Dinosaurs and Icons
Okay, so apparently my paid LJ account was automatically renewed on the 30th (serves me right for not reading the e-mail alert I received), so the decision of whether or not to renew it was made for me. And I'm VERY GLAD it was!
Why? Because I get to upload five more icons, because I'm all loyal and shit. Awesome, right? Yes.
So my Mom and I went to the ROM today to see the (new) dinosaur/paleontology gallery. There were a lot of new items in there, and of course the gallery is in the new "crystal" gallery.
While I was thrilled to see a barosaur skeleton (it's frickin' HUGE, people), and a baby diplodocus skeleton totally had me imagining what it would be like to have a pet baby dinosaur (because, yes, I am a six-year-old). Oh yeah, there was also a T-Rex, but psh, everyone knows sauropods are WAY cooler.
It is pretty interesting when I compare the old gallery with the new one, in terms of style and how museum standards have changed over the years. The most obvious one is that they have much more up-to-date information, as well as postures for the dinosaurs (when the old exhibits were set up, I believe they were still thinking that theropods (T-Rexes and their relatives) walked fairly upright, as opposed to their spines being parallel to the ground).
One thing that sort of caught me by surprise was something rather insignificant--the fact that the touch-screen video displays functioned kinda like a youtube video. They had the play bar, showing how far along you are visually, as well as the seconds left in the video, and a pause button. I mean, yeah, online you take for granted that kind of display/set-up of a video, but I just found it kind of neat that that way of presenting video media is the easiest to understand/use even in a museum.
Everything about the way they've updated the ROM galleries is very cool, clean and clinical. Stark white walls and glass cases clearly displaying everything. And in the case of the dinosaur exhibits, it is rather aesthetically pleasing. Instead of invisible/fishing line wires hanging all the fossils/casts in their anatomically correct positions, they've got simple metal poles the same colour as the fossils attached to them and holding them up.
But! (You knew there was going to be a but!) I think I've mentioned before on here how disappointed I was with the Asian cultures galleries compared to how they used to be. There was this one room I loved; filled with large statues in the centre and giant murals on all four walls. The room was dark and very quiet. You could see everything well enough, but it had just the right amount of shadow that made you feel like the statues were watching you. You went in, and there was sense of awe, a feeling of reverence towards everything in that room. In the new galleries, everything is separated and displayed out in the open, with bright light.
I've got the same sob story when it comes to the dinosaur exhibits. Before the update all the dinosaurs were hung from invisible fishing line-type wires (probably with some other support, but its visibility was minimized), and they were set amongst...well, sets, made to look like the actual habitats of the species in question. There was one with some aquatic species and they had a kind of cool combination of lighting and paint that made it look like it (and by extension, you) were really underwater.
I have several memories as a kid of scaring myself looking at these exhibits because they made it all seem very real. Those exhibits tried to put the dinosaurs in context, and I think it really added to the experience of learning about those species. On the other hand, I can see the educational value of the new set-up, because it makes it much easier to view the skeletal structures (and after having taken that bio-anthro course I can appreciate how important little details in bone structure can be).
My mom pointed out that instead of seeing the specimens in the museum in context, there are those fantastically awesome computer-animated documentaries (which, being somewhat anti-CGI, I must admit really are amazing) which make it really easy to see and understand what dinosaurs and the world was like back then. But, ick, I can't help but find that a little...soulless, I suppose?
I don't know. Maybe I'm just being uselessly nostalgic for those exhibits simply because I grew up with them and always felt like visiting them felt like saying hello to old friends. Every time I was there, I had to see the dinosaurs (just like I had to go through the Bat Cave there), just to check up on them and refresh my memory (though maybe this is just my obsessive compulsive tendencies shining through yet again). I guess overall, I dislike the starkness and sharp angles of everything in the new galleries, but it's nice that they're, you know, doing research and updating information so that we not we're not all ignorant and whatnot.
Anyhoo. I am surprised by the amount of knowledge about dinosaurs I seem to have accumulated over the years.
