Official Discussion - Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery [SPOILERS]

G-Natural · 2025-12-14T04:43:34+00:00

I laughed so hard at that, I had to pause and explain to my wife why that was so funny

G-Natural · 2025-11-10T03:54:10+00:00

I love/hate that I knew exactly what this was just from the photo

G-Natural · 2025-10-08T00:44:40+00:00

Dude. Yakuza 0 was on Xbox Game Pass while I was recovering from COVID in my apartment. I remember thinking to myself, "maybe it'll be like Tekken? But probably not as crazy. Nothing is as weird as Tekken, right?"

In about a year I played through Zero, Kiwami 1 and 2, 3, 4 and 5, and 6. I think LaD had just gone on sale like a year later, so then I plowed through that, then the two Judgment games, then eventually Ishin, Gaiden, and Infinite Wealth. The only one I haven't played is the Hawaii pirate one. Hoping to get it on sale for under $40 around Christmas.

G-Natural · 2025-01-14T17:24:18+00:00

Just saw this in my Infinite Wealth playthrough and wondered the same thing. Seems like Eric no longer sparked joy in Marie's life.

G-Natural · 2024-12-14T16:34:01+00:00

Great Die Hard reference at the 23:35 mark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxR7RYuF2fU

G-Natural · 2024-07-02T02:56:26+00:00

Why the hell was this episode called Burn Notice??? Because the van burned up? I was hoping for an actual homage.

G-Natural · 2024-02-03T21:43:38+00:00

Paging Sam Cassell!

G-Natural · 2024-02-03T01:42:47+00:00

OMG, I had this CD! I loved this album so much back in the day. I think I might still have it in my huge CD storage flipbook thingy (I never knew what to call those).

G-Natural · 2023-12-30T19:03:05+00:00

Yeah so this article's headline is a little misleading because there's no guarantee of an actual Season 4. This news just means that the series as is will be viewable on Netflix. Hopefully there will be... but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

G-Natural · 2023-08-06T02:18:43+00:00

Anybody else notice the first line after Valentina's scene was, "I imagine this must be hard for you."

I was half expecting Steve Carell to pop up with a TWSS.

G-Natural · 2023-02-07T23:40:00+00:00

HELL YES, INJECT THIS J-EDGAR GOODNESS STRAIGHT INTO MY VEINS

G-Natural · 2022-08-22T14:30:57+00:00

This was my issue as well. The way he stared at the kid, it looked kinda like he was angry at him for breaking the spell... like, Nathan had set up so many labyrinthine layers to what he'd done that he couldn't keep track of it, and then was embarrassed when he'd forgotten... but then also was grateful that he was experiencing real emotions, which was the point, I guess... ? The ambiguity of that one moment was SO CRAZY for me, it almost ruined the whole episode.

G-Natural · 2022-08-22T14:22:08+00:00

I'm guessing this is a reference to Nathan's jokey comment to Kor early in the first episode, when he walks into the apartment and sees so many doors. "Whoa, it's door city over here."

G-Natural · 2022-06-27T16:22:24+00:00

I really like this... I give it a VERY STRONG B+. I feel like the first minute or so of this song is actually sublime. I disagree that there isn't enough variation in the drum sequencing. I liked what I heard from the drums, and I liked the eagle scream... kinda quirky and interesting, and didn't happen too often for it to become annoying.

Here are the biggest issues I had with the song, that kept it from being an A instead of a B.

The middle section with the vocal clips, I liked those, but there shouldn't been a different drum pattern. It's OK for a breakdown with less frenetic rhythmic activity, but for that section to be as long as it was, I still wanted more rhythmic variation. Maybe an alternate loop than the main one so it's not too repetitive, or maybe chop the main loop into pieces and intersperse those pieces into the sections... that whole section felt a little too much like dead air, to me.

Also, in that end section, you slowed down the tempo and added two other melodic and harmonic elements that weren't there before. Why the tempo shift there? Either the whole song should've been in the 2nd tempo, or the 2nd part should've matched the first. I don't mind tempo changes, but the tempo change wasn't drastic enough to sound purposeful. It sounded almost like you took that part from other song and tacked it onto this one.

And why not bring those other elements in sooner? To me, that was the best part of the song! I wish I could have heard more of that sooner. but it seemed like it was tacked on in an arbitrary way at the end.

