Thursday, December 10, 2009

Update on the Review System

The following are the guidelines for any review posted on this site, effective immediately:

1). Reviews will be no more than 250 words long, except on extremely rare occasions where the limit may be raised to 300 words. This limit is designed to keep the reviews as cohesive as possible, and to keep to professional standards.

UPDATE: The final sentence of each review (which gives the score of the item reviewed) is not counted as part of the 250-word limit.

Also, video game reviews are exempt from this rule, as they have different professional standards.

2). All items that are reviewed will be scored on a five-point scale, with 1 being the lowest score and 5 being the highest.

3). Reviews will be written in the third person so as to eliminate any personal bias that might occur if written in the first person. Like Guideline #1, this is to keep with professional standards.

4). While reviews do serve as purchasing advice, it is important to remember that it is up to the reader to decide whether or not to purchase any item reviewed on this blog. Thus, the reviews posted should NOT be taken as the sole factor in deciding to purchase something.

Remember that this is only the policy for reviews. Any other topics will have their own format and guidelines.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The Call To Adventure (or, Genesis)

Welcome. If you're reading this, you probably fit into one of two groups: those who have followed a link from anywhere I've posted it, or those who accidentally clicked on this blog in Google. Either way, I'd ask you to stay for just a moment and read what I have to say.

I should start by introducing myself. The name's Tom Kline. As of this writing, I am 18 years old, and hail from Upstate New York. I am, as my bio states, a "student by day, actor/podcaster/aspiring writer by night." I have been published by Bohemian Alien (a Christian website that sadly died shortly after my work was featured, which is why I have no link), as well as by my school's Creative Journal. Also, I can be heard (almost) every week on Counter Culture Weekly, a media and pop culture podcast.

I started this blog in addition to my Giant Bomb blog because I wanted to cover broader topics in an environment where people might actually read them. This gives me a space to post book, movie, and music reviews, as well as any interesting topics or rants I may have. Plus, if I post a blog on Giant Bomb, I'll probably post it here as well.

I'll get into specifics about how my reviews will work soon, but let me just say that it may or may not involve ratings out of 5 and/or a list of strengths and weaknesses for each piece of media I review. Honestly, I haven't decided, and probably won't until I'm ready to write my first review (which should be anywhere from 1-2 weeks from now, assuming all goes well).

Anyway, it's late, and I've got some stuff to do before I go to sleep. So, before I go, allow me to apologize for any lack of comprehension. It is, after all, 10:40 PM when I'm writing this.

Well, that's all for now. Check back every now and then, as I'm sure I'll post new stuff all the time. Until then, this is Tom "SteepInKline" Kline, and I'm Oscar Mike!