Studio Traumador... going ONLINE!

well i've been plugging away at this video stuff for the past month, and it is all starting to come together.

you'll have to wait till the end of the week for my flagship (monthly!) show to debut, but in the meantime check out my new studio clip!

new zealand fossils

regular tyrannosaur chronicles contributor (and my legal guardian) craig dylke just did a talk at the royal tyrrell museum about new zealand palaeontology. you can check it out below thanks to the museum's youtube channel!

fossil of the weekend #90

the very famous braincase of Troodon, found in what would become the staff parking lot at the tyrrell museum (it was found during final surveys of the museums construction site). it is currently on display as part the royal tyrrell museum's 25th anniversary display "alberta unearthed".

X-Mas Present

man 2010 has just flew by... and i got so little done.

rather than repeat this unproductive year, i've decided it is time for a change in the new year.

stand by for more details on this direction soon.

one caution for long time chronicle fans, with this new direction there may not be so many posts about my adventures in this new direction for the blog. while i have enough photographs for a couple years worth of posts, i'm not sure if people are enjoying them or not. please let me know your thoughts...

and happy holidays!

fossil of the weekend #89

a potentially new species of Prognathodon, a mosasaur, on display as part the royal tyrrell museum's 25th anniversary display "alberta unearthed".

a personal autograph... yet not so personal

[Production Note: The convention depicted in this post is fictitious and never happened. We are using pictures from various other events Traumador has attended this year which we were unable to post at the time.]

the first ever vivus dinosaur convention is wrapping up, but this last day was not without its excitement.

after all the cool people i've met (or re met :P) here in victoria, today saw me running into one of my all time biggest heroes of the palaeo world... dr. scott sampson! that's right the host of TV's dinosaur planet and the new dinosaur train was here for the last day to promote his new book (more on that in a second)...

of course this being my life i couldn't just run into dr. sampson without some sort of incident!

first a tiny bit of back story. about a year before i started this blog (which was a LONG time ago now!), i briefly ran into dr. sampson at the royal tyrrell museum, when it hosted its big dinosaur provincial park synposium... with the key part there being i briefly ran into him... not that i'd have thought running into a living tyrannosaurus rex would that forgettable...

well turns out it was!

dr. sampson was really confused when i came up all friendly and chummy. after explaining where we'd met, he stated. "don't take this personally, uh my friend, but i saw a LOT of dinosaurs at that symposium. even vivus-ones."

just my luck i'd meet dr. sampson in vivus infested drumheller! there would be a lot of other vivus-dinosaurs to keep track of. i just hoped he hadn't met drumheller's most famous resident (of the time) who also happened to be a tyrannosaur, but of course who would he guess i was?!?

"larry?" dr. sampson ventured, but at least wasn't committed to his answer. of course being called my JERK! of a cousin wasn't what i wanted to hear! i'll give the good doctor this, it was the name of a tyrannosaur. one in my family... just not someone i ever wanted to be associated with. even in name!

`

despite this rocky start, we quickly started up a friendly chat, and he even invited me to join him for lunch!!!

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hanging out with dr. sampson for a day, my respect and admiration has sky rocketed to new heights! not only is dr. sampson a big force in palaeontology, but he has branched out into environmental and science outreach + education recently. his biggest push of late is using dinosaurs as a gateway into exploring the overall world of science and nature. something i can totally get on board with!

`

the other thing i am totally on board with is dr. sampson's book Dinosaur Odyssey Fossil Threads in the Web of Life, and you should be too!

in this one of a kind tome, dr. sampson elegantly gives us a look into the world of the dinosaurs like never before (in popular literature anyways). rather than proceed down the food chain from the biggest most impressive saurians down, dr. sampson builds the world of the dinosaurs up from the smallest of things (bacteria, fungus, and their like) right along the cycle of the energy from the sun through everything plants, small animals, medium animals, until it finally reaches the massive beasts that were the dinosaurs. it is the most comprehensive and relevant examinations of dinosaurs currently in print, and addresses all the key questions about dinosaur palaeontology, while answering what is currently known, but more to the point emphasising what we still don't know!

it is a must have for anyone and everyone who has ever remotely been interested in dinosaurs. for all you dinosaur lovers out there, this is the perfect gift (especially with x-mas around the corner!) for anyone whose ever asked you that ever annoying question "what useful thing have we ever learned from studying dinosaurs anyways?"

i just can't say enough good things about dinosaur odyssey!

