(no subject)

[fajrdrako]

I thought this was cool: the steampunk laptop. I always wonder why laptops and computers look so alike - especially given the variety of designs they have played with for iPods and telephones. How conservative do they think people are?

maaboroshi once got an old laptop, painted it pink, and glues rhinestones to it. I loved it.

My ideal laptop? It would look medieval, somehow. Romanesquepunk. The computer Peter Abelard woudl have owned, had he owned a laptop.

Alternatively, it would be fun to have a laptop that looked as if it belonged to Professor X (with just that dollop of Shi'ar influence), or Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. Or one that might belong to Torchwood. Or one that looks as if it came off the TARDIS.

Comments

[brashley46.livejournal.com]

That looks marvelous! Especially to an oldster who did all his University papers on an old-even-in-1964 Smith-Corona portable.

I can't see the top folding down, though.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Maybe it all flattens?

I learned to type on a machine that looked almost like that. Can't say I miss it! But I do love that steampunk look.

[hamadryad11.livejournal.com]

That steampunk laptop is the absolute coolest casemod I've ever seen! I love that!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I hope someone starts marketing them!

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I love that!

Abelard would have called his son after it.
It was bad enough calling the poor lad Astralabe...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I've always loved Abelard for that. Just as I love Dore de' Cancellieri for naming his son "Pendragone".

I have a special fondness for astrolabes, since the one lost by Samuel de Champlain was found at some point during my childhood and I though it was the coolest contraption. It now resides in our Museum of Civilisation and I occasionally go there and make a point of going to look at it.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I don't know... I tend to despise people who saddle their children with stupid names just to 'be different'. It's like calling your child 'Pentium Processor' or (I think it was one of Frank Zappa's kids) 'Moon Unit', or (one of the Geldof daughters) 'Fifi Trixibelle'. The parent showing off, and the kid is saddled with something so unusual it makes them a target for bullies.

I had enough trouble at school with misspellings & c, because I was named after a Dutch work-colleague of my mother's.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I like unusual names... at least in principle. Don't worry, I probably wouldn't give a kid a strange name, but it's like getting tired of all the Hughs in the Lusignan clan - I don't think we have enough names in current use and would like to see more that aren't just fashionable. I don't mind being Elizabeth because it's a great name, but there are rather a lot of them around.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem with normal-names-that-just-happen-to-be-unfashionable, & c. It's the conspicuously invented ones: after inanimate objects, & c, or straining to be 'exotic' by making something up, or borrowing from an sf/fantasy novel. You don't call a dog something you'd feel embarrassed to shout out in the park (official Kennel Club names are on a different planet entirely - they must be invented by people on drugs!); the same should go for children.

One finds it in fiction, too. It's one of the first things, after the cover art, that hits you in the face with the bodice-ripper end of the historical fiction market. A name appropriate as the stage-name of a Las Vegas stripper, or names taken from wild animals, are not suitable for a mediæval or 17C-18C heroine.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

But there's a romance or a resonance to names that strikes a reaction and that's what these writers and pop stars are trying to tap into. Now, "Moon Unit" is a rather ugly name in my opinion, but I respect anyone's desire to be different - which is why people often choose exotic names for their stage names - porn stars are relatively conservative (within their field!) but the intent is the same - to be noticed. I think it's a shame that we, as a rule, have to have 'first name-family name' combinations. I tend to like Chinese names for that reason, but I suspect that if I were within the Chinese culture the names which sound interesting and poetic to me would be just as mundane.

Scarlett O'Hara, for example. Orignally Pansy O'Hara. (I don't know what Rhett Butler originally was named!) In the novel I just read the hero renames his out-of-control stallion "Pansy" just so people will react differently to the horse.

I particularly love names of racehorses and roses. Fascinating.

[meret.livejournal.com]

the steampunk laptop

That is so cool! I love that! :)

My ideal laptop? It would look medieval, somehow. Romanesquepunk.

I think I'd want mine to be shiny and art deco. :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Art deco would be great too. Imagine one as if designed by Erte! Or art nouveau - a laptop designed by Mucha. Or a Pre-Raphaelite laptop. The possibilities are endless!