Album Review - Nightwish's "Imaginareum"

Hello everyone! Natalie P. Moisa, your "average rady" here :)

I know I said this blog would be only about cosplay, cosmetology, and everything in between that. xD But then again, I'd like to usually post random dabble that are relevant to my interests. I am an unusual person, pessimistic (at times), and very opinionated; I also like to write ^ ^; So today, I will be writing about something I am very much in love with:

Music.

I was in band since Middle School. Sure I did quit my senior year, due to personal reasons. But I continued my love of it, along with performing through taking vocal classes, and relearning the piano. But even then, I was following many different artists and bands that I am very much in love with,

I love all genres of music. I grew up listening to the Beatles, the Stones, Classic Country, Judy Garland, the Rat Pack, and of course, the occasional Mexican/Ranchero music. So I ain't picky when it comes to what I listen to. Food and music are the two things I ain't horribly picky about. I even listen to the occasional Hip/Hop and Rap song.

But my first love has always been Symphonic Metal. It's a great combination of guitar riffs, fast beat drumming, soft and melodious pianos, unique storytelling-esque lyrics, an entire symphony, and of course, a beautiful woman (or a very sexy man xD) trained operatically, singing with power and grace.

In high school, I was a big Evanescence fan. I blame Pandora for getting me into Van Canto, Epica, Apocalyptica, Kamelot, and of course, my ultimate favorite, Nightwish.

Now, let us not get into a "Who's the better lead singer" crap. I am really tired of this "epic rap battle" of Tarja Turnen VS Anette Olzon. While yes, I got into Nightwish in 2007, two years after "End of an Era" and the decision the band took on firing Tarja. I do love Tarja (very, very much), she has the voice of a goddess, along with the grace and beauty of one. So she was fired for being a "diva", but here is so much more than that. It was personal (and private) matters that lead to the band's decision of firing her. So, if you want to "blame" anyone, "blame" the band. But she is much better off without them. Her two solo albums (My Winter Storm (2007) and What Lies Beneath (2010) ) definitely prove that she does not need them. She is a force to be reckoned with on her own.

How can you not love this beautiful and talented woman!? :O! 

Now, the new singer (though not much new anymore), Anette Olzon. I personally like her. Her style is definitely more "punk/metal" sounding. Combined with Nightwish's beautiful melodies, unique storytelling lyrics, and powerful chords. She adds a great and edgy sound to finish it off. She belongs in Nightwush, and the great thing about her personally, is that she is one of the "brozies" :D!

She is so totally me! Always changing her hair and one of the "bros". I wanna drink with her! :D

So, now the album itself.

LOVE the album cover! It's. So. Awesome. I. Has. No. More. Words! 

Imaginareum was recently released, and I finally got it on iTunes. This is Nightwish's seventh studio album, and it's a concept album (Meaning that the songs, played in order, are part of a much bigger story). I love concept albums! From Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare (1975), to Kamelot's Epica (2003), and The Black Halo (2005).

I've always thought all of Nightwish's  songs put together could make a musical, since Tuomas Holopainen (the main songwriter and the band's keyboardist), writes the same "characters" and themes all the time. "The child...", innocence and childhood, "the wishmaster...", "the poet...", love and longing, etc. etc. So for them to write a concept album, was not a surprise to me, and a bit delayed xD

The story of Imaginareum is about a songwriter, who is a slowly losing his memories due to dementia. In his mind, he is reverted to being a child. He remembers his life before. Long lost loves, combined with beautiful ballads, and dreamlike melodies, makeup the soundtrack for this story,

Also, Imaginareum is going to be a musical/music video.movie. I am very excited about this, and anxious to see it. Holopainen himself has said that one of his major influences was the great movie composer, Hanz Zimmer. Even my mum felt that Nightwish's songs sounded like movie soundtracks. This is yet another example of how much I wasn't surprised about this movie.

LOOK HOW EVEN MORE AMAZING THIS IS!!! D:! 

So I am not going to review each song, nor am I going to the said story line. But I will list the most important songs, along with my personal favorites with little comments:

Note/Disclaimer: I do not own the right to Nightwish, nor to Youtube. Used for edumacational/entertainment purposes only. Like the music? Please support Nightwish and iTunes by buying the album! Thank you. 

