It has been a while since I've been here. So bear with me as I catch up on my reading and rating. Meanwhile, take a gander at my reviews all put away neatly in little menus.
These are a few of my favorite reviews ...
The Language Instinct
How to get into College
Parents Anonymous:A 12-step Program
You want to know about me? Really?
In a nut shell...
I grew up in New Jersey, moved to Boston for college, moved to Chicago, spent a year as VISTA in Rogers Park, and now I work for a policy research company. I am a 1999 Boston College alum (Go Eagles!) with majors in Linguistics and Sociology. I don't really feel like going into the details, but here's some stuff from the rest of my life...
Little bear, badminton, dukes of hazard, cyndi lauper, princeton, lauren, sacred heart, r.e.m., wad, feltre, madeline l'engle, PADI, tivoli, polly, latin greek sanskrit french italian asl, LBI, my little pony, nietsche, aubergene, boston college, they might be giants, grendel, biochemistry linguistics sociology, seven, nonna, levittown, rollwich, bean pot, optimality theory, david foster wallace, toad, schervish, ESL, NIS, tommy
My epinions Philosophy
~How I Write~
My goal in writing an opinion is ultimately to provide a unique insight into the particular product or service that I am reviewing. This means that if I have already read a review that I feel is comprehensive and well written, I will not attempt to "top" it. Instead, I would rather write a more specific article on a particular aspect of the product, or focus on the unique point of view that I bring to the table. If I feel that I do not have anything new or interesting to say, then I will not review the product, even though I may have strong feelings about it.* I hope this explains a little and gives you some insight into my reviews.
*There is one exception. I apologize for the overwhelmingly mediocre review of Back to the Future. I just couldn't help myself.
~How I Rate~
I am still (even after 2 years) trying to figure out this whole trust web thing, but for now I am rating reviews based on three criteria:
_. Clarity of expression (succinct, easy to follow)
_. Originality (that is, did I learn anything from reading your review that I couldn't have learned by reading the back of the box)
_. Entertainment Value (If I wanted straight out information, I could look it up somewhere else. I like to laugh, so if you make me laugh or at least smile, I will probably give you a higher rating than if based on content alone.)
I do not rate based on grammar or punctuation. I think that typos are a fact of life, and while they make a review less attractive, they do not detract from the overall quality of the review. I do make a distinction, however, between poor writing and poor grammar. I strive to use the English language its full capacity, sometimes that means breaking a few "rules." I encourage all of you to do the same. Don't let the mavins tell you how to express yourself. It is your language, make the most of it!
::getting down off the soap box::
I love comments, both good and bad, so please don't be shy! Thanks for reading.
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