I'm back

So it's it has been a hot minute sins I posted any thing on this blog and I am hopping to change that. Starting in the next the next few weeks I intend on posting some new projects that have been kicking around in my head. I hope you will like it. 

thank you for stopping by            

Final Reflection

My favorite assignment was a small quick assignment which we were asked to come up with a one page story. I liked it because it was he only assignment that I felt was exactly why I took the course. I took this course to improve my skills as a writer to the point where I could write something that is high enough in quality for me to want to read. Although I have learned many skills over the semester this fundamental reason why I took the class still eludes me.

My least favorite assignment was probably the micro biography. I'm not a fan of biographical writing and I certainly don't consider myself interesting unless your taste is for soap operas.

I still like to do read on Fridays. I look forward to it because I find it relaxing and fun plus it gives me valuable reading practice that I may not get to during the week. I find the written reflection to be a valuable tool in honing my critical thinking skills and allowing me to better understand what I'm reading. the only issue with the reflections is having to interrupt the flow of reading the book to write down personnel predictions and comments.

I found blogging to be a fun exercise. The most engrossing part was probably watching the views pile up. The only draw back I found with the blog was actually having to put assignments on it. It beats losing the paper. I found the use of the blog to be valuable tool and an asset to this creative writing class because it allows people to put out their drafts and their work and see what people think of it.

I found the tweeting part of the class irritating for multiple reasons. The first is the 140 characters limit. I'm personally a fan of long words and detailed descriptions not mention my personnel habit of long winded explanations being stifled by the 140 character cap.The other senior issue with twitter is the fact that it is blocked on school computers. you can't access it without a smart phone or teachers computer.

I found the technology aspect invaded the course. When I signed up for it last year I was looking forward to a creative writing course not a how to use a computer to distinguish yourself with a creative writing element tacked on course.So, my statement for this is don't change the course itself just change the course description and name.

I learned that I have improved significantly in my reading skills and that my writing skills are still not up to par for what I want.This is the reason I took the course and based on that assessment i didn't accomplish what i wanted to do. In terms of critical thinking I have progressed since the beginning of the semester although not really as a result from the class. 

My personnel suggestion for improving the class is : A. To rename it writing technologies or something similar.
B: To rewrite the course syllabus to better emphasize the classes technological aspect. 


The one statement I can make to future students of this class is if you know how to write or at least like what you write , this class will teach you new and creative ways of expressing that ability. If you are a relative novice or have problems putting together stories that makes sense much less writing them this is not the class for you.


Marc Vallee

Bucket List Overview

Choosing the List of 100  things before you die is sort of a challenge,even 50 is stretching it at times. Most people know 5 or 6 things they want to do but not much else. The best way I could describe this list is a combination of life ambitions and crowning moments combined with things I would just love to try if I had the chance. So, here it is! My 50 things I want to do before I croak presented and narrated by yours truly, Marc.

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Bucket list entry number 1. Visit the Forbidden city in China. When most people think of China they think of the Great Wall. But the Ming Dynasty Wall or at least the fully restores sections of it are quite far down on my list of things to do if I ever visit China. The first thing I would want to do is visit the Forbidden City and see the true splendour of Chinese art and architecture.

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Bucket list entry number 2. Fly a DC-3 and DHC-2 Beaver. Here's to entries that i decided to talk about together because both involve flying. The DC-3 because it is arguably the best air craft ever built as well as having a reputation forgiving to its pilots and general joy to fly. the DHC-2 Beaver holds many of the same basic virtues as the DC-3 but with the ability to take off and land inside of football field this aircraft is much more an explorers machine as well as a thrill.


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Bucket List Entry number three. Visit the Monuments of Egypt. I've always had a fascination with Egypt. The monuments of a long standing world civilization are in my opinion something that one must experience in their life time. The Sphinx, the Pyramids and the valley of the Kings all silent witness the worlds first great empire.



Bucket List entry number four: Ride a Brough Superior motorcycle. Here's one that seems so bizarre I just have to talk about it. In the 1930's Brough Superior was the Rolls Royce and Duesenberg of motorcycles. At a time when a family car could barely reach 60 miles an hour and the average high end motorcycle could clock in at around 90 M.P.H the Brough Superior SS-100 could do 100 M.P.H off the show room guaranteed. It was impressively stable, the low enter of gravity and specially designed forks to allow it to run straight and stable at high speeds. to prove it in 1925 at test driver took the motor cycle out on a track and let go off the handle bars at 90 H.P.H. the motor cycle didn't wobble or even go off track, it stayed perfectly straight. Even though I wouldn't do that it would still be fun to drive what once the most fun and technically advanced machine on wheels..the true Rolls Royce of motor cycles.

I'd love to stay here and continue spouting reasons for my choices but i know that will get boring. So, consult my blog to see the rest of the list.

