SCARY Links of CREEPY Interest

Welcome to what is effectively the Year Without a Halloween.  Stupid pandemic.  I'm determined to keep the spooky season alive even if I can't pass out candy or keep a running tally of what costumes I see most often, always a fun pop-culture barometer.  Here are some mostly Halloweeny (or not) links for you.

*  Boundless Realms - I don't think I've met a single foolish mortal, Disney Park geek or otherwise, who doesn't adore the Haunted Mansion.  Foxx, of the fantastic Passport to Dreams website, has just written a gorgeous book on the Mansion and it is a must-have. 

* Staying in the Disney Parks world, the always excellent Defunctland released a fantastic documentary about the original EPCOT plans.

* You're Wrong About is my new podcast obsession that goes over historical events, famous figures, and urban myths that, it turns out, we got all wrong.  It's fascinating, if not exactly light listening.  Get ready to scream in anger at various decibels at least once.

* If you need some cuteness after that, I suggest Kyra Kupetsky's creepy-cute "Chickn Nuggit" short-shorts.

* No stupid pandemic is going to stop the guys at Sludge Central from doing their annual Halloween special.

* I am so, so happy that people are starting to rediscover "Michael Jackson's Halloween", if only because it proves I didn't hallucinate all those years ago.  Have a podcast and a video essay.

*You want more Michael Jackson Halloween specials and putting "Thriller" on an infinite loop isn't enough?  Channel KRT just reminded the world of the truly insane "Ghosts" which is... a thing... that exists...

* "Into the Spiderverse" is that rare movie that gets better and better every time I watch it and the latest Film Critic Hulk documentary goes into a deep dive as to why. 

* Saturday morning and weekday morning cartoons are coming back thanks to MeTV, who will be airing blocks of classic theatrical cartoons starting in January.  Consider this your early DVR alert.

* For the first time in decades, the Peanuts holiday specials are not airing on broadcast TV, which is even more upsetting than it looks on the surface according to Emily VanDerWerff's report.

* Spectember is well in the past but I'd be remiss if I didn't share Alphynix's fantastic series of spec creatures and the history of Speculative Biology.

* "Eli Roth's History of Horror" is back for another season and I'd be very happy if we got to do this every year please and thank you.

* And if that wet your appetite for horror movie docs, I also love The Kill Count, which, while it is exactly what it sounds like, is also a surprisingly good kind of a Cliff Notes of gory horror for wimps.

* As far as horror movies of a different sort, Xiran did an excellent tweetmenary of the "Mulan" remake, effectively saving us all thirty dollars.

* The Halloween Jukebox is back!  Without a shuffle feature, sadly, but with 250 songs for your Halloween!

* Finally, Glen Keane has a new movie out and he sat down for an interview to talk about it, "Tangled", "Treasure Planet", and more.

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Art of the week!  A little Fairy Dragon.

It's been a long time / I shouldn't have left you / without Links of Interest to step to.

Haven't done one of these in years so let's get right into it.

* - First of all, it is Science Art Tweet-Storm Day!

TODAY BEGINS THE #SCIART TWEETSTORM. PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR THE DELUGE.

— IAmSciArt (@IAmSciArt) March 1, 2017

* - Also, if you are a picture-drawer of prehistoric life, go take the Paleoart Survey.

* - The Beasts of the Mesozoic Raptor Series figures are available for pre-order and darn me if I know which one to pick.

* - Also in "Shut up and take my money" news, look at Safari Ltd's new Tyrannosaurus rex!  Look at him!

* - There have been loads of great articles on TetZoo recently, but my favorite is this post on Paleoart Memes, what they are, where they come from, and how they're sort of an inadvertent record of the prevailing (or, interestingly, NOT) theories of their time.

* - And that article is based on a lecture Darren Naish gave during the Popularizing Paleontology event back in September.  The whole shebang is available on the event's official website.  (And now I have even more questions about "The Good Dinosaur"...)

* - Do you like post-apocalyptic fiction?  Yeah, who doesn't these days?  Start reading T. Michael Keese's "Paleocene" already!

* - Speaking of webcomics, there's never been a better time to catch up with Tom Siddell's "Gunnerkrigg Court".  Dude just wrapped up a story arc from ten years ago! 

* - If you'd like some instant inspiration, check out Burger Fiction's fantastic montage of every Best Cinematography Oscar winner in chronological order.  Their Best Special Effects montage is a stunner as well.

* - The Annie Awards inspired me to check out the work of Caroline Leaf and my God, why am I just learning about her?

* - We all need some chillout music, so why not head to E82's archive of EPCOT ambience from days past (days of future past, one might even say)?  They just added themes from CommuniCore/InnoVentions and the Horizons soundtrack is a must-have.

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Art of the Day!

Everybody loves the Chubby Tigers.

I've Been Extremely Busy Lately So Here Come Links Of Interest!

Without further ado...

* - First of all, Flying Trilobite has a new website!

* - Ethan Kocak of "The Black Mudpuppy" has been drawing an outstanding "Tetrapod Zoology" comic.

* - Meredith Woerner of io9 pretty much confirmed my worst fears about "Maleficent".

* - Try not to cry during this Blank on Blank animation of one of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last interviews.

