"Not all that tempts your wandering eyes and heedless hearts, is lawful prize"

[larryhammer]

Some quotes for those who might appreciate them:

1. Lingua Latina saepe dicitur mortua esse. Coleus! Modum iam pridem meridiatur. Iam diu autem multa verba facit dormiens. Re vera, non potes eam in silentium redigere. Circuspice—Lingua Latina se pandit ubique tanquam toga vilis.
   
   
2. There is one characteristic which may be safely said to belong to nearly all happily-married couples—that of desiring to see equally happy marriages among their young friends; and in some cases, where their wishes are strong and circumstances seem favourable to the exertion of their own efforts, they may even embark upon the perilous but delightful course of helping those persons whose minds are as yet not made up, to form a decision respecting this important crisis in life, and this done, to assist in clearing the way in order that this decision may forthwith be acted upon.
   
   
3. 53. Repeat steps 45–52 on the other side.
   55. Squash fold.
   58. Repeat steps 55–57 on the right.
   59. Repeat steps 45–53 for the second head.
   60. Repeat steps 55–59 behind for the third head.
   
   
4. A Midsummer Night's Dream remains an enchanting work after four hundred years, but few would argue that it cuts to the very heart of human behavior. What it does do is take, and give, a positive satisfaction in the joyous possibilities of verbal expression.
   
   
5. As a new face [The Times New Roman] should, by the grace of God and the art of man, have been broad and open, generous and ample; instead, by the vice of Mammon and the misery of the machine, it is bigoted and narrow, mean and puritan.

The Answers:

1. Henry Beard, X-Treme Latin: Lingua Latina Extrema (London: Headline Book Publishing, 2005).
2. Sybil G. Brinton, Old Friends and New Fancies: An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen (Naperville, IL: Sourcebook Landmark, 2007 reprint of the 1914 edition).
3. John Montroll, "Three-Headed Dragon," in Mythological Creatures and the Chinese Zodiac in Origami (New York: Dover Publications, 1996).
4. Bill Bryson, Shakespeare: The World as Stage (New York: HarperCollins, 2007).
5. John Morrison, A Tally of Type, 3rd ed. (Jaffrey, NH: David R. Godine, 1999).

The Annotations:

1. Yes, I'm dubious about his Latin, too.
2. Yes, a sequel to all six novels at once. Edward and Elinor Ferrars have one of the Darcy livings, for a start, and Mary Crawford is in the orbit of Sir Walter Eliot.
3. I have now proven it is possible to fold this in 15cm paper, but the result is so small as to be barely worth the effort. Also, Tiamat looks so silly shrunk to 4cm long. Undignified.
4. A brief but generally sensible work, which breaks no new ground.
5. To be fair to Morrison, he's putting these words in William Morris's mouth. But I more or less agree.

---L.

Comments

[jennifer-j-s.livejournal.com]

A sequel to all six finished Austen novels! Wow! Is the unfinished novel--Sanditon--in there, too?

[larryhammer]

Doesn't seem to be. I'm still waiting for Emma Knightly to show up -- and given Lizzie Darcy looks to be going down a similar road, you'd think she'd be on stage early and often, as an object warning.

---L.

[rosefox]

I was just about to run off to my copy of Mythological Creatures and the Chinese Zodiac in Origami to see whether that was the three-headed dragon when I saw you'd so kindly provided the footnote.

I didn't fold origami Christmas tree ornaments this year, which is rather a shame. Mind you, I don't have a Christmas tree; but I was thinking of decorating my cubicle with them. Maybe I'll do red-and-gold ones in time for the lunar new year.

[larryhammer]

Cerberus is almost as bad, though at least it's a straightforward "Repeat 27-38 [or whatever numbers they are] on the other two heads."

I think I'm going to make a larger one of her, if only in penance.

---L.

[rosefox]

Montroll is like that. It's all about the engineering, like Lang and his crazy insects (which you would probably love if you're a Montroll fan). That sort of thing is a great technical challenge and awesome to show off, but for fun I'd generally rather fold something complex and subtly elegant and Japanese, like Kasahara's rose.

Man, now my fingers are itchy for paper.

[larryhammer]

I'm actually kinda ambivalent about Montroll, especially his disregard for the thickness of the paper, but I'm a Lang fanboy. Lovely, lovely insects.

I need to get more of the books of Japanese designers, such as has been published in English.

---L.

[rosefox]

Have you seen Brill's Brilliant Origami? He does a lot of human figures and tableaux; very elaborate stuff.

On the Japanese side, my favorites are Toshikazu Kawasaki and Tomoko Fusè, for entirely different reasons. Kunihiko Kasahara and Toshie Takahama collected a whole bunch of Kawasaki's most elegant designs (among others) in Origami for the Connoisseur*, and Fusè is best known for her boxes but does some absolutely fabulous modular stuff in Unit Origami that looks like DNA and crystals and Calder mobiles. I would definitely recommend both of those.

* Including the previously mentioned twist-folded rose, a really magnificent piece of work, which I always forget is Kawasaki's and not Kasahara's.

I actually really enjoy working from books in Japanese, as long as the diagrams are clear; but the downside is that I have no idea who any of the designers are!

[larryhammer]

I have both Fuse's Unit Origami and Origami for the Connoisseur -- the rose is my favorite from the latter, by far, though some of the geometric models are better described than in most places. I also have an old book, or closer to booklet, from 1970 by Toyoki Kawai, which unfortunately has awful diagrams -- or rather, photographs of steps with cryptic descriptions and no folds marked. That's it for Japanese books for me, so far.

I've leafed through Brilliant Origami, but haven't tried any of the models.

---L.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I recognized that model; and need to try it on larger paper, as the size I had went directly into weeping and gnashing of teeth. On the bright side, the star pattern I have this year is both relatively easy and looks so good in both gold and silver foil that I foresee covering all Christmas trees within range in them for the indefinite future.

I am a convert this year to origami Christmas ornaments: more fun, cheaper, infinite variety, can make new ones if they squash, and solves the major problem I've always had with origami, namely what to do with it when you've done it right. I am going to start an Origami Box and put all my finished models in it for next year's tree.

[larryhammer]

The other time I folded the three-headed dragon, I used a big 35cm square. It IS pretty cool at that size. I suspect at least 12" is required to make it worthwhile.

If we had a tree, we'd be doing orgami ornaments. Paper, alas, doesn't go well with either the menorah or solistice candle.

---L.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_twilight_/]

The Couriers, Verdana, and even Arial seem much more comfortable to my eyes.

[larryhammer]

They were designed for different purposes, is why. Times New Roman was designed to squeeze as much text in a narrow newpaper column as possible, which still being readable, with the press technology of the time. Verdana was designed to be read on-screen at small sizes.

---L.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_twilight_/]

That makes sense... Where'd you learn all of this fonty awesomeness?

[larryhammer]

Over the years, here and there. I've always had an interest in typography and book design.

---L.