My Evil Plan

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Like every good scheme you have to have an objective. Mine is to visit the Smithsonian, take so many pictures my cameras memory bank would be full then go home. The reason why I  chose this one off my bucket list is because it is relatively high in priority and very achievable. Step one: would probably be to put away roughly 2500 to 3000 dollars for the trip. Step two: Then choose when I would want to travel taking into consideration , air fare, hotel rates, and school and or work schedule. Step three:Book fight and hotel room. Step four: Get camera working with empty memory and full charge. Step five: Pack my bags. Step six: take the flight. Step seven: Get settled in at hotel. Step eight: Four days of fun. Step nine: Come back home.
and there you go, in nine simple steps I have described my evil plan to visit the Smithsonian.

I wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy everything else!!!

Just for the record
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year Happy Holidays and finally Happy axilial  Tilt or in similar terms Happy winter Solstice.

Alright Mayan's!! Where is it?

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Today as most people know, it's the end of the world but if you haven't noticed we are still here. So what went wrong? Well, as it turns out the Mayan calender doesn't actually end it just restarts. So, happy Mayan Millennium......

So, in closing and since I will not to be able to use this toast anywhere else, I raise a glass to the end of the world. Long may the profits be wrong!!!!

Question of the week

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Where did Christmas trees originate?

A. England

B. France

C. Germany

D. unknown

Count down to Christmas Break

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>53 hours to go until break.

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home! 
Charles Dickens 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/charlesdic105775.html#sc2mxPEUt2lkvq4m.99 

Marc's 50 things and Counting Before I Croak

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1. Get a pilots license.

2. Visit the Smithsonian's....do it all!

3. Build the most powerful PC in the world.

4. Visit the monuments of Ancient Egypt. 

5. Drive a Steam Locomotive

6. Display a painting I made in a gallery.

7. Own at least one thing thing that is 500 years old or older.

8. Stand in the hall of 100 columns.

9. Visit France.

10. Visit the British Isles.

11.Live on Cape Briton Island.

12. Fly a DC-3 

13. discover a ruin.

14. Ride a Brough Superior SS100 (motorcycle)  

15.Drive a tank.

16. Find gold.

17. See something impossible.

18. Draw something perfectly.

19. Build a car from scratch.

20. Make an award winning pizza.

21. Be requested for a lecture.

22. Win a ridiculously big prize.

23. To pay off my parents mortgage.

24. To help my sister to be more self confident.

25. To be a professor in the University...I would like to teach history.                                                        

26. Rewrite history...

27. Write a good creative book.

28. Go one year without anything overwhelmingly stupid or bad happening to anyone I know. 

29. I would like to do a deep sea diving expedition that includes exploring at least 10 different shipwrecks.

30. To ride a world class roller coaster. 

31. Complete a scale model perfectly.

32. Bring a forgotten object back to life. 

33. To recognise somebody who calls me out at random.

34. Visit the forbidden city in Beijing.

35. Drive a Duesenberg Model J.(1929-1937)

36. I would like to own a 68 Firebird.

37. I'd like to be requested to do a tour at a museum.

38. I'd like to live long enough to have my vision restored to perfect 20/20 sight with no problems.

39. Punch someone in the face who deserves it!!!!

40. To have a game with a user friendly log-in screen. 

41. Organize and lead a group of people.

42. Have something so good happen to me I pass out.

43. Fly a De Havilland Beaver.

44. Visit Peru and tour the oldest civilizations in north America.

45. Have my name in a text book referring to me. 

46. Eat a meal at a 3/3 star restaurant.

47. Would like to visit an aircraft carrier.

48. Would to tour a retired sub.

49. Learn to shoot a bow.

50. To find something that has not been seen in centuries. 

A Good Xmas Movie

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Oh what can I say I'm a sucker for the classics. Well written, enjoyably unrealistic, and generally well done. 

Every time I watch this movie I find it enjoyable. Even though the slap stick is what keeps psychos like me coming back this is entirely a good movie. Kevin as a character is fun , he's a bit selfish but then again he is also in elementary school. His innocence as a character is truly fun to watch. The character of the mother is equally enjoyable going through what could only be described as vacation hell with absolutely no-body understanding the predicament. I would probably have to say my favorite part of the movie is the scene with the fire crackers and the gangster show. And as for the slapstick well, it is pretty unrealistic. Quite simply Marv and Harry should not have made it into the house conscious. But that's the fun of it! In closing home Alone is a good movie with great execution and one of the best Xmas classics of modern time. 

Christmas Food

When it comes to Christmas food my family traditions are a little strange. They include fondue and croissants and of course Buche de Noel. Arguably my favorite cake.

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It's Christmas!!!!!!!

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Well, it's not Christmas yet....but that's not going to stop me from throwing up a whole boat load of Christmas related comments, quotes, questions and anything else I can think of. 

Answer to Question of the Week

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A. Menes

Although written records are sketchy at best, it is believed that the first Pharaoh of combined Egypt was Menes. He ruled the country sometime in the thirty first century B.C. that is more than 5 thousand years ago. 