"Storytime"

The first single/music video, and we are shown a tidbit. I do laugh at Tuomas' costume being Erik, the Phantom, but Anette's Dark!Snow White was beautiful :) The song serves as a sort of intro to the story, It's a great example and reminder of Nightwish's awesome musical style. With the orchestra and choir, and showing off the band as a whole.

"Slow, Love, Slow"

Now, like I mentioned my love of Garland and the Rat Pack, I am very much in love with Jazz. It's also the only genre of music I can sing in range to (oh how I am okay with being a Contra Alto xD). It was odd to hear Nightwish taking a jazz route, but very interesting, and Anette pulled this off well. Very 1930's Clubby music. Plus, the song itself reminded me of a very good SerasXAlucard fic. Oh me xDD

"Scaretale" 

Oh Anette, how we love your voice when it gets creepy! XD This song is suppose to be about children's nightmares. Not that this gave me a nightmare, but it did remind me of "Master Passion Greed". Anette's voice changes dynamics, tones, and chords. It's pretty unique and a bit frightening ^ ^; 

"Turn Loose the Mermaids"

A "celtic, ballad, sad, melancholic" song. I hear a slight Clint Eastwood/Spaghetti Western in C Key part. An odd combination, but it was made to work :) And I do love me some Celtics :)

"The Crow, the Owl, and the Dove"

 

This song was written by the male vocals and bassist, Marco Hietala. He did write "The Islander" in Dark Passion Play (2007). So I wasn't surprised at his songwriting skills. But for him to write something softer and less metal-y? This was quite unexpected. I also love the duet between him and Anette. To me, it also sounds a bit alternative sound-y xD. 

"Song of Myself" 

Nightwish is notorious for writing long ballad/songs (Though probably not as long as this blog entry xD). With "Ghost Love Score" (a personal favorite) at 10 minutes. And "The Poet and the Pendulum" at 13 minutes. This song is at the same length, divided into 4 "parts:. Much inspired by the poet Walt Whitman. I feel it is the climatic song, and it explains the ending of the story.

"Imaginareum" 

The outro track and supposedly the song that will run into the credits of the movie. A medly of all the songs in the album. And it wasn't composed entirely by Tuomas Holopainen. He gave orchestral arranger, Pip Williams creative license to do whatever he wanted with it. It really remind me of musical entr'actes, where all the main songs are basically put together. 

Imaginareum is definitely one of Nightwish's best albums to date! As I mentioned, my personal love for the band, it's style, and storytelling like elements :) I couldn't have been more proud and amazed with them.

I cannot wait to see them live again, along with seeing the movie!

Thank you so much for reading!

<3 Much Love,

Natalie P. Moisa 

Animation on Display

Hello Everyone, Captain Li Hellsing, your Cosplay Comestologist here!

Sorry for the lack of updates once again. I need to find time away from job searching, school, and other things to write.

Anywho, lemme talk about my recent trip to Animation on Display.

As I mentioned in some other blogs, (and people who know me know this). I haven't been cosplaying or going to gatherings since October. Personal stress, weight gain, work, school, and other things have prevented me from going to cons/gatherings. That and the feeling of "meh, I don't wanna do this." So, AoD was a pretty big deal for me.

Friday night was the beginning of con stress. As I have mentioned on a facebook post, "Cons ain't cons without major stress." Before or during.

I didn't have a lot of money to spend, so I had to do some little favors to do so. But luckily, I had my little paycheck to help me with funds. I prepped the night before, by waxing my face, buying supplies, packing, shaving my legs, and and painting my nails. Along with waxing and doing Maria's nails as well. Needless to say, because of that stress, we didn't sleep till two a.m.

Saturday morning, we had to get up early because I still wanted to go to class. I wanted to get as much hours as I could before we went to the con. I convinced Maria to cut her hair and get her makeup done at the salon so I could get credit for it, have her have her elaborate makeup for Stocking, and of course, keep busy until we left. Her makeup looked amazing and I couldn't have been anymore proud of myself:

Photo from my iPhone, and yes, I think Maria was tired in this pic ^^;

So I clocked out early, and we headed from my house, straight to San Francisco. Due to the Bay Bridge closure, we had to take the San Mateo bridge. It also made it convienent to pick up my honey, Nick, from the San Mateo Caltrain Station. 