* - Between the latest entry in the Laser Age series and the Movie of the Week features about "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", the Dissolve has been knocking it out of the park.

* - The bizarre psychology of false beliefs.

* - Tough Pigs is working their way through "The Jim Henson Hour" in it's entirety and reviewing every episode.

* - Michael Crawford of Progress City did a nice overview of the history of the Disney Afternoon.

* - We know a few more plot details for "Jurassic Park 4ever After" and... they're *a little* reassuring.  A *little*.

* - Passport to Dreams' "The Age of Not Believing" explores a very odd period in the history of (mostly live-action) Disney feature films.

* - Why scary stories are good for kids, via Muddy Colors.

* - The new podcast KnightRaptor is quite good.

* - It's no news that Cartoon Network has a weird (to put it kindly) attitude towards toys, but man, they screwed up big by not producing this astounding thing.

* - And finally, here's a circa 1988 promotional video of Sullivan/Bluth studios in Ireland.  It's fascinating, yet sad in a way that's hard to put into words.

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Sketch of the Day! A Unicorn for Sketch Dailies:

Links Of Interest - Prelude to Holiday Shenanigans Edition!

Man, there's a ton to catch up on here.

* - First off, all the cool artists are doing it so everybody reading this draw and submit a happy partying creature for the Party Bueno project!  The deadline's November 30'th so get to it.  Details and submission instructions here.  My little guy is Party Member 359!

* - Second off, go download All Your Yesterdays if you haven't already.  Make a donation and download lots of copies!  Give them to all your impossible-to-buy-for people this holiday season!

* - Third off, I hate being kind of a shill but TODAY ONLY if you use the promotional code BLKFRIDAY983 over at my Zazzle Store, you can get half-off mugs and t-shirts! Go get an Awesome Overload shirt for all your other impossible-to-buy-for friends!

* - Fourth off, Mental Floss managed to score an interview with Bill Watterson!?

* - Fifth off, Dr. Bob Bakker is blogging for the Huston Museum of Natural Science and wrote a lovely tribute to the classic "World We Live In" issue of Life.

* - Sixth off, now we know what Deinocheirus looked like!  Now we know what Deinocheirus looked like!  NOW WE KNOW WHAT DEINOCHEIRUS LOOKED LIKE!!!???!!!

* - Seventh off (I will stop doing this), I spent much of the summer catching up with the lovely Tobolowsky Files podcast and lo and behold there is a new episode fresh on the feed.

* - A sobering message from DinoGoss: We're all drawing dinosaur feet wrong.  Probably.

* - If you met R. L. Stine, would you think to ask him about his involvement in the Nick Jr. show "Eureeka's Castle"?  Well, thankfully, the Onion AV Club did, and everyone is the better for it.

* - The entire series of essays from the Dissolve's Movie of the Week features for both "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai" and "Kirikou and the Sorceress" are terrific, but my favorite parts were the staff's reminiscing of favorite strange movies discovered at the video store and favorite unusual animated features.

* - And for fans of the late, lamented "My Year/World of Flops" series at the AV Club, Nathin Rabin's new series "Forgotbusters" (basically, movies we all assumed were flops but made the top 25 of their year) is outstanding, especially the "Space Jam" and "Jack" entries.

* - Danny Horn of ToughPigs traveled to Japan in search of unique Muppet-related stuff and discovered, among other things, that somebody at Universal Studios Japan learned about Duffy the Disney Bear and evidently thought, "We need something just like that -- but how can we make it more unintentionally unsettling?"

* - Forbes ruminated on the long, strange history of Dreamworks animation.

* - I got a serious Where the Wild Things Are vibe from this Hyperbole and a Half comic.

* - The way Disney markets its animated films these days is pretty confusing, but at least it isn't as insane as this promotional song for "Robin Hood".

* - Tony DiTerlizzi reminisced and posted a gallery of the Joanne Scribner cover art for the Dell Yearling editions of Beverly Cleary's books.

* - And Tim Brayton finished his review of every single direct-to-video Disney sequel and managed to come out the other end (mostly) in one piece!  All of his Disney reviews, including those for the sequels, are listed here.

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Sketch of the Day! I thought, "Hey, everybody else is drawing Deinocheirus, why aren't I?"

Links Of Interest - What Am I Even Doing Anymore Edition!

Right. 

* - First off, the Savannah College of Art and Design has a stunning collection of Don Bluth animation art, including art from never-made films, some of which they have recently posted online.

* - Jim Hill wrote this touching article about Boston.

* - Tom Bancroft wrote an evenhanded reaction to the Disney animation studio layoffs.

* - Filmspotting SVU watched Don Hertzfeldt's "It's Such a Beautiful Day" and discussed it and other unusual animated features.

* - "Futurama" has been re-cancelled.  I'm surprisingly not too upset about this.  They had a good run.

* - Everything is Terrible just wrapped up Puppet Week and it is incredible.

* - Tim Brayton of Antagony and Ecstasy wrote a guest post for The Film Experience reflecting on "Jurassic Park".

* - Mark Witton basically wondered if the word "reptile" even means anything anymore.

* - Mark also wrote the blog post I've always wanted to.

