Sometimes, I am a fish - art, science and occasional nonsense

In Which Adam posts an Art-Dump

2012-10-11T19:55:00.000-04:00

Hey, I'm not dead! It's been an awful busy year, but hopefully we can start seeing some more elaborate posts on here again. In the meanwhile, have some artstuff. (Click to enlarge.)

In Which Adam is in an Art Show

2011-11-04T00:45:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone, I'm going to be in an art show!

Tomorrow night, at the Hi 5 at 59-60 Ridgewood, Queens, starting at 8 pm, some paintings of mine will be on display! Everyone go check it out.

Here is there event page, for more info.

In Which Adam's Laptop Dies, and Some Other Stuff

2011-10-31T15:31:00.000-04:00

Bad news everyone! It appears that my poor laptop of four years has finally kicked the bucket. This is a pain in the neck, since it prevents me from drawing stuff. I have a shiny new one on the way, but it will be about a week until then.

Otherwise, a happy Halloween to all of you! I had a special Halloween post planned for today, but with the dead computer in all, that isn't currently possible. I shall have to put it off until the new one arrives. Very alas.

In Which Adam Goes to New York Comic Con

2011-10-26T21:58:00.000-04:00

Ah, so last week I went to Comic Con! This is my fourth time attending, so it wasn't really anything I wasn't expecting. Still, it is a fun place to go to if you want to people-watch, or buy lots of strange merchandise, or look for people who might be in need of an illustrator.

Absolutely, horrifyingly crowded though. It gets to the point where it becomes mentally exhausting just to move around though. Twas completely, and utterly wiped out afterwards, which is why it took me so long to post these.

But anyways, on to the photodump!

I hate you, camera.

In Which Adam Continues The Feathered Dinosaur Draw-A-Thon

2011-09-24T18:59:00.000-04:00

I'm upping the dinosaur ante, folks!

WAHAHAHA

Now, if you participant in the Feathered Dinosaur Drawathon, you will be entered into a random drawing. At the end, I will pick a person at random, and they will win a free print of the feathered dinosaur of your choice. (Just choose any of the dinosaurs I have drawn for this project.)

Once the project is over, I will contact the winner, and we can work out the most effective methods of shipment.

Otherwise, keep sending me your favorite feathered dinosaurs, and tell anyone who might be interested! The results will be in at the end of the month!

In Which Adam presents: The Feathered Dinosaur Draw-A-Thon

2011-09-21T13:05:00.000-04:00

Now recent news in the paleo world is that of the discovery of fossilized dinosaur feathers preserved not in stone, but in amber. In addition to being an amazing scientific discovery that could give us far greater insight on the coloration and structure of dinosaur feathers, which could in turn give us a better idea of their habitats and lifestyles, it is likewise simply breathtaking to look at.

So in honor of this momentous discovery, I shall be doing something a little special. Without further ado, I present the:

Yes, for the next 30 days, (That's from today, til October 21,) I will be drawing any feathered dinosaur, extinct or otherwise, that you request! Just post your request here, in the comments section. Or, if you have a twitter, send a feathered dinosaur of your choice to @Piscasaurus, with #FeatheredDino in the subject. At the end of the month, I shall post all of them up at once.

If you'd like to remain anonymous in the entry, please let me know. Or if you'd like me to link back to your blog or website, I can certainly be accommodating to that as well.

Please note that I am not a paleontologist, and while I will certainly do my best to remain scientifically accurate, if I make some sort of error, please just politely let me know in the comments section, and I will know not to make that mistake in the future!

Otherwise, please tell everyone you know to send me their favorite feathered dinosaurs, and if you'd like to have your own dinosaur draw-a-thon, go right ahead! This is meant to be a community project, so the more people interested, the better.

I look forward to seeing your responses!

Edit! Apparently September is Velociraptor Awareness Month! Suddenly this project has become far more appropriate.

Edit! Edit! This project is now a sweepstakes! If you enter, you have a chance to win one of the final drawings! See the above post for further details.

In Which Adam Moviewatches: #2 Zebraman

2011-09-18T21:40:00.000-04:00

So, I have been on haitus for a bit, so how about we have ourselves a movie review? Ladies and Gents, I present: Zebraman.

