Art
laelaps | June 4, 2008In the course of rooting through the literature for more information on Eohippus, Hyracotherium, and the various associated genera (it's been a chore to find out their names, much less the relevant papers!) I stumbled across this 1927 poem by Richard Ashman, published in The Science News-Letter. It is obviously not meant to be accurate, but I have to say that the concluding verses made me laugh.
The Diplo-doclodipus
A sad young Eohippus, once,
Who pattered through the gorse,
Was sobbing as he pattered, for
His fondest hopes were shattered, for
He'd failed in all that mattered, for
He wasn't…
grrlscientist | May 27, 2008tags: paleo, horse artwork, street art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
This is another of the American Museum of Natural History's horse artworks. This piece is located on the grounds near the west entrance to the museum itself, as you can see in some of the shots in this photoessay.
Paleo, right side.
Artist: Ida Pagano.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
All of these horse artworks are modeled after a full sized horse, standing approximately five and a half feet at the withers (shoulder).
The ambient light makes the pattersn and colors on this side of the horse difficult…
grrlscientist | May 27, 2008tags: Starry Night, horse tile artwork, street art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
This is another of the American Museum of Natural History's horse artworks. This piece is located at the 81st and Columbus street entrance to the museum grounds.
Starry Night, left side.
Artist: Geri Bowden.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
This horse's colors and patterning was no doubt inspired by Vincent van Gogh's masterpiece, The Starry Night (Dutch: De sterrennacht), which is one of my favorite paintings. The original painting can be viewed at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) located…
grrlscientist | May 27, 2008tags: nocturnal landscape, horse artwork, street art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
A week or two ago, the American Museum of Natural History added some horse artworks to its grounds. This is one of those horses.
Nocturnal Landscape, right side.
Artist: Heather L. Martin.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
This lovely horse artwork stands on the sidewalk on the western side of the American Museum of Natural History and is apparently part of the museum's special exhibit, "The Horse".
I like this side better, but unfortunately, the light does not show the colors and patterns…
laelaps | May 27, 2008
Paleo-artist Michael Skrepnick
It is difficult for me to pick up a book about dinosaurs and not find some gorgeous artwork by artist Michael Skrepnick gracing the pages, if not the cover, of the book. He has created beautiful restorations of the distant past for Nature, National Geographic, Project Exploration, and many books about prehistoric life, making him one of the most hard-working and well-known paleo-illustrators around today. (For those who have been itching to see some of his new artwork, Michael has some good news for you. His website is going to be rebuilt and stocked up with…
laelaps | May 26, 2008Tomorrow I'll be putting up the next installment of my series of paleo interviews, this time with artist Michael Skrepnick. In the meantime, why not check out his website for a look at some of his work, which includes a restoration of the recently announced Gerobatrachus hottoni.
pharyngula | May 23, 2008I think I have a new favorite t-shirt supplier: Retropolis Transit Authority. Not only are the designs well done and stylish, but any designer who has both "mad geniuses" and "space pirates" as categories (not to mention "demented futuristic housewives," which I somehow find highly titillating) is a winner in my book.
Remember: Father's Day is coming up, and what dad wouldn't want an "I still want my flying car" t-shirt?
(via Schlock Mercenary)
pontiff | May 22, 2008The telectroscope:
Hardly anyone knows that a secret tunnel runs deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. In May 2008, more than a century after it was begun, the tunnel will finally be completed. Immediately afterwards, an extraordinary optical device called a Telectroscope will be installed at both ends which will miraculously allow people to see right through the Earth from London to New York and vice versa.
aardvarchaeology | May 21, 2008
My talented on-line buddy, Birmingham-based design student Tatyana Mircheva, has a new photo blog where she puts up some really interesting stuff. This series is a feminist commentary on the superficiality and narcissism of the beauty industry. The young woman worships her own reflection in the mirror, turning gradually into a Playboy Bunny. It's the same theme as in Mircheva's bike crash photo: young women aestheticising themselves to death, becoming pretty corpses.
