Hurrah! Finally a new post - I think I've broken my record for time between blog entries! The truth is that I've not only been busy with Dinamo but also been waiting for Joomla to build up v1.5 enough to migrate the whole site over. I've bought new hosting and am on the verge of doing so however the new version doesn't have any way of generating thumbnails, a considerable shortcoming for sites like mine where I don't really have the time (or patience) to do my own. Hopefully that will get fixed soon but until then I'm stuck with the current version. I'm really looking forward to reorganising the site, updating the template with nice rounded edges on boxes, and converting all my movies to Flash.

Things are going a pace at Dinamo. The only one I can really talk about is called Grandpa in my Pocket, about a young boy and his mischievous grandfather who shrinks to 14cm tall when he puts on his magic cap. Havoc ensues. It's being shot here in Cardiff, we're doing a semi-digital workflow and providing all the VFX work. The virtual studio system will allow us to track the camera automatically, regardless of its position and orientation, a great leap forward from the postproduction camera tracking programs like PFTrack. These programs, while excellent, require a lot of work to get an accurate track while the virtual studio system does it automatically.

My various recommendations this month are:

The Wire: I'm currently watching Season 3 of HBO's peerless series about policing in Baltimore's roughest neighbourhoods. Like all of the good drama series (Deadwood, also a recommendation, The Sopranos, and other non-HBO faire like Mad Men), it almost seems effortless the way they weave the stories throughout the thirteen episodes. The early episodes seems almost sedate, with barely any action or event of note. Instead, you're given the chance to spend time with the characters, learning their virtues and flaws before the plot kicks in and you really care about their fate. You also learn their quirks so well that comedic moments happen through a simple phrase or gesture. The UK is so far behind the US with this stuff that it's beyond parody. Whatever happened to the highlights of Cracker and Prime Suspect? (crime drama, I know, but the only thing I can recall off the top of my head that stands out from the rubbish.) US drama series have a cinematic quality that's going to be very difficult to beat.

The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard: Really fun and involving zombie epic about a group of zombie apocalyse survivors trying to keep together when the world they know has ended. The first book suffers a little from comparisons to 28 Days Later, however as the story progresses the depth of character and society becomes greater. I have to admit I lost track sometimes of exactly which character was which, but the central thrust of the plot kept pulling me along. I'm looking forward to rereading it before the eighth book is released in the next few months.

I should have some more news about the Dinamo projects soon. I'll also be attending the Bristol Comics Convention in May to collect even more banners!