I've just uploaded a new banner by Jamie Smart, the writer/artist behind Bear and Space Raoul. I bought a copy of Space Raoul at Gosh in London before Christmas and giggled to myself all the way home on the train, much to the distress of my fellow passengers, I'm sure. I can't recommend his books enough - a twisted throwback to the Sweeney Toddler strips I remembered so well from Whizzer and Chips.

 

In other news, Grandpa in my Pocket will be premiered on CBeebies on February 10th with Telly Tales following on a month or so after. I'm currently preparing a showreel for the project, as well as general showreels for Dinamo to use over the next year so I hope to update my site with lots more work in the coming few months. It's tough getting hold of still and movies from my early projects as archiving wasn't so much of a priority back then!

 

One of my Christmas presents to myself was the complete series box set of The West Wing that's been on offer in all the media shops for £50. One of the best purchases I've made in the past year! It's taken me a month to watch all seven series (that's an average of three and a half hours a day) and I can't believe how good it is. I'm in awe of the scale of the show, its depth of characters, its intelligence and unwillingness to trivialise quite complex political and philosophical issues. Although somewhat sentimentalised, it's still beyond anything that the UK has produced on a similar subject. The only titles that come close are the admittedly sublime political comedies of Yes, Minister and The Thick of It. However, it's interesting that the UK seems only able to produce political thrillers and comedies where politicians are either corrupt, arrogant or inept. Personally, after watching The West Wing, I think we've managed to trivialise politics in this country but not taking it seriously enough, and that is perhaps one reason for the general apathy by the public towards their elected representatives.