Rating System

Stars are staples of any review.

Though it seems entirely arbitrary to codify my feelings in terms of four heavenly bodies, I cannot think of any alternative that will justify the breaking of such a long-standing tradition…and I assure you, I have tried:

Thumbs are even more limited given that I only have two of them (assigning any more than two, up or down, to plays would be downright disingenuous);

Purple plums are obscure and may be mistaken for a rip-off from rottentomatoes.com (though everyone knows the two are entirely different things);

And percents seem impractical because of the confusion of what a passing mark would be….I have lived entirely too long under American grade-inflation and do not want to inflict my understanding that a B (80-89%) is for “Bad” on readers.

Instead I will stick with dependable, stalwart stars. They have been kid-tested, mother-approved, and the bottom line is that I am just not that creative.