/lit/ - Literature

[Truman Capote !!cO9KVBDtkqQ No.1625523]

I don't hate steampunk because of it's aspie fanbase, it's inevitably ephemeral existence or it's motivation to retard and reduce industrial history into a hollow, collectivist 'fashion'.

I hate steampunk because it's popular despite never producing anything aesthetically substantial or significant.

It's essentially Twilight for an older demographic, yet it's inexplicably more socially acceptable.

[Anonymous No.1625534]

I agree, but I think Twilight is more acceptable than those fucking goggles that some faggots wear.

[Anonymous No.1625536]

ive never even seen one of these faggots where is their habitat

[Fabulous !!GXZe+d0RTva No.1625544]

I just hate the fact that they've corrupted Victoria

[Anonymous No.1625547]

steampunk is so dumb

like, sometimes the level of craftsmanship involved with some dumbfuck wearing train conductor goggles and typing on a wooden laptop with sprockets glued to it is pretty impressive

but steampunk is so dumb

[Anonymous No.1625551]

>>1625536

If you see a flyer for a nightclub that says "Goth-Industrial-EBM-Darkwave" in neon-colored letters and has a kitschy looking picture of someone in a leather gas mask then you have found a map to their their habitat.
Seek out the club where the event takes place and burn it to the ground to destroy the Steampunk menace.

[Anonymous No.1625552]

>>1625534

I used to be one of those faggots. Ugh.
Thankfully I sought out gay conversion therapy.

[Anonymous No.1625554]

>>1625534
I definitely once turned up a picture of Michael Chabon wearing steampunk goggles and looking like an idiot in a google image search for an entirely non-/lit/-related search

What a fukkin dingwad

[Anonymous No.1625556]

Well said.

[Anonymous No.1625561]

I didn't even know what this was until about a week ago?

Is it really new, or am I just that out of touch with culture?

[Anonymous No.1625566]

My only quibble is that I don't really think steampunk is more socially acceptable than Twilight. Maybe among a small circle of internerds who think that any totally embarrassing and geeky interest or activity is totally cool so long as girls don't like it, but I think your average person would have just about as big a "yikes motherfucker" reaction to learning that a friend carries a steampunk pocketwatch as they would to learning that they have a Team Jacob wall banner hanging in their bedroom

[Anonymous No.1625570]

>>1625561
It's not new but its started to take off recently with fan boys and what not.

[Anonymous No.1625572]

>>1625566
>>1625566
your definitely right i would find it more acceptable if one of my friends liked twilight than if they dressed like this i mean i could still walk around with them and people wouldnt know they are a twilight fan

[Anonymous No.1625576]

>>1625566

Steampunks carry pocketwatches, but so do pimps.

[Anonymous No.1625577]

>>1625576
Okay but when the overcoat containing that pocketwatch belongs to a pasty Asperger's case it's not hard to distinguish between the two

[Anonymous No.1625583]

You've clearly never listened to Abney Park.

[Anonymous No.1625586]

They're aspies but the chick in the middle is hot.

[Anonymous No.1625588]

>>1625561
Not really new, you aren't just hanging out with autistic enough people.

[Anonymous No.1625590]

>>1625586
Holy fuck, you're so right.

[Truman Capote !!cO9KVBDtkqQ No.1625594]

>>1625566
>>1625534
>>1625572

Perhaps it's just in my city.

Twilight is reviled by 16-20 year olds like Justin Bieber.

>>1625583

My friend actually loves them.

For those who haven't experienced a steampunk band before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WrPWFn7e2c

[Anonymous No.1625596]

>>1625586
just look at that guy with the mustache.
He may have Asperger's but still looks badass

[Anonymous No.1625597]

>>1625554
can they take back his pulitzer for this?

[Anonymous No.1625601]

>>1625594

>steampunk band

What is this gimmicky bullshit? Jesus fuck if I wanted to see this kind of shit I'd go to a fucking medieval fair.

[Anonymous No.1625604]

>>1625597

Holy shit Michael Chabon is Goth?

[Anonymous No.1625605]

>>1625601
>implying they don't have at least one good album
the fanbase is still shit

[Anonymous No.1625608]

>>1625597
Not if he sticks a load of cogs and shit on it first.

[Anonymous No.1625609]

>>1625605

Who is that fucking retarded person in your picture?

