I've been meaning to post this for quite a while, but have been swamped with coursework and that thing called like and being ill ;)

*Please keep in mind that I've got the right to say what I feel in an ACADEMIC PAPER!*

**Certain things have been edited out for protections sake.

Censorship in the world of Nightwish
The New Oxford American Dictionary defines the word censorship “as being the practice of officially examining books and suppressing unacceptable parts.” I have personally experienced censorship related to this band’s management and official fan-club. For the last several months, I have maintained my own blog under the pen-name Metalliwishfan on the Livejournal blogging site, and unfortunately was censored by a member of the band’s fan-club, in effect, shamed into silence, and banned from the Tuomas Holopainen forum for my personal opinion.
When this first happened, I thought to myself “gee, I must have really set someone off” but I figured that I was just over-reacting to someone’s over reaction to the personal musings of a fan. It seemed quite petty of these so-called professionals to track down a personal blog and ban them for what it contained. I was always very careful to not say anything offensive on the forums, and followed the rules to the letter; however, apparently someone has a personal vendetta against me. I am very opinionated and pride myself in that. I have never experienced this type of censorship and for several months, got to the point that I did not care at all, and was very harsh in my musings. However, time went on, and in November, the censorship happened again, this time it was much worse, and affected over a thousand people.
An entire community ceased to exist because a small group of fans thought that the larger population was being too liberal. One of the most common misconceptions is that whatever you say on the internet does not really matter, and that you can have carte blanche on speech. The fans were discussing leaks and bootlegs, which caused the record company to throw a fit. All mentions of a leak were promptly removed, and the fans warned against doing it again. We groaned and grumbled, but did as we were asked. Not even a week later, the forum ceased to exist.
One of the sites that were welcoming the influx of censored fans happened to be the forum for unofficial American fan-club, which is where I went. We discussed freely, openly, and it is still a thing of beauty, polite debate and honest feelings about the music, which is what brought all of us together, from all walks of life. The subject of having more ties to social media was brought up, and I volunteered for the job, wanting to give back to the community that had done so much for me. The person that had harassed me on my blog before, who shall remain nameless, started to demand that the 4 heads of the club remove me as a staff member, because of my blog. “Do it seems that you guys do not even deserve the official status if you
in reality act like this ?(sic)” (King Foo Entertainment)
The heads refused, and we kept our dignity as we forged on, accepting more members into the club that refused to abide by the rules that were starting to get ridiculous, such as “You can be banned at any time, without notice, at the moderators discretion” and “You can no longer talk about the Oceansouls Of America fan club, or else risk getting banned.” What had initially
been a community started to feel like a heavily communist country. If you protested, you were removed, and all traces of your existence was removed from the servers.
If as song such as “Slaying The Dreamer” (Century Child, 2002) is about the
author/writer being told that he is a “dumb kid, just living a dream” then doesn’t it seem like he
was affected adversely by the same thing that is affecting me, one of the appreciators of his style
of expression? I personally did not agree with all the glowing reviews that the magazines gave,
so I reviewed it from my perspective, from what I saw, and within days, I’m being asked to
remove them, since those words are apparently the Oceansouls Of America speaking as an
organization.
These thoughts never appeared on the site, other than as a web-link. I can volunteer for
something and have a darker thought about a subject without it being the professional stance of
the entire organization. Much as President Obama can worship at Camp David and still rule as
somewhat secular, I have the right as a citizen of the United States Of America to speak my mind
even curse if that’s what I truly feel.
The discussion of music should never ever be censored, because then what is the point? I’ve been asked repeatedly “why do you even bother if this organization is causing you so many headaches?” I honestly do not think the band has any idea of what the management is doing, which does not make it right, however, how are you going to fix the problem if the corruption is at the top of the chain of command, with the band being the figure-heads of the online community, always visible, but never fully present.
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely” I do wonder what Lord Acton would say in this situation. That phrase describes this situation perfectly, which is a very sad thing, indeed. A fan
should be able to critique a musical work without being labeled a ”so-called fan”. What I hear could be completely different from what Tuomas Holopainen hears, since we have completely different perspectives. I listen from the viewpoint of an avid music lover. He listens to it from the viewpoint of composer. That doesn’t give the root-administrator of the forum to be giving out permanent bans, just because the personal views of member of another fan-club are totally different.
No one should have to keep what they truly feel about something bottled up inside out of fear that we might just offend someone, especially when it comes to a post online. My intent was to encourage the discussion of those subjects I covered, not find myself banned from anything official because I violated the rules of the forum:
(ENGLISH - Forum Rules - www.nightwishforum.com)
2. Do not post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, abusive, vulgar, hateful, racist, insulting, harrassing, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive ofa person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. This also applies to your signature
and e-mail sent through the forum's e-mail feature.
7. The moderators and admins have the sole power to decide which topics get closed and
which users are suspended or banned. If you feel treated unfair, contact a moderator or admin by
8. No posting in other colours/fonts. The moderation team are the only ones to use colours to have posts more visable.
9. Be nice to others, especially new members! This forum has members from all over the world
and all age groups. If you can't tolerate other opinions and cultural differences, this forum is not for you.
11. Keep swearing/bad/foul language to an absolute minimum. Moderators are closely watching and advised strictly to take any action if this gets out of hands. There will be only one verbal warning!
16. To avoid any kind of discussion: Those rules are not subject to negotiation!! If you don't like them, don't join the forum!!(sic)”
“The Official Nightwish Forum hosted at www.nightwishforum.com has suffered from problems
of censorship from its inception. Various members had their opinionated posts removed, simply because
the moderators or admin did not agree with what people were saying. Interestingly, it seemed they always
took the care of never removing posts with statements such as “I’ll probably be banned for saying this”
or “I won’t be surprised if the moderators remove my post.”
Yours truly,
Tadithoe. (Has also been known as Radithor during more sober nights.)(sic)”

