ApproximatelyInfinite

yesterday my mom and i were watching tv and that chrysler commercial with that total rip-off of clocks in it came on, and she was like "that is ridiculous, to use clocks to sell cars!" and then at dinner, my mom said something about my brother's friend chris, and he was like "chris...smith?" and she rolled her eyes and was like "no, chris MARTIN." i almost choked on my pasta.

i think bucket for a crown may be the reason im somewhat nervous about the whole oblique style of things...i wasnt impressed. then again, apparently chris wrote it the night before in his hotel room or whatever, so it was more like a random little ditty than a real product that we'd see on an album, i guess. even musically though...:confused:

ive been thinking a lot about this since i first saw this post. in my opinion, coldplay has three main types of songs: literal, metaphorical and oblique. i think that in the literal ones, they/chris are saying pretty much exactly what he means, (like most of "the scientist", "yellow" and "shiver"), the metaphorical ones employ an image to directly convey an idea or feeling (like in "fix you" or "swallowed in the sea"), and the oblique ones use lots of different and seemingly random images that all fit together to convey an idea or feeling (like "sleeping sun", "clocks", and "the world turned upside down"). i think the guys started out pretty literal with songs like "shiver" and "yellow" and "in my place", but really moved towards the metaphorical on x&y, and then tried out oblique on the later b-sides off x&y (even though i consider "clocks" and even "dont panic" to be pretty oblique). i think so far, all this oblique stuff has worked for them (i mean, i like all the songs they've done so far in an oblique way, and mine is the only opinion i have to go on), but somehow im afraid if they decide to abandon the literal lyrics (which i love so much) and dive into a world that they havent explored much. i think im afraid they wont be able to successfully pull it off in every song. im afraid theyll turn into radiohead for me, because i LOVE radiohead's first two albums, but i just cant really listen to anything after ok computer (and even thats pretty far out for me) because their lyrics have completely changed along with their musical direction and a lot of the songs lack melody, etc. ill be heartbroken if i can only really enjoy the first three albums and that i cant get into their later stuff. i wont be able to bear it. ah, who knows if that even makes any sense? its just what i think and hope.

oh, crap. i was really hoping it was a SONG. dammit.

this photo makes me unbelievably happy. -i love his hair like that: not too long, not too short. -He's writing...WORKING ON THE NEW ALBUM -He's not wearing all black! -He's left handed (i'm ambidexrous, so it counts) -the singles box set is on the desk...cute -it's CHRIS!!!

i LOVE the site! the pictures and their own notes are just perfect. i love how hilarious chris is. there are two things i wish were different, though: 1) that the interface was done in the new album art if possible (though maybe this minimalist thing is it?) 2) that jonny shaved off his pornstash (see most recent photos)

i cant watch the videos because i dont have fast enough internet, but i do really like the site. its definitely more personal, as people have said before, and i love that everything is done in their own words and pictures, and that chris gets to inject his little hilarious comments, like "we discovered that we liked each other better when we were all wearing white trainers." however, i kinda wish there was more info on the prospect of the next album. the pictures of them show that theyre writing it, and thats wonderful!, and if they truly do post one or two new things a week, i think we'll be well informed, so i cant complain. i love these guys so much. this made my day.

was watching ebert and roeper over breakfast this morning, and before the commercial break they said something like "when we come back: video reviews including coldplay, paul mccartney, david bowie, and more!" i absolutely FREAKED, thinking it was a new single and a new music video and sat two inches from the TV during commercials, but when it came back it turns out that they were reviewing the Glastonbury DVD, which had all of those artists in it. blah. i guess i was pretty stupid for thinking that there was something new. in other news, debs said the website will probably be up next week. if it doesnt have valuable info about the next album on it, im going to cry.

i definitely think he's changed and become a bit too cocky sometimes and a bit too stressed out when it comes to the llittle things. and a bit too commercial. but so far none of the changes have made me love them any less (unless the quality of the music gets worse from here, but that will break my heart). but no one stays the same forever, especially when everyones looking at them, theyre an artist, they have 2 young kids, and a hugely famous wife. but i kind of miss the nerdy chris that acted so cute and worried all the time and dressed however he felt like rather than in all black all the time. though i do have to say, im a fan of the longer hair. though not so much the beardy...

while i do think that chris could cut down on flying a bit so much, i also think that this is just too much. everyone does stuff like this every day. just because he's famous and would like to have a healthy enviroment doesnt mean that because he drives an suv (and the BMW X5 isnt as much of a gas guzzler as some other cars, as far as i know) and is a frequent flier doesnt make him any less of a person or any less credible. i think EVERYONE should make more of an effort to change the greenhouse gas emissions, not just chris. and just because he's in the public eye doesnt mean he deserves to have everything poked at.

thanks, cpacat!!

cpacat, would you by any chance be able to post a bigger version of the picture you used in your avatar? i love nerdy chris!! in other news, i took a photo of my clock at 1:36 AM a few days ago. it looks kinda cool. and i graduated from high school on saturday and can't get "brothers and sisters" and "yellow" out of my head, and i cant hear them without crying.

today i had to do a huge presentation at school using my computer over a projector. as the techies were setting up my computer, my desktop came up, which is a big shot of my name in baudot color code (the same code used on the X&Y album cover, created with this website), and because the set-up was taking forever, everyone saw my desktop. most people rolled their eyes, recognizing it as coldplay, but one of my friends (who is a punked-out rocker with a mohawk and spiked jewlery) called out "HEY! what does that say?" and i told him that it said my name. i thought it was cool that he (of all people) recognized it as coldplay and knew enough about it to realize that it spelled something. now thats really random.

umm i totally did the same thing. my heart jumped and my brain immediately started hoping that the hypothetical secret show was in NYC so i could go!

so much for june 1. this really is insane. theyve had a MONTH. how fancy could it be? and now with that whole amazon.co.uk/september 3rd thing, i REALLY want the new site to see if theres any news up. who knows? i dont expect it to be out by then, but perhaps coldplay told all the places to prepare to preorder it and will release the info publicly on the website? AGH, I JUST WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM.

oooh that's so cool! i really want it, though i dont really know what id do with it. id be too afraid of hurting it to eat off of, and i think id be laughed out of the dorm if i hung it on my wall next year. hmm. the mug, though...now that's functional. though i like the plate better.

the scientist (Backwards). oh my god, im OBSESSED with this song.

i really am not going to get my hopes up for this at all because i have a feeling we're all going to be disappointed, but i must say that its a bit of a nice thing to have SOME word on a release date, even if it is unofficial and somewhat unrealistic. i mean, amazon.com must have gotten their information from SOMEWHERE semi-official, right? i dont think they just heard the date from some blog or something and decided to create a pre-order page based on crap info. perhaps on the new site (WHENEVER THE HELL IT GETS UP), theyll put up an official date. maybe they decided to tell things like amazon and virgin and HMV etc. the date to get ready for it, but they'll officially announce the date on the new website? i dont know what to think, but im not getting excited yet. if it comes out that it's DEFINITELY being released then, though, im going to wet my pants, because thats sooner than i ever even HOPED for.

a few things: 1. i was at a scottish wedding on saturday, and outside the church there was a bagpiper. he was basically playing bits of whatever came to mind, like "jesus christ superstar" and pretty contemporary stuff. my dad was really trying to get me to go over to him and ask him to play "clocks" on the bagpipes. i thought this was hilarious, and i think you would too if you knew my dad. 2. i was straightening my hair in my bathroom and suddenly i hear some pretty familiar sounds coming out of my brothers guitar. it sounded SO much like clocks, but it stopped too quickly for me to confirm it. 3. in the car the other day my brother was whistling. I was like "are you whistling 'clocks'?!" and he looked like he'd been caught red-handed and said "yes," in this ashamed way. then he admitted he'd stolen my sheet music and learned the chords for it on guitar. HAH! and then the next day, he had red electrical tape on his fingers JUST LIKE CHRIS. he said it was to cover up a burn he had gotten the night before, but wouldnt any normal person just use a bandaid? my family is becoming pretty coldplay-versed.

i did the same over the south american tour! i would wake up in the morning and RUSH to my computer and...nothing. this is so like that. do you think the 1st of june will be it? knowing these guys, it doesnt really matter. im not optimistic. but luckily im home (as i have been for the past month), though its the last day im home, so i PRAY its up tomorrow so i can look at it at my leisure. i dont have exams this year, so im not missing out on review time, thankfully. i finished my month-long senior project yesterday (a screenplay) so now im free to do keep clicking that refresh button. but senior week is next week, so im busy...GAH, PLEASE BE UP TOMORROW! (though coldplay really messed up my reviewing 2 years ago when i RAN to MTV everytime i heard the SOS video playing :D )

^wow, thats a really good idea! i never thought of that whatsoever. that would really make sense, waiting in line to risk it all and give himself up for a girl. very cool, man.

exactly how i feel. i just will be really disappointed if there isnt any news. like you said, i really need confirmation that they're actually working towards the next album and making progress. i really dont think itll be out in 2007, i can almost bet on it, but if its not out in 2008 either, i think ill be really really sad. i just neeeeeed info! even if it's only album art and a general time for release! "how long must i wait for it," indeed. :confused:

for a while i wondered the same thing about "dont panic", but then i read that chris named it that for the hitchhiker's quide to the galaxy, which, according to the book, says "DON'T PANIC" on the cover of the book in large friendly letters. (interestingly enough, Radiohead also got the title for "paranoid android" from this book and possible the name for their album, considering they say "OK computer" lots of times) and i always thought they should have named "the world turned upside down" "X&Y" because it actually says that in it and it never says "the world turned upside down" and then there's "parachutes," which i dont think has an explained reason behind it.

another thing: (im bored, dont shoot me :\ ) i was lying in bed last night, listening to "the scientist" on my ipod. i got thinking about the video and how chris had to learn it backwards. then i thought of the song from the toronto concert and how they played this cool little bit thing after the song while they were changing into the acoustic set. then i sat BOLT UPRIGHT in bed with my eyes wide and realized that what they played at the toronto concert was "the scientist" backwards! that was a huge realization for me, and ive never been so snapped awake before! yes, i am a loser.... and i just got the song on this forum a few minutes ago, and it's INCREDIBLE. i want to hear more stuff backwards! i dont know whether i'm a genius for making this connection or an idiot for it taking me this long to realize that's what they were playing in the toronto concert.

^^that's sooooo cool!!! had a really good coldplay dream last night. they were giving a concert in some crappy school gym, and there was an intermission where everyone got cake. i had to help serve the cake for some reason, but chris stayed to talk to me. jonny had apple on his lap and was teaching her about atoms. will and guy werent really in the dream, though. and then on the way home, chris and i were in the backseat of my family's minivan (???) and i fell asleep on him and we held hands. it was a very nice dream. also watched live 2003 for the first time in a long time, and it was like seeing it for the first time. it was INCREDIBLE. that makes live in toronto look like shit.