TOUHOU HIJACK

Since I'm in a giant slump, I guess it's acceptable to post the last artwork I was able to 'finish' even if it is a fan art for a little contest and gift to a friend.

signed under my silly-art alias

Music to go with it

Yuyuko Saigyouji, ghost princess and ruler of the Netherworld. :P 西行 幽時々子　belongs Team Shanghai Alice/ZUN.

Another Touhou Arrange, this time it's metal


Back to more involved link-heavy posts and original art soon.

Dinosaurs and Flame Wars: repost and more

I got my popcorn out yesterday to read the March archives of the Dinosaur Mailing List If there were a Fandom Wank for science, the responses to Gregory S. Paul's initial post on ripoffs and price undercutting in paleoart would be a great hit. See also this article for an apparently biased view, if commenters have anything to say about it. (For the record, I agree with a lot of what he says but also agree with those who say it sounds like he is over-reaching with some of it...)

I actually bookmarked a post by Luis Rey. l ...don't know why, but I like this guy, lol. That was my favorite post in the whole thing. *fangirls*

And GSP totally dissed Mark Witton OMGWTF! Oh no he di'int!! Why do I know who these people are? Because I lurk on so many blogs where some of them regularly post. It's kind of weird... I've been reading TetZoo for so long and started seeing lots of people like this commenting there, and then went on to read lots of other blogs.

As for me, I know enough to follow discussions on the DML and elsewhere, but not enough to say anything about anything, and I'll leave it at that. That's why I Lurk Moar. :iconthumbsupplz: You can learn a lot from your betters! I don't even remember from one month to the next, which new taxon have been lumped or split, because I am not a scientist and have other things to read about/do(see here)




Goodwill finds: AAA Tyrannosaurus and 1988 Carnegie Brachiosaurus (a good 14' tall.)

But to me it looks different than the ones pictured here.

___________

Extra: Review of the worst movie ever put on film, pt 1 and pt 2

Book Hoarding update

A few things I picked up within the last few weeks... a couple are left out, I'll get to them in more detail in further posts, including a focus on the Golden Book.


When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1985) by David Norman, illustrated by John Sibbick.

Despite its printing date, this copy is in pretty extraordinary condition. There isn't even a single crease in the dust jacket. Great cover, or Greatest cover?? Fire, random volcanoes, the obligate pterosaur AND a T-rex viciously killing something-- what more could you ask from an '80's kids' dinosaur book? Samples below.




Epic 1980's Sibbick goodness/clunkiness abounds.


The Origin and Evolution of Birds (1999 2nd edition), Alan Feduccia.

1/2 Price has had a hardcover first edition since forever ago, but it's too expensive for me to bother with. Lo, on this random visit they had a paperback 2nd ed. for half that price. Sure, it's outdated and mostly discredited BAND cheerleading, but it has DIAGRAMS.


It's full of stuff like this. I only wish the full illustrations that were presumably made for the book were printed in color.

Dinosaur Train

: 0

A Todd Marshall tribute for the preschool set?

(I actually kind of want this figure...)

Save the Glen Rose Tracks

http://savethedinosaurtracks.org/

The preserved track is housed at Texas Memorial Museum on the UT campus and I've actually been there to see them. Apparently the outdoor building that displays them is insufficient to protect the slab from moisture and degradation and they need to raise money to move it to a prepared display area indoors.

Not sure, but... it may be the most famous ichnofossil in the world so it's really worth saving.

Card Games (Not on Motorcycles)

Obake karuta images from Wikicommons

I did a cultural presentation on 正月　(Japanese New Year celebration) last semester, and found a lot of information on Iroha Karuta, as it's a popular game to play during New Year festivities. It's basically a game of matching the text read from one card to the images on the others. There are 48 cards corresponding to the former ordering of the Japanese syllabary, each character representing a different proverb.
Brief overview of Iroha and related card games
More in-depth explanations

BUT! That's not all, it has evolved into many different forms and you can find all sorts of card games nowadays

. Inubou karuta (犬ぼうかるた） Traditional Iroha game with a proverb on each card (named for the first card: 犬も歩けば棒に当たる/inu mo arukeba bou ni ataru/"Even a dog, walking, will come across a stick") Proverbs here

Youkai or Obake karuta (featuring ghosts, demons and monsters, popular in the Edo period)

Retro katakana karuta

恐竜かるた！

More dinosaurs

(Not Iroha, but "Evolution cards")

ふるさとカルタ　（Historic village?)

Totoro かるた

Toto awase (Tokyo style edition) Match the fish halves (you can find several versions of this game)

Tori awase - match the birds.

お魚かるた　Reissue of a game produced by a Tokyo fish market as a promotional item..?

WHOA!　 いい男...　Hunky Man Iroha?

