Episodes

The website “National Today” mentions a holiday called World Marbles Day. It celebrates the first British Marbles Championship that took place in England, in 1588. It was told that two gentlemen were trying to win the hand of a milk maiden named Joan. They competed in several known sports at the time, in Tinsley Green, and the final sport chosen was marbles; one of them, named Giles, did win the game and Joan. Since then, marbles tournaments were held every year in Tinsley Green. While it did lo...

Last year, my world was shaken by the passing of my mom. It was a sudden, almost unbelievable, moment in my life, despite having attended the funerals of other people, from co-workers to friends. My emotions were running rampant and my thoughts are a hot mess. Much has changed for me but the feelings are still there, albeit faded and mere remnants of an intense moment. For this week’s episode, we’ll be listening to tracks from video games that deal with sudden loss: A lone warrior washing up o...

It’s time for another edition of “On Stage Now” for the month of March. This month’s featured musician is Firamiel. Hailing from Brazil, Firamiel plays celtic, epic, and medieval/medieval fantasy music, from both movies and video games. Her main instrument is the violin, while she also plays other instruments, such as the tin whistle, lyre, and ukulele. She enjoys Lord of the Rings, folk music, anime, Final Fantasy (the older ones), and “medieval fantasy” style in stories, games, and movies; on...

St. Patrick’s Day is here, and green is everywhere: on the clothes worn to avoid getting pinched, in the beer, and the four-leaf clover. People are hoping to get lucky in gambling, dating, and video games. Speaking of video games, St. Patrick’s Day also means the re-run of last year’s episode (#07), so to speak. I mean, yes, they are gacha games, but it’ll be a different set of games from last year. We’ll be listening to tracks from several gacha video games: a battle on the high seas with ant...

You know it’s a big deal when a company recognizes a fan-made holiday. Oh yes, we are celebrating (another) special holiday, called National Mario Day. Thanks to the realization of a fan writing out the date (Mar. 10), Nintendo officially endorsed the date afterwards in 2016. While it could be argued that any day is a day to celebrate, March 10th is officially the day to walk, talk, and play Mario. You can play any game with Mario in it, dress up like Mario, or even try talking like Mario. Thi...

Have you ever heard a track that made you say “Hey, I played that game in that franchise!”, turn up the volume to 11, and well up with pride as tears flowed from your eyes? More than likely, that track was the main theme for that video game franchise. In a sense, it could be considered that the anthem, a song that fills you up with a sense of identity, purpose, and prestige. It’s like the Pokemon Theme (from last episode, #57, “Catch That Pokemon!”). You know (most of) the words, you close your...

“I wanna be the very best…” Admit it, you started humming the the tune and even finished the rest of the verse. Now that you’ve got that earworm, it’s time to celebrate an upcoming date, February 27th, known as National Pokemon Day. It was on this date in Japan that Pokemon Red and Green were released for Nintendo’s Game Boy. Two years later, Pokemon Red and Blue were released in North America. Since then, the Pokemon franchise has exploded into many different media outlets: manga, anime, Satu...

Welcome to the February edition of “On Stage Now”, a special monthly episode in which a cover or remix artist or band is featured with a playlist of their work. This month’s featured guest is The Consouls, an ensemble band based in Sydney, Australia. They started in 2014 with jazz arrangements and have since expanded into other genres, such as funk, fusion, and rock. They will, on occasion, include some horns and strings in their arrangements. While the Consouls have played locally at several p...

The United States and Mexico have Independence Day, France has Bastille Day, Germany has Unity Day, and both Russia and Australia have a Day. All of these days, in common, celebrate a country’s or nation’s birth or reformation. They mark a time when a group of like-minded citizens decided to declare itself separate and apart from another ruling party or establish a place of their own upon landing. It is a day that reminds its people of where they came from and how they got there, in comparison t...