(19 coooooooocks | shout it out) Steampunk thoughts [30 Jun 2009|07:27pm] [ mood | thoughtful ] It has come up a number of times recently that many people are unclear as to whether or not Victorian science fiction and steampunk are the same thing. I'm specifically referring to people in steamfashion, not to anyone in my journal. Ever since squirrelmadness made a comment to the effect that Victorian science fiction and steampunk were the same thing, it's been sort of turning over in the back of my mind as to why I feel so vehemently that that is not the case. Well, I was standing at the sink doing dishes today when I realized exactly, both clearly and succinctly, why Victorian science fiction and steampunk are different. VSF is science fiction, and steampunk is fantasy. It's as simple as that. The science fiction of the Victorian era served the same purpose as science fiction in our day. It pushed boundaries and forced people to consider the eventualities and ramifications of technology. It asked hard questions, and used science and technology to hold a mirror up to their society. The Invisible Man is not only a cautionary tale, but a horror story. The Time Machine served as social commentary. 20,000 Leagues under the Sea was about entirely changing man's paradigm of the world. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Those novels all had clear messages. Fantasy... generally does not. I won't say never, because there have certainly been fantasy stories that had messages. But the messages are of a different sort. Fantasies are comedies, tragedies and epics. They speak to human nature, of the parts of mankind that never change. For example, I would call Star Wars fantasy rather than science fiction. Yes, it takes place in space (a galaxy far, far away, etc.), but it wasn't meant as a commentary on technology... Space was simply the fantastic setting upon which the story takes place. It could just as easily have taken place in a series of islands in the ocean instead of planets in space. In a good science fiction story, the technology, or the science, is so intrinsic to the story itself that it could not be removed or substituted. Steampunk, in my opinion, belongs in the latter category. The science and technology serve no purpose except to look pretty and provide a setting upon which a story will take place. I'm tempted to post this to steamfashion to see what people have to say about it, but I'm not entirely sure that that's a good idea. I wonder what you guys think. Also, I wonder whether anyone has already said this and I just haven't come across it.

(19 coooooooocks | shout it out) The honeymooners [28 Jun 2009|01:33pm] Well, Megan and I are back from our honeymoon! We had an utterly fantastic time, which I will attempt to describe in detail once I make a picture post. I wouldn't want to bore you all with a pictureless narration! However, I will tell you about yesterday, because it was awful and there are no pictures. The short version is that we spent 10 hours at the airport as we were beset by one difficulty after another. The one bright side of this experience is that we met the scariest man we've ever seen in our lives. He worked at the Italian restaurant in the food court. He had short black hair and tanned skin, and was probably in his late 30's. He had a large scar on the left side of his face, starting at the corner of his mouth and travelling in a straight line back toward his ear. I couldn't think of any reason to have a surgical scar in such a place, so as far as I could tell, it was probably the result of a knife fight. He had a thick Boston accent, but not in the funny Fargo kind of way. It was more like in the scary convict gangster sort of way. He also had braces, and was wearing the rubber bands connecting the top and bottom set. Normally, I would have a hard time taking a grown man with braces seriously, but when taken in context with the rest of his appearance, it was more of a Jaws from James Bond sort of deal, and it was really quite frightening. We desperately wanted to take a picture of him, but we also wanted to live. Meanwhile, I'd been slowly getting sick for the last couple days of the cruise. I didn't feel congested, but when I got on the plane, my right ear refused to equalize. After awhile, and with the aid of a mento (or a mentos?), I got it to equalize. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky on the coming-down portion of the flight. The ear would just NOT equalize, and I did the whole hold-my-nose-and-blow thing. My left ear would go, but not the right. Finally, after I was in pain for fifteen or twenty minutes, I tried again and got it to pop. The relief was instant. And I literally mean instant, because after that instant was over, it started to hurt again, and it hurt for the rest of the night. Thankfully it seems to have corrected itself while I was sleeping last night, but still. Meh. So today I woke up with really swollen tonsils. Or at least, I'm assuming they're my tonsils that are swollen. They're not swollen in the oh-my-god-i-can't-even-function-as-a-normal-human-being kind of way, but they're just... swollen. It hurts when I swallow, but tolerably so. It's more just uncomfortable to have big swollen things in your throat, getting in the way when you eat, drink and talk. I can't really talk above a whisper, because if I do, my throat protests angrily. This means that I get to sit around and take it easy, today. It was impossible to sleep in, because it hurt too much, and I anticipate that it will be likewise difficult to get to sleep tonight. Sigh. However, as I said, the honeymoon was absolutely fantastic, and there will be many, many, many pictures to come. ^^

