Saturday, November 27, 2010

Origami Extreme - Part 08!!!



The other day, I came to watch some of my friends performing in the play called The Birds, and it was really fun! So I decided to make another Origami collection; this time it’s about birds – small birds which (supposedly) are all nice and peaceful. Anyway, I love things that fly.
Talking about Origami, I now find myself avoiding overly-complicated models each of which would take days to complete. Instead, I’d go for fairly simple ones which are fast to make and still look really nice. That’s why I like more and more the models of John Montroll: really efficient. 

PART 08: THE LITTLE BIRD 

CURLEW by Tom Defoirdt – I had no idea that a curlew was. I had fun time folding it nonetheless.


EXTINCT BIRD by Nicolas Terry – Mr. Terry always creates unique models. This “bird” was the most challenging for me in this collection.
GORRION SPARROW by Roman Diaz – What?! There are different types of sparrows? I never knew!


HORNED OWL by Hideo Komatsu – The thingy underneath the owl was from another square.
HUMMING BIRD by Peter Engel – A tiny little bird! Actually this Origami version has the size of my wrist.
NIPPONIA NIPPON by Sakasegawa Takashi – Strange birds! Long names! Long author’s name, too! Weird!
PELICAN by John Montroll – I have always been interested in pelicans. They look so happy for some reason.
PENGUIN by Marc Kirschenbaum – I was quite satisfied with the result of this. Definitely my favorite.
SCARLET MACAW by Ashimura Shunichi – A simple parrot is sitting on my glass! Call 911!
SWAN by Manuel Sirgo – Swans are beautiful. I am happy with this one a lot.

So yeah, that’s it for now. I hope you’d enjoy these birds. Thank you!
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Sunday, November 21, 2010

Dark and Cold



Would you not sometimes have to wonder what this world has turned into? When the basics of good turn debatable to so many people, would your heart not be sadden? I have recently watched The Invention of Lying, and I feel sad. It was a comedy but I felt great pain: it’s another anti-Christian movie.

Here is the summary of
The Invention of Lying: In a world that everyone tells the truth, Mark is an unfortunate man who gets fired, isolated, and kicked out of his apartment. But then he discovers the possibility of telling untrue things and manipulating people with his lies. He gets rich and successful. Many hopeless people when hearing him telling them positive things turn automatically happy and motivated. One day, he tells “lies” to his dying mother about “a life after death” (which sounds just like Heaven). Eventually, he comes up with an entire religion that many people blindly believe in and be corrupted. In the end, he tells the woman he loves how he has been lying and they then get married. 
What now? After defying so many good things in Life, are we now to be convinced that telling lies is good and telling the truth is bad? To make things even worse, the movie ties lies to the words of Moses and further – the words of Jesus. How foolishly clever you are, Hollywood, for now you can tell millions of people that either Christianity is bad or the Christian beliefs are all lies! 
Mark the liar, when more and more people wanted to hear about the life after death, wrote stuffs down on a piece of paper. Then he decided to make what he wrote look better by… writing them on two Domino pizza boxes (that would remind you of Moses’ two tablets.) Then he came out before the world and told people about his made-up religion which was irrational, flawed, but deliberately similar to Christian beliefs. Whoever hates God would really enjoy watching many people cursing and blaming about “the man in the sky” – as Mark portrayed.
Later on in the movie, when his love was not reciprocated, Mark sank in his depression for days. When he reappeared, his hair was long and – to my amazement – he looked like the image of Jesus. The savior of mankind was now equalized to one miserable liar. Just exactly how many more years will our Lord be hated and humiliated? 
The Lord, His words, and His followers’ beliefs have been ridiculed in a quite despicable manner, and it’s amazing how many Americans can just simply laugh it off. “In God we trust,” the people say; they may as well continue with “and at God we laugh.” 
I turn and look through the windows: the sky is pitch black and the air is freezing. It is as if this world is getting only darker and colder. It is as if at this very moment countless of people are laughing and shouting like this: “Hey God, thanks for the good Thanksgiving break with all the good food and shelter, now back off and let us make fun of you!”

Related topic(s):
Dark and Cold
A.R.K.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Update on 11-15-2010

I have recently finished integrating my “Petra” blog to this one (which means I have brought my posts in that blog to this one and kept the dates). It was a time-consuming process and I was amazed.

There were so many posts I had written in my “Petra” blog! It was the time when I maintained two blogs at once, and each for a different set of targeted readers; and I did that for nearly two years! Where did I get all the ideas, the enthusiasm, and the efforts? If there was any time for me to be amazed with myself then this was the time! (Too much for someone who is trying to be humble!)

I also had an opportunity to read all the comments from my Petra people. Those were all great comments that I would forever treasure! Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring them over to this solitude blog. Alas, I missed the time when I could have more than 5 comments for one post!

For so many months I have forgotten the great joy of blogging. Since I only expected my mother and my former girlfriend Arwen to read my blog, what I wrote was something quite different: not necessarily worse, but much less worth-mentioning. And of course, Life has changed; therefore, I have, also. Now it is the time for me to revive my old enthusiasm and go forth. Blogging will now once again be a priority to me – and to impress the “future me” is exciting, too!