#lyric analysis like an english lit major

[so-idialed-9]

Hey :) I recently listened to Harry's "Oh Anna" and was wondering what you think it's about? I haven't really found any discussions about it. Do you know if there are any theories? I kinda feel like it's about Brianna ... it would just make so much sense to me. "Every time I see your face, there’s only so much I can take" and "I don’t want your sympathy, but you don’t know what you do to me" are rather obvious. But also "Well I guess it would be nice if I could touch your body" makes sense since Harry really wants kids and she is supposedly carrying Louis child. Also since it's a line from "Faith" by George Michael which already gives it a queer meaning. Also gives it a kinda cute meaning like Faith in the future that someday he could touch someone's belly who's actually carrying Louis'/his child?

Hi! This is my first Ask, thank you so much, I'm very excited.

I'm also deeply sad to say I don't have a ton of insight on the Anna lyrics. It isn't one of my favorites so I never pay attention to it. I think your theory is a good one.

Other possibilities -

It was released basically at the same time as Medicine, Harry's queerest anthem (so far). He performed them both on tour.

The media called Medicine "a bisexual anthem." They got a lot of the more explicit lyrics wrong, more watered down. They seemed quite confused by it (lol at that in 2021).

So perhaps Anna was a stunt song or a compromise song to lessen the definitive queerness of Medicine.

As you noted, Anna is heavily influenced by George Michael's Faith. Harry is a huge fan of George Michael - he has lyrics from Careless Whisper tattooed on his ankles, and he has talked about him and sung his songs.

RBB/SBB referenced George Michael multiple times. 1.6.2016 - the Bears changed their Twitter icon to George Michael from the album cover of Faith - where he is in a black leather jacket and aviator sunglasses. RBB wore this look a lot, usually with a studded collar - like the collar Harry has worn in several photo shoots, that people mistakenly thought was a lil necklace.

Harry has even been on camera several times wearing the Choose Life shirt which GM famously wore in Wham!

Here Harry is checking out George Michael's art, taking it very seriously with the catalogs under his arm. I like to think he bought something and went home very pleased with himself, and hung it up immediately.

One of the lyrics on Anna that jumps out for me is:

Don’t know where you’re laying

Just know it’s not with me

Don’t know what I’d tell you if

I passed you on the street

Don’t know how you taste when

There’s smoke in your perfume

Chew me up and spit me out

Nothing left to lose

Hope you never hear this

And know that it’s for you

I don't know what I'd tell you

If you asked me for the truth

Laying could be read as lying down or as in "to get laid." It's either emotionally or sexually intimate. Possibly both. And is now pining for it.

Louis sings something similar in Just Like You. A song entirely centered on how the headlines are all bullshit - and disclosing how forced closeting and other abuses have always been used by the entertainment machine and media to control artists. It contains exactly and approximately ten billion LGBTQ references per square second. Including, of course, George Michael's forced closeting...and forced outing, and how that impacted his career.

If I had it my way, pub lunch every Sunday

Cheap beer and it's okay

I wanna lay where she lays

I wanna stay in these days

Gonna smoke and it's okay

In Anna, the singer doesn't smoke - but the person they're pining after does. In JLY, the singer smokes.

So TWO parallel references - one to laying and the other to smoke.

Harry also covered Girl Crush for BBC, and it's one of the most heart-rending covers I've ever seen. It is not just pining. Not even pining 2.0. It's pining infinity.

An incredible longing to just bury themselves in their lover's hair, breathe them in. Scent is one of the strongest triggers for memory in humans.

There is a lyrical parallel here too:

I want to taste her lips

Yeah, ‘cause they taste like you

I want to drown myself

In a bottle of her perfume

I want her long blonde hair

I want her magic touch

Yeah, ‘cause maybe then

You’d want me just as much

I've got a girl crush

Of course here, the play on words is the crush isn't ON the girl. It's OF the girl who has access to the lover he actually wants.

It also makes me think of when Louis said his favorite thing about Harry was his curls or his smell. And how he was is probably constantly playing with Harry's hair.