Now, those who know me well are generally aware of my fondness for the tokusatsu genre. I will save a more elaborate description of what that is for a later post, but roughly speaking "tokusatsu" translates to "special effects" and tends to feature costumed heroes fighting monsters in suits. It can be silly, yes, but there are exemplary gems in this genre, and frankly there is just something cathartic about watching anthropomorphic bug men kick monsters in the face until they explode.

Yes

In Which Adam & Ifi Continue to Review Animorphs

2011-09-03T23:21:00.000-04:00

http://adamdreifus.blogspot.com/2011/08/in-which-adam-ifi-review-animorphs-book.htmlNow, I am sure that you all remember that review that Ifi and I did of the first Animorphs book. I sure did. Now, we had a lot of fun doing this, and there are a lot of Animorphs books to review, so we put up a separate blog just for that! So without further due, I present:

Cinnamon Bunzuh! Here, we'll be reviewing a new Animorphs book every week. All 64, until we're done. I'll continue with regular updates on here, so don't worry about that.

And to show you I mean business, here is my entire Animorphs collection for you all to see:

I'm just missing 3 books. It will haunt me forever.

And yes, I am a crazy person.

In Which Adam Avoids Being Attacked by the Weather

2011-08-31T23:03:00.000-04:00

Well, I am back! As I said before, we had to evacuate because of the hurricane, but I have since returned. It was an inconvenience, and some trees in the neighborhood had fallen, but everyone here is safe, and there was luckily no damage to the house.

This is more of an update to the general state of my well being, and I'll have another, more substantial post up shortly.

In Which Adam Hopefully Avoids Being Attacked by the Weather

2011-08-27T23:25:00.000-04:00

So, for those who are unaware, the East Coast is just about to be besieged (which is a fun word to say, and I will note to use it more often) by Hurricane Irene. Consequentially, I've had to evacuate my house for the weekend. Tis irksome, but just so you all know, I am safe, and hopefully this nonsense will all be done with quickly, and I can go back to my usual internet procrastinations.

I'll elaborate further on the experience once I get back and have more consistent internet.

In Which Adam Goes to Europe: Part 1.1.3: Berlin

2011-08-22T17:44:00.000-04:00

Today is museum day! So to Museum Island we go!

We begin our day at the Neues (New) Museum. Having originally opened in 1855, it isn't exactly new, per se, however, it was severely damaged in World War II, and was not completely rebuilt and reopened until 2009.

Here I am!

Anywho, the museum!

The Neues Museum is particularly noted for having a very extensive Egyptian exhibit. In particular, they have that rather famous bust of Queen Nefertiti which I am sure all of you have seen somewhere or another. Alas, for that room did not allow photographs, but then again, that is what I have a sketchbook for.

So here we go, sketches:
Read more »

In Which Adam Goes to Europe: Part 1.1.2: Berlin

2011-08-17T19:08:00.000-04:00

Day two of Berlin!

Starting off where I left off, we got up in the morning, and headed towards the Bauhaus.

History lesson!
The Bauhaus school was founded in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius, as a means to apply modernist thought and practicality to architecture and design. Specifically, Gropius felt that artistic value could be applied to mass produced items, and set out to devise a means where people could work out ways to create aesthetically pleasing items on a mass scale. The aftereffects of the bauhaus movement can be seen just about everywhere, from the chairs in your living room, to that condo your grandmother in Florida lives in. There were three Bauhaus schools founded, with the one we visited being comparatively the most recent one.

Here I am.

In Which Adam & Ifi Review Animorphs: Book 1, The Invasion

2011-08-11T18:23:00.000-04:00

Well, this is something new that I shall be trying out. My friend Ifi, of When I Grow Up and I shall be reviewing the Animorphs book series from start to finish over the next period of time. (I'll still be doing regular blog updates as well, and we are still experimenting with the format of the new reviews, so we shall see how it goes. For Ifi's version of the review, go here.

