Being misanthropic, depressed, and constantly alienated, I do try to cheer myself up from time to time. One of the most common ways I do this is by finding some gem of a music video to drool over.

"Bye Bye Beautiful" by Nightwish, Dark Passion Play (2007)

Yes! You guessed it. Gorgeous models backed by even more gorgeous music. And I simply adore Marco Hietala, the guy who accompanies Anette Olzon in the duet, even despite his, uh, double goatee (is that a double goatee?). Such a sexy voice. And speaking of sexy, see that punk rocker-esque keyboard player with the black eyeliner? I realized (just yesterday) that he was the composer/lyricist/mastermind/genius Tuomas Holopainen himself. I seriously had no idea he was that dashing in real life.

"Amaranth" by Nightwish, Dark Passion Play (2007)

THE quintessential rock video. Really pop in disguise, despite the heavy riffing, but I'm not complaining. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.

As an aside, Dark Passion Play is the first of Nightwish's studio albums to feature their new vocalist, Anette Olzon of Sweden. Her predecessor, Tarja Turunen, was fired in an open letter in 2005. The majority of fans are still divided about the move, and I myself think the rest of the band's demeanor towards her was uncalled for. ("Bye Bye Beautiful": "Did you ever hear what I told you? / Did you ever read what I wrote you?" It's really a spiteful farewell song to Tarja.) However, though I greatly miss Tarja's operatic vocals (after all, classical singing can't be beat), I'm gradually warming up to a Tarja-less Nightwish. In the long run, it probably was the right decision, given that they were moving away from classical vocals anyway. And if they keep producing euro-metal gold like "Bye Bye Beautiful" and "Amaranth"… well, then, I'm OK.

"The Islander" by Nightwish, Dark Passion Play (2007)

Beautiful folk ballad. One of the most haunting and visually arresting works of fine video.

And that concludes your musical update from Jenny-fa.