I hate getting up early, and yet whenever I do I always find it's actually a pretty good start to the day. Yesterday I got up early enough to catch the postman which meant I got handed my package instead of having to drive to the collection office. Package in question? A delicious mint condition vinyl copy of Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime. Today, having gotten up early again, I'm hoping that Empire - the next part of the deal - will turn up but if not, all is not lost. No - today I am sitting on two albums that I've been waiting on for so damn long, I don't know which to play first. Shinedown's last album has been one of the 'constant companions' in the car since it came out. I expect the same from Amaryllis. There's not a hope in hell that it's going to be bad, it's more a question of just how good is it. I might need to be in the mood for the other one. The new Mars Volta album - Noctourniquet - is going to need time and space to get to grips with. It deserves that much - and if you read any reviews of it that suddenly appear online this week, those writers are doing you an injustice. There's no way on earth that you can review a Mars Volta album properly without living with it for at least a month.
I think I ordered some old Mott the Hoople t-shirt as well. I should probably pay more attention to these things.
Anyway, that little swag will keep me company for the next few days - which are looking pretty busy. I've got some first drafts here of Raised on Radio that I need to look at, but I'll certainly miss the deadline of the end of March that I was working towards. April is fine though. I can live with that. Note to self: change the graphic on the home page. Meanwhile, its the Doctor Who bash this weekend. Am I ready for it? Well, kind of. Being as the writing crew will be there, it's more of a research trip than anything else, but I am prepared for any eventuality. The script is finished but still needs more work. That's OK - nobody is expecting it, it's a personal thing. I think the ending is weak and even though I can well imagine how ripped apart it would get in a real-life scenario, that's not the point. I may need a hair cut but I'm still a professional.
Video for today? In the spirit of the post, how about this: