Disney Water Based Rides

Like many of Disney rides the Jurasic River Adventure, like Pirates of the Caribbean, and the only one I can say I experinced, the 20;000 Leagues Under the Sea were/are water based rides.

Two 1990’s Vintage Slot Vehicles

I recently came across these two vintage slot cars while rummaging through a box of miscellaneous toys at a garage sale. I don’t collect slot “cars” as per say, however, their Jurassic Park decals caught my attention. Damn, I should have thought about adding a Jurassic Park label when I made my first post on this topic. I have added Jurassic Park to my collections by adding Jurassic Park to most of my posts on Jurassic Park.

The slot cars are manufactured by Tyco. The slot cars were, at one time, included in a special Jurassic Park Lost World play set that included track, controllers,a motorized dinosaur, and scenic pieces.

And the Eyes Have it

The combined crew from the Chinese junk and Black Pearl went ashore for water and found a dead giant sea monster that had been washed up on shore. See the reflection of the sailor in the creature’s eye.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

One of the first scenes from the fourth edition of Jurassic Park; a hatchling finding its way into its world.

The Indominus rex awaits its prey.

Another look from the hybrid Indominus rex. Another reflection in an eye. “Better to see you with, my dear.”

Jurassic Park 4

Works of Michael Crichton I Have Either Read or Have Seen

Michael Crichton has always been one of my favorite authors. The following are works of Michael Crichton I have read or seen.
Year	Title	Notes
1969	The Andromeda Strain	This title is one of many of Crichton’s work that was adapted for the cinema. This movie was full of suspense and drama.  The plot takes place in the present and depicts a situation where some organism finds its way to some small town out in the desert and most of people die because of their blood congealing in to granules. Two people survive; a wino and infant.
1975	The Great Train Robbery	I believe I saw the movie first and then read the book. I have found that the books are usually better than the movie, but in this case, I feel the movie was better than the book.  This story takes place in Victorian England and tells of a daring train robbery. Seeing the characters in person and viewing scenes from the Victorian era was delightful.
1980	Congo	I saw the movie first and then I read the book. This is another case where the movie seemed better than the book. Very suspenseful.  ”The novel centers on an expedition searching for diamonds and investigating the mysterious deaths of a previous expedition in the dense rain forest of Congo.” It seems that there are descendents of apes originally trained by the servants of King Solomon to protect the diamonds from being found.
1990	Jurassic Park	I read this book and I have seen the movie. In this case the movie was better in that it allowed you to see all those wonderful creatures and added a dramatization that only a movie could bring you.
1995	The Lost World	I wouldn’t mind seeing the movie; however, having seen Jurassic Park and having become more acquainted with these the creatures, the book was very enjoyable and full of suspense.
1999	Timeline	I don’t know whether this title was ever made into a movie, but the book was a good read. It features a plot that takes place in medieval England. A history professor gets warped to the past and his graduate students go back in time to rescue him. Very interesting plot; one of the grad-student becomes infatuated with one of ladies of this age and decides to stay behind. Everyone delightedly reads about his exploits in the redefined history books.

A List of Mostly Free RPGs

Role Playing Games (RPGs) are games where participants act out the roles of characters in a narrative game. The following list identifies several directories that list multiple mostly free RPG’s:

The Compendium of Free Role Playing Games (DIR)

The Compendium of Free Role Playing Games features a pretty comprehensive list of free RPG's. This list is updated periodically. New entries are posted toward the top and are indicated with (New).

SCIFI: The Free Roleplaying Games List (DIR)

SCIFI: The Free Roleplaying Games List is another directory of free RPG's. As indicated in the title of this site, the site focusses on SCIFI RPG's. This substantial list of SCIFI RPG's is also updated from time to time.

DMOZ RPG (DIR)

The Open Directory Project has published a directory of RPG's. Most of the listed RPG's are free, but you might find a few RPG’s that require some type or payment.

RPG Free List (DIR)

The RPG Free List features news, reviews, and an A-Z list of free RPG’s.

The Free RPG Blog

The Free RPG blog features news on the latest free RPG's. Not quite as an extensive listing as the above sources, but does offer a few of the latest free RPG’s. Also provides reviews of RPGs.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park Role-Playing Game Book

The Lost World: Jurassic Park Role-Playing Game Book looks like it may be an interesting and fun RPG to play with your children. The book comes with 24 punch-out characters, DNA cards, and rules to play three short interactive adventures. In my last search, it was still available through Amazon.

(DIR) denotes a directory

The Lost World, Michael Crichton

I finished reading Michael Crichton’s The Lost World a few days ago. Crichton’s Lost World is a technology thriller. It is a sequel to his Jurassic Park. This is the second novel that I have read with this title, the first being The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, that was released in 1912. Both novels were good reads.

Crichton’s The Lost World is probably best read after reading his Jurassic Park. The Lost World turns out to be a search and rescue mission to rescue the scientist Richard Levine, which after learning about Site B, the site where the animals for InGen’s Jurassic Park were manufactured, visits the site and runs into problems.

Some of Levine’s colleagues here of Levine’s problems through a distress call that Levine makes and go to rescue Levine. After arriving, the party made of several scientists and other characters, including Malcolm, a scientist that assisted with consulting at Jurassic Park, start running into to all sorts of problems.

There are many run-ins with predatory dinosaurs and with the addition of another party from InGen’s rival firm Biosyn, circumstances turn from bad to worse. Lewis Dodgson, a geneticist, the leader of this group will put aside all caution and takes all types of risks to obtain eggs from a couple of dinosaur’s nests, which brings trouble down on both groups.

The 403 page hard cover book took me about a week of evening readings to complete, and to be quite honest at the exclusion of everything else. As is the case with most of what I have read of Crichton’s work, the story line is intelligent and spell-bounding.