(11 coooooooocks | shout it out) A heads-up [16 Jun 2009|10:10am] Megan and I are getting ready to leave for our honeymoon! In about ten minutes we're supposed to be leaving for Miami, where we'll be for three days. On Friday morning, we're flying to Montreal, where we'll be boarding a cruise ship. The ship will tour Eastern Canada, stopping at Quebec City, Sydney, Halifax, Prince Edward Island, Bar Harbor and ending in Boston. We're very excited about it. ^^ Anyway, internet will be very limited on board the ship, so my internet activity will also be very limited. I'll try to check my e-mail once a day or once every other day, just in case anything major happens. But otherwise, we'll be back on the 27th with lots of stories and lots more pictures!

(7 coooooooocks | shout it out) STEAMfest [14 Jun 2009|01:40pm] So, this past weekend was STEAMfest, a small steampunk festival-dealie here in Atlanta. It was pretty super small, but we still had a good time because some of our good friends showed up. Megan and I were actually at the festival supporting and promoting the band The Extraordinary Contraptions. They're a local steampunk band, and they're really quite good. We're helping them kick it up a notch, so to speak, and we manned their booth this weekend. Meanwhile, Megan and I won the costume contest on Friday (by which I really mean swept the costume contest, because she took first place, and I took second), which was fun. We didn't really win anything worth speaking of, but it was still a good time. On Saturday... Well, let me go back a little bit earlier for this story. So, I let it slip to a few people at the festival that I had just written a steampunk novel (and of course by steampunk I really mean Victorian sci-fi). The festival organizer got wind of this, and requested that I go be on some kind of steampunk writing panel on Saturday. So, Saturday rolls around and so does this panel. It was a pretty informal affair where we just sort of sat around in the lobby and talked about books and writing and such things. It was the first time that I got to speak in public with authority on my subject of focus, namely 19th century science fiction. The whole panel was recorded, so it's possible that the footage will end up on the internet somewhere so that you can all listen to me sound like I know what I'm talking about. Or possibly sound like a jackass, I'm not entirely sure. Either way, the people seemed to enjoy hearing what I had to say. At the end of the panel, everyone requested that I read the first chapter of my novel, which I obligingly did, giving myself yet another first. That is, reading my work in public and not in a workshop. After I was done, everyone clapped and seemed to genuinely like what I had written. I asked for criticism on it, since I literally just finished it and am still barely into the editing process, and no one really had anything too criticial to say. There were a few things that people pointed out that were things that I already knew I had to go back and edit, but generally people agreed that it was pretty good. So, it was fun. I met some cool new people and got to spend time with cool old people. By which I don't mean chronologically old, I just mean that I've known them for awhile. Also, in closing, everyone should send good wishes to Andy, who is my housemate Mary's boyfriend and also my friend. Mary made a mention of what's going on in his life in her journal, but she made it really cryptic, so maybe I'm not supposed to say anything in my journal? But anyway, he's having a hard time right now. I wanted to give him a manhug when I saw him, but he seemed even more down than a manhug could fix. So, I hope everything is okay, Andy!