Once we got into San Mateo, we waited for his train to arrive. I applied a little bit of makeup and he arrived :). We all got together and drove off to Japantown. Once we had arrived, we hauled ass to find a parking station, since apparently, the lot was full. I did make Nick get out of the car and save an empty space for me. Thank you honey! XD

We pulled Supermans in the car. Changing into our Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt cosplays. With me as Panty, Maria as Stocking, and Nick as Brief. We grabbed our things, and walked to the Hotel Kabuki. Meeting up with friends and cosplay family, getting our badges, and exploring the con. 

We all had a P&SwG shoot at 3 with the amazing Kris Ling (BlizzardTerrak), I told Nick and Maria to go ahead without me, since my bro Robbie (Eliteslayer) and myself had to check in to our hotel room. And here is where the poop hit the fan.

According to the hotel, I booked the room for last weekend. I did not! I told them the weekend of the convention which was on President's Day weekend, this was back when I booked the hotel in October. Then, I called them about two weeks ago to put the room under Robbie's name, once again, letting them know it was for the convention. Also, my confirmation emails (which were on my iPhone) had that date on it! Needless to say, I was angry, stressed, and really pissed off. I was thankful for Robbie being there and not letting me go off on the staff.

I may be a nice woman and not wanting to cause any drama, but when you are tired, near fainting from anemia, and stressed out, then you don't want to take any crap handed down to you. So I thank you Robbie for being there. 

As I realized I couldn't be there for my shoot, I also started looking for me and my roomies (there was five of us) to stay. Luckily, Jaiden and Ray had a suite and it was only two of them! They let us stay with them in their suite provided we paid and cleaned up after ourselves, which we did. Jaiden and Ray, I cannot thank you so so much for your generosity and charity! You guys will get extra sweets and loving from me! 

We then proceeded to get our things from my car, and settle. Even though I was shaking, and in near midst of a panic attack (thank you once again, Robbie and Jaiden), I had to rush and get to my panel that was at four.

Now, my panel, Cosplay Cosmetology, went fairly....okay.

I only say this because I had a set way of presenting this after doing it the first time (and slightly bombing) at Fanime. I had live demonstrations, a model to present, and what not. But combine that with last minute editing, no cord for a Mac Book, and my near panic attack, I feel that it could've been done better. But people gave me compliments on it, and I had more audience participation than Fanime 2011. Here's hoping Fanime 2012's panel goes better! (If they approve it)

After my panel, we made it back to the room to sort out our stuff. While the others went to dinner, I decided to stay behind with my boyfriend to rest. After a nice bath in a (AWESOME) jacuzzi tub and sometime in the sauna, I got redressed and headed with Nick to the Brony Mixer. While there, I hung out (and took care of ^ ^;) a very....happy Dana xD.

We all then retired to the room and had a small room party, it was more of a meeting with Blue Lotus Cosplay if anything. Princess Celestia cocktails are awesome though! :)

Sunday:
Woke up early again, nommed on the breakfast stuff we brought, and got dressed into P&SwG again. Thank you Kris for squeezing us in last minute due to the crap that happened the day before.

So here are some teaser pics from that shoot:

Myself and Maria as Panty and Stocking respectively.

My "backlace" gun was made by my darling Nicholas :) It was my Valentine's Day Gift

Brief trying to give Panty a Valentine. Brief cosplayed by my darling Nick :)

Panty's response? "Bitch, please." xD

The next pic isn't safe for work xD or for anything, but hey, I will let you know, I wasn't commando during this shoot, AND, it is how the character is.

TTKSA - Time to kick some ass, by prepping my weapon xD ^^;

Though I do like that pic, it really shows how I was able to pull of Stocking. And once Kris finished editing the rest (no rush, Kris :) ) I will post up the pics, especially the ones showing off me and Maria's makeup. I was very proud of how our cosplays turned out. 

Our P&SwG cosplays were definitely a group effort. With me doing the makeup and some wig styling for the three of us, Maria making/sewing the costumes (with the exception of Nick's jumpsuit, she did make and sew the patch for it though) and Nick and Robbie making our fabulous props. I am very happy with how this all turned out.

After the shoot, we got out of our cosplays, changed into One Piece (Me as Post Time Skip Nami, Nick as Post Time Skip Sanji, and Maria as Boa Hancock), we headed back to the con. Nick went to his Pony panel, while me and Maria were chilling. We then went to an awesome ramen house for lunch :) I need to remember the name of the place so I can leave them a great review on Yelp!

