I believe in dinosaurs.

From Baby Sinclair to Tortoises of the Seychelles, with everything in between.

It’s wild sometimes to realize that there are folks out there among us that don’t. I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me, especially in relation to other “both-sides” arguments that are lodged - but man.

Growing up - I was a big Sci-Fi nerd. Not comic books, and not the Star War/Trek worlds so much (Wars > Trek, go punch air) - rather the Aliens/Predator/Terminator franchises, and by proxy, Total Recall due to Ahhhhhhrnahhhld.

Stick a pin in that.

Mainly, it was the art and design that really grabbed me. My young years revolved around me drawing the same thing, every day. In phases, I would hop from Predator, to Alien, to Ninja Turtles, to Dinosaurs, to fighter jets (F4 Phantoms and F14 Tomcats, to be specific), and sharks. This led me to discovering the Dark Horse comic series, and the novels that accompanied them. For some reason, and by some miracle - I even found the direct number of one of the editors at Dark Horse Comics, and to my surprise - she would answer. And we would talk for hours sometimes, about the franchise, and the art, and which Predators were the coolest, etc. Especially in hindsight, it’s hard to believe that happened.

But turns out - it would set this interesting standard for what I expected out of adults, and what I thought was “normal”, from creatives.

Growing up was not fun for me, and the environment I was raised in, wasn’t exactly conducive for a kind person to be produced from. So this “friendship” with this adult (of whom I can’t remember their name at this point) becomes kind of the glaring light that really allowed me to enjoy my own mind.

Watching and taking in these different Sci-Fi worlds - it was like really obvious who/why/how the bad vs. good setups were built.

Alien invader = bad, human = good.

Now let’s revisit the pin in Total Recall.

This is likely the first storyline I’d experienced where Space, Humans, and a benevolent alien race, were not the bad character of which the humans were unified against - but rather - Bad Humans vs. Good Humans, and the sticking point simply using the “gift” the alien race had left behind. A gift which would benefit ALL of the humans on Mars, with no detriment.

So obvious and clear that they just need to give those people air, that there was no question in Protagonist and Antagonist.

Such a foregone conclusion to me, that I legitimately struggled with how the writers of the story, wrote it. It was as Fiction as Aliens were, just with people on Mars - BAM - Science.

And then…we became adults. And slowly but surely, the reality (especially the past decade or so, seemingly) that the only fiction part of that story, was that it was on Mars.

People do withhold critical life sustaining needs for profit, and the obvious science behind how we can work towards a better overall outcome for everyone on this lil’ blue ball, is either denied, discounted, or whole cloth thrown the fuck out with the bath water. Even further, those choking from lack of air - they’ll willingly platform and worship the specific parties responsible for the lack of oxygen. The owners that skimp on the dome material because it helps them build theirs thicker, while the radiation seeps and harms - awarded cult followings and positions of power to continue looting the greater benefit of the majority.

But thankfully, I discovered dinosaurs early.

I discovered creating things from my head sometimes made other people smile, and whether that be a riff on a guitar that turns into a song which pumps a room full of stoke, or a photo of a wavy rock somewhere that I captured on a piece of film emulsion - it reminds me that we can trudge forward in a sea of antagonists who want nothing more than to strangle the many for their specific gain.

It is our ability to create, to discover, to learn, and grow - from drawings on caves to bringing dinosaurs back to “life” from fossils we stumbled on - this is what defines us.

That’s going to be what we do here on my little corner of the internets - share the things I drag from my mind, the discoveries I make with lost film collections, and whatever happens in between - a celebration of what makes us, us.

And I guess it all started because I believe in dinosaurs.