steam punk.

Subculture.

I just finished reading a NY Times article (how educated am I) about a new fad on the uprise in NY. And I just could not NOT be a part of the "perfect storm" of budding interest. Steam Punk. After a little indepth research....google and wiki I really just had to drop a line here on my bloggy blog.

Where is started off as a dork mobile for weirdos to ride in the early 90's it seems to have transformed itself into more of a anchored counter culture of fashion, time fusion and invention. It's an 18th century meets the millennium...neo Victorian movement of sorts, where you are encouraged to seeks and use new technology (with a twist) but at the same time limited to wearing ridiculous articles of cloth like top hats and waist coats. Its their "visual identity".

The gentlemen above are part of a neovaudevillian (?) performance troupe called the James Gang, Mr. James and they apparently play in the Village (down down town Manhattan) all the time. The head singer is described as a musician, magician and inventor of sorts. ::Side eye::

"Part of the reason it seems so popular is the very difficulty of pinning down what it is,” Mr. von Slatt added. “That’s a marketer’s dream.” said some guy in the NYT article.

And that's interesting enough. But what part of "difficult to pin down" is so intriguing. Isn't it the ability to pin something down, what makes trends and fads a true cultural movement. What exactly are we witnessing? If I put aside all of the geeky weirdo results I got from doing my Google search, I'm still left with a feeling of misunderstanding a lack of a true identity. It seems to be obscure ridiculousness for no good reason. At most...it reminds me of that movie Time Machine. BTW, does anyone know what happen to Samantha Mumba? Besides falling of the face of the earth.

So, I know this is a weird post....but I guess I want to know if this is really a cultural movement or a fad...for dorks and weirdos and freaks alike to jump on because they don't fit into toady's society." And if that's the case...I'm going to need a top hat, size 8...stat.

I mean...when all is said and done, I guess we should be glad that it is in no way related to Scientology right? For more information...or more confusion, click here.