After, I went to babysit Oscar's sweet little girl, Mai. Oscar was at the Hideo concert and I got to stay in their room and watch her. Mai is such a delight and a very intelligent girl :) I can actually see her cosplaying when she gets older :)

Once Oscar came back, we all switched into comfier attire, went to get me a crepe, and began our journey back home. 

So, needless to say, AoD was a fun con. Got to see a lot of friends, took a load of stress from personal matters off me, and got me excited for the con season coming up. 

I just need to not stress over little things and look at the bigger picture. And not to forget the Murphy's Law of "What can go wrong, will go wrong." But I will try to be optimistic and hope that things will not go downhill :)

So, with that, I bid you all a goodnight :)

<3 Much Love,

Captain Li Hellsing 

2012 Cosplay and Convention Planner.

Hello there everyone, Captain Li Hellsing, your Cosplay Cosmetologist here :)

So in reference to my last post, I am putting in here all the conventions are events I will be attending in 2012 (Up to June, mind you) Along with any cosplays I will be premiering.

Keep in mind, due to my switch to day classes, I will not be able to attend as many events as I can. Only until May 11, which is when I anticipate to graduate. :)

So, without further ado, here is a list of events I will be attending.

Animation on Display in San Francisco's Japantown, the Kabuki Hotel. Feb 18-19. I will be there Saturday from one in the afternoon to Sunday at four in the afternoon. I will be premiering two new cosplays, and I am presenting my Cosplay Cosmetology Panel. And of course, staffing for Bay Area Conventions.

Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco's Japantown. I will be premiering a new cosplay and working staff for Bay Area Conventions as well.

Fanimecon, Downtown San Jose. Premiering four new cosplays, hopefully presenting my panel, and attending lots of gatherings. Also, helping out with Bay Area Convetions.

So those are the events I am planning to attend. Hope to see each and everyone out there :)

Now, here is the list of the cosplays I am working for up to June:

Panty Anarchy from Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

Premiering: Animation on Display (And bringing to Fanime)

Post-Time Skip Nami from One Piece

Premiering at Animation on Display

Inami from Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden

Premiering at the Cherry Blossom Festival

Saeko Busujima from High School of the Dead

Premiering at Fanime

Esmeralda from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Premiering at Fanime

Tig Ol' Bitties from the band "Your Favorite Martian"'s music video. 

Premiering at Fanime

Wilhemina Murray from Bram Stoker's Dracula 

Premiering at Fanime.

So, that in turn completes my list. It is subject to change, but this is what I am aiming for.

I hope to see you all soon, and I will write soon :)

<3 Much Love,

Natalie P. Moisa 

Ringing in the New Year - Cosplay 2012 Season

Hello Everyone!

Captain Li Hellsing/Natalie P. Moisa, your Cosplay Cosmetologist/Stylist/Average Rady here ^ ^

Wishing you a belated Happy Christmas and a belated Happy New Year. Hope the Lord has blessed you with many gifts (not tangible ones, mind you ;) )

I apologize for not updating, turning 21, plus the combination of the holidays, work, school, home life, and of course getting sick, had prevented me from any obligations :/ Including the blog.

My birthday was fair. Spent it with my dear friends at the Dicken's Fair. Had no intentions on getting drunk. I did buy my first Absinthe though :) Don't recommend it for those who despise the taste of black licorice. Great to see and hang out with amazing people/friends.

My Christmas was lovely. Spending it with my dear mother. Together we cooked a delicious Christmas Dinner, watched a Christmas Story, and the Dr. Who Christmas Special :) Turning my dear momma into a fellow Whovian ;)

New Year's was even more lovely, spending it with my boyfriend watching Sons of Anarchy, having dinner and beers :)

That is all the adventures of the Average Rady ^ ^

From your Personal Stylist:

School is great, learning more and more by the nights :)

Day classes start tomorrow, so scared. All the rumors and stories on how urban and disrespectful the people in the class are. I will pull through, I have to.

That is it from the personal stylist ;)

As from the cosplayer,

2012 is here, and that means a new cosplay year :D

I am really looking forward to it, my first cosplay event will be Animation on Display in San Francisco's Japantown. I will be premiering two new cosplays (one is a secret) but the other has to deal with underwear ;)

I wanted to put in my list of what I am will be cosplaying this year, and the events, but I am tired and I have to get ready for class.

So I bid you all goodnight, and I will see you all later :)

Till then, goodnight.

And <3 Much Love,
Natalie P. Moisa