You don' need no Mexicano for your tumbler identification

Uurgh. I haven’t posted for a while, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me. Here’s why:

1) Franz Ferdinand 2 nights running at the Enmore Theatre, then the Big Day Out Festival. The band were fantastic of course – see them if you get the chance – especially the jaw-droppingly splendid version of Outsiders involving three drummers using one set of drums.

Thanks to the ever so lovely Mike Parker I got into all these for free, though in the end I didn’t get to speak to him really cos he was busy. He blew me out once because he had a better offer; bowling with the White Stripes. I can’t really argue that one, can I?

Me and my mate Andrew did see him a bit backstage after the first gig which led to the strangest moment of the week; me and Andrew self-consciously perched on the end of a table as Alex Kapranos and Jack White chatted about something or other. Jack was surrounded by lackeys – I’m still not sure about him as a person – but the Franz boys are lovely, as we all know. Especially the sound engineer.

Also at the Big Day Out, Edan and the Magic Numbers were both great but none of the secondary bands really shone. Sleater Kinney, the White Stripes, Kings of Leon, the Go! Team, they ranged from mediocre to competent but none really exceeded expectations, which was a shame

2) Computer wrong. The computer fell over on its bum the other day and is currently oozing puss from the capacitors on the motherboard. I’m fairly sure this isn’t right. Brother-in-law Steve is getting new bits for us and putting it back together - $650 of new gear but needs must. More pics of the baby once it’s back up and running.

3) Head wrong. I’ve been doing really stupid things all week, not least managing to lock myself out of the car with the engine still running and the radio playing. One of those real “Doh!” moments. Luckily the NRMA (local equivalent of the AA) were with me within 15 minutes. What a plum, eh?

4) Arts busy. I actually finished 3 books on Sunday. I was pretty close to finishing A Study In Scarlet and To The Lighthouse, and the Bridge of San Luis Rey is a short novel, but still. I’ve also watched maybe a dozen movies, the standouts being Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible, Bunuel’s L’Age D’Or and McKay’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

But what do you care about any of that? You just want to know about Beth, right? Well, she’s gorgeous, thanks. She is now racing about the house with great abandon, meaning we have to keep grabbing her before she eats some wire or drags of glass of coke off a table.

M&B are up at Avoca this weekend, so I’m having some nerd time pretending to be a dwarf. Cool.