Irrelevance Glorified

Well, it’s just about the end game here, and in order to finish the year’s worth of Origami on schedule, I’m gonna have to kick it up a notch. It will be an Origami Extravaganza. Man. If there was only some sort of pun or play on words I could use to describe this massive amount of origami that will happen all at once, an explosion of folded paper. Well, whatever, just know that it will be coming fast and hard at you until the end of the year!

Week 44, October 27th – October 31st

Dragon

I feel like something is missing. Like dragon teeth, I guess. Or a dragon body.

Ancient Ghost

Another Frog Base. Damn you, Frog Base! I think in the instructions, this was supposed to be on it’s legs and menacing you with it’s arms, but I felt it was still strange and scary even if it was on all fours. Also, as I’ve read somewhere before: “Four legs good; two legs bad.”

Ming Dynasty Officer’s Hat

I feel real bad for officers in the Ming Dynasty who had to wear stuff like this. I mean, it’s really hard to get respect wearing something like this.

Jack O’Lantern

This is one more of those “single straight cut” origami. I folded up the piece of paper along a number of mountain and valley folds to collapse the sheet into a strip, and then made one straight scissor cut, and when I opened it up, I had a Jack O’ Lantern! It would be awesome if you could do the same thing to actual pumpkins. I like these ones because if I screw up, I can cheat by just making multiple cuts, and no one can tell the difference. Not that I would, of course, as I am an origamist of honor and full disclosure.

Dracula

This is pure awesome. What really makes it is the additional drawing added, which I just copied from the instructions. I mean, this Dracula seems like a really cool guy to hang out with. Not stuck up and aristocratic, and they are often portrayed in literature, all wearing Victorian outfits and being formal. No, this Dracula is the sort of Dracula that you watch football with while throwing down some cold ones. And that bad haircut and style? That just makes him approachable. I assume his arms are behind his back or something.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 43, October 20th – October 24th

Chinese Duck

Along with the crane and the hopping frog, the duck is probably one of the most recognizable origami to me. Back in the (elementary school) day, I remember checking out Origami books from the library and practicing things (the hardest one was the Chinese Junk, which I never did figure out as a kid). The duck is pretty easy, and so it’s in all of the kid books, which is probably why I get a vague sense of nostalgia when I look at this one.

Waterbird

What….waterbird isn’t good enough for you? You want an actual name? Hey, mister fancy-pants Linnaeus wannabe, who cares what the name is? All we need to know is that it’s a waterbird, so we can go to bodies of water to find them, shoot the, and eat them. If you think otherwise…that’s awfully Un-American….

Mandarin Duck

There are clearly some effed up bird in China.

Turban

I feel like I should be vaguely offended by this. Do you think that this is what Sikh doctors wear in the operating room, to be sterile and all?

Baby Elephant

I’m glad this was just a baby elephant, or else I would have had to get a bigger piece of paper.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

In many ways, the process of growing up is just a series of disappointments. As you grow older, all the wonderful ideas and stories that you were told as a child turn out to be false, or at best, grossly exaggerated. The Tooth Fairy? It’s your parents (I figured that one out quite scientifically, by the way). Easter Bunny? Actually a wombat with irritable bowel syndrome. That thing where if you’re bitten by a radioactive animal, you will gain superpowers related to that animal? So not true. Every copy of Spider-man should come with a warning, by the way. The myths and legends that we hear about– The Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, Lizard People, a franchise quarterback for the Chicago Bears — all sound so fantastic you just wish that they could be true, in part because if those things are true, than perhaps anything is possible. But sadly, however much you hope and pray that your dreams come true, eventually you have to deal with the fact that the world is mostly quite boring, and improbable things are probably not going to happen.

Until something happens to totally change everything.

Continue Reading »

Week 42, October 13th – October 17th

Square Rigger

I don’t know why the square rigger has a non-square sail. Because, I mean, square is in the name. That’s just false advertising.

Skater Punk

I have no idea what they were going for here. This actually reminds me of the Black Riders from the Lord of the Rings, which is substantially more intimidating than a skater punk. When I think of skater punks, I really just think about opportune YouTube videos with skaters hurting themselves.

Jack’s Bird

Yet another possessive Origami. Really, can you own folded paper?

Bat

Yet another origami that requires me to break out the scissors and make a small cut. I feel like such a cheater.