* - If any one movie begged for a muckraking, nobody involved in the making of the damned thing is spared, everyone is called-out on their WTFery, "How the hell did this even happen" Final Cut/Devil's Candy/Monster-style "Behind the Scenes" book, it's..... Well, it's "Radio Flyer" (1992). If we're talking about any ONE movie, I mean.  But until that happens, here's a long article that helps explain why the "Super Mario Bros" movie is the way it is.

* - We're getting a movie based on the Bone Wars!

* - Start using these obsolete words!  The owls demand it!

Links of Interest - Snowed In Edition!

Yeah, you know the drill by now.

* - First off, go help Project Daspletosaurus somehow!

* - Also, help /Filmcast's raise money for FilmAid!

* - Passport to Dreams Old and New has written what may be the definitive last word on "Captain EO".

* - Both Total Media Bridge and The Onion AV Club did recent retrospectives on "Ducktales".

* - Total Media Bridge also revisited "Loonatics Unleashed" so that we don't have to.

* - The AV Club also prompted a lively discussion of media that is hard or impossible to experience.

* - Don Carson's blog has a treasure trove of wonderful Disneyland concept art.

* - Andreas Deja shared some beautiful character design sketches by Milt Kahl of what would have likely been a very different version of "The Black Cauldron".

* - Speaking of "Black Cauldron", according to Parkeology, Tokyo Disneyland once had a unique interactive walk-through attraction based on the film for years and years.

* - As far as new stuff in the Disney parks, after reading this FutureProbe post, I am not looking forward to the fallout from My Magic+...

* - Filmspotting SVU did a terrific episode about mostly-obscure Disney films.

* - I am kind of in love with this Uncanny X-Men cover art by Stuart Immonen.

* - Haven't seen "Cabin in the Woods" yet?  Fix that immediately and then read this Dinosaur Dracula post about its best scene.

* - So... "The Stooge".  I've said this before and I'll say it again, I'll believe that a "Roger Rabbit" sequel/spin-off is actually happening when I am sitting in the theater and actually watching it. 

And here are my results for the Great Backyard Bird Count weekend! Not the most disappointing GBBC I've ever had, but still kind of a bust:

9 species total
2 Mourning Dove
2 Downy Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
15 American Crow
2 Black-capped Chickadee
2 European Starling
2 Northern Cardinal
1 House Finch
50 House Sparrow

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Sketch of the Day! A while ago, on Twitter, Brian Switek wondered aloud why he couldn't combine "Downton Abbey" with a simultaneously-airing documentary on giant squids. How could I resist? Ladies and gentlemen, "Downton Squids":

Links of Interest - Disney Christmas Hangover Edition!

If you were paying attention to my Twitter last week, you know that my family loved Christmastime in Walt Disney World so much that we went back again to catch all the interesting-sounding stuff we'd missed.  We're back, we're exhausted,and we're in charge of the big Christmas party this year which takes place this weekend and we haven't even decorated yet.  So you, dear readers, are getting a Links of Interest.

* - All Yesterdays is here!  Here's Brian Switek's review.

* - We also have Matt Martyniuk's gorgeous-looking Field Guide to Mesozoic Birds to look forward to!

* - Adam and Ifi finally finished their chronological review of every Animorphs novel ever.  Aw, I'm going to miss this.

* - So... dragons, I guess?

* - Also, clowns, for some reason.  Everybody loves clowns, right?

* - The good news is, Disney and Netflix are playing nice again!  The bad news is, we're going to have to wait a while for the good stuff to roll in.

* - Ramping up for the release of "The Hobbit", Antagony and Ecstasy is reviewing every readily available adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's books, and along with the movies we're all familiar with, this includes some deeply strange films indeed.

* - For the moment, we can breathe a sigh of relief: we're getting traditional animation in the "Roger Rabbit" sequel... if we ever even get a "Roger Rabbit" sequel, I guess.

* - Tough Pigs sat down with "A Special Sesame Street Christmas" and learned very quickly that... well, for a given definition of "special"...

* -  The Onion AV Club listed their favorite opening titles.

* - For reasons known only to himself, Derek Walborn is illustrating "Jurassic Park" in its entirety as a webcomic.

* - Dinosaur Dracula has *sort of* brought back the tradition of Playmobil Advent calendars.  Matt also found the greatest Christmas decoration ever created.

* - TouringPlans started a lively debate over whether or not it's appropriate to surprise kids with a Disney trip.

* - East-coast dinosaurs need more love and Asher Elbein complies with lovely renderings of Alabama archosaurs.

* - And Feriowind did a series of illustrations where... you know what?  Hulk is friends with Jigglypuff and Thor has a Joltik on his head.  That's all you need to know.

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Sketch of the Day

I'd be more enthusiastic about the whole "OMG Dragons" viral Disney thing if there was some guarantee it'd pay off with this:

Links of Interest - Disney Cruise Recovery Edition!

Well, I just got back from my family's very first Disney Cruise Line experience.  It'll take a while to sort through everything and get the trip report accomplished.  So until then, have a good old Links of Interest post!

* - First off, new "Hobbit" trailer!  New "Hobbit" trailer!  New "Hobbit" trailer!!!