The Faith riff and repeat of the line from the song

Well I guess it would be nice

If I could touch your body

Has the same longing for their missing lover's body, hair, scent, everything.

But in Faith the song goes on to say, basically, I need a break, I want you but I am sick of games and having my heart tossed on the floor, even though you're begging me I'm not sure if it's real and I want devotion and faith:

Well, I guess it would be nice if I could touch your body

I know not everybody has got a body like you

But I gotta think twice before I give my heart away

And I know all the games you play because I played them, too

Oh, but I need some time off from that emotion

Time to pick my heart up off the floor

Oh, when that love comes down without devotion

Well, it takes a strong man, baby

But I'm showin' you the door

'Cause I gotta have faith

I gotta' have faith

Because I gotta have faith, faith, faith

I got to have faith, faith, faith

Baby, I know you're askin' me to stay

Say "Please, please, please don't go away"

You say I'm givin' you the blues

Maybe you mean every word you say

Can't help but think of yesterday

And another who tied me down to loverboy rules

Before this river becomes an ocean

Before you throw my heart back on the floor

Oh, baby, I reconsider my foolish notion

Well, I need someone to hold me but I'll wait for somethin' more

Yes, I gotta have faith

Ooh, I gotta have faith

Because I gotta have faith, faith, faith

I gotta have faith, faith, faith

Faith in the future perhaps??

Harry once said he wrote Two Ghosts during 1D days and he also said he wrote it "the first time he broke up with me." So I imagine he has experienced quite the rollercoaster of heartbreak and reconciliation and begging and love and confusion.

He kind of talks about this in The Kitchen Table oops! excuse me oBviOuSLy I meant From The Dining Table also -

Why won't you ever be the first one to break/

Why won't you ever say what you want to say

Maybe one day you'll call me

And tell me that you're sorry too

But you, you never do

Woke up the girl who looked just like you

I almost said your name

No shade to Louis, absolutely not, I am a total Louis Tomlinson worshipper, even more than I am for Harry. 💙 and he was doing his best at such a young age under incredible pressure and closeting and industry abuse and stunts and being told who he was hurt other people he loved and how who he was was something to fix, and he raged back at the machine the best he could. I absolutely believe he is still doing so and I look forward to anything I can do to help his master plan. Fuck the system. Louis Tomlinson world domination forever.

Oh Anna could also be a play on words, like Olivia is it an emotion? we don't know...

It does sound like Ohana, which is related to Harry's management company. Or Johanna. Or even Anne.

If the former, it could be his version of fuck the system song. I think that's a stretch, but lyrics can be stretchy and these would fit:

Chew me up and spit me out

Nothing left to lose

Hope you never hear this

And know that it’s for you

I don’t know what I’d tell you if

You asked me for the truth

I don’t want your sympathy, but you don’t know what you do to me

I have also seen people say it's a song for Zayn and Anna is really Ana, codename for anorexia. That could fit if you believe in Zarry perhaps. I'm a Larrie but also a Ziam hopeful because it would be so nice and I love their nerdiness and their kindness towards each other. I do think it is interesting people don't obsessively ask Zayn to define his sexual orientation because I think everyone just assumes bi or pan, even though he is always in public relationships with women. His whole vibe is like he is so cool it would be offensive to label him or ask him to define himself, and you need to rise to his level, and that is not easy to pull off when your coolness is 85% shyness and you are in love with the adorableness of Minions, while also singing Pillow Talk and being rhapsodized over as beautiful and a sex symbol and even more offensively, "exotic" all the time.

So those are my unhelpful thoughts. But your idea is intriguing - although many people think Brianna didn't actually have Louis' baby, your interpretation could still fit either view.

I am tagging in @ialwaysknewyouwerepunk who has the best lyric analyses I know of but I didn't find one for this song. Maybe they'll have some insight for you.

