So the next episode #6 of The Steampunk Beginners Guide is about to launch next week. Really looking forward to the reactions to this one as it is the most elaborate video at this point. My knowledge of editing has increased so much a matter affect it is painful to look at the first episode of the series at this point. Maybe I'll have to make a remastered version of ep. 1 so first time viewers will get a better impressing for the rest of the series. But, you know, time and such.
That is but one reason I am trying to professionalize my channel at this point and monetize it so I can afford to work less and invest more time in video's while making a decent living of it and increase video quality. Also there are a number of projects we want to do that require a budget. So finding ways for funds is getting a must at this point. So I am currently looking for things to offer higher tier Patreons. If you have suggestions, let me know. But a dollar a month will take it a long way.
After far to long, here is the fourth episode of the Steampunk Beginners Guide. Special thanks to Niels Dijkstra for taking the time to film the Dankaert bits.
Took one day to refuel and now I have a mayor headache, so I am keeping it short. But I will do a video on the event, so don't worry you miss anything.
Radio Retrofuture was on T.I.M.E. - The Illuminating Mechanical & Extraordinary 2017 this weekend in Roden. This Steampunk fair was part of another outdoor Fantasy-fair Fantasiafest Leeft! in the Dutch town of Roden on estate Mensinge. Didn't spend to much time on the Fantasy/ peagan part of the event, but they had some great bands and the atmosphere was relaxed despite the weather.
Niels and I had a great time on...T.I.M.E. despite the rain. Still we were lucky,as we missed the storm that raged in the rest of the country. The water did trow a wrench in our plans, but improvisation is kinda what we are known for so that is exactly what we did. All day we played music and films in between the many acts and I got the answer questions about steampunk both to visitors and novice Steampunks, which is exactly what we set out to do.
The Aviator organised a workshop Teadueling en a Teapotrace. The Royal Seahorse Riders have numerous races during the day and we tried our new activity R.A.T.-racing attracted a lot of attention by the audience, so expect more on that in the future. On sunday Bubblica gave a very entertaining and beautiful performance with their huge soap bubbles. But the main acts were preformed by Deuce Events themselves with pyrotechnics and magic-shows. What I realy enjoyed was that the entire program was set in an actual newspaper for the event, which I hope will be done next year
But the rain scared of many of the visitors away that created some dead moments. But as soon the sun return they flocked back onto the field. But in the end visitor-attendance was low. But those present did enjoy themselves, so T.I.M.E. will return in 2018 and some other groups and bands already let me know they intend to be there for the next edition, so I am already looking forward to it.
I think it is great we have another Steampunk event. It was wonderfull to speak with new, great people and there were a lots of new acts to enjoy. Tested our new game we call R.A.T.-Racing, what is basically miniature teapot racing in a box. It was to bad about the weather but everybody was in good spirit regardless.
Thanks to everyone for all the Birthday wishes everyone, including those to those I didn't send a personal thank you, but there are to many of you. :D
With the situation surrounding my dad this birthday feels feels very awkward. But you made feel better about. Especially with gift like those of Tim Fielder (See above) it made it feel like a special day after all.
Oh, all most forgot to mention the new milestone. For the first time one of my video's has reached over a thousand view! That is so awesome. The Steampunk beginners Guide will also be featured on Steamtropolis in in Bochum Germany. Unfortunately I'll be somewhere else that weekend, but I'll be there in spirit!
Recently I also had a go on an article on the Dailydot, with I did a solo review of, and one with Eric Fisk of the Fedora Chronicles with I found very amusing to do. And we intend to do more of a similar nature.
Off course We have new interviews, And currently I am editing my conversation with Jonathan Fesmire, aka The Wild Steampunk about his upcoming book Bodacious Creed! Check out more interviews, like with Jeff Mach, Bep Walters, Baron Celsius von Farhenheit and many more.