Later gaters. (Yes, I saw gator skulls too. AND a GIANT GROUND SLOTH skeleton!)
Why? Because I get to upload five more icons, because I'm all loyal and shit. Awesome, right? Yes.
So my Mom and I went to the ROM today to see the (new) dinosaur/paleontology gallery. There were a lot of new items in there, and of course the gallery is in the new "crystal" gallery.
While I was thrilled to see a barosaur skeleton (it's frickin' HUGE, people), and a baby diplodocus skeleton totally had me imagining what it would be like to have a pet baby dinosaur (because, yes, I am a six-year-old). Oh yeah, there was also a T-Rex, but psh, everyone knows sauropods are WAY cooler.
It is pretty interesting when I compare the old gallery with the new one, in terms of style and how museum standards have changed over the years. The most obvious one is that they have much more up-to-date information, as well as postures for the dinosaurs (when the old exhibits were set up, I believe they were still thinking that theropods (T-Rexes and their relatives) walked fairly upright, as opposed to their spines being parallel to the ground).
One thing that sort of caught me by surprise was something rather insignificant--the fact that the touch-screen video displays functioned kinda like a youtube video. They had the play bar, showing how far along you are visually, as well as the seconds left in the video, and a pause button. I mean, yeah, online you take for granted that kind of display/set-up of a video, but I just found it kind of neat that that way of presenting video media is the easiest to understand/use even in a museum.
Everything about the way they've updated the ROM galleries is very cool, clean and clinical. Stark white walls and glass cases clearly displaying everything. And in the case of the dinosaur exhibits, it is rather aesthetically pleasing. Instead of invisible/fishing line wires hanging all the fossils/casts in their anatomically correct positions, they've got simple metal poles the same colour as the fossils attached to them and holding them up.
But! (You knew there was going to be a but!) I think I've mentioned before on here how disappointed I was with the Asian cultures galleries compared to how they used to be. There was this one room I loved; filled with large statues in the centre and giant murals on all four walls. The room was dark and very quiet. You could see everything well enough, but it had just the right amount of shadow that made you feel like the statues were watching you. You went in, and there was sense of awe, a feeling of reverence towards everything in that room. In the new galleries, everything is separated and displayed out in the open, with bright light.
I've got the same sob story when it comes to the dinosaur exhibits. Before the update all the dinosaurs were hung from invisible fishing line-type wires (probably with some other support, but its visibility was minimized), and they were set amongst...well, sets, made to look like the actual habitats of the species in question. There was one with some aquatic species and they had a kind of cool combination of lighting and paint that made it look like it (and by extension, you) were really underwater.
I have several memories as a kid of scaring myself looking at these exhibits because they made it all seem very real. Those exhibits tried to put the dinosaurs in context, and I think it really added to the experience of learning about those species. On the other hand, I can see the educational value of the new set-up, because it makes it much easier to view the skeletal structures (and after having taken that bio-anthro course I can appreciate how important little details in bone structure can be).
My mom pointed out that instead of seeing the specimens in the museum in context, there are those fantastically awesome computer-animated documentaries (which, being somewhat anti-CGI, I must admit really are amazing) which make it really easy to see and understand what dinosaurs and the world was like back then. But, ick, I can't help but find that a little...soulless, I suppose?
I don't know. Maybe I'm just being uselessly nostalgic for those exhibits simply because I grew up with them and always felt like visiting them felt like saying hello to old friends. Every time I was there, I had to see the dinosaurs (just like I had to go through the Bat Cave there), just to check up on them and refresh my memory (though maybe this is just my obsessive compulsive tendencies shining through yet again). I guess overall, I dislike the starkness and sharp angles of everything in the new galleries, but it's nice that they're, you know, doing research and updating information so that we not we're not all ignorant and whatnot.
Anyhoo. I am surprised by the amount of knowledge about dinosaurs I seem to have accumulated over the years.
Later gaters. (Yes, I saw gator skulls too. AND a GIANT GROUND SLOTH skeleton!)