Watch: MP4 download, YouTube, Dotsub (with captions/text translations).

In this episode of Boing Boing Video, we test-drive "Sarriugarteis (Odontochile) trilobiteis," also known as The Electrobite.

This trilobite-shaped DIY vehicle was created by "Oilpunk" enthusiasts Kyrsten Mate + Jon Sarriugarte, with help from fellow makers Amy Jenkins and Tansy Brooks.

Pesco previously blogged about the little bugger here -- it's even been to Burning Man, where it no doubt terrified some trippin' hippies.

A lovely new video for Modest Mouse, by Bent Image Lab's Nando Costa. The video incorporates stop motion, visual effects, and motion graphics techniques, and tells the tale of an artist who enters his personal sanctuary and is "presented with a hand-crafted drawing tool that assists him in materializing his mental impressions."

Through drawing circular patterns, the machine discharges an endless web of yarn that guides him through his visual representations of his memories. The story progresses to reveal that he is divided between two worlds, one of dull reality and the second of warped memories. In the process of finding a way out of his consciousness, he is trapped between the two competing spaces, which eventually inflict lethal damage, acting as metaphors to self-destruction.

Eileen Gunn sez, "Michael Swanwick and I have dragged steampunk kicking and screaming out of the Victorian era, slapped it about a bit and tossed it, still writhing, into an Art Deco cityscape. Tor.com editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden described our story, Zeppelin City as "a stew of Metropolis, King Kong, Brazil, and the Critique of the Gotha Programme" and has published it as part of Tor.com's Steampunk Month. Michael and I worked on this story for so long that-- well, suffice it to say, as Michael does, that when we started it, the technology was cutting edge. Is it really steampunk? You decide. The fabulous illustration for the story, by Benjamin Carre, totally captures the cityscape with autogyro and zeppelin."

Zeppelin City (Thanks, Eileen!)

Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan is the first volume in one of the most exciting new young adult series to come along since Uglies (or, for that matter, The Borribles). Leviathan is set in an alternate steampunk past, in which the powers of the world are divided into "Clankers" who favour huge, steam-powered walking war-machines; and "Darwinists," whose hybrid "beasties" can stand in for airships, steam-trains, war-ships, and subs (they even have a giant squid/octopus hybrid called the kraken that can seize whole warships and drag them to their watery graves).

Set on the eve of WWI, the story's two main characters are Aleks, the incognito orphan of the freshly assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand (fleeing his murderous uncle Emperor Franz Josef from Austria to the safe haven of Switzerland in a liberated battle-walker); and Deryn, a Scots girl who has dressed in boys' clothes to muster into Britain's Darwinist air-corps and finds herself a midshipsman on the Leviathan, a floating ecosystem a quarter-mile long, made up of whales, bats, bees, six-legged hydrogen-sniffing dogs, and all manner of beasties that make her the meanest thing in the sky.

Filled with gripping air and land-battles, political intrigue and danger, science and madness, Leviathan is part Island of Dr Moreau, part Patrick O'Brien. And to top it all off, the volume is lavishly illustrated with fabulous ink-drawings of the best scenes from the book, executed in high Victorian style by Keith Thompson. Thompson also produced contrafactual propaganda maps of alternate Europe for end-papers.

Westerfeld writes gripping, relentless coming-of-age novels that are equally enjoyable by boys and girls, adults and kids, and Leviathan is no exception. I'm looking forward to volume two -- and many more to come.

Leviathan is also available as an unabridged 8-hour audiobook on DRM-free CDs for a very reasonable $20. The reading is by Alan Cummings, who absolutely nails it, and the production -- bed music, editing -- is just superb, bringing the whole swashbuckling tale to life.

Leviathan

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage (Thanks, Drew!)

Steam Punk R2D2 (Thanks, Robert!)

Boneshaker is the story of the Wilkes/Blue family, a storied Seattle clan whose three generations unmade and remade the city through a series of scientific and martial adventures that are recounted with great relish and verve. First, there's Leviticus Blue, an arrogant mad scientist who developed a great tunnelling machine (part of a Russian-sponsored competition to improve Alaskan gold-mining) and undermined the city of Seattle, releasing the Blight, a poisonous gas that causes the dead to rise, and to hunger for the flesh of the living. Then, Maynard Wilkes, a prison guard in Seattle, committed an act of great mercy and bravery by releasing the prisoners in his care before they could be blighted, losing his life in the process, and becoming a hero to those left behind the walled-off city of Seattle, and a pariah to the settlers in the Outskirts beyond the wall. Then there's Briar Wilkes, the widow of Leviticus and the daughter of Maynard, who is scraping by in the Outskirts, trying to outrun her reputation but unable to, and unable to escape Seattle because of the great Civil War that is eating America with martial trains and dirigibles and great armies. Finally, there's Ezekiel Wilkes, the son of Briar and Leviticus, who has snuck back into the walled city, wearing an antiquated Blight-mask, to discover the truth about his father.

