Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Suddenly, Everything Went Black : A short story by James O'Connor (Bl. 1)



The rain belted down relentlessly. The storm was getting worse. Will and Jane were curled up at the stump of an enormous chestnut tree, while Spencer crouched cautiously under a fallen road sign. They were waiting like this for almost ten minutes when Joey and Levi appeared again. "Any luck?" Jane asked, once they were in earshot. "Still no cell service!" Levi panted. "We did spot an old empty house half a mile that way," he added, pointing back up the road.

Wednesday, 1 June 2016

'Listening into conversations has to be the single most entertaining thing one can do on public transport' by Ciara Olsthoorn



Listening into conversations has to be the single most entertaining thing one can do on public transport. Especially arguments. Darragh loved nothing more than a good argument. Regularly, on his daily commute to and from work, he would pop in headphones, let the lead dangle idly and happily relax and listen to the bizarre snippets of commentary going on around him.

Saturday, 7 May 2016

'The Unlikely Hero' by Anna Kinsella, Bliain 2



The crisp, brown leaves swept gracefully along the sidewalk. The last remnants of the sun had just disappeared leaving nothing but a sky as black as ink. The streetlamp outside the house was flickering. She edged closer towards it. There were goosebumps on Clodagh’s arms; she had no jacket. She ran from the orphanage as soon as she had realised what happened.

Thursday, 5 May 2016

“The manner in which texts conclude and the impact such conclusions have on a reader often help construct the GVVP of those texts.” by Aoise Kennedy, Jack O Callaghan & Karl English.



“The manner in which texts conclude and the impact such conclusions have on a reader often help construct the GVVP of those texts.”

With reference to three texts in your comparative course, compare how the conclusion of each text, and its impact on you, helped to construct the general vision and viewpoint of these texts. Support your answer with reference to the texts.

I wholeheartedly agree with the above statement that the manner in which texts conclude impact the reader and often help construct the general vision and viewpoint (GVVP) of those texts. During my course I have studied ‘The Plough and the Stars’ by Séan O Casey (TPATS), ‘The King’s Speech’ directed by Tom Hooper (TKS), and ‘Foster’ by Claire Keegan. During my study I found that the conclusion of the text firmly dictated my overall GVVP of the text.

Monday, 22 February 2016

'They Make Manipulation a Virtue' by Ciara Olsthoorn



Darragh inhaled deeply, sucking the cigarette fumes into his lungs and exhaled in the general direction of the car’s open window, tipping the ashes outside over the door. He scratched his head, pushing back the tangled hair that hung over his eyes like a mop, staring at the sheet he'd printed out off some vegan blog. The article was about these smoothies that had recently gone on sale in his locality. For all the world they looked like blended grass, or a mud pie his son Ross had made years ago, but no; according to Vegan_Sam123 they were “food for the soul”, organic, preservative free and supported his persona of being a “life enthusiast”. “If he can make money out of selling mud then so can I,” Darragh thought.

Friday, 15 January 2016

'Today's obsession with the rich and famous has gone too far' by Deirbhile Ryan


"Today's obsession with the rich and famous has gone too far" 
Deirbhile Ryan


Kylie Jenner, Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian are just three of the richest and most famous people of today. I can almost guarantee that everyone in this room has read a headline concerning them in the last few weeks, if not days. One of the most worrying things for me as a teenager, is that everybody around me idolises these people for doing... wait, I actually don't know what they do that is so great. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Deirbhile Ryan and I am here today to convince you that our obsession with the rich and famous has gone too far.