Jurassic World : Dominon. Or how to ruin a movie franchise.

 And so, it happens. I am going to type in here , something I never thought I woulds say in my life. 

They ruined my favourite movie franchise for me. I hate dinosaur movies now.

Hollywood ruined it. Today I watched the utter trash that they called Dominion in a theatre today. And for about 5 minutes, I was so bored, I actually fell asleep. While a rampage was going on on the screen.

Collin Trevorow, I hate you. I will never watch anything you are involved in.

It is amazing how rancid commercialisation can actually take creativity out of movies.

I hope they teach this in film school tomorrow. How absolute morons can ruin long standing classics.

A world of changes.

It has been quiet, lately When I go out now, there are fewer people on the road, in the trams, and everywhere else. Trains are no longer full, and run on time. For the first time in maybe years, all trains are been cleaned. It is now easier to drive on the roads, fewer cars outside, no traffic jams. No crowds, no noisy neighbours, and when you sneeze, nobody turns around and says “bless you!”

If it was not for the pandemic, and the fact that so many people have already died, this would have been a much better world to yearn for. It is ironical that it took a disease to tell us that there are indeed more powerful forces on this planet than brute human strength.

March, 2020. This month is going to live on in infamy. It took 3 months for the whole world to wake up to the threat; a new, invisible enemy that our planet has to fight. In these past days, two things have become ever clear. One: we are not prepared. Not even the most developed and advanced countries on earth are prepared for a pandemic of this proportion. All the while nations were busy fighting over each other, stocking up arms and preparing for future wars. No one thought of other ways their nations could be defeated: sheer human lethargy. Things have come to such an extent that some nations have issued shoot at sight orders against their own citizens, if they ever step out of their homes! Others have just resorted to fines at the moment, while some have started using brute force, with no regards to human rights and constitutional rights of its citizens.

Two: The borders between the rich and poor have never been as clear and sharp than what is exposed right now. Its easy for the govt of any country to declare mandatory social distancing. But only those who have a home can stay home. Social distancing is a privilege, enjoyed by the rich, or at least financially prepared. For the poor, who live from day to day, and with no long term social security or planning, it is simply not an option. While those with disposal incomes were hoarding supermarket produce, ordering takeout delivery ,staying home and watching streamed videos, those who couldn’t do it were struggling to pay their and rent and buy the day’s essentials. Many lost their jobs, due to companies running into overnight losses, and many others have been kicked out of their homes, due to inability to pay rent. Buried within the statistics of COVID deaths is an invisible count of people who died due to the shutdown, but not directly due to the virus.

In India, the nation’s stark difference between its rich and poor have exposed how unprepared the govt is at managing a pandemic. While cabinet ministers are at home playing board games, and PM is on tv shedding crocodile tears, a long line of poor, migrant workers is snaking across the nation, in an attempt to get home. Ignoring all calls to socially distance, millions of daily wage workers have come together to strike for the day’s meal, or just ask for the path to travel home. Due to public transportation being shutdown in most places, and borders between states now being closely monitored, these workers have resorted to walking hundreds of kilometres home through dangerous forests and treacherous  terrain, to slip under the eyes of authorities. Many have died in this exodus. The govt has tried to shift responsibilities to its well to do urban rich, asking them to pay their workers during the lockdown, blindly believing the non-existent trickle down economy will take of the lower levels. The numbers of COVID infected are meanwhile, growing exponentially.

This event is undoubtedly going to change the world. For the better, I sincerely hope. Now is the time to see the benefits of social welfare programs taking care of a nation’s needy. This is not the time to worry about a failing economy, but the failing healthcare system. Already some world leaders have been infected, showing the world that a pandemic like this does not differentiate between the rich and poor. Or between religion and borders. Lets learn from this, and be better prepared for next time.

PS: I am reminded of Ian Malcolm’s ramblings in Jurassic Park, when he says the world and nature will find a way to stop humans. This world was here billions of years before us, and will persist fo billions more without us. Incurable diseases is just one way of keeping escalating population in check.

Fallen Kingdom - Just monster mayhem

Do you hear that? That ruffling sound ? Scratching and heaving ? Its not an Indoraptor. That is the sound of Michael Crichton turning in his grave.

Well that is what I heard, while watching the Fallen Kingdom in a theatre. With this one, the series has fully entered monster mayhem territory. Except for a few frightening scenes, its largely a forgetful affair. I guess that's good, because I really want to forget I actually watched it.

