Demi Lovato

Hello again. So i am back for my 5th blog post and this time you will be pleased to know i am dedicating this one to a musician. This blog has been considerably delayed and i would like to take a second to apologise to all my readers but i hope i will be forgiven as i was on the lovely island of Crete on holiday with two very good friends of mine.

As this is my first post about a musician i chose to write about somebody that i have followed the career of since she released her first single, and still remain a massive fan to this day. As you can see from the title it is Demi Lovato.

Demi's career took off back in 2008 when she was singed to the Disney channel and played the title role in their new musical movie Camp rock; in which she stared opposite the Jonas brothers. Along with the lead in this very successful DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie) Demi signed a recording contract with Hollywood Records. That September Demi released her debut album Don't Forget which sold 530,000 copies. In this year Demi appeared on the Jonas Brothers Burning Up Tour.

Don't Forget 

Camp Rock 

In 2009 Demi along with friends the Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus recorded the charity single send it on and later that year Demi's new sitcom Sonny with a chance premiered on the Disney channel. In the June of this year she appeared along life time friend Selena Gomez in Princess Protection Programme which was the 3rd highest grossing DCOM.

Princess protection program

Sonny with a chance 

In July 2009 Demi released her second album titled Here we go  and prior to the release promoted it on tour. On her Here we go tour  she had 3 support acts the most famous being David Archuleta, later in the year Lovato and Archuleta was awarded the Teen choice award for Choice music tour.

In 2010 Lovato recorded her second charity single with Joe Jonas titled Make a Wave. In the same year she headlined her first international tour and appeared as a special guest on the Jonas Brothers Live Concert. later in this year she landed a role on Grays autonomy  as a schizophrenic patient. later in this year she reprised her role in Camp rock for its second instalment.

In October 2010 Demi was reported to having assaulted a back up dancer on tour and was checked into a a treatment facility for physical and emotional issues. later in January 2011 she completed her treatment and returned home. Later she acknowledged to having suffered from Bulimia, Self-harm, Self medicating with drugs and alcohol. During the process of her treatment she was diagnosed with have bipolar disorder. This led to Lovato putting her acting career on hiatus.

Later in this year demi released her 3rd album titled Unbroken. The song titled Skyscraper on this album won the best video with a message at the 2012 MTV video music awards. In March of this year MTV aired a documentary titled Stay Strong which was about Lovato's rehab and recovery journey. During May of this year she was hired as a second judge on the American version of X factor. In 2013 Demi released her 4th album titled Demi and wrote a book titled Staying Strong:365 Days a Year. 

Demi's 4th album 

Later on in the year Demi signed up to Glee for 6 episodes in season 5. In these episodes she played a struggling New York musician and becomes good friends with Santana (Naya Rivera), Rachael (Lea Michelle), Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Elliot ( Adam Lambert). In October of this year Demi recorded and released the title song from the Disney film Frozen and early in 2014 she embarked on her Neon lights tour.

Demi on the set of Glee with Naya Riva 

Throughout her career Demi has been an inspiration to young people all over the world and when the news broke about her being an inpatient at a treatment facility her fans bound together and supported her through it all. To this day she is one of the most inspirational musicians in my opinon and i can sense there is much more to come from this brilliantly talented musician.

Demi in 2014 

Miracle Run (The Unexpected Journey) (2004)

Hello again people of planet earth, i am back with my 4th post. I know this one has come a bit later than the others but i hope you enjoy it just as much. So this time i am bringing you another film review. This film is one that again is very close to my heart as it shows people dealing with an issue that everyone else is society sees as a problem. As the title suggests it is called Miracle Run ( The Unexpected Journey ).

Miracle run was originally aired in 2004 and is a Lifetime television film. This film kick started the careers of actors such as Zac Efron and Bubba Lewis, it was also a iconic film as it showed the struggle of a mother with autistic children.

The film begins with Corrine (Mary-Louise Parker) taking her 2 sons Stephen ( Zac Efron) and Philip (Bubba Lewis) to see several doctors until she finds out that her sons have autism. Philip has echolalia, which is where he repeats words that he hears people say. Stephen is opposite and is completely mute. When Corrine takes the boys shopping, viewers start to see the struggle she goes through. Whilst in the supermarket the boys start to act out and start screaming, during the commotion other parents start to look at Corrine as a bad mother. Upon learning about the boys condition Corrine's live in boyfriend leaves her as he cant face bringing up children with a mental disability.