Anyways, a backstory will likely be good here. Animorphs is a longrunning series of young adult novels written by K.A. Applegate. over the course of 1996 to 2001. To give a basic description of the premise, five teenagers stumble upon a crashed alien spacecraft. The dying alien they find inside tells them of the Yeerks, a parasitic alien race that have been steadily infiltrating human society in order to take them over. The dying alien grants them the power to acquire and transform into any animal, so they might defend themselves, and hopefully hold the invasion force back, at least for a while.

Despite the young target audience of these books, they were astonishingly dark at times, heavy on gore, and not shying away from showing the psychological impact that being engaged in a war would have on someone of that age. Over time, Applegate would vastly expand the animorphs-verse with a variety of alien species and planets, some of varying degrees of realism, which in spite of how many of these books were ghostwritten (with 12-14 books a year, to 64 books in total, it would be impossible to do otherwise) this lead to a deeply engaging story, that pretty much singlehandedly got me into reading as a small child.

And yes, that's the thing. I began this series as a kindergardener, before I could even read well at all, and kept going for years until the series was finished. And this, more or less is why I love this series so much. It was through these books that I basically taught myself to read, and therefor gained an interest in books to begin with. And without that, I would not be interested in writing children's books of my own. But enough about this.

So without further ado, I present you with Animorphs Book 1: The Invasion.

In Which Adam Goes to Europe: Part 1.1: Berlin

2011-08-08T23:07:00.000-04:00

So off I go to Germany! But first, the flight. The long, long flight. Eight hours of sitting there, reading my Rober Bakker book that I got out of library, listening to the Kamen Rider OOO soundtrack on my ipod, and ingesting terrible airline food. In spite of this though, I have always had something of a fondness for flying. Look down at the clouds or the ground from so high up, it just seems to give a very strange quality to the scenery. Fields of clouds look more like a range of snowcapped mountains than anything else. And once the plain begins flying over Europe, the long tracks of German farmland begin to resemble something like a grid of computer circuitry. Its all a bit odd, but I like it.

Anywho, I get to the Berlin. Local time is about 9:00 am. New York time is 3:00 am. Yikes.

But I meet my brother in the airport, and we get to the hotel. The Adrema hotel, which we are staying at, is quite frankly, absolutely lovely. The lobby is a big mass of marble and pillars, and the dining room has magnificent lighting, and overlooks a nearby river.

The breakfasts at the Adrema are equally splendid. Fresh bread, coldcuts, eggs, sausage. Oh, and the honey and butter are something I must describe separately. The honey is dark and thick, much richer then what you can get in most stores at the states. And the butter, and I am not particularly much of a butter person, mind you, is so much more creamy and flavorful then what I am accustomed to. Just lovely.

Also of interest are the eggs. The yolks are orange! How peculiar.

My brother, stuffing his face. Delightful.

In Which Adam Goes to Europe: Prologue

2011-07-22T18:46:00.000-04:00

Well, for those I have not told already, tomorrow I will be leaving for Germany, and will be traveling around Europe for the next two weeks. I've never traveled abroad before, so I am super excited over this. Basically, the trip will be Berlin -> Battenburgh (Small town where my grandma grew up) -> Long train ride -> Paris -> Long train ride -> London. I shall take lots of photos and sketches, so expect some interesting adventure tales in the next few days. Weee.

---

Also, check out what Tiffany Turrill (seriously one of my favorite recent artists) said to me on her tumblr: http://tiffanyillustration.tumblr.com/post/7918108478/this-isnt-really-a-question-but-id-just-like-to-say#notes

I am giddy as a schoolgirl.

In Which Adam Goes to the Museum (Again)

2011-07-20T02:17:00.000-04:00

There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm.
- Theodore Roosevelt

Ah, well, as I had mentioned before, I am currently working on writing/illustrating a children's dinosaur book (an alphabet book, specifically.) And while currently, my main attention seems to be figuring out just what microraptor plumage ought to look like...

I am still working on it, you see.

I may as well go to my absolute favorite place on earth, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH.) I haven't been there since that conference on lizards. So I figure I will make a drawing day of it, get a bit of dinosaur anatomy worked out, otherwise have a grand ol' time.