And that's where the action kicks off, with son and mother chasing one another through the Blighted city of Seattle, avoiding the zombies, befriending the Chinese laborers who run the great machines that suck clean air from beyond the wall into the sealed tunnels beneath the city, trying to escape the clutches of the evil Dr Minnericht, the self-appointed king of Seattle (who may or may not be Leviticus Blue), befriending rogue zeppelin pilots, armored giants, and steam-powered cyborg barmaids.

It's full of buckle and has swash to spare, and the characters are likable and the prose is fun. This is a hoot from start to finish, pure mad adventure.

Boneshaker

Steampunk MAME!

Calling Cory Doctorow! Calling Cory Doctorow! Mister Doctorow, please proceed to a brass courtesy bathysphere.

19th Century Deep-Sea Diving Suit

Curious Goods Curios (Thanks, Chris!)

"The collective will be transforming London's Horse Hospital into a Victorian music hall between 15th and 17th October. Their music - each song of which tells a different story painting a portrait of a troubled character - is free to download but fans will be able to purchase an extravagant illustrated book as well, of course, as delights from the band's official in-house chocolatier."

We recommend: The Clockwork Quartet (Thanks, Toby!)

Steampunk mask. Leather, cuprum, glass. Стимпанк маска. Кожа, медь, стекло.

Buy Coilhouse #3 right here. We're big fans of Coilhouse Magazine over here at Boing Boing, so it was a special honor and delight when the gothtastically beautiful ladies who run the publication told us they were planning a feature on me/BB. I swear I'm not just vanity-blogging here -- this whole issue is awesome, and the insane illustrations by Stuntkid (aka Norfolk, VA-based artist Jason Levesque), including the unicorny one above, are the coolest ever. I love his work!

The physical thing itself is gorgeous: rich colors, lush print quality, embossed glossy cover, beveled corners. The articles are wonderful stuff, and the same sort of material we'd cover here on any given blog-day: a photo-essay on the "pirate ghetto," Walled City of Kowloon; an avatar fashion spread shot by Gustavo Lopez Mañas (this is the cover shot), Marina Bychkova's creepy ball-jointed porcelain dolls, and an interview with Battlestar Galactica's conceptual captain Ron Moore. There's lots more.

I know the Coilhouse folks have been struggling of late to keep putting out such a high-quality, densely-packed publication in this crappy economy. Y'know how, some magazines, you buy 'em, then toss 'em right when you're done reading them -- but others, you stick on your bookshelf and keep 'em forever? Coilhouse is a keeper. They're doing amazing work in the true Boing Boing spirit of Happy Mutantry, and I hope you'll support them by buying a copy (or a t-shirt!) today.

* Link to Coilhouse issue #03 preview
* Flickr set with details of Stuntkid's illustrations.

(Special thanks to photographer Clayton Cubitt, whose work appears in the aforementioned feature; to Courtney Riot, who did the graphic design on this issue, and to Nadya Lev, Meredith Yayanos, and Zoetica, the co-editrix trifecta behind Coilhouse.)

To create this hybrid corset, I first chose a fabric consisting of same type of rugged cotton canvas found throughout the Carhartt line. Durable, practical, and breathable, the material allows me to get down and dirty with my hammer and drill without fear of damaging my corset.

Next it was important the corset be functional and versatile. I attached holsters for a hammer, drill, tape measure and pliers, as well as pockets to use for assorted needs while working.

All the tool holsters and pockets are attached to the corset with heavy-duty snaps allowing me to change the configuration according to my needs on the job site.

(Image: Nifer in her Carhart corset at Burning Man 2009)

Wondermark » Archive » #550; In which Salvation is summoned (Thanks, Dave!

Steampunk Challenge (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Issue #6 is here (at last!) (Thanks, Allegra!)

Here's the book-trailer for Leviathan, the first volume of YA superstar Scott Westerfeld's kick-ass new steampunk alternate WWI series, featuring chimera-splicing Darwinist Brits fighting the clanking steam-mecha of the German side. Total gilliamfab!

Leviathan Trailer (Thanks, Scott!)