What do any of these rules have to do with a personal blog? If you want to have a very strict forum that feels very censored, that is fine, but please, do not try to dictate to me what’s on my own little dusty crack of the internet. I am allowed to be as harsh as possible on my own journal, because, even though anyone can view it, it’s still private. When we as a society stelling adults that they cannot speak freely in what is essentially a web-diary, then we have failed. I certainly do not want to raise a child any place that they do not feel free to really say what they feel. We are censored from the very start, told what is acceptable in “polite society” however, a personal blog is not and cannot be considered “polite society.”

Censorship is alive and well in many different forms, not just on a heavy-metal bands
official message board, and affects much more than just this community. Does this make it
right? Not at all. However, unless the population rises up and protests, nothing will change.
When people are so afraid to talk that they end every post with “please don’t ban me for this, just
respectfully posting my opinion” then something HAS to change. That’s usually referred to as
tyranny. It seems silly to use such strong words on a message-board, but that seems to be the
only proper way to describe it.


Sources:
Page 2: Entry for the definition of “censorship” (The New American Oxford Dictionary 2009)
Page 3: Email from King Foo Entertainment (2012)
Page 4: (ENGLISH - Forum Rules - www.nightwishforum.com) (retrieved on 11 March 2012)
Page 6: Email from Tadithoe, current Nightwish.com forum member from Tasmania (2012)

If you have a problem with me or whats been presented in this paper, email me at snowwhiteamaranth@live.com and I will do my best to explain my arguements further.

-Review of Requiem For The Indifferent-
1.Karma(prelude)
2.Monopoly On Truth
3.Storm The Sorrow
4.Delirium
5.Internal Warfare
6.Requiem For The Indifferent
7.Anima
8.Guilty Demeanor
9.Deep Water Horizon
10.Stay The Course
11.Deter The Tyrant
12.Avalanche
13.Serenade Of Self-Destruction
14.Twin Flames

When Mark Jansen posted on Facebook that Epica was going back into the studio to work on the follow up to 2009's Design Your Universe, I was ecstatic, and anxiously read every single update, new article, and watched all the youtube.com vids I could because of pure love for Simone's lovely voice blended with an amazing band behind her.

