Mesozoic Mind

I saw Jurassic World: Rebirth in theatres couple nights ago, with Gareth Edwards at the helm. Here are my thoughts with it. Both the designs (for the most part) and action setpieces are generally excellent, some of the strongest in the franchise. My favourite would have to be the Mosasaurus and Spinosaurus chase are a great example of both, updating both away from the lasts films aesthethics something closer to current understanding yet still having the movie flair. The bahaviour meanwhile returns more to the first trilogy rather then the World trilogy. Meanwhile, the scene with the Titanosaurus is perhaps even more beutiful then the Brachiosaurus scene from the very first movie. Gareth Edward's love of scale really shines in it as Loomis strokes the leg, and any dino lover will cry like he does. Characters, while not nessicarily the deepest the franchise, are likable. Its especially for Dr. Henry Loomis himself, who's a nerdy sweet type closer to Grant then the generic macho...

Well, Walking with Dinosaurs 2025 came and went. The reboot to the icon of palaeodocumentaries, promising a new take that would appeal to audiences not versed in the nitty gritty by showing dig sites in action to show how palaeontology works alongside the usual nature doc-style life reconstruction sequences. It .... was .... Not very good. While no one ws expecting it to surpass the original, so much seems to conspire to make it subpar. There's a reduced budget compared to the original, so there aren't that many species, and to choose active dig sites only limited the sites, meaning half the series is Cretaceous North America. Conbine that with being made in the fog of COVID and at a time when nature docs are bing underfunded by a society caring only for sating the rich, and you thus get a series which feel thin and empty, not really a succesor to the classic. But which reaches the heights of what came before it and which plunged deeper then even the movie? Let's find out....

The atlas is one of the many ways dinosaur books have been organised, going from continent to continent and highlighting the genera and fossil find of each of them. To my knowledge, it became common in the 80's and 90's during the height of the Dinosaur Renaissance and into the 21st century, as new discoveries were being made and revaluated in the southern hemisphere and Asia that expanded views in palaeontological beyond just North America and Europe (although funding for research is still confined to those two, because imperialism), and into the 2000's. Today we will look at one such example, 2007's  The Kingfisher First Dinosaur Picture Atlas , written by nature writer David Burnie, who usually writes about extant life, most prominently for the  Eyewitness  series, and published by Kingfisher, a pretty big purveyor of books like these. The book's art meanwhile is by Anthony Lewis , who has done more in a series of similar childrens' atlases for Kingfisher. I ...

Two years. Two years at Mesozoic Mind , through ups and downs and bringing you the best I could give you, and expanded my horizons in life, to go where I could only dream of. To celebrate, here's what I made for all of you readers as a gift: remaking Walking with Dinosaurs for the 21st century as I'd do it. Yeah, I know, people stopped doing this kind of thing years ago, but what the heck, I wanted to do it myself, and I only really do the big ones for special occasions like these. The episodes would be quite different from the origials in setting, but would stil have enough rocognisable creature archtypes and plot beats to show which corresponds to which. Although I still see fit to tell you which is which. Also, please forgive any anachronisms in the lineups I have created. I tried my best to avoid them. Also also, the pictures used here serve to get an idea of what things would feel or look like, not be direct representations. Episode One - Archosauria Art by Olmagon Set in...

We've hit 2000 views this month, a record at Mesozoic Mind! Today (and perhaps to commemorate it - albiet in a rather small and short way unfitting for it), we got some book ideas! You're Dumber then a Dinosaur! This book lists various dinosaur andotherprehistoriclife-themed insults readers could use in arguments and the context behind them. It would also double as rebuttals to misconceptions people have about dinosaurs or facts regarding them. A few examples to get you an idea of what would be inside are: "You mama's so fat, sauropods don't think she can can walk on land!" - Would explain sauropods had had hollow bones and airsacs to lighten them in spite of their massive size, but Yo Momma has no such thing to her. The corresonding illustration would be a morbidly obese woman next to an unimpressed Argentinosaurus herd. " Stegosaurus had more brains then you!" - Stegosaurus didn't have two brains with one in its hip/ass region, but it wasn'...

Merry Chistmas and happy holidays everyone at Mesozoic Mind! Let me show you my holiday gift, which I was inspired by seeing on Twitter. The book is written by noted palaeoartist John Conway, who as you may or may not know, was one of the creators of the Naishian style with the seminal book  All Yesterdays  (10 years ago, no less!), depicting dinosaurs as way more muscular and speculative then the more conservative depictions of yesteryear. Painting with Dinosaurs proffesses to be the collection of an old art professor and collector Ernst Erstwesesn who sadly perished along with his collection of artwork of dinosaurs made by artists throughout history (suspiciously even before they were discovered, let alone so up to date). That last part is part of the joke of the book, a framing device. All of the artwork in question is nice, the way it homages and mimics classic art, from Rennaiscance, to Kahlo and O'Keefe, to Pollock and Warhol. Art lovers will get a kick out of recognisi...