Infamous remembers the first time he visited the Hit Factory Criteria recording studio in Miami. "They gave us a walking tour," says the man who subsequently helmed the boards for the hot Lil Wayne and Jay-Z collaboration "Mr. Carter" at Hit Factory Criteria. "The GA said, 'Oh Eric Clapton recorded "Layla" there.' As soon as I heard that I froze still and tried to inhale as much of the room as I could."

Iggy Pop also remembers his first glimpse of the stucco building in a quiet warehouse district. The rock legend, who eventually recorded most of his album Skull Ring there, says that one of the first things he did when he moved to Miami in the early '90s was drive by Criteria, just to see where songs like "Funky Nassau" were made. The punk pioneer, who recently returned to Hit Factory to record with the band Jet, and calls metal engineer Chris Carroll the studio's "secret weapon," was smitten with the two-story building's funky Miami charm. "You don't feel like you're walking into some goombah's armpit," says Pop. "It's still very Florida; you can still chill."

For 50 years, the studio founded as Criteria then acquired by Hit Factory in 1999 has been host to a slew of recording legends: James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, the Rolling Stones, the Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, Ricky Martin, Madonna - the list goes on. I recently spent a month talking to a number of the people who built this iconic space and have helped it stay alive (to coin a phrase) for an Associated Press story: You can read the whole thing here.

Criteria, and then Hit Factory, have drawn a dizzying array of artists together into one space. Founder Mack Emerman was a gear-head, and the rooms have been a haven for audiophiles ever since, from Tom Dowd and the Albert Brothers to Scott Storch and Timbaland. "It was the people behind the scenes who made the studios here," says Robert Lanier, Hit Factory Criteria's executive vice president and COO. "It was the engineers, the innovative individuals who were part of the growth of the recording industry. They came up with different sounds, new techniques."

Eric Schilling is one of the many serious music heads who revere Hit Factory Criteria's big rooms and state of the art consoles. The freelance engineer has relied heavily on Criteria since the '70s, twiddling the knobs on tracks for such artists as the Eagles, Gloria Estefan, Juan Luis Guerra, and Janet Jackson. "It's the sound of the rooms that keeps me here," he says. "They're good spaces for recording live. They don't make rooms like that anymore."

Evelyn McDonnell is MOLI's editor at large. Her Populism blog runs Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Last year there was a pregnancy obsession floating through the cultural zeitgeist (Waitress, Juno, Knocked Up). Based on the handful of films I've seen of late, it would seem that many filmmakers' attention has shifted to a muse with more serious implications - illegal immigration. From A Day's Work, the Gen Art Film Festival short that just won the top prize for Narrative Filmmaking at the Student Academy Awards, to new indie films like Frozen River and Paraiso Travel, issues like human smuggling, under the radar workers and a naturalization system that makes the American Dream unattainable for most, are getting big screen play for the first time.

Writer-directors Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker's realistic narrative film, Take Out, which premiered at the 2004 Slamdance Film Festival, tackles the topic to gut-wrenching results. Following the a day-in-the-life of Ming Ding, an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman in New York City, the film explores the stark financial reality faced by aliens who pay exorbitant fees to sneak into our country. Forced by difficult circumstances to take money from a vicious loan shark, Ming, who barely speaks a word of English, has 24 hours to hustle up $1,000 cash - or face dire physical consequences.

I didn't realize how much I missed The X-Files until I watched the latest trailer for the new feature film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe. In the two minute plug, you get all the usual accoutrement from the hit TV show:

Haggard-looking, stressed out central character?  Check.

Shadowy, amorphous, otherworldly threat looming?  Check.

Stark, unnerving backdrop with creepy musical accompaniment?  Check.

But when the screen goes black for a moment and you just hear Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny address each other, with studied dispassion, by their character's last names, that's when the adrenaline really starts flowing.

Never (in the history of my television-watching career, anyway) has there been a show with the mammoth unresolved sexual tension of The X-Files. I remember staring at the screen during its 1993-2002 run thinking, "FOR GOD'S SAKE MULDER, just put your hand on her leg!" But, alas, it never happened. The emotional dysfunction between the two ultra-foxy agents was every bit as nerve-wracking as the monsters, aliens, and unexplained phenomenon they investigated week after week.

Realizing that I never saw the first X-Files feature film, 1998's Fight the Future, I added it to my Netflix queue this week. I want to be fully prepared when I Want to Believe hits theaters July 25.

Though I was a fan of the show, my X-Files nerdism wasn't even on the charts in terms of the level of geekdom the show inspired in its loyal minions. For a dose of the real thing, head over to IGN.com where you can find a list of the site's "10 Favorite X-Files Standalone Episodes." The descriptions alone make me wanna go back and start with Season One.

Do you have some favorites? Tell me all about it ... along with any creative fantasy scenarios that involve Mulder and Scully finally sucking face.

Wendy Case is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Arts & Entertainment.

Unlike in Halle, Germany, people in Toulouse, France, have a lot more style. It's a real city, with an eclectic mix of fashion. There's a definite Moroccan flavor, a little Paris, a little Florida, and a lot Toulouse in the melting pot of fashion and people here.

In Toulouse right now in every store, there are sales (soldes in French) from 20 percent to 70 percent off. They are everywhere. From Sonia Rykiel to C+A to the side-street cheapie store, soldes, soldes, soldes. But with the dollar at a lovely all-time low here, even a fantastic sale is not necessarily a deal for us New York people who, in our minds, convert everything into dollars. We, the fashion obsessed, must find the fashion finds wherever we go.

There is a Wednesday market at the Capitol (Town Hall) Square here, but similar to many NYC street markets, it had a lot of same-y same stuff, albeit in a Toulouse way, such as genie-style pants and shorts. Yes folks, the MC Hammer low-crotch genie pant is in full swing here. There were generic tables of cheap jewelry and sunglasses, but as cheap as 5 euros seems for a shitty pair of sunglasses, when I can get them on the street in NY for $5, it just doesn't do it for me.

Then the thrift store search began. The overall best one I have seen so far is Le Grenier D'anais, which means "the attic of Anais," serving you clothes for women and men from 1900 to the 1990s, including men and women's accessories, gowns, costumes, coats, wedding dresses, uniforms, costumes hats, shoes -- you name it. Prices are totally fair and it makes more sense to spend 20 euros on a dress here, where you can get quality sweet duds closer to, if not totally, one of a kind, especially when compared to any of the MC Hammer pants at the market. I am going to go back to Le Grenier D'anais and continue my search, since the very sweet gal working (she was wearing an antique white slip as a dress) kicked me out (nicely of course) because she was going to lunch. Lunchtime is one to two hours here and meal times are taken very seriously. I would never want to stand in the way of a lady and her lunch.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every other Tuesday, she answers your questions with her tough-love advice. Send y