Vintage Dinosaur Art: Saltasaurus and Peppernychus

No information on where these guys came from. I scooped 'em up from a local antique store, but there's no imprint on them.





I look for cool paleo-related stuff whenever I'm in an antique store, but it's really hard to come by, beyond the occasional Sinclair sign, or children's books, which are almost always way over-priced (the thrift stores are where it's at for books). The only other dinosaur salt and pepper shakers I've been able to find on-line are here. This is, in my opinion, one of the most grievous oversights in the history of kitchenware. Disgraceful.

UPDATED: Julia, of the wonderful, thoroughly worthwhile blog The Ethical Palaeontologist, has clued me in that these dudes may not technically be vintage at all! Check out the comments below to see some shots of a suspiciously similar money box she purchased at Wall Drug, SD. Thank you, Julia. And thanks to Brian at Dinosaur Tracking for the hat tip.

Do People Want Feathered Dinosaurs?

In its tenth anniversary this year, the Lazendorf Paleoart Award is teaming with Nat Geo to present an award for a new category: Digital Modeling and Animation. As the website says, "with this new category, the Lanzendorf committee and the SVP recognize the importance of this rapidly growing frontier of scientific visualization for furthering science and public understanding."

As feathered dinosaurs have risen in prominence I've been thinking a lot about the need for them to be popularized on a huge scale. While the CG pseudo-documentary genre catches its share of flack, and animated narrative movies sacrifice science for story, I think it's high time for another big, culture-penetrating piece of dinosaur entertainment. Ideally, I'd like something that helps the image of the feathered dromaeosaur take prominence in the mind of the general public over the very reptilian faux-Velociraptors of Jurassic Park.

But the longer I hope for this, the more I fear that it may be wishful thinking: slimy, scaly reptiles are an archetypal "other" in mythology. There are the dragons, the gorgons, the sea serpents, the snake that tempts Eve. In modern times, there is the coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs "reptilian" conspiracy theory (there are plenty of certified nutjob sites I could link to, but I'll opt for this relatively benign Wikipedia page). Though our understanding of dinosaurs has become more and more nuanced, increasingly setting them apart as unique creatures of their own, there's no denying that the "giant lizards" image is in large part responsible for their enduring popularity.

Do feathered dinosaurs carry the same subconscious weight? Is the idea that the turkey on the table and the cardinal on the feeder are derived theropods compelling to the average person? In other words: do people want feathered dinosaurs? It's easy to say that it doesn't matter what they want: they'll take their lavishly adorned Deinonychus and like it. But scientific ideas have a funny way of progressing fitfully through human cultures. See Darwin, Charles.

As I was writing this post, Brian Switek conveniently posted something relevant over at Dinosaur Tracking. A smartass blog has started a semi-serious campaign against feathered dinosaurs. Or maybe it's a clever parody of boneheaded creationist anti-evolution propaganda (it even uses the stale old "theory" vs. "fact" dichotomy). Maybe it's a bit of both. Would reactionary anger over feathers on dinosaurs surprise me? Not so much, no. I imagine it's kind of like fanboy grumbling over the new designs of the Transformers or any other old franchise that finds itself subject to modernizing. People are used to geeking out about things in their own way, and who are these scientists to slap a bunch of dumb old feathers on Velociraptor?

I don't know of any organization that conducts polls on popular conceptions of dinosaurs, so I have no data to look to. I just wonder. And I'll be interested to see if any pieces based on the new melanosome research are up for the Lazenby award this year. The artistic renderings we've seen so far have been pretty arresting, and I'm sure it's just the beginning.

Now, to start figuring out my own tongue-in-cheek pro-feathers campaign...

How Did I Miss This?

A little while ago, I featured a bit of saucy Jurassic Park erotic fan fiction. Every once in a while, I'll get a notion to pick around for that kind of stuff. This is further evidence that I'm rather shallow, easily distracted, frivolous of mind, and - in the words of my father - "sort of a twerp."

Thanks to Roger Ebert, a film critic of some repute, I've now discovered the motherlode of Jurassic Park erotic fanfic. Clearly a joke, but a good one. From animated GIFs to embedded MIDI music, it's meant to embody the worst of Web 1.0. It also takes NSFW to a new level. In fact, for your sanity, I don't even recommend reading as little as I have. I'm providing information, not endorsing.

In other news, there may be another Jurassic Park trilogy coming down the pike. I hope it's good. I hope it's this good:



This was my favorite bit of dialogue:

ALAN: I never should have brought her, Tim.
TIM: It's not your fault, Alan.
ALAN: I know.
TIM: What are we gonna do now? What's that in the bushes?
ALAN: It's a Stegosaurus.
TIM: Let's kill it.
ALAN: No, Tim. They're peaceful. Let's go check 'em out. Don't worry about it eating you Tim, it's a veggie-saurus.
TIM: Okay.

Why the Raptors Live in Toronto

If I was completely ignorant of the NBA and was asked to match team names with the cities or locales they represent, I wouldn't think twice about sticking "Utah" with "Raptors." Not only is it logical, as Utah is one of the great dinosaur-bearing states, but it sounds right. There is a dinosaur called Utahraptor, after all. But I'd be wrong. Toronto gets the Raptors and Utah gets the Jazz. The fact that Salt Lake City isn't exactly known for its vibrant jazz scene would confuse me, especially coupled with the fact that glacier-scoured Ontario is not exactly a hotbed of Mesozoic fossils. So what gives?

It's pretty simple, really. In the seventies, a struggling team called the New Orleans Jazz - that's a sensible name - was bought and moved to Salt Lake City, and it was decided that the name would stay.

In the mid-nineties, the NBA decided to expand into Canada. One of the new teams was called the Vancouver Grizzlies. Another sensible name. The other team, however, was named by a national contest. The world was still trying to kick a powerful post-Jurassic Park hangover, and voila. The Toronto Raptors were born.