(13 coooooooocks | shout it out) We get by with a little help from our friends [12 Jun 2009|02:30pm] Hey, just to let everyone know, my housemate Mary (scary_mary) is having a big-ass sale in her LJ. She's trying to raise some money, so she's selling off a ton of crap. Most of it is girls' stuff, but guys could potentially find some stuff in there, especially if you're creepy and want to buy her bras, or something. Anyway, the post can be found here. I hope you find things you want!

(38 coooooooocks | shout it out) Coffee Lolita Meetup [10 Jun 2009|02:04pm] So, scary_mary came with us to the coffee-themed lolita meetup at Bunny and Sean's house, and she took all of these awesome pictures! Except for the ones of her, because she couldn't. Those were taken by Megan. There are some awesomely random pictures behind the cut, including animated gifs! ( Lots more below! )

(3 coooooooocks | shout it out) Good lord, that was some intense writing [08 Jun 2009|02:44am] I just finished writing a sequel to my first steampunk novella. It's only about 3/5ths as long as the first one, and much, much rougher (because the first one took me six months and the second one took me approximately 9 days). However, the two novellas combined equal one very short novel! So I've officially finished my first novel! Well, okay, I've officially written my first novel. Finishing it is another matter entirely. The second novella is really, REALLY rough and will likely require not just polishing, but significant additions. The first one still has gotten very little real constructive criticism, except for one or two things that I know I need to work on. Anyway, I'm not posting the second one yet, until I've had a chance to clean it up a bit. But I just wanted to say that I've written my first novel. Woot!

(20 coooooooocks | shout it out) He didn't lose on Jeopardy, Weird Al! [05 Jun 2009|02:09am] One of my friends, wearedna, was on Jeopardy! tonight, and he won! He's the current Jeopardy! champion! I believe that he deserves a round of applause, because that's awesome!

(3 coooooooocks | shout it out) Whew [04 Jun 2009|10:09pm] So, I just woke up from a nap thoroughly drenched in sweat, and both parched and tremendously hungry. My fever broke, and I already feel a million times better. I woke up this morning feeling absolutely terrible. I hardly slept at all, and my pounding headache was no better than the night before. But as I sat around the house, I began to get tired, so I took a nap. I woke up about 5 hours later so wet that when I threw my t-shirt on the floor, it made a wet, slapping sound. I immediately came out and took my temperature, and I was down to 98.5. Also, my headache, while not entirely gone, is only a shadow of what it was. Time to drink lots of water and eat some food. Here's hoping I don't have to go through that again soon!

(5 coooooooocks | shout it out) Urrrrrgh [03 Jun 2009|07:55pm] [ mood | anxious ] For absolutely no reason, I just had an awful anxiety attack, my first serious one since starting medication. I was fixing up the guest house for my tenant, and when I came back to my house, I sat down in my chair and started browsing the internet. Not two minutes later, I began getting really uncomfortable. Then I started getting really cold, and shaking. I went outside into the warm air, but that didn't help at all. Then I got in a really hot shower, and that helped. But once the hot water ran out (sorry, Mary!), I had to get up and leave the shower's warm, womb-like embrace when I was soaking wet. Megan helped me, brought me some water, and sat with me. I was trying to avoid taking a klonopin, because I have a final paper due on Friday that I need to write, and taking klonopin tends to make me kind of loopy. Not a good state to write about complex literary theory. After sitting in the bathroom with a warm robe and a wet towel, I threw in aforementioned towel and took a klonopin. Now I'm sitting around, shaking ever-so-slightly, waiting for the rest of it to take effect. I suppose this is what I get for going on meds and then just acting like everything is fine. UPDATE: I have a fever of 102.4. Seems like my anxiety was sparked by real, physical symptoms. I'm not sure which is worse.

(3 coooooooocks | shout it out) [03 Jun 2009|02:59am] [ mood | amused ] "The strippers are all a few dollars difference. It seems like the more expensive ones do more tricks." "Wait, are you saying that the more expensive strippers are the ones that do more tricks?" ".....Yes." - Megan and I, respectively, while talking about a wood stripper for removing the paint from our wooden mantles in our house.

