July 2010 Articles (78)

The Nazi rocket plane designed to bomb New York from space

The Nazi rocket plane designed to bomb New York from space

By Peter Orosz

V-2's falling on London were just the beginning. Had the Nazis had their way, Mach 22 bombers would have devastated America from space. The scary thing? The concept was not entirely insane. This is… Continue

Added by Tome Wilson on July 31, 2010 at 12:00pm — 3 Comments

Erich Mendelsohn's Einstein Tower

Inspired by Lord K's post on the Oregon capital building I thought I would post about my single favorite piece of architecture Einstein Tower, and it's architect Erich Mendelsohn.

Einstein Tower was designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953), and constructed between 1919-1921 in Potsdam Germany. What's makes this building especially interesting is that sketches of it's initial design date as far back as 1912.

Jonathan Meade in his documentary… Continue

Added by Scott on July 31, 2010 at 9:15am — 2 Comments

Dieselpunk Capitol

A shot from some dystopian movie? Photo collage? Just a fantasy? No, no, and no. It's real.

Those who write biased reviews of the "totalitarian architecture" usually ignore this structure. Probably because it stands too far from their eyes. But where? And who's on the top - Ataturk, Chairman Mao or some Latin American hero?

Well, too much questions. If there's anybody from Oregon or at least someone who has been to Salem, the state…

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Added by lord_k on July 31, 2010 at 7:00am — 6 Comments

Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties (1917 - 1919)

Mack Sennett bathing beauties were pin-up girls for the doughboys of the First World War. Gloria Swanson, Marie Prevost, Phyllis Haver and Mary Thurman were Sennett bathing girls at this time.

Roscoe Arbuckle, now more familiarly known as “Fatty” Arbuckle, left Sennett to make his own comedies at Paramount. With Arbuckle in this setup were two clever acrobatic comedians, Buster Keaton and Al St. John. Before the year was out, Sennett… Continue

Added by Tome Wilson on July 30, 2010 at 12:00pm — 4 Comments

Lord K's Garage - #48. British Streamline Buses

This 1947 advertisement for the Duple coachwork embodies the spirit of the British bus design:

In good old England there was a homegrown streamline style - the Airline (see SS Airline Saloon). Besides, the coachbuilders were influenced by the American buses, notably… Continue

Added by lord_k on July 30, 2010 at 11:30am — 2 Comments

"La Alianza" - Short Film ( Coming Soon )

Greetings to all lovers of Dieselpunk. My name is

Carpincho and I'm from Argentina, I devote myself to the realization

Short film. On this occasion I would like to show a

project in which I worked and that really has

Dieselpunk influences, more than anything in the aesthetic

(Costumes, sets, etc ...).

Apart from being situated in a world Dieselpunk the

short film genre is also so super-heroic

I hope that all this proves an interesting… Continue

Added by Carpincho on July 29, 2010 at 9:30pm — 1 Comment

Knights of the Air - French squadron and their Maurice Farman biplanes (1912)

French infantrymen and mechanics stand by a line of Maurice Farman biplanes during maneuvers in 1912.

The planes made up Escadrille…

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Added by Tome Wilson on July 29, 2010 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment

The Life and Death of Marie Prevost

Poor Marie Prevost.

Reduced to a misspelled title of a late '70s pop song.

Remembered primarily for her gruesome death, most histories of silent film ignore her. But for a time in the 1920s, Prevost was a big box-office draw, a good comedienne whose looks epitomized jazz-age babies and eventually led to her demise.

One of the many…

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Added by Tome Wilson on July 29, 2010 at 12:00pm — 5 Comments

Delahaye 175 S Saoutchik Roadster

There are 11 additional pictures on the Spiegel Online site. The copy is in German but the car speaks for itself. http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-56939.html

Added by Scott on July 29, 2010 at 10:00am — 3 Comments

The Future Is Coming! Be a Part of It!

Ladies and Gents, there's still time to get your riffs jumpin' for the second Athena Exhibition. Show us what the FUTURE holds with a Dieselpunk swing to it. Get the scoop here. Don't wait 'til tomorrow to show us *your* tomorrow!