When the date of American release was announced, I made plans to buy a copy sometime close to the release date, didn't have to be exactly on the release date, until I heard Storm The Sorrow, and, yesterday, walked up to the Hastings Books and Music on Sheridan RD in Lawton and bought the lone copy of RFTI that they had. I am happy that I made that choice.

I will admit that I was hesitant to review this because of the response I received with the last album review that I did, which was over Nightwish's Imaginaerum, back in January. However, I think it's deserving of my opinion.

I really think the band has grown tighter, I love the fact that the orchestra and choir are accenting the music, not, overwhelming it. Emphasis is perfect. Doesn't hurt that I have much love for Simone's beautiful voice. Delirium is a little slow, but it's still pretty awesome. Very solid CD, 5 ****** from me. Fuck YEAH! Now if only I could find the chord for my MP3 player, so I could take this beautiful thing with me :D

I've heard that tornadoes are symbolic of MASSIVE upheaval in someones life, and ya know what? It happened.

Yesterday, good friend of mine and I were walking from our respective math classes(he has basic algebra, I have pre-algebra) when he told me he dreamed about having a tornado come after him in a building. I told him 'You have a HUGE change coming in your life' Little did I know how that afternoons events would lay out and that I'd discover who my real friends are.

Got out of English Comp 1 at like 3:00 and called my roommate at 3:15 to let her know I was out when I got a massive piece of shitty news: the management of the complex wanted me gone. She didn't go into the explanations, however, I was still going 'OH FUCK!' and thus started the most insane mad-dash across campus and frantic phone-calls with that same friend from earlier.

I went to Financial Assistance first, where I signed a note thinking that I HAD to get a loan for even possibly staying in the dorms, and the girl at the desk told me to go find the department head of my major, which is music, and see about getting a departmental dorm waiver.

Made it to his office, still panicky and crying as I told him about what had happened, and the ball got rolling. Within 30 minutes, I realized that this guy I barely know, met him on the 10th would be someone I'd owe my sanity to. After all the books and crap figured in, I had less than $70 in my bank account, and even less from the money I recieved as a refund from my Pell grant. He took the $200 from his own refund and paid for my deposit. He keeps saying that money is just paper and cloth, and doesn't mean shit to him, but at the same time, goddamned, what a friend to have!

Right now, I have about $2000 of electronics in my dorm room, and a clean basket of clothes.... that's it. Have plans to go tommorrow for clothes, but I need to write down a general list of whats needed.... inventory, if you will. mad dash in the dead of winter.... whoo...

And today... had my own weird world of weather that had happened originally yesterday, and discovered that my gifts are still very powerful. I'm not saying I'm calling down storms, but i glanced outside and pea-to-dime seized hail started hitting the ground. I still have it :)

Life is something you can plan for, but sometimes, life takes you on a rollercoaster.

Now, I could do the really paranoid thing and say that I've been targetted, due to one of my 3 covers getting deleted on Youtube, however, based on the My Guest stats, I see a fairly frequent bunch of visitors and know that people have been reading me, so, in case any of those... friends of Metalliwishfan are interested, this is where I stand:

"

One of the rights accorded to the owner of copyright is the right to reproduce or to authorize others to reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. This right is subject to certain limitations found in sections 107 through 118 of the copyright law (title 17, U. S. Code). One of the more important limitations is the doctrine of “fair use.” The doctrine of fair use has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years and has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law.

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

• 1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
  2. The nature of the copyrighted work
  3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
  4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.

The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: “quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.”

Copyright protects the particular way authors have expressed themselves. It does not extend to any ideas, systems, or factual information conveyed in a work.

The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. The Copyright Office cannot give this permission.

