What's Your Favorite Dinosaur?

m.c. gainey

“I guess I’ll have to go with one of those vegetarian ones. What’s the one with a long neck? Stegosaurus?”

“Apatosaurus.”

“Yeah, that one. I have a friend who’s into this philosophy thing involving them.”

M.C. Gainey is an actor most of us recognize. He played an integral role in the television show “Lost” as one of the ringleaders of the mysterious group of people known as the others. He has had many other roles, including one in a Disney Channel original movie called “Horse Sense.” We encountered Mr. Gainey today in a Carpinteria surf shop buying a hat. He was happy to answer our question, and let us know that he had just finished shooting Quentin Tarantino’s newest film, which is set in New Orleans. Thank you, Mr. Gainey, for your willingness to answer our question.

dane reynolds

Uh, Brontosaurus!

That’s Tom Curren’s favorite too!

No way!

Dane Reynolds is one of the most promising up-and-coming professional surfers around. He frequents a certain surf break in California, and we came across him one day after surfing. The interchange was short, yet it caught him off guard, making sure we got a genuine answer. Thank you Dane, and congratulations on winning this year’s Rincon Classic.

tom curren

“What’s that one with the long neck again?”

“Apatosaurus.”

“Don’t you mean Brontosaurus?”

“Yes.”

On a beautiful Christmas afternoon, we ran into one of surfing’s greats. Before Kelly Slater was a big deal, Tommy Curren was it. He has transcended generations and remains one of the most influential surfers in the last thirty years. Mr. Curren was kind and glad to answer the question and said he’d be interested in contributing to our coloring book. It’s a ways down the road, but we’ll be excited to have a drawing of a Brontosaurus by Tom Curren in there. Thanks, Tom.

spencer and heidi from t.v.

um, velociraptor.

Easy enough. Nice and Succinct. We encountered these television personalities on a corner in a sunny little town near the ocean as they were heading for coffee. The only reason they agreed to answer the question was on the grounds that it would be quick. It was asked, and the answer was just as quick. We could have gone into depth about how velociraptors had feathers, but decided to let them enjoy their coffee. Thank you Spencer and Heidi.

kellesimone waits

I’m going to have to go with the Tyrannosaurus rex. What with them having Marc Bolan on their team and the (relatively) recent finding that they were not entirely scaly but also had feathers…

Kellesimone Waits is an artist. We e-mailed her over a year ago inquiring as to her favorite dinosaur, and heard back around Thanksgiving this year. What a great thing to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Kellesimone is a great painter and a welcome addition to the blog. Thank you, Miss Waits, for answering our question.

mary oliver

“The one I’m gonna meet next week.”

O.K. This one is a big deal. We have our first Pulitzer Prize-Winning addition to the blog. People who like poetry often don’t really know what the poet looks like. If we ever had encountered Mary Oliver before a few evenings ago, we would have thought she was just a nice lady drinking coffee outside a coffee shop. However, we got to speak with her briefly at a reading of hers at UC Santa Barbara. She was dressed humbly, in a black sweater and purple pants. When she sat down to have a discussion with Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Paul Willis, we noticed happily that she was wearing rainbow-colored striped socks. This made much sense after the playful way she read some of her poems. Anyway, as books were being signed, we remembered to ask her our favorite question, hoping that she would enjoy it. “Excuse me, ma’am, what’s your favorite dinosaur?” After a brief moment of slight bewilderment, she replied in all coolness: “The one I’m gonna meet next week.” I don’t know who she’s talking about, but I think I would like to meet them. Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Ms. Oliver.

rob lowe

We met Rob Lowe today in the ocean. Mr. Lowe has had notable roles in Wayne’s World, Tommy Boy, The Outsiders, The West Wing, the list goes on. More recently he has played a recurring role as the overly enthusiastic Chris Traeger in the television show Parks and Recreation. Upon meeting him, we asked him some questions about that character. He explained that he developed some of the character’s more defining quirks, like using the word literally as emphatically as is possible and saying people’s full names when they walk into a room. Upon asking him what his favorite dinosaur was, he replied something to the effect of, “Well I think T-Rex because he has those funny little arms.” Not too much later he reiterated, “T-Rex is literally the best dinosaur there ever was.” Thank you for your words, Mr. Lowe.

