America’s entire science-fiction history in full of stories warning of a dystopian future where books are outlawed, art is destroyed, and the punishment for reading poetry is death.  Who ever though that having “electronics books” was a good idea?  Not me, and here’s the proof:

Talk about irony. In an Orwellian moment, owners of Amazon’s Kindle discovered that their recently purchased copies of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm had been deleted by Amazon. Apparently, a third-party retailer who specializes in selling public-domain books used Amazon’s self-service platform to sell copies of two Orwell titles. Unfortunately, those books aren’t public domain in the U.S.A. Read more »

I was right!  As warned in my previous post, the Russian’s are proudly gearing up their Soviet attitudes, as evidenced  in this year’s Victory Day parade.  This Soviet veteran (along with his fellow comrades) was not only photographed at the celebration in Red Square, but he’s toasting with Vodka to honor the modern Russian military.

You see that patch on his arm?  That’s CCCP (Союз Советских Социалистических Республик) along with the Soviet Union Navy ensign flag.  Now why would he be toasting the (non-Soviet) Russian military?  Hmmm…?  Maybe his new comrades are “like minded”.

Seen in the parade photos are MiG-29 and Su-27 Fighters, Ilyushin Il-78 Tankers, Tu-95 and Tu-160 Bombers, Topol-M Missile Launchers, Msta-S Howitzers, T-90 Tanks, BTR-90 Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Ka-50 Attack Helicopters, Sprut-SD Tank Destroyers, and of course Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Tons of great pictures from this years Victory Day parade.

A more in-depth look at the upcoming must see movie.

If 9 is unfamiliar to you, check my original post.

Welcome back [Soviet] Russia!  We missed you…

May 9th, 1945 (Victory Day) – the day that Nazi Germany capitulated to the USSR.  It became an official Soviet holiday in 1965, and continues to be celebrated even after the fall of the USSR.  Traditionally, ceremonial military parades are held on the day, such as the one in Moscow on the Red Square.  However, on May 9th, 2008, the Russian Federation returned to the Soviet Union tradition of showing off its mobile nuclear weapons during the Victory Day parade, declaring their return to super-power status (Также неизбежное поражение тех американских капиталистических свиней).  This is the RT-2UTTKh Topol-M Mobile ICBM, NATO Designation SS-27 Stalin.

This is a brand new “modernized” version of the weapon system, with a whole new kind of ICBM.  Want to know why you should be concerned? Read more »

In a time…  of post-apocalyptic destruction.  Mechanical ragdolls have risen from the ashes of the old world to replace mankind.  But in the darkness lies an evil robot monster that feeds on the souls of slain ragdolls.  Only ragdoll #9 is left to fight alone in a desperate attempt to save their dystopia, and free the undead.

This is now a big budget film with Tim Burton’s name stamped on it.  It was based on a short film of the same name.  The little mechanical ragdolls are cool.  The big movie website, and the original short-film on YouTube.  The plot (Wiki) is compelling, and the movie trailer makes it look very interesting.  I’m certainly going to see this on the big screen.  Oh, and watch the above trailer all the way through, because there’s two of them one after another.

The robot is interesting, and I like the train.  The double boiler implies a double fire-box, and the catwalk on the side is a nice touch.  But a steam locomotive requires fuel and water, always pulled right behind the engine; I don’t see that here.  Well, I don’t like it.  While nobody is going to question the giant robot, I think most SteamPunk fans have a good idea how a steam train works.  Attention to detail is important to me.  This is a fail, an example of what not to do.  More SteamPunk art.

The GOGBOT Festival in Enschede, NL – now with Nuclear Weapons!  I was searching for more SteamPunk related stuff to report on and I came across the GOGBOT Festival hosted by PlanetArt.  According to the description, it’s supposed to be some kind of SteamPunk related exhibition – well, it was in 2008.  I think they’re doing AtomPunk (Dutch version of AtomicPunk) in 2009, but they’re foreigners (Dutch) who think differently than us.  In any case, they are now clearly communist scumbags who are armed with a “Fat Man” type atomic weapon with a blast yield of 21-kilotons.

PLANETART presents the 5th edition of the GOGBOT festival in Enschede 18-21 September 2008.  More than 150 artists, performers, musicians and other creative spirits will show their talents at 10 locations of the free entrance expo’s. GOGBOT will show robotics, electronic music and audio art, virtual worlds, freakshows, inter-active installations, live-cinema, streetart, gaming, performances, keynote speakers, lectures, steampunk videoclips, DJ’s, VJ’s, parties, lots of steam, and  more….

It sounds like fun.  However, digging deeper, I looked into PlanetArt’s Photostream hosted on Flickr and found out what it’s really about.  I found bunny rabbit zombies, dead animals, a tree growing out a persons butt, rape immortalized in bronze, Iraqi political statements, Hitler, Jihad memorabilia, and I kid you not – a naked guy with a blow-up sheep doll on his woo-hoo.  Looks like PlanetArt and/or the Dutch are a bunch of really sick people.  I personally recommend against going to the GOGBOT Festival; but if you go, let me know…

H.G. – You’re about to have your ass handed to you…

It’s an R-rated, retro-history, [1914 steampunk epic], fourteen years after the first failed Martian invasion. Mankind has rebuilt her cities and [the military is] adapting a lot of the abandoned Martian technology… Think of “Band of Brothers” meets “Star Wars”… It will be cool, steam-powered battle tripods, doomed Cossack cavalry charges, Victorian deco, steampunk Manhattan, 1,500-foot-long armored battle zeppelins, Teddy Roosevelt, souped up tri-planes, blood on steaming metal, sex in the cockpit. The usual… It will have a budget of around $3 million, and be produced by Tripod Entertainment… and is being co-produced by Kevin Eastman (owner of Heavy Metal).

I really hope they get this one right.  The 1st Heavy Metal was cool, but old.  The 2nd was more modernized, but did little to hold my interest.  However THIS should be a big win; I just don’t see how it ties into the other two – maybe there’s a hottie in there somewhere with a steamwork sword…  Check it out: “War of the Worlds: Goliath”