The Aquatic Life of Tools - "The Deep" on Showtime

Showtime took a break from their regularly scheduled seriousness and posted this fun, brilliantly filmed short video by one known only as PES, in which keys, pliers, wrenches, chains, and a myriad of familiar tools and hardware take on a life of their own - underwater!  Enjoy the realistic behavior of the fabricated sea creatures  in "The Deep".

Gear Up for 2011 - Make Your Own Steampunk Wall Calendar

I realize this is not a new idea, but it was on my mind anyway.  Since last year's calendar ceased to be of use a few days ago, my mind wandered over to the idea of steampunk calendars. [The kitten calendar from the dollar store that I get as a gift every Christmas is not doing it for me any more. Sorry, Mom. (Where do they find ugly kittens to photograph? Who knew there was such a thing?!!!  Most of the animals in the photos just look sad, which makes me sad, too!)]

But I digress. After a long search and viewing many, many steampunk calendars on the aethernet, I discovered to my disappointment that the commercially available offerings I saw had little to no appeal for me at all. After all, if I have to see a picture for a whole month, I want it to be meaningful, or at least interesting!  The solution?  Make my own!

A clever and thrifty individual certainly use a program to arrange the photographs and the date grid in an organized manner and them print it all out, but if you would rather have someone else professionally assemble and bind it into something more closely resembling a traditional wall calendar, the calendar maker on Zazzle.com will do that for you.  Their prices start at $20.95 per unit. (A free option is to use the calendar grids other people have created and shared, such as those that can be found in the search results here. Not all free formats allow you to add photos, though.)

A steampunk calendar I make on their site would probably include photos of some of my favorite pieces of jewelry (though almost all of the ones I liked best sold and I cannot take newer, more artistic photos of them, guess I should make more!), and whatever else steampunk that I can find that I like and of course is not copyrighted.  The Zazzle site also gives the option to post your full-color calendar for public sale if you so desire.  (One reason I paused on the Zazzle steampunk calendar page was that there was an attractive 2011 calendar posted by an Etsy SteamTeamer, Winona Cookie, featuring original WinonaCookie art and stories..)  p.s. - I have no association with Zazzle.com. nor have I ordered from them before. If you know/own/like of a better place to get custom calendars, let me know! I do, however belong to the Steam Team, who haveincredibly talented members!  =)

Just for giggles, I did a search on Etsy for steampunk calendars, and got some results for wall calendars and some for other items.  Here is a calendar that I like; it has stunning images and is almost the same price as the make-it-yourself ones (about $20).  An identical search term on ArtFire found one item that resembled a calendar.

If you create a calendar online and wish to share it, please post a comment here with a link to it.  Once/if I do finish one, I will link to it here as well.  Happy New Year!

Celebrating Girl Genius Day, January 12th

Hip hip, hooray! January 12th has been declared Girl Genius Day, and it is also Kaja Foglio's birthday.  "We're hoping you'll do something suitably mad and/or steampunkalicious for the occasion," says Phil Foglio.

The date also heralds the release of their newest book, Agatha H. and the Airship City.  For more information on the book and how to obtain a copy (or copies!), venture over to girlgeniusbooks.com.  This title is currently available in hardcover, e-book, and audio book formats.  (The Kindle version costs only $7.99. Squee!)  The paperback version is slated for release in August, 2011.

Multiple events with the authors are planned for the 12th-14th in Seattle.  If you are fortunate enough to live nearby, you will find the Foglios at the following locations in Seattle on those dates.  [Click for maps to the locations (or click on and read the Event Schedule notes at the bottom of the girgeniusbooks.com page)]:

1/12 Ravenna Third Place Books, 7pm - book signing
1/13 The Night Kitchen, 8pm - "eat and greet"
1/14 University Book Store, 7pm - book reading and signing

Facebookers can mark that they are attending, tell the world your celebration plans, or just leave a nice note for the authors here.

Happy Girl Genius Day!

Steampunk Southern Splendor -- AnachroCon 2011

Finally, a steampunk convention to be held not only on the east coast, but in the (rather deep) south.  

 Anachrocon! 

 From their web page:

     AnachroCon is the place in the South for Steampunk, History, Alternate History, Sciences, Music, Classic Sci-Fi Literature 

and the most amazing costuming you’ve ever seen! 

February 25-27, 2011

    Holiday Inn Select Perimeter (Reservations) 

4386 Chamblee-Dunwoody Rd Atlanta, GA 30341

The schedule of events seems to hold much of interest.  Programming tracks include Culture, Fashion, Fabrication, Gaming, History, Media, and Science.  Confirmed events will include a Gaslight Gala, a fashion show, a charity auction, and a costume contest.  There are several panels approved, including underwater archaeology (who doesn't love that?!) and the history of burlesque. Re-enactors will prowl the premises as the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Leonardo DaVinci, and Ben Franklin.  To top it off, there are ten steampunk bands on the list of scheduled performers. 

Pre-registration is only $30, so if you have been wanting to attend a convention in the south, this seems like a good one!