What happens when you mix the aesthetic appeal of 1800s Victorian England, scientifically advanced, steam- and gear-powered inventions and the type of alternate historical realities explored in popular culture through movies like “Wild Wild West”? You get steampunk: an inventive, rule-bending subgenre of science fiction that has found a growing niche in Sacramento. The term steampunk stemmed from literature like H.G. Well’s “The Time Machine,” published in 1895, and Jules Verne’s 1870 novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, according to members of the Sacramento Steampunk Society.These early steampunk works, which feature elements of time travel, whimsically inventive, steam-powered inventio

Halloween came to Sacramento early Wednesday morning as a group of six local science fiction lovers marched downtown dressed in Klingon, Death Star Trooper and Sith Lord costumes. Dozens of children and sci-fi fans flocked to take photographs and speak with the costumed characters. Others gawked, laughed and one child even cried as they meandered from the California Museum down K Street and past the Capitol to Cesar Chavez Plaza. The march was organized to promote The California Museum's new sci-fi exhibit "Out of this World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film and Television," which will run from Oct. 3 to Jan. 10. It will feature more than 50 props and costumes from some of Hollywood's mo

District 9 Directed by Neill Blomkamp By Tony Sheppard Capitol Weekly Sitting at the Number 1 spot in this week’s box office rankings and modestly masquerading as a relatively low-budget creature feature, “District 9” is brought to you in a hands-off way by producer Peter Jackson (the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy). I say masquerading, as it’s really quite an insightful commentary on politics and international power-brokering, both past and current. The story has aliens arriving over Johannesburg, complete with their clearly superior technology and weaponry but also with a broken spaceship and apparently no intergalactic towing service. This results in two outcomes – a giant refugee camp