Steampunk - G4

Steampunk is ostensibly a retro-future movement, which began as a literary subgenre and grew from there. One of its basic tenets asks, what would the world be like if the proliferation of technology basically stopped in the Victorian era? That's why, in the above video, you see computers with typewriter keyboards and guitars sporting brass doodads. It's picking up considerable clout in underground circles, and Abney Park - the band featured in the G4 video - have released six albums. And here is an example of a Steampunk USB drive. Notice the brass look, with tubing and gears.

It's all very Victorian in nature. Lots of brass and arches and - for some reason - brown stuff. In the video, one of the band members mentions the forerunners of Steampunk: Jules Verne and Mary Shelley. Think mad scientists and early technology impossibly ahead of its time. If you dig what you see about steampunk, you can start reading a blog called The Steampunk Home, whose mission statement goes as follows:

I believe that Steampunk is more than just brass and watchparts. It's finding a way to combine the past and the future in an aesthetic pleasing yet still punkish way. It's living a life that looks old-fashioned, yet speaks to the future. It's taking the detritus of our modern technological society and remaking it into useful things. Join me as I search for items for my house that combine the scientific romanticism of the Victorians with our real present and imagined future.