Twitter Post Reading Reflection

Everest book 2: The Climb (78),The story is progressing steadily and I find it to be just as engaging as the other Korman books I read.

The characters are still surprisingly in tact giving the amount of trouble they have experienced. @cre8tive havoc#RR11

Quote of the Week

 I put up my thumb and blotted out the planet earth.

Neil Armstrong


Yeah, I probably should of put this quote up in September but it is interesting to think that from the moon the earth appears so small that you can block it out with your thumb.That all of human history everything we are can be hidden behind your thumb from the closest object in space.It sort of makes you feel small doesn't it.

Writing Reflection #10

So far half decent the assignment went better than expected and I found the twitter format to be more of a nuisance than a problem. The story I created was on par with others that I've come up with, more on that later, perhaps....

Despite some early set backs I found the story flowed freely and easily and required only mild tweaking to fit the format well enough. I especially enjoyed the multiple tweet story format. I found it allowed for greater story complexity and plot in general. In genera,l however, I found the idea of twitter fiction to be interesting. The idea that some body could use the series of apparently random tweets to create a story that can be seen from not just one perspective but multiple perspectives at once. This is what I believe is the strength of twitter fiction. It multiplies the perspective and do to its nature these perspectives can be expressed in a relatively small sample of writing. If done right it can also create very diverse and well flushed out characters without the need for complex back stories and character insight. The whole tweet is an insight of what the characters think of one event and if enough tweets are compiled it paints a very clear picture of the characters point of view, likes and dislikes, weaknesses and strengths and so on. In my opinion this is the true strength of twitter fiction. To use a social networking system to convey the opinions of characters in an event as opposed to being explained the event by the story. It is up to you figure out what the person is saying. As a result, a twitter fiction is a more active and can be a dynamic story if done right. This is what makes a twitter fiction good, my only regret is that I did not understand this principal at the time I  invented my story.

The main issue I see with the technique is it creates a story that is difficult to follow and highly complex. For a casual reader it would probably be a irritant. For a reader looking for more of a challenge it would present a truly unique experience and would probably be an intellectual  test to keep up with the story. Another minor fault with this story pattern is the challenge of writing in personal biasness. It should be impossible to get the full true story from any one character. As for me the issue I have with my personal twitter fiction is the use of the standard short story format with adaptations for twitter were I to write it again I would personally try for something more along the lines I have described above. Another issue i have with my twitter fiction is the clunky,chunky dialogue.  Do to a lack of experience in writing and a difficulty in holding a conversation myself the dialogue pieces in my story are at best clunky and at worst  irritating beyond belief. More practice in this aspect of writing is necessary for me to create a story that I would actually want to read. This to me is the main reason i took this class in creative writing. To learn the skills and techniques necessary to write a story that i would actually want to read.

As for the other twitter fictions I have read, well, how do you think I got the idea for the format above. I realized the value of this literary technique when going through the story written by Elliot Holt. Although, I did not read another completed twitter fiction I still found the pattern laid down in her story to be a good bench mark for how to use twitter in a new and creative way to write a story. Instead of doing what I did and using it like a under powered word document. This style of writing is best suited for twitter because it uses the twitter info-structure to its advantage. By creating multiple twitter pages for multiple characters and amalgamating them on to one central page the effect of a unique and diverse points of views is achieved.

In closing I find the twitter fiction format to be a unique and diverse writing style that is well deserved as a surprising complex way of writing. I would personally love to see a book written in  a similar fashion. As for myself the process of writing a twitter fiction has given me respect for the sight and the idea but has not taught me anything that I did not already know. To reinvent a statement that I have made many times before not just in this articles but others the format is not the issue. I did not take this class  to use different formats in fiction but to just simply learn how to write fiction.

MarcVallee

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Well, it was inevitable, I had to put this movie on sooner or later. As far as the Indiana Jones movies are concerned this is my favorite in virtually all aspects. The adventure is fun, the characters are well.... the characters from Indiana Jones. It doesn't get much better than that. I especially enjoyed Sean Connery's performance as Indiana Jones' father. The contrast between the two characters is not only fun but hilarious at times. Perhaps one of the best throw away gags in the movie is X marks the spot and the book stamping librarian. If you don't what I'm referencing by this please watch the movie again, I know you have already seen it. In closing I would probably have to say that Indiana Jones movies are the best movies I have seen from Lucas Film including the Star Wars movies. This one is my favorite of Indiana Jones' and I don't think it is difficult to see why.

Question of the Week

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Who was the first Pharaoh of Egypt?

A. Menes

B. Khufu

C. Tutankhamun

D. Seti

Answer to question of the Week

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The correct answer is B. The Arado 234.

Entering service in September 1944, the Arado was the first purpose built jet bomber ever to come into service with a maximum speed of 450 miles per hour the Arado was all but uninterceptable. Fortunately only 210 were manufactured before the end of the war and these two few too late to have any impact.