Oruhito wrote:legionzilla: There is no age limit - OUSA is a very family oriented place. If you are under 18 though, I think you need to be accompanied by an adult or guardian/parent.
Actually, I'm 17 and didn't have a parent with me (except friday night). I saw a lot of other people that looked under 18 without a parent.
On the topic of internet presence, Ive heard that OUSA is trying to reach out more through the internet, and is creating a facebook page to encourage the "closet folders" to get involved in the community.
mike352 wrote:Well, they said at the annual meeting at the convention that the attendance this year was only down by about 2%, which was better than they expected. They said that it was probably due to cheaper airfare even though the economy is bad.
As far as they catering to NYC, OUSA has now had several PCOC conferences (Pacific Coast Origami Conference) including one later this year in November. The folding groups in the US seem to be concentrated on the coasts, so I think having the conventions on the east and west coasts is reasonable. And, the headquarters of OUSA is in NYC.
Conventions and folding groups both concentrated on the East and West coasts...I think it may well be that the folding groups are concentrated there because the conventions are, not the other way around. Besides convention attendance, membership in OUSA is down several hundred from last year. In an organization that only had 1600 people, that is huge. Almost nothing is offered to members that can't attend conventions-folding fun sessions are only in NYC, and that is the only real attraction for members besides the conventions. OUSA needs to offer more to its members than a cute little quarterly magazine and 2 conventions. Sure, the HQ is in NYC, but folders are all across the country. It's not about catering to half of the country, it's about catering to all of it. Someone (maybe Mark Kirschenbaum?) called membership fees a "convention tax". And he is right.
I agree that being a member of OUSA doesn't offer too many benefits, other than going to convention. The magazine is cute, as you say, but diagrams are fairly simple, and a lot of the information is out on the internet (although the interviews are always nice). You're right about membership, we're at something over 1400 currently.
About conventions, I think it simply makes sense to have conventions on the coasts. The most populated areas of the country are there, and airfare is cheapest to the busiest airports, like NY or CA. About groups, there are plenty of groups in the rest of the country, but due to sparser big cities outside the coasts, they are all spread out. The coasts have more groups because of the concentration of big cities, in my opinion.
Well the convention was smaller (but in this economy that would be anywhere) and I agree about the coasts. I live in Chicago and I think that it would be a great location, meeting in the middle so to speak. That said here's a writeup and some pics.
Are people really that impressed with Between the Folds? I thought it was cute. I really liked the interview with Erik Demaine, but other than that, the rest seemed just okay. Robert was good as always too. While I appreciated everything that went into it, I thought the narration really dull, and was lulled to sleep watching it. Granted I saw it online, when the production studio was still showing it free, and not with a huge group of origami enthusiasts.
Also, there have been plenty of photos of the OUSA convention. I've looked through a few hundred. From the photos I've seen, it didn't look like there was much of the stuff I was looking for, so I assume that's part of what makes it seem like there's not much up. Appears that there was a ton of tessellations though.
For those criticizing the drop in attendance and excitement. One thing to keep in mind is that last year's convention was a big big thing. It's not fair to compare this year's with what should have been/was a 25th anniversary extravaganza. And that whole economy thing isn't helping either.
The version of Between the Folds that in on DVD now is different than the one that was shown online last year. As far as I can tell, there was new footage introduced into the movie, and a rearrangement of the narration. I haven't decided which one I like better ... but I still like the documentary quite a lot, in my view it's the best way to introduce non-folders to all the aspects of origami.
Edit: it seemed like the camera/editing work was also different - from the same shot as before, she zoomed in more for a better focus, etc.
Jared, the thing about Between the Folds is that it's really the first good full-length documentary about origami. And apparently it's done pretty well at the box office, wherever it's been shown; certainly it's won several awards at various film festivals.
Anyway, regardless of year-to-year attendance, OUSA should do more for the members that can't make it to NY. 'Cause once PCOC is over, I don't really have a reason to retain membership...
DZIGGITAI: no, I haven't been able to getaround to doing it yet. My parents made me go up north to our cottage the day after I got home and I forgot to bring it up :/ I promise to do it when I get back though XD
According to the OUSA website, the copies sold during the convention were a pre-release or something. The movie hasn't officially been released to DVD so it's not publicly available yet; last I heard, they were still looking for a distributor.
I told my parents about OUSA and the membership, and they were like: "Yeah, sure, let's get it right now"
So, now i'm a member of OUSA and one step closer to a convention!
Well, it's still in USA, (I live in Europe) but there is still a change that we could go there next year...
Hi! It's been a long while since I've been active on here. I deleted my Dropbox years ago, so some things, like my Dragonfly Varileg guide, are lost to time. I may still have other things, though! Email me if you have any questions.
