Re: Interest in dinosaurs (was Re: Third Jurassic Park Movie Coming in 2000)

[Stephen Faust <smfaust@edisto.cofc.edu>]

I know how that is. In 6th grade I was pencil sketching Knight ( every
picture ). At first my teacher was unhappy about it, but then she figured
out that as long as I was drawing, I soaked up everything she said and
aced all my tests.

Steve

Stephen Faust                   smfaust@edisto.cofc.edu

On 1 Jul 1998, David Krentz wrote:

> Reply to:RE>>Interest in dinosaurs (was Re: Third Jurassic*  4:14 PM    
> 7/1/98
> 
>   When I 3 or 4 years old, I opened a book that had a picture of the 
> Zallinger mural.  That just about did me in.  I drew all over that book, 
> trying to copy those images, I still have it, it cracks me up every time.  Of 
> course, I had to draw little people in the Tyrannosaurs mouth.
>   I also saw King Kong when I was about six.  That was when I knew I had to 
> make movies.  When the dinos were moving in that glorious Doug Henderson like 
> world My imagination soared and I had to know more about these dinosaurs.  I 
> read and read till my little brain used the knowledge learned with pride.  I 
> remember correcting people on the fact that cave men and dinosaurs did not 
> live together, niether did brontosaurus and tyrannosaurus.  In Kindergarden, 
> my teacher realized I had a one track mind, and let me take an entire week 
> break from class so I could create a huge prehistoric scene out of modelling 
> clay and then teach the class about dinosaurs. In the third grade I was in a 
> tree-fort gang, and I named our group "The Theropods" ( nobody really liked 
> the name but me).  And then, when I was nine.......
> 
>   David Krentz
> 
>   
> 
> --------------------------------------
> Date: 7/1/98 3:42 PM
> To: David Krentz
> From: smfaust@edisto.cofc.edu
> Enjoyed your early history ( how I got into dinosaurs ). My parents
> couldn't understand why I'd rather go to the Field Museum every weekend
> than play baseball or why I trashed a train set and created Cretaceous
> scenes in the basement with modling clay, mirrors ( lakes ), and living
> ferns. Those distant scenes depicting dinosaurs moving in and around a
> lake in JP brought back memories of what I'd try to see in my imagination
> as a child. Somehow it bothered me to see their creater trashed
> whatever his motivations. Now I have to sell fossils to pay medical bills
> and I don't work in the field as a professional. I've given some very
> important skulls to museums, but the people I gave them to condemn me as a
> dealer. I often hear them trash just about every application of dinosaurs
> but their own, and that goes for other fossils as well.Once and awhile
> they just tick me off.Luis isn't one of them. I understand that. I
> responded the way I did because he sounded like one on one particular
> evening.
> 
> Steve
> 
> Stephen Faust                 smfaust@edisto.cofc.edu
> 
> On Wed, 1 Jul 1998, Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. wrote:
> 
> > Hoping to turn a negative into a positive, and to begin a more upbeat
> > discussion rather than the tired old "Jurassic Park" line...
> > 
> > At 10:37 PM 6/30/98 -0400, Stephen Faust wrote:
> > >Mr. Rey, or Dr. as the case may be, I don't just direct this message at
> > >you, but all those "professionals" much too good for the general
> > >population.
> > 
> > Incidentally,
> > 
> > a) Luis Rey is an artist, and not a professional paleontologist, nor would
> > he claim to be one.
> > b) Your use of the quotation marks around the word professional is quite
> > inappropriate: whether you like it or not, there are some of us out here 
> who
> > do paleontology for a living.
> > c) Luis comments, as I interpret them, have more to do with the failures of
> > multimillionmegabuck Hollywood adventure films as a medium, rather than
> > problems with Jurassic Park in particular.
> > 
> > But, more importantly:
> > 
> > d) Most paleontologists are on the record as to what first interested them
> > in dinosaurs.  For some, like Ken Carpenter, it was a movie (Godzilla in 
> his
> > case); for others it might be a book or article, or a museum exhibit (S.J.
> > Gould admits it was the T. rex display at the AMNH); for others, it was a
> > particular fossil they found out in the field as a kid.  John Ostrom wasn't
> > really into paleontology until he was in college, and took a course of
> > evolution.
> > 
> > Here is my story, as told to me by my parents.  I don't recall it myself,
> > and in fact I don't remember a time when I didn't love (obsess) about 
> dinosaurs:
> > While I was young (3-ish), my mom picked up a couple of plastic toys for my
> > brother and I at a five-and-dime store.  One of them got some farm animal,
> > one got a circus animal, and I got either the "Tyrannosaurus" toy or the
> > "Brontosaurus" toy (they can't remember which they bought first).  I asked
> > what it was, and my mom told me it was a "dinosaur".
> > 
> > Okay, great.  I was learning colors and numbers and words and so forth, so
> > this was a "dinosaur".
> > 
> > Some time later, she got another batch of toys: another farm animal, 
> another
> > circus animal, and I got whichever of the two mentioned above I didn't get
> > the first time.  I asked what it was, and my mom told me it was a 
> "dinosaur".
> > 
> > Apparently, I looked at her with more than a bit of skepticism.  How could
> > these two things, one with a big head with big teeth, tiny front legs,
> > walking on its hind legs, the other with a tiny head, long neck, and four
> > pillar like legs, BOTH be a dinosaur?  She didn't know, but being an
> > educator, she knew she ought to find out.  She got us a copy of the "How &
> > Why Wonder Book of Dinosaurs", and I was in love!
> > 
> > (Incidentally, you might note that in a sense, phylogenetic relationships
> > DID get me into the field, despite your thoughts to the contrary!!).
> > 
> > So, having now used up what would have been the opening to my memoirs (;-),
> > I question for professionals and fans alike: what got you into dinosaurs?  
> I
> > would particularly like to hear from anyone who can honestly admit they
> > didn't have an interest in dinosaurs UNTIL they saw "Jurassic Park" or "JP:
> > The Lost World".
> > 
> > Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
> > Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
> > Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
> > University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
> > College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
>