The Scorpion King..

Actually it's name means Scorpion Hunter. Skorpiovenator was one of those freaky Abelisaurs. Here's an interesting article on the find. That way I don't have to type stuff and try to eat at the same time;)

I know they look freaky.... but I like it!

And Baron, it's NOT a harpy;)

Best,

Brett

Torvosaurus Rex?

This is the standard restoration of Torvosaurus, found in the Midwest of the US, it was a 30 to 40 foot long theropod. Unlike Allosaurus, this guy had a big head with larger teeth. Sort of like an early version of T.rex, it hunted the large sauropods like Diplodocus and Camerasaurus. Being so large Allosaurus was it's only real competition.









This is the skeleton of Torvosaurus gotten from the web, I can't remember the site, sorry about that, but it might have been 2 Guys Fossils. Notice the long head an big teeth.












Now this summer a new specimen was found in Europe, it was claimed to also be a a Torvosaurus since at this time Pangea was still together (all the continents were one smushed together land mass) so dinosaurs from N. America could go any were. Cool. But the thing is if you look at this restoration draw from the new skull presented, you'll notice the skulls are pretty different.









Notice how short the new skull (below) is, notice the bosses and nasal ridge are different from the N. American specimen. It actually looks like a new species. But here's the kicker, the new skull is based off of a fragmented partial skull consisting mainly of the maxilla. The part behind the nasal opening and in front of the eye. If you compare the two skulls the part is pretty much the same, so why is the rest of the skull so different?













It looks to me like they were a little to influenced by Tyrannosaurus rex (shown below.) It might just be an accident but the new skull restoration looks an awful lot like Sue. Maybe they wanted to crown a new king in Europe were the fossil record is spotty at best.

That's all for now, a new Abelisaur, a new Dromeosaur and another Spinosaurus later:)

Best,

Brett

New project teaser

I just got the final approval on this, so here is the left half of the first promo piece. Monsters!

Baron, I know that DB is planning on doing a very similar marketing strategy for this project as they did for Anita Blake.

Erin, I got the dinos scanned. So I should be doing some posts about it this week... or rather this week end;)

Computer Graphics Mark, could you send me a link to your blog? Jess changed the comments and now the names don't link to the profiles so I can't find it. My brother (also a CG guy) wanted to see:)

And they did wind up putting in a Festivus Pole in Washington:)

Best,

Brett

Happy Holidays to All Our Readers

Click to embiggen.

Eustreptospondylus

Another one I found on the computer that I didn't upload. From merry old Briton;) I'll call him Arthur.

Apparently it's now thought to be an early spinosaur, you know before the funky heads. He's managed to capture a little plesiosaur and is letting everyone know about it. Mid Jurassic I believe:)

Best,

Brett

Blog Hits

We usually get a lot of hits on the blog from Brett's entry on Wikipedia. Lately the Biden post got a lot of hits, and the Tamiflu post gets hits in cycles; there will be four or five a day for a week and then nothing for a while. The Dinosaurs are also very popular.

Today we got one from Tuscon, Arizona, searching for "brett booth Jess Ruffner-Booth address tx." Stalkers? Or maybe they just want to send us a Xmas card?

A quicky sketch

I drew this in February, since I haven't put up any new dinosaur stuff I thought I'd stick it up. A hypothetical baby Spinosaurus eating a bug.

Best,

Brett

If You Have Ever Done Anything Totally Pointless...

...just because you can, this video is for you. HT Effective Measure.

A Little Xmas Music

The local radio stations have been playing Xmas music since Thanksgiving, having added five or six holiday songs into their regular daily rotation of about twenty songs. So yay! We get to hear the same thing over and over again. Like usual, only now with added Xmas! Here's two songs I like that I haven't heard yet this year.

Thou Shall NOT be a Hypocrite!

An Atheist sign was stolen from the capitol building of Illinois. This is not the first time this has happened this year, it also happened in the capitol of Washington. Both states have been getting complaints from who, you guessed it the Christians. In Washington the Christians sued the State last year to get a nativity scene put up. The State settled and in the settlement they now allow ANYONE to put up a display, this year an Atheist groups did just that. But I have to wonder, if we are supposed to get our morals from on high and these Christians are really so holy, why they can't reist the urge to steal. I mean this should be an easy one, but I guess their morals apply only to their way of thinking, not to any one elses. You fight for the right to display your religion on government property but pitch a hissy and actually steal from someone else trying to do the same thing. Nice, how very religious of you.