as if getting my claws on this book weren't enough, at the end of our meeting dr. sampson grabbed my copy before i could walk off with it, and personally signed it!!!

with this final note (literally), i think i made off from this whole vivus-dinosaur convention like a bandit!

now it was back off to the OH-lympics... or at least that's what we thought...

to be concluded with a surprise twist to the games...

fossil of the weekend #88

the amazingly complete skeleton of the fresh water skate Myledaphus, part of the royal tyrrell museum's 25th anniversary display "alberta unearthed".

fossil of the weekend #87

the articulated arm of the small theropod Saurornitholestes langstoni a part of the royal tyrrell museum's 25th anniversary display "alberta unearthed".

drawn in...

[Production Note: The convention depicted in this post is fictitious and never happened. We are using pictures from various other events Traumador has attended this year which we were unable to post at the time.]

man the the first ever vivus dinosaur convention has been treating me good in regards to meeting cool palaeontology celebrities!

today was no exception, with me running into legendary palaeo-artist william stout!!!

he was a SUPER nice guy. proving it, he let me talk to him for nearly an hour (how many people at the best of times can put up with me and my tiny brain for that long?!?). not only was mr. stout very nice, but he had a ton of cool things to tell me about making palaeo-art and his interests in palaeo as an artist.

mr. stout also gave me an in depth look at his book dinosaur discoveries. the book is a collection of profiles covering over 60 fairly recently discovered dinosaurs. each profile has entire page sized illustration by mr. stout (all of which are ubber awesome!), and all the factoids the average person could want to know.

it is a fantastic book for expert and non-expert alike, as mr. stout's drawings are in a league of their own. it would make a great x-mas gift for that dino-fanatic in your life! hint hint :P

i had to buy my own copy, and mr. stout was nice enough to not only sign my copy...

as if that weren't enough but he also...

drew me my own little picture of a pachyrhinosaur! (i thought it'd be a little vain of me to ask him to draw a picture of me... so why not my favourite snack from alberta)

i can't say enough good things about mr. stout (other than once again appeal to you to buy one or many of his books or pieces of art :P), and it was a real blast/honour to meet him in person!

making my own dinosaur

[Production Note: The convention depicted in this post is fictitious and never happened. We are using pictures from various other events Traumador has attended this year which we were unable to post at the time.]

yet another action packed day here at the first ever vivus dinosaur convention.

today i met legendary palaeo-artist brian cooley, dinosaur sculptor extraordinaire! his works grace the halls of some of the best museums in the world... including my old home the royal tyrrell! so i know his art quite well...

turned out today he was leading a special activity secession called "make-a-saurus", and hearing my interest in his palaeo-art mr. cooley invited me to join in.

so what we were doing at "make-a-saurus" was pretty self explanatory and obvious. making our own dinosaur. the thing was i'd never made one before.

in good news mr. cooley had brought everything one could need to create their own dino sculpture. i just had to follow his instructions.
the first part was easy enough. bend wire into the shape of a dinosaur. this wasn't a challenge for my t-rex arms. while they might be short, a tyrannosaurs arms are incredibly powerful for their size!

so having bent all the pieces together i then had to tape them together into the frame for my dinosaur.

well okay, i tried to do this. it turned out to be a lot easier bending the wire than taping it together.

oh and speaking of tape, don't get me started on the stuff...

let's just say we don't get along!

finally having taped the wire together (and untaping me from the counter top!) it was time to beef up our dinosaur's "skeleton" with some foam.

i should point out at this point, that yes i ended up making a ceratopsian. not out of choice mind you, but due to my late entry they'd run out of t-rex kits. oh well, that was fine. at least this way i'd have a visual reference for butchers to look at when i go shopping for triceratops steaks at the supermarket (the human clerks always look at me funny when i ask for them!).

adding all the foam my little trauma-ceratops was starting to look a little healthier.

taping the outside so we had a surface to plaster of paris...

i now had a mummy-ceratops!

the last thing to do (once it'd all dried, and i'd gotten all the tape off me... AGAIN!) was to paint my creation.

you know not bad for a guy whose never taken a single art lesson before!

if you want to learn how to make dinosaurs as awesome at mr. cooley's (cause mine still doesn't remotely compare!) you should check out his book called, coincidental(?), make-a-saurus. it is filled with great tips and ideas for making your own dinosaur artworks.

it would also make a great x-mas gift this holiday season, especially for young dinosaur fans! be sure to pick up your own copy today!