A-hunting We Did Go... #dinosaur #fossils

This post was originally due to go up on the 23rd of May, but was postponed due to the London terror attack. Two weeks later and it's like deja-vu - another attack in London. But we Brits are famous for our stiff upper lips and whatnot, and after years of the IRA (frankly) doing a much 'better' job of it, we're not going to be cowed or subdued by terrorists. The One Love Manchester concert and the way the Mancunians pulled together should show you that. Never give up, never surrender!

The weekend before the first attack, we did another run to Walton beach to hunt for prehistoric shark teeth. Not such a big or impressive haul this time - more broken ones - but still a goodly number and including a couple of painted topshells, pretty clam shell, and a piece of mother of pearl that caught my eye.

While we were there we popped into the recently built Naze Centre, which had a handy display of fossils that helped us with identification. Apparently the big tooth hubs found last week belongs to a mackerel shark, which can grow up to 9m (30 foot). He wasn't too impressed by the name...until he looked it up and found it includes great white, thresher, and mako sharks.

Our smaller ones belong to sand sharks - smaller but nothing to be sneezed at when they could reach 3.5m (12 foot). The size and shape of the teeth depends on where in the jaw they sit (and of course the size of the shark). No mention or any sign of crocodile teeth in the display case but they were mentioned as being present in the Naze's prehistoric past.

Shanklin Beach, Isle of Wight

But we were hoping for something even more exciting while on holiday - a proper holiday, not just a break from the internet (though I got that too - the wifi was TERRIBLE!). The Isle of Wight is a place famed for its fossil finds, one of the most important sites in the whole of Europe and earning it the nickname of 'Dinosaur Isle'. That's not its only appeal, being designated as a site of Outstanding Natural Beauty to boot. We went for the beaches and the bones. On our last visit (where we were sadly driven home within 24 hours due to a storm destroying our tent) I found a scallop fossil just half an hour after hitting the beach. I had a large ammonite on my wish list. Youngest appeared to be expecting to find a whole ichthyosaurus skeleton or similar. He might be a bit disappointed, but you never know. Different beaches yield different types of fossils, and it's easy enough to Google the hotspots. Tectonic plate movement twisted the geology of the island, so certain areas will give you dinosaurs while others are mostly marine. After visiting Jurassic Jim (a shop you absolutely MUST visit if you have any interest in fossils or crystals, or plan on going fossil hunting, or even want something identified), we started our search at Yaverland.

One of the most common and easiest to find fossils - molluscs and sponges
all jumbled together.

I also found a couple of mollusc fossils - one whole and one part of an oyster.

Then as we seemed to be rather challenged on finding fossils, we signed up to a local fossil hunt tour via Island Gems in the beautiful Godshill. Felicity, or Flick as she asked us to call her, was full of information and entertaining (though if I'm honest, I was disappointed at not finding anything especially exciting. I knew we wouldn't find ammonites on that particular beach, but it was listed as a fossil hotspot. I guess I didn't have the eye for it). We did find a few at Brook Bay though, as well as seeing the famous iguanadon footcasts.

Clear three toe footcast, but if you look closely at the nearest toe, you might just be able to make out the smaller cast of an iguanadon juvenile that stepped in the adult's footprint too.

Echinoid spine probably Tylocidaris clavigera. According to Flick,
our fossil hunting guide, if you use a bit of bluetack or plasticine
to take an imprint, it comes out looking like the old style Coke bottle.

Left: sea sponge interior. Right: sponge outline.

The black specks (which are also shiny) are fish scale, teeth and bones.

Fossil coral.

Not fossils but minerals - Left: Iron pyrites (more commonly known
as fools gold), Right: marcasite, used in jewelry. The sparkle doesn't
really show in this photo.

Youngest was also happy to find a small geode - pictured above. You can just about see the sparkle of crystal. As for ammonites...well, sadly I had to settle for buying some from Jurassic Jim. Le sigh.

Large Morrocan ammonite (about hand size)

Small polished ammonites.

Really must try harder next time...
Of course, fossil hunting wasn't the only thing we did but I think that's enough photos for one week.

Our leopard gecko Yoshi.

So while we're talking dinosaurs...I think I can blame my childhood dinosaur books and a continuing interest for my fondness for reptiles. After all, the name comes from the New Latin 'dinosaurus', from Greek 'deinos' fearful + 'sauros' lizard. I feel sorry for reptiles. They get a bad rep in real life and generally in fiction too. So far I have two reptilian races in my main series - the saurians on Metraxi, and the as yet lesser featured chelonians from Camullan (though some readers might recall mention of archivist Teo from Gethyon and Keir). I've tried to give them a more diverse role, from the warmongering R'hellek to my misled saurian queen T'rill, and loyal captain S'rano.

R'hellek, Minister of War (copyright Pippa Jay).

The idea for them came from some classic Doctor Who stories featuring two reptilian races on Earth - the Sea Devils (amphibious and intelligent reptiles who came from under the sea) and the Silurians (the land based species, with various subspecies). In typical DW style, these were the bad guys (though the Doctor would argue conflict with humans was responsible for their hostility), though New Who has gone on to rectify this with Vastra and Jenny, and further contact with the Silurians with mixed consequences. I loved the idea of an essentially alternative timeline for Earth - the dinosaurs evolved into an intelligent humanoid species as humans have from apes - who were smart enough to see the end of the dinosaur reign coming and went into hibernation, only to awaken and find a bunch of upstart monkeys now claiming the roost. Take that line of evolution to another planet where there was no planetary disaster to wipe them out and no monkey, and I have my saurians, capable of good and bad. Sometimes I wonder if the dinosaurs might have made a better job of things if not for that darn asteroid...