* - Oh dear lord, this XKCD strip...  Don't miss the zoomable version.

* - My Year of Flops takes on the biggest flop of the year and attempts to parse the thinking behind the truly insane "Oogieloves' Big Balloon Adventure".

* - Speaking of insane ideas for movies, Warner Bros. (*sigh*) is going to make yet another attempt (*sigh*) at a Looney Tunes movie (*sigh*...  Believe me, I'd like to be optimistic for this. But after years of "Space Jam", "Baby Looney Tunes", "Loonatics Unleashed", "Back in Action", those recent weird Flash and CGI cartoons, and other, worse things, I'm pretty much conditioned to anticipate any officially sanctioned new thing involving these characters with dread.)

* - If you happen to be at Walt Disney World on the week of October 1, don't miss the special events being held to celebrate Epcot's 30'th anniversary.

* - Passport to Dreams Old and New shares the strange history of the segment of WDW's Magic Kingdom now known as Storybook Circus, observations on it's current incarnation, as well as where the look of Toontown in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" might have come from.

* - Holy crap, "Saving Mr. Banks" is actually happening!  With Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, yet!

* - Geek Dad reviews the "Chuck Jones' Mouse Chronicles" DVD collection.

* - TetZoo informs us that iguanas may have a far more complicated social life than you'd think.  (Yes, I squeed at the fraternal behaviors.)

* - Emily Willoughby met a Green Heron and pondered the implications of heron necks.

* - Comics Alliance brought attention to concept artist Ashley Stoddard, who in turn came up with an alternate version of "Willow" that would have been fascinating.

* - Tor.com shared another inspirational seasonal art gallery, this one, naturally, themed to autumn (some NSFW images).

* - I'm starting to put together my four-part(!?!) Disney Cruise trip report.  Here's the beginning of a much more cynical (but hilarious) take on one of the newer boats by TeevTee at Parkeology.

* - I finally got to see "Brave" recently.  I was going to write a full review but Lili Loofbourow's essay, "Just Another Princess Movie" expresses my feelings more eloquently than I ever could (my review would have just been, "Y'all are high!  'Brave' is great!" over and over.)  It is by far the most intelligent reaction to the film I've seen.  (Spoilers galore!)

* - Tim Brayton of Antagony and Ecstasy has just launched into his own Disney sequel marathon.  Given his hilarious take on "Belle's Magical World" (oh my God, the whole bit about Crane the writing paper), we are in for a hell of a ride.  I wish him Godspeed, and good luck!

* - If you're a "Brave Little Toaster" fan, you're going to want to see the film's director Jerry Rees' extensive website, filled with memorabilia and information.   Rees also recently hosted an open Q+A with fans.  (LOL at the people who thought Toaster was male...)

* -  And finally, The Rotoscopers/Animation Addicts posted their incredible interview with Don Bluth, in which he talks about his work on "Sleeping Beauty", his surprising new career as a teacher and theater director, and gets downright philosophical about art.  Definitely a must-listen!

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Sketch of the day!

A Salute to All Nations, but Mostly Links of Interest!

* - Well, first of all, Sciurumimus Sciurumimus Sciurumimus!!!

* - Witmer Lab made the Ghetie's Atlas of Avian Anatomy available as a big, giant PDF file!

* - Speaking of avian anatomy, I am suddenly in the market for a fairly expensive book.

* - Passport to Dreams wrote a very detailed history of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", its influence on Italian horror (!!!), and in particular the strange case of "Snow White's Scary Adventures".

* - Long-Forgotten also wrote about "Snow White's Scary Adventures" and its possible influences on the Haunted Mansion.

* - And while we are on the subject of "Snow White's Scary Adventures", here is a story that is at once deeply strange, utterly fascinating, and a genuine crowning moment of heartwarming.

* - If you need a drink after all those rides, Party Through the Parks recently redesigned sections of their website.

* - I recently discovered Tom Ruegger's blog "Cartooniacs".  Here, he shares the story of a not-too-well-thought-out promotion for "Animaniacs".

* - Tetrapod Zoology has just written a very long article on our old friend David Peters.

* - And speaking of TetZoo, after reading this, you will never think of "Turtle Power" the same way again...

* - Deep Sea News explains how the Cretaceous coastline impacts modern-day politics.

* - Muddy Colors shared some advice on creating a portfolio.

* - You can now watch every single episode of "Reading Rainbow" on YouTube.

* - Time for some weirdness.  This unsettling-in-a-way-that's-hard-to-put-into-words song poses a philosophical question that has never occurred to me.

* - Here's a fantastically animated short that shows how an oddly-named Pokemon move actually works (NSFW language).

* - io9 shared a list of genre films to watch out for in the coming years (including several animated films I had forgotten to list last weeks.)

* - And finally, here is a fine gallery of summery art!

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Sketch of the Day!

Here's an older study of a young Bald Eagle:

Yeah, Links of Interest.

I may have big news for the end of the month and therefore I am quite busy.  This, of course, means you get some Links of Interest.  And since it has been a while since I last did this, you are going to get a lot of them:

* - You have to admire Don Bluth for never giving up on the "Dragon's Lair" movie he's been trying to get off the ground for years and years.  He recently talked to Cartoon Brew about it and other projects.

