Retro-Jurassic Park : Vision of Dinosaurs of The Past
This weekend, my two companions at Heritage Park, Jeff and Dan, found an odd book on dinosaurs for sale. It was in the general store, and despite the fact that the park is about the old Canadian West post 1870s, the dino book was there. They started to jump around their flights of fancy, as both are artist, and asked, "How cool would it be to have the film Jurassic Park re-made with the vision of what the dinosaurs looked like in the past? Retro-Dinos!"
I'm no film maker, but as a historian, I can dig up (he-he pun) some bones to show you.
Just laying around catching rays.
Let's start with one of the first public displays of dinosaurs ever done. The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs were a series of sculptures of extinct animals and dinos in the Crystal Palace Park in London. Built in 1852-54, these are the first dinosaur sculptures in the world. They still exist and can be seen in a part in Bromley. No, these guys are not up to date, but they would have looked cool on screen. Here's a cool short film on them from 1922.
Because it's always cool to scare the crap out of your kid.
Maybe on would be Gertie the Dinosaur - It was made in 1914 by Winsor Makay and is the first time a dinosaur appears in film.
Very adorable, she dances and is very sweet. Completely unlike the fellow below:
Whales with teeth: try and kill this Japanese Whalers!
The painting above is of a Basilosaurus (Zeuglodon) “Whales
of the Eocene Seas” by Charles R. Knight (1874-1953). He is famous for his ground-breaking depictions of
dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, and wildlife in
general. Millions of people are exposed annually to this
artist's works in major institutions around the world
including the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Knight is one of the reasons we see dinosaurs as we do.
The next one is very pretty from the late 1800s, where the timeline was pretty vague still on when human and dinosaurs lived. I like this one because the humans are very Greece-roman. The dino fighting for his life is a Plesiosaurus. It was mistakenly believed, and still is, by many that it is a dinosaur but it actually was a marine lizard. It also is a general classification for many of these lizards.
I'll get you, you cloth wearing fleshy things!
We've got some land ones, some in the water, so let's get one for the air. This weird looking thing is a Ramphorynchus, not a partially de-boned chicken. In 1869, french science writer Victor Meunier wrote an overview of extinct animals called L'Animaux d'Autrefois (Animals of the Past). Three years later, William Henry Davenport Adams published a translation of Meunier's text, expanded and revised for his English audience, called Life in the Primeval World. Adams writes that he believes it to be the first paleontology book published in English for a lay audience.The illustration below is from that book.
Turkey or reptile, your guess is as good as mine, but he's at least smiling.
Well, if anyone knows if there's going to be a Jurassic 10, let me know and I can send them this list.
Monday, 7 April 2014
Friday's Monday Post - Lost History of Computer Icons
I was busy Friday with returning to work after getting my gallbladder out...eeeek! But I did manage to find some interesting forgotten history. Much thanks to Priceonomics for giving me something cool to read.
Computers are now like other appliances: we use them in our daily lives, almost everyone in North America has one or access to one, and we take it for granted that it will be easy to use. Part of why it's so easy is the interface, including the icons we've come to know and mostly love. (I still can't stand that Microsoft magnifying glass that would talk to you)
Who designs these icons? Why do we never mention them in reference to the history of computing?
Susan Kare is one of the few who have received some recognition in geek circles, but not enough in the wider world for my taste.
As a fine artist with a PhD, Kare was hoping to get commissions for high end art works, when an old friend called up and asked if she'd work on some graphics for a new computer company he was working for. That was Apple in 1980. She admits that she had no computer graphic experience but learned on the job while at Apple, and then following Steven Jobs to his next venture at NExt. She designed the first proportionally spaced digital font family, and icons. The garbage can, the paint brush, the little scissors, the OS icons...that was all Kare. All in little pixelated dots. It was an art form now, with character and whimsy. So much of what we see today on a Mac is because of her initial icon work.
One of Kare's early sketches
Kare continues to work in the field. She has designed the icons for Logitech, Paypal, IBM and Facebook - including the gifts we use to send to each other like mad. About her current work, she said -
“My philosophy has not really changed -- I really try to develop symbols that are meaningful and memorable. I started designing monochrome icons using a 32 x 32 pixel icon editor that Andy Hertzfeld created. Subsequently I've been able to take advantage of more robust tools and higher screen resolution, and also design vector images in Illustrator. But design problems are solved by thinking about context and metaphor -- not by tools.”
I strongly urge you to go check out Kare's website and look at all the amazing graphics she has created and continues to produce. You will recognize many from your daily internet life!
