Back in the late 1980's when I first regularly delved into the vast multiverse of Role Playing Games I came across Space 1889. It then held little interest for me. I was predominantly into Shadowrun (First Edition) and Dungeons & Dragons (the original boxed sets which went up to level 36). In my local RPG shop, I once flicked through the rulebook and an adventure and found the names of t...
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Something you do not find every day: A quantum physics-dieselpunk-history joke!
delve deeper...When I first read I, Cthulhu, I did not get the joke. Looking back now, I am at a loss to explain how I managed that. This short piece of fiction is so obviously tongue-in-cheek, with so many weird references that make no sense within the classic Cthulhu Mythos, I really do not know why I did not like the story or thought it was meant to be the true story of Cthulhu's, errhh..., life. Come ...
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I should have done this article a long time ago. I had the idea a couple of times but for some reason I never got round doing it, i.e. putting it on my Steampunk Blog. So here we go, a collection of music and (provisional, in some cases) music videos, all in some connection to Zeppelins and, of course, airships. Let's start with the "Zeppelin Marsch", the idea alone... A fleet of Zeppelin...
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This is actually official: Starting this year, November 12 2012 will be the first time we celebrate The International Dieselpunk Day! I am not quite sure how this brilliant idea got started, but as far as I know it is the brainchild of two Latin American friends of mine, but do not quote me on that... Edit: I have been informed I ommited a certain gentleman from the north of Texas. This err...
delve deeper...In January, the Multiculturalism for Steampunk Blog challenged us all to learn a new language. In order to enter, you had to prepare a video, here is mine, I tried to tackle Japanese:
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Steampunk Emporium is another book blending fantasy with reality. It is about DIY steampunk art, jewellery to be precise, flavoured with short dispatches set in a steampunk world at the beginning of each chapter. The dispatches are sent from various locations by the intrepid correspondent Emilly Ladybird. First impression: Beautiful. The design, layout and artwork of Steampunk Emporium is stun...
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I was once again lucky enough to be able to do a pre-release review of a most excellent novel, Ghosts of Manhattan: After having done a review on Lavie Tidhar's The Bookman I was eager to see how Ghosts of Manhattan would measure up against it. At first I was not too impressed. The plot seemed too transparent, I thought it was obvious after about 50 pages who the eponymous Ghost was and who...
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At times I have these premonitions, I simply know when something is going to be good. When I first read about Empire State by Adam Christopher on the Angry Robot Books blog, I thought it could be a fun read. Turns out, my premonition was a bit off the mark. Empire State is not a fun read, it is a fascinating, captivating, action and mystery packed tour de force across the boundaries of reali...
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Today is Shavuot, the day God, according to Jewish tradition, gave the Torah to his people assembled at Mount Sinai. Now this was a long time ago and according to common wisdom, Judaism has not changed much... Well, think again. There is a rather active modern Jewish community on the ætherweb and in the world outside the ætherweb which has taken Judaism into the 21st century. One of their ...
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The following photo appeared on the Ætherweb quite a while ago. Rumor has i it was first twittered by Neil Gaiman. Could be... I guess he has ways to access the darker corners of the cosmos. In any case, I guess this, errh.. Cthulele? proves that the dancers and players at Azathoth's court have actually learned new skills. Now they are not only piping, they can also use chordophones: ...
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At long last I got the chance to see the movie with the most effective and successful viral marketing and crowd funding campaign ever. Iron Sky – Space Nazis from the Moon on a mission to conquer the Earth. And now I have to come up with a review and not put too many spoilers in.
Let's start with the hard facts: The film was produced on a rather tight budget and you do not notice. The spec... delve deeper...
Last time I wrote aboutProfessor Minuskels Timetravel Panopticum I left the best and most spectacular bit out. Later in the evening, we were honored by a performance of Nakari, a Vienna based Tribal Bellydance Duo: Let's begin with two photographs I took (please excuse the modest quality): But this, of course, is not all. I was also able to record a video: As you may have ...
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Many Steampunks are creative folk. Welding, soldering, sewing, knitting and other arts and crafts are well established in our community. I have myself dabbled in jewelry-making but for me its just a small part of my steampunkness. Among the many who do something are the few who do a lot and create amazing things. Their fame and renown has left the Steampunk scene and gone out into the world, v...
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Lavie Tidhar has done it again. The previous two novels of The Bookman Chronicles, The Bookman and Camera Obscura, each were different genres, and so is The Great Game. This time, Lavie has written a Steampunk spy thriller in best James Bond/pulp fashion. As previously Mr. Tidhar garnishes his tale with a colourful mix of historic and fictional people each fitting seamlessly into his version...
delve deeper...Posted By Traveler on 25. Mai 2012
And today, on Towel Day and the 35th anniversary of Star Wars, space flight history has been written.