julie bowen

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Julie Bowen is an actress who people know about.
Some of us more readily recognize her as the publicist Virginia Bennett in the classic film Happy Gilmore. More recently she has played a starring role as Claire Dunphy in the hilarious television show by the name of Modern Family. We met her at a gas station in Carpinteria, California this evening and happened to find out her favorite dinosaur. She said that based on the dinosaurs she actually knows, she likes the Triceratops. We told her that Jack Johnson’s favorite dinosaur is also the Triceratops. She smiled and said she was honored to share a favorite dinosaur with Jack, and would also be honored to be on our little website. So here’s to you, Julie. Thank you for being so kind to us at the gas station in beautiful Carpinteria

michael cera

This post should have come before Terence Stamp, but due to some circumstances, we’ve waited until now to add it. Michael Cera is well known for various roles, including Paulie Bleeker in Juno, and George Michael Bluth in Arrested Development. We encountered him on State Street in Santa Barbara, California, where he was on the way to play at a local music club called SOhO in a band called The Long Goodbye. We thought he would be an obvious proponent of our question, so we gathered the courage to approach him and ask. After some interesting comments from who we assume was another member of his band, he replied, “Um, steg…stegosaurus.” So there you have it. Our first stegosaurus lover. Thank you Michael for humoring us.

kassia meador

Kassia Meador is a talented photographer and a pro surfer. We were able to meet her in an airport several months ago, but forgot to ask her the age-old question. Luckily some e-mail correspondence was able to come about and we received this answer: “for my favorite dinosaur i think the big mellow one you know with the long neck that just eats trees…just because its the biggest but the most mellow and looks to be nice….” It seems miss Meador is referring here to the Apatosaurus, who is a favorite of many of our featured friends. If you ever get a chance to see her surf, it’s a beautiful thing. You can also check out her photography at kassiameadorphoto.com.  Thank you, Kassia.

photographs by Dane Peterson

billy baldwin

Upon approaching William Joseph “Billy” Baldwin in a grocery store, we asked him the tireless question. He was feeding donuts to his children and didn’t seem interested in answering such a random question. He responded, “That is a random question.” After several seconds of blank staring between the asker and answerer, and probably so that he could go back to being a father to his children, he answered, “Velociraptor.” One word, simple as that. What we could have told him is that it is posited now that the Velociraptor actually had feathers and didn’t look much like the famed villains in Jurassic Park. A man with an extensive acting resume, Billy has appeared in the film Backdraft as well as in the television show Gossip Girl. Thank you for humoring us, Mr. Baldwin.

shaun tomson

South African Shaun “Mr. J-Bay” Tomson has a favorite dinosaur. Upon being approached and asked the question, “Can I ask you a random question?” he answered, “That’ll cost a quarter. You got twenty-five cents?” Laughing the response off, the age-old question was asked. Immediately Mr. J-Bay’s face lit up and said, “Oh, of course the T-Rex mate. And I don’t mean the velociraptor, the one popularized in Jurassic Park. I mean the original T-Rex.” One of the best surfers of his generation, Shaun Tomson has a favorite dinosaur. Thank you, Mr. Tomson.

matthew quinn burkhard

Upon telling a close friend about this website, he asked, “Has anybody said Reptar yet?” Let us just say that this is by far the most amazing answer in the history of the question “What’s your favorite dinosaur?” Matthew Quinn, we salute you and your incredible answer.

jack hody johnson

Upon being asked his favorite dinosaur, Jack Johnson elicited what has become a common initial response among those subject to said question. “I don’t really know, yeah, I can’t really think of one.” Normally a person answering this question might think that an acceptable answer, but after a few seconds, he delved into his realm of thought and looked for a better answer. Upon finding it, Jack answered, “I guess triceratops. Triceratops is pretty cool.” So there we have it. A straightforward answer from a man we think is pretty cool. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.

jimi hendrix

“Jimi Hendrix did not play guitar. He trained a small dinosaur to scream inside his amp. This sound changed rock n’ roll.” -uncyclopedia.org

With all of Jimi Hendrix’s psychedelic experience, it can be gathered that this statement is not far from the truth. One might guess that he saw an entire crowd as a bunch of hungry dinosaurs greedily wanting to eat the sounds coming out of his amplifiers. Maybe this was because they knew he had stolen one of their own and locked it in a little cage. Regardless, we will never know what Jimi Hendrix’s favorite dinosaur was, but his music sounded like one hell of a Tyrannosaur. Or a machine gun.