When it is impracticable to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of fair use would clearly apply to the situation. The Copyright Office can neither determine if a certain use may be considered fair nor advise on possible copyright violations. If there is any doubt, it is advisable to consult an attorney."

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

So, based on that, is it right to tell people that say 'THIS IS A COVER OF A FAVORITE SONG' CLEARLY and the music that IS heard is being recorded as BACKGROUND? I am NOT recording the stuff and saying I wrote it. It's NOT my copywrite, it's not my song, however, I DID SING ON IT, and no where in that does it say I cannot post a cover, for non-profit and educational purposes.

I'm trying to educate people about the style of voice that I have, and I also wanted to PERFORM Creek Mary's Blood differently.

Just as my upcoming Storytime cover will be PERFORMED DIFFERENTLY, and will have THAT TEXT QUOTED IN THE DESCRIPTION!

After 5 weeks of waiting, and many, many hours of internal back and forth, and countless Messenger conversations, I decided to forgo 3 hours of sleep Monday and purchased Nightwish Imaginaerum[Special Edition] specifically for the instrumental tracks.

I admit that I am not the happiest of fans at this point with the album, and feel that the instrumentals warrant a separate review.


  1. Taikatalvi- I can totally understand and appreciate the lullaby description of this song, and it remains a favorite, even with not understanding a lick of Finnish(standard form) or without lyrics. Great song and you can't take from that.

 2. Storytime-  I am noticing many personal pet-peeves part way through, such as a noticeably fuzzy Nightwish, and a BLARINGLY OBVIOUS orchestra. AND, the chorus is STILL audible! To me, it sounds like the band is playing through a feather-pillow filter, or someone got happy with  the 'less-is-more' feature.

 3. Ghost River- First, what REALLY bugs me is the 'clip-clop-clip-clop' of what sounds like an iron-shod horse on a cobble-stone or brick street throughout the choruses. Now, some people MAY not notice it, however, some people I've spoken to catch it clearly.

 4. Slow Love Slow-  The Nightwish song that is described as a journey to a smoky, 1930s era American jazz club. However, I do not hear 'jazz' when this is playing. I hear a miss-mash of sounds. I do not hear anything as brilliant as John Coltrane, who, to me, is the epitome of the jazz genre. Jazz has more excitement, while, personally, I find it very boring.

 5. I Want My Tears Back- Again with the funky filter-job! Honestly, what's with the mixing and production on this album? Stop trying to be so 'out-of-the-box' and go back to writing stuff like you did with Century Child and Wishmaster. Hell, even Once is better, and it is all with the same crew. And by crew, I mean MUSICIANS. I KNOW Tarja isn't vocalist, and will never be again, that's not my complaint!

 6. Scaretale- This seems to be a recurring theme on this album- brilliant with some astonishing orchestral bits, and then the volume drops and I'm checking my headphones and internal volume control, thinking I accidentally hit it when I hear another LOUD instrument, and the level of the music increases, then drops back when the band can be heard. That's not distortion, that's how you produced it.

 7. Arabesque- One of my favorite tracks thus far, and just the song to play when you are ass deep in Fable III in the Aurora scene. Sand furies, anyone?

 8. Turn Loose The Mermaids- This song hits so low on my radar that I actually had to double-check to make sure that I had the right song title before writing this part of the review. I'm so unimpressed that this has played a total of 4 times, and that's usually because I'm so focused on schoolwork that it plays to tuned-out ears.

 9. Rest Calm-  Now, this is a song to get my pulse racing! I have found myself many a time just sitting and absorbing the music, or else looking like I'm getting electrocuted as I try to dance to Rest Calm while seated. Again, I notice the weird pillow filter, so it's a production issue, not my headphones. Friend of mine has some experience with production and would like to offer his services after hearing parts of the album through my handy-dandy MP3 player. He IS majoring in Music Business, after all, and has been producing old-school rap for YEARS. For someone as unfamiliar with the music as him offering to do that is telling.

10. Last Ride Of The Day- Again, great song to listen to, great beat, and would have been the perfect song to close the album with.

