Arronax Chair Update

Sorry it's been such a long time for everything. Long, crazy stories. Anyhow, there's been some work on the chair, to the point where it now looks like a chair. Getting finally a bit of Art Nouveau Steampunk Styling, and I have to say, I laughed and giggled like a little schoolgirl when this much came together. One of my classmates called it a Klingon Death chair. I suppose there is that... I knew it would end up scary.

The fun part about this chair is the sense of posture you acquire from sitting in it, up straight, but still comfortable. The knees bend in a casual but kind of intimidating way. You get the feeling you want to order minions to sack the interlopers with a wave of your finger.




For those back plates, I may have to hand rivet them, because the air rivet gun at the shop is SOL. They were pulled rivets as well, and I wanted the dome headed ones (more steampunk and mechanical looking).



I'm still finding it interesting how people find Art Nouveau architecture scary. In one of my Interior Classes, we examined some of Victor Horta's work in Brussels. People said it kind of frightened them. I asked why it did so. The response was to something deeper and primal, like some kind of ensnaring plant waiting to grab them and gobble them up. (I think someting like the plant monster from Jasper Morello). I'd heard similar to some of the Metro Entrances in Paris. I think it's downright pretty, though. And sounds like a much better time going through one of those than staying at the Hostel in Brussels with the Techno Twins Slad and Veder. C'mon, I would drool over that wall.

New Computer Matches My Scanner

And it's not a good thing...

(Warning: Technobable Below!)
So my last computer I called Misha, kept up for 6 years (in computer terms, an eternity), finally had what I think is a Motherboard component issue. Rather than get Another AGP slotted motherboard and processor pair, and preserve my going-on two year obsolescence, I plunked down for a new computer. Trying to get a bargain, I picked up one with a PCI-E slot for the video card. Dubbed "Boomer" (I'm a BSG fanatic, so all computers I now own will be named after cylon models), I'm finding the parts are already a generation behind. At least there's compatibility with the next-gen components (Video Cards, RAM, etc.), but I'm still not up to date. Damn.
(End Technobable Geek-speak)

And now my aesthetic complaints:

While the Misha's case was still modern, it had some retro styling of gauges, vents everywhere, lit fans. Take a look: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144151

Modern, but not bad. Still would bear a little more brass and rivets to my taste, and a little bit less UV lighting. Still interesting. And far more dynamic than nearly anything else. Always got comments at LAN parties.

As for the new one. Well...

Kinda plain, don'cha think? When Did Technology go with hiding and anonymity? Seriously, even the sides are plain black lacquered steel. Not even worth the data to photograph.

This means I need to mod this girl. Brass or copper leaf, Rivets, and perhaps steam-looking vents mounted on the side intakes (they're only a perforated section of metal right now).

The sad part? It matches the HP scanner I got a couple months ago.



Slightly curved to be comforting, darker to nestle quietly in with the technology next to it. And the greatest selection I could ever make might be the color, so long as it's black. If you want a bold color choice, only on laptops and they've got to be disgustingly bright. Why are people afraid of technology that stands out, that's bolder in design? It's what's made Datamancer and Jake Von Slatt legends in the steampunk sub-culture.

I've even seen similar motions in architecture, where every good idea is pushed to abstraction. Realism is used as a joke, the architect satirizing himself ad his field. Look at Frank Gehry's fish or the idea of a Decorated Shed that comes up again and again in Robert Venturi's work. It's architecture with a point and a kind of depressing one. Why not a device that looks like a device, and not a block of barely featured, minimized, rationalized plastic?
You want something frightening, look at Industrial Design Finals. They're all blocks of near-featureless plastic. Then look at Architecture finals. All solid blocks of mass, looking like one piece. I saw an Architecture Professor rail at the condition of what was coming out of SciArch, one of the most prestigious schools in the field. And Why? Everything coming out was exactly this. Sometimes slightly different forms, but no one's willing to stand out. Even my last job was afraid of rocking the design boat, so to speak. Always Mass and Masonry. Give me the crap about budgetary concerns and value engineering the hell out of a design. It's cheaper to do less. And also far less fun and effective. My roommate has a great corporate poster: MEDIOCRITY: Takes a lot less work and no one will know the difference until it's too late.

I posit a question: You love your Ipod, but what do you do on that sad day when the battery no longer holds a charge? You send it in for them to replace the battery, because you won't. (You think it's can't, but you won't: you might void the warranty, you don't have the skills or tools to do so). And do they send the same one back to you after they charge you $60 to replace the battery? No: They send you a refurbished one, same model, same color, and don't care if you notice the difference. You didn't get your Ipod back. Do you love this one as much, now?



Anyone remember a Music box? Makes nice noise, cool little mechanism as a metal comb pings off of a finely crafted cylinder. What about making an MP3 player that resembles one? No abstraction, use the mechanism as the control system. Something more than color choices, please?! Please?! I am unafraid of looking like clockwork, unafraid of appealing to the senses,unafraid of appealing to the fascination with gadgetry, unafraid of material or boldness, Unafraid of something that looks spikey, blunt, riveted or screwed together. Makes me comforted to know it's held together with something substantial, and I could repair if it goes wrong. Features like that make it unique, make it stand out.