Evangelion Karuta

Adult Karuta

Action Karuta

京いろはかるた丸　　Circular Iroha cards featuring punny illustrations of kanji

Kanji Trump Visual memory game for learning kanji


Children playing a giant Iroha game in the snow

少年少女 世界の文学

Or "World Literature for Boys and Girls", Volume 6, which features English lit (イギリス）and includes "Peter Pan", "The Reluctant Dragon", "War of the Worlds" and "The Jungle Book". No publishing date is printed anywhere, so I searched:

This site gives a publishing date of 1970, and lists previous volumes and their dates, ranging from 1964 to 1972.
Auction of many volumes (the whole set?)
Google image search brings up a few photos.

That's what I could find out about it right now. I bought for about $5.00. My favorite illustrations are from "The Jungle Book" and signed by Asou Koga. (古賀 亜十夫)

Transcription

apology for random naked lady sketch from math class


Sound Online -- Survive (Ancient Temple)

Everything here is shut down due to snow weather, so this is what I was doing last night and today.


I have a scan of lyrics in the cd booklet, but couldn't find any online translation, so I'm trying to transcribe the original and romajify it, at least. Copy from the jpg, notate furigana, look up new kanji/compounds, figure out onomatopoeia words, then type in IME

Complicated but I'm learning a lot from it.


深き衣を纏った　この身は今はもう
現実と　夢現の＿間で
錆びす、光れず、触れられない我が身　それでも
眠りし闘志を込めた刃を
全て捧げよう　淡き光の元へ
決して果てない、想いこそ　今を生きるそう
（）

ひらひらと舞い＿る桜を　今＿咲かせよう
妖しく＿いた＿に　魅せられた私を

はらはらと落ち行く桜を　誰も汚さぬよう
せめてそのひ瞳開く前に、全て終わらせましょう
蒼き瞳は静かに　赤く砥ぎ澄まされ
現実は夢現と交わる
声も、上げずに、誓ったこの忠誠が為
恐れるものなど無いと微笑む
明日は　＿てよう
＿に居らるのなら

決して

ゆらゆらと羽ばたいた＿に
＿がる青空を
気高き＿色の＿にｃ



Fuwaki koromu wo matotta
kono mi wa ima wa mou
REAL to mugen no _ma de
sabizu, hirezu, furerarenai wagami
soredemo nemurishi chuusei wo kometa yaiba wo

subete sasageyou
awaki hikari no moto e
kesshite, hatenai,
omoi koso
ima wo ikiru sou
(I'M SURVIVE)

hirahira to mai _ru sakura wo
ima _ mo sakaseyou
ayashiku _ita __ ni
miserareta watashi wo

harahara to ochiyuku sakura wo
daremo __sanuyou (?)
semete sono hitomi hiraku mae ni
subete owarasemashou
aoki hitomi wa shizuka ni
akaku togisumasare

REAL wa, mugen to majiwaru
koe mo, agezu ni
chikatta kono chuusei ga tame
osorerumono nado nai to hohoemu
ashita wa, __teyou
soba n iraru no nara
kesshite...

yurayura to habataita chou ni
hirogaru aozora wo
...

Home for Kaiyodos

So, I bought this shelf at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago for $4. It's exactly the right size for Choco-Egg premiums.

My almost-complete Series 3 of Dinotales, 3 Kabayas, and a few small random dinosaurs.

It looks sweet. Oh, small pleasures in life.

Day of the Dinosaur, by John Man

Waldenbooks LOL I'm old

Goodwill find. It's likely that I read this book at some point when I was small, but I don't remember. Its chief points of interest are being old (1978) and having a lot of Neave Parker illustrations.

This is my favorite of the non-Parker illustrations. For the record, most of those are merely serviceable. There are however a lot of photos, vintage art and such, and even a profile of Franz Nopcsa, all-around total badass superhero of paleontology, espionage, and awesomeness and, if there is any justice, future subject of an epic movie (also, gay. Seriously, read about him.)

badass retro


Things were... slimier in the '60's,apparently .




What's a paleo book without a timeline...?

Unusually for a book this old (I think?) the text assumes birds to have descended from dinosaurs and has quite a bit about Archaeopteryx. At least, I don't remember this being a mainstream thing in books from that time, but I could be wrong. I was still a baby when this book was written, and don't remember the dinosaur-t0-bird descent being a given in all books of my time, either.

_______


RIP Luna, my sweet little budgie. She died of a mysterious illness that showed itself too late for the vet to do any real good and I'm so sorry. I've been pretty upset for a few days. Since Loki has never been kept alone, I was afraid of him getting lonely and stressed out, so I got a new friend. Her (?) name is Okuu (お空.)

空　or 'sora' (Chinese reading 'kuu') is the character for sky. I didn't actually have a name in mind, but it was suggested in comments. Only because she is sky blue, and not because she has anything in common with the namesake Okuu/Reiuji Utsuho, the nuclear fusion powered hell raven from Chireiden:At least two differences: she's missing the arm cannon and Chernobyl elephant's foot (not pictured here)

More Touhou vocal trance arrange, by Sound Online (Tsukasa)


Eternal Rite
Nostalgia
Cosmos Glide
,
Tsukasa contributes to East New Sound, with which I'm also obsessed.