Status Update
I haven't even started catching up on things from my holiday - this post is only the first job of many - but Reunion and Unexpected are both with separate editors. Revived remains untouched even though I printed it out and took it on holiday with me - I was too busy having fun elsewhere! Keir's Shadow is scheduled to go for assessment in July, with my overhaul still only 32% done at this time. Eep!

Cosplay making is on hold as I work on a White Rabbit costume for my eldest's summer solstice performance in Alice in Wonderland, and yesterday was spent making a Viking costume for youngest's Viking day today.

The biggest pom pom I've ever made, to give eldest
the fluffiest, hugest bunny tail ever.

A-viking we will go

Chook Update
How have you coped without my chook pics?! I don't think they have any concept about absence, but my girls seemed pleased to see me, or at least to be let out in the garden after a week of being restricted to their run, though not so happy at the stiff breeze ruffling their feathers.

Left to right: Scoop, Effie and Kyru

More pictures next week!

LAURIE AND DONNA GO BACK TO THE JURASSIC

This week Spacefrieghters crew members Laurie Green and Donna Frelick begin a new occasional series, reviewing the latest SF films in their best Siskel and Ebert style. First up: JURASSIC WORLD.

LAURIE SAYS:

Okay, everybody ready? A one and a two . . .

I enjoyed the latest edition of the Jurassic franchise for what it was meant to be--a fast-paced, action packed, gaspfest. With visually stunning sets, some cool new tech, and a few new beasties--including the seemingly unstoppable new designer monster, Indominus rex--it was quite a ride. If that's what you're looking for in your quest for summer Sci-Fi entertainment, it completely fills the bill.   

Set twenty-two years after the original Jurassic Park folded and on the same island--Isla Nublar, off the coast of Costa Rica--this reincarnation of the doomed predecessor has been successfully operating for a decade. (DUH da daaaa)

Though some of the plot ploys bordered on annihilating suspension of disbelief, *spoiler shield* (highlight the following space with your cursor to read) such as Velociraptors who could be clicker-trained or the extremely macho stunt of riding a motorcycle amidst a pack of hunting Raptors without a healthy barrier of steel between human handler and said predators, *lift shield* I still give it a "GO."

However...

If you're expecting a deep debate on genetic engineering or the cataclysmic failure surrounding the last attempt at a prehistoric zoo, you won't find it here. You also won't find any character development whatsoever, which only the first movie of the franchise attempted. What you will get is a lot of thrills, a few intriguing twists, a plethora of prehistoric eye candy, a not-so-well developed romantic side story, and the required Poor Little Cute Kid Factor thrown into the mix for sympathetic effect.

Chris Pratt certainly makes a charismatic though sometimes TMTL (Too Macho To Live) hero, though this viewer found his female romantic interest far less deserving of a happy ending. The villains (including one character who harks back to the original Jurassic Park) were utterly two-dimensional and mustache-twirling.

All-in-all, Jurassic World is worth the price of a ticket if you're on the hunt for a fun and flashy big budget film but not a deeply moving theater experience.

DONNA SAYS:
 

Well, I’ll agree with Laurie that JURASSIC WORLD was an entertaining way to spend a hot afternoon. I mean, what’s not to like about watching a T-Rex and an even bigger, toothier dino-creation called Indominus Rex duke it out in what’s left of the puny humans’ “amusement park”? Bring on the CGI and more popcorn!

Chris Pratt is well on his way to becoming the latest go-to guy in action heroes. The role of Owen, the park’s dino-wrangler and resident Voice of Doom (absorbing some of Jeff Goldblum’s purpose in the original JURASSIC PARK, but without the snarky humor), is a good fit for Pratt. He does well in all the physical stuff, looking heroic without looking like Dudley Doright. But I did miss the smart-alecky edge that made GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY so much fun. Owen is a very serious fellow. Especially when, as Goldblum’s character put it, all the “running and, um, screaming” starts, as it inevitably must when humans do stupid things.

And here is where I suppose I must part with Laurie. JW is nowhere near the thrill ride JURASSIC PARK was so many years ago, despite advances in film technology that should have made it more so. It is the same old story line recycled for the nth time: in our arrogance we overreach our ability to control the technology we create and it destroys us. That we’ve seen this same scenario of genetic manipulation and denial played out almost to the last detail before on this same damn island just seems a bit ridiculous. Did we learn nothing the last time, people?  But, okay, forget the story setup, did the film’s producers think no one had ever seen the first movie? Or the second? Or, God forbid, the third?

Now THAT'S a dinosaur . . . movie!

What made the first movie a classic was Stephen Spielberg as director. Spielberg is a master filmmaker, one who studied the art of creating suspense from another, earlier master, Alfred Hitchcock. He understood that it wasn’t the sight of a huge monster thrashing around that scared the bejesus out of you—it was the idea of that monster stalking you unseen in the dark. Think of the scariest moments of the original film—T-rex stomping closer and closer while the kids huddled, trapped in the car; the velociraptors hunting the hidden kids in the kitchen. Mostly we saw the kids’ terrified faces. The dinos were secondary. The same techniques were used to great effect in JAWS. We hardly saw the big fish until the final few minutes of the film (which was just as well, given the limitations of the shark model Spielberg was using).

All of that suspense is completely missing from JURASSIC WORLD. Director Colin Trevorrow, with only minor films to his credit, is clearly out of his league here. Both in terms of plot and technique, everything is out in the open, most of it in broad daylight. Is it fun to watch? Sure! Would I watch it again? Shrug. Much rather see the original again for the tenth time.

So, mission call? I’d say JURASSIC WORLD is a GO, but don’t expect much beyond some mindless summer fun.

(Watch this space for more GO-NO GO reviews of this summer’s hottest SF blockbusters from Laurie and Donna! Next up: TERMINATOR: GENESIS)

Cheers, Donna and Laurie