I really cannot stress how great this place is. Even the subway nearby is awesome. The walls are covered with different tile mosaics of different animals. Just lovely.

I'm afraid you will have to forgive the quality of these photos. My brother off in Germany is borrowing my camera, so I had to take these with my cell phone. Ah well.

Anyway, as I start to get weird looks for being that crazy person in the subway taking pictures of the walls, I actually make my way inside of the museum.

This rather grandiose display of an Allosaurus engaged in combat with a Barosaurus. And this is just the main lobby.

So, after a half an hour's waiting on line (Its a crowded summer day, what do you expect?), I am inside the museum!

And I promptly get distracted by the gift shop.

They have hanging pterosaurs! And this is just the gift shop! Sweet!

I mean, there are just so many books! And toys! And fossils! And, and, and....

I am distracted easily. Oh, and also there was a rather charming invertebrate display by the Real Insect Co, who I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the people from a few months back. They're really helpful, and if you have any interest in preserved insects, they are worth a checking out. I am getting myself distracted again.

But yes! Drawing! That is why I am here! Yes! So I am going to draw some extinct dinos...

Well, close.

Okay, so I manage dinosaurs, though not the extinct ones yet. I end up in the the African Bird exhibit, totally on the wrong floor. Still, no loss, and I want to draw plumage anyways.

Quack.

Okay, okay, must go on, mustn't be distracted. Up to the top floor, I make my way to the extinct animal exhibits. The dinosaurs have two rooms, one for Ornithischians (bird-hipped dinosaurs) and Saurischians (lizard-hipped dinosaurs.) (Note that despite the names, modern birds are actually descended from the lizard-hipped dinosaurs. Odd, but true.) I start with the Saurischians.

There we go.

I sit down, I draw some sauropod skulls. Its peaceful, though I do get harassed a bit by some kids crowding around trying to look. Oh well, life goes on.

But then, tragedy strikes.

Gasp

I begin sketching a Plateosaurus (a basal sauropodomorph ("basal sauropodomorph" is quite fun to say outloud. (I like recursive parenthesis, if you haven't noticed.))) But alas! My pencil runs out of lead! Despair! I quickly run to the gift shop and buy a pen, and while it is pretty cool that I now have a pen with dinosaurs on it, it is still not the same drawing wise. So if the further drawings here are a little wonky, you can at least know why.

Anyways! More from the Saurischia exhibit:

Allosaurus and Dilophosaurus skulls.

Obligatory

Struthiomimus, not reconstructed.

And two other things of interest from here:

Archaeopteryx. I always forget just how small these guys are.

And.

Deinocheirus. Look at those big honkin' arms!

Alright, that is all for Saurischia, on to the Ornithischians!

Edmontonia, Anatotitan, and Protoceratops

And photos!

Styracosaurus. An old childhood favorite of mine.

Anatotitan (A Hadrosaur.) I noticed that I took this picture from the exact same angle as the picture of them in the museum's wikipedia page.

Protoceratops with a nest of eggs.

A stegosaurus's thagomizer.

Well, that's all for the dinosaurs. But still, there is more! In addition to the two dinosaur exhibits, there is also a room devoted to other extinct reptiles, amphibians and fish, and two other rooms for extinct mammals and synapsids. Here's a sample:

Pteranodon

A phytosaur, and ~~another archosaur that I (tragically) cannot recall the name of. Anyone able to help on this?~~ a Prestosuchus. Thanks Albertonykus!

I'm pretty sure this is a mosasaur of some kind.

A large bony fish.

Dunkleostus's big, bony skull.

And from the mammals, a Brontothere.

And thus, my trip to the museum comes to its conclusion. I exit, in an almost zenlike state of peace (seriously, the place is really calming.) I stop by a nearby Japanese restaurant and have some ramen, and then I am on my way home. A good day is had by all.

Later on, I find this in a bookstore for surprisingly cheap. I think I may find it helpful for my book. (Again, plumage.)

It's huuuuuuuuge.

Anyways, just as a recap, the AMNH is really a wonderful place. If you're not native to New York, but plan to visit at some point, really do include this as a high priority on your places to check out. It is worth it.

