not as clear cut as that either- steam engines don't need to be involved for something to be steampunk. It would be more correct to say it's a glorification of mechanics over electric, for something to be steampunk it needs to have mechanisms rather than buttons.
Many people try to explain steampunk as being a victorian aesthetic with gears and cogs, and if you search for steampunk on etsy then you'll find plenty of examples of 'stick a cog on it and call it steampunk', but that just doesn't work- yes, put cogs and gears on it but they have to create the illusion of functionality at the very least. It should also be said that not all steampunks believe things should be exactly as they were back before the invention of electricity (though that is the style I'm attempting with my 'past' blog), instead it is very much a case of how would things be today if electricity wasn't invented. This leads to the image of Zeppelins in the sky, and all sorts of contraptions based on modern inventions but steam-powered, like variations on automobiles, though there's also an element of the fantastic and things that aren't quite possible, which is why Jules Verne and H.G Wells are considered the grandfathers of steampunk. It must also be said that another central aspect of steampunk is the plausibility of something working- for instance, that we could replace airplanes with Zeppelins- but the limitation of if such things were created they would be wildly impractical and often outright dangerous- for instance, the Hindenburg.
So all of that being said, what is the Asylum? It's a place where several hundred like-minded people can gather together, dress in whatever style they deem appropriate and fits whatever the individual prefers best; which to me is a Dickensian attire and to my girlfriend is like a desert explorer similar to Indiana Jones, but to others could involve golem-esque suits, brass angel wings, colonial military costume, or even pirates. Once there then there are various workshops on how to make things, probably modifying nerf guns and the like (something we are working on ourselves), a grand market usually inside the prison with each cell containing a stall, and book signings by up and coming steampunk authors hopefully including Robert Rankin, culminating in a ball and other musical entertainment in the evening, even with a bit of adult cabaret (which we probably won't get involved in) and a zombie survival game utilising said nerf guns. All of this is contained within the castle at Lincoln, and suffice to say we are very much looking forward to it and being a part of what will hopefully become the modern equivalent of the goth movement of the 80s, though without those pesky emos sullying our good image.
Showing posts with label nerf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nerf. Show all posts
Friday, 10 February 2012
Monday, 30 January 2012
A Week Dominated by Guns and Japan
January 24th 1912
We had a friend visit, mostly to help my girlfriend with modifying her non-expanding recreational foam gun to make it easier to load, and prepare it for painting to make it look more authentic, as these guns are typically sold in bright colours for children to play with. I should hopefully be receiving my own gun tomorrow, a larger model for long-range shooting. The intention is to go on a hunt at Halloween, hunting those dressed as animals. Whilst they were busy with their guns, I played a phonograph of stories about japanese folk tales such as Ponyo, a fish that becomes human, and Pom Poko, about raccoons that can transform into humans. Quite relevant to the story I am working on, so it served as research of a sort as well as being entertaining in its own right.
January 25th 1912
I received my gun today, and all looks as I hoped. My only criticism is that it came in several parts, and once assembled the parts can't be detached again, which makes it quite cumbersome when I originally wanted it a bit shorter. The shop we received it from was in a new town, that we decided to explore whilst we were there. There wasn't much to see, it looked little more than a road that had shops built around it, which is disappointing. Most of the shops were for food and charities. I don't think we'll be going back very often. I also managed to catch up on a bit of my writing from last week, though annoyingly I am still slightly behind.
January 26th 1912
All this writing is burning me out a little today. Instead we took advantage of the break in the rain to go out with my girlfriend so she could take some photos. We headed to somewhere new, in this case the local cemetery. I find it unfortunate that some of the more modern graves are quite monotonous in appearance, compared to the older graves. I wouldn't be surprised if these cemeteries run out of space soon, and churches will probably have to start buying more land. We paid our respects to those buried there as my girlfriend took her photos, and read some of the more interesting graves- there wasn't much, other than a masonic grave.
January 27th 1912
Inspired by the phonographs from the other day, I decided to take a break from my usual european influenced setting, and instead try writing an oriental story. Of course, this required much research- specifically about raccoons and foxes. I'm quite pleased with what I got done, and think there's a lot of potential for stories based on far eastern myths, so might stay writing in this region for a while more- I'm told that it's always best to have a couple of writing projects active simultaneously. Writing took up much of the day, so I have little more to say.
January 28th 1912
We were supposed to play our weekly game tonight, but unfortunately one of our friends has fallen ill- hopefully not caught from me. Our other friend still came regardless, so once more he decided to help with the guns. I'm slightly disappointed, as I had some plans for tonight's game, but some things can't be helped. My gun still sits unmodified, but I'm sure I'll have time to work on it soon- I'll just wait a bit longer so I can receive help after the smaller guns are done. Instead I played a little music as we chatted. Or it would be truer to say that the phonograph played the music, and I merely played the guitar accompaniment. Luckily I'm good enough that the music comes out tolerable, though there's still room for improvement. I think I'd be better off sticking to my writing, and leave music to the professionals.
