Must Remember To Blog More!

I admit, life got so wonderfully busy over the summer.

July and August were banner months for the shop that I didn't have time for anything. It's slowing now so I will make  steps to blog more.

September has started well for me. Psyclon Nine played at the Phantasy Night Club this past Friday (the 13th). I got a VIP pass.

Let me just say... oh my! They are the nicest bunch of guys ever! Dawn of Ashes too! Spending a bit of time with them was just the highlight of this really great few months for me (and nice break from work too).

Glitch from Psyclon Nine and I in the Lobby. I was trying not to laugh, but he was making faces!  

He and his girlfriend are just the most wonderful people ever... so cute! Both of them!

Despite me being a complete wall flower, they were all so sweet to me. And yes I'm contractually obligated to say they are the nicest people in the world, they actually are!

Jon Siren, me (looking ragged, end of the night), Glitch, and Merritt. Nero was so beat from getting no sleep he crashed and Rotny went missing, no one knew where he was!

The shows (I caught Filament 38's soundcheck not the show, but they're included) were incredible! Everyone's performance was mad, crazy, show stoppers.

 Jon Siren opening Psyclon Nine's set with the beginning of We The Fallen, great start to the show.

 I never seemed to get all of them in one shot

 

But now it's back to real life and back to work making things for people to wear! The shop's focused has shifted a bit more cyberpunk over the summer months, my mohawks have been huge sellers. 

I had some items in photo shoots, a music video (for a non industrial band), and even on the cover of an album (a hard rock band). And the shop celebrated it's first year on September 3rd... so here's to another great year for Cyber Freak!

It's Like Christmas... And Yes, I've Been Quiet...

A whole lot of bands I love are releasing Albums this year. There's a few already out (or the album is coming out and the single are out), and there's still a few on the way, mainly Angelspit are saying their album will be coming out something soon.

Skinny Puppy just released Weapon late last month...

Skinny Puppy: Paragun

Aesthetic Perfection released their video for Antibody

Aesthetic Perfection:Antibody

Front Line Assembly woke me up with an official 'video' (as in they just used the album art, not made a video)

Front Line Assembly: Killing Grounds

Otherwise, in shop news, the change in direction I decided on taking at the start of the year is coming along nicely. More cyberpunk/punk, with a little bit of Visual Kei... yes, I couldn't resist.... but having grown up in the 80's glam and new romantic is engrained in me.

So keep tabs on the shop, there's wonderful things coming involving spikes and studs.

www.etsy.com/shop/CyberFreak

Ambitious Projects

Oh poor bloggy! I've been so mean and not updated you! I'm so sorry, but things have been so crazy, it seems like everyone wants dread falls lately.

Though part of what's been keeping me so busy is a little thing we like to call Future Syntax (or "A Thing" it's mostly referred to) the latest project that a customer charged me with creating.

I'm still working on exactly what it's called, but it is a futuristic/industrial/post apocalyptic/cyberpunk head piece for a costume. Well, it's going to become steampunk in a few hours as it needs painted.
It was pretty time consuming in its own right, but it's almost done!

Bio Hazard Accessories

Guess what? Bio hazard symbol... tote bag... bound to happen with me.

Made a tote bag just for us cyber goths and cyberpunks :)
It's up on the shop now.

Cyberpunk And Cyber Goth Love!

New pendant on the store... for the cybers!

Calling All Geeks!

There's new item on the shop just for the geeks and gamers.... a D20 necklace.... or sun catcher... I noticed the necklace looked really cool as a sun catcher (despite lack of sun, abundance of snow).

What's Next In CyberFreak Land?

No offense to my lovable Neo Victorian goths (I have a fairly strong Neo Victorian side myself) but I can't do another swirly, lacy, Victorian style umbrella!
I am not complaining, I had a very good time making them and will make more as they sell, but too much of a good thing, I don't want to overwhelm the shop with similar pieces.

So what's next for the shop? Well, umbrellas are becoming quite the seller for me, so I will be continuing with more. I'm going to do some more cyber goth themed ones, already have the bio hazard one. we'll do the radioactive symbol, maybe some '+' (pluses! Way back in the 90's I had a pair of sunglasses with flip down plus signs on the lenses. I miss those), maybe even something written in binary. As well as some cross over stuff with skulls and bats, skulls and bats together.. skulls and bats apart....

Also, the idea machine has been working and I'm thinking of expanding to a whole other area. Bags... as in tote bags, the reusable grocery store bags, and I'm thinking about experimenting with bags to carry a tablet in as well as cell phone carriers (maybe even cases).

All these will be slowly introduced over the next few months. Suggestions are always welcome, leave a comment if you have one and I will see what I can do!.

A Look Back At How Cyberpunk Evolved Part 3The Modern Cyberpunk

I'm going to put here that this has all been from my perspective and what I've seen over the years as I've been around for the entire cyberpunk movement (though a little too young in the very beginning to  understand it. By the mid 80's though, I was able to really appreciate it) and it's influence from a fashion standpoint.

At some point cyber goth and cyberpunk started blending together. Cyber goth started it's rise in the late part of the 90's and of all the influences it draws from, I think cyberpunk is the most important.

