This week’s Tune for Tuesday, “Molasses to Rum” from 1776, was selected for a variety of reasons. As a holiday meant to celebrate the creation of a “free” nation approaches, too many have forgotten or choose to ignore that when the Declaration of Independence was being drafted, while the group who signed it did have many brilliant men among its members, the group as a whole consisted entirely of extremely flawed human beings and hypocrites. They knew this was sort of thing was wrong, even then, but either only cared about or chose to focus on the profits, making each and every one of them complicit. It makes me all the more inclined to believe that these hypocritical men really did regularly consult members of the Iroquois Confederacy instead of doing it entirely on their own.

Another reason is that in the country I unfortunately reside in, so few politicians have the stomach to not only stand up to the tyrants in charge, but to speak up at all in defense of the common citizens they’ve sworn to aide. Nearly 250 years have passed since the Declaration of Independence, but like in the song itself, when the unsavory truth is being shouted at the top of one’s lungs for all to hear, can these cocky politicians do anything more than desperately yet meekly plead for silence, regardless of what they claim to be their political leaning?

This week's Tune for Tuesday, "fucked up" by Macklemore, is likely to come across as different from the sorts of songs I usually share. But in truth, it really shouldn't be too surprising. I was inspired to do Tune for Tuesdays in the first place because of a recurring assignment in my high school Sociology class, where we would share songs with lyrics and discuss the themes and contexts of said songs (as well as their music videos if they had one). I may regularly just share songs that don't even have lyrics here, but when not even two weeks earlier I stumbled upon this new masterpiece by a talented artist I've had a lot of respect for over a decade now, there was no doubt in my mind I had to use it for Tune for Tuesdays. It may be quite disturbing for a lot of people to listen to this piece and watch the accompanying music video, but quite frankly, this does a marvelous job of putting to words the sheer wrath I've been carrying for far too long. 

Happy New Year, everyone! To kick off 2025, this week's Tune for Tuesday, "I Am... All Of Me" by Crush 40, is one I've had on my mind a lot lately. Especially after watching the awesome Sonic the Hedgehog 3 film in theaters, playing through Shadow's fantastic campaign in Sonic X Shadow Generations, and getting to hear it performed live last month at the phenomenal Sonic Symphony. I hope you all enjoy this song as much as I do!

This week's Tune for Tuesday, "Down the Rabbit Hole" by Carlos Eiene & Darren Malley, is a jazzy little number used as the theme for a character and her stage in Skullgirls. The series has had an insane number of ups and downs over the years, but between the characters, artstyle, music, and overall presentation, I'm happy it's stuck around. And since Skullgirls is pretty much one of the closest things we have to a Darkstalkers spiritual successor, it seemed like a fitting way to end off October. Have a Happy Halloween this Thursday, everyone!

This week's Tune for Tuesday, "The Storyteller" by Hidenori Iwasaki, is from an utterly phenomenal visual novel I got sucked into last week. The art and music are fantastic, the mystery and puzzles are so much fun to piece together and solve, the characters are all so memorable, and the writing as a whole? Look, I'm generally not one who seeks out franchises that are explicitly part of the horror genre, so I think it says a lot when I insist that Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo has one of the most tightly written narratives I've come across in a video game. Heck, as far as I'm concerned, the plot's writing is easily up there with 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, and THAT game is one of the best science fiction stories I've ever experienced, period! So if you're up for something this month that's guaranteed to mess with your head in more ways than one, I cannot recommend Paranormasight enough!

This week's Tune for Tuesday, a live performance from the Hollywood Bowl of "Oogie Boogie's Song" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, is honor of the late Ken Page, who just recently passed away. Rest in peace, Oogie Boogie. From video games to the original film itself, you've always been a treat to watch in action.

This week's Tune for Tuesday, "Sweet Victory" by David Glen Eisley and Bob Kulick, is in honor of my cousin, who is celebrating her birthday today. Said cousin has always encouraged me to enjoy video games and animation no matter how old we got, even when other people in our family expressed sentiments to the contrary. Therefore, I feel it is only fair that I pay tribute with a song from her favorite show growing up: SpongeBob SquarePants!

This week's Tune for Tuesday, "Tal Tal Heights" from The Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening, is in honor of a dear friend who just celebrated their 30th birthday this past Saturday!

This week's Tune for Tuesday, "Pinball Wizard" by The Who, is in honor of me finally getting to see the musical Tommy this past weekend. It was definitely darker than I anticipated, but the staging, choreography, and music were all phenomenal! 

This week's Tune for Tuesday, an orchestral remix of "Tarm Ruins" as arranged by RebeccaETripp, is a great take on one of my favorite songs from The Legend of Zelda, Oracle of Seasons. On this date 23 years ago, both this game and its sibling Oracle of Ages were released in the USA, and while I enjoy both games immensely, Oracle of Seasons would go on to mark a major turning point in how I viewed myself as a gamer. Unsurprisingly, this is what inspired what would become my primary online handle LinkSeasonMaster and thus it felt only natural to pay tribute to the source of said inspiration.