Their mascot, you'll be happy to know, is simply known as... The Raptor. Also, I wish that there were more photos of me from my teenage years. I was a big Chicago Bulls fan, but even after I stopped caring much about basketball, I got myself a Raptors tee shirt. I mean... it's a fricking sports team named after a fricking dinosaur.

UPDATED: My wife pointed out that Utah is not a "city," per se, so I changed that language. And added the bit about my handsome Raptors tee. And, my wife is awesome.

Sweet Dreams

You may remember this dinosaur bed, which made the internet rounds recently. If you want something a little more cuddly, you might consider this alternative:

Image from dinosaurbed.com

I guess they're for sale, but there's really no information on the site. If your kid is more of a sauropod type, you could also go with this Brachiosaurus.

More Keychains

Sometimes nifty things happen to people who write dinosaur blogs (I'm sure this holds true for other bloggers too, but this is what I know). For instance, a really nice reader might up and send you a bunch of dinosaur keychains! Sound loony? Well, here's the proof!

These add to the first two members of my collection. Thanks to Michael Stearns, the unwaveringly nifty dude who sent these to me. It bears mentioning that he also happens to draw a fine comic called Dawn of Time, which I hope you'll recognize from my links bar. Be sure to take a look if you haven't before. It looks like a very famous fossil is about to be dramatized.

Carnalsaurus

Alright, Discovery Channel. If this Dinosaur Sex special isn't just an elaborate Valentine's Day prank, you'd better bring the goods. You'd better offer up at least one image that comes close to this, in terms of sheer epic awesomeness.


Carnotaurus Sex by the inimitable Luis Rey, from his site.

It's a subject perfectly suited to Rey's lurid colors and outlandish compositions. Only Rey would surround his subjects with a flock of pterosaurs radiating out around them. On the science of dinosaur sex, he elaborates thusly:

...males probably had similar penises to crocodiles as hypothesized by the sexual dimorphism in Tyrannosaurus rex, where gracile specimens with an extra tail chevron seem to indicate that these were males (the extra chevron serving to attach the penis muscles, just as in crocodiles). If this is correct, then by the fossil skeletons it must be assumed that females of T. rex were invariably bigger than the males.

I hope that at the very least, the DC special includes hilarious cutaways to tiny, frightened mammals who attempt to cover their eyes but find themselves transfixed by the glorious horror of what they're watching. Damn it all to hell, I need cable.

Vintage Dinosaur Art: Golden Age

We may not all remember them from childhood, but we surely recognize them from obsolete school library shelves or thrift stores. Veritable treasure troves of arcane knowledge and, thankfully, cool full color illustrations. They are of course, the Golden Book Encyclopedias.

I'm a sucker, a total sucker, for this kind of drawing of rock strata. When I'm in the desert, or anywhere that bedrock is exposed, I imagine myself standing atop a chart like this. Unfortunately (and surprisingly), the illustrator is not credited. It may be a fellow named Cornelius de Witt, but the style doesn't quite match his drawings of the human body, featured in a nifty post at the blog Ward-o-Matic.

To my eye, the drawings betray a Charles Knight influence. I imagine that for many of these illustrators, slaving away for children's reference books, it was par for the course to base their art on existing illustrations, rather than go through the trouble of studying the anatomy on their own.

The Allosaurus is by far my favorite. There's a certain canine quality to him, as if he's waiting for his master to throw a stick to fetch. If anyone has more information on the true artist behind these dinosaurs, please let me know!

Tyrannosaurus Sex

So, our chums at the Discovery Channel have a special running on Valentine's Day (this coming Sunday), called Tyrannosaurus Sex. Here's the press release:

New York, NY, February 9, 2010 –– Birds do it, bees do it, and now with the magic of CGI, we can watch dinosaurs do it. This Valentine’s Day, February 14th at 10pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel, Locomotive Entertainment Group will premiere Tyrannosaurus Sex. The one-hour special explores the mysteries, wonders and newest evidence surrounding ritual courtship and mating habits of dinosaurs. How did a ferocious T-Rex woo his lady? How did a female Titanosaur support the weight of a male who was as long as a four-story building is high? How did a Stegosaurus couple negotiate sex with all those deadly plates and spikes?

“It is something they never showed us in the Jurassic Park films, that much I can tell you,” said Director and Locomotive President Gabriel Gornell. “Throughout the production process the support we received from the team over at the Discovery Channel has been unbelievable. We could never have pulled this off without them. “

Tyrannosaurus Sex doesn’t just answer the questions, it shows dinosaur sex in all its glory with state-of-the-art CGI animation. The scenes created for the special are all based on fact. Interviews with scientists on the cutting-edge of palaeontology bring new life to one of the last mysteries of these mighty giants.

So many burning questions.

• Why is it always "the magic of CGI?"
• Has anyone ever made a serious claim about dinosaur "ritual courtship?" At least the blood n' guts pseudodocumentaries have some physical evidence to back them up.
• What kind of a non-quote is that from Mr. Gornell?
• What facts are the animated scenes based on? The fact that animals get it on?
• "One of the last mysteries?" Who thinks that?

This sounds like such a train wreck. If you feel the need, check out the production company's website. It uses what may be the strangest, least cohesive assembly of fonts I've ever seen in one place.

Neil Jam!

Neil Jam is one of my favorite cartoonists. His recent book, a collection of the mini comics upon which he's built his reputation, is simply titled Neil Jam, and its cover features a T. rex rendered in his iconic style.


He's also got a great frameable print featuring his T. rex available. Although now that I look at the above image again, maybe it's an Allosaurus. Those are some big arms with three-fingered hands, after all.