With that said, I will leave you with this additional book I had come by at my stop at Borders:

Goodnight Everybody!

In Which Adam Plans to Write a Comic and Other News

2011-07-14T21:04:00.000-04:00

In recent news, my pal Eileen will be putting together a comic anthology of mythological stories, which I shall have an entry in! I think I will do an Anansi story of some kind...

For those who are interested and might like to make a submission of their own, check it out here: http://eileenmclain.com/gallery/mythology Expect further updates on this as I begin to put it together.

Update: The anthology project now has a tumblr page: http://mythologycomic.tumblr.com/
---

In unrelated news, this very blog was featured in this week's Boneyard Blog Carnival! You can look for it, and other blogs discussing paleontology here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/07/the-boneyard-2-11/

Many are quite neat. Some personal favorites of mine is Love in the Time of the Chasmosaurs, where they often dissect classical paleo art, and this frankly rather touching letter that a blogger had received from a paleontologist at the meager age of 10.

And lastly, check for future Boneyard updates here: http://theboneyardblogcarnival.blogspot.com/ With any luck, I hope to be up there again in the future.

Update: I've just discovered that this Boneyard Blog Carnival will in fact be the last one. And now I am sad. I wonder if it might be possible to start up something similar?

In Which Adam Moviewatches: #1 You Are Umasou

2011-07-11T16:50:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been on something of a paleontology kick lately, what with the that David Peters post and the fact that I have been working on a dinosaur themed children's book (likely more on this later.) I think I shall give my description of a thematically appropriate movie I saw not to long ago.

A movie that is, incidentally, the most singlehandedly cute thing I have ever seen.

The movie I speak of is "You Are Umasou." And it is glorious.

To specify a bit, "You Are Umasou" (おまえうまそうだな Omae Umasou da na, literally: You Are Delicious) is a 2010 Japanese animated film based on an earlier children's book by Tatsuya Miyanishi.

The style of the book is a bit different, you see.

Without spoiling too much, "You Are Umasou" tells the story of Heart, a Tyrannosaurus who (due to some unusual circumstances) has been adopted by a kindly Maiasaura. Though Heart's mother's decision has caused her to be exiled from the heard, the three of them (Her, Heart and her biological son Light) live a relatively happy life. However, Heart, previously thinking he's just simply an unusually shaped Maiasaura comes to realize that he is a meat eater.

Heart runs away to avoid potentially harming his adoptive family, though otherwise living as the other carnivorous do. Yet, circumstances conspire again, and Heart comes to adopt Umasou (Delicious, which is how Heart first describes him) and the whole cycle begins anew.

Now the first thing that stands out about this movie are the character designs. The dinosaurs in Umasou are very cartoonish, rounded, and sort of rubbery. Let's compare the character's with their respective species, shall we?

Heart

Heart and his brother Light

Their mom, with little Heart and Light

Umasou

Now, Heart is a Tyrannosaurus, and Umasou is an Ankylosaurus.

And Light and his mother are Maiasaura
(Dino-art here courtesy of http://www.search4dinosaurs.com/)

Now, the designs are a little goofy at first, I will admit, but by gosh, are they effective. The production values of this movie are topnotch, and it shows, and the simplified designs allow the dinosaurs to movie very dynamically. When combined with the gorgeous background art of this movie, it all leads to a very charming and effective look that allows you to empathize with these dinosaurs.

And you will empathize, believe me. I was practically crying at points.

So overall, yes, this is a children's movie, but it is just so outright charming and heartwarming, that you really cannot help but enjoy it. And really, how can you not love a movie that feature's a T. rex performing karate.

Awesome

Sadly, this movie is rather hard to find in the states, and the only copy of the book on amazon is sold out. Still, if you can find either, I would definitely give it my recommendation. I'll also be on the lookout for the book myself, and if I find it, I will likely give it a separate review.

S...so cute. *u*

Update! I have acquired a copy of the book! This is not too helpful if you are outside of the New York area, but the Manhattan Kinokunia is well stocked with copies of it.

In Which Adam is a Sell Out

2011-07-09T02:14:00.000-04:00

Wait, what moon-nonsense is this?

I have a twitter.