Fallen Kingdom can be summarized as a monster movie where the monsters conveniently eat up all the bad guys. And the good guys survive, with minor bruises. If you watch all the movies in in sequence, you can see how the focus of the movie moves from  discovery, to wonder, to fear and then flat-out ridiculousness . Although they came out during the summer blockbuster season, the first two movies still had a heart. The man vs nature conflict was continuously debated, the characters were relocatable, and the animals were too adorable that the audience would actually want any of them killed. That changes with the 'World' series, then the new genetically engineered hybrids are so nasty, killing them off would be just that much more better. And I think that is not what Crichton would have wanted.

The underwater opening scenes reminded me of how Titanic opened, for some reason. That 10 minute sequence in the beginning is spot on. The darkness, music and rain heightens the thrill of it. But you can still see the shoddy,lazy writing here. The bad guys could have come into the park any time of the day. Instead, they decided that the best time to pay a visit is during night, with a thunderstorm in the background. You can see that the whole point of that scene was just to get them all eaten.

But then, it falls back into really lazy writing zone. Politics, and economics and what not. By the time they are back on the island, you get a clear picture of who all will survive and who won't. What, all of a sudden the volcano on the island erupted ? Didn't the park builders do a feasibility study on that risk ? And this is all nature correcting man's mistake ? All the creatures run in the same direction ? Thats just beneath the volcano ? Amazing. Now they weaponise the creatures ? To russian mafia ? What the hell ? That scene where they try to take blood from the T-Rex ? Absolute bullshit. Whoever came up with it has to be eaten by that indoraptor.And all the creatures fit conveniently under that castle ? They have already built huge enclosures for each creature ? Including the T-Rex ? And the old man had no idea ? Shouldn't the constant construction have alerted him ? Even the old lady had no idea what was going on . And by the way, what happens to her ?

There were numerous scenes paying homages to the original movie. Clearly, they were expecting the nostalgia to kick in. Like the scene where the huge brontosaurus walks into the midst of the crew. That scene clearly refers the famous "Its a dinosaur" scene from the first.  But this time they were thoughtful enough to add the huge sound of walking, again a reference. The scene where the indoraptor opens locks. And then on entering the floor, taps twice using its middle toe. That is straight from the kitchen scene. Also the scene where the kid tries to open the doors from a computer, but fails. And then opens the wrong one. There is again a scene where Owen shuts down the power in the castle. And then the kid reboots everything and, well, it was a stupid thing to do.

But the first scary scene for me was not the dino-eaitng-human scenes. It was halfway into the movie, when it is revelead that Maisie is a perfect clone of her mother. Damn ! Didn't see that one coming. This fact is revelead to Maisie and the audience at the same time. This opens up a lot of frightening ,ethical questions. Does a cloned human have the same rights a normal human has ? Can they bring back Hammond ? :) Ok, that last one never crossed my mind, but clearly there are ethical boundaries being crossed now.

But again, the focus of the current series has moved away from wonder and awe, to fear and loathing. It is just another monster movie now. There is nothing new to add, and the series has run its course. 

Fun Facts About the Animals of "Jurassic World"

 

 

Jurassic World is a real "Indominus rex" at the box office, breaking several records on its opening weekend and continuing to draw audiences worldwide. The star of the show may be a human-engineered hybrid dinosaur, but the movie also features 17 real fossil species, from massive plant-eaters to flying reptiles. For anyone who can't get enough #prattkeeping, feather debating and genetically modified rampaging, here are 14 fun facts about the actual ancient animals featured in the film:

 

The Mosasaurus isn't shy at all during its feeding time in the film.(Animated gif via Giphy/Jurassic World/Universal Pictures)

1. Mosasaurs Were Patient Predators

The terrifying Mosasaurus was not a dinosaur but a colossal marine lizard. While it possessed a fearsome maw featuring two rows of teeth, the Mosasaurus is thought to have had poor depth perception and a weak sense of smell. Scientists think that one of its main hunting techniques was lying in wait for prey near the water’s surface and attacking when animals came up for air. In 2013, one mosasaur fossil found in Angola held the remains of three other mosasaurs in its stomach, providing evidence that the aquatic beasts might also have been cannibals.

2. Blame It on the Brontosaurus

The peaceable, long-necked Apatosaurus—controversially also known as Brontosaurus—was an herbivore that feasted on low-lying plants and tree leaves. Fossils of its bones have previously confused scientists, because they can resemble those of the formidable Mosasaurus, given the immense size and length of both creatures. Based on scientists’ calculations, the giant Apatosaurus is among the sauropods that may have produced enough methane gas to contribute to a warming climate during the Mesozoic era.

