Beginning

This is the first post on Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs, a dinosaur blog. It's taken me a year of blogging at Gentleman's Choice to figure out that the secret to building any kind of readership is to focus on a topic. And for me, a dinosaur blog is the right way to go.

Like plenty of adults, I somehow never managed to outgrow dinosaurs. I suppose it's for all of the usual reasons cited: the titanic proportions, the array of anatomical weaponry, defenses, and more obscure adornments, the mystery of their disappearance, the fact that they were really real monsters. Dinosaurs are just such a joy.

They were my entrance ramp to science, really. Everything I've learned about natural history, evolution, geology, the latin language... it all started with the old mount of an albertosaur standing over a fallen lambeosaur in the entrance hall of the Field Museum (pre-Sue, of course).

Most of the great dinosaur blogs are by paleontologists, either of the professional or armchair persuasion. I can't even claim to be a footstool paleontologist, so while I definitely plan on writing about new developments in our understanding of dinosaurs, I'll be writing about fluffier, pop cultural stuff. Dinosaurs are one of those places where science and pop culture intersect loudly, which is endlessly entertaining to me.

Ultimately, I hope I can write a blog that's informs those who don't know as much as I do while entertaining those who do. And if I do attract a paleontologist or two, I absolutely invite clarifications and criticisms. Seriously, take me to the woodshed when I'm talking above my pay grade.

I'll close with a nice piece of paleoart. I'm going to feature plenty of paleoart. Paleoart is one of the awesome things we can rely on. Until next time, happy trails.

Oviraptor by Patrick Redman, via Flickr