Also

>implying you are not part of the shit fanbase

[Unclassy Fife Fag (Formally known as SLAF) No.1625610]

>>1625594
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCKkcex6_Hg
Someone say steampunk

Shame it's a shit genre.

[Anonymous No.1625612]

>>1625594

>my city

Let me guess, Portland?

[Anonymous No.1625614]

>>1625609
You must be new here.
Yes, that is what I'm implying
>>1625610
Dr. Steel is an abomination.

[Unclassy Fife Fag (Formally known as SLAF) No.1625617]

>>1625609
>David Mitchell
>retarded
Fuck you... although, maybe, considering he took a spot on the 10 0'clock news. Oh how he and brooker fell.

[Anonymous No.1625620]

>>1625614

Dr. Steel is the favorite artist of Jewish Business/Econ majors at my university for some reason.
No idea why since he's basically impersonating a Nazi.

[Anonymous No.1625624]

>>1625609
The guy who wrote Cloud Atlas

>>1625597
You know what would be more daring than taking a mid-career turn into writing crappy literary speculative fiction is taking a mid-career turn into being the electric mandolin player in a crappy steampunk band

[Anonymous No.1625626]

>>1625617
It pays the bills.

[Anonymous No.1625627]

Obligatory.

[Anonymous No.1625629]

http://www.steampunkmagazine.com/

Here's where these people submit their shitty masturbatory fanfics. Enter if you dare.

[Truman Capote !!cO9KVBDtkqQ No.1625630]

>>1625612

I wish.

[Anonymous No.1625634]

>>1625614

Why is he cosplaying as a monk in that pic?

[Unclassy Fife Fag (Formally known as SLAF) No.1625635]

>>1625614
I only know him because an ex-gf liked him.

[Anonymous No.1625636]

>>1625635

You dated a fat goth chick who enjoyed musical abominations. Probably a cutter.

[Anonymous No.1625639]

>>1625617
You don't like 10oclock Live?

[Anonymous No.1625642]

>>1625635
you couldn't keep a girl with a celebrity crush on david mitchell which means that you're not even a little smart and funny and you're probably hideously ugly and fat

good job mate

[Unclassy Fife Fag (Formally known as SLAF) No.1625644]

>>1625636
Fuck you you know my past

[Anonymous No.1625645]

>>1625597
Christ in Heaven the goggles aren't even the single most objectionable accessory in that picture

[Anonymous No.1625647]

>>1625639
Name one person who did.
>>1625642
Cool bro.

[Unclassy Fife Fag (Formally known as SLAF) No.1625649]

>>1625639
Not really, it's boring satire. I love satire, brooker and mitchell, but 10 o'clock live just annoys me more than entertains. Even with it's clear leftism.
>>1625642
I was refering to Dr. Steel, not Mitchell, and FYI: I finished with her.

[Anonymous No.1625658]

I think in talking about steampunk you have to keep in mind that steampunk, fundamentally, is not a genre, or even a subset of a genre (like cyberpunk is). It's fundamentally an aesthetic style, a collection of elements which have formed into a certain unified whole. So when we talk about steampunk books, we're talking about books which are unified by the aesthetic characteristics of the worlds they're set in, not books unified by some kind of literary characteristic or even some kind of unified aesthetic approach to what a book should be. None of that. It's essentially a collection of things that people think are cool into one unified aesthetic. And that's why so much steampunk comes in art and design and clothes, and why there's so little steampunk literature - because it's an aesthetic not a genre. As an aesthetic, it's terrible and shallow as hell. Anything interesting about its origins has been stripped from it when it became formalized as a style, and then when it became more popularized - all it is now is a boring obsession with certain fetishistic stylistic keystones... and it's worsened by the fact that the terrible fucking internet science fiction and fantasy / nerd community has turned the style of steampunk into a touchstone of what they consider cool. For God's sake, have some self-respect instead of hopping on any shitty bandwagon you can find. The worst thing is that there are interesting things you can talk about using the kinds of influences on steampunk - science fiction combining 19th century technology and values with a challenging, punk sensibility is COOL, and I think there was room for someone to pick up where Gibson & Sterling left off and run with that shit. Instead, they completely abdicated that and just made a bunch of bullshit art with goggles and brass pipes.

I don't like steampunk.

