Tokyo Tomorrow

Whew, I am trying to get the Halloween Zombie Walk Post up with pictures, but Life is busy!

Finishing the month teaching, doing Halloween stuff, seeing Steve's mom off, and preparing for my trip to Tokyo tomorrow - so much to do! Need to buy new jeans (stupid hole!), pick-up some yen, and pack before walking up tomorrow and catching the bus to Incheon Airport (curiously rated one of the best airports in the world.)

Anyway, I'm off to pack - Tokyo is calling! Happy Halloween!

Bush vs Zombies

In honor of today's Zombie Walk Seoul 2008!

"Laser..."

Hee hee!

I'm getting a little excited here...

Whew! It's been a busy month here in Seoul-land! And there is so much to look forward to!

My roommate Steve's Mom has been visiting us for the last week which means I've been hitting the tourist attractions of Seoul hard. (Actually, Steve is doing most of the showing around - I mean, she is his mom!) Anyway, we've explored Namdaemun Market - in search of Halloween paraphernalia, and hiked Bukhansan Mountain, a respite from the urban forest (Check back soon for PHOTOS and a more in depth look at these popular Seoul spots!)

Looking to the future, life only gets more exciting - You may have noticed the poster for Seoul's first-annual ZOMBIE WALK 2008, happening this Saturday! The brainchild of my friend Bobby (and seconded by your's truely - "Let's do it!"), the Zombie Walk will celebrate all things Halloween and UnDead. We will all meet around 4pm at Ewha University (the local women-only uni) and then walk to Hongik University (Hongdae = student party central, where there are literally hundreds of bars and clubs - my usual Friday night hangout!)


Oh yeah, and we are all dressed as zombies. We expect over 40 people to join our dead-shuffle, creating an unforgetable impression on the local Korean population! (My Korean friends, by the way, think this is the most insane and crazy thing to do - as it goes against the social norms of not standing out. Do I expect the police to show up? Maybe. Will we be on the news? Maybe...hehehe) Again, photos will come soon!

Besides the z-walk, I am also looking forward to my planned trip to Tokyo the weekend after next. My good friend Taka says I can stay with him in Yokohama and I'll take the train in to see Tokyo. I am also planning to meet another friend Naoko (someone I worked with at the Lookout.)

Furthermore, besides zombies and Godzillas, I am also looking forward to Bond, James Bond. Yes, Quantum of Solace, the new Bond film (and direct sequel to Casino Royal) comes out here on November 5th!

Yup, there's alot on my plate, and I like it like that.

Oh, and readers, what is a "quantum of solace" anyway?

One of Us...

Coming soon ....

Please Vote

Today is the day. Please vote in the Canadian Election.



Please take away the sentiment from the video. You don't have to register to vote in Canada, just go to the polling station. If I can vote from Korea, you can vote from Canada.

Please vote.

Happy Thanksgiving

A Big Turkey by Peter Bond

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you get to eat some turkey and stuffing ...mmmm...stuffing. Have a great day tomorrow!

Let me know what you are thankful for...

Minmi and Thoughts on Palaeoart

I recieved an email from Craig at The Tyrannosaur Chronicles wondering if I could provide a little art for an upcoming post about Australian ankylosaurs. He was looking for a life-reconstruction of Minmi, the small dinosaur from Down Under.

Great, I thought and I asked him for money. He laughed in my face (monitor?) and told me I'd get the traffic from his site as "commission." Ha.

Have you ever visited the Tyrannosaur Chronicles?!? It's about a puppet dinosaur! But it's also great! An exciting and hilarious fictional adventure that stars a new theropod hero for our times! Of course I'd do it. What are friends for?

You can learn about Minmi, the cute Australian creature here.

So here it is, a reconstruction of Minmi paravertebra, done in watercolor and pen - step by step:

The pencil sketch

The finalized pose, outlined in ink.

The base watercolours and ink detail applied.

The Final Result:

Minmi paravertebra in Sunshine by Peter Bond

Thoughts on Palaeoart:

Artists on blogs such as the Flying Trilobite, Raptor's Nest, and Druantia Art produce wonderful work everyday. But how much palaeoart is needed in the world? Is there ever enough? I don't think so, but I am confused.

So I looked. Below is a selection of other artist's reproductions of Minmi I found using Google Image Search:

Whoops! This is Minmi, the Japanese hip-hop singer!

Not to be confused with our cute little ankylosaur:

As you can see, there is a huge variety in Minmi's shape, musculature, armour, spikes, and colour. So much so that each picture looks like a different animal! This is strange as about 95% of the skeleton has been found. Some artists chose to represent Minmi more like a stegosaur while others chose an ankylosaur-like style. I chose more of a nodosaur-like shape for my painting. But the question is: which one is correct?

None of them, ... or all of them. The point is we don't know and it's almost impossible to "know" what a prehistoric creature looks like. Also, as more and more material is unearthed and new discoveries come to light, palaeoart evolves. Does this accounts for the variation abong the Minmi reproductions? Or is it just artistic license? Do artists need to follow the scientific literature?

"Palaeoart links Scientists to the Public." Thoughts?

Cheers! These thoughts on palaeoart are mostly question, but maybe you have some answers.
So long, and one more Min-mi for the road!

Are You a Cheater?

Have you ever cheated on your wife or girlfriend?

Have you ever thought, "Man, I want to cheat, but I don't want to feel guilty?" We don't want to feel guilty, do we?

Well, now we don't have to! Welcome to CheatNeutral - a new initiative where you pay money when YOU cheat and the company will pay others to NOT cheat! Thus keeping the total amout of pain and suffering at ZERO!

No longer will you have to feel guilty about cheating!

Don't believe me? Check out this promotional video for CheatNeutral!


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Did I get your attention? Good. My good friend Marianne, a scientist in sustainable development, sent me this site. I have to agree with their position on carbon offseting.

It just doesn't make any sense. And you can't offset common-sense, can you?