I leave you with this image I captured from the NASA video feed.
Click it to learn more about it and the historic mission.
Posted By Traveler on 25. Mai 2012
Today, due to a cosmic alignment of non-euclidean proportions, two geektastic reasons to celebrate fall on the same day!
One is the ever popular Towel Day. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, it stated with te untimely demise of Douglas Adams. Here is an in-depth explanation of this holiday:
And, today, 35 years ago, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was released. This is the original 1977 trailer, please enjoy:
And with this, I hope you all have a great Friday! TCIF!
Posted By Traveler on 24. Mai 2012
A few weeks back I posted a video of the most charming and talented Mahafsoun performing belly dance to The Agonist.
I have since inquired if it would be possible to do an interview with Mahafsoun and now I am delighted to tell you, she agreed and this is the interview:
Traveler: Hello Mahafsoun, thanks for the interview. The usual for starters: Just tell us a few facts about yourself, background, are you studying, that kind of thing.
Hello Traveler! Starting off with simple questions, I see. I like that!
Well, I am a bellydancer, and make art one of the priorities in my life, but on the side I am a student and have a day job to support my art and its continuity.
When did you start belly dancing? Is it a family tradition or how did you discover it?
I started in mid 2007. It is not in my family to bellydance, although a few people from my mother’s side do it as a hobby, but then again my mother’s side are all lovers of dance. I fell in love with this particular form of dance through my love for Ancient Egyptian spirituality and history.
Are you self-taught or who taught you? Do they have a website?
I am self-taught. I have tried a few classes, but ended up finding out that I learn far more, and far more creatively, when I aim to learn by myself. It helped me develop my own style and have freedom. However, I’m completely supportive of learning this art form with a teacher or a class. In fact, I hope to some day find a dancer that inspires me enough, for me to learn from them.
And here is another video of Mahafsoun’s self-taught belly dance:
And now on with the interview:
Do you do still or have you at any time performed to traditional belly dance music?
Absolutely! I started off dancing to traditional Arabic music. I strongly believe that one cannot truly bellydance unless they embrace the roots of this art form, and learn the traditional moves. Only then one can change the moves, add to them, and make it their own. I still bellydance to traditional music, and love it.
How did you get into heavy metal?
I fell in love with metal music during the same time that I fell in love with belly dance. So, I thought “why not mix both things that I love?”. Metal music moves me in a different way than traditional music does. It inspires me in a different way.
What are your favourite bands?
I have so many! I will try to list some of them.
Epica
Orphaned Land
Nightwish
Delain
Within Temptation
Rammstein
Septicflesh
Myrath
The Agonist
Equilibrium
Evanescence
Avenged Sevenfold
Opeth
A Perfect Circle
I basically just went down my iTunes “Most Played” list and listed some of the many bands that are there.
Has your taste in metal become harder over time?
Harder as in “heavier”?
Yep… 
I don’t think so. I am a fan of both heavy metal bands, and bands whose music is lighter. I like to keep that balance in the music that I listen to.
Do you have any idea how many belly dancers you have inspired to pick up heavy metal or maybe other unconventional music for their dancing?
I’m honoured to say that during the past near-2 years that I have been online and actively sharing what I do, I had countless women tell me that after seeing what I do, it inspired them to give it a try. To add metal to their routines. A few people even started taking up bellydance after seeing my videos and talking to me about this artform. I felt and still feel honoured that I could do something positive simply through expressing myself and putting it out there.
Awesome!
You are going to perform life with Epica this year, congratulations. If you had free choice of three additional bands to perform with, which would they be?
Thank you so much!
I would just love to perform with Orphaned Land, Nightwish or Within Temptation.
There are so many bands that I can mention, but I mentioned the 3 that first popped up in my head.
Could you imagine to go touring with a band?
Absolutely! I’m still young, extremely inspired, and have the energy to do such a thing.
You also do a decent amount of modelling. How much time do you spend modelling compared to dancing?
I dance almost every day. It has become a need now. I do some modelling only when I collaborate with a photographer, or get inspired with my camera alone, which is not that often. The photography/modelling that I do is simply a light hobby. I don’t take it as seriously as I take dancing.
Click to see more modelling by Mahafsoun
Thank you for this interview! It was lovely having this talk with you and I hope that this interview gave a slightly better idea of the person behind the dance.
The pleasure was all mine. Thank you!
Thus ends the interview, and if you want to know more about Mahafsoun, look here:
Posted By Traveler on 24. Mai 2012
Eugene Polley, the inventor of the TV remote control has passed on. His 1955 invention, the flash-matic was a comparatively simple device in view of what modern remote controls can do, but it was a first step.