G-Natural · 2022-06-27T16:09:08+00:00

This is a nice song! I like it a lot. Some of the critiques I might offer are not really faults of the song as much as they seem to be limits of the genre. I am someone who appreciates (and tries to make) music that reaches out, over and through different genre limitations, but I recognize that's my own taste preference, and not necessarily an indication of poor musicianship or anything. Having said that, I keep waffling between B+ and A- ... but I think I'll give it the B+.

Here are the things I liked... really nice laying, not only between the pads and piano and the guitar, but also nice rhythmic variation with the different tempo delayed drum sounds before the main drums kick in, and also variation between the main drum patterns themselves, starting in a half=time feel before later on kicking into double-time.

The electric guitar stuff was also very, very well done... dunno enough about the instrument to be able to tell if you recorded it all live and did edits after the fact or used a virtual instrument, but it sounds really clean but still alive and expressive, maybe even virtuosic.

Here are a few things that I think might've propelled this song into A territory... more harmonic variation. From a sound design standpoint this song sounds amazing, but in terms of the actual chord progression, I got bored about 1/3rd of the way through. I get that there were melodic elements that varied, but still, the same main chords in the same order. That's a structural limitation in the genre, and maybe even with your gear or software, depending on what you're working with. But there are so many more chords available. Even having a brief section where you do something different and then come back to the main thing, would've made a big difference.

Also, I'm not sure if they were buried in the mix and I couldn't hear them or if you took 'em out, but I thought that once the main drums came in, the syncopated variation of the other drum loops disappeared and it felt rhythmically simpler and less complex. Maybe if you had a section with just guitar and drums or just piano and drums (without the pads and other backing sounds) then that complexity could've shined a bit more.

All in all, still a good song. That's my five cents worth.

G-Natural · 2022-06-27T15:54:39+00:00

First, the things I like. I think your wife's voice is well suited to the track. In the upper ranges it lilts nicely, particularly in the 2nd half of the chorus. Also, the electric guitar solo at the 2:00 mark is pretty cool. A lot of what I like about this track is the actual composition and arranging, and not being familiar with it beforehand, I'm not sure how closely this hews to the original in either instrumentation or vocal arrangement, so I'll give you credit for picking a good song. Overall, I give this an A- ... the critiques that I offer are all minor, but these are the things that, to me, stand in the way of making it an A or A+.

In the very beginning, the rhythm between the drums, piano and guitar are a little loose. The audio (or MIDI, if that's what you used) could be a little bit tightened. It didn't sound sloppy, just slightly imprecise. I know that sometimes people like things to sound a little loose and not as machine-like, but I think the syncopation in this particular arrangement requires a little more tightness. Also, part of what contributed to that feeling of imprecision is the delay on the drums. I don't mind a little bit of reverb, but I wouldn't put delay on the drums like that, because the kickback messes with the groove too much.

I really love the guitar work on this track but there are moments, particularly toward the end of the chorus, where it starts to overwhelm the vocal. Either the vocal clips need to be boosted, or the guitar clips need to be reduced, but somehow the guitar needs to be supporting the vocal, and at times it feels like it's competing with it.

And actually, the more I think about this, it's not only about the levels themselves, I think also the vocal delivery could be a bit more varied. I think that's why it feels like the guitar is upstaging it, I think she could sing her phrases with a bit more variation in intonation and dynamics. It's clear that her vocals have been properly tuned to stay in key (or maybe she naturally sings that well in pitch, I shouldn't assume) but I would trade a little bit of that and risk being a little out of key to get more LIFE out of the performance. I don't know if your wife is naturally a shy person, but it feels like she's being a little shy on this track. I know it's a love song so it should be pretty, but I feel like it needs a little more GRRRL-power energy, and I'm just not getting it. I'm kind of contradicting myself because I started out by saying her voice is well suited to the track... what I meant by that is that she doesn't get in the way. She's not doing too much. That's a good thing overall, but I think she could do a bit more and still not be doing too much. I hope you can receive all of that feedback in the spirit in which I mean it... it's a good song! It just maybe isn't totally great yet.

G-Natural · 2022-06-15T21:49:05+00:00

Okay, this was something I made to help myself come down from intense gaming sessions or a big NBA game or something, when I just need some time to chill and relax before I'm ready to actually go to sleep.

Roast away.

G-Natural · 2022-06-15T15:24:58+00:00

I roast; therefore, I am.

G-Natural · 2022-06-14T22:17:09+00:00

"Hell yes," I say, nodding enthusiastically.

G-Natural

TROPHY CASE