Sir David on Kiwi's

For my graduation my parents gave me something I've wanted for years: the complete Life Collection by David Attenborough. Over seventy-two hours of Sir David's soothing voice, telling us all about the wonders of nature. And even the box is pretty.

I've watched all episodes of Life of Birds by now and it really is a wonderful series. The BBC happens to have put all the episodes on Youtube as well, so I can share some of my favorite parts!

I love this bit about the kiwi. Because you can't see its wings and tail it has a very peculiar shape for a bird and it moves in such an odd, but quite elegant way too.
I also saw a bit of Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild where he discusses the advance of wildlife filming techniques. He also talked about the filming of the kiwi. He was a bit worried that the kiwi would be disturbed by his presence, but since kiwis rely mainly on their sense of smell and David was lying in heaps of rotting seaweed it didn't even seem to notice him! He could also hear the little noises of the kiwi clearing his nostrils every time. Oh, I wish I could have been there...

Garden visitors

Since the snow came last tuesday we've had a lot of birds visit our feeder in the backyard. I have a perfect view of all the little (and larger) visitors from the living room window, and I just love hanging on the couch, watching the tiny blue tits, the slightly larger great tits, the (in comparison) enormous wood pidgeons, the squabbling starlings, the occasional robin, and even -as I was just staring absentmindedly out of the window- a great spotted woodpecker!

These little balls of energy and feathers move so fast I only got two good shots out of fourteen!

Contemplating pidgeon...

There's some bread on the table, but apparently quite a bit of snow to plow through before getting there!

With the ruffled feathers, I think this one's a juvenile. It disappeared as soon as the other pidgeon flew away too.

A starling sitting quietly by itself for once.

And this beautiful bird! I think I might have gasped when I saw him...

The Maker

The Maker is a short film about a strange creature that races against time to make the most important and beautiful creation of his life.

It is so sad and so beautiful. That's all I can say. You'll just have to watch it.

New items in the shop!

I have some new hats in the shop!

And you can still get 10% off with the code WELCOME!

See you there ;)

Beautiful Games: Humble Bundle

Last year I wrote a post about the beautiful games by Amanita Design and now their game Machinarium is available in the Humble Bundle! For those who've never heard of it: you get five games, you pay what you want and if you beat the average price, you get an extra game!

I couldn't let this chance pass by of course (the bundle is only available for nine more days), so I'm now the proud owner of Splice, Eufloria, Waking Mars, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery and of course Machinarium!

I bought them all two days ago, and I've already finished Machinarium. It was a wonderful game. Really hard puzzles, beautiful art and a great storyline.

I only played Crayon Physics and Eufloria for a couple of minutes, but it's clear they're both quite ingenious games as well. And another great thing: the games in this Humble Bundle are all playable on Android!

The average price is $6.17 at the moment, so I really can't think of a reason for you not to go play all these games! Even if only for Machinarium.

Zoot&Dingo is open!

My Etsy shop is open!

Take a look here and get 10% off with the coupon code WELCOME!

Giuseppe the Owl

Look at this fantastic creature! You can get him in the giveaway at wassupbrothers.

And Olga has many more cute and quirky animals for sale in her Etsy shop, like Polly the cat!

I think I have something to add to my evergrowing wishlist...

Fox dæmons

Just a drawing of a fox I finished yesterday. I can't decide whether I like the left or the right version better...

I think if we had dæmons in this world (as in Lyra's world in His Dark Materials) mine would have the shape of a fox. I you haven't read the Dark Materials trilogy yet, you really should. Seriously. Go buy it.

Catgirl

I made this catgirl somewhere last week. I imagined her as a blond at first, but she's way better this way. Maybe I'll do a series and make a blonde girl as wel :)

I'm looking for as nice oval frame in some kind of dark wood to put this pair in. Anyone know where to find one?

The past months

It's been song long since I've written here, that I hardly know how to do this anymore. I want to write more about things that inspire me, and make me feel excited about the world, but the first months of this year I couldn't even bring myself to write anything because I thought I was boring, which got me in a spiral of selfloathing, insecurity and even moring boringness.
In february I started my internship at the department of Zoology of my university. I studied the development of the heart in the chick embryo, so most of my days were spent around eggs, trying to inject hearts of not even a millimeter wide, or taking pictures with a scanning electron microscope. I'm actually quite proud of what I accomplished there. Even though my research doesn't mean much for the scientific community or anything, I got to research this amazing and complicated process and take these beautiful pictures.

It was wonderful to see the heart develop from a simple tube, to a four-chambered heart, which is very much like the human heart. If you're interested in understanding the pictures: the first one is made with a scanning electron microscope and shows the heart when it has just looped. You can already see the primitive atrium (A) and primitive ventricle (V) with the atrioventricular canal (AV) and the outflow trackt (OFT).
The second one is a dissected heart of an older embryo, and shows the trabeculated parts of the heart. The trabeculae are the spongy looking parts of the ventricle wall, which make the heart much more firm.
I took the last picture through a light microscope. You can see the four chambers (left and right ventricle and atrium), the outflow trackt and the interventricular septum. And this whole process takes to more than three days!

I also met someone at the zoology department who I've grown to love very much very quickly. His name is Bart, and you'll probably hear more about him from time to time. He makes me very happy.

I do realize that this is not a very coherent story (if it even qualifies as a story) but I hope I'll get used to writing again over time. Please bear with me. This is just a new beginning.