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A month's worth of reasons to vote Helsinki in 2017, part 1
Voting is currently open to select the site of the 2017 Worldcon. I'm voting for Helsinki, Finland, and this post is about why I think you should vote for Helsinki, too.
Now, if I were writing a sensible post about why you should vote for Helsinki in 2017, I might talk about the importance of putting the "World" in "Worldcon" and of giving a segment of fandom that hasn't had a chance to host the Worldcon before a shot at it.
And I might also talk about how I've met a few of the people involved in the Helsinki in 2017 bid, and how they seem like incredibly fun and incredibly hard-working people. Exactly the sort of people you want running your Worldcon.
This is not a sensible post.
Because, you see, there is a thing that I love almost as much as I love science-fiction fandom, that I am not at all sensible about. And Finland produces more of that thing per capita than any other country in the world.
Yes, I am talking about heavy metal.
So, I'm going to try to post a video from a different Finnish metal band every day in June in support of the Helsinki in 2017 bid.
Undoubtedly one of Finland's most famous metal bands is Nightwish. They are not my favorite Finnish band, but when their distinctive combination of soprano vocals, metal riffs, and over-the-top instrumentation works, it really works.
This song, "Nemo", is one of my favorites of theirs.
Now, if I were writing a sensible post about why you should vote for Helsinki in 2017, I might talk about the importance of putting the "World" in "Worldcon" and of giving a segment of fandom that hasn't had a chance to host the Worldcon before a shot at it.
And I might also talk about how I've met a few of the people involved in the Helsinki in 2017 bid, and how they seem like incredibly fun and incredibly hard-working people. Exactly the sort of people you want running your Worldcon.
This is not a sensible post.
Because, you see, there is a thing that I love almost as much as I love science-fiction fandom, that I am not at all sensible about. And Finland produces more of that thing per capita than any other country in the world.
Yes, I am talking about heavy metal.
So, I'm going to try to post a video from a different Finnish metal band every day in June in support of the Helsinki in 2017 bid.
Undoubtedly one of Finland's most famous metal bands is Nightwish. They are not my favorite Finnish band, but when their distinctive combination of soprano vocals, metal riffs, and over-the-top instrumentation works, it really works.
This song, "Nemo", is one of my favorites of theirs.
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It's easy to read too much into these things, but Tuomas seemed to get even more self-indulgent after Tarja left/was kicked out/whatever the heck happened there. I'm not sure how he managed it, honestly, given the massive level of self-indulgence that was already present in their music. "Wishmaster" is a fun song, but man...
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I don't really know what Nightwish's terms of creative collaboration were back when they started, but several interviews that I read after Anette was kicked out make it pretty clear that these days, Nightwish is Tuomas's show. I suspect if there was ever anyone in the band who could provide any kind of creative pushback to Tuomas, they've either left/been forced out, or have decided to keep their mouths shut.
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It's a pretty good song, but the vindictiveness of the lyrics to "Bye Bye Beautiful" makes me think Nightwish isn't a very healthy collaborative environment.
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(Hell, when ALA was in Chicago I went to a different blues club every night. Three nights of shows and two of them were musicians I'd heard of and long wanted to see. I was in heaven.)
IHNTA, IJLS