Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Into the second decade of the millennium we go. I've been imagining the future since I was little. I usually conceive of things far in the future, but, naturally, I wonder what my life will be like in the coming years. At the beginning of this decade I was working on my very first science fiction story. It was about dinosaurs on Mars (sounds like a B-movie, I know). That New Years Eve my family went to a friend's house to watch the ball drop. The kids (which included me at the time) all decorated paper bags to pop at midnight. On mine, I drew an astronaut surrounded by stars and planets. After the countdown the kids all went out to their back porch and banged pots and pans.

At ten years old, I didn't give a whole lot of though to where I would be today. I assumed I would be in college. The idea of writing was just entering my head and I wasn't involved in theatre yet. At that point I probably still planned on being a paleontologist or an astronaut, or both (especially if they found those dinosaurs on Mars.)

So in a shameless attempt to generate some feedback- What did you do at the turn of the millenium, ten years ago? Where did you think you'd be today?

Brains!

This semester, I am enrolled in the theatrical makeup class, and so far it has been a fun experience. On Friday our assignment was to use nose and scar wax to alter something. I decided to create a bite, because it just happened that I would be attending the Morgantown Zombie Walk that night. After spending time with friends I quickly put on the makeup and left for Morgantown. Unfortunately I was running late and didn’t really know where I was going. I reached North High Street just as the walk was scheduled to begin, but had no idea where it was. I found a parking lot I recognized and walked back to North High Street, after wondering for a bit in that ridiculous makeup I found the zombie horde and joined in. I eventually met up with some friends there, and even ran into an old friend from high school who I didn’t know was attending. Unfortunately, in the chaos of trying to find my way there and participate I did not get any pictures at the walk itself. I do have pictures of my own makeup.

Final Product- latex, tissue, thick blood, stage blood

My friend Sam, who works at the Illusive Skull, after she pealed off all her latex

Zombie driver- waiting for Sam after the walk.

Peeling off the latex

Writing Class Dialogue

This semester I enrolled in a fiction writing class. I am enjoying the experience despite the fact that it starts at eight in the morning. Last week the professor gave us a quick exercise. We picked a line from a list and wrote a dialogue in under five minutes. I chose the line “That picture in hanging crooked”, and this was the result:

-That picture is hanging crooked.
-Yeah that happens in this area.
-Crooked pictures?
-Earthquakes.
-Then why did you move out here?
-They say its cause of a tectonic plate, but eventually it’ll be gone.
-But why did you move here if it gets earthquakes?
-Like I said the plate will be gone eventually.
-Shouldn’t that take thousands of years… and lots of earthquakes?
-Well I don’t mind crooked pictures in the mean time.

July 4th at Antietam

OK things have been hectic recently so I’m going to take today to catch up a bit. I have some photos and info that I’ve been meaning to post for several weeks now so I apologize if the next few posts seem outdated (pictures from July 4th).
Last month for the 4th of July my sister convinced my parents to take us all to Antietam Battlefield for a concert and fireworks. The Maryland Symphony Orchestra performed patriotic songs under a large flag, then they launched fireworks.

They did a salute to those who have served in the armed forces. They played the songs for each branch of the military and asked those who have served to stand while their song played. Dad stood up for “Anchors Aweigh”. I tried to snap a picture from where I was sitting.

He looks a bit confused.

Health Care "Terms of Use" Circa 2011

"This application provides access to the Health Care system. When using the Med system, your organs are considered a Federal Biological system and are the property of the US Government. Any or all uses of this system and organs in this system may be intercepted, monitored, recorded, copied, audited, inspected, and disclosed to authorized medical, and law enforcement personnel, as well as authorized officials of other agencies, both domestic and foreign."

House from space

I was looking up information on geocaching.com a few days ago. We went geocaching at state 4-H camp and I wanted to know more. On the site there was a link to a satallite map page where you could see local geocaches. I found this interesting when I zoomed into our address. I’d looked on google maps before, but the image wasn’t this close last time.

Book Review- World War Z

Book Reviews

I’m no critic, but I do have an opinion. I enjoy reading and thought I might share my opinions on what I read on my blog. By now you have guessed that I enjoy science fiction and read a good deal of that, but I have been expanding my horizons. I am, however a very slow reader and ADD when it comes to books. I’m usually reading four or five at a time, but I will post what I think as I finish them. It just so happens that I just finished one…

World War Z

In The Zombie Survival Guide Max Brooks provides us with the cold hard details of what to expect when the zombies start rising and how to fend them off. He states facts and creates lists of the necessities. In World War Z, however he gives us the opposite of the cold information. He provides us with the stories of people who have fought for their survival. While the Guide made zombie fighting sound exciting, WWZ gives the reader a harsh taste of reality (sort of) in reminding them that this hypothetical situation would be terrifying. Where the Guide made it feel like the reader could go out and kick zombie butt then walk back inside, put on a cup of coffee, and watch Cheers reruns, WWZ vividly describes a world in chaos. It places the reader in a world where government incompetence allows a seemingly impossible virus to infect a majority of the world’s population, a world where people are forced to flee the comfort of their homes and routines and wall themselves up in whatever refuge they can find.

It is Brook’s creation of this world that sets his books apart from other zombie fiction. He established rules to govern the books and does not break from them, unlike Romero’s Dead series. One thing that always disappointed me about the Romero zombie films was the confined feeling, which I’m sure was in part intentional. Unfortunately, Romero only gives us the story of three or four people, when the disaster is supposedly worldwide. That’s what I loved about World War Z, Brooks provides all angles of the zombie uprising. You get to see how it is handled by different countries and people with different ideals.