* - Just recently launched is the wonderful website A Mighty Girl, a huge list of fiction recommendations for mothers and daughters to share.

* - You may file "Ask A Velociraptor" under Ideas I Wish I Had Thought Of First.

* - Brian Switek recently pleaded with the mainstream media to, you know, maybe chill out about dinosaurs for a while.

* - Brian also watched an episode of "Ancient Aliens" so that the rest of us wouldn't have to.  (And oh, has he gotten some interesting comments on that one...)

* - Brian also recently appeared as a special guest on "Science Sort Of"!  Dude's been busy!

* - Kate Beaton shared this lovely autobiographical comic that I think a lot of us will sadly relate to. 

* - The Onion AV Club created a Primer to the works of Studio Ghibli.

* - In sad local news, one of Boston's most beloved radio stations (and IMO, the last one left that's worth a damn) was sold to the dreaded Clear Channel.  I got to listen to WFNX in it's death throes on Friday.  Fun times.

* - In happy local news, Franklin Park Zoo is celebrating it's 100'th year anniversary!  This article has several intriguing vintage photographs.

* - The Urban Pantheist is participating in a very interesting citizen science project that... OK, seriously, half of me wants to do this too and the other half does not know what my OCD would do with the resulting data.

* - Niroot recently finished his so-gorgeous-you-will-cry illustration of Thecodontosaurus.

* - People have been buzzing about Toniko Pantogia's short "Crayon Dragon" recently and for good reason; it will make a rainbow in your heart.

* - Although it has since become bittersweet, Adam Yauch's Criterion Collection recommendation list is a hilarious read.

* - Best Week Ever dug up this very strange commercial that reminds us all what life was like before you could buy your favorite songs a la carte for about a buck or two.

* - Deep Sea News shared some insight into the amazing footage of the "Abyss"-like Deepstaria jellyfish that's been making the rounds lately.

* - TetZoo reported on a fossil nesting colony of Enantiornithines.

* - Scott C.'c well-loved "Great Showdowns" illustrations will be collected into a book sometime this October.

* - And Life Before the Dinosaurs just celebrated it's one year anniversary!

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Sketch of the Day!

Links Of Interest Number... something, I lost count.

* - First and by far the most interesting one this time: remember The New Dinosaurs? Remember The Humongous Book of Dinosaurs? (Really, who could forget either of them?) Did you know that strange, alternate art of the creatures from New Dinosaurs made an appearance in an issue of the magazine that was edited together to make The Humongous Book? Marc from Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs has the details and, thankfully, lots of pictures.

* - Speaking of science fiction creatures, Topless Robot did a tribute to Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials.
* - There are a lot of takeoffs on "Pokemon" her in the vast sea of the Internet, but one of the most adorable is Becky Dreistadt's Capture Creatures. These characters eventually have to appear in a real game because I want Tumblehop in my team NOW!!!

* - Everything is Terrible has recently reminded us that, long before there was "Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark", there was the fever-dream-esque 70's "Superman" musical.

* - Awful Library Books just dug up an unsettling little tome for kids that I guess is supposed to teach children about appropriate behavior in class but...?

* - These trailers for the upcoming "How to Train Your Dragon" series make me wonder if the series is going to feel a little like the first season of "Pokemon", showcasing a new creature every episode.

* - /Film also shared an excerpt from the very interesting-looking upcoming book, Tales From Development Hell. Darren Aronofsky's take on the film that eventually became "Batman Begins" would have been... different.

* - Remember Life Before the Dinosaurs, the blog founded by an eight-year-old with a love of Paleozoic critters? Well, he's currently in the middle of a long trip report about his visit to the Field Museum. I'll admit a twinge of jealousy.

* - A while back, toy designer Jason Geyer shared some concept art for "Star Wars" merchandise that never made it past the drawing board. Well, now he's sharing more. Check out their interpretations of certain characters before anyone knew what they looked like (oh wow, JarJar's dreadlocks... Speaking of, all the while you are reading this feature, keep in mind that this fantastically ill-conceived JarJar Binks lollipop did make it past the drawing board.)

* - And finally, Andreas Deja shared a wonderful piece of animation history: a recruitment brochure for Disney Animation, circa the late 1970's. The coolest part of it is all the early concept art I've never seen before. (And yet another tragic case of What Could Have Been for "The Black Cauldron": Caw could have been in the movie. I'll be over here, sobbing quietly.)

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Sketch of the Day! As it happens, inspired by one of the above links:

"My Life as a Turkey" Sketches

So the other night I technically sketched some live animals in my living room. The animals in question were in the excellent "Nature" episode "My Life as a Turkey". Yep, today we're briefly discussing the act of sketching from television.

