Logorama (www.logorama-themovie.com), an Oscar nominated animated short by François Alaux and Herve de Crecy of H5 featuring over 2,500 company logos.

Forgive me that I'm about two years too late on this one, but I'd like to discuss The Wire. Initially I was sceptical about The Wire, but as a result of constant badgering by other members of the Word Massive, I've been working my way through the Wire boxed set and have almost reached the end.

And my opinion has changed about The Wire. It's brilliant. I'm not sure it's the greatest TV ever, but it's certainly up there. However, one thing has struck me in the discussions I've had with friends about The Wire. A love of The Wire is definitely a male thing. My wife doesn't get it and other female friends are also mystified by it. I also wonder whether it's a British male thing (and a white British male thing at that?). Is the attraction for the Word Massive not just that it's great drama, but that it's portraying the excitement of a world that is the polar opposite of the world we're familiar with? I wonder what black kids in Baltimore feel about The Wire?

Mrs W and I have Sky television. Yesterday evening we struggled to find anything in the squillions of channels we get that we fancied watching. Can the Word massive recommend anything in the far-flung corners of the Electronic Programme Guide that it might be worth setting the Sky+ box for?

My PC died at the weekend. Fortunately I had taken a backup of all my files onto an external hard disk. My question is, when my new PC arrives, how should I restore my iTunes database?

My thinking is as follows:

Download latest iTunes and load onto PC
Copy the contents of my saved iTunes folder (including sub-folders and 'iTunes Library') to overwrite the 'virgin' iTunes folder
Bob's your uncle

As I understand it, the method I've described should restore all my original preferences as well as things like the play count for my tracks. If I simply copy the 'iTunes Music' folder and Import all tracks I won't get the play count. Any thoughts on whether this will / won't work?

One of my musical highlights of the year so far has been discovering Half Man Half Biscuit. I'd heard individual tracks, but it occurred to me a couple of months ago that I'd never heard a complete album. A quick tweet to my Twitter chums produced recommendations from, amongst others, Andrew Harrison and Eamonn Forde (Achtung Bono, CSI Ambleside and Saucy Haulage Ballads, if you're interested) and, ever since then, I've been hooked.

Now, I'd always known that HMHB (see, I've even started using the acronym) were well thought of by people whose opinions I value, but I'd just never got round to listening to them. The success of this experience has led me to review which other well-regarded acts or albums I've neglected. I've never heard an AC/DC album, so Back in Black is next on my list. I will then be moving onto Public Enemy.

I suspect that we've done this before, but is anyone else prepared to admit to a huge gap in their musical education?

The Beatles media blitzkreig over the weekend was interesting, but I think I've had enough now, thank you very much. It did get me thinking, though. I'm sure that this the first time that all the albums have been rereleased at the same time. So which one do you reckon will be the top seller?

Graham Linehan (Father Ted and The IT Crowd writer) is something of a star in the Twittersphere (he kicked off the #welovethenhs campaign in response to the US criticism). One of his pet gripes is the media knocking Twitter and how it's used, when they don't really understand it. He's just posted this on his blog http://glinner.posterous.com/the-conversation-23 . It's worth a look.

I'd just like to say that amidst the occasional "magazine/CD/podcast not as good as it used to be" chatter, the latest issue of the magazine is first rate. Probably for the first time I'm reading it cover to cover. I don't think we say this often enough, but well done chaps.

Beatles fans gathered in Abbey Road yesterday to celebrate 40years of the legendary album. The Independent on Sunday used the following photograph of a faithful recreation of the album's iconic cover shot:

So, left to right that's Ringo and, er, hang on, there's Ringo again and no, I was wrong, the third one's Ringo and finally, is that Pete Best?..oh, and a bus.

I wonder. Are any of these four Word readers?

I’ve just finished reading Jon Savage’s The England’s Dreaming Tapes, his excellent companion to the original England’s Dreaming. The birth of punk in 1976 and 1977 is probably my favourite musical period. I was in my late teens, living in London for the first time and there was this gust of fresh air that blew away the long hair, flared trousers and, what was becoming, very stale music. For me, the interview transcripts that Jon includes highlighted three points:

1) There was an incredible snobbery and bitchiness between punk bands. Examples include the fact that punk was viewed by many of the original participants to have died after the Bill Grundy interview (i.e. when it started to become popular), Siouxsie was not universally loved and nobody had a good word about the Jam (who used flight cases for their equipment, for goodness sake!)