And so, as time goes by, Boomer will be reflecting my tastes and ideals. Functional dials and gauges, occulum bezels, flange-wheel adjustable fans and volume control will soon embelish her black, anonymous frame.. Take an idea, take an environment desirous of evocation and run with it. Be accused of doing too much instead of falling short. Venturi is oft quoted, "Less is a bore." Perhaps his thesis should be taken to heart. Let the design world shudder at my name. I am the Dynamo.

And so, carry that forth out into the world, kind readers. And remember, don't be mean; Because no matter where you go, There you are.

No More Justifications...

I was at the Landmark Forum Last weekend, and it initially sounded like a big corporate development seminar full of terms and twisted stuff.

Instead, while I was there, I found out a lot of things about myself. It's changed me irrevocably, and in the most wonderful ways.

I feel like I want to strike at life with the fervor I've always wanted to, because it's my choice. If you're in to or interested in zen enlightenment, I'd call it a quick integration of it.

But anyhow, onto Ideas, the main reason I'm hoping you're reading.

Earlier in the week, Jake von Slatt posted a podcast on the Steampunk Movement out of a forum at Readercon. And they proffered the question: What would a Gibson Chair Look like? The admitted it'd have rivets and functioning levers, gears and ornate brass.

I set out to building one. More precisely, a Nautilus Chair. I'd been working on it for some time in metal fabrication, and I've found a newer motivation to get it finished. Though to be sneaky, I'm calling it an Arronax Chair, but just to avoid being glaringly obvious. The upper portion is inspired by the mixing of a nautilus spiral with a mechanical motif. Now in a different world, and I suppose the next prototype will have functioning gears, but for now they're static and welded into place. The lower, again, as the design points out, looks like armored crustacean limbs, rendered again in metal and bolts. This prototype I intend to add brass parts for accents, but right now the focus is mainly on getting the major components fabricated and welded together while I have Access to the tools I need. I really did get slowed down by the plasma cutter giving out, and any fabricator will tell you how easy they are to use. So the classic Acetylene for me. At least I get to wear the Goggles doing it. More pictures to come!





But I do have to steampunk up my welding mask. Rivets and brass paint, bring it on!

To see if people actually want to see my thoughts...

Per requests of my friends, it's time I started a blog. So welcome! Now begins the long story of me, edited to protect the innocent. Sort of.

I guess I am sitting at a transitory period on my life right now. I'm out of a job, looking for a new one, finishing my undergrad, and in love and moving in with a wonderful woman.

And the whole laying off is making me perhaps a little more daring than I should be. At least with my career. I'm kind of a creative person. I write, I design, I draw, I craft, and all of those pretty well. So here's the question: Should I go back to the office-drone style job people of my socio-economic class find so desirable? While the last one wasn't so bad (architectural staff in a large firm), there still felt like limits, everything was Mac-modern-Crate-and-Barrel-Herman-Miller sort of life. Too clean, too minimal. Well designed, sure, but not me. The output when there was money for nicer things still felt like CMU and stucco, same materials over and over again. Too consistent, and looks like everything else put up in this decade. Or do I want to live by my wits and creativity alone?

So that question, and my situation has given me an impetus, and a goal. I'm gonna be a Steampunk Architect. I was going to adjust it, come up with a more mainstream phrase for it, and I was leaning towards "Mechanachistic." Steampunk isn't necessarily about Steam, and some purists point it out, but it's looking like technology or items from the Age of Steam. Steam inspired, sure, and parts from boilers abound, as do gears, filigree, and decorated, crafted pieces of wonderful gadgetry. Inspired by the Mechanical, Mechanachistic. Makes sense, right? Too late, now. Man, they never let me name anything...

But since there was the first Steampunk Exhibition in New York a week ago, an Article in the Times, A panel at ReaderCon, and nigh-numberless blogs and forums on the movement, screw 'legitimizing' it with new terminology and wording. Restamping it would just make me some protesting little person trying to differentiate themselves from an artistic movement or style for reasons perceived as egotism. Steampunk is already different in so many wonderful ways, I'd already be standing out. Was I supposed to pull one of those egotistical "The Dynamo needs silence!" numbers, where I put a hand up, turn up my nose, and think everyone around me thinks I'm a true genius? Sorry, but those people are somewhat ridiculous. I've given my better half a request to shoot me on sight if I ever sincerely pull one of those.

So, you might see me wax lyrical on the joys of machinery, of little doo-dads that do cool things, on gears and mechanisms and all that wonderful stuff. Or the joys of creation, as I get every now and then. Ever heard the Mythbusters cackle when they finish a device, and it works wonderfully? Build something of your own design, and you'll understand what's so joyous about it.

I'm hoping someone will at least be looking at some of my stuff, see what I make, maybe purchase it if you feel so inclined. Or beg me to make another one on commission. I do have a place to furnish...

So come back next time, subscribe, comment, do what you will. And remember: don't be mean, because no matter where you go, there you are.