"Now wait, Trish. I know you've gone on and on about how you need to sketch animals from life whenever the opportunity presents itself, but isn't sketching from a documentary cheating?" Well... that's up to you. The fact is, some people might not have a decent zoo or natural history museum near them, and it's absurdly difficult to find good motion and/or anatomical reference on certain species. Since my heart belongs to winged theropods, an entire documentary about wild turkeys and their life cycle was too good an opportunity to pass up.  I apologize if the notes are a little hard to read, but I originally wasn't planning on sharing these here. The first picture has one note that's kind of important though:



In the bottom-right of this page I have some notes on feather tracts. Note that the spine is essentially bare. A little while ago on Twitter, Aaron Diaz of "Dresden Codak" expressed his annoyance at artists drawing known species of feathered theropods with a handfull of quills running down the spine and calling it a day. Since he's mentioned that, I'm seeing that everywhere. And as you can plainly see, it's physically impossible. Go figure.

I also don't know what's up with that one kid in the beginning of "Jurassic Park". A six-foot version of one of these things would be horrifying.









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A Few Links of Interest:

* I want to see how many people who don't know much about animation I can convince this was an actual 80's cartoon.

* Speaking of 80's cartoons, check out Comics Alliances' rundown of the craziest episodes of "Jem".

* These quilled paper illustrations are amazing and kind of insane.

* Topless Robot has a great primer on Douglas Adams' work.

* There is apparently a football game happening this weekend and I have reason to be emotionally invested in it as the Patriots are involved. Eh. Let's all watch this collection of remarkably ill-conceived halftime shows instead. So many weird Disney cross-promotions...

* More importantly, the Annie Awards are tomorrow night, and Cartoon Brew will be streaming them at 10:00 PM EST!

Links of Interest Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part One

I am trying to think of a current title that is filled with more despair than "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part One" and I just... can't. But "Chipwrecked" is a close second. Anyway, links!
 
* Leehardcastle presents us with a short stop-motion animation that you should only let children watch if you hate them.

* Speaking of things that involve monsters, nightmare fuel, and things that children probably should not see, Eric Canete posted some sketches on his Twitter on New Year's Day that reveal that "Ben 10" could have been... different. (And awesome.)

* SFWeekly shared an amazing find, which is essentially the death of Saturday Morning Cartoons preserved in print. (But on the plus side, it reminded me that "Space Cats" existed.)

* Disney announced the odd way in which they are going to celebrate Leap Year Day.

* And over at Passport to Dreams, Foxxy wrote a very extensive assessment of the state of the Magic Kingdom.

* Ignoring the strange music ("Raar!"), I want this freakin' cake.

* Niroot continues to be more awesome than I could ever hope to be.

* And Mark Witton posted a long, long piece full of advice for aspiring paleoartists.

* The Onion AV Club watched an entire day's worth of programming on Smile of a Child TV. But for now, never mind whether sitting your children in front of shows hand-picked by a protege of Tammy Faye Baker is at all a good idea (spoilers: it's not)...

* ...Because one of the highlights/most haunting discoveries is the "Boulder Buddies" promotional ad. Words cease. By far, the best part is when Punk Rock (sigh) starts rapping. It's like they are giving us two horribly clueless interpretations of musical genres that the kids are into for the price of one!

* The AV Club also shared an Inventory of obscure comic strip-based television programs, most of which are animated.

* "Earthflight" looks amazing. Prepare to say, "holy sh*t" out loud around the forty minute mark.

* Photographer Joel Sartore shared a YouTube preview of his upcoming book, Rare. Come for the Blue-Tongued Skink, stay for the Tenrec.
* O.T.I.S. gave us curious artists a much-needed public service announcement with regards to Absinthe.

* And Adam and Ifi finally hit one of the best/worst/best Animorphs books over at Cinnamon Bunzuh! Speaking of, I may have another treat for you guys very soon...

* And lastly, here is a remarkable find via DRIP, Comics Alliance, and Cartoon Brew. Did you know that Gene Deitch created an animated film of The Hobbit that runs just under twelve minutes? And that he started on this project at a time long long before most people even knew who J.R.R.Tolkien was? And he finished it in one month? He tells the whole remarkable story, and that of the amazing person who conceived of the project, here. The film is included, of course, and it is kind of like looking through a collection of elaborate psychedelic album cover art and beautiful old picture books. And all the while, your crazy Auntie is trying to tell you a story from her early childhood, and she is both remembering the details spectacularly wrong and also getting them confused with parts of other completely different stories. And that is why this short is AMAZING!-----

Sketch of the Day!



(I can't be the only one bothered by the thing in the footnote, can I?)

Florida Holiday 2011 Trip Report - EPCOT Wins Christmas!

EPCOT is the best park during the holidays. It is; they go all out in World Showcase. Every land has their own special decorations and... I am getting ahead of myself.



The giant tree in EPCOT is in the walkway near the center of the park, where Future World transitions into World Showcase. I took this photo from near the bottom so you get a sense of the scale.



The tree is decorated with greetings from all over the world.

"Christmas All Over the World" is the theme of EPCOT's holiday events, and each country has their "annual gift-person" equivalent do a brief performance and interact with the children. These presentations were worth going to the park on their own:



Papa Noel from Canada: best Santa equivalent or BEST Santa equivalent?



His foklore-cousin Pierre Noel explains the Christmas traditions of France.



We ran into the Daruma seller just as she was starting her show in Japan. (And incidentally, I didn't think of Darmanitan until the very end.)



LaBefana, the Italian Christmas witch, recounts her rather odd origin story.