Follow @Piscasaurus

Clicky clicky.

In Which Adam Talks About Weird Paleontology Art

2011-07-06T19:36:00.001-04:00

Well, I am back!

Anywho, for today's topic, I shall be discussing David Peters, apparently a rather infamous figure in the paleontology world. Now, Tricia and and the Paleo King (check out their discussions on the matter here and here if you are curious) have had previously discussed him a while back, and I apologize to them if I come off as a bit of a copycat, but this is frankly just too amusing, and I feel that I need to share.

Basically, David Peters is an illustrator focusing in paleontology art. And if I may say so, he is quite splendid at it. He has published a few books of the years, and his art in them is really quite stunning.

You see?

The problem of course, is that Mr. Peters is not a paleontologist (despite what he might think.) And he has had some...shall we say interesting hypothesis on pterosaur reconstructions, and anatomy. Let's look, shall we?

Something seems...awry here....

"Well, okay," you say, "The posture's a bit strange. And It has that big silly head crest up top. But is this really as big a deal as you are making it to be?"

Well okay, I will give you that much. And there are in fact pterosaurs with crests as big (and goofy) as that. (Look up Nyctosaurs if you think me untruthful.) How about we look at one of Mr. Peters's own reconstructions (followed by my take on it.)

It looks like he spilled ink all over his drawing...

Don't ask me what I was thinking with the color scheme. I was sick, okay?

Convinced you yet? Basically, in addition to some unusual theories that pterosaurs were in fact more related to lizards then to dinosaurs, crocodiles and other archosaurs, as is more commonly thought, he rather infamously came about his interpretations of fossils by taking prexisting photos of the fossils, and then drawing over them in photoshop where he thought he saw any detail.

...

I'll just let that last bit sink in a bit.

So basically, the result of this, was that Mr. Peters would see a natural dent in the rock, or a crack where the animal's bone had fractured, and assume it was a natural feature in the creature's anatomy. In another example of how this can have awkward results, he drew the pterosaur Jeholopterus with vampire fangs and a angler fish-esque dangling thingwhat on its head.

Blaaaaaahh

So, I thinks to myself, perhaps Mr. Peters should take his talents and apply them elsewhere. Please take note that this is not meant as an insult to his talents, it is most certainly not. Rather, think of it from this perspective:

A loud screech is heard just past the horizon, and the hunters dove for cover, crowding into their holes in the cliftside wall, and mounting their hastily prepared headbows to their frontal crests. This is the day they had all been waiting for. Tonight they would return to their families like heroes, and eat like kings. But they must not be too overeager. It approaches.

It soon reached them, the sun glinting over iridescent fur and leathery flaps whipping back and forth in the rough wind. It let out a scream as the first of many arrows hit it, responding by letting out barrage of fine down from its underside, which immediately set cliffside aburst in yellow flame. But they had readied for this too. Working quickly, they released their dam, causing hours worth of built up mud and silt to torrent down the cliff walls, and quenching the flames, all the while continuing their assault. Within minutes of work, the creature was down.

Now, ignoring my (possible lack of) capacity for writing, what I am saying here is that Mr. Peter's designs would be absolutely perfect for a fantasy setting! Just picture it! Vibrantly colored airborn reptiles, all with numerous crests, airsacks, contours and spines. It would make some great world building!

Anywho, that is just my take on the matter. Should anyone care to see more of David Peter's reconstruction work, here's his webpage: http://www.reptileevolution.com/index.htm

Adam out.

In Which Adam is Feeling Unwell

2011-07-02T21:19:00.000-04:00

I have tonsillitis. (Sad Emoticon) I'll have another, more interesting post once I can think coherently again.

In Which Adam Eats Something While it is Still Living

2011-06-25T18:49:00.000-04:00

Now, here's an interesting little story I can all recount for you lot. You see, last month was my birthday, so I went out for some dinner. Now, I could have gone to somewhere ordinary. A good slice of pizza is a perfectly acceptable standby. And I have a longstanding fondness for good sashimi.

But no. It is time for something more adventurous.

Oh yes.

