Gawker: trendbusting

Today's Trend: Rats

Sheila — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:04:03 EDT

Rats are infesting today's news cycle. First, Fifth Avenue princess/misfit Emily Brill blogged about seeing her first rat today! Even though she, like, grew up in Manhattan. "I had no idea how big rats were… Do you guys know how many people I know who never ride the subway?" We can imagine. Second, we got a separate tip about a "horrific" incident in which a rat snuck aboard a crowded 6 train:

"this morning, my boyfriend witnessed a horrific, unthinkable site on the subway. a packed 6 train pulled into the station (i'm not sure which one— maybe 86th st), but my boyfriend deemed it too crowded to board. as the doors were closing, a RAT snuck into one of the cars just in the nick of time. with that, the train immediately pulled out of the station. it was too quick for my boyfriend to catch the reaction by the poor souls on that train. he said no one in that car even noticed the rat boarding the train since it happened to fast, but there were people on the platform who had taken notice... and they were freaking the fuck out!"

In other news, Alaska has plans to exterminate its "rat island."

Meanwhile, a mouse bit me in my own bed last year. It's all fun and games up until that point, people.

Um, no

Sheila — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:03:33 EDT

Purity balls! Lotta problems with this one. Fathers-daughter purity ball dances, with young girls dressing up in gowns with their fathers as dates... seems uncomfortable. As for the "pledge" that said fathers publicly make, to "to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity"? Not their decision to make! That's all. [NYT]

Steampunk

Sheila — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:48:37 EDT

Steampunk! According to the NYT's Thursgay Styles, it's a "subculture that is the aesthetic expression of a time-traveling fantasy world, one that embraces music, film, design and now fashion, all inspired by the extravagantly inventive age of dirigibles and steam locomotives." They describe steampunkers as fusspots with a taste for gaslight-era style: "he owns a flat-screen television, but he has modified it with a burlap frame. He uses an iPhone, but it is encased in burnished brass." But steampunk's been around for a while, of course. Despite the length of the piece, glossed over is the fact that this hot new movement started with a book called the Difference Engine—in 1990!

Steampunk isn't completely about clothes and accessories; it's an offshoot of the science fiction genre cyberpunk. Author of cyberpunk novel Neuromancer William Gibson (coiner of the word "cyberspace") collaborated with Bruce Sterling for the classic steampunk alternate history novel The Difference Engine, set in Victorian Britain. Just saying!

Anyway, it must be reaching a critical mass: the recent 24th Chaos Communications Congress, a hacker event, had steampunk as the theme for their ball. And a steampunk store? Open soon in Manhattan. You'll be able to finally buy a brass case for your iPhone.

I just realized: our new offices are totally steampunk—check out the vintage reception desk!

Steampunk Moves Between Two Worlds [NYT]

[Photo: Kit by Nadya Lev Photo]