[Anonymous No.1625659]

>>1625647
I'm interested, what don't you like about it? The only thing I don't like about it is Lauren what's-her-name, I think the other sections are pretty solid.
Anything which pokes fun and asks questions of the establishment is good in my books, and if this show puts even a few more people onto reading something more worthwhile (read: Private Eye, more ACTUAL newspapers), then it's surely a good thing?

[Anonymous No.1625661]

>>1625645

I mean, pretty much: who besides an obnoxious queer would wear a pink shirt and a fucking black-and-orange tie?

One hopes that is a photograph of his Halloween costume.

[Anonymous No.1625663]

>>1625629

[Anonymous No.1625664]

>>1625647

[Anonymous No.1625665]

>Steampunk

>Nothing substantial

[Anonymous No.1625666]

let's make up our own nerd aesthetic subculture, guys

like what if you combined lovecraft with preppy/trad style

nantucket reds with tentacles at the bottoms

let's do it. eventually we'll all get laid!

[Anonymous No.1625669]

>>1625661
>who besides an obnoxious queer would wear a pink shirt and a fucking black-and-orange tie?

I can't tell whether you've never read him or if you're all too familiar

[None !WvWWh.l.CE No.1625670]

Glasgow is fine during the day Truman, stop exaggerating.

[Anonymous No.1625671]

>>1625659
Bland, uninformative, unfunny.
5 minutes spent watching Jimmy Carr hanging from the ceiling laughing as his crotch hurts

[Anonymous No.1625676]

>>1625666

prepcraft! We'll wear it to the clubs! I'm down!

Also, those trips are a sign you're onto something.

[Anonymous No.1625678]

>>1625666
I like the idea of going with preppy stuff - generally I think classic styles are where to go if you want nerds to like your shit - but I think lovecraft is too played out, need something new and hot to combine it with... BUT WHAT? Let's say tweed and classy British clothes a la the Twenties and Thirties combined with... what? Retro golden age science fiction? Help me out here guys?

[Anonymous No.1625685]

My boyfriend is really into steampunk (and all the other aspie things) but I love him anyway.

Feels bad when I see this thread, man.

[Unclassy Fife Fag (Formally known as SLAF) No.1625688]

>>1625670
>Glasgow is fine during the day
Glasgow is fine at night too. It's a shit hole, and you may get knifed if you make eye contact with the local soap dodging thugs, but generally it's fine. All over Scotland is one big shit hole. Fife, as I'm finding out being the biggest. I never though I'd say I miss leith.

[Anonymous No.1625689]

>>1625649
>>1625671
Can't say I disagree with you. Still good that more satire is getting airtime in any case. Enjoyed Mitchell's last 'Listen to Mitchell' segment.

[Anonymous No.1625694]

>>1625685
Let him dress you up in those goggles and fuck you.

[Anonymous No.1625698]

>>1625689
>>1625689
Agreed. We need Chris Morris to get his finger out and start writing for TV again.

[Anonymous No.1625700]

>>1625678

What do you mean "prep stuff"?

I mean traditional Hollywood "prep" is like A Separate Peace, but the style I've heard described as "prep" in real life is that bullshit style that involves slapping on polos, flip-flops and khakhis, and that just looks retarded if you're not at the beach.

[Anonymous No.1625704]

>>1625694
>implying we don't already partake of such lovely frivolities

I've got one better. Combine irl WoW weapons and rape fantasies. Aspiedom has its erotic benefits.

[Unclassy Fife Fag (Formally known as SLAF) No.1625705]

>>1625689
To be fair I think as a nation we're becoming more interested in "high brow news" such as politics etc. I mean I see all types reading i, which while not a paper like the Guardian or even the actual independent is a good source for those with passing interests. And the fact the white van men are actually picking it up over the sun shows a little hope for our nation, don't ya think?

[Anonymous No.1625707]

>>1625700
No yeah that's completely what I mean, I think we're on the same page, just need something nerdy as hell to get it going

[Anonymous No.1625708]

>>1625685

Maybe you shouldn't date a boy who's such a loser piece of trash.

[Unclassy Fife Fag (Formally known as SLAF) No.1625710]

>>1625698
I feel sorry for new comers to Brass Eye. It's dated so they usually don't get it.
Also, Chris Morris was the bomb in IT Crowd.

[Anonymous No.1625712]

>>1625708
He wont start dating you just because you pointed out his BF is a nerd.

