TOTAL HUMBUG

Friends,

I know I haven't been around much lately. But I couldn't let this pass by without comment.

Where would the Internet be without self-righteous blowhards complaining about the latest trends and how everyone is stupider than them? Hell, where would AM radio be without that?

So with that in mind, be sure to read DesignObserver's scathing commentary on how stupid steampunk is and how dumb all steampunkers are, etc.

While I agree strongly that the word "humbug" needs to make a comeback, there's nothing else about this screed that is really worth taking into consideration outside of the blessed 'lulz' factor (LulzGods be praised!)

As usual with people like this, the facts and their opinions generally exist in vary different galaxies. For example, Randy Nakamura (the author of this piece) comments on how useless the steampunk phenomenon is, how it is all so superficial, etc. For example, they use an image of The Whirlygig Emoto Bike - the creator of the which has replied to this article.

His bike is, in fact, not merely superficial (as if using design to construct attractive pieces of art is somehow worthless) and thus the illustration hardly does justice to Nakamura's claim that steampunk is filled with pretty, but useless, toys.

As if being 'pretty' were a bad thing! People purchase things - and modify them - for aesthetic value regularly. I fail to see the problem with that. Yes, 'steampunk laptops' don't use punchcards or any of the other features of Babbage's Engine. In fact, they're filled to the brim with modern computing gizmos; Pentiums, video cards, RAM, ROM, gigs of memory, USB ports, Windows XP or Linux or Mac OSX). So? Is all art useless? Of course not. If something is aesthetically appealing to an individual, be it a simple painting, or a complicated, redesigned laptop, then it has achieved its purpose.