Bird Skull

How incredibly morbid. I mean, it’s not just a bird head or something — we’re talking about a skull here. Also, the previous day’s pattern was this reptilian-skin like thing, so I found myself with a real creepy bird skull here.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 41, October 6th – October 10th

Crane

This is like the great granddaddy of them all. People make thousands of them for peace. I guess if you had war-like intentions and you saw the sort of fierce dedication that it takes to make a million cranes, you would think “I want no part of this!”

Two-Tone Crane

When I first saw this, I thought it said “Two-Ton” Crane, and then I got excited, because I thought it would be an awesome origami play on words (the origami equivalent of a pun?) and show a piece of construction equipment. But alas, it’s just a multi-colored crane.

Plump Crane or Hextuple-Amputee Octopus

So what Origami do I get for my birthday? A fat crane.

Nesting Crane

Quite poignant, a simple origami of a crane in a restful pose.

Parrot

So, just a little bit ago, they had me do a massive two day parrot, with lots of mountain folds and stuff. And now they whip out this simpler one. And while the other one is certainly more impressive…I still think people would figure out this is a parrot like bird.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 40, September 29 – October 3rd

Bag O’ Treats

I didn’t really have any treats on hand, so I just went with Chapstick. But, you know, you could put a few kernels of popcorn in there.

Postman

This right here is Nightmare Fuel. If I had a postman that looked like that, if he ever came to my door, I would probably hide under my bed. I mean, the thing has no arms! And that creepy smile…*shudder*

Simple Swallow

Yeah, this is pretty simple. It doesn’t even fly.

Two Halves of a Cat

This is a pretty blurry picture, but I’m too lazy to retake it. Anyways, the front half on the 2nd, the back half on the 3rd. All together, a pretty good origami, although I always feel it’s a little bit cheat-ey when I have to use scissors to make small cuts.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

If you know me, it’s pretty hard to believe that I don’t have some super awesome phone. I mean, I’m a pretty big nerd and I like spending money on electronic gadgets, so it wouldn’t be hard to imagine me with a Crackberry or something. But no, I’ve always made do with something two generations outdated, because I’m pretty low maintenance, I don’t like talking on the phone, and there aren’t a whole lot of people who actually want to talk to me.

Well, no more.

Yesterday, I got my T-Mobile G1, and I’m totally basking in the glow of the future now. Why didn’t I get an iPhone? Well, truth be told, it turns out I’m a Google fanboy and not an Apple fanboy. I’m asssuming that the G1 will be a sort of technological gateway drug for me. I’ll start out with a 3G smartphone, and pretty soon I’ll be signing up for elective bionic implants. I have no doubt that I’ll soon become addicted to having the internet and all the glory (and cat pictures) that it entails at my fingertips, so much so that I’ll get wifi installed in my cerebrum so that I’ll never be too far from the Hive Mind. Where will Ranjeet end, and Mecha-Ranjeet begin? That’s a question we’ll have to leave to the philosophers.

What will this mean for this website? Probably not much, although with constant location information and a 3 MP camera, I’ll be much more likely to explore fearlessly and document diligently. And the internet will never be the same.

How soon is the future? Well, consider this : I’ve been composing this post from my phone. I’ll let you go get a paper towel to wipe off your ears, since I’ve just blown your mind. Meanwhile, I’ll be over here, going through your stuff.

Week 39, September 22nd – September 26th

Montroll’s Fish

Who is Montroll, and why does he have a fish. Google Book Search reveals that John Montroll was the author of a few Origami books. Thanks for this, John!

Parrot

This was the first time I had a two-dayer, but only one piece of origami paper. This thing had enough folds to keep people occupied for two days. Quite impressive. Overall, though, I was pretty impressed with the results.

Pteradon

It seems to me that the Pteradactyl has always been more popular than the Pteradon. I don’t know why this is. Don’t worry, Pteradon. Someday the day will be yours.

Post-It Butterfly

I don’t have any Post-It’s around, but you get the idea. Fold it up, and stick it up.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 38, September 15th – September 19th

Butterfly

This is another gimmicky origami. Basically, the deal is that I only made one straight cut to produce this butterfly. I had to make a number of folds of both the mountain and valley varieties. After pre-creasing all the folds, I collapse the whole paper down and make one cut. Very tidy.

Checkered Pattern

I apologize for the amount of tape on this one…it was a real hard one to keep flat.

Rachel’s Rocket

I don’t know why this is Rachel’s Rocket. I try not to ask too many questions.

Fortuneteller

I think we all remember seeing one of these items in elementary school. Or perhaps, seen the South Park episode where the boys see the girls have one and think it’s a device that can see the future. So…what does this one portend?

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.