#anna #oh anna #lyric analysis like an english lit major #harry styles #stunts #medicine lyrics #anna lyrics #oh anna lyrics #larry stylinson #ziam

[dustedmagazine]

Apartment House on Another Timbre: Three Perspectives

If you survey the website of Apartment House, you won’t find an “about” page or any exposition of the ensemble’s history or philosophy. While such reticence is rare these days amongst artistic endeavors of any stripe, the very lack of information tells you something about Apartment House’s raison d’être. It’s all about the work, and the ensemble’s role is to make performances that are about the music, and not Apartment House’s take on the music. This renunciation of ego makes sense when you consider that the ensemble’s name derives from a John Cage composition; one of Cage’s intentions was to envision music that was open to the world and wasn’t about assertions of selfhood. Cellist Anton Lukoszevieze founded the ensemble in 1995, but its recording career didn’t get into gear until 2013.

Since then, the group has released 22 single or double CDs covering work by contemporary composers ranging from Cornelius Cardew to Christian Wolff to Linda Catlin Smith to Ryoko Akama. With a rotating membership, performances range from solos and duos to chamber ensembles. Thirteen were issued by the Another Timbre label, including three titles at once in late 2020, each presenting the music of a single composer — Martin Arnold (b. 1958), Antoine Beuger (b. 1955) and Maya Verlaak (1990). The act of releasing these albums simultaneously affords a chance to consider how Apartment House engages with the different intentions and requirements asserted by each composer. Dusted writers Marc Medwin, Michael Rosenstein and Bill Meyer cover the three recent releases.

Maya Verlaak / Apartment House— All English Music is Greensleeves (Another Timbre)

All English Music is Greensleeves by Maya Verlaak

Múm was an Icelandic group with singers channeling the wisely innocent voices of children while a lush landscape, rife with music boxes and other liquid-crystal sonorities, multihued the adjacent soundspaces. There is something similarly open about this music, something so unpredictably predictable, so comforting, so quietly inclusive! Belgian composer Maya Verlaak delves to the depths of experience’s networks while observing from just far enough to escape the iron grip and rationalizations of memory. This is music in which even the harshest sounds melt into a winning simplicity, a world of sound and sense in symbiosis.

It would be too easy to point toward modality to explain such a beautifully optimistic vision. After all, “All British Music is Greensleeves” tears that increasingly irrelevant construct to shreds in a hurry as two layers of sound, one prerecorded, spin bits of the tune down the dimly lit corridors conjoining memory and reflection. Chord, cluster and motive blur boundaries, even as space ensures a tidy trail of readily identifiable components needling consciousness reluctantly toward recognition. It’s a world with which Ives or Mahler might have made contact, had chamber music been more in their sights, such are the buds and blooms of poly-event amidst distantly lit string writing that refuses to answer Ives’ perennial question. The unfurling harmonies, formed of motives in quasi-counterpoint, are inextricably linked with their kaleidoscopic timbres. Recurrence is both evident and backgrounded but none so blatant as the delicious silences, almost periodic, separating the streamlined multivalences. Fortunately, as with many Apartment House recordings, vibrato is nearly absent.

The “Formation” pieces place a similarly subversive emphasis on relationship so subliminal that a simple listen won’t unlock the door or open the blinds. Any hats doffed toward conventional chord or set are quickly displaced by the gentle but insistent winds of change emanating from a vocal imperative or an intoned repetition. Mark Knoop and Sarah Saviet are in something near dialogue with overlapping technologies guided by a compositional voice whose questions also seek a malleable answer. The openness at the heart of Verlaak’s work stems from the various paths through subversion, re-subversion and integration integral to the majority of these pieces. What, in the case of “Song and Dance,” do performers do when confronted only with the analysis, or justification, for a musical score rather than with the score itself? What happens when the justification becomes the score? How is it possible, practical or desirable to confront musical parameters neither heard nor witnessed? The wonderful thing about such conceptions is that they really form the metanarrative of all artistic endeavor. No art, no matter how explicit, relinquishes all of its secrets, just as no single pitch or sonority, even those as pure as Apartment House offers with staggering consistency, is the actual embodiment of that sound. Composers and performers deal in approximations, and it is to Verlaak’s credit that the processes have been rendered at least partially transparent with such beautifully cooperative forces to give them form and voice.