Now I think the sign the Atheists put up is a bit inflammatory, but I think that's the point. To get all to see that maybe the government should keep neutral on this as it is supposed to. No religious (or non religious) displays on state property. The sign might be a bit over the top, but you don't see the Atheists steeling things from the nativity displays. (On a side note, someone wants to stick up a Festivus Pole as well. I think THAT would be funny and everyone would like it... well everyone except the Catholic League and Poppa Bear.)

For the record, the Christians took the holiday from the pagans, they had the decorated trees and yule logs long before the Christians showed up. These are symbols of the winter solstice festival. It is known that Jesus (if real) would have been born late spring, early summer. Christmas has now turned back into a secular holiday, a time to get together with friends and family, eat and exchange gifts.

So is their a war on Christmas? Nope, it's all in Poppa Bear's head. The reason people prefer Happy Holidays now is that it's pretty much all inclusive as there are a number of holidays for a number of faiths all around the same time.

Best,

Brett

Coelophysis

Ugh.. Tired today. My head is killing me so I can't work. I need to scan stuff but I have to get this promo piece done first...

Anyways, 2 new dinosaurs have been found, one in South America that sort of fits between Eoraptor and this guy Coelophysis. And then a new sauropod from the Sahara about 65 feet long.

Hopefully new dinosaur pictures this week!

I saw Wanted, it was pretty good. I don't get why everyone loves Angelina Jolee, she's way to skinny for me, she needs a sammich. I was hoping for a new Matrix, but was disappointed.

I have yet to watch the new Batman, X-Files, or Hancock. Hopefully Batman tonight as this is the season of nothing on TV.

Best,

Brett

Keep your teddy bears under close guard tonight...

...because undead plush have come back from hell to walk the earth. Buy one for your sweetie at ZombieRunner (actually a running, as in faster than jogging, store.) It's kind of cute. I wouldn't let dogs play with it, though, you'd never get the pieces back.

Merry X-Mas!

Since it's the season for religious iconography I thought I'd post this... Just kidding, honestly I'm not really sure were the idea of the Grim Reaper comes from... but this isn't him. It is in fact, a character design for my next project. Lots of demons and monsters for me to have fun with:)


Best,

Brett

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled

From Wondermark. HT Lassie Get Help.
The rest of their cards are equally clever, check them out.

A Funny

From Flea Snobbery:

HT: Pharyngula

TV: Revenge of the Nerds

I love nerds (the preferred term in our household is 'geek.') I married two of them. (Not at the same time.) Geeks and nerds on TV or in the movies, are, for us geekophiles, a kind of private joke. You always know somebody 'just like that.' (And there are many kinds of geeks, you can see an entire subspecies of geek, the Dog Geek, in the movie Best in Show.) There is plenty of cross-over in geekdom, so one kind of geek can certainly relate to and enjoy another kind. One of Brett's favorite shows is the Big Bang Theory, which features science (physics) geeks, which are by default comic/sci fi geeks as well. Interestingly, they spend a lot of time getting the science right:
"UCLA Professor of Physics and Astronomy David Saltzberg is the science man behind the curtain, and many of the punchlines. He also writes equations on the set’s white boards. "Physicists love to nitpick, so for the 100 in the 10 million people who might watch the show, I try to get it as close to 100% accurate as I can," Saltzberg commented in an interview with USA Today."

Incidentally, I enjoy this show a lot more now that Leonard seems to have given up his pursuit of Penny. Sorry, that was a relationship doomed to failure.

Too funny!

Free Comic Book Day

A cover I was asked to do for Free Comic Book Day. Harry Dresden, some guy from the Warriors, and a super heroine. All three are in the DB free comic book.

And no, I don't know when FCBD is.

Best,

Brett

Crylophosaurus redux

I've been informed that Crylophosaurus has now been placed into the Dilophosaur group of dinosaurs. I couldn't get a strait answer if it's now thought to look more like Dilophosaurus or not (they only have a single skull that's from behind the nostril back so it's not known if it had the distinctive nasal kink of the group.) This species was found in the Antarctic area, the name means 'frozen crested lizard.'

On another note, Jess has informed me that's I've made the list of American Atheists on Wikipedia. I noted that John Byrne is also on the list. Funny world. I have no idea how to update my Wiki entry ( Steve Miller of Freaks! fame did the original) so I'll have to trick Jess into doing it;)

Best,

Brett