Feel Kakutani's Rage

So fabled Times literary critic Michiko Kakutani gave a pretty good tongue lashing to, not one, but two authors in her review piece on Tuesday. It may not have been as entertaining as the showboating Austin Powers piece, but she pretty much laid out both Greg Kot and Mark Helprin for their misguided notions on the role of copyright in the new media environment.

Helprin got the biggest beating, with his staid conservative opinions being drowned out by his utter contempt for basically anyone without his Ivy League pedigree (read: young people, women, Nascar fans.) There are some good arguments to be sure, but Kakutani lays him out to dry. After citing a lengthy quote from his blathering opus, she brands it a "bullying and pigheaded manifesto." Ouch

Kot gets the better end of the bargain by simply being labeled naive: a wild-eyed idealist who sees the future of media in bands like Death Cab for Cutie. Good luck! Kakutani has spoken. I don't think I'll be reading either of these.
(image from Slate.com)