876 – Fossil Wonderlands: Nature’s Hidden Treasures (Documentary | TV Mini-Series 2014)

Weird Wonders

Professor Richard Fortey journeys high in the Rocky Mountains to explore a 520-million-year-old fossilised seabed containing bizarre and experimental lifeforms that have revolutionised our understanding about the beginnings of complex life. Among the amazing finds he uncovers are marine creatures with five eyes and a proboscis; filter-feeders shaped like tulips; worm-like scavengers covered in spikes but with no identifiable head or anus; and a metre-long predator resembling a giant shrimp.

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Feathered Dinosaurs

Professor Richard Fortey travels to northeastern China to see a fossil site known as the ‘Dinosaur Pompeii’ – a place that has yielded spectacular remains of feathered dinosaurs and rewritten the story of the origins of birds. Among the amazing finds he investigates are the feathered cousin of T-rex, a feathered dinosaur with strong parallels to living pandas and some of the most remarkable flying animals that have ever lived.

Feathered dinosaurs. Conceptual artwork showing a feathered dinosaur (Velociraptor mongoliensis, center) attacking an early ancestor of the bird, Archaeopteryx lithographica. This velociraptor was a voracious predator that lived during the Campanian period (84-75 million years ago). It may have had a coating of feathers on its skin but it would not have been capable of flight. A. lithographica lived during the late Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago. It had feathered wings composed of three clawed fingers but retained some dinosaur characters, including small teeth and a long tail. The dinosaur group from which Archaeopteryx evolved is disputed.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY MARIETTE LE ROUX – An handout artist impression released on July 15, 2015 by Ministry of Land and Resources of China shows a reconstruction of the new short-armed and winged feathered dinosaur Zhenyuanlong suni from the Early Cretaceous (ca. 125 million years ago) of China. Depicted by movie-makers as mean, green, man-eating lizards covered in scales, velociraptors probably looked more like large, toothy turkeys, a study said on July 16. Close study of a newly-discovered cousin dubbed Zhenyuanlong suni, has revealed that velociraptors likely had large wings and feathery coats, according to research published in the journal Scientific Reports. AFP PHOTO / Ministry of Land and Resources of China / Chuang Zhao = RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / Ministry of Land and Resources of China / Chuang Zhao – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS =Chuang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images

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The Mammal Hothouse

Professor Richard Fortey investigates the remains of ancient volcanic lake in Germany (Messel pit) where stunningly well-preserved fossils of early mammals, giant insects and even perhaps our oldest known ancestor have been found. Among the amazing finds are bats as advanced and sophisticated as anything living today, more than 50-million-years-later; dog-sized ‘Dawn’ horses, the ancestor of the modern horse; and giant ants as large as a hummingbird.

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Travel Through Deep Time With This Interactive Earth

871 – Attenborough and the Empire of the Ants (2017 Documentary)

On one side of the Jura Mountains there are ants colonies at war and the other home to a huge empire of ants, believed to be one of the largest animal societies in the world, where over a billion ants from rival colonies live in peace.

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0798

“I was born too late to explore the seas, and born too early to explore the universe, but I was born on time to explore Skyrim”

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

797 – Hold the Dark (2018)

timespace coordinates: December 2004, small village in the Alaska wilderness (Keelut)

‘Green Room’ filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier’s art-horror adaptation of Arctic Noir novel is bloody, brutal, bleak and Freudian as hell”  (rollingstone review)

Hold the Dark is a 2018 American thriller film directed by Jeremy Saulnier from a screenplay by Macon Blair. It is based upon the novel of the same name by William Giraldi. It stars Jeffrey Wright, Alexander Skarsgård, James Badge Dale, Riley Keough, Tantoo Cardinal, Irene Bidel and Julian Black Antelope. (wiki)

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0781 – Ignacio de Loyola (2016)

timespace coordinates: 1496 Azpeitia, Basque Country / 1521 Pamplona  / 1522, monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat, town of Manresa (Catalonia) / 1527 Salamanca

Ignacio de Loyola is a 2016 English-language Philippine historical biographical religious drama film directed by Paolo Dy & Cathy Azanza. It is based on the memoirs of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order who was canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. The film stars Andreas Muñoz, a Spanish actor who portrays the titular character in the film.

‘If you could hear the voice of God, would you want to keep it secret?’ This is the story of a soldier, a man of vice and violence who, in his attempt to turn to the light, was forced to wrestle with his inner demons to the very brink of death. The film chronicles his valiant but futile defense at the Battle of Pamplona, his struggles with depression and near-suicide, his trial before the Inquisition, and his ultimate vindication.

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772 – Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

timespace coordinates: 1900. girls’ private school, near the town of Woodend, Victoria, Australia

“What we see and what we seem are but a dream, a dream within a dream.”

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1975 Australian mystery drama film which was produced by Hal and Jim McElroy, directed by Peter Weir, and starred Vivean Gray, Dominic Guard, Anne-Louise Lambert, Helen Morse, and Rachel Roberts. It was adapted by Cliff Green from the 1967 novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay, who was deliberately ambiguous about whether the events really took place, although the story is in fact entirely fictitious.

The plot involves the disappearance of several schoolgirls and their teacher during a picnic at Hanging Rock, Victoria on Valentine’s Day in 1900, and the subsequent effect on the local community.

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read: 770

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Marion stares down at the Picnic Ground and says, “Whatever can those people be doing down there, like a lot of ants? A surprising number of human beings are without purpose though it is probable they are performing some function unknown to themselves.”

739 – The Last King /Birkebeinerne (2016)

timespace coordinates: Norway 1206The Last King (Norwegian: Birkebeinerne) is a 2015 Norwegian historical drama, directed by Nils Gaup.  The film centers on the efforts of the Birkebeiner loyalists to protect the infant, Haakon Haakonsson, who was an heir to the Norwegian throne after the death of his father, King Haakon Sverresson. The film is set during the civil war era in Norway during the 13th-century. 

A story inspired by true events. Norway 1204, Birkebeiners and king Haakon Sverresson possess the throne in Nidaros. They are threaten by Baglers, that has taken power in Eastern Norway, with the help from Denmark among the refugees is the king’s son and heir, Haakon Haakonsson, who is fostered in secret by Inga of Varteig. (wiki)

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