So we head down to Sik Gaek, this amazing Korean place in Flushing. The place is abuzz as usual, with the lull roar of relaxing young couples and businessmen amidst the bubbling of lobster tanks. The whole place is decorated with big posters of Korean Models, and it smells faintly of kimchi and beer. Now, I have been to this restaurant once before, but now I have a singular goal in mind. That goal being some maewoon tang.

Ah, but first a salad!

A salad with tentacles.

Yes, atop a bed of lettuce and some hot peppers are a batch of freshly caught and snipped octopus tentacles, still wriggling. After a brief warning to be sure to chew them thoroughly (The suction cups are still quite functional, and the darn things can get caught in your throat!) we dig in.

Its admittedly a bit of a challenge. They're often too slimy to pick up with chopsticks, and when you get them by hand, they cling on as tight as they can. But oh, is it worth it. They're chewy, but they have a very light taste, almost lemony, certainly very fresh. You can practically picture yourself plucking it right out of the ocean, that's the sort of taste it has. Ah though, this is just the warm up. The main course comes next.

That maewoon tang I mentioned? Its a great big pot of seafood, complete with razor clams, snails, muscles, crabs, scallops, conch, abelone, and a full lobster, all in a bright red broth. Its placed on a little gas stove built into the table, and continues to boil the food while we eat. (And it needs to! That lobster is still alive when they first bring it to us!)

Ah, but that is not all. With the stew brought to the table, a waitress comes over and tops it off with another octopus, this one intact and still quite lively. Technically, you are supposed to wait until it is cooked through before eating it, but I am impatient.

I have stared into the eye of madness, and it has stared back.

The taste... Oh goodness, where do I begin. The broth is pungent and spicy, adding just the right hints of flavor to the mild octopus, which still squirms as it goes down. The lobster is absolutely perfect, fresh and light and with a natural buttery taste. The crab meat is sweet, especially the thin strip of yellow roe at the back of their shells. And the abalone, which I have never had before, is very chewy, but with that wonderful fishy sweetness that all good shellfish have.

Ah, it was a wonderful time, and a great deal of fun. I know some people are somewhat squicked by the concept of eating live food, but there is just something exciting about it to me, like going on a culinary adventure. This sort of thing is what I really like about New York, that you can have all these different cultures and their effects crammed in together, hopefully with some of their collective intact.

If anyone would like to try out Sik Gaek, I would heartily recommend it. They don't have a web page, but here they are on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/sik-gaek-flushing

Oh, and look, Tony Bourdain ate here as well!

In Which Adam Contemplates a Lizard Adventure

2011-06-18T19:19:00.000-04:00

A few weeks back, I had gone with a buddy to one of my favorite places in the world, the American Museum of Natural History. Weeee. Here, they had a had a presentation from herpetologist Chris Raxworthy on his travels to Madagascar to study chameleons and various other lizards. The museum apparently has speeches like this every so often, though (alas) this was the last one of the year. Fear not, however, for they shall continue where they left off the year following. I'll make further updates should I go to later events.

So there we are seated in the room with a large dinosaur model in it, with free chips and overpriced booze, and I am upfront sketching me some lizards.

Crested Geckos. Cuuuuute.

Its a bit dark and hard to see, but I make do. Eventually they show everyone to their seats, and Dr. Raxworthy begins.

He starts off by talking about taxonomy, and how tough it can be for scientists to determine whether something is a new species or not. It's true! Not many people view it as such, but the margin between species can be very vague sometimes. For instance, one might say that if two organisms cannot produce fertile young, then they are different species. Like lions and tigers for instance! A lion/tiger hybrid is sterile, and cannot produce more ligers. Except sometimes, it can. ...Wait. The point here being that species is more of a sliding scale then most people acknowledge, with one steadily transitioning to the next.

Speaking of transitions...

He then moved on to a bit about how he captured the reptiles. With something of a demonstration. "FWAP!" He releases a large rubberband, and flings it off into the crowd. (A guy caught it, which was impressive, I suppose, though I still think it would be more funny if someone got in in the head though.) But yes. One of their methods for lizard catching is to knock them out by dramatically whacking them in the head with a rubberband. Ouch.