2) There were some excellent writers that emerged through the early punk years that have gone onto bigger and better things (Paul Morley, Julie Birchall, Tony Parsons). But there were others that played a key role in documenting the rise of punk that have been all but forgotten. In particular, Caroline Coon (at the Melody Maker) and Jonh Ingham (at Sounds) did much to raise the profile of punk at this time. And whatever happened to Jane Suck?

3) Whilst The Sex Pistols and The Clash are undoubtedly the two most important bands of this period (with The Damned an outside third candidate) one of the bands that have been overlooked in the support role they played (at least by me) is Subway Sect. I’ve heard very little of their music, but they were there almost from the start, were gigging regularly and were regarded by many of the key players as one of the bands who could have had greater success. And this lack of success seems to have a lot to do with Bernie Rhodes, their manager at the time, not being focussed on marketing them properly

I’m about to address the Subway Sect gap in my musical collection with a download of their singles collection. If you’ve any interest in the rise of punk, this is a thoroughly recommended read.

I know a small contingent from Word HQ are off to Glastonbury very shortly, but will those of us that are comfortably ensconced in front of the telly have the opportunity to contribute through a repeat of last year's 'Digital Glastonbury'? It was quite jolly, if I remember rightly.

This week's podcast was well-timed. We are in the process of redecorating our lounge. In clearing out the room, it occurred to me that the expensive hi-fi system that sits in the corner hasn't been switched on in months. I have therefore decided to replace it with somthing that is more appropriate to my current listening methods.

I would welcome any suggestions from the Word Massive on my options:

Most of my music collection is stored digitally
I listen to music mainly at my PC, on iPod or in the car (on iPod or CD)
I would like to be able to listen to digital tracks in the lounge on decent speakers
I would also like to be able to listen to my vinyl and CDs occasionally

Any ideas?

Last month subscribers got an unadulterated picture of Iggy (a few well placed front-cover headlines would have softened the blow). This month it's an extra large photo of Bono (filling the whole front cover).

Memo to Word HQ. If you want to keep your subscribers, very tiny pictures of Iggy and Bono are the way to go.

I've just flicked through a few of today's blogs and was struck by Retropath2's use of the word 'Cave'in one thread (Latin for 'Beware'), which I hadn't heard since my school days. This made me realise that the Word blog can sometimes seem like being back at school. It's a Common Room where I can meet my chums, where I can swear and talk about football, where I can get told off by some of the 'teachers'. So how about this?:

Headmaster - Mark Ellen. The leader of our group. Doesn't pop into the Common Room very often, but when he does, we all sit up and take notice ("It has come to my attention...").

Deputy Head - David Hepworth. The cool master that we all like and try desperately to impress. The teacher that's in touch with the kids. Knows a lot of things that will help us all in later life.

Teachers. Fraser Lewry - Science and Technology. Andrew Harrison - Music and PE (takes us for football practice). Rob Fitzpatrick - Geography. Kate Mossman - English Grammar.

Head Boy / Girl. Take your pick, but my nomination would be for Archie Valpariso or possibly backwards7. The quality of their written work puts the rest of us to shame. We must all do better.

Prefects. Again, take your pick, but Sir Terence, Patrick Crowther, Stimpy, Beany and many others must all be contenders (Patrick Crowther is probably not suitable as he doesn't use a stupid nickname). Consistently above average performance has earned the respect of all.

Students. The rest of us. We can occasionally submit good work, but we're easily distracted by the latest Youtube viral or those other oiks on Twitter.

Right, that's me done. I'm off for a fag behind the Iggy Pop cover. See you at the next break.

For those of you who have toyed with the idea of listening to jazz, it is now much more socially acceptable than it used to be. iTunes have just put up an excellent Blue Note compilation The Finest In Jazz Since 1939. 50 tracks for £9.99 and there are some absolute belters. Go on, I won't tell anybody.