[Anonymous No.1625713]

>>1625688

Okay, only place I ever saw some thugs knifing people and beating people up was Italy.

I've also been to Scotland, including Glasgow, and none of that shit happened. I witnessed a few drunken brawls but the streets were clean and I never felt in danger even if some of the people acted all messed up and weird.

[Anonymous No.1625718]

>>1625710
I fucking loved Four Lions. Funniest death scenes ever.

>>1625713
Insert Garth Marenghi rant here

[Anonymous No.1625728]

>>1625712

Hardly what I was suggesting.
If the poster I responded to is gay, there's no problem with that. Gays can't reproduce so there's no way for a loser in a gay couple to spread his defective seed and pass on loser genes to the next generation.

However, if the poster to whom I replied was female, then she is making a very poor decision by dating a man who is neither talented, accomplished nor socially functional, and probably lacks any kind of status or drive to social mobility. How such people are able to even attract a woman in the first place is beyond me. The poster I replied to is probably ugly, and therefore desperate.

[Anonymous No.1625739]

>>1625678

I'd imagine Lovecraft prep as something like a "corporate gothic" look with influences from Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep.

[Anonymous No.1625740]

>>1625713
Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. There is a reason Glasgow gets it's rep as Murder capital of Britain.

[Anonymous No.1625743]

>>1625586
sometimes i think the arcade fire aren't so far along the autism spectrum from this

[Anonymous No.1625745]

Not sure if it's still on iPlayer, but if it is you should check out Frost on Satire. Really informative and... c'mon, it's David fucking Frost.
Agree with you on the 'i' thing, I was on the bus to Uni the other day and saw the sort of girl who I'd never have expected to be reading with a book in hand.

It was His Dark Materials, but still.

[Anonymous No.1625751]

>>1625743

I just googled this "Arcade Fire" of yours and came up with a picture that looks like my old middle school uniform.

What are you trying to imply?

[Anonymous No.1625755]

>>1625751
>>1625743
also the decembrists

man i hate the decembrists

[Anonymous No.1625761]

>>1625755
lol the decemberists yes

all their press photos look like the only thing separating them from the ren faire or LARPing is the ownership of a few key alt canon records

[Anonymous No.1625767]

>>1625761

Yeah because if you don't wear your hat backwards and waddle around in flip flops you must be a socially retarded nerd, right?

[Anonymous No.1625775]

>>1625767
first of all, there is a grown-ass woman wearing a pink tulle petticoat in that photo

second of all, pic related

[Anonymous No.1625776]

Truman Capote needs to learn to use the apostrophe with "it". To make it easy for you, I'll explain. "It" when possessive is "its". Possessive pronouns never take apostrophes. When short for "it is" or "it has" you write "it's". Now don't let it happen again.

[Anonymous No.1625780]

>>1625776
now i want an it's-it

:(

[Anonymous No.1625783]

>>1625775

Pfft. It beats out the pajama pants and slip-on shoes I see chicks wearing on my college campus.

[♥onionring♥ !Rrxa7zePwI No.1625786]

no one cares.

[Anonymous No.1625787]

>>1625783
No it doesn't. Those pajama pants are so much easier to rip off.

[Anonymous No.1625791]

I see your Steampunk and raise you this.

[♥onionring♥ !Rrxa7zePwI No.1625793]

>>1625775
what's wrong with that
>>1625783
what's wrong with that

[Anonymous No.1625794]

>>1625787

Rapist.

[Deep&Edgy !pSkjEcB9sQ No.1625796]

Arcanum was pretty cool, bugged as hell and barely pieced together fan-patches or no, but still pretty cool

[Anonymous No.1625798]

>>1625794
Naw dude, I just like to get down to business as quickly as possible. No pissing around with buttons and zippers.

[Anonymous No.1625799]

>>1625793

It looks low-class. It doesn't cast an appearance of respectability or power.
Indeed, I should say it has rather the opposite effect.

[Truman Capote !!cO9KVBDtkqQ No.1625800]

>>1625776

Sorry man, I usually get it right. My grammar is pretty good otherwise.

>>1625786

>no-one cares
>87 replies, thread hasn't left front page

>>1625791

What is that ?

[Anonymous No.1625801]

>>1625775
I would love to watch a dog pee on Colin Meloy's face

[None !WvWWh.l.CE No.1625805]

>>1625796
go play some adventure games reject.