First off. My father had his brainoperation and is now recovering. Everything seems to be going oké, but still has some paralysis in his left arm. Still it better than we hoped for considering the bleak picture on the MRI-scans. Thank everyone for you responds on Facebook
As for the channel, I have several video's in the works and am working on some collaborations, but we have some technical issues we need to deal with (thanks Skype for being your horrible self).
Also I want to restructure how I organised my spare time to be more effective in working on my house. editing video's and make time for other projects. Also looking into a more professional website, however I wrote down my ambitions today and had to concluded I don't have the time to work on it all. So If you are somebody who likes my content, want to help promote it and build websites for a hobby. Please leave a message in the comments or contact me on Facebook.
Speaking of promotion. Another goal of mine is reaching 600 subscribers on Youtube before march next year. You can help by sharing our interviews and other video's or just click the link here and directly subscribe to the channel.
Now why would you subscribe. First of, you get to meet Steampunks from all over the world and follow their discussions. Second of we intended to do more collaborations with other Youtubers like Doctor Modius, Doctor Malice and Tales of a Broken Reality, that are more focused on entertainment and also reviews of Let's Play's of video Games and maybe boardgames.
That's that for now. Here is an overview of our latest interviews
What to expect from the Steampunk World's Fair in 2017 and other events organised by Jeff Mach Event's. In this interview Jeff will tell you all bout it, and more. How he became an event organizer. His recent collaboration with Vampire Freaks, and inspiring words of wisdom.
Steampunk turned out to be a very popular theme in the Netherlands during the Carnaval season these last couple of years. So popular they say, newspapers are falling over each other to report on it.
Personally I didn't notice any of this. Not costumes anyway, but the Steampunk theme is very popular for paradefloats.
I wanted to make a video on it last year but didn't get around to it, so here it is. In 2016 steampunk costumes became widly available at partyshops, of the blisterpack variaty.
Some of the feedback was fun to read wich seem to come down to.'We don't think it's to low brow, but we think it is to low brow.' So, I am still not convinced this is a bad thing.
Here is the first International Special of the #Steampunk#webseries Tales of a Broken Reality; Blood in the Circus. Featuring me and the Rag-Tag: Regiment Anachronistische Grenadiers.
In my knowledge it is the first completed Dutch Steampunk Short Film. Rusted Leather, a 48-hour film, is supposed to be reshot but I have no news concerning that.
It's not RAG-TAG's first Movie Project, but it is the first one they directed. If you don't count this Trailer I made for Halloween 2016.
Here is a more professional production RAG-TAG has made with the folks at Fantasy Twilight Productions.
The Trailer of Tales of a Broken Reality will be available by the end of the week. Here is the Poster for this episode by yours truly. The High resolution version will be available through our Patreon!
After months of preparation it finally happened. Two weekends in a row we recorded the footage for Tales of a Broken Reality. The Webserie directed by Bryan Oliver. These scene were recorded by Omar Salem and Natalie Kruijen, who has also the Co-Writer and Director. That leaves me as Co-Writer, Actor, Extra and Producer(?). Mickey Knox also came out from retirement for a moment to help us on set but also made some props for us!
This was the first time me and RAG-TAG have done recordings on this scale. RAG-TAG has been involved in a number of video and photo-productions. But this is the first time we have done the physical recordings from start to finish. (The original story and final edit are with Bryan Oliver). It is very possible we are going to make a second episode for this webseries, however it is our hope RAG-TAG get's the opportunity make some original video's as well to tell the tales of the 113th RAG-TAG and +Radio Retrofuture .
So was it a success? For me, I won't know until the final result, but for a learning experience, yes. First of all. I didn't know I could pull it off. But I did, and learned some things about organizing such things. So it might go more a little more smoothly in the future.