(12 coooooooocks | shout it out) Pirate Weekend at the Renaissance Festival! [01 Jun 2009|01:47am] So, today we got all pirated-up and went to the Renaissance Festival for Pirate Weekend! I apologize for the poor quality, but that's Megan, me, Mary and Bunny. Bunny actually won first place in the pirate costume contest! Megan is wearing her old ren fest clothes from back in the day, and I'm wearing a half-assed pirate costume that I threw together in the last day or two. Those pants? Yeah, they're fat woman maternity pants. And Mary is sporting Megan's bloomers and my murse, along with the rest of her clothes. I may have some better pictures later, but I thought you guys would be amused. ^^

(4 coooooooocks | shout it out) Mmmmm, frozen custard [31 May 2009|02:41am] I ate frozen custard today for the first time in my life, and it was awesome. Also, in case you haven't read my steampunk story (which is really Victorian science fiction, since there's very little actual steam involved), The Phantastic and Wondrous Adventures of Mr. Jonathan Darby, you can read it at http://www.fulldeity.com/jonathandarby.doc I intended the story to be a one-shot novella, but as it evolved, it just sort of begged for a sequel. So while I'm waiting for feedback on part one, I've gone ahead and started part two. I hope that part two turns out as good as part one!

(9 coooooooocks | shout it out) Steampunk Story - Concluded! [27 May 2009|05:43am] [ music | "Holy Diver", Dio ] Well, praise Jesus, I actually finished the story! This portion of the story is brought to you by "Holy Diver" by Dio, as it inspired me to write the rest of this. It was SO close to being finished for so long, but I just didn't have it in me to write the last chapter and a half. Again, I want to STRESS that this story is an exceedingly rough version. I have done pretty much literally zero editing. Now that it's done, though, I plan to go back through it and fix it up. I really, really didn't want to get bogged down with minutiae and then not ever finish it. The total length so far is 50 pages single-spaced, so about 100 pages double-spaced. If you follow word counts, that's about 28,500 words. That's pre-editing. I expect to add a ton of description and flavor text and all kinds of stuff. But I may also cut a bunch of stuff out. So I guess we'll see! Anyway, without further ado, I present to you the (In)Complete Chronicles of Mr. Jonathan Darby! Chapter One: In Which Mr. Jonathan Darby is Given a Strange Assignment. Chapter Two: Our Unlikely Hero Boards a Train And Learns of His Role in Things to Come. Chapter Three: Personal Revelations are Exchanged on Board a Train. Chapter Four: The Tale of the Mysterious Flying Man. Chapter Five: In Which Several Heinous Acts are Performed. Chapter Six: Picking Up the Pieces. Chapter Seven: The Mysterious Bracelet, Whose Purpose is Not Immediately Known. Chapter Eight: Preparations Are Made and a Partnership is Formed. Chapter Nine: To Catch a Thief. Chapter Ten: The Tortoise and the Hare, Revisited. Chapter Eleven: Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends. Chapter Twelve: In Which Many Mysteries are Revealed. Chapter Thirteen: The Great Wheel of Time Turns More Literally Than Might Be Expected. Chapter Fourteen: A Partnership is Formed, Part Two. Chapter Fifteen: Putting the Cart Before the Horse. Chapter Sixteen: Chronological Experimentation. Chapter Seventeen: A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven, Refuted. Chapter Eighteen: The Theory of Evolution, Practical Applications. Chapter Nineteen: The Key to the City. Chapter Twenty: The Wonders of London. Chapter Twenty-One: The Key to the Apartment. Chapter Twenty-Two: Home is Where One's Heart Resides. Chapter Twenty-Three: In Which Science Disproves Itself Yet Again. Chapter Twenty-Four: Conversations with the Damned. Chapter Twenty-Five: The Lonely Genius. Chapter Twenty-Six: The Skies About London. Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Best Offense Often Requires Insanity. Chapter Twenty-Eight: ( A Pleasant Swim on a Moonlit Night ) Chapter Twenty-Nine: ( A Brisk Jog Through a Dark City ) Chapter Thirty: ( Leavetakings ) Alright, I hope that you all enjoyed that journey! Please, I welcome all feedback! You don't need to correct for grammar or spelling or whatever, as I'll likely catch that in editing. But any major stuff, please let me know! Thanks for sticking with me on this one, everyone!