Marc Medwin

Martin Arnold / Apartment House—Stain Ballads (Another Timbre)

'Stain Ballads' by Martin Arnold

This is the second release on Another Timbre by Canadian composer Martin Arnold, the first being The Spit Veleta a 2017 program of violin and piano solos and duos by Apartment House members Philp Thomas and Mira Benjamin. This time out, Arnold provides the group with a program consisting of a solo, a duo, a quartet, and piece for sextet. Across the four pieces, the composer balances a sense of lyricism with a fascination with the abstracted concept of “formlessness.” In his interview on the Another Timbre site, he puts it this way when asked about the title of the CD. “Stains are… radically specific – always stain-shaped. They might remind one of something – like when one looks at the inkblots of a Rorschach test (though significantly, they don't have Rorschach's added symmetry) – but they don't present a form, a coherent outline, a generic structure that can be abstracted and distilled; with a stain, form and content are the same thing. My work continues to aspire to that condition.” Each of the four pieces here delve in to the way that melodies and themes can be opened up to ride the edges of lyricism and abstraction.

The program opens with “Lutra” for solo cello and humming performed by Anton Lukoszevieze. The piece starts out with arco themes colored with hummed and bowed diaphanous overtones. Hovering at the upper registers of the instrument, threads are introduced, slowly progressing, punctuated occasionally by softly plucked notes. Staying within the same set of registers as well as harmonic and timbral areas, Lukoszevieze lets the notes resonate and serenely decay. In the last section the piece moves to percussively plucked notes with poised slow resolve, fading to hushed resonance in the final moment. “Stain Ballad” follows, orchestrated for cello, piano, viola, two violins, reed organ, and percussion. Arnold voices the various layers in a slow flux, moving in and out of synch with each other. The ensemble does a sterling job of maintaining an overall balance so that no one particular instrument is ever the sole focus. Instead, the various parts wend along as various subsections of the ensemble coalesce and then dissipate in to the mercurial overall flow of the piece. The striated parts adeptly take advantage of the timbral synergies and contrasts of the instruments as one moment, string arco melds with reed organ while in other sections, the percussive attack of Philip Thomas’ piano, the woody retort of Simon Limbrick’s percussion and pizzicato strings shift and shudder across each other.

The pairing of Lukoszevieze’s cello and Mira Benjamin’s violin on “Trousers” dives in to specific techniques like the utilization of multiple mutes, bowing with the wood of the bow, hushed microtones and a sliding sense of harmonics. Arnold talks about it, noting that “the sound of “Trousers” is certainly at odds with a “good” Classical sound: I shut down projection, fullness of tone, resonance, the consistency, stability and predictability of the sound being produced.” Over the course of the 22 minute piece, fragments of melody, muted textures and quavering string overtones play off of each other with measured consideration. Themes play out, get subsumed into the progression of the piece and then resurface. The recording closes out with “Slip,” a quartet for cello, violin, bass clarinet, and piano. The piece takes its name from the Irish slip jig, a jig that is in 9/8 as opposed to the usual 6/8 and a slowed pace accentuates the odd time signature. For the first quarter of the piece, cello, violin and bass clarinet move in woozy unison, lithely navigating the precarious phrasing. Pianist Mark Knoop’s entry, a quarter way in, introduces spare chords that serve to unsettle the phrasing even further, though the quartet never wavers in their assuredly ambling momentum. As the piece proceeds, the four parts veer off from each other, with lines dropping in and out. High-pitched violin arco sounds against crystalline piano chords making way for pizzicato cello and piano. The final section featuring Heather Roche’s dusky bass clarinet playing brings the piece to a transfixing conclusion. On Stain Ballads, Arnold continues to expand on his strategies toward opening up and abstracting melody, balancing compositional form with a sense of “formlessness.” With the members of Apartment House, he has found worthy collaborators.

Michael Rosenstein

Antoine Beuger / Apartment House—Jankélévitch Sextets (Another Timbre)

'jankélévitch sextets' by Antoine Beuger

In 1992, Antoine Beuger cofounded Editions Wandelweiser, the publishing arm of a community of like-minded, post-John Cageian composers. Along the way he has taken on the roles of artistic and managing director. Since Wandelweiser is a collective, his stewardship of the label and publishing arms makes him influential, but not an authoritarian figure. Quite the contrary. On Another Timbre website, there is an interview with Beuger that raises a provocative point about the authority of the score. He compares the current position of a classical composer to a perspective prescribed by Christian theology. The composer hands down rarefied instructions, which he (Beuger emphasizes the masculinity of this approach) best understands, and leaves to others the work of realizing his often very difficult and inscrutable instructions.

With Jankélévitch Sextets, Beuger takes a different approach. It is the fourth in a series of pieces that he wrote for specified numbers of musicians. Each composition deals with relationships implied by that number, and each does so employing mainly quiet, sustained tones. Additionally, each acknowledges a cultural figure; in this case, the Franco-Russian philosopher, Vladimir Jankélévitch. Beuger cites his appreciation for two of Jankélévitch’s ideas. First, music has no itinerary; it flows unpredictably. Second, sounds appear by disappearing. The latter point makes sense if you consider how you notice phenomena only after they stop. One suspects that if Jankélévitch was a fan of mid-20th century American music, he’d have had a lot of time for William Bell’s “You Don’t Miss Your Water (Till The Well Runs Dry).”

Beuger’s piece consists of repeated statements of a close bundle of long tones, each followed by a brief silence, with instruments insinuating themselves or dropping out during each pass. While the name is plural, the music is presented as a single, 64:20 long track, which asks the listener to accompany the ensemble through its entirety. The instrumentation consists of accordion, bassoon, bass clarinet, violin, viola, and double bass, which affords many opportunities for similar-sounding pitches to ease shift between close harmony and beating difference tones. This is not music that tugs at your sleeve; neither ingratiating nor imposing, it’s there if you wish to approach it, cycling through changes that reveal sounds by removing them. The music locates the essence of six-ness not in some contrapuntal exchange that draws attention to all the voices, but in the way that a group can persevere over time by allowing its members opportunities for respite. Apartment House’s treatment of this material captures its subtle balance. It takes discipline to blend sounds so patiently, and even more to do so in a way that don’t ask you to admire their restraint.

Bill Meyer

#dusted magazine #albumreview #apartment house #antoine beuger #vladimir jankélévitch #maya verlaak #martin arnold #another timbre #contemporary composition #marc medwin #michael rosenstein #bill meyer

[mx-bebe31-blog]

Vampire!Jooheon

Vampire!Jooheon AU

Warnings? Honestly none - shocker ;)

Hope you enjoy!

Jooheon, depending on what vampire you asked, could be very different from the classic troupe of his kind, or just one in the same

It was like Nosferatu and Edward Cullen - what kind of vampire was Jooheon?

He certainly didn’t think he was either of them - he was just himself

While he deeply enjoyed poetry and classical music, he also couldn’t deny how he was completely enthralled with human scent

He definitely liked a certain blood type like most vampires, and would do anything to romance someone with his craving

Though through the years, there was never quite someone who suited him,,,,

Until you,,,

He thought it was so cliche - it could have came right out of one of his poetry journals

Even when he was staring at you, all he could think of was the great sonnets he’s read and written - describing you with wondrous analogies in his lyrical brain

His mouth watered, and his fangs pricked just the surface of his lips

Love at first sight was surely true, but it had taken him quite a while to experience it

And what a way to continue this perfectly story line, other than to simply go up to you and relent into your halo of beauty

“Oh...Thank you, oh my gosh...B-But, I-I’m taken.”

Despite your words that completely ruined the smooth storyline, Jooheon still couldn’t help but smile and say that it was only a compliment, though he did wish you may have been single

And that was when Jooheon realized what jealousy and envy and frustration could