 

Ankylosaurus had spiky armor and a clubbed tail that made it a "living tank." (Naz-3D/iStock Photo)

3. Ankylosaurus Was a “Living Tank”

With its arched back and curved tail, the Ankylosaurus resembles the dinosaur version of a super-sized and much spikier armadillo. Thanks to the sharp, bony plates that line its back, along with a tail shaped like a club, Ankylosaurus has been given the nickname “living tank.” Its main Achilles’ heel was its soft, exposed underbelly, but predators would have had to flip the armored dinosaur over to get to this weak spot.

4. Velociraptors, aka Prehistoric Chickens

While the Hollywood version may seem sleek and graceful, the Velociraptor seen in the film is closer in form to a much larger raptor called Deinonychus. Real Velociraptors were smaller, often loners and likely had feathers, leading some to describe them as “prehistoric chickens.” Still, raptors as a whole were likely among the smartest of dinosaurs, due to the larger size of their brains relative to their bodies–the second highest brain-body weight ratio after the Troödon. This degree of intelligence is consistent with that of modern-day ostriches.

5. Triceratops Horns Existed Mainly For Looks

The horns of the Triceratops have long fueled debate among scientists about their purpose. The latest research suggests that they likely served as identification and ornamentation. However, previous findings also uncovered Tyrannosaurs rex bite marks on Triceratops horns, indicating that the features could have been used for defense in certain cases.

 

Stegosaurus had big spikes but a tiny brain. (fabiofoto/iStock Photo)

6. Stegosaurus Was No Brainiac

While it had a large body and several spiky plates that served as protection, the Stegosaurus had an exceptionally small brain for its body size—its brain has been compared to a walnut or lime. For some time, scientists believed the dinosaur had an ancillary group of nerves in a cavity above its rear end that helped to supplement its tiny noggin, but this hypothesis was later disproved.

7. Getting Attacked By a T. rex Really Bites

The original King of the Dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex holds the real-life claim to fame of having the strongest bite of any land animal, living or extinct. Using a model that simulated the impact of its bite, scientists estimate that the force of a T. rex chomp could have been 3.5 times more powerful than that of an Australian saltwater crocodile, which holds the record among animals still alive today.

8. Pterosaurs Had Weak Feet

One of the two main species to escape from Jurassic World's Aviary, the Pteranodon had a wingspan of up to 18 feet. Its diet typically consisted of fish, and some species of pterosaurs had pouches like those of pelicans to hold their prey. It was likely able to dive as well as fly to obtain food. However, as one paleontologist notes in Forbes, the feet of a Pteranodon were probably too weak to carry the weight of a human, as the creatures are shown doing in the movie.

 

Pteranodons and Dimorphodons populate the Aviary and later terrorize park guests. (Animated gif via Giphy/Jurassic World/Universal Pictures)

9. Dimorphodon Had Multipurpose Teeth

The Dimorphodon is the other flying reptile seen in the film, with a wingspan of about eight feet. Its name translates to “two-form tooth” and refers to the differences between its upper and lower sets of teeth. The upper set are sharper and longer and likely intended for snatching prey from the water. A second set of tinier teeth in the bottom jaw appears to be for gripping prey in transit.

10. The “Cows of the Cretaceous” Were Into Roaming

The Edmontosaurus was a medium-size duck-billed dinosaur that dined on fruits and veggies. Nicknamed the “cow of the Cretaceous,” these dinosaurs moved in herds of thousands that may have traversed thousands of miles during a single migration.

11. The Dinosaur That Ate Pebbles

Among several dinosaurs that share traits with ostriches, Gallimimus may have employed an interesting feeding strategy. Because it was unable to physically chew the plants it consumed, Gallimimus also ingested pebbles, which would mash up the food internally during the digestion process.

 

These are the tiniest dinosaurs seen in the film. (Wikimedia Commons Microceratus)

12. Diminutive Dinosaurs Lost Out to a Wasp

The smallest dinosaurs in the film, Microceratus, were ten inches tall on average and roughly two and a half feet long. The miniature herbivores were initially called Microceratops, but paleontologists were forced to change the title after it was revealed that a genus of wasp had already claimed the moniker.

13. Parasaurolophus Had a Noisy Crest

Parasaurolophus are known for the distinctive crests that adorned their heads, which have since been modeled by paleontologists. Based on these simulations, scientists discovered that the crest could emit a loud sound when air flows through it, indicating that it helped these dinosaurs communicate.

