Steampunked!

My sweetie and I are back from the Steampunk World's Fair.

In case you don't know, steampunk is-- well, imagine the Victorian age extending to the present. Imagine the internal combustion engine and transistors were never invented.Add airships, pirates, Edwardian dandies, walking canes, top hats, bustles, all sorts of bizarre goggles, courtly manners, robots, and a free bestowal of royal titles. and you pretty much have it.

Thousands of people were packed into two hotels with passageways and meeting rooms that were far too small for safe traversal and ceilings far too low for extravagant hats. Face-painted mime robots, khaki-clad explorers, can-can girls, bizarre faux artificial limbs, real and fake mustaches, and tight-laced corsets were present in abundance.




We attended an absinthe tasting and a fancy tea party. We missed, however, most of the talks we had earmarked because of overcrowded rooms.

The stages had more room. We saw the comedian Hari Kondabolu, and an assortment of bands. Here's a clip of Hari deconstructing a bag from Chipotle:

We also saw a show by the White Elephant Burlesque Society. It was my first-ever burlesque!

The headliner was the San Diego-based robot band Steam Powered Giraffe. They put on quite a show. Here's a video of their song Honeybee:

Here they are again:

Now for some photos from the event. First, the fashion walk:

Now the hallways and common areas:

My camera was heavy, so I put it away about halfway through the event. My girlfriend, however, got some great shots, which I'll post shortly.

See here for other peoples' wonderful photos from the Steampunk World's Fair.