Dreamscape

When I was about 14 or 15 years old, I had an idea (which I called 'Dreamscape') about a story that blurred the lines between reality and dreams. Regretfully, I never put in the time and effort to develop the idea into anything more than that one line concept. If I had developed it, and by some miracle a Hollywood studio had decided to turn into a movie, I fancy that my one simple concept would have become Inception.

It took four attempts before I finally got to see the movie. The first time, I discovered I had an intolerance to milk by eating some ice-cream and then throwing it back up in the cinema! Naturally that meant I didn't even get to see the trailers, never mind the film. The second time I set out to see it, hubby remembered that Man U were playing so, of course, we had to turn back. The third time, we got stuck in football traffic and would have missed about 20 minutes at the start of the film. So it was fourth time lucky and the movie was well worth the wait.

Although I'm sure there are people that were confused by Inception, the plot is satisfyingly complex without being utterly confounding. I found the dream sharing idea fascinating and I loved the way that each of the layers of the dream communicated with the next so that sound and sensation trickled down through the dream world.

I also found the characters truly endearing. They all had a function. None of them were there for the sake of padding the cast or making a lofty point, and each one was unique within the story. Ellen Page was the stand-out performance for me. She's a pretty girl and a talented actress. She handled her role in Juno with such a lightness of touch, I was curious to find out what she could do with a big-budget sci-fi action thriller, especially playing across from much older actors (leading lad, Leo is more than a decade older.) Her character was strong, ballsy and intelligent - everything a female lead should be - and it is a testament to her skills that she didn't just do a good job; there was great on-screen chemistry between her character, Ariadne, and Leo's character, Cobb. Even DiCaprio, who has only really played two characters in his entire career, was enjoyable to watch and Tom Hardy plays a marvelous scoundrel.

However, the greatest flourish of this movie was in the visual, which brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'world-building'. The world in which Inception functions is both beautiful and mind-bending. It's a world where gravity and concrete are flexible and mirrors become reality.

If I have any gripes with this movie, and I hasten to add that this is just being picky, it's the fourth layer of the dream. The limbo layer. It's a concept that doesn't quite hold up for me. I can accept it. It doesn't spoil the flow of the film. But I know that if I let me brain go and really think about it, I could find a dozen problems with it. I'm also annoyed that Cobb's dead wife, played by Marion Cotillard, was named 'Mal' rather than 'Mol'. I had assumed that 'Mol' was short for Molly, which made sense. Mal, however, is a stupid name.

Nevertheless, this is, quite possibly, the best film I've seen in a decade. It is as visually ground-breaking and conceptually revolutionary as The Matrix was and, to Chris Nolan's credit, it is much more accessible: Friends who don't normally make a fuss over the sci-fi genre loved this movie and it's appeal is proven by the fact it was a trending topic on Twitter for months. This is definitely one to add to the blu-ray collection. It will be stunning in hi-def!

It's a Dog's Life

Like any other person heading off on holiday, I pack my holiday essentials: sun cream, toothbrush and books, Books BOOKS. This June was no different. One of the books I decided to take was Marley and Me by John Grogan. I saw the film a little while ago and thoroughly enjoyed the tortuous tale of a young family and their maniacal mutt. And the book was a marvelous read and I highly recommend it, whether you have seen the film or not.

When I was little - I mean really little - I always wanted a dog and was not allowed to have one. My parents were justifiably concerned that being a child, I would not take good care of a dog and the responsibility would therefore be left to them... or rather Mum! Mum finally yielded following a break-in and we went to a local family that had just had a litter of Border Collie pups.