14. The Baryonyx Went Spear Fishing

The Baryonyx, a fish eater, has a name meaning “heavy claw” in Greek because of the large, sharp extended claws that made up the thumb of each hand. Paleontologists think the dinosaur used these claws like spears to catch fish. This carnivorous dinosaur also had sets of serrated teeth similar to those of modern-day crocodiles for chomping on prey.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/14-fun-facts-about-animals-jurassic-world-180955671/#jo7LTB3DzMUh5UKr.99
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Jurassic Park movie plot

 

 

Jurassic World Questions

 

How long has Jurassic World been open? How did they reclaim the island from the rogue dinos from the first movie? Are any of the dinos in Jurassic World the ones that have been there all along, just recaptured? Why didn't they clean up the ruins of the original community centre? How did those kids manage to get a Jeep that's been sitting unused for 22 years into working condition at all let alone so fast? How do you even sell an idea like Jurassic World after the events of the first three movies? How was the T Rex in California from the third one spun in the media? What do animal rights activists think of the park? What about conservationists when they're literally feeding endangered sharks to that water thing for entertainment? Do the employees live on-site or are they ferried in every day? Why is a park in Costa Rica staffed exclusively by Americans? How does Costa Rica feel about having an island full of murder-lizards close by? Are the scientists using this gene splicing and cloning tech to save other endangered species? To fight disease? What are the scientific ramifications of the Jurassic World universe? Is 22,000 people a good visitor turnout for a park that size because I feel like they could do better? What does admission cost? Do they have tacky themed resorts like Disney? Why are people literally no longer impressed by fucking DINOSAURS that they need something bigger and scarier? How did they get everyone off the island when the T Rex was still loose? What were they even trying to accomplish with that thing who thought that was a good idea? Dr. Wu you were there in the first one WHY DID YOU THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA? HOW THE FUCK DID CLAIRE OUTRUN A T-REX IN THOSE HEELS?!??

Dr Henry Wu

Following the two sequels to the 1993 smash hit "Jurassic Park," actor BD Wong realized he had to take things into his own hands.

As Dr. Henry Wu in "Jurassic Park," the chief engineer responsible for the recreation of the dinosaurs in the park, there was never any resolution to what happened to the character.

Did he get eaten by his creations once the park lost power and roamed free? Did he make it on one of the last boats off the island?

The character's absence in any followup sequels led to years of people asking Wong what happened to Dr. Wu. Finally, the actor was ready to finally give the fans what they wanted.

"I was at the point where I wanted to make some videos to put online showing what happened to him," Wong told Business Insider. "Silly things for the fans, like he somehow ended up with the shaving cream can." Referring to the infamous Barbasol can filled with dinosaur embryos that dropped out of Dennis Nedry's coat when he was attacked by a Dilophosaurus in "Jurassic Park."

YouTube/Universal/"Jurassic Park"

But before he could follow through on his zany idea the phone rang, and it was "Jurassic Word" directorColin Trevorrow.

A year before "Jurassic World" went into production, Trevorrow reached out to the actor and asking if he would like to reprise the role of Dr. Wu.

"I was like, 'Sure, of course, that sounds great,'" Wong recalled. "I didn't really take it that seriously because things change all the time."

Wong knows that from first-hand experience.

The 54 year old is a veteran character actor having worked on "Law & Order: SVU" for 11 years playing Dr. George Huang and starring in countless movies since the 1980s. But when he got the call to play Dr. Wu the first time around in "Jurassic Park" he thought it would bring him to the next level.

Mainly, because of the size of the Dr. Wu character in the book. In which he stays on the island with the others to regain power to the park.

"I was actually hired from auditions I did that were scenes taken from the book," said Wong, referring to the Michael Crichton novel the movie is based on.

"So imagine my surprise when I got a call that I was working on the movie for one day," he said.

Though his character was stripped bare, Wong got over it quickly because being on a movie of that magnitude definitely helped him get more work.

But when Trevorrow came calling 20-plus years later, Wong was a bit skeptical.

"I think he might have sensed that I was sensitive to their not being much to [the character]," he said. "He was courting me in a way."

As Wong predicted, it was months following that first call with Trevorrow when he finally got word that Dr. Wu was going to be in the film.

But how they had fleshed out the Dr. Wu character was beyond Wong's expectations.

"The character was coming full circle but also they were giving him his due in some way," Wong said. "They were making him into a three-dimensional person and I liked that."