(28 coooooooocks | shout it out) More steampunk announcements [27 May 2009|03:14am] [ music | "Holy Diver", Dio / "Clubbed to Death", Rob D ] So, it appears that I will be doing not one, not two, but three different steampunk panels at DragonCon this year. The first two I've already posted about, but I'll recap in case anyone missed it. My first panel will be as a guest on the DIY steampunk accessories panel, for which I'll be joining the Outlanders. The second panel is on Victorian fiction and Victorian science fiction, which I'll also be sharing with another academic who I haven't met. The third panel, while still tentative at this point, is going to be a panel on Gentlemen's fashions hosted by (tentatively) Megan and I. Any of you guys who DON'T come to my panels, I will find you and flay you alive! =D

(19 coooooooocks | shout it out) Gay porn, or horror film? [25 May 2009|03:32am] You know what movie was surprisingly awesome? Midnight Meat Train. While you may think that this is a mildly original name for a gay porn featuring a large quantity of black men, you would be mistaken. It is, in fact, a horror film. One based off of a Clive Barker story. The idea is that there's a dude (Vinnie Jones) who's killing people in the New York subway at night. A photographer notices that something is going on, and begins investigating. I can't really say more without giving stuff away, but I was really pleased by the movie, even though some people didn't like the ending. Personally speaking, I thought that it was the only possible way that the movie could've ended. What I really liked about the movie was the same thing that I enjoyed about such films as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Secret of NIMH; namely that it gives you a glimpse of something larger. It leaves a lot unanswered, but in the good way. In the way that sparks your imagination, and leaves you thinking about the movie for a long time to come. For example, in 20,000 Leagues, there's that brief glimpse of the Nautilus's home base, and it's full of this fantastic technology and futuristic designs. But of course, they never show you what it's like inside... You're left to guess at what amazing things it may house. Anyway, the movie was really gory, so I don't recommend it for those who are faint of heart. However, the budget for the film wasn't too terribly high, so most of the gore is unrealistic (at least to a gore connoisseur such as myself). But if you like gore, and you like horror/suspense/action/mystery films, then this movie is absolutely for you, and you had better not pass up the chance. This movie will surprise you.

(2 coooooooocks | shout it out) "The 1950's: the most immature era in history." -Al, from Quantum Leap [24 May 2009|04:48am] Tonight Megan and I went out to see The Creature From the Black Lagoon in 3-D! Yeah, the original film from 1954 in its original 35mm film. You may not know that the movie was also originally filmed in 3-D. It was really cool. It was showing at the local independant theater, so I really felt like I was back in the 50's, taking my girlfriend (as opposed to wife, because your wife stays home and cleans the house whereas you take your girlfriend out to movies) out on a date. It was a pretty immersive 50's experience, especially with the really campy Munsters-style stage show that preceeded the movie. We had a really good time watching the movie. Megan noticed everyone's costumes, whereas I sat there contemplating what everything meant. For the record, the only female character in the film changed outfits for pretty much every single scene, whereas everyone else only changed a handful of times. I thought it was particularly interesting that in the movie, the scientists were portrayed as the "good guys". It was the jerk of a businessman who stirs up trouble and makes everything worse, but it's the scientists who are not only the victims, but also the noble, self-sacrificing heroes. It makes an excellent and interesting comparison to Godzilla, which also came out in 1954. In Creature, the monster is the by-product of evolution, essentially representing untamed nature, whereas in Godzilla, the monster is the by-product of mankind, since he was mutated by the radiation specifically caused by atomic weapons. In both movies, it is the scientists who prevail against the monster, and both sets of scientists take pains to "do the right thing"; in Creature they try to leave it alone and study it peacefully and in Godzilla the scientist sacrifices himself to prevent his weapon from ever being used again. Both movies also feature monsters who strike from under the water, but who can also attack on land. It's interesting how similar the two movies are, when you think about it, especially since they were made literally across the world from each other, in what was almost certainly radically different social and economic climates. I'm sure that someone could write a good comparison paper about those two movies. In fact, I'm sure someone already has! Anyway, it was a really enjoyable experience, and it was also a great date. ^^