The voluntary nature if the project is the biggest issue. But fortunately there were no last minute cancellations of the people that I expected to be there, what was my biggest worry. The weather was cold, but could be a hell of a lot worse and spirits were high (something I also worried about), despite half the people barely knew each other or haven't worked together before. But we had a blast and hope to do something like this in the future again. It is the best I could hope for. Even if the result isn't what we had hoped, at least we have a group of people we can count on to make the next one a success.
Special thanks to all involved
Natalie Kruijen (Director, Camera, Co-writer, Makeup)
Omar Salem (Camera)
Manuel Schiesser (Ludwig)
Bart Houtman (Defector)
Lindy van den Bosch (Em, Makeup)
William Rutgrink (Set, Royal Guard)
Mickey Knox (Props, Sound)
Patricia Copier (Royal Guard, Catering)
Jette Dolman (Number of (dead) Carnies)
Hannelore Kuperus (Carnie)
Klaas van der Vijgh (Props, Carnie)
Niels Dijkstra (Props, Royal Guard)
Anna Moss (Photography)
and me I suppose (Producer, Co-Writer, Props)
Special thanks to Jasper Willemeen
Bryan Oliver for giving us this oppurtunity
De Ruine van Teylingen for the use of their location
Theresia Waalderbos and the people at Leef! for the props and costumes.
And all other people that supported us in one way or another. Keep being awesome!
Our first day of recording is behind us. Six hours of preparing and filming and all that hard work was nearly ruined. But fortunately it was a success... If I only knew how to act.
Natalie Kruijen, Niels Dijkstra, Alex van Hoogstraten,
Omar Salem, and Manuel Schiesser
Was a touch day. First rearranging all the furniture in my livingroom, setup up lights and reflectors, grime, costuming, and than you start filming. Kind of discouraging when you realize how hard it is just to remember a few lines of dialogue, but he pulled through. And all that work was nearly ruined. Why? Audio recording on the camera failed. Don't know why. Just did. So, check you recordings after each take kids. Could save you a lot of frustration.
But fortunately, it was not an issue. I used my trusty NT-1 Studio Mic for external recording because I knew the Shotgun Mic would not sound great. Use a lavelier mic, plugged in a mobile phone or laptop, or use you USB Mic just to be sure when recording. It saved us a lot of hassle, and probably prevented us ragequieting. It was annoying that we had to control the NT-1 mic from my PC in a other room, and there are some interesting words on the recording for our cameraman, Omar, who is in the process of learning Dutch but in the end it saved the entire days work and superior sound to boot.
Apart from that it was a great learning experience. Natalie Kruijen had her directing debut, I guess I served as producer(?) and did some of the sound editing so Bryan Oliver, who created the Tales of a Broken reality project can start preparing the episode itself.
Next week the second, and final, day of filming. Hope everything will go as planned and the weather cooperates.
Even though I am looking for work, I still don't have enough time to get everything done. Working on props for our episode on Tales of a broken reality, make props, finding new guests, and oh yeah. Working on my submission for Old World Radio, and get artists involved. So, my video output for Radio Retrofuture is a bit low at the moment. I also have some video material for DIY video's. Haven't got around to those either.
In short, I am busy.Here are some new video's of past week. My Interview with Josh Kinsey, known from the Steampunk'd reality show, who was very open about his experiences on the the show and his views on Steampunk.
And here is my let's play of a videogame, FTL: Faster than Light. Next week a steampunkish variation of this rougelike.
Here is a overview of episodes of the Steampunk Beginnersguide on Youtube. Learn about it's history and what inspired a world wide subcultures that has yet to reach it's heyday.
In the important news, I have relaunched the Blog Tupperware Steampunk as Radio Retrofuture. I am considering to put the transcript on there as well as commentary I don't get to make video's about.
