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There’s a programme on television called Rev that stars Tom Holland that is getting lots of positive reviews in the press. People seem to love this programme. It’s about a CoE Vicar called The Reverend Adam Smallbone and all the humorous things that he gets up to. Apparently it’s irreverent, thought provoking, challenging and most of all hilarious. So the other evening when I was in on my own I decided to give it a go. I lasted about fifteen minutes. 

I have no idea whether the reviewers are watching a different programme called Rev or whether they have just got it horribly wrong. Basically the programme is the worst kind of British BBC sitcom. It’s been pressed out of the same mould as that other one with Robert Lindsay, My Family and the other one with Hugh Dennis, Outnumbered. 

These are supposed to be cuttingly observational and insightful and… hilarious. Nah, sorry they are none of these things. Rev for example is full of clichés and stereotypes and very bad writing. The script writers should have a look at some re-runs of Friends or 30 Rock etc. to see how comic timing is really supposed to work. The episode I watched featured a bloke who’s friend is a Buddhist. When we meet this person guess what? Yes, he’s kind of oriental, shaven headed and wearing an orange coloured robe like jump suit. Ah an oriental, bald, orange robed person - I get it he’s a Buddhist. This ‘joke’ did not seem to go anywhere else.

More hilariously the Vicar’s wife invites some friends round for drinks and fags and guess what? One of them is black so what happens? Hilarious, they stay up till 3AM and end up daning to… reggae music. It’s not the 1970’s! 

Rev is just lowest common denominator rubbish that seems to appeal to certain people and the reviewers don’t have the guts to actually say what they probably really think about it. Needless to say I won’t be watching it - or any of it’s stable mates again.

Rev…

I don’t like you.

I’m looking forward to Google’s new adventure in social network technology, Google+. I’ve recently closed (again) my Facebook account, well actually nobody can really close their Facebook account one can only suspend it. Facebook seems to expect that everyone who closes their account will eventually (inevitably?) return like the prodigal “weak tie”. Anyway, Google+ yes a new social network so why bother with another social network and why am I looking forward to it? Well for one, it’s not Facebook so does not (yet) come with a bunch of constantly changing privacy terms and conditions. The main thing is Google+ will be delivered as part of one’s normal Google experience so will be just another button on the Google web toolbar. Google has been keen for a long while to incorporate some kind of social network into it’s standard range of products and Gmail is just one step away from being expanded into this kind of product. Google has tried this before of course with Google Wave and Google Buzz. Wave was an interesting product and if one persevered it was actually a very good product. The problem of course was that one had to  persevere and quite hard at that. Once when I was abroad I did manage to use Wave with some relatives to exchange some photo’s and a threaded conversation. We eventually pulled in some other people but after I returned the impetus to use it quickly wore off. It seemed like something else to do on top of email. In fact the main problem was that there was so little difference between Wave and Gmail that we felt there was no need to use Wave. Buzz, I like Buzz there are some interesting people using Buzz. Well I seem to be connected to some interesting people. The main thing I like about Buzz is it’s not Twitter. Twitter has become like a sewer. Sometimes something interesting floats by but all in all it’s not worth waiting for. Also if one posts something on Twitter that mentions something that could be construed as a product the you are likely to be followed by hundreds of marketing bots. The only way I have found to avoid this is to make my account private. All a little tedious really. At least (for now) Buzz is relatively free of spammers and bots. Is this because not many people are using it? Another product that is worth looking into is Posterous. Posterous is a blogging platform who’s USP is to allow users to post from a simple email. Of course over time it’s got more sophisticated but it is an environment where one can find interesting writing. Back to Google+, I’m expecting from what I’ve read so far that it will be a core component within the Google family and will once again be aimed as an alternative or compliment to Gmail (email) especially with the sharing facility and all the mobile functionality. To be honest I don’t much care if Google+ is a hit or a miss. If it’s a miss all the better in some regards it’ll stay small (if it stays at all) and will remain free from spammers, junkers and other time wasters. Google+ come on where’s my invite?!