January 29th 1912
Today has mostly consisted of more research into japanese mythology, though we had to make an unavoidable visit to the shop as we had completely run out of some basic supplies. I also managed to fit in a little of my Oblivion game, though to be honest it's starting to bore me. I'd stopped playing when I first received it as I found it boring, but decided to give it another chance- I got a fair amount further, but I still can't get into it, which is a pity because at the moment all my friends are talking about the sequel to it.
January 30th 1912
Another tedious day of doing not very much, though broken by some job searching in the local classifieds. All in vain, of course, as almost all jobs advertised are for care assistants- something a little out of my field of expertise. As I started to sink into my jobless pit of despair, however, I found out that there are a couple more parties coming up this year- both fancy dress, one future themed, the guideline being around 1980, and the other is fairy tale themed. And of course we still need to finish preparations for this roman party coming up soon, so we're being kept busy.
We had a friend visit, mostly to help my girlfriend with modifying her non-expanding recreational foam gun to make it easier to load, and prepare it for painting to make it look more authentic, as these guns are typically sold in bright colours for children to play with. I should hopefully be receiving my own gun tomorrow, a larger model for long-range shooting. The intention is to go on a hunt at Halloween, hunting those dressed as animals. Whilst they were busy with their guns, I played a phonograph of stories about japanese folk tales such as Ponyo, a fish that becomes human, and Pom Poko, about raccoons that can transform into humans. Quite relevant to the story I am working on, so it served as research of a sort as well as being entertaining in its own right.
January 25th 1912
I received my gun today, and all looks as I hoped. My only criticism is that it came in several parts, and once assembled the parts can't be detached again, which makes it quite cumbersome when I originally wanted it a bit shorter. The shop we received it from was in a new town, that we decided to explore whilst we were there. There wasn't much to see, it looked little more than a road that had shops built around it, which is disappointing. Most of the shops were for food and charities. I don't think we'll be going back very often. I also managed to catch up on a bit of my writing from last week, though annoyingly I am still slightly behind.
January 26th 1912
All this writing is burning me out a little today. Instead we took advantage of the break in the rain to go out with my girlfriend so she could take some photos. We headed to somewhere new, in this case the local cemetery. I find it unfortunate that some of the more modern graves are quite monotonous in appearance, compared to the older graves. I wouldn't be surprised if these cemeteries run out of space soon, and churches will probably have to start buying more land. We paid our respects to those buried there as my girlfriend took her photos, and read some of the more interesting graves- there wasn't much, other than a masonic grave.
January 27th 1912
Inspired by the phonographs from the other day, I decided to take a break from my usual european influenced setting, and instead try writing an oriental story. Of course, this required much research- specifically about raccoons and foxes. I'm quite pleased with what I got done, and think there's a lot of potential for stories based on far eastern myths, so might stay writing in this region for a while more- I'm told that it's always best to have a couple of writing projects active simultaneously. Writing took up much of the day, so I have little more to say.
January 28th 1912
We were supposed to play our weekly game tonight, but unfortunately one of our friends has fallen ill- hopefully not caught from me. Our other friend still came regardless, so once more he decided to help with the guns. I'm slightly disappointed, as I had some plans for tonight's game, but some things can't be helped. My gun still sits unmodified, but I'm sure I'll have time to work on it soon- I'll just wait a bit longer so I can receive help after the smaller guns are done. Instead I played a little music as we chatted. Or it would be truer to say that the phonograph played the music, and I merely played the guitar accompaniment. Luckily I'm good enough that the music comes out tolerable, though there's still room for improvement. I think I'd be better off sticking to my writing, and leave music to the professionals.
January 29th 1912
Today has mostly consisted of more research into japanese mythology, though we had to make an unavoidable visit to the shop as we had completely run out of some basic supplies. I also managed to fit in a little of my Oblivion game, though to be honest it's starting to bore me. I'd stopped playing when I first received it as I found it boring, but decided to give it another chance- I got a fair amount further, but I still can't get into it, which is a pity because at the moment all my friends are talking about the sequel to it.
January 30th 1912
Another tedious day of doing not very much, though broken by some job searching in the local classifieds. All in vain, of course, as almost all jobs advertised are for care assistants- something a little out of my field of expertise. As I started to sink into my jobless pit of despair, however, I found out that there are a couple more parties coming up this year- both fancy dress, one future themed, the guideline being around 1980, and the other is fairy tale themed. And of course we still need to finish preparations for this roman party coming up soon, so we're being kept busy.
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