(14 coooooooocks | shout it out) Embarassing situations [18 May 2009|11:39pm] So, I haven't been feeling all that well, today. I had a really busy weekend, and I didn't sleep very well. I was feeling mostly okay until I started having chest pains that were almost certainly gas or acid related. Despite that, it set off my anxiety. Since I'm taking Lexapro, I didn't have an attack or anything, but it was enough to upset me and bring me down. When it was time to go to class, I set off purposefully to the MARTA station, hoping that moving around and getting some fresh air would help. Well, when I got to class, I started getting really tired. Like, I could hardly keep my eyes open during class. Because I had just recently had both gas trouble and anxiety trouble, having a soda for some caffeine was pretty much out of the question. I excused myself from class and went to the bathroom. I sat down in a stall, just because I didn't have anywhere else to go. I couldn't really sit in the hall, since you're not really supposed to leave class to just sit around, and because it was so late, none of the other rooms were open. Anyway, long story short, I ended up falling asleep in the stall for about an hour of my three-hour class. I've NEVER fallen asleep like that somewhere, especially not in a bathroom. When I awoke, I was faced with a quandry. I had, at that point, been gone from class for an hour. When I went back to class, everyone would no doubt wonder what I could possibly have been doing for the last hour. What was I supposed to say? "Sorry, I fell asleep in the bathroom." Yeah, that's kind of an awful thing to have to say. I had to go back, though, because my backpack and my books were still there. I mean, what sickness could I possibly have that would warrant my staying in the bathroom for an hour? Well, after a short while spent gathering my courage, I returned to the class. Much as I expected, the conversation immediately stopped. The teacher was like, "Is everything okay?" Since I had expected this, I decided to go ahead and pull the 'sick' card. So I said, "Yeah, I'm just not feeling well, I'm sorry." He seemed to accept that response, and when class got out for our half-time break, I told him that I was just going to go ahead and go home. He said that that was a good idea, if I wasn't feeling well. I have no idea what everyone in class was thinking, but let me tell you, I was pretty embarassed. Sigh. Let's hope I sleep well, tonight.

(5 coooooooocks | shout it out) The weekend [18 May 2009|03:59pm] This past weekend was our Atlanta wedding reception. Megan and I got dressed up in our wedding clothes and had a party/reception at our place. We showed the wedding video, as well as a slideshow that the photographers made specially for the party, and it was a big hit. We (and by 'we' I mean 'Megan') put out a number of our nice serving dishes that we got for our wedding, and it was a very nice presentation. We spent like, two full days cleaning the house in preparation for the party, so even though we haven't 100% cleaned up after the party, the house is still the cleanest its been since before the wedding. We had a pretty good turnout, though I neglected to count heads. I think we were somewhere around 30 people (we had at least 27), which is a good number for this house. More than that, and it begins to feel slightly cramped. It was a somewhat mellow evening, but that was probably for the best. A few people got pretty drunk, but no one threw up, which is always a sign that it's a mellow party. <chuckles> Anyway, we had a great time, and we look forward to hosting the next party at our place, which will likely be a summer-themed party sometime in June or July. I have to say, I'm pretty happy.

(11 coooooooocks | shout it out) Fanart! [16 May 2009|02:33pm] [ mood | pleased ] I just received my first piece of fanart from my friend bunnyko. I say fanart rather than art because I believe that it's the first picture that I've received of myself in costume. Now is that awesome, or is it just me?