How it works:

Between now and 31 July, use your best means of expression to exhibit your Dieselpunk concept of this month's theme. Entries can be…

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Added by Athenaprime on July 28, 2010 at 11:51pm — No Comments

Beauty and the flapper - An excerpt from The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I'm currently reading F. Scott Fitgerald's 1920s treatise on society life and alcoholism entitled The Beautiful and Damned for an upcoming series on Café Society, and I ran across this wonderful introduction. It's a discussion between "The Voice" and the spirit of Beauty, who is about to be sent to Earth in the form of a flapper.

Enjoy!…

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Added by Tome Wilson on July 28, 2010 at 6:00pm — 4 Comments

KZ Musik: Encyclopedia of Music Composed in Concentration Camps 1933-1945

Podcast: KZ Musik

(30 mins)

An introduction to KZ Musik: Encyclopedia of Music Composed in Concentration Camps 1933-1945. When completed, this 24 CD project will be the most comprehensive collection ever made of music composed in World War II concentration camps. Music by Gideon Klein, Robert Dauber, Rudolf Karel, Erwin…

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Added by rpm orchestra on July 28, 2010 at 3:26pm — 2 Comments

Colossus from Finland

On the modern battlefield sniper rifles, once the domain of 7.62mm NATO, have become larger and larger caliber affairs. From the .300 WinMag of the 90s to the .338 Lapua today, sniper rifles strike at distances rarely reached in combat, except on a few extraordinary occasions.

However, the larger caliber rifles chambered in .50 caliber, like the versions of the Barrett M82, have much in common with a class of rifle that saw its brief heyday… Continue

Added by Jake Holman Jr. on July 28, 2010 at 2:00pm — 2 Comments

Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Exhumed Client

Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Exhumed Client

Originally broadcast on May 30, 1955

The adventures of master detective Sherlock Holmes as he and his assistant, Dr. Watson, (and somewhat reluctantly, the bumbling Inspector Lestrade) battle criminals in London.

In this episode: Sir Charles Farnsworth is found dead in his mysterious Farnsworth Castle. It turns out that Farnsworth had a clause… Continue

Added by Tome Wilson on July 28, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments

As We May Think - The plan for the post-WWII internet (1945)

As We May Think

By: Vannevar Bush

Reproduced from the Atlantic Monthly (July 1945)

(Introduction)

As Director of the Office of Scientific…

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Added by Tome Wilson on July 27, 2010 at 10:51pm — 1 Comment

Two Fisted Tuesdays with Philip Marlowe - Unfair Lady

Welcome to Two Fisted Tuesdays, Dieselpunks' weekly beat on the mean streets.

Starring Gerald Mohr and starting with the famous lines, "Get this and get it straight! Crime is a sucker's road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison or the grave." The Adventures of Philip Marlowe runs about 25 minutes without commercials. You can listen to this blast from the past in MP3 format for free at the link below.…

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Added by Tome Wilson on July 27, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments

The Sad Case of Charles Hamilton

Here's a story of another U.S. aviation pioneer - rather unlucky one. But he was probably the first man on Earth who used a dirigible to advertise beer.

I took a liberty to reproduce here an article from the aviationearth.com website. It's full of important detail and has an emotional touch that is perfectly in… Continue

Added by lord_k on July 26, 2010 at 5:55am — 3 Comments

Miskatonic Mondays - Steampunk cthulhu

Lights out, everybody.

On Miskatonic Mondays, we celebrate the "weird" fiction of HP Lovecraft and the genre of otherworldly horror that it spawned.

This week, we're highlighting the intersection of Lovecraft's weird fiction with the world of steampunk crafting. Some of you have asked "what's with the octopus?" with regards to steampunk jewelry. Well, either the world of Etsy is a secret cult, worshiping the elder gods and spawn of Cthulhu, or they really like… Continue

Added by Tome Wilson on July 26, 2010 at 12:00am — No Comments

The styles are a lie

"The styles are a lie"

Le Corbusier

Vers une architecture, 1923

Added by Tome Wilson on July 25, 2010 at 7:42pm — 1 Comment

The Himmelstürmer Flightpack - Real life Nazi Rocketeers (1944-1945)

The Himmelstürmer Flightpack - Real life Nazi Rocketeers (1944-1945)

By Rob Arndt

The “Himmelstürmer” (Sky Stormer - but literally Heaven Stormer) flight pack was an experimental project that would allow German combat engineers and infantry to cross…

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Added by Tome Wilson on July 25, 2010 at 7:00pm — 3 Comments