It was my brother, David, that picked out our treasured family pet. She was originally called 'Dotty' but Mum insisted that she was not going to walk around the village calling "Dotty... Dotty... Come here Dotty!" so we quickly renamed her 'Brèagha', Gaelic for beautiful. Although the name was apt (she was a beautiful dog all her life), Dotty was perhaps just as apt because she was a complete nutcase! She hated men and barked non-stop at any man (other than David, Dad or my husband, Steve) who entered the house. She had a penchant for digging, which manifested initially in uprooted rose bushes or holes under the fence (despite the gate being wide open all the time) and later in a six foot hole at the side of the house, which Dad discovered only when my parents eventually moved. She used to sit on your shoulder (was she a dog or a parrot?) and watch TV. She was particularly fond of Star Trek The Next Generation and used to sit a foot away from the TV and tilt her head from side to side. She loved yoghurt pots, even when they was no yoghurt in them; plant pots, without the plants; and plastic lids, which she could destroy within 24 hours. She wouldn't eat unless you tried to take her food away and loved nothing more than a good game of 'My Bone'. She chased sheep, rabbits, birds, cats, people and even cars; one time she did actually catch a rabbit... and then promptly let it go because she didn't know what to do with it. Her answer to grooming was to swim in a river, in the sea or any other body of water, as long as it wasn't clean. She hated the bath and the brush in equal measure. She used to run in fear of Dad's hiccups but couldn't love enough when you came home after being away - even if 'away' was five minutes to nip round the corner to the shop. She was my best friend as I grew up and the day she had to be put to sleep (due to cancer that had spread in her hind quarters) was no less heartbreaking than the day my brother died because she was just as much a part of our family.

The wonderful thing is, reading Marley and Me and chatting to a colleague at work who has just got a new pup, my experience of having a dog, and the love that I and my whole family felt, is not unique. John Grogan suggests that you can learn a lot from a dog and asks how many people in the world can make you feel so loved. What is also incredible is the connection that you can feel to other dog owners. You share a great common ground and together you laugh at your pets' follies, despair at their lunacies and you share joy and pain at their lives and deaths. A dog might bring noise, chores and fur in abundance to your home, but he or she brings so much more. I miss my dog and if it wasn't for the fact I work 5 days a week, I would have another in a heartbeat.

15 Minutes of Fame

Hrrmm, 29th of June. That was the last time I posted. Two and a half months... before I know where I am it will be 2011! The reason for my long blogging absence? Don't Stop Believing!

I have posted about Sing Live a couple of times before. I started singing with the Sing Live North West choir last April and have since sung with them three times at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and I have also sung at the fabulous Royal Albert Hall in London. Every time I perform the experience gets better, so much so that I constantly ask myself how each performance can be topped. But somehow, it always is. This summer has been no different.

I think it was back in April when a group of singers from Sing Live Merseyside, Sing Live North West and Sing Live North East gathered in a car park in Gosforth (because we couldn't get into the Civic Centre that had been booked for the occasion) to audition for a new TV show to be broadcast on Five. None of us really expected to get through, but we got the 'call' at the end of June, inviting us to perform on and spent July preparing for our fifteen minutes of fame.

I often wondered about the experiences of TV show contestants, like those on X-Factor. In interviews, they all seem to spout wonderful things about how close they are as a group, and how much they enjoy the experience. I used to suspect that it was bluster. Exaggeration. Turns out, it's not.

Performing with Sing Live on Don't Stop Believing is probably the single coolest and most exciting experiences of my life so far. There are something in the region of 4,000 Sing Live members spread across 11 companies in the UK and USA but the eighty-five of us that performed live on TV are part of an exclusive club. We are ambassadors for the company we love, and for the 4,000 members who weren't able to sing with us. We did get to know each other really well, having spent days at a time together, and while there were occasional upsets, everyone was very supportive of each other. It was a privilege and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for which I will be perpetually grateful.

It's impossible to fully explain what it felt like to be part of the experience. Many people have asked if I was nervous - no I really wasn't, I was excited. Standing on the stage, head down, waiting for the music to start, was incredible. Thinking of the millions of people watching at home, including friends and family that were probably just as excited as me, and probably more nervous, was empowering. And if I thought there was a buzz before we went on stage, it was nothing compared to the buzz coming off stage after performing. The atmosphere was exhilarating. I felt a bond with the rest of the group that I have never felt before, and I would gladly give my right arm to do it again. Although I don't think that would make for good choreography.

If you would like to see how I spent my summer, you can watch the show in full by clicking here, or you can watch our main performance and the judges comments by clicking here. I hope you enjoy it. It's also worth saying that we're not a special group of Sing Live members that are better than others; we're not all amazing performers. We are ordinary people.

Anyone can join Sing Live and there are no auditions to sing with us. If you would like to be part of one of our performances, there is nothing stopping you. :o)