Cyberpunk really can cross between cyber goth and even a bit industrial as industrial took some significant changes in the late 90's through the first part of the 2000's too.

Since technology has exploded, and things we didn't think we'd see for many, many more years (at least a century on some of it) it really redefines cyberpunk.

When the cyberpunk books were written in the 80's, and the original cyberpunk role playing games in the 90's, we've actually reached part of their future. Some of the fantastic technology is here, some... not so much. But we don't have the world we thought we would have (a lot thought we'd have a one world government, some utopian, some distopian, we might be working towards the distopian). However, I have a tablet computer... and that is SO Star Trek, so...

Our world is smaller, our cultures are more in contact with each other, and a bit more understanding is happening ( a bit too slowly actually. But it does have a bit of a William Gibson feel to it. We are still divided in culture, but closer now than ever before). But what is the modern cyberpunk style?

I'm trying to figure that out. Cyberpunk has had 30 years to collect influence and exert influence.  And you can see that simply by Googleing cyberpunk clothing. I think this picture said a little bit about the confusion.

This corset came up in a search for cyberpunk clothing. It's also tagged emo by the way.

I wouldn't even call that cyber goth. It's goth. It screams goth (and it's beautiful. But really, cyberpunk?). And lolita, but we're not even going to go there.

But it speaks to the sort of searching we're doing for the style of cyberpunk now. Online retailers will purposefully muddle the fashion. Why? Because we can. I personally try to stay away from such things and tag correctly.

Some online sellers have no clue when they use the keyword cyberpunk. Either misinformed or just no real education in the style. Some do it just to get views and hope some uninformed wannabe buys it.

I'm wondering where we are heading though. Are we remaining with the more minimalist style that evolved from the original and the millennium or going back to the more post apocalyptic style from the 90's? Actually, I think it's more going minimalist.





This corset has the feel that I think is far more cyberpunk. It captures the minimalist feel, and the strappy feel... and frankly corsets are fussy, this one isn't fussy.

But there's a lack of cyberpunk style movies lately. It's been a long time since I've seen anything with a cyberpunk feel. So really, what modern cyberpunk is going to look like can change.

As much as we don't want to admit it, movies set the trend for fashion, in even the alternative world.

Right now it's kind of safe to say cyberpunk and cyber goth are both heading the same direction. Cyberpunk keeping a bit of a dark, minimalist feel (slightly goth), cyber goth the same thing. The big difference is cyber goth is more music driven, cyberpunk is more lifestyle driven. Not that cyber goth isn't a life style

A Look Back At How Cyberpunk Evolved Part 3 The Matrix And The Millennium

Y2k had it's impact on the cyberpunk movement too. Only it became a the machines will fail us/enslave us type of mentality.
The Terminator movies probably influenced the Matrix movies more than cyberpunk did. But the style of the Matrix (clothing wise and the anti establishment message) did faithfully represent the origin of cyberpunk from the 80's.

It almost seems in all the OMG! RISE OF THE MACHINES! Y2K! OMG!OMG!OMG! of the millennium the whole cyberpunk message really did get lost. I think the first part of this millennium was really a low spot for cyberpunk and it's now starting to re-emerge.

The funny part of the first part of the millennium is that technology was starting to explode. Computers were really starting to become a true part of our culture and lives. They were more accessible. Pagers had reached it's high point and we're phasing out to the new technology of cell phones (did you know around 1999 and 2000 if you had told us that we'd be able to surf the web, get email, all from our phone and anywhere in the world, we'd have laughed at you and said not for a long, long time), let alone hook our lap tops (yes, we had those) to our phones wirelessly for an internet connection (that is most of the time faster than my DSL at home).
Technology was about to explode. But those first few years mainstream society was rebelling against machines. Machines... were evil.

So things like the Matrix was the only things we had to show cyberpunk. It was rather bleak and as a country, at least the United States was a little too caught up in it's misery to see what else was going on.

By the way, at Y2k, (New Years Eve 1999) hubby and I waited ALL day for the end of the world. The machines didn't fail us.

A Look Back At How Cyberpunk Evolved Part 2 (The Cyberpunk of the 90’s)

Personally, my favorite is the cyberpunk of the 90’s (I got news for you Tumblr kids. I was in college in the 90’s, I’ve been around for the entire cyberpunk movement). The photo above was taken in the 90’s and is pretty representative of the look of cyberpunk of that time.

To me, the 90’s were something like the 60’s to my parents’ generation. It was a time of a lot of social change. We knew it too. Where as the our parents were trying to silence self expression and imposing morals on the youth (which they’re still doing) they young people rebelled. The 90’s were ALL about anti establishment. Cyberpunk became more post apocalyptic but with technology rather than without.
Plus the explosion of computers into mainstream life mixing with the gritty grungy world… it was a cocktail of the now classic phrase, high tech low life. Cyberpunk was still about life on the fringes, but more dirty and rough… with computers! (And hackers)

And still, there was some mix from the 80’s that really did help hasten in the cyberpunk of the 90’s. Anyone who’s old enough will remember Max Headroom. Iconic of the 80’s, forgotten now :( Max Headroom was really a good precursor to the cyberpunk of the 90’s in a low res sort of way.
One of my favorites, and yes I will admit to it, is Tek Wars (The actual series) as the whole thing was so very cyberpunk, if a little cheesy, as was the movie hackers.

