A Creature
Bored? Good. Clear off a little space on your desk or workspace or whatever. Done? Great, now open up your wallet and find a dollar bill or a euro or whatever, if you are reading this from overseas. This will only take a minute, and I promise I'm not asking for donations. It's time for a little origami. First, fold the dollar in half the long way and make a crease, just to find the center line:
Then fold each corner down to that crease. It's similar to the first step of making a paper airplane. It looks like this:
Now it's time to fold it in half. This is not difficult in the least bit. If this step gives you trouble, seek help. Either way, I've provided a picture:
Now things may get tricky,so pay close attention to the pictures. Orient the awkward pentagon so the point is facing the right, and fold the bottom-left corner up in a similar manner to the second step. This should make an even more awkward pentagon:
Now do the same thing with the top-left corner, and fold it down so that the right edge is flush with the right edge of the last fold. In other words, make it into a diamond:
Notice how the corner on the left has the top side folded over? Fold the top top part upwards:
Now do a similar fold with the bottom half. It's buried under the top part, so it may be a little tricky, but go for it. It's the last step. Promise.
Now it has feet! Turn it over. It may look a little flat, so find the corners to the sides of the open part and push them together a little. Now set it down on its feet!
It's a frog!
Now get back to work!
A Rare Stone
Wow! What an unbelievable week. It all started on Monday, when I, for some reason, agreed to do a double equipment return. I sprung out of bed at five in the morning, got to the truck, and with the help of my friend Marcus, picked up gear from a location and dropped it off at both Rule and High Output. We then went to return the truck in Medford and I got on my way to JP for the next return to the Boston University film department. I expected something similar to the gear center from Emerson, but actually, everything went just as planned, which felt weird. Coming from Emerson and their equipment center, I find it really awkward and somewhat uncomfortable when equipment rental houses are friendly and efficient, but as strange as it all was, I was really happy when I realized that I didn't have to prepare myself for a standoff.
So all this was done by around 3:00 pm, and it was time to go to work! I slept through three bus trips and groggily stumbled my tired self into the office and flopped down on a chair, and then a bomb drops. "Hey, we're going to get some cameras tonight. When you get home, pack up. We're going to New York tomorrow."
The subject of the shoot? Diamonds. Lots of them. It's been a whole day and my eyes are still trying to readjust to not being in an enormous room full of brilliant gemstones. I got to shoot the whole process of casting, molding, setting, and selling jewelry.
Now I know my track record for posting promised videos on my blog is pretty shoddy so far, but they are on the way, and this one is included in that. For now, settle for an interesting story.
As it turns out, dropped and missing diamonds are more than common. I got to the set early one day as they were opening and sweeping the floor, and after each pile was swept, the people behind the counter would crouch down and take a careful look. Sure enough, among the dust bunnies and crumbs were six or seven diamonds, and even a silver chain. I don't know what's stranger: the fact that this is so common, or that I was the only one in the room who thought it was weird. Either way, there were lots and lots of diamonds, and a handful of them were probably strewn about the floor somewhere.