Ah, but you mustn't fret! There were other methods as well. A bucket can be buried in the dirt, so it forms a pit. A lizard might walk along the edge, then fall in. Alternatively:

Sticks!

Yes, sticks. They're maybe a bit more high-tech then the rubber bands, but not really much more so. The lower one was constructed out of a golf club. But basically, these are uses to handle lizards from a distance that might be a bit too wriggly otherwise.

After this came the part that I'm sure much of the audience was looking forward to. They came and brought the lizards around, for people and such. And...none of them were of the sorts he actually studied in Madagascar. A bit disappointing, but hey. they're still pretty cute.

In addition to the Crested Geckos (native to New Caledonia, a collective of France just east of Australia, and thought to be extinct up until just 1994) pictured above, we also saw:

Blue Tongued Skinks! I like these guys. I wanted one as a pet when I was little.

And

Bearded Dragons. These are cool too. And hey, at least these are related to chameleons.

Overall, a really neat experience. I'll definitely keep up on when they have another event like this. Here's a few links on Dr. Raxworthy if you are interested: http://www.amnh.org/news/2010/10/after-darwin-scientist-slide-shows-bring-the-field-to-the-web/

In Which Adam Admits a Silly Mistake

2011-06-12T03:41:00.000-04:00

Gah, I made this sketch specifically for the mantis shrimp post, and then forgot to include it. Don't I feel like a derp now.

In Which Adam Discusses Mantis Shrimp & Introduces the Blog

2011-06-11T16:03:00.001-04:00

Well, hello to everyone who might be reading this! This is my fancypants new blog-thing, in which I shall discuss science, art, and whatever I find that catches my attention.
For today, I think I have a good starting point. I shall discuss my super-favorite animal, the Mantis Shrimp.

Just look at how pretty this fellow is! This particular one is the Peacock Mantis shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus), though there are around 400 or so different species in total, in a variety of colors and flavors, ranging from greens to browns to translucent to zebra striped! Crazy, no?

Mantis Shrimp, or Stomatopods as they are otherwise called, are found all over the ocean in the South Pacific, where they live in sand and rock burrows, and are often found by accident, which leads to their rather sadly derogatory nickname in said parts: Thumbsplitters. (Ouch)

"Mmmmmmm. Thumbs." (Nom)

Yes, Stomatopods are rather well known for their monstrously fast claws, which they normally use to bludgeon or spear their prey, but in other circumstances can badly mangle some unwary diver's hands. Yep. But what's neat about these claws is the sheer speed they can reach, moving at over 51 miles per hour from a starting position, and with acceleration comparable to to that of a bullet. These small creatures can quite easily smash the shells of crabs, rocks, and glass tanks (if you want to get one as a pet, make sure you have an acrylic tank, not glass. This is important!)

But alas! There are circumstances where people may take their cruel vengeance upon these creatures, for it is not unheard of for people to eat mantis shrimp in some asian countries. (I will admit, I would totally try some if given the opportunity. Don't judge me.)

Mantis Shrimp Sashimi. Okay, okay, that does look super-tasty.
Photo courtesy of SeriousEats.com

But yes.

Also neat about the Mantis Shrimp is their eyesight. Each eye of the mantis shrimp is divided into 3 segments by specialized receptive cells, with each segment containing 16 types of photoreceptive pigment. All in all, this allows each of the independently mobile eyes to possess depth perception, and the capacity to view polarized light and light outside of the normal color spectrum that we are capable of seeing. Mantis shrimp as a whole are capable of seeing the widest spectrum of vision out of any animal, which to me frankly is just really cool.

I seeeeee you.

But what's sad about these creatures is the bad reputation they have among fish owners. Mantis Shrimp are often capable of sneaking aboard unknowing fish owners' tanks inside of the coral, where they will promptly dispose of the tanks' fish at night, and are notoriously hard to get rid of. What's upsetting about this is that aquarium enthusiasts will discount the mantis shrimp's potential as pets in their own right, when in actuality the creatures are quite hardy, intelligent and in general just lovely to look at.

I want one, in any case.

For more information on mantis shrimp, check out the Lurker's Guide to Stomatopods, here: http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/