In "Jurassic World," Dr. Wu is now the head of the division that clones dinosaurs and has pushed the boundaries of cloning. He's in charge of developing bigger, and more dangerous creatures to keep fans of the theme park returning for more.

Chuck Zlotnick/Universal/"Jurassic World"

Dr. Wu's major scene comes after his newest creation, the Indominus Rex, has escaped and the park's owner Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) comes to Dr. Wu for answers. Like in "Jurassic Park," Dr. Wu gives the audience a better understanding of what our heroes are up against. But this time Trevorrow wanted the character to have an added layer.

"We're about to shoot my big scene with Simon Masrani, Colin comes over to me and says, 'You know, I think Wu he should say, 'All of this is because of me,'" Wong recalls.

The line was not in the script, and Wong was instantly taken-aback that Trevorrow would let a lower-tier character say a line of such magnitude.

"I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' But I said the line in every take from that point on," Wong said. "But I thought they were never going to use that. Or Universal would not let them use it. That's just too much of a commitment."

Jurassic World Easter Eggs !

 

 

Jurassic World - the best Jurassic Park sequel!

 

I just watched Jurassic World, first day, first show today here in Bangalore. With on the most un-enthusiastic and lethargic crowd I have seen. No one shouted, yelled or screamed during the movie. There was only a single kid in the audience. But that in a way, allowed me to watch the movie distraction free. This has been a 22 year wait for me ,and I think this is by-far the best sequel to the original Jurassic Park movie. It borrows a lot of ideas from the first book, and brings in lot of new ones as well. And you will best enjoy this movie if you take it as a direct sequel to the first JP, forget the two sequels which came out in the last 22 years, and you will be fine.

The movie tells us a pretty basic and simple story, I will not bother writing out the plot here as somebody already put the whole thing on Wikipedia. But the gist is that after the events of the Jurassic Park movie, Ingen had to sell everything to a new company (Masrani), and they took the next step in the business. They now have a full fledged , functioning park on the island, with 25+ species. But seeing a real life dinosaur is not terrifying anymore, so they decide to make the mistake of creating an entirely new dino species from scratch, by mixing up dna from different animals. Just when things look stabilized, the new "asset" escapes from its paddock, unleashing terror on the island when it still has 20k visitors there. When all attempts to use modern "sophisticated" technology to capture the beast proves futile, they find the only way that will still work…another dinosaur !

Oops…almost gave that away. Spoilers follow: First they try to use the trained raptor squad to hunt down the i-Rex, but then, it turns out the i-Rex also has velociraptor dna in it! They communicate, and now the raptors have a new 'alpha'. When that plan too backfires, they unleash the resident T-Rex. The T-Rex was the hero (or heroine, she is a female, remember ?) of the first movie, saving some of the lead characters from the raptors in the first movie, and here that idea is re-used. So the two rexes fight it out, with a little help from blue, the lone raptor, and then finally, mossie (the mososaurs) finishes the i-rex off.

Surprises: Having read the books and watched the previous movies like a hundred times, I thought I had become a JP expert, and could predict some parts of the story. But I was surprised by a few things:

1. Maximum Kills, maximum thrills. This is the Jurassic movie which has the highest number of deaths (both humans and dinos) on screen. Some of the gruesome kills are done offscreen, with only blood splatter for a little animation. I counted 7 humans dead, not including the entire ACU team, and many of the other dinos. While JP showed only a  4 kills ( Genarro, Nedry, Arnold, Muldoon), each one had a some focus (Arnold's death was not shown) building up to it. Here, the kills are quick and there is no build up. Except Masrani, he was shown to be someone who enjoyed watching and caring for the animals, but he pays the price of taking out the chopper without a license.
2. Nobody important dies. The central cast survives the carnage. Hoskins is the only one killed by the raptor, but he was a bad guy anyway. The two kids, Claire and Owen escape with a few bruises. I was expecting Barry, Owen's friend (sidekick), the black guy, to be killed, but is shown in the end very much alive. Which brings me to…
3. Henry Wu survives ! Again ! Henry is the only person who escaped form the incident on the original park, and then escapes again in JW, this time, with a lot of embryos and his work with him. This sets up the stage for the sequel, which I bet is gonna look stupid. In the Jurassic Park book, Henry Wu is killed by a raptor just before the novel ends, when he helps the team to try and restore power in the park. There is a part in the book were he argues that the dinos in the park are not-real, because they are engineered. And that part is now in this movie when he discusses this with Masrani.
4. JP Nostalgia : There are some clever throwbacks to the original movie. The original JP tune is re-used, when the park is introduced in the beginning, when the kids explore it. Mr DNA shows up at the visitor centre. Lowery's console at the control centre is just as sloppy as Nedry's and he is wearing a JP t-shirt ! When lost on the island, the kids find an abandoned warehouse full of stuff form the first park. They find one of those 'expensive' 3d glasses, and a working gas powered jeep (number 29) in red and white which they use to escape to the visitor centre. During the raptor chase at the visitor centre, Clair turns on a holographic device, which renders the hologram of a dilophasaurus, which jeered with its frills, distracting the raptor. And….and the red flare. Claire uses a red flare to distract the T-Rex towards the Indominus Rex !
5. Jimmy Fallon cameo: Jimmy has a cameo as the presenter during the gyrosphore trip, were they show him in his scientist suit, and the lab around him bursting into flames. Apparently, they spared no expense, just like when they used Richard Kiley in the first movie.

