Mesozoic Mind

Remember my post on May the second ? How I said I was going to Chicago? The one place I've wanted to go for a long long time? I indeed visited the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago earlier this month for a wedding vacation, on the 6th, and although it was not my first visit, I hadn't had a chance to visit in years. the very first exhibit I headed to? The Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet  on the second floor, it's palaeontology gallery, first opened in 2006 after the museum closed a very 90's gallery "Life After Time". I LOVED IT. EVERY BLOODY SECOND OF IT. I was like a kid in a candy store seeing one of the most impressive array of fossils I've ever seen and excellent exhibitry. Not even a full bladder could stop my enthusiasm.  Admittedly I was so caught up in the rapture I wasn't really paying specifics and went too fast for my liking, so I'm not going to remember all the details of the exhibit. Forgive me for such and potentially missi

WARNING: This will have spoilers. READ AT OWN RISK UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN EPISODE ALREADY "IT BEGINS" It has arrived.  Prehistoric Planet Season Two debuted today, starting with an episode on island-dwelling fauna. I was so hyped for it I convinced my parents to reboot my old account for it, worth it to watch and support the show. Now I won't spoil too much of it if you haven't watched it (DO IT NOW), but here is a summary of the episode and what I first thought of each segments. The first segment is about a Zalmoxes  getting washed out to sea by a raft of vegitation, where with the tree too small to support him, it chooses to flee to another nearby despite risk of getting eaten by a mosasaur, just like with the Rexes in season one. I think it does a good job setting up the theme of island dispersal for evolution, by any rate. Second comes a segment for the small hadrosaur  Tethyshadros  who find themselves beseiged by Hatzegopteryx, who given what the show has beco

Hello, everybody. I'm just here to add the latest RPWIOTD, and something I will be doing this weekend you'll findf very interesting. The River Styx This would be a horror/survival story about a palaeontology student visiting his rural family in Montana and goes fishing together, only to get into a time warp back in time, to (where else?) the Hell Creek Formation 66 million years ago - during a weat season and when the forests are flooded. Stuck on an island, they must find a way off and more importantly a way back to their time - but the local wildlife is going to make that very difficult, as they're mere appearence disturbs them and drives them nuts - though some of the humans aren't helping either. The major creatures in the story, and the subjects of each setpiece would be: The crocodilians  Borealosuchus ,  Brachychampsa , and  Thoracosaurus . They would be the main threat the characters face, as many of them choose to bask on the island and get into conflict with e

Ever since it premeired, palaeo-fans jave been clamouring for more of Prehistoric Planet. Once a season was confirmed, fans went in wondering what it would be about, and many thought it would not be released until many years. But lo and behold: first came a tweet of a Tarchia , and now what has showed up last week: the teaser trailer for  Prehistoric Planet : Season Two . Despite just being, well, a teaser, the teaser looks great, and gets everyobe even more hyped up. Let's dissect it scene by scene, shall we? The teaser itself starts off with Hatzegopteryx , a fitting choice when it was the last creature seen in season one. Here, it's not seen devouring baby dinosaurs, but two courtshipping one another as the beautiful music plays and David's narration for the teaser waxes about how there's always more to discover about Earth, which is quite befitting for seeing more of what we already loved. As every teaser does, we then see glimpses of what's to come in the secon

Ah, Computer graphic imagery. Before you became so commonplace and went too far in development so fast, you were a fascinating, bergeoning little world living on college campuses and inside basic computers, one of an optimistic future of 1980's Reaganite and Clinton's 90's America. Really, I have a nostalgia for early CG, as there is a genuine, endearing sense of care put into it and a fuzzy dreamlike feel to many of them, as well as growing up with many of these early CG projects.  Today we will be looking at two courtesy of one John C. Donkin, ananimator who worked at Ohio State University's Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design . I know nothing about him at the moment, but I do know he went on to work at Blue Sky Animation and worked on Ice Age . he created two works in a two-part project about the prehistoric creatures we know and love. Keep in mind, this was at the peak of the Dinosaur Renaissance when the image of dinosaurs as succesful and fast creatu