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!

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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!

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35 people perished.

Never forget!

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Now I have a little challenge for you:

Caption this!

But beware! “Obvious” captions are not permitted. If I get more than 10 captions, i.e. comments on this post, there will be a price draw. So, go on captioning!

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A slightly odd short movie about a bunch of guys going on a treasure hunt for Thor’s hammer Mjolnir. Please enjoy:

There must be something in the air of Scandinavia. All these crazy-cool ideas they come up with.

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In March it was their first anniversary and for this reason they released this wonderful, Dieselpunk-themed special edition:

I really should make an effort and learn more languages. I already have a (deteriorated) knowledge of French. I could use this as a gateway to Spanish, however, I also want to expand my knowledge of Czech. SO much to do, so little time. And I also want to contribute to El Investigador again. If someone has a time machine or a time-expansion device, please let me know!

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Even better: Today’s featured artists are from Mexico City. We are so international! So, without further ado, I give you the most excellent

La Semana Escarlata

First, a most Cthulhu-esque live performance with the right political message:



And a playlist with some of their recordings. Enjoy!

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To be fair, we overestimated the amount of money we needed, but not by a lot. Right now, though, paying for the goodies will eat up the money we have collected, leaving us with nothing to support the convention. Thus, the fundraiser fails.

This is an unacceptable situation.

Right now, there will be major events in or near Madrid, Luxembourg, Vienna, Prague and Moscow and a number of events of various sizes (some of them may well be major as well) all over Europe from Scandinavia to the Adriatic Sea.

We need to be able to connect them via the internet, and we need equipment for making a documentary about it. Yes, the story of the convention will be told!

What is more, since a lot of things will be going on online, every Steampunk around the world can join in and watch those parties and concerts which have streaming equipment. Yes, even if you are sitting somewhere near Bismarck in North Dakota, in the Australian Outback or the New Hebrides, you can be part of this event. As long as you are online, you can be part of the European Steampunk Convention.

So please, Steampunks around the world, please help us get this going! There are goodies on Indie GoGo waiting for you and a Convention you can join where ever you are! This started out as a party for European Steampunks, but it has now become an event for the Steampunk scene around the globe! Let us do this in best Steampunk style and meet up in the aether!

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Getting there was just a tiny bit of an adventure itself, I took the long-range express bus:

It was far better than I expected and definitely preferable to taking the train. You get coffee and snacks brought to you, the staff is friendly, something the Deutsche Bahn does no always have to offer.
So, after almost five hours on the bus I arrived in Prague, checked into my hotel (which was a bit unnecessary, but I shall come to that), got dressed for the occasion and went to Club Hoodoo. Doors opened at 19:00, I arrived there around 19:45, thinking I would be one of the first guests.
I was wrong!
When I got there, about 100 Steampunks had already assembled there and the numbers would swell even more during the evening.
Lyrel Alia Terra, the event manager and head of the Alia Terra Promo Group

had told me, I would be on the guest list, wich I was. I also received a red band, while mos others got a brown/brass coloured one.

For some reason, I almost forgot to ask why I got a red one, but I will also come to that later. Apart from the already sizable number of guests, there were also a number of vendors around. They had set up their goods in a separate room and people were milling about.

Also present and busy taking photos: Reporters from various magazines, both in the vendors’ room and at the dance floor. I am really glad they all spoke English. I cannot for the life of me remember what “Can I take your picture?” means in Czech, although I was asked several times, but, they asked me in English, too.

The only two Czech sentences I am able to use with any degree of confidence are “Nemluvim Czesky.” and “Mluvite anglicky?”.

Anyway, before I say any more, here is the video I produced from the snippets I took at the event and the short interview with Lyrel. It captures only a fraction of what was actually going on and there will be at least one, more likely two, more blog posts about the SteamUp Festival Vol. III here. I made quite a few notes. So, without further ado, the video:


 

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Let’s start with the hard facts: The film was produced on a rather tight budget and you do not notice. The special effects are neither cheap nor hoaky but state of the art. I have to commend the Finish programmers responsible. A difficult job well done!

The story:

Well, what do you expect? Iron Sky is about Space Nazis on the moon, the story has to be weird. Actually, it is probably weirder than you expect.

The scouting mission of the Fourth Reich gets an unexpected ally who leads them to an even more unexpected ally. Both allies are rather temporary, obviously, but what they achieve and who picks up on and uses their slogans… Then, everything goes not quite according to the plan of the Führer on the Moon and all other plans also do not work out as expected. So many dark comedy elements, so many nasty hints at current politics!

Casting:

Oh my Cthulhu! The people who did the casting deserve a medal! The actors fit their roles perfectly and fill them with life. All the über-aryan Germans and the strapping Afro-American supermodel, Black on the Moon… And the stereotypicality (stereotypicalness?) of it all! The wide-eyed idealistic SS schoolteacher, the brick-jawed career officer, the sinister Moon Führer, the black supermodel turned astronaut, the sex-crazed assistant, the President of the United States, the North Korean patriot and the Finnish… No I am not going to say it (it is not stereotypical, this last one).
But do not be mistaken, Iron Sky is not just all good fun. The film pulls no punches commenting on very recent history. The quotes and reactions by the US president alone are worth the price you pay to see the movie, provided you like acidic satire.

Iron Sky – Go see the Movie (this is a review, and an order!)

Iron Sky is one action-packed, darkly humorous, politically incorrect and brilliantly witty jewel of a movie. If you only watch one film in 2012, go watch Iron Sky.

Oh, I almost forgot: It has Reichsflugscheiben and Zeppelins, that alone should be enough to send all the Dieselpunks out there scrambling for tickets.

Oh, and the soundtrack! Laibach is responsible for that one, the moon anthem is a masterpiece, and if you know Laibach, you know why they were chosen. The music Laibach created for Iron Sky could not have been better. Guess what the next download is I am going to purchase. Laibach’s Iron Sky soundtrack will get a separate review here.

10 out of 10 Zeppelins, no, Reichsflugscheiben, the badge of honour

and some quotes (out of context, some of them are not really dirty):

Sieht aus wie das Bärtchen von unserem Führer! (stupid laughter)

He fell for the old last blowjob trick.

It was so long.

Ab 05:45 wird zurück geschossen.

All right, North Korea, sit down.

And: Is there at the very end, the very, very end, a hint at a possible sequel? I certainly hope so!

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