4-H Bling

Throughout my three weeks of camp this summer (two as a counselor, one as a camper) I stocked up on various 4-H related items.

The camp director had each of the counselors make one of these so we could teach the campers.

On a rainy day my friend Jessica taught us how to make beady buddies so I made one with my tribe on it. I also made a spirit stick.
My friend Eric told me I should be ashamed that after years of counseling and camping I still didn’t have a cross-stitch nametag. So I asked the cross-stitch instructor to start one for me. Then, my friend Kelly added the clover during Older Camp. Here it is complete with my Charting and Tenth Year Pin.

Another counselor was making these bracelets with tribal colors so I asked for one.

Some of the campers at intermediate were making different things with Perler Beads so I sat down with them and made a council circle. I think I might have made more crafts than most campers.

One Small Step For Man, One Giant Leap For 4-H!

Finished with 4-H camping for the year. Older was great. I earned my charting pin, so working on that book and doing all those activities paid off.
Charting, which I didn’t really explain when I made the vlog, is a self discovery project. It has you evaluate your beliefs and think about the life ahead of you. It’s a great project and I encourage everyone in 4-H to take it. As part of the project, Charters have to take a class at camp. In this class we did exercises that really opened our eyes to a lot of things. We had heated debates and played fun teambuilding games. We were lucky to get two great ECIs (Extension Camping Instructors) to help us through.
As part of the class the Charters have to run council circle on Thursday night. We have to give it a theme so we did “When I grow up I’m gonna be…” and all the Charters dressed up as a profession.

I was an astronaut. We had only minutes to pull our costumes together so a friend and I wrapped a box in white paper, my legs in tin foil and I scribbled “Mars IFYE”, International (or Interplanetary) 4-H Youth Exchange, on a plastic container stolen from the dining hall.
Everyone's favorite game was definately "Waa!" We got video of it and all agreed it needed to be posted. Enjoy...

Thanks again to all my fellow Charters for a great week! How How!

Back From Camp

I’m back from Younger 4H camp and I have… 35 hours, I believe, to get everything washed and repacked, my online class assignments completed, and my room organized before heading off to Older camp. After a week of counseling it will be nice to be a camper for five days. Granted it will still be busy and tiring, but at least I won’t have to do any kid wrangling. Unless I’m a chief or sag, but I doubt that, there are still several people older than me in my tribe.



Our ECIs for the week Eric, Courtney, and Heidi.

The theme at Younger was “The Sound of Music” and each day was devoted to a different genre. Then on Thursday night we had Tri-County American Idol.



My friend Rhory was our Adam Lambert.




He judged along with our Simon and Paula.




It was my younger sister's first year as a counselor.

I got a few pictures and video clips when my camera was being cooperative so I edited them together into a video.

Camp Time!

I leave tonight for 4-H camp. This week will b the first time all the Marchese children will be at the same camp. This should be interesting. I believe this will be my eleventh year of camping. This week I will be counseling younger, next will be older (where I will be a camper) and then I will counsel intermediate. I’m going to be teaching an acting class for the second year, so I’ll be sure to write about it once I’m back.

Songs With Mom's Class

I was just opening my eyes yesterday morning, when my mother burst into the room and said “You’re coming to my class today to teach the kids songs right?” I rolled over and tried to figure out what on earth she meant. Then, I remembered that on Monday she had asked me if I could come to her first grade class on Wednesday and teach them some 4-H camp songs. She said that she had worked it out with my grandfather, who I had plans to work with, and to be there at 10:00. I have been counseling at Camp Frame for a few years now and will be camping for the eleventh time this year, but for the life of me I did not know what songs I was going to teach these kids. I tore apart a box I had stashed under my desk and found an old camp song book. I flipped through it and made a list of songs I knew well enough to teach. I also picked a couple theatre games I could teach the kids. At 10:00, I signed into the elementary school and walked into my mother’s classroom. The kids remembered me; I did a theatre activity with them over winter break. We took them outside and got into a circle. I explained what camp was like and told them that I would teach them a song that all first year campers needed to learn- Grey Squirrel. Then, we played a game of Red Ball/Blue Ball. Next, I taught them the song Every Little Cell, and we finished up with a game of Zip/Zap/Zop. Mom says the kids were singing all day.

First Vlog

I have been working on my charing project for 4-H. One of the activities I had to complete was to "show who I am". So I decided to make a Vlog. I've been meaning to do so for a while.

My Youtube Page

I have added a video bar to the blog which is connected to my youtube page. I've posted a few youtube videos including slideshows from college, two zombie movies I've made with friends and couple other short videos. I also have a list of favorited videos. There will be more to come. Thanks again.

Starting Out

My name is Anthony, but I typically go by Tony. I am currently a student at Fairmont State University in Fairmont, West Virginia, where I am studying oral communications, theatre education. A couple months ago a friend of mine started a storytelling group on campus, the Appalachian Raconteurs, and our school hosted a storytelling conference. Since I had become our new group’s unofficial webmaster, as I was the only one who knew how to make groups and events on Facebook, I decided to attend a workshop on blogging. The workshop was presented by “Granny Sue” Holstein, a well-known West Virginia storyteller. She has been posting on her blog, http://www.grannysu.blogspot.com/, for a couple years now and has generated quite a following. After the conference, I set up a blog for the group, http://www.appalachianraconteurs.blogspot.com/.
Now that I have worked on a blog I’ve decided to start one myself. There are many things I would like to write about. I have a passion for science fiction so many on my posts will probably be on that subject. I will not write about that exclusively though. My topics could range from theatre to science. So I hope you enjoy. I welcome feedback on anything I post. You can contact me at acmarkz@gmail.com