That song and the album it's featured on, Blood Money, are especially theatrical (they were album adaptations of musicals he wrote). Even though Waits always sounds like himself, you'll find that his voice is pretty dynamic the more of his work you hear. Rain Dogs is definitive for many reasons, one being that you get…

At least Foreign Affairs eventually gave us Waits' reworked live version of "Burma Shave," spoken over the tune of "Summertime." His performance of it on Austin City Limits is one of the best things he's ever done.

So, so good. Thinking about that record only gets me pumped for their upcoming "rock opera."

I guess I was referring to a specific verve Nintendo had during the Gamecube era that I'm picking up on again now with the Wii U. There's something delightfully odd about the design choices of their current first-party offerings and games like 101 and Bayonetta that makes me all nostalgic. The Wii did have its hidden…

Yeah, that's partly what I meant by "ballsy." I feel like Dynasty Warriors is almost too niche for its own good, so pairing that with one of the most beloved Nintendo franchises of all time gives me pause. I haven't touched a DW game in years, so if Hyrule Warriors makes good on… whatever it should make good on, I'm…

Funny you should mention that. I can't help but see the Wii U as the "GameCube 2" in spirit. Nintendo's been taking greater creative risks with their first-party assets, going for broke with Mario Kart 8 while commissioning that ballsy Hyrule Warriors fusion. They also released A NEW PIKMIN, as sure a sign as ever…

I said this above, but I saw her perform in February and all that choreography was delightful (if not powerful) in a live setting wherein she continued to transform her repertoire. I honestly think she likes dressing and acting the way she does, and that makes sense in the context of her art. With all due respect,…

Damn, that transition into the latter half of "You And Me" is great.

I think Demon Days features some of Danger Mouse's best production work.

I'd agree with you if "Feel Good, Inc." and "Dare" weren't two of the best pop songs of the aughts. Also "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead" might be one of the best slow-burners Albarn's penned — that shit just explodes with Ike Turner's astro-lounge piano solos and its inspired sampling. I find that Demon Days at least…

Eroticizing sexism through sex as a way to validate the same tired old conventional thinking on gender and privilege is most certainly a bad thing. I just don't think something like rough sex always manifests itself in a way that enables sexist thinking or action; it may very well wind up challenging the sexist…

I think that's a very true and fair point, but much like those structures, perpetuation is rarely, if ever, a totally unified or simple process. External control of how all of us see and apply the product of social structures in our own lives is a very hard thing to maintain in any way. I think history has proven…

I thought some of Ellie's personality was a front necessitated by the world she lived in, and the game does explore the fragility of her and Joel's "stoicism" in ways that distinguished them from each other. If anything, she was more emotionally honest that Joel ever was and taught him to open up. Her knife skills…

Yeah, that last question is always triggered when it comes to theory, especially when one realizes that any given thesis is another product of external and internal influences that will satisfy and fall short of any other person's experience, or rather a person's understanding of their own experience. I don't expect…

Thank you!

Certainly! I don't even think working past them always has to be an objective. As with currents, working with them can yield new directions that no part of the stream can foresee. It's probably a cliche at this point, but the big scary external forces we make are afraid of the deviants in all of us. When everyone's…

The politics are always there, but finding what those politics are reflective of is the tricky part. Sex or any type of discourse unmade between two people ready to accept the entirety of each other won't grapple with those politics, and in a way might reinforce negative social limits that deny themselves an…

Consider yourself lucky! Most of my iPods exploded after a few years. I think it's perfectly reasonable to want an alternative to iTunes and iPods. The only issue with Pono is that my library is already filled with mp3s.

Yeah, as far as versatility goes it's up there.

Reading all those lines is a great reminder of how impossible it is to pick my favorite Waits spoken-word cut. Needless to say, "9th and Hennepin" is up there. His live, spoken-word version Burma Shave, specifically his Austin City Limits performance of it, is also up there, to say the *very* least.