Those mentioned above took the gritty world that was influenced by grunge and married it with computers. Much like the original cyberpunk but the style was less polished, and the theme… fighting against the establishment (a very restrictive government that tried to control every aspect of our life). The fashion took tattered, torn, and brightly colored and combined it with gadgets! The point was to look like you’d scavenged your wardrobe from hand me downs and discarded (machinery and clothes).

A Look Back At How Cyberpunk Evolved Part 1

(I'm reposting from Tumblr (hence why it's kind of short and in parts), but I said you'd get some loving today, I meant it. I have decided to look at cyberpunk as a fashion. There's going to be an interesting conclusion to all this I think. Of course, comment, please, I'd love to hear some opinions on this.)


First… let’s define cyberpunk as a style/fashion.
No one can actually really agree on this. The very early 80’s is when the word was born, and thus the basic concepts.
The 90’s were pretty influential on defining the cyberpunk fashion. In the 80’s movies like Mad Max and Tank Girl in the 90’s as well as the grunge movement, kind of took the style of cyberpunk to a more post apocalyptic feel.
Then millennium came along with movies like the Matrix and influenced the style into more of a fight the machine style.
Though the Matrix could be looked on as anti establishment, but instead of government control, machines rule the world, and the fight is against the machine.
But really, in the beginning, the concept was a very dirty future where computers and humans came together.
The Matrix is a movie that in my opinion doesn’t fit cyberpunk at all. Cyberpunk was about integrating technology into the human world and learning to work with it, The Matrix was about getting rid of technology that’s ruling our lives.
Cyberpunk is more like the detective novels from the 40’s, the Matrix isn’t. They both, however, are anti establishment.
Those who follow the cyberpunk that authors like William Gibson brought to us in the early 80’s have a grittier point of view. Cyberpunks move around a bit in society, but cyberpunks tend to scrape for a living and don’t have the latest fashion.

For Things A Little More Cyberpunk And Cyber Goth

I know, I've been bad about the blog, but things have been a mess lately. So I'm going to wrap a whole bunch of wonderful stuff into today before we go to hubby's office Christmas party tonight  (Where one of us will be getting smashed, probably hubby, because his co workers will then be able to laugh at how drunk they ALL were)

I will start it all with a look at the latest bracelet I put on the shop. I really need to name these things since two have nearly the same title on the shop.

Space Invaders!

Illuminated wall art, Space Invaders, from Lux Chroma on Etsy (he also has his own website you can purchase from)

It's just too cool, I want it, it takes me back to my childhood as we actually had an Atari... we got it the Christmas it was released here in the States and spent many hours playing it, and yes, I am that old.

I LOVE IT!

But now, I have Eisenfunk stuck in my head..... so play the song while you read!

Today I'm Wondering...

Why we haven't talked about hats!
Winter hats. Fleece hats.
It occurred to me I've never posted up about the fleece winter hats... the biggest flop in my store! But I love them, and they're very unique, for very unique individuals.
Right now I only have the navy blue that's [ictured available, but I am willing to do other colors and ones made from two colors of fleece (though the double thickness ones are a bit higher of a price point because I have to buy twice as much fleece, but man they are warm.)

Because sometimes you just need something pure industrial.
Though my favorite FLA album is Tactical Neural Implant. So here's The Blade...

Back To Cyber Goth

I've been much to (neo) Victorian goth lately. We need a healthy dose of cyber goth/cyberpunk, so visit the store, by something cyber gothy :p

FIle Under Music: genCAB

No my bloggies, I am not ignoring you today. I'm just feeling particularly moody. Like I want to go and hide. I think it's just a stress thing.

So, since I need to give you some love.... let's hear some music!
My moody self (which is where the Freak from CyberFreak partially comes from) usually listens to genCAB and laments. Then maybe switch to some Psyclon Nine for a bit, then back to the genCAB.

 Favorite picture of him....

Someone needs to give David Dutton a bit of a push though. Really could use a new album from genCAB.

Last I knew Vampire Freaks had II Transmutor up as a free download. Look around... see if it's still there.

Let's Get Some Steampunk Going Today

This lovely little necklace comes from Lynne at LMR Photography 2 .

There's Nothing Cuter

Than gerbils in hats. Seriously... it's adorable, and makes you laugh!

Today's OMG! Cute! comes from Julie Persons at Gerbils in Hats on Etsy. And if that isn't cute enough, she also has chicks in hats in another store. :)

Good Morning, Blogonia.

Tired and cranky this morning. I got to bed late, little Baby Bat kept waking up last night.

But as I drink much amounts of coffee, I have some eye candy (canes) for you.

Today's highlighted item is the (acrylic yard) green and black candy cane dread falls. They did sell earlier in November, however I have been considering making a new set, hinging, of course, on the reception that they receive today.

Candy Cane falls are a pain in the butt to make, but just look so wicked cool, that's why I'm willing to make them again.