Sublime / Ridiculous

When looking for the best and worst in the creative field, at least TV advertising saves time and effort. Simply pick a show, ensure it's on a commercial channel and wait for the break. In those few, short minutes you're more or less guaranteed to spot a minimum of one atrocity and hopefully, something quite delightful too.

And so it was last night. At a loss for anything half decent to watch (the channels seem to have abandoned bank holidays to a holding position of sheer mediocrity), I defaulted to '10 Things I Hate About 1999' with Robert Webb. It was actually slightly more amusing than it sounds, but what really stood out was the second commercial break. Embedded in the standard mix of forgettable plugs for anti-ageing gloop and heavily discounted couches, were two pieces of work which managed to capture all that is imaginative, crafted and classy as well as everything that is crass, glib and trite in telly advertising.

Bus stop

When I was a kid, homosexuality bemused and troubled us. I went to a public school and, despite the stereotypes, any boy even hinting at same sex attraction would be inviting ridicule or worse. That's how stupid we were.
Now in middle-age, it's pleasing to note my own kids are much more relaxed. They know gay people, they are fans of gay celebrities and are not at all anxious about the sexual preferences of others. In a generation, the gay rights movement has made enormous progress but total acceptance is not yet a reality - as the recent fuss about two bus banner campaigns shows.

Dead heat. Why The Exclusives is unfair.

Perhaps we shouldn't expect anything more from ITV2 - after all, this is the home of Celebrity Juice, Life On Murrs and The Only Way Is Essex. But while those shows may grate and irritate, they manage to avoid devaluing and trivialising the achievements of others. More than can be said of ‘The Exclusives’, the latest addition to TV's range of alternative Job Centres.

Launching this Thursday (17th May), The Exclusives is a seven-part series which inexplicably gives a troop of six young things the chance to bag a 12-month contract at Bauer Media, publishers of Heat, FHM, Closer, More and Empire. ITV cameras will monitor the contestants (despite claims we are watching internships, make no mistake, we are watching a game show) as they try their hands at interviewing, photo shoots and building articles.

99 problems

Hey sports fans, good news: the Brooklyn Nets have introduced their new monochrome color scheme and logos, as the team prepares for its relocation to the Barclays Center for the next NBA season.

Okay, perhaps not the most exciting information you’ve ever received, but I thought I’d mention it for one specific reason – the new branding had been ‘designed’ by hip-hop megastar Jay Z.