And then, there's Sun Hou-Kong. He rocked the house. (If you're curious, All Ears has a great report on all of the storytellers.)



"Yo-Ho YEE-OH! HO, a Viking's Life for Me!"



But among the various lands of World Showcase, nobody goes as crazy for Christmas as Germany.



Handmade glass ornaments on display.



The glassblower creating a hook as the finishing touch.







Trees packed with handblown ornaments, and -yes!- peacocks and pickles!



And best of all, Gluhwein! I was informed of this wonderful mulled wine thanks to Party Through the Parks and it is amazing! I need to find some way to introduce it to my Christmas festivities at home.



But the signature EPCOT festivities begin at night with the famous Candlelight Processional. This show is beyond description; the picture above gives you a tiny idea of the scale. I'm glad we took the DisBoard forum's recommendation to spring for the dinner package. We got seats right near the stage...



As well as a fabulous view of Illuminations, which I am astonished my camera was able to capture even this one second of! For the holidays, you get the usual Illuminations show (not that this wouldn't be enough; it's my favorite fireworks in Disney). But at the end, Disney throws every firework they have in the sky to promote world peace. I love Disney. (Seriously, this is crap-your-pants amazing.)



It's a little hard to see here, but one of my favorite "little moments" was at the very end of the show, when they projected images onto Spaceship Earth for the first time in, like, forever.

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The Blog is going on Christmas vacation for a while so I'd like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season and good luck in the new year. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Until I start posting again next year, here are some

Links of Interest: Special Festive Edition!

* For the curious, Touring Plans has a good post on Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and the kinds of things we missed.

* Take a look at this amazing memorabilia from the world premier of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves".

* From my other website, it's Nessie's Annual Gift Guide!

* Via Comics Alliance, a short story that combines two Christmas traditions from Catalonia that I kind of want to adopt somehow...

* Dinosaur Tracking would like to remind us that as you are ritualistically devouring your Christmas dinner of goose/turkey/husky theropod of choice, raise a pint to Thomas Henry Huxley.

* Scott Sampson, better known as Dr. Scott, reflects on the curriculum of Season Two of "Dinosaur Train".

* ToughPigs makes a case for the all-but-forgotten Henson Company Dr. Seuss collaboration.

* Enjoy the latest in a long line of "Venture Brothers" Christmas Songs. (As an aside, I have the Henchmen version of "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time" in place of the -uh- normal version in my holiday party mix and I strongly suggest you all do the same. It is worth it for the confused looks directed at your MP3 player.)

* The Orrs shared this adorable handmade felt Spinosaurus ornament. I suddenly want to make a bunch for next year's craft fairs.

* Hark! A Vagrant has a cute collection of festive mini-comics.

* And TetZoo has a festive card for all of us.

* There is also this thing you have probably already seen and this other thing you have probably already seen.

Oh Hai, Links of Interest!

I've been doing a bunch of autumn cleaning, so I don't know if any Halloween stuff will show up here outside of this list. Anyway, here for you are links!

* - First off, Dear Mainstream News. Please, for the love of God, do not report on this story. Because holy shit... (Edit: Dammit.)

* - Second off, Dear Mainstream News. Please, DO report on this story! Just don't do it wrong. (Ye Gods, "hair"? "WHALES"?!?)

* - Halloween Content! Here are twenty baffling costumes based off famous people. That last one will haunt me all day (although it is also kind of hilarious.) Also, fifty unintentionally terrifying costumes from the same site! I refuse to believe numbers four and three are real.

* - Also, the good folks behind Boston Comicon are having a 5K Run/Walk through Cambridge... and all the participants must wear a costume.

* - Bogleech has a tribute to one of my favorite (talking, singing, carnivorous) plants.

* - Oh, Netflix. (Actually, this is good news as I, for one, dislike being inconvenienced the eff out of.)

* - Tough Pigs shared a gallery of weird, ugly, early versions of some beloved Muppet characters.

* - The Onion AV Club defended the second and third "Matrix" movies.

* - There's a new Simon's Cat short and... It's basically 😻 all the way down.

* - We finally have a Star Trek Cookbook. Easy on that Gagh, it'll give you nightmares.

* - The Chiodo Brothers are one (two, rather) of the great unsung animation/special effects masters. Here's a clip from a recent documentary that shows off some of their surprising credits.

* - An astute observation about the "Terra Nova" logo. (And the comments... Oh God, the comments...)

* - Far more entertaining than "Terra Nova" is this gem, discovered by Everything is Terrible.

* - Disney was clearly pleased by the response to the recent "Lion King" rerelease (I am sad I didn't get a chance to go) and so they are planning more rereleases. I have no problem whatsoever with this, especially since I want to see more hand-drawn animation in theaters. But Geek Dad has an uncharacteristically hysterical and negative response... (And the comments... Hooray, the comments! No, really!)

* - This guy, on the other hand, has a better idea. More importantly, somebody else likes "Fantasia 2000"!

* - Speaking of Disney, I present to all of my fellow Disney fans with weird senses of humor the Disney Face-Swap Tumbler. Man, I want to watch this version of "Pocahontas".

* - Speaking of 90's animation, Mtv has opened an archive of "Liquid Television" shorts.

