“How do you decide what to review, and how far in advance of your Monday posts do you make this decision? Is there a backlog? Any reviews you want to do but can’t because the character you want to do them with hasn’t been introduced yet? What are your top five favorite reviews so far? (Or, well, the top six, but with one left off the list.)”
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I decide what to review entirely based on what I’m watching/playing/reading at the time. I don’t watch or play anything specifically so I can review it.
I plan out the reviews usually about three to six weeks in advance, though I often only write them the day before I post them (with rare exceptions; this week’s review was written a few weeks ago because the show I reviewed was so forgettable I knew I’d forget it if I didn’t write it right away; the review of Night of the Living Dead was written in October when I watched it). I don’t have a backlog particularly; I have the next three weeks planned at the moment and by then I’ll have seen something else that I can also review. Sometimes when I do joke reviews like Darby’s review of public school, it’s because I didn’t have actual media to review that week, though.
As for desired reviews, I don’t really have any that are limited by characters who aren’t around yet. There are definitely characters coming up who I think will have thoughts on specific stuff I’ve seen, but I’m not too worried about it—if I have a burning desire to review something with an unseen character, I’ll just have them show up and do the review anyway, like I did with Wally.
My top five reviews in no particular order are Pax’s reviews of Untitled Goose Game and Duck, Beatrice’s review of The Last of Us Part II, Gavin’s review of the MCU, Owen’s review of underwear, with Todd’s review of Junjou Romantica and Frederick’s review of Haikyuu being tied for a close sixth (since you were kind enough to remember my love of leaving things off lists it seemed only fair).
Thanks for asking!
How Best to Use a Sword 