The book is fantastic -- I read an early galley some months ago, and my full review is going up on Oct 6 when the book comes out -- but even better is the unabridged audiobook, read aloud by Alan Cumming. Simon and Shuster audio have just released the first chapter as a free stream, and I'm enjoying it immensely.

Chapter 1 of Leviathan, Read Aloud!

Steampunk Skipper (Thanks, Andrew!)

Barometer Weather Station Sputnik (via Red Ferret)

Chet Phillips Illustration Steampunk Monkey Nation (Thanks, Chet!)

Steampunks At Comic-Con International, 2009 (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

The project -- a trip through a fantastical dystopian Magic Kingdom -- is being headed by former Deus Ex designer Warren Spector, whose studio was acquired by Disney in 2007 (and who explained why this was such a perfect match in an interview with me at the time). The game was first confirmed to exist last December, when similar images were discovered by artist Gary Glover, including the 'beach attack' above, with its unbelievable Seven Dwarves tea-cup diggers.

Behind the fold, then, more images from both Gambino and Glover, covering rotted Epcots, foreboding Cinderella castles, terrifying scorpion-like mecha-Country Bears, and more -- all of which come with the obvious caveat that they may or may not reflect anything of the current state of the project.

Discuss this on Offworld

Mask - order number N. Маска заказ номер Н

The Panopticon is the oldest music hall in the world (to the knowledge of the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall Trust). It was home to the early careers of many music hall legends such as Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy fame. The hall fell into disuse and disrepair after it closed in 1938 with the rise of the film industry and has since been reopened. A trust (aforementioned) has been established to renovate it and repair the insides The hall still needs donations to help foot the bill for renovations and as such the trust has opened it up for shows. It has been doing shows for some time now and is now reasonably successful.

One of the upcoming shows [ed: on Aug 8] is a presentation/fare being arranged largely by the members of the Glasgow University Steampunk Society (G.U.E.S.S), who have managed to arrange food, stalls, acts (music, magic and maybe even juggling), a lecture on stage magic, the potential for the uses of a vintage magic lantern. The stalls will present steapunk mods, items of a steamy nature, jewellery, clothing and other things and trinkets. There will be a chance for visitors to join the Steampunk society/ their mailing list and amusement will be provided by the acts and the friendly and amiable members of G.U.E.S.S. The Britannia Panopticon is a piece of history. Please help us help it and create Victoriany goodness in Glasgow.

Steampunk Leather Doll "Makar Pathfinder". Кожанная кукла "Макар Следопыт"

Travelling from past to future through a landscape of machines and ideas Walk the Plank and Thingumajig Theatre have created an interactive journey through the courtyard of Manchester's Town Hall. The audience will help inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage find the clues to repair his Difference Engine; solve the spider's riddles, hidden in the worldwide web; persuade the counting madman to open the gates to the Hall of Shadows...and discover the secret workings of the steampunk arcade.

Alongside the show, a programme of engagement with six local schools is being led by The Centre for Urban Education. As part of the Creative Partnerships 'Enquiry' programme, children, young people and their teachers are working with creative practitioners to explore their ideas. They will develop a new creative learning resource based on the themes of the performance and linked to the science, technology, history, engineering and maths curricula.

Water Brain Complete Edition（16：9） from Johann.Poo on Vimeo.

Jason sez, "I did a short post today on a "Chinese steampunk animation" I found the other day. It's a 15-minute 3d animation with some great visual combos of traditional Chinese symbols/icons/patterns with the steampunk aesthetic."

Chinese steampunk animation (Thanks, Jason!)

Steampunk Transhuman Artifacts (Thanks, Marque!)

Dylan Thuras is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Dylan is a travel blogger and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Joshua Foer.

"While Parisians bought their tickets to watch the giant orb take shape, the project also captured imaginations abroad. The merits of metal balloons were debated at length by armchair aeronauts in Britain, including one who wrote to Mechanics Magazine to suggest an "iron balloon" 400 foot (120 metres) wide as "not contrary to the spirit of the times" - though, he allowed, it might "gambol about the Earth's surface with great danger to life and limb of the human race, as well as terror to animal creation generally".

The height of success for the floating, metal crafts was the ZMC-2, or "Tin Bubble", which "could reach a speed of 100 kilometres an hour, and it put in 2200 flight hours before it was decommissioned in 1941." Metal balloons made a short comeback in 1977 at "The Great Lead Balloon Contest." From one of the contest entrants

"The third balloon, the Lead Zeppelin took the prize. It too broke its tether and was last seen heading toward Logan airport - After some laughter on the part of the tower personnel, they began tracking our IFO (Identified Flying Object) and it was last spotted by a commercial aircraft out over the Atlantic Ocean headed toward Europe!"