The 1950's flash-matic
Posted By Traveler on 23. Mai 2012
Here is another great way to steam up your life or in this case, your computer. Since you are reading this blog, I presume you have got one and are there for the right kind of audience.
As the title of this post reveals, I am talking about desktop widgets and what beautiful widgets they are, take a look (those two examples represent ony a fraction of the available selection):
And this is the second widget in action:
Responsible for these virtual jewels are the people at Lightquick. Pay their site a visit, they have quite a selection of Steampunk and other widgets available for free, and also for Windows and Mac.
So do not wait any longer, give your computer the feel of the navigational Babbage of the submarine or airship of your choice and get one or more of the widgets!
Posted By Traveler on 21. Mai 2012
Happy Dieselpunk Holiday everybody!
Today is the 85th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s crossing the Atlantic in his plane Spirit of St. Louis.
So today, get into your Dieselpunk gear and raise your glasses to Charles Lindbergh, his trusty Spirit of St. Louis, his legend and the spirit of adventure!
Posted By Traveler on 20. Mai 2012
Now is this not fantastic news. According to Screendaily, Taro Kaukomaa, the producer of Iron Sky has confirmed there will be a prequel and a sequel to Iron Sky, the most expensive and impressive movie ever to come out of Finland. Right now, there appear to be only plans, since Mr Kaukomaa declined to give any further details. Well, I can speculate. After all, the very last image of Iron Sky showed a strange something around Mars. Maybe there is more to it after all.
In any case, no matter what the shenanigans the Space Nazis get up to in the future or relative past, I pledge my support to both projects! Let the Reichsflugscheiben fly!
Posted By Traveler on 18. Mai 2012
Once again, it is time to demonstrate how international a phenomenon Steampunk is, for today’s featured blog is Nebe plné vzducholodÃ, and this is Czech for “A Skyful of Airships”:
Nebe plné vzducholodà has been around since 2010 and there is quite a bit of material to be discovered there, most more westerly Steampunks will be unfamiliar with. I know, the language barrier, but as the author puts it in the ENglish introduction to the blog:
Greetings, fellow Steampunks.
Welcome to another blog of the genre, one whose name translates into something like A Skyful of Airships. Sadly enough, this is the only page in English that you’ll find here, but don’t let that discourage you – there are pretty pictures to be checked out, interesting videos to watch, and funny-looking Czech words to read out loud (if you can manage. One of my Scottish friends claims the language has no vowels).
Besides, Google Translate and other sources on the web to help you get the gist of the articles, but the translations generated are an adventure all by themselves… The original article is this one.
I strongly suggest you go and visit the blog, even if you end up just watching the videos and look at the pretty pictures, it is always good to realize, there is more to Steampunk than what the early member-states of NATO produce.
Besides, it might kindle your interest in learning another language. Multilingualism for Steampunk! Hurray!
Posted By Traveler on 16. Mai 2012
So here it is, my very first forray into the realm of podcasting, done all by myself. I have previously been a guest on other people’s podcasts, but now I am doing it myself.
Still a bit bumpy, but I will get better with practice, I think.
And these are the links:
Steampunk Accessories: http://www.ivypress.co.uk/2012/05/16/steampunk-art-at-brightons-fringe/
The Gearheart: http://www.thegearheart.com
Cthulhu Steampunk Anthology: http://www.freewebs.com/batglynn/
Cthulhu Erotica Vol. 2: http://cthulhurotica.com/submit-to-cthulhurotica-2/
Cthulhu Fairy Tale Anthology: http://onceuponanapocalypse.com/
And don’t forget: You can scrounge a copy of Steampunk Accessories off me! It got 10 out of 10 Zeppelins, and a copy can be yours for free. All you have to do is act quickly!
And this is Neil Gaiman’s Sandman in the Süddeutsche Zeitung Bibliothek Edition:
Posted By Traveler on 15. Mai 2012
Everybody who knows anything about the Illuminati (especially if your primary source of information is the noted scholar Dan Brown), knows, they are a secretive organization. They are pretty much underground. How deep underground they really are has thus far been a matter of speculation. Up until now.
Believe me, it took quite some effort to bring you this information. I had actually been kicked out of the Regensburg Dome (Upper Palatinate region, Bavaria, Germany) mere moments before I took this photograph:
The entrance to the "Sewer of the Illuminati", Regensburg, Bavaria
Yes, this is a sewer lid with a latin inscription and a masonic symbol. I have finally come across the secret entrance to the Lair of the Illuminatiâ„¢. Who would have thought they take “underground” so literally these days.
There is more to this story, and I will tell you eventually. Now I have to prepare my next move…
I am an anthropologist and in this capacity a minor scholar of the Cthulhu Mythos and H.P. Lovecraft. I am also quite obviously heavily into Steampunk and Dieselpunk and like travelling.
More about me can be found here and also here (in German).
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