[Anonymous No.1625806]

>>1625800

Corvus Corax. A gimmicky German renfair band that somehow landed a guest role in A Song of Ice and Fire.

[♥onionring♥ !Rrxa7zePwI No.1625809]

>>1625799
so it looks harmless and friendly and carefree and awesome you are the problem not the girl

[Anonymous No.1625814]

>>1625809

Her dishonorable conduct brings shame upon herself, the school, nor her family. A woman should have more respect for such things.

[Anonymous No.1625826]

The worst thing in this thread is the one guy's old-timey moustache, especially because I think it might be a stick-on from a disguise kit

The second-worst thing in this thread is his friend's gold-colored metal waistcoat

The third-worst is the pirate boy band at >>1625791

The fourth-worst is Chabon's tie

The fifth-worst is the guy in the Decemberists who isn't looking at the camera so as to add interest to the composition

The sixth-worst is David Mitchell's goatee, but at least that was supposed to be a joke. The goobers in the OP's picture look like a happy couple and I say mazel tov to them even though they threw a wedding that involved sci-fi top hats. Hope This Helps.

[Anonymous No.1625836]

>>1625826

>mazel tov

Another one for the extermination camps!

[Anonymous No.1625853]

>>1625566
>your average person would have just about as big a "yikes motherfucker" reaction to learning that a friend carries a steampunk pocketwatch
Dude, no way. Bitches love pocketwatches.

[Anonymous No.1625855]

I think we need to get in on the bottom floor for the next big fad: clowns. We'll use 'It' as the source material, so we'll exploit the 'dark and scary' aspects that angsty teenagers love. The same goes for the image of the sad clown - depressed middle school girls will eat that shit up. It'd be somewhat easy for people to cosplay, and they could get creative with costumes and backstories. It may be difficult to make 'sexy', but I think it can be done, we just need a campy 'dark clown' teenage love story. People will be gathering in the park and setting up 'gothic' circus tents in no time!

[Truman Capote !!cO9KVBDtkqQ No.1625856]

>>1625806

Wow.

[Anonymous No.1625862]

>>1625855

Already been done!

[Anonymous No.1625865]

>>1625855
hahaha holy shit I can totally see this

seems like a less-objectionable/controversial YA romance fad than sexy angels and that worked out just fine

[Anonymous No.1625866]

>>1625855

See: ICP

[Anonymous No.1625876]

>>1625866
>>1625862
Noted.

Okay.

New angle..

One word: MONKS

We'll make it sexy to be aesthetic. The romance is going to be the tough part for this one though.

[Anonymous No.1625898]

>>1625876

Monks are all emo and obsessed with Hell and guilt, and they dress like the grim reaper. It'll be fucking perfect.
Also, they molest children so they've already got enough cred to be super edgy and dark.

[Anonymous No.1625902]

>>1625876

Well what about nuns? You can make them sexy pretty damn easily.

[Truman Capote !!cO9KVBDtkqQ No.1625917]

Nuns are my fetish.

[Anonymous No.1625920]

Source text is already there.
Also, bonus points because religion = controversy

[Anonymous No.1625939]

the sexual repression aspect of religious orders is perfect

although i still think a kind of baroque sexy sad-clown thing could catch on

[Anonymous No.1625977]

>>1625902
I think people get into nerd lifestyles like steampunk because they want the obsessive ritual and interesting ornament of the Catholic church, but they also want to snottily quote Richard Dawkins and eat cheeseburgers on Fridays

[Anonymous No.1626025]

What if we combined soviet style golden age sci fi with I dunno... native american culture?

Nerdy enough, mystic (so deep) enough, badass enough,..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Xno0ckKZg

[Anonymous No.1626034]

>>1625523

Proto-steam punk is technically Jules Verne, isn't it?

[Anonymous No.1626037]

>>1626025
the great thing would be that pretty much everything is possible as long as you can construct it out of metal, that's so great about the ussr. I imagine Kosmanches or Navanauts or whatever they'll call themselves to even construct metal horses with lasers as eyes, and actually ride them.

[Anonymous No.1626385]

>>1626025
imagine the bongcraft that would be borne of this subculture

[Anonymous No.1626488]

>>1626385

hahaha yes, that would be amazing

[Truman Capote !!cO9KVBDtkqQ No.1627955]

bumpin'