We may in fact see metal Zeppelins again, as plans for futuristic blimp the "Turtle" are for a 200mph, solar powered, gigantic metal ballon.

Link to the wonderful Paul Collins article (his histories are practically reason enough to subscribe to the magazine), a post at the ADL Chronicles the 1977 "The Great Lead Balloon Contest" and a link to a youtube of the Mythbusters who, in 2008, created and floated their very own lead ballon, and to the "Turtle" a planned eco-friendly metal blimp.

Apart from the unlinkable Flash-blob "website," nothing!

Stephane Halleux - Sculpteur (Thanks, Robbo!)

(Image: Muriel Thies)

Leather Steampunk mask and glasses. Кожаная стимпанк маска - очки.

Your favourite gang from Radioland present three thrilling tales of imperial endeavour on frontiers near, far and final!

'Leinigen and the Monkey Men of Vijayanagar' An urgent telegram leads our hero to the jungles of British India and the lost city of Vijayanagar, which has been overrun by monkeys. Local legend has it that deep in the city's ruins, something sinister lurks...

'Survival of the Fittest' The leading financiers and businessmen of 1912 gather for a weekend of hunting at the Dartmoor estate of Colonel Charlie De Wynn. But it soon becomes apparent that their prey will not be pheasants or foxes...

'The Madman in the Moon' In the futuristic world of 1996, the good ship Jeremy Bentham is bravely pushing forward Britain's understanding of space science! But does the presence of a madman on Moon Station 1 mean the whole earth is in jeopardy?

Sponsored by Rathbone's Pick-Me-Up Tablets - remedies for the tired, the anxious and the busy!

Teasmade (via Making Light)

If the Engine is being demonstrated on a daily basis, lt should be oiled and greased at least once a week. If no demonstrations are taking place, then the Engine should be oiled and greased on a monthly basis, but the handle should be turned at least twice a week to cycle the mechanisms.

Grease : "Alvania" grease or it's equivalent should be used.

Grease

1. all vertical motion cam profiles only and their levers.
2. all bevel gears above and below the cam stack.
3. all bevel gears on the carry axes and those on the carry drive shaft.
4. the phasing gear, register pinion, "Impact tooth and the tw-in tooth drive.
5. the pawl wheel and crank pinion.

(Image: The Difference Engine, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Adactio's Flickr stream)

Nantes, the home town of Jules Verne, is situated in western France. Here, near the river Loire a giant deep-sea diver sleeps gently, waiting for his task to begin. Sadness marks his face even as he sleeps. He has been searching the world over for his missing niece and although he may not know it, the end of his search is coming. The diver or scaphandrier as he is known in French will be paraded through the streets of this historic city at the beginning of the Estuary 2009 arts festival. The biannual festival gives the French mechanical marionette street theater company Royale de Luxe the opportunity to unveil their latest creation.

(Image: (c) Stéphane Lerouge - Nantes)

I just stumbled upon a review--in English!--of the magnificent catalog Figures du Corps: Une Leçon d'Anatomie à l'École des Beaux-Arts, from an exhibition of the same name previously covered on this blog. The review parses the catalog nicely...

Shirt 1

Shirt 2

(Download / Watch on YouTube) Today's Boing Boing Video episode is a special pre-Maker Faire warmup extravaganza: the oil-punk creations and sexy burlesque gyrations of the Boiler Bar. Creator and host Jon Sarriugarte (who I first met through SRL) explains:

Oilpunk: is Punk, Hot Rod, Geek, Blue Collar, and Maker Culture mixed together with the Petroleum Golden Age of the last century. It's the intersection of petroleum products, art, and science. It harkens back to a time when hard work, combustion engines and industry shaped us, yet it speaks to the future. It's taking the castoffs of modern industrial culture and objects from the last decade to reuse today. Dirty, greasy, sweaty, it's a work hard, play hard style.

The Boiler Bar is what blue collar out of work down on their luck Bay Area artist decided to do with their spare time and last dollar. Come by and share our delight of the sparkle in the dust of this golden age of petroleum. Drink our hooch and watch the girls sing and dance their way to you heart, then be dazzled by the labor of men spent in seconds in glorious aerial and earthly displays of plenty. And as always ravers and DJ's are welcome to talk.