My only gripe with the movie was that there were really no surprises, most of everything happened just as predicted. The whole plot unfolded pretty much as in the first movie, Owen is actually brought in to inspect the paddock of the Indominous Rex, just as the experts are brought in to inspect JP, and the creature escapes. Nearly all of the key scenes were already released out, in the form of trailers and sneak peaks. The rest of the plot came out in the form of rumours and leaked photos, thanks partly to hyper active social media, and partly due to viral marketing. The only true surprise everyone wanted to know was what eventually would happen to the I-Rex, Mossie gets it ! The parts which were weird was were Owen 'communicated' to the raptors, and Hoskins repeatedly describing scenarios to use the raptors in battle. But still, I was happy with were the story went. This opens up a lot of possibilities for the sequels. For instance, many of the flying reptiles could have escaped from the island, what happened to them ?

 

Colin Trevorrow has delivered a polished, intelligent, and crowd-pleasing would-be blockbuster.  Jurassic World accomplishes the task of being something of an original adventure within the confines of being a sequel. It has almost too many good ideas, while using the original film only when contextually appropriate. I wish the main characters were a little more refined, and I wish the film took the time to explore its subtexts beyond periodic seasoning, but that may be me wishing for a different film. The movie we got is pretty good, and Trevorrow has delivered what amounts to a best-case scenario for a novice director being handed the keys to a massive franchise.

Download the cam rip of the movie from here.

Jurassic World - Ticket Bookings begin in India

 

They have started selling tickets to Jurassic World in India. Though only a few theatres are enabled. Movie hits this Friday !

Two Weeks to go !!

One More Month for Jurassic World !

 

 

Jurassic World new trailer rocks !

 

The new Jurassic World trailer just came out.

 

 

Check out the new Park Cams which went online.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the CGI has been changed/updated:

 

 

 

 

Nedry, Jurassic Park and Software Systems

 

So I am watching my favourite english movie again, Jurassic Park. The scene in the control centre starts playing, where Hammond has a minor altercation with Dennis Nedry, a programmer and the designer of the park's  computer systems. Early on, Hammond tells Grant and Sattler at the trailor the he can tell instantly about people, its his gift. Yet , he fails to see the villainy in Nedry, who is the person who kickstarts the sequence of events leading to the destruction of the park that night. The tropical storm alone would not have caused any damage to the Island, it is Nedry's power outage which causes things to fall apart. And since bad guys need to die, Nedry is eaten up later by the Dilophosaurus.

Over the years, Nedry's character, the shaving can, and his didnt-say-the-magic-word has gained cult status. But he is still on the antagonist side of the story. He demanded more money, Hammond did not oblige, even when he would spare no expense anywhere else. He decided to steal, and paid for his mistakes. But in the book, there is a little more backstory to this guy. Due to the secrecy of the Jurassic Park project, Hammond cannot trust too many people, or word of what they are attempting will get out. So he employs a small team of experts for the project, and decides he needs even more less people to run the Island. The answer - heavy automation. A fully automated park which can be maintained by a 3 or 4 people from a control center. And he decides upon Nedry's small company to design the system, else he could have given the job to any big software development company out there.

