So you probably all saw Merlin Mann's Steampunk DIY video blog monologue on Boing Boing yesterday, well I thought he was being a little bit mean and I happen to know a couple of things about the future of SteamPunk . . .

Same video but Vimeo hosted:

The Steampunk Future:

Hi, this is Jake von Slatt and welcome to my workshop.

This is where I do a lot of my Steampunk projects - and other projects too. I want to show you in fact, one that I’ve been working on. These, I’m not sure how well you can see them from home there [holds up eye glasses], but these are actual video-blogger glasses and I made these using a 19th Century precursor to plastics process, where you take ground-up human hair, you combine it with some alcohol and lacquer, which of course as you know, is the secretion of the Lac beetle, and in fact for these particular glasses I was able to get a hank of Merlin Mann’s hair off theinternet and that’s what I made these from.

Speaking of Merlin, you probably recently saw his video, I think it was posted on Boing Boing yesterday - “Steampunk DIY” , and I must admit when I first saw it, I was a little bit upset, I kind of felt he was making fun of us. 

But then I remembered something a time-traveler friend of mine told me about the future of Steampunk. She dropped by to give me a copy of this book [holds up Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's Steampunk]. Now you can’t actually buy this yet, it’s out I think, in a couple of weeks. You might be able to pre-order it on Amazon, and this is Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s “Steampunk”. It’s an anthology of Steampunk shorts from well, the inception of Steampunk, right up through today. A great book! I’m about halfway through – I can’t put it down!

But apparently, she says, about the time this book comes out - and she phrased this in a way that was a little odd, and I didn’t quite key in on it when I saw Merlin’s video - but what she said was, "the cool kids start making fun of us".  Apparently even Cory Doctorow gets into the act and starts "dissing theSteampunks."  But what’s really exciting is that this kicks off the golden age of Steampunk. Apparently there’s a big influence in the fall of 2008 in haute couture [holds up photo of elegant fashion lady]. Apparently Steampunk is a big driving force in 2008’s fashion world, and by 2009, the streets of LA, London, Paris, New York, are awash in Top hats and goggles and I just think that’s great!

Also, summer of 2009, Disney releases a remake of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, starring Bruce Willis, Salma Hayek and Sean Connery as Captain Nemo. I’m really excited about this. I just want to hear him say, “The atomic fires that drive the Nautilus through the water are the same energies that power our sun”. I think Connery’s a much better choice - apparently there was a rumor that they were going to go with Arnold Schwarzenegger and that wouldn’t be my kind of Nemo; “Please have a seat while I play Bach's Toccata on my organ” - I think Sean Connery’s a much better choice.

But what I’m really excited about, man! 2015, The Steampunk Singularity! The Clockwork Rapture man! The Diamond Age! I just can’t wait for that, man!

But, the next event that you need to pay attention to, that you need to be aware of, is Maker Faire, May 3rd and 4th. I’m going to be there, Datamancer's going to be there, the crew from Steampunk Magazine's going to be there and Saturday night, Spectacular Steampunk Extravaganza! Abney Park takes the stage!

This is Jake von Slatt, keeping it brassy!