Also in this episode: The snail car! a real-live blacksmith! Who also happens to be a chick! And the Neverwas Runabout, cousin to the giant Neverwas Haul! All of this and more awaits this weekend at Maker Faire Bay Area 2009. Image below courtesy dharmabum90: the Neverwas Haul, being towed by a 90-year-old steam-powered tractor.

Where to Find Boing Boing Video: RSS feed for new episodes here, YouTube channel here, subscribe on iTunes here. Get Twitter updates every time there's a new ep by following @boingboingvideo, and here are blog post archives for Boing Boing Video.

(Thanks to Boing Boing's video hosting partner Episodic, and to Shannon O'Hare of the Neverwas and Jon Sarriugarte of Boiler Bar. And big thanks to BBV guest host Aaron Muszalski and our field producer and shooter Eddie Codel.)

It's a promo for the forthcoming game Damnation, and you can win it! Be sure to check out the "making of" video for lots of sweet little notes, like the spring-loaded tug-knob that works like a pinball launcher, which turns on the machine and spins up a flywheel, making the whole thing feel mechanical rather than electric.

Damnation Hildebrandt!

Making Of video

Nathan's New Amp (Thanks, Jake!)

The Atomic Disruptor Raygun is straight out of steampunk fiction. The cool DIY raygun has been put together by Cohophoto entirely from old radio and camera parts. If you are looking for a slice of futuristic fantasy, Cocophoto has illustrated the project on his Flickr photoset. Though short on words, the pictures show the construction details of the gun.

Atomic Disruptor on Flickr

(via Make)

Pedro sez, "The WotWots is a pre-schooler's TV show with an elaborate steampunk aesthetic. The two main characters travel in beautifully rendered spaceship that is steampunk inside and out - apart from the pink and blue shagpile mattress on their oval brass bed. The show is made in New Zealand at the Weta Workshop - responsible for the special effects in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. According to their website, Richard Taylor, the creative lead at Weta, has received five Oscars, four Baftas and numerous other awards."

The Wotwots (Thanks, Pedro!)

The entire collection of the Shambles, a museum of Victorian life recreated as a small town on an acre of land, has been split into 2,300 lots and is up for grabs. Collectors, other museums looking to add to their collections and lovers of curiosities are expected to descend on Newent, Gloucestershire, to bid for everything from boxes of Victorian soap to scary veterinary implements.

The Shambles was opened 20 years ago by Jim Chapman and his wife, Holly, both keen collectors of Victorian memorabilia. They laid out the museum as a town, complete with pub, police station, shops and workshops, and have been attracting 40,000 visitors a year.

Auction of the Shambles Village Museum

(Thanks, Taikonaut!)

White Mischief is a steampunk / neo-Victorian themed clubnight in London that, several times a year, takes over 1900s former cinema Scala. The upcoming show is on Saturday May 23, 9pm-4am.

Using art directors who have worked with theatre producers like Punchdrunk the various rooms are set-dressed; the theme for this coming show is "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" so there will be an underground sea, a cavern featuring giant mushrooms, and a performance from electroluminescent creatures (by way of UV-lit aerialists).

Live music includes UK steampunk scenesters The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing; The Correspondents, who blend vintage jazz and swing with hip hop; and White Mischief's hosts Tough Love.

In between the bands are all manner of vaudeville acts including Edwin Flay (a Burning Man veteran who will be performing an aerial escapeology routine and a bullet catch, all in Victorian garb); The Fitzrovia Radio Hour, who broadcast a radio show live from the past; and a juggler who uses real chainsaws.

But partygoers are just as likely to encounter shows and costumed characters in the stairwells or lobby, thanks to sideshows such as Archibald Floss (a Victorian freakshow), roving accordion-led band the Bohemianauts, or Amundsen and Slade's Sonic Sideshow. The Sonic Sideshow revolves around Jules Verne-esque leather suits which can either be worn by the audience members or by the hosts. The suits can sample sound live from the audience or from a laptop sound bank. By touching one another, the suit-wearers can interact to create new sound pieces, even transferring loops and samples from one suit to the other.

Some of the UK steampunk scene's biggest aficionados have already bought their tickets so expect to see lots of brass goggles, fancy rayguns and explorer outfits. Dressing up is never compulsory but at previous shows there have been some wonderful steampunk costumes.

1913 Scripps-Booth Bi-Autogo (Thanks, Dave!)

Tickets and more info: Boiler Bar May Day Event. Here's the Facebook event link, and the Facebook fan club for the snail car and her adventures.

The Penny Farthing Bike Gang (Thanks, Alex!)