[More blog entries about art, photography; konst, fotografi.]
grrlscientist | May 6, 2008tags: slow motion raspberries, silliness, opera, streaming video
This streaming video is pure silliness. Opera meets flappy lips. Hell yeah. [1:04].
grrlscientist | May 2, 2008tags: Microcosmos, Radiohead, music, All I Need, nature, streaming video
This wonderful streaming video shows an unlikely combination of a series of clips from the 1996 French film, Microcosmos, with Radiohead's "All I Need" as the accompanying soundtrack. It's really beautiful. The editor writes; "The sensual pace and delicate melody of the song reminded me of a world much smaller than ours, with all the love and violence we experience. All credits go to the film and Radiohead. Hope you like." [3:54].
pharyngula | April 18, 2008I never thought I could actually like a portrait of George W. Bush, but this one isn't bad. Go ahead and click on the link — the overall portrait is fine, and you may not notice anything at all disturbing (well, except for the fact that it is George W. Bush) on seeing it. You might not want to click on the links to details in the image, though; this picture is a collage made from pictures of anuses snipped out of porn magazines.
It ain't pretty, but it's art that speaks the truth.
laelaps | April 17, 2008"The Spine" by Michael Spence (collected in The Spine) [hat-tip to Vasha for sending this along]
"The fossilised vertebrae of a large dolphin-like reptile dating from 150 million years ago were recently discovered in this mining town." -- Australian travel brochure
The ichthyosaur,
Like ancient water
It flashed through,
Dried to dust. A few
Pieces of spine
Dug from a mine
At Coober Pedy
Are the only
Remains. They glint
Iridescent
Blue, purple;
Bits of gold fill
Every crack.
The Jurassic
Faded: the reptile
Changed to opals.
Thirty-three
Vertebrae
Like those here --
One for each year
I've lived…
neurophilosophy | April 13, 2008
One of the events organized for Bora's visit to London was a fantastic behind-the-scenes tour of the Darwin Centre, a newly built section of the Natural History Museum which houses the museum's researchers and contains a vast collection of around 70 million bottled animal specimens.
The Darwin Centre's tank room is a most remarkable place. This is where the largest specimens are stored, in glass jars and metal containers whose lids are opened and closed with a system of chains and pulleys suspended from the ceiling.
The tank room mostly contains fish specimens, including a…
laelaps | April 8, 2008
The other day I wrote about reconstructions of Camarasaurus made in the 1920's by H.F. Osborn, C.G. Mook, and W.K. Gregory at the AMNH based upon previously collected material obtained by E.D. Cope. Dan Varner was kind enough to send me an image of the reconstruction and to point out that copy of it is in the Rutgers geology museum. When I eventually obtain a new camera I'll take some photos.
voltagegate | April 7, 2008When I was traveling around the country for media conferences in college, the very first thing I did upon arrival was find the aquarium, the zoo and the natural history museum, find how to get there via public transportation and go. I've been living in Atlanta for about a month now, and I haven't done any of the above.
Why? I blame money, mostly. The Georgia Aquarium, which is supposedly beautiful and engaging, is also exquisitely expensive. So is the zoo. And the art and natural history museums. We were casually planning on taking a trip to the aquarium yesterday, but including parking fees…
grrlscientist | April 7, 2008tags: elephant picasso, wow, animal behavior, streaming video
This is an absolutely amazing video of an elephant painting a picture of .. an elephant holding a flower! [8:28]
laelaps | April 4, 2008This morning I set off for the MIND08: The Design and the Elastic Mind Symposium in New York City expecting discussions of the ways in which science influences art (and vice versa). What I got was... well... I don't really know what I got. The first two presentations I saw about the shape and origin of the universe were pretty good and at least entertaining, but after that came a spate of nearly incomprehensible presentations about art that somehow involved various mathematic theorems and natural designs.
The put it bluntly, most of the artists did not know how to effectively communicate.…
laelaps | April 3, 2008
A cartoon of Diplodocus from Simpson's letter. The accompanying text reads (starting at the head); Diplodocus longus; CRANIUM, or to use the technical term, BEAN; Beaming Orbs; Neck like a tail; The Rest of Him (or Her as the case may be); Diplodocus tootsies; Relative size of a man (Homo sap) of relative size; Irregularity due to being dropped by nurse in infirmary; Tail like a neck; (From a late Jurassic Tintype).
Earlier today I reviewed Oliver Hay's ideas about the habits and posture of Diplodocus, and being that today was already history-heavy I thought it fitting to put up a poem by…
laelaps | April 3, 2008
The reconstructions of Brachysuchus and Rhytiodon compared. From Case 1931.
In the winter of 1931, University of Michigan paleontologist E.C. Case commissioned artist Carleton W. Angell to bring two phytosaurs to life. Even though phytosaurs as a group were still poorly defined, Case recognized that there seemed to be at least two morphotypes represented by different skull reconstruction. According to Case's summary, Rhytiodon (now called Rutiodon) represented a more lightly-built form that probably fed upon fish, while the more massive Brachysuchus (now often called Angistorhinus)…