If you have been following from the beginning, you will undoubtedly know of my affection for Steampunk aesthetics. I started this blog last fall, and posted an on-going commentary about my production of Thorton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, which I imagined as a Steampunk odyssey through time. Wilder, probably best known for the groundbreaking play Our Town, broke theatrical conventions over and over; something I hoped to emulate in my production.
I suppose my fascination with the Steampunk movement really begins before the movement itself, with the "Father of Science Fiction," Jules Verne. In fact, many Steampunk aficionados refer to themselves as "Vernian." Verne foresaw nuclear submarines, calculators, glass skyscrapers, space travel and the Internet, among other scientific advances. His novels Journey to the Center of the Earth; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mysterious Island were all later adapted into films which figured prominently in my youth, no doubt inspiring my love of Victoriana and the fantastic.
So, what does any of this have to do with anything? Only my desire to have the time and means to attend Seattle's SteamCon in October (though I will likely be in Chicago on a business trip).
SteamCon is to Steampunks as ComicCon is to modern Sci-Fi fanboys; a phantasmagoria of all things Steampunk. And how I wish I could attend.
Call me a nerd, geek or weirdo. I don't care. I just want to be there. I already have a costume and a raygun I made myself. Maybe I'll be able to teleport myself to Seattle. Or not. I hear it rains there, a lot.
More, anon.
Prospero
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