Welcome to the Back Row – the place where all things nerdy and hip, current and retro, totally insane and all-around awesome are put on display for your perusal and amusement! Here you’ll find some of the greatest minds on this little blue-green backwater planet (namely me and my friends) creating content for you to enjoy. Since we’re a young website, I feel it is necessary as Editor-in-Chief and host to all the glorious stuff that takes place in this corner of the net to make our mission statement, our manifesto, clear to all you new readers. Hit the jump to read it!
1. We are heavily biased! This might be a bad thing if we were trying to report the news, but not here! In the Back Row, everything is subject to our opinions, and we’ll deliver them loudly and clearly. Whether you agree or disagree, rest assured, there is no pretense of assuming that everyone enjoys the same things. If you like the same stuff as us, you’ll be delighted. If you don’t like the same stuff as us, well, perhaps this isn’t the place for you, but you’re welcome to stay and engage us in friendly debate anyway. No trolling, please.
2. We love movies! Most of us are film scholars of one form or another. Some of the Back Row’s contributors hold degrees in film, some don’t. Some are going for their PhD in film, most aren’t. But we all love the world of cinema, and as such you will see a predominance of movie reviews, news and analysis upon this site. But that’s not all we love!
3. We love all kinds of stuff! Games (card, board, video), comics and graphic novels, books, TV shows, cartoons, the internet – all will be featured and discussed! There’s something for just about everybody here.
4. We love YOU! We are nothing without our readers, so please tell your friends, family, and anyone else you think might appreciate us about our site! You are our audience, and any suggestions and comments you send us WILL be considered and taken into account!
5. MEMEs! We don’t really keep up with them. Some of them might get mentioned here, and often they won’t be current, but who cares? Some jokes never get old.
6. The Velvet Rope! We understand that not everybody on the internet is under the age of 18, and as such we have created a sister blog dedicated to providing entertainment for our more “mature” readers. All content behind the Velvet Rope is NSFW (that’s NOT SAFE FOR WORK, for all those of you who have been living in a cave until now), and if you stray behind the Velvet Rope, we accept no responsibility for your being offended. You have been warned!
7. Our podcast, Shouts from the Back Row, (to be launched in August 2010) is the spoken-word extension of this website. It will serve as a forum where various contributors from the site (as well as some guests from outside our list of contributors) will discuss a wide variety of cinematic, literary and game-related topics. It’s-a gonna be beautiful, so stay tuned!
8. We are here to entertain! In case it isn’t already abundantly clear, the Back Row exists solely for the entertainment of its creators and our audience! We have no goal beyond exhibiting entertaining and amusing content, and we sincerely hope that there is something here for you to enjoy.
And so, without further ado, I welcome you to the Back Row, home to all that is amusing and diverting. We’re the kids at the back of the class, we’re the hecklers at the back of the theatre. We are the Back Row!