But again, due to the heavy secrecy of the Island, Nedry cannot be told what the park is all about. So he is given abstract requirements revealing only very minor details, and never sees the big picture of things. Things like, reserve storage for huge field values, design door security systems.. Hammond attempts to keep him in the dark. When finally the systems are brought up, they don't work cohesively , and in many cases, the systems need to be enlarged, because Hammond's team had underestimated the size of the dinosaurs. Its a similiar story with Robert Muldoon, the cages and tranquilizer guns  he is given proves smaller, and he demands for bigger machines and gas powered jeeps for any emergency. But for Nedry, well, he is asked to redo the systems to new specifications, but Hammond demands Nedry does this job under the original contract, and refuses to pay him. He even calls up some of Nedry's other customer and tells them  Nedry is unreliable and untrustworthy. Nedry's small company faces losses redoing everything, he has a team of programmers working from Cambridge, and paying them and for other systems leaves him in a financial crisis. Seeing that he can not make any profit from this project, he is , in a way, forced to look outside for another way to make money.

 

Dodgson, the corporate espionager from a rival genetics company and who knows about the Park, contacts Nedry and offers him the way out. He convinces him to steal live embryos from the park, and he will paid in millions of dollars. It can be seen in the book that Nedry is hesistant, Dodgson has to meet him many times to convince him to jump ship. And Nedry too is not comfortable dealing with Dodgson, so he sets up one more meeting just to record their conversation to cover his back. His plan was to steal and handover the embryos, and be back at his workstation in 15 minutes, nobody notices, and he leave would leave the scene once all the programming is complete. His plan would very well have worked, the only thing which came in the way was the storm. So you see , in the book, the reason for his devious nature is explained.

As a software engineer myself, (thought not self-employed) I can relate to this nice guy. Yep, he's a nice guy. I have faced his problem myselfs. When we in the business software consulting world start on a new project, we make an attempt to properly understand our clients operations. Instead of being given use cases and requirements up-front, we insist we see the existing system and how the company operates, the end to end business and transactions. This way, we will be able to better propose changes in the system, without breaking anything, but still improving. Most of our customers already have some sort of in-house built software, but they realize that needs to be upgraded or replaced with a better system. And whenever we are not explained the end to end flow, the solutions we design miss out things here and there. The resultant system works, but not as expected. The UI needs improvement. The integrations fail frequently. The performance dips.  In such cases, we are abruptly asked to redo it , but within the same time frame. We can't have more time, or money to redo this. This leads to many hours of overtime for us, often leading to all nighters and weekend work too, all unbilled of course. The best systems I have designed was when we had a very good knowledge of what our customer's business does.

Hey, but at least, we did not steal any embryos !

So you see, Dennis Nedry was a nice guy, who did what he did because he wanted to save his company, and lacked previous espionage experiences.

 

Get your InGen pass !

 

Jurassic World is very much in progress. They have recently started their factious site masraniglobal.com.

 

It turns out Masrani buys out InGen, and then continues the dino-dna game.

 

Get your own InGen id pass at:

http://www.masraniglobal.com/careers/index.html

 

Go to the bottom of the page and enter some info in the fields there. Clicking on Submit will take you to next page where you can upload your photo and generate a InGen id pass!

 

Along with this message.

 

 

Congratulations, and welcome to the Masrani Corporation!

Thank you for choosing to join one of the world’s fastest growing families. Given your set of skills, we are pleased to offer you employment as an Intern Genetic Biologist at International Genetic Technologies in San Diego, CA.

Your immediate supervisor is Dr. Henry Wu, Lead Genetic Scientist.

At Masrani we have a philosophy that combines vision with innovation to create success. We will ensure that these skills are presented to you in your orientation, and they will help to guide you through your journey at Masrani.

On your right, you will find an ID badge for you to complete for security purposes. Simply upload a photo of yourself using the upload tool below and you will see your ID card in full fruition.

We look forward to welcoming you as a new employee at InGen's state of the art laboratory facility. In the meanwhile, please continue to check back at www.masraniglobal.com for all the latest news, videos, and images.

Sincerely,

Simon Masrani

Chief Executive Officer, Masrani

Dragon Curve Fractals

 

 

 

Gertie the Dinosaur

 

Gertie the Dinosaur was released in 1914 by Windsor McCay. It was the first film to use some animation techniques such as keyframes and tracing paper, and was the first film to feature a dinosaur.

100 years later and we have come a long way in animation technology as well as scientific knowledge of dinosaurs. Hollywood has featured dinosaurs in popular science fiction movies, and BBC has published many documentary-style films about prehistoric life. In December 2013, BBC released a reboot of their popular Walking with Dinosaurs documentary with a new 3D film.

Happy centennial, Gertie!

