Your powers of perception astound me, however, I wasn’t indicating that Maggie is as apt a reviewer as Pauline Kael, instead I was arguing that Pauline Kael paved the way for speculative, opinion based reviews, which are pretty much the norm now. Why single Maggie out, at least she’s more interesting than Pitchfork, for example.

Also, who takes Salient reviews seriously: “Oh I better hurry down to the newstand and pick up the latest issue of salient… I hear they review the new YYYs album and this will help me make an educated decision as a consumer as to whether or not I buy it”.

Give me a break.

Getting a bit ahead of yourself aren’t you..? It may come as a surprise, but you are not Pauline Kael. Maybe if you read more of her work you’ll realise that your reviews bear almost no resemblance.

Other than the fact that you both use a lot of metaphors, hers actually had a point. Her writing was thought provoking and creative, yours childish and lazy.

Just my opinion obviously.

Don’t get me wrong i think there is some good informative info in her reviews, but i cant help but feel that it often gets over-shadowed by all the unnecessary metaphors, analogies and claims that are also present in most of them. I think its great to add a bit of personality to make a piece of writing more interesting but in my opinion a reviewer needs to remember their fundamental role is to inform not entertain their readers..

When I read her reviews i don’t get the impression that she cares about analyzing the music, or presenting in a way that helps people decide whether or not they should invest their own time in listening to the album. It seems to me that she just wants to demonstrate how clever and funny she can be, good work Maggie!. Then there’s always the possibility she isn’t a very confident person and feels that this job is her opportunity to impress people and feel good about herself, if so then i feel sorry for her.

Either way its not what i look for in a review, and i hope that she might take what I’ve said on board in future and think more about the music and less about.herself. Although i do have a sneaking suspicion her response to this may be more of a snappy personal attack, full of humor, wit and childish metaphors no doubt.