... and compares it to reviewing a unicorn.

I really am ignorant regarding Klosterman (I mean, I know WHO he is and that's it), but I couldn't stop laughing while reading that review. All of you guys that get paid regularly to write things about music can weigh in on whether it was a good review or not (I say yes, but I get the impression of what the album is like), but man it's funny.

Klosterman is a funny and often astute guy, as in this case, but at times he grates on me. As a pop culture and music fan, his writing was kind of ubiquitous in some circles I used to run in.

One of my female friends used to love him, but she took offense to some of the comments he made in Killing Yourself to Live. She now dislikes him and refers to him by comparing his face to a man's scrotum.

This infamous Klosterman critique is one of my favorite things on the internet.

Ok, while I might not go as far as this guy, that was pretty funny and spot on in a few cases. His misogyny was exactly what turned off my friend. I still think Klosterman can be funny, but that definitely is accurate in knocking down his astuteness and his poseur attitude.

I can't wait to send it to my friend.

I really don't have the same baggage about this album as somebody like Klosterman does, so it's hard for me to relate to this review, though I liked the lede. I guess if it takes the Weakerthans 17 years to put out their next album I'll feel the same way...

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on reactions to the album in China. I also wrote a blog entry about it. (I live in China, by the way.)

When I read this last week when someone linked it to me, he actually had me wanting to hear this album.

But I guess I don't have that G'n'R' baggage, either. After I woke up to excerpts being played on NPR Monday morning, I was cured. A radio cure, if you will.

The ironic thing about this article is that the kind of self-obsessiveness and self-attestation Klosterman ascribes to Axl is exactly the same thing critics say cripples Klosterman. How am I percieved, how will this reference be percieved... this is the unspoken Klosterman mantra (so it is said).