 

 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF GERTIE THE DINOSAUR

Winsor McCay had made two animated films before "Gertie". The first, "Little Nemo"(using characters from his popular newspaper strip), debuted in 1911. "Little Nemo" used four thousand animation drawings. McCay then hand-colored the 35mm frames to achieve a very striking effect. The film was used in his vaudeville act. There is no storyline to "Little Nemo"; it is more of an experiment in movement. The animation is quite precise and the effect very dreamlike.

"Little Nemo" was well received, and McCay began work on his second film, "The Story Of A Mosquito". The film took one year to complete. "The Story of a Mosquito" tells a comic story of a mosquito's encounter with a drunken man. The film also made a big hit, but theatre patrons suspected that McCay was performing some sort of trick with wires. Motion pictures were quite new, and movie audiences were quite naive and still getting accustomed to the idea. The idea of a drawing coming to life was almost unheard of.

McCay decided to animate a Dinosaur to prove that his drawings were moving. The notion of bringing a dinosaur "to life" was astonishing. Thus, in 1913 McCay began to animate "Gertie The Dinosaur".

McCay enlisted the help of a young neighbor, John A. Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons traced the backgrounds onto rice paper, and McCay did all the drawings of Gertie. Ten thousand drawings were inked on rice paper and then mounted on cardboard for registration. By mounting them on cardboard, McCay was able to flip the drawings through a primitive machine to check his work.

Without guidance, or anything but his own experience to rely on, McCay produced an astonishing piece of animation that holds up even to today's standards. McCay painstakingly animated details such as particles of dirt falling, and water dripping. He gave Gertie personality and emotions. We see her eating, drinking, playing, and even crying.

In February of 1914, "Gertie the Dinosaur" debuted in Chicago as part of McCay's vaudeville act.

McCay, brandishing a whip, would appear onstage to the right of a movie screen. He would first speak to the audience, explaining how animated films were made, photographed, and projected. He would then introduce Gertie as "the only Dinosaur in captivity". At the crack of the whip, the film would start.

At first, Gertie shyly pokes her head out from behind some rocks in the distance. She is hidden, and the audience has no indication of her height and girth.

McCay encourages Gertie and cracks the whip several more times. Finally, Gertie hops out from behind the rocks, and lumbers towards the audience. On her way to the foreground, Gertie picks up a rock and swallows it whole. As she reaches the foreground, she casually, bites off most of a tree and eats it.

McCay cracks his whip, and commands Gertie to bow to the audience, and to raise her foot. At one point Gertie gets angry and snaps at McCay. The animation here is tremendous as Gertie lunges forward towards McCay. McCay scolds Gertie, and she begins to cry.

McCay appeases Gertie by offering her an apple. In a wonderful example of interaction with Gertie, McCay appears to toss an apple towards Gertie. The apple appears on the screen, and Gertie catches it in her mouth.

As the act proceeds, Gertie continues to be distracted from obeying McCay. A sea monster momentarily appears in the lake, a four-winged lizard flies across the background. At one point a Wooly Mammoth, "Jumbo" walks across the screen in front of Gertie. She picks him up by the tail and hurls him into the lake. While Gertie dances in triumph, Jumbo squirts her with water. She retaliates by picking up a rock and throwing it at him.

Gertie becomes thirsty from all of her activities, and decides to take a drink from the lake. She drinks the lake dry.

In the films finale, McCay himself walks onto the screen and becomes part of the animation. He cracks his whip, and Gertie obediently places him on her back. Together they walk off camera.

The act was an instant sensation, and Gertie became one of the first cartoon "stars". Although no film exists of McCay performing the act, in September of 1914 a film with a live-action prologue and epilogue was produced. In the film McCay makes a bet with friends that he can bring a Dinosaur to life. McCay's stage dialogue with Gertie was replaced with inter-titles, and the film still kept much of its charm.

A film with a "star" and a storyline, "Gertie the Dinosaur" became a landmark in the history of animation.

Of the ten thousand drawings used to make the film, only about four hundred are known to exist.

McCay went on to create several more animated films, and made one of the first to use Cels rather than paper. "Gertie" still stands as his masterpiece, and the most influential animated film of all time.

JP:Origins

 

 

JP:Origins is a non-profit Jurassic Park fanfilm currently in production. JP:Origins is NOT affiliated with or endorsed by Universal. This video is meant only for the entertainment of Jurassic Park fans and enthusiasts.

I’m super excited to see the finished film!! Way to go guys/gals :D
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Beautiful trailer by this talented team! Everyone, check them out!