Ebert’s Rules

Roger Ebert blogs Roger’s little rule book, a brilliant list of rules for critics.

1. Advise the readers well
2. Provide a sense of the experience
3. Keep track of your praise
4. Do the math
5. Respect the reader’s time
6. Do not make challenges you cannot back up
7. Respect the reader’s money
8. Beware of verbal parallelism
9. Trailers: have nothing to do with them
10. Be wary of freebies
11. Accept no favors
12. No commercial endorsements
13. Be prudent with free DVDs
14. No advertisements
15. Be prepared to give a negative review
16. No posing for photos
17. Sit down, shut up, and pay attention

Read the whole thing.

The final rule would make a fine tag line for the weblog.