Walk like a dinosaur!

OH HEY! Guess what! I got into my top choice for a school! Well that's amazingly awesome.
Sooo. In other news, I reread an awesome book of sheer and complete awesomenassity: Dinotopia by James Gurney. This is the original book that inspired all the chapter books (which I never read) and probably was my basis for what I imagined the 'other side of the world' looked like. (If you're confused, ctrl+f for 'globes' or something. I don't want to rehash painful memories now.) Anyways. This is a BIG book, and by BIG, I mean a medium-sized coffee table book. It's relatively simple, and a relatively quick read. It is awash with gorgeous paintings, all done by the author himself. IT IS SO FULL OF WIN.

So, the basis is that in 1865, Arthur and Will Denison get caught in a shipwreck and wash up on the shore of an island--an island filled with dinosaurs! ROAR! And there are people too! And they live symbiotically with the dinos! (They're not symbiotically linked, however.)

The first dinosaur Arthur and Will meet (father and son, respectively) is a protoceratops. Arthur, not recognizing it, refers to it as a 'hog-parrot'. Which is way cooler than the Latin.

A popular game in Dinotopian cities is apparently a variant of dreidal--there's a painting showing children and struthiomimuses playing together. Instead of playing with chocolate or coins, however, the game is played with colorful stones.

Oh, and Arthur makes a super-awesome submarine that would do Jules Verne proud. Since the book is set as Arthur's journal, it wouldn't make any sense if the pages were numbered--but I certainly wish they were. It's a very pretty spectacle of--dare I say it--almost steampunkian* technology.

So, the book is probably intended for third or fourth graders. Hence, I was a little disappointed and surprised when I realized how quickly it had gone by. I mean, I used to pore over this book--I never really read it, but I would stare at the pictures for hours. Very impressive oil work, to be sure. There's not a real deep meaning to it, but it certainly is visually appealing and imaginatively appealing (that's actually a real word... I know... I was just as surprised as you are.) and any little kid who likes dinosaurs is going to like it. Although, I was struck with a deep sort of shame because I can no longer name or recognize every dinosaur in the book. What have I done with my life!?






*Orig. word--'steampunk'. It's the coolest thing ever. Time magazine recently had an article about it, which is how I found out about it: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1945343,00.html
Gee, can you say totally super-fantastic? Because I can. I can type it too. Anyway, I am going to get in on this. You know how I feel about the Victorian era, and all things associated with it.


Wow.... what an unmeaty post. Uh, it's because I had to study for my midterms? And by study I mean watch The Simpsons till my eyes bleed. It's cooler than you'd think.