The end of the world The Apocalypse (anonymous) I was walking down an alley at the side road to my school when I saw something, a flashing green light. I walked up to it. It was what looked like a mine bomb. It was labelled “The End of the World”. (Ross McCarthy)   Your dream vacation My dream vacation is to go to Africa so I can see the wildlife and safari parks. (Ryan Durkan) My dream vacation is to go to Hawaii and go to all the beaches, go swimming and go to a hotel. (Kate)   A lie you told and got away with I broke my brush at home and I hid it under the shed and I got away with it for a week. 🙂 Ha. Ha. Ha. (Leah Durkan.) My name is Billy. (Niall)   Describe one of your bad habits and why you secretly get joy out of it Biting my nails (anonymous)   What’s the stupidest thing you used to believe whole-heartedly? I used to believe that I had two imaginary friends called Kevin and Arnold who lived in Mexico. (Luke Cremin) I thought in 3rd class that I had too much homework.  (Brendan Mee)   Explain the off-side rule If you are behind the last defender when the ball is played then you are off-side. (David Byrne)   The glow of success I like this school but more importantly… Messi is the best player in the world. He has won five ‘Ballon d’Ors.’ He is better than Ronaldo. (Troyo Romith)   That snappy reply I never had a chance to say I think golf is stupid; it’s up there with the ‘Ban the Wheel’ campaign!   My hopes for the future A happy life, a good...

Flash Fiction is writing for people who like to do other things. But you can do a lot with a little. We think that by choosing the right words and by putting them in the right order, real magic can be achieved. We’re looking for First Years who would like to write some Flash Fiction just for the fun of it. You might be wondering what Flash Fiction looks like. Well, just log on to cloudofthink.ie and type in Flash Fiction in the search box in the top right-hand corner to see some examples. Do you think you could write a story in fewer than a hundred words? We’d love to read it if you do. Email your entry to cloudofthink@gmail.com and make sure to put your name and the words “Flash Fiction” in the subject box. This competition is open only to first years. The prize for the winner is €25; second prize is €15; third prize is €10. The winning entries will be posted on cloudofthink.ie and will be reviewed by several of the best writers in the school. The closing date is  Thursday, October 6th 2016. Here are some tips: Try to create an interesting character; Don’t be afraid to rewrite your work; Try to create pictures the reader can enjoy; Don’t explain everything – let the reader do some of the work; Model your story on stories you’ve heard; Think about different kinds of stories: detective stories; romantic stories; war stories; mysteries; ghost stories; funny stories; action adventures; thrillers; silly stories. Remember, you can base your story on truth if you...

Ratchet & Clank is a very successful video game series and one of my personal favourites. It’s so successful that it’s been made into a movie directed by Rainmaker Entertainment that, unfortunately, received unfavourable reviews as a movie that kids will enjoy but adults will not. Rainmaker lost $10 million on the movie and blamed Disney. I however think it’s great and I’ll explain why in a spoiler free review.   The story is about a Lombax named Ratchet, a mechanic who dreams of becoming a Galactic Ranger. He meets a Sentry-War Bot defect named Clank. They join the Rangers and have to stop Chairman Drek and his chief scientist Dr Nefarious from destroying planets using a weapon known as the Deplanetiser. Some people say it’s very much like A New Hope from Star Wars.   The jokes in the movie are really good and very well put together, the first few moments are no exception. The action is also very good to watch with the War Bots fighting the Galactic Rangers. The characters are all likeable and the villains are very fun to watch. There’s also a very good plot twist that I wouldn’t have seen coming if I hadn’t played the game on which the movie is based. However the movie’s not perfect. Sometimes the action can be a bit weak and they don’t show of a lot of weapons like in the games.   In the end, The Ratchet & Clank Movie is in my opinion, a great movie. It is rated G, but PG would be more appropriate in my view. Nevertheless, it gets an 8 out of 10 with the title of...

I don’t write essays. I don’t write crosswords in pencil either. “Desperate times” etc. * ‘Mr Morey,’ I hear you ask, ‘why are you so resistant to the idea of “the essay?”’ ‘Ah,’ I reply, ‘I’m glad you asked that, because I was going to answer it for you anyway whether you liked it or not. My reasoning is quite simple – I don’t know what they are.’ ‘But Mr Morey,’ I hear you inquire, ‘how could you have no knowledge of so common a style as “the essay?”’ ‘Ah,’ I suavely reciprocate, ‘it is not that I have no knowledge; it is that I have too much.’ ‘But Mr Morey!’ I hear you tempestuously expostulate. ‘How can there be such a thing as “too much knowledge?” Surely there is no limit to learning!’ ‘Ah,’ I ratiocinatively riposte, ‘that, my eager but obtuse friend, is where you are gravely mistaken.’ Knowledge, you see, is an excellent thing when it builds on previous knowledge. You learn one thing, and then you learn another, and the second adds something to the first. Step by step, your information becomes more advanced. Knowledge is not an excellent thing, however, when it builds beside previous knowledge. If you learn one thing, and then you learn the same thing again in a different way, you have still learned only one thing. Step by step, your information becomes more confused, but no more advanced at all. Consider the way in which I just wrote the words “ask” and “reply” in increasingly elaborate forms. By the time I arrive at “ratiocinatively riposte”, three things have happened to the reader: They are now 100% certain that I am the most linguistically intelligent man alive. They have now learned how to write two ridiculously...