11. Song Of Myself- And the high I had coming off Last Ride Of The Day promptly dies a quick death around the 6:30 mark. Even without the poem that never ends, you have a track that drones on and on, kinda like Metallica and Lou Reed's LuLu.
 
12. Imaginaerum- Interesting track, another instrumental. Does sound like a proper closing-track, and that's fantastic. However, I am not all that into it, and usually skip it.

So, as you can see, I HAVE given the album a chance, even if it may seem like I've got some bias against the band. I AM paying very close attention to this album, and this band. I understand that I am only a week into my major, however, I do still have an ear for production, and a tendency to analyze any album I listen to, especially after getting into Shadows Fall. Great band, but it takes some time getting used to the band, and I discovered the ability to mentally turn down a layer of track to enjoy what lies beneath(no pun intended). I AM a music major, so it takes a lot of passion and intensity to even endure what will be for me 6-7 years for what would take a 'normal' person 4 years. It takes a HUGE love of music to want this B. M. concentrating in vocal-performance. Not to mention the will to use this successfully as an opera-singer.

*These are the opinions of Metalliwishfan, not the opinions of the entire OSA organization, so, if you wish to quote me, just link it*

After waking up at 4:30(alarm was set for 9!) I laid in bed, thinking about school, and decided to get up around 5:15.

Got dressed, went to school and got my ID made, only to discover... the -$134 is something that is in my favor, NOT the schools. I am getting THAT back, in addition to the $620 I already got. Woohoo!

Pre-Algebra is looking like it's going to be one of my simpler classes, and I might FINALLY catch up where I badly lacked in HS.

Ate lunch($10 for a bowl of pasta and breadsticks! fuck that! Sandwich next time)

So, by the time I was walking to my next class, probably looking like a stupid black fuzzy blob, my shoulders were KILLING me from lugging around 20 or so pounds worth of stuff in my bag. Tommorrow, laptop stays firmly planted on my desk here at home.

Got out of class early, and marched over to the campus bookstore, and promptly spent what I pulled from the bank Saturday, and then some.

$387.87 for 4 books!  The 2 that WERE used were $100.75. So, yeah, you do the math. One of those books costs $172. For ONE BOOK!

So, I'm lugging THESE new books around AND my backpack and my back is like, DYING by the time I get home, and I wimp out. Instead of going for the Tyelonol, I go for the big-guns, the good stuff.

I WAS looking into buying Imaginaerum on Amazon.com, but apparently I will have to wait until 12:01am or whenever the Amazon.com servers update. Seriously, all I want is the MP3 version, why can't I preorder the stupid thing? It comes out tommorrow, so, yeah.

And FYI, as much issues as I have with it, it's more of a 'gotta complete my collection' than Oooh, I want it because it's totally awesome, because, obviously, I've voiced my thoughts on it back in November.

To quote a VERY appropriate song in this situation, which I never really understood before now

                May I have your attention please?
May I have your attention please?
Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
We're gonna have a problem here..


To explain:


Also, I think I'm the victim of a hacking scare,  to conclude, I am Metalliwishfan on Livejournal @OSACouncilTaimi on Twitter, and Reubenesqueamazonian on Tumblr.

The Real Slim Shady is standing and shaking her backside!

Ok, finally, completely, got stuff sorted out.

Instead of having 3 classes, I have 7, and will be spending pretty much 6 days a week on campus.

Not totally pissed about the $134, I'll get that out of the ATM or bank draft fairly quick and pay it all off. Next year shouldn't be much more difficult or costly, since I purchased the big-ticket item while I had the refund.

So, yeah, major is music-performance, which will pretty much take up the chunk of time that posting did before. I'll try to post stuff in between classes, but I have more important things to do with my time because of my promotion within the OSA organization, and as my status as a full-time student living off-campus.

I've also got personal-training stuff to look into, so that I can drop some weight and combat the dreaded 'Freshman 15' before they happen LOL.