"The heat is stifling..."

...but I don't care!

Whilst watching my Freinds-athon last night a question popped into my head.
Y'know during the titles there is the bit with the handclaps, right? Well, when putting together the opening sequence does some poor sod have to painstakingly go through all the footage to find an appropriate shot (in series 9 it's Ross trying to shake his gloves off) or do the writers take it upon themselves to create a "clappy" bit at some point in each series?
Just musing, as you do.

So, 2 weeks on how are those new albums getting on. Well I would imagine that the White Stripes album is very good but I really wouldn't know because I find myself incapable of listening to anything but Coldplay.
I have fallen head over heels in love with "X & Y". It's all but perfect. At first I found myself worrying that the latter half of it was a little bit of a let down (as did many others) but it seems they just took a little longer to gel.
My favourite is still "Talk" though I really like all of them. The only slight problem for me is "Kingdom come" which is ok but doesn't end the album correctly. I know it's a "hidden" track & all that but the way "Twisted logic" ends is a sublime way to finish such a masterful record. It should've stayed finished.
"Speed of sound" is quite the dark horse isn't it? When it came along I liked it but thought it was all a bit samey, too much like "Clocks" & not the great leap forward I was expecting. Now it's simply one of the most insistent, lovable things I've heard in quite a while.

While I'm on about tunes I should warn you all that my thoughts have increasingly been dwelling on my 2nd album. I can't actually start it yet as I have a problem with Reason. It will be sorted soon. From a writing point of view I have 6 songs ready to go & a further 5 ideas that are on their way to becoming songs. These include the Spinsterwitch inspired "Skin hunger" & a song that is going to be about doing things that your not 100% sure you should be doing but are too scared of the fallout so you do them anyway, such as getting married. It's got a great title that I think will look smashing in print. I'm keeping it under wraps for now. In fact I'm going to keep all my cards a bit closer to my chest with this album. Assuming that you good people would like to hear some more from me then I'd like to think a little anticipation wouldn't do anyone any harm.
That said, I will also tell you that we now have the technology to have real guitar on the tracks so Reckless will actually appear on this one & I do have a cover version lined up too, which if it goes to plan will be nothing short of bloody ace!
"White celebration" will not be appearing on it & will no doubt go down in history alongside "Shake the disease","Whatever" & "The masses against the classes" as a great stand-alone track.
At present I have no timeframe in mind, I'm just gonna work on it & put it out when it's ready.
Are you scared?

I actually have to give someone some praise today.
I give her enough stick for all the horrible stuff she does so it's only fair that I recognise it when she does something nice, eh?
Temper Tantrum sent me the following text yesterday morning: "Happy father's day Flash. U R a fab dad, The Boy loves and adores u. hope u both have a great day"
Fancy that!
The Boy also bought me a very nice black short-sleeved shirt, which I really like.

Speaking of texts that have brought me cheer, on Friday I got one from Buddy With Boobs. She's been off work for some five weeks or so now & she told me she's missed me but spent the last couple of days reading my blog & that it had made her smile. At first I was a little shocked. I gave her the address of this place when it first got off the ground but at the time she decided she didn't want to read about things so close to her, which I respected & understood.
I spent my lunch break with her on Friday & we had a chat about it. She said that she really enjoyed reading it & thought I'd done a good job on reporting the night that we kissed. Phew!
I told her she should have commented instead of telling me, that would have given me a bloody shock! Anyway in case she's reading now: Get well soon babe & if you were any real kind of friend.... just kidding!

It's a time for a couple of anniversaries this week. Actually one of them was last week but I didn't notice! It's been just over a year since I moved into my apartment. It seems to have gone so fast. It's also a year & 2 days since I acquired Humbert! My beloved I-pod is one year old, bless him! I don't know how I coped before he came into my life. As I type he's doing his stuff over my right shoulder. "White shadows" by Coldplay if you're interested!
So happy birthday Humbert.

It's also nearly a year since I started this blog. Although the archives go back to January 2004, it only became a blog at the end of July. hmmm, I shall have to think of something truly spectacular to mark that occasion. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Hasn't it been nice to welcome summer back into our lives, eh? I love the summer.
My favourite thing about summer?
Girls wearing next to nothing! Hurrah!!

You all think I'm a dirty old perv, don't you?