In other news, Thanks to the people of the Leef! Festival in Wageningen(NL) I got a enormous amount of stuff for a good as noting. They need to get rid of their inventory because they need to vacate the warehouse were that they use as a workshop. It is very important to me because it was Emporium Vernesque that they organised that inspired me to start my blog. Emporium Vernesque was the only Steampunk dedicated event in the Netherlands I looked forward to every year, that was organised by Johanna Theresia Waalderbos (I interviewed her years ago in Dutch). It was also the first event were I gave my writing workshop, as well as giving my presentation on the main stage. Now I will have a part of it in my own home. So it feels like going full circle for me.
Also they have a lot of costumes and other props that will aid us during the recording. So I am very grateful!
Tommorow We hope to have a little End of The year On our Youtube Channel, So Subscribe to get notifications on that.
So my Channel is growing somewhat. Not as fast I would like, but I get in the flow of the editing. Trying new things, etc. I Hope to publish a new series in September with is my most abitious yet. But I am making a lot a of friends in the podcast community. I all ready talked about the Fedora chronicles. Now you can add Metapunk, by Marcus G Gilman, and the Absinth Affair, by Atticus Oldman, to that list. He even included me on his website, The Steampunk Almanac.
Here are some of my conversations with them.
Marcus R Gilman on Skeptisism
Atticus Oldman about Scottish influence on Steampunk and Inclusivity
And here is my latest Ramble on Inclusivity and bahavior oline
Been awhile since I updated this blog. Radio Retrofuture that's most of my spare time now. Also I started a Patreon were people can support our Projects. Just a dollar a month can get us a long way. We will have nice rewards in the future, like prints and trickets.
So there is a little kerfuffle about Capt. Rob rants om facebook. Claming that Bands like the UK based BB Blackdog aren't Steampunk bands, but simply jumped the bandweagon. When people disagreed he went on to insult the fanbase of such bands. And know many Steampunk aren't that happy with the dear Captain. But I don't want to dusicuss that incident myself. If you're intrested, read this article on Steampunk Journal .
This is simply my opinion on Steampunk music.
When I met Montagoue Jacques Fromage in 2013, one of the things he told me was: 'There is nothing like Steampunk music. Just music Steampunks like.'
If there is any consistancy in Steampunk, it is how inconsistent it is. 'Steampunk is a feeling,' after all. A phrase I use sarcasticly once, but many of my readers have taken it to heart. 'Steampunk music' is a perfect example of this. Bands tends to bring a Retrofuturistic stories and worlds to life in their own way. They intend to move people, invocing images of adventures in airship or to bring back the authenticity of Victorian nightlife in the decrepd streets of London. They all do this with diffrent types of musical genres and styles.
Of those styles, I could never get into the one of Abney Park. I just complained about consistancy... Well, AP, in my opinion, has none. I can recognise Victor Sierra or Steampunk Giraffe, to name a few. But AP sems to have no signiture sound I can get behind. I tried to get into some of their songs, like Steampunk Revolution, but they all started to grade on me very fast. Especially the lyrics on how 'special' they are and don't conform to modern society. Which is a shame, because it was an interview I read with Captain Rob, in the Steampunk Gazette, that made me want to write about Steampunk in the first place. But I consider Steampunk, and myself, to be a product of the 21st century. Not some freakish anomally, like they seem to proffess.
Still, I liked to way the presented Steampunk outside of their song to a larger audiance. I have seen and read some great interviews they did.
To sum up. I don't agree with the Captain. Steampunk is very individualistic. The Music Scene reflects that. Every band projects their vision of Steampunk unto the audiance and brings these fictional worlds alive in their own way. Some are inspired by Jazz, Techno and simply good ol' Punk. Each sounds accentuates diffrent parts of the Creative-Engine that is Steampunk.
An intresting historical conversation with Simone Monty on the conception of Teapotracing and how it went Viral (part 1).
To be honest. The first time I heard of this, somewere in 2014, I thought is was nothing more than a new ritual to compensate for the lack of direction within the community. I am glad Simone Monty proved me wrong. Still I don't think I will ever get into this. But atleast I know have some good reasons to support it.
