Exactly. At the beginning, I was skeptical that such a relatively conventional artist could have such depths in his music. I think there was also a generational thing for me; my parents (especially my mother) love him, and while I don't hate all the music they listen to, I tend to be a little warier of their less…

Totally. I had the same issue at first, I think. Not just his lyrics, but the instrumentation itself, which is so straightforward and free from any ostentatious sonic experimentation (at least, to the Radiohead/Pink Floyd/Bowie-addled mind of late-high-school me) that it took me a little while to realize that yes,…

Every time the drums kicks and the piano starts banging in the seconds leading to the chorus in "Darkness on the Edge of Town," I'm over the moon. One of my favorite Springsteen tracks ever. Glad you're getting into him, even if he's not an all-time favorite (yet).

It's just heartbreaking, which makes his redemptive arc in the next season all the more poignant. His speech in the penultimate episode has me in tears every time.

I'm not sure if this has been said already, but for me, the real heartbreaker on The Wire is "Final Grades," not "-30-." Bubbles' reaction to Sherrod's death… holy shit, I'm not touching that episode with a ten foot pole ever again.

Same here. I haven't spent that much time with his first album, but my feel so far is that it's generally good but doesn't quite hit the highs of Honeybear.

I've been listening to the new Father John Misty record a whole lot. Like, a whole lot. The album is solid throughout, but those last four tracks are really something special, and even twenty or thirty listens in, I'm still moved. "Holy Shit" is likely to become this generation's "Do You Realize??"—at least in my…

There's no mention of the Ultima games in this article, but those definitely embraced the science fantasy trappings in that '80s flood of the genre, especially in the series' early entries. Although to be honest, part of the science fantasy elements do feel more like the kitchen-sink worldbuilding in the earlier, more…

I kind of don't think there are enough Koopas scattered through the level to sustain a blue Yoshi all the way through. He swallows the shells, and then you're toast. Also, if I remember right, there isn't enough room to get to a fast enough run to take off with the cape. But it's been probably a decade since I last…

Man, fuck "Tubular." That level caused little 9-year-old me so many tears. And it's only like the second level in the Special World! Thank goodness the designers were kinder with the rest of them.

Okay, awesome! I liked her a lot so far, so I'll make sure to check out some of those others. I actually own one other book of hers, The Moons of Jupiter, so that'll probably be my next stop.

I actually really like Young Americans. But yeah, Pin Ups isn't great, either.

The Loneliest Planet was a movie that really sneaked up on me the first time I saw it. For like the first thirty minutes, almost literally nothing happens, and then like bam, it was one of the most emotionally wrenching movies I'd seen all year.

It's not so much a "weekend" thing, but I've been listening to David Bowie's Aladdin Sane recently. I'd never really listened to it before, and I've got to say, it's disappointing for me now that I'm actually spending some time with it. I mean, I know not every album can be Ziggy Stardust or Low, but given that Bowie…

Does Twilight Princess count, even though it was released on Wii before it hit Gamecube? 'Cause that was definitely one of my favorite GC games. The graphics haven't aged as well as something like The Windwaker, but from a purely technical point of view, it was pretty impressive—especially the water graphics, which…

Nice. Good ol' Arthur.

Goodness. I'd imagine that "What a wonderful kind of day" takes on a distinctly sinister meaning after a few dozen repeats.

Surely it's not better than that musical episode: "Havin' fun isn't hard… when you've got a library card!"

It's definitely a major step in that direction, though Scrubs (another show with an influence in the non-laugh-track direction) debuted just a month after it. Also, ditto what @apathymonger:disqus said about Malcom in the Middle.

If the whole show was all Hank and Max, I would kind of love that.