* - Sue the T. rex's Twitter is the best Twitter.

* - Scythemantis has something for the Arachnophiles.

* - Dave from Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs met some new flying carnivorous friends and I am very jealous.

* - Speaking of birds, I love Hoatzins, you love Hoatzins, everybody loves Hoatzins and they have recently been showcased at TetZoo.

* - And finally, what better way to celebrate the anniversary of the discovery of Archaeopteryx than with this wonderful short by the good folks at Big Green Rabbit?

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Sketch of the Day!

Links of Interest - Family Reunion Recovery Edition!

So... the last two and a half week's worth of posts were, for the most part, written well in advance, if it isn't obvious. And I missed "Reign of the Dinosaur Revolution". This is all due to In Real Life drama.

Now as you may have noticed, I hate sharing personal stuff online. So I hope "family from Florida came to visit for a week and a half" and "every day was an Adventure largely centered around consuming as much lobster as possible" and "a pipe leading to the downstairs toilet decided to troll us all" is enough for everyone.
 
So instead of a review of "Dinosaur Revolution" (which won't be happening for a while as I may wait for the DVD because Lull Destruction in nature shows makes me cry), or one of the seemingly twenty trip reports I would like to write (and aside from the plumbing problems, we did indeed have a great time), I have for you Links of Interest!

* - Hey look, another person watching every Disney film there is! The Disney Film Project is both a blog and a podcast, which makes things a little bit different, and it doesn't look like Ryan is doing the films in any particular order. However, and this is the kicker, he's reviewing shorts (giving me a terrific nostalgia trip over favorite shorts I couldn't remember the titles of) and everything from "Song of the South" and "Make Mine Music!" to, er, "Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure" and "The Country Bears". Godspeed and good luck!

* - On another note, how about a blog dedicated to obscure prehistoric animals written by a seven-year-old kid? Next time you feel disillusioned with the youth of today, head on over to Life Before the Dinosaurs and breathe a little easier.
* - If you haven't been reading the Dinosaurs Reanimated Production Blog, you should start. Simple as that.
* - September is apparently Velociraptor Awareness Month. How is it possible that I was previously unaware of this?

* - Archosaur-themed wines? Well, yes. There are quite a few, technically speaking. That said, I need Apatosaurus Chardonnay in my wine label collection yesterday.

* - ColourLovers did a fantastic infographic on the use of color in comics.
* - Speaking of classic superheroes, check out this super-adorable "Up"/"Rocketeer" fan-film.

* - Junk Food Dinner dug up a trio of bizarre children's films for their 75'th episode and also, perhaps more importantly, brought my attention to the website "All Clues, No Solutions". Going over their catalog, it has occurred to me that my alter-ego has been on a very long hiatus hasn't she?

* - Meanwhile Oh Noa reviews the stupidest Halloween costumes currently available. Now I don't have to. (There is no universe in which that Sexy Big Bird costume is okay.)

* - The often hilarious, and oddly named, pop culture blog Wolf Gnards (as with Topless Robot, I promise it isn't what it sounds like) applied a little basic genetics to inexplicably popular sitcoms of the past and the results... my God, I will never see a "Full House" rerun in the same light.

* - Speaking of phrases that name-check God (even though we weren't): There have been a lot of interesting reactions to DC's giant reboot... thing. However, this one might be the weirdest.

* - Speaking of "Full House" (which we were), this is amazing. I want to be able to play this.

* - The Urban Pantheist had a fantastic post about the endangered species issue.

* - You have probably already heard of these shoes. And to them I say, big deal! They don't even really lace themselves and you are just stuck with a pair of really ugly (this coming from a not-a-shoe-person person) shoes. Where is my f***ing Hoverboard?!?

* - As I mentioned a few weeks ago, there doesn't seem to be much happening at Walt Disney World for the parks' 40'th Anniversary. This might be changing early next month. (Wanna bet the "special surprise" is a preview of the Fantasyland expansion? Ffft, yeah right.)

* - Speaking of WDW, OMGWTFLOL!!! (Just trust me when I say that there is a small crater where DisBoards once stood...)

* - Speaking of Disney, obviously a lot of ink and blood has been spilled over the most recent "Star Wars" revisions, but the revisions to Disney films often don't raise a peep. Some thoughts about this here.

* - And on the subject of revised Disney films, remember "The Sweatbox"? The documentary about the implosion of "Kingdom of the Sun" and last-minute bashing together of "The Emperor's New Groove"? Well a tiny little bit of it has been posted on YouTube, so go watch it while you can.

* - And the Audubon Society's blog shared these gorgeous photographs of feathers in amber.

Lots of Art Evolved-keteers getting shout-outs recently, which is awesome! They include:

* - Dave and Niroot's dinosaur fights from "Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs" being featured on io9.

* - A link to and discussion of a rather old "When Pigs Fly Returns" story on Science... Sort Of.

* - And speaking of "Science... Sort Of", hey look who's featured in their a-hundreth episode! Thanks guys, you rule!

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Art of the Day!

Hey, I finished the turtle painting!



It's a little different from when I started; I didn't like how the greenish-black turtles were fading into the greenish background. Now they're yellowish-puce.