After this Corrine moves the boys to another town and enrols them in the local school, however the children and teachers in the school are puzzled by the boys behaviour. When they display undesirable behaviour Corrine is summoned to a meeting with the headteacher and several psychiatrists where she learns that her boys are not fit for mainstream school and they have to go to a special school. The hospital then send a learning specialist to see the boys to help prepare them for normal society. With the help of the specialist Philip expands his vocabulary and Stephen says his first word which is pizza.

After teaching the boys the specialist moves to another city, however the boys continue to flourish socially, verbally and academically. The film the moves forward to high school. At this point the boys still have characteristics of autism such as robotic like voices and sensitivity to loud noises. Whilst walking in the hall Stephen catches the eye of a Jennifer, then we see him talking to Philip in the bathroom where he says 'maybe she will be my girlfriend', then an older boy mocks him and pushes both of the boys. As the boys struggle to deal with it the act out and start screaming.

After being convinced to go to lunch, Jennifer decides to sit with the boys. This is when Stephen notices people jogging and joins the cross country team. Further on through the film we see the Philip discovers he has a new found talent for the guitar and gets into a music school  by auditioning over the phone. The film then goes on to Stephen's big race. before  the race Stephen sees Jennifer kissing another boy. This hurts Stephen and his mother finds him sitting on the grass clutching a poem he had written her. After some kind words Stephen realises he has to move on and joins in the race to win.

It is after this that Corrine finds the Miracle Run foundation for research into autism, Stephen gives a speech about how his mother helped him and his brother deal with going through life with autism.

This film shows how hard bringing up children with autism is, and how some people have narrowed views about the children. For parent of autistic children or anyone who comes into contact with someone on the spectrum it shows how certain strategies can be used. What makes this film even better is that it is based on a true story. If i had to rate this film i would give it 10 out of 10, as it nails all the stereotypes and give a brilliant and insightful look into the life of a family who's children are autistic.

Thank you for reading this and i hope you go on to watch to movie. If anybody wants to watch it but can not find it simply comment and i will post the link.

Cyberbully (2011)

Welcome readers and thank you for you continued reading. For this blog post I am steering away from soap land and moving in the direction of film-land (well it’s a TV film/movie but it still counts I reckon).  The film that has caught my attention this week is called Cyberbully. I watched this on Netflix and it was one of the best films I have watched in a while.

Cyberbully was released on the American TV network ABC in July 2011. As the title suggests this TV film tells the story of a teenage girl who gets bullied online. ABC family worked with the critically acclaimed Seventeen magazine so that they could be sure that the right audience were tackled by the drama. Seventeen magazine hoped that it would help to ‘delete the digital drama’.

Now for the plot, like any good film this has a gripping and real storyline. It begins with the main protagonist Taylor (Emily Osment) talking to her friend Samantha (Kay Panabaker) online making an innocent comment about one of the people in her class, Lindsey, in which she takes offence at. Taylor is a teenage girl who is being raised with her brother by her single mother, and on her 17^th birthday she receives a laptop from her mum. She is grateful for this as it means that she can go online without her mum watching her every time, and this is where things start to go wrong. 

At this point I would like to put a little warning your way, if you read on there may be some spoilers but I strive to provide as much detail as possible, as besides spoilers are kind of my trademark (not in a bad way I just do the research so others don’t have to).

The plot starts to hit home with teenagers and parents when Taylor is asked out by one of her classmates Scott ( Jon McLaren), her two best friends react in different ways. Samantha doesn't like Scott as one of his friends dumped her; however Cheyenne (Meaghan Rath) is happy for her. Taylor soon becomes a victim of cyberbullying when her brother hacks her social networking profile and post a defamatory message about his sister, to which the kids at school start to comments that start to become nasty resulting in Taylor not being able to face going to school.

A contributing factor that results in Taylor not being able to face school is when she meets a guy called ‘James’ online. At first he is nice to her, as time goes one she finds that he post that she has slept with him and given him an STD. this then results in Taylor receiving even more nasty comments. This all finally gets too much for Taylor when she posts a video saying that she cannot longer cope with the torment and that she wants to end it all. Luckily Samantha sees this video and rushes over to Taylor’s house to find her attempting to overdose on pills however she cannot remove the cap.

This act of attempted self-harm sees Taylor admitted to the hospital as she is diagnosed with depression. Worried her mother tells her to go to a support group she has found, and she does her best to fight the system to get a law passed that will save others from going through the same as Taylor. At the support group Taylor learns that she is not the only one going through the hell of cyberbullying, someone closer to her is going through the exact same thing; her classmate Caleb (Jade Hassoune) (although he is being targeted for being gay).

Through this group Taylor becomes stronger, and later throughout the film she finds out who is behind it all. Samantha reveals herself to be ‘James’, however it seems that this then makes her a target herself. After the both of them doing a newspaper article telling their story Taylor, her mum and Samantha finally get the good news they have been waiting for, a paper is being passed to make it an offence to bully a minor on the internet.

This finally leads me to the end of the film where we see that the 3 friends have rekindled the friendship and the 3 of them along with Scott and Caleb stand up to the bullies. This film in my opinion is a well thought out film and it speaks to a whole generation that has grown up on the internet, and also it speaks to the parents who may not be aware of the dangers of the internet. If I was to rate this film, in my honest opinion I would give it 9/10 as it is such a moving film that can be used as a learning tool both at home and in the classroom. 

Emmerdale - Adam Barton storyline and Aaron Livesy's return

So this is my second post on my blog, as yes people you have guessed it i am sticking in soap land, however i am moving further up the country and focusing this post on Emmerdale. As you may have guessed from the title of this blog it is focusing on Adam Barton's current storyline and the anticipated return of Aaron Livesy.

Adam first made his first screen debut on the 17th July 2009 and was one of the the 5 member of the Barton family who moved into Butlers farm. The Barton family consisted of Moria (Adam's mother) John ( Adam's father), Adam ( himself), Holly ( Adam's sister) and Hannah ( Adam's other sister). This is how the family remained right through to John Barton's death on the 16th February 2012. In the same year viewers saw the departure of Holly and Hannah and buy the middle of 2012 the Barton family went from a family of 5 to a family of just 2.

This only latest for about a year, as in July 2013 viewers and the people of Emmerdale were introduced to the character of Ross Barton. When Ross was first introduced he was initially a unknown character who car-jacked Laurel it wasn't till a few weeks later that the viewers found out who it was and what his connection the the village was. A few months later in October of the same year we were introduced to Ross's father who is that of James Barton who moves into Butlers farm with Moria, Adam and Cain ( who was engaged to Moria). In December of this year the new branch of the Barton family was complete with the introduction of Pete and Finn Barton (brothers of Ross).

Now i have given you the context i am going to fast forward to the last few weeks and the start of one of Adams biggest story lines. 2 weeks ago was Adams 22nd birthday and this is the point that James realised that it was 22 years ago that he had an affair with his brother's wife, Moria Barton. This led to James getting  a paternity test and it leading to reveal to James and us unsuspecting viewers that he is Adams father. At this point i would like to take a moment to apologies if i have just spoilt it for you but to continue it is a vital piece of information. I would also like to put a warning here that what is written below may be a big spoiler to you people who enjoy the land of soap.

So we learn that James is Adams father and the next 2 people to find out is Moria and James girlfriend Chas, who then is begged by Moria not to say anything. This storyline doesn't start to affect Adam until this summer when Adam finally learns that his biological father is really James and not John. This sees Adams life change as he begins to go on a downward spiral.

So now im guessing  your thinking but Sarah where does Aaron fit in to all this. well my wonderful readers this is going to be revealed.

Aaron and Adams relationship was rocky at the start way back in 2009 but through the drug storyline of Holly and many more encounters involving a quad bike and Aaron's gay storyline the grew to become best friends. Aaron departed the soap in 2012 when he was last seen fleeing the police and flying to France because he had taken the wrap for a fire at the garage in the village. This is where this segment finally become relevant, the fire was actually started by Adam as he didn't like the fact that Cain was becoming a more permanent feature in his mothers life. Aaron took the wrap for Adam because he knew that Adam would get a custodial sentence which he didn't deserve.

In the coming months as Adams life starts to take a downward spail, Aaron is due to make a welcomed return to our screens. One question that is on the lips of every soap lover however is why is Aaron coming back to the village?? .... will it be to help his best friend through his rocky time or is it for a completely different reason.

Summer 2014 will be an interesting one in the Yorkshire Dales

EastEnders - My deductions on the mystery of Lucy Beale murderer

So this is my first blog so i thought i would do it on something that i know and feel confident about and that people of planet earth ( or any planet I'm not prejudice) is EastEnders, and more importantly my deductions on who is the killer that caused Lucy Beale to shuffle of this mortal coil.

On the 18th April (Good Friday) this year, Lucy Beale shuffled of this mortal coil thanks to one of the residents of the square. This story line is said to be one that will be played out right up to the soaps 30th anniversary which is February 2015.

Recently one character has been arrested and charged with her murder and this is Jake Stone. This is an interesting character to be charged, one main reason for this is because he originally came into the soap closely connected to Lauren Branning. Although Jake did have contact with Lucy in the months leading up to her death it is unlikely that he has the motive to be able to do so. Jake created Lucy and Lauren's website and later on in the aftermath of her death Lucy's blood is found in his flat, This does give his a slight motive and the police a reason to charge however Jake shares a flat with shifty market inspector Aleks so could it be him??

The next character that has been suggested could be the  killer is Max Branning. For those of you that are regular EastEnders viewers you know his shady past with women, but for others not so familiar he is a serial cheat and likes the women of the square. In the months leading up to Lucy's demise she was secretly seeing somebody on the sly and later we the viewers find out that it is Max (who is best friend Lauren's dad). We saw Max telling Lucy that he didn't want his girls to find out so this could be the motive that he needed to kill her.

So from this we end up with Lauren Branning. When the Lucy storyline was first made public knowledge Lauren was instantly put in the frame as she is Lucy's best friend. Initially the soap magazines said that it could have been Lauren because she thinks that Jake and Lucy are romantically involved, however later on we discover that Lauren's motive includes the Max and Lucy affair.

Whitney is the next character that could be put in the frame. Over the years Lucy and Whitney haven't had the closest of friendships as there has always been friction between them. Before this week viewers didn't have much to create a plausible motive for Whitney as all the friction was normal girl stuff. This week however we find out that it was Whitney that left a note at the funeral that read 'ROT IN HELL', and when Tamwar (who found the note) confronted her she revealed that Lucy was Cyber bullying Whitney. This now gives Whitney the perfect motive however with her close relationship to her siblings such as Tiffany it seem unlikely that she would risk a prison term.

Ian has also been a suggested suspect. This is because before her murder half sister Cindy revealed that Lucy had drugs in her jewellery box, and he went to find her to confront her about her problem. In the aftermath when the police ask of his whereabouts he lies and says he was at the restaurant. This shifty behaviour could be that of a murderer but i ask you this would a father such as Ian have it in him to murder his only daughter?

Lucy's brother Peter is the next one that was mentioned to be a suspect. The main reason that he was considered to be a suspect was because he was he twin brother and was always playing second fiddle to her. We learnt in the week of her murder that Lucy was Ian's favourite to which Peter overheard and was visibly upset. However I don't think that he would have enough courage and enough of a motive to murder his twin sister.

Lucy's stepmother Jane was suggested as another suspect. Jane doesn't have much of a motive for killing Lucy, but because she was in the square on the evening of the murder and in the lead up to her funeral we learn that Jane cant face it. does this mean that she has a guilty conscience??

Finally my prediction. For this storyline i am going to take a far fetched prediction and that is Abi.  I know your thinking right now, wait a minute Sarah, but Abi is an innocent young women and is the innocent and sweet Branning sister but let me try and convince you. As you have learnt earlier on in this post her father Max is a serial cheat and caused her family pain by splitting up the family. Now cast your mind forward to about a week before Lucy's death, both Lucy and Max received an email with a picture of their secret liaison. This after the funeral was revealed to be Abi. Could Abi have a more sinister side and killed Lucy ... i leave it open  to you people, who do you think the killer is? ... My theory is a far fetched idea but in the world of soap land anything is possible.

Happy guessing soap detectives