No angry creationists gathered outside my door with torches & pitchforks last night, and I presume that the first-night impact of Expelled (at least in my area) was not as great as the producers of the film might have hoped. We won't know for sure, though, until the box office results are in on Monday.
The above was written in a tongue-in-cheek manner, of course, and I really don't care about Ben Stein's creationist diatribe today. This morning I stopped by the local library book sale where I picked up a copy of Richard Leakey's Origins, the pop-paleo junk food Tyrannosaur, and (a book that looked so bizarre I just had to get it) American Genesis. What I'm really excited about, though, is the arrival of W.M. Berryman Scott's A History of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere. It's heavy, it's old, and it's got lots of illustrations by Charles R. Knight Robert Bruce Horsfall, so I can hardly wait to dig into it.
Before I "treat" myself to Scott's book, though, I have to finish Ritvo's The Platypus and the Mermaid and work on my own book. I also recently became aware of a "bearded woman" named Julia Pastrana, who was billed as the "nondescript" or "baboon-lady" until the publication of On the Origin of Species caused more interest in her as a possible "missing link," the recent description (and popularity) of the gorilla causing a shift in comparisons. I just learned of the existence of a book about how the Irish were often compared to apes in
Victorian caricatures, Apes and Angels, as well, although I have so much work to do I don't know when I'd be able to get to it even if I had it.
On top of all this, yesterday Tracey and I picked up three little kittens that were going to be euthanized. We're giving them a home (and socializing them) until they're ready to be adopted, and their names are Mishu, Emma (after Emma Darwin [formerly Wedgewood] - I named her), and Elice. I don't know how long they'll be with us, but they are so darn cute that I don't mind the inconvenience of keeping them for a little while.
In any case, I've got much to do and I hope to make the most of this beautiful Saturday, and I hope you can do the same wherever you are.
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I was surprised to see that it is on at both of the theaters here. Part of me wants to go to another movie this weekend then just stick my head in their room to see how many people are watching it....
If you enjoy Tyrannosaur keep an eye out for Time Safari by the same author. It's the precursor to Tyrannosaur and has a good chunk of non-dinosaur fiction in it that was slashed when they wanted a re-release that would surf the Spielberg/Crichton wave of paleopopularity. Plus some cute illustrations by, as I recall, Val Lakey-Linden in a photo-reference and airbrush style.
Oh, man. I am such a geek. (And now that I think about it my mom would have given me a hard time for misusing the word 'geek.' It just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?)
Afarensis links to the following statistics:
Tee hee.