This wonderful shot is from mathetdjam's photostream and was taken with a Canon EOS 300D with what I'd assume is an external housing.

Since my first trip to Hawaii, I've had a thing for photographs taken with a point and shoot half below the waterline. I personally use the Pentax WP series, because they are pocket sized. But newer models from Canon and Olympus are coming out that can be submerged to a depth greater than 30 feet, which is more than enough for deeper snorkeling or surfing or swimming or lounging around in a lake, river or on a beach. Anything greater than that, and you'll have to go with a plastic housing. Clunky but I believe some of these float (I could be wrong) and they're very sturdy.

But never mind the gear.

I love these shots because they remind me of how much life is under the surface of the briny sea, and that the vast majority of the ocean is yet undiscovered. The half-submerged shots below are some of the best I found on Flickr, and leave a greater impression on me than strictly underwater shots. Because what's down there becomes much more strange when we are looking at it in the context of not some endless blue background that fades to black, but the very world we travel on and through daily. It's the contrast between the border of the sea and land that both grounds me and causes my mind and imagination to reach out under the waves and want to know more.

If only I had access to submarine, with a giant camera on the nose, I'd surely show you more.

[SARAH LEE, SARAH LEE, ESOX LUCIUS, freerider!!, mathetdjam, Bushrat Steve, SARAH LEE, vanveelen, carib being, Mikkel Noe, Ed Fladung, bobby hugges, Fiona Ayerst, JennyHuang, Nuts in May, JJay, Special thanks to Odelia Lee for the research help]

According to a mailing list from the Netherlands, Atompunk is devoted to the cultural period (mostly of the United States) of between 1945 to 1965. While the moniker hasn't become a part of our country's vernacular yet (though I'm sure some of you already started using it ages ago), it sounds just annoyingly catchy enough to warrant a New York Times trend piece in about eight years. And the Dutch aren't helping, devoting a festival to it in Amsterdam for September 2009.

First I had to shake off being labeled steampunk because of my love for Jules Verne novels and Victorian-era science... NOW I have to go around convincing people I'm not another type of punk just because I'd totally live in Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion home? Great, Dutch people. Thanks a lot. [Boing boing]

The entire article is a pair of spreads with gadgets strewn all over the page, with a black background (to Fetish's traditional white). The hed: Worst. Gadgets. Ever. And each entry has a caption with the date, price and a quip of a line taking the piss out of each. I would have PAID Wired to write this, by the way, but I'm sure current Fetish editor Mark McClusky took the same joy I would have in deconstructing it. Reading the copy from back issues makes me cringe—the voice is so hokey! Which is why I prefer current writer Joe Brown's tone of voice. I don't think he lets anyone edit him much, so it carries the tone of a real person talking about gear, not the over-polished copy that eventually makes a writer sound like a bit of a sales person.

Unfortunately, only five items I wrote with editor Rob Capps made it to the list, pulled from 442 pages of back issues: The Airstream Skydeck from April 2005, a $260k double decker recreational vehicle. It's the biggest item in Fetish, ever, but not the most expensive.

The Optimus Maximus is here from October 2005, with the slightly incorrect caption of "Shipping Soon!", but I guess the extended timeline for release does warrant that kind of critique, even if it's out right now.

Also on the list were the Iz, some dumb music toy Rob made me write about, and these cool Nike contact lenses with sunglass tint built in for athletes. I still might want to try those. There's also the Geneva Soundsystem iPod dock, which I admit, is garish.

All in all, I wish I had more items on this list. When talking to Rob, it was clear that we had one regret when it came to our work on Fetish: It's not that we didn't pick more timeless gear. It's that we didn't go insane enough in choosing truly crazy gadgets for the section. It's a hard section to put together. You have to find stuff three months ahead of when it's coming out, get a list of 20-30 things and the editor eventually gives the green light to 10 items. I'd write those, and four of them would get to the final list. If you could secure good prototypes for the photography. It was sometimes embarrassing how many leads would come from Gizmodo, which influenced my move here. Thinking about Fetish makes me proud to have contributed to it. If you're interested in helping the magazine out and need an internship, they're hiring.

In closing, I leave you with this old academic essay by Theresa Senft on modern fetish, which focuses on Wired's column. And, if you get a chance, check out the Worst of Fetish piece in this month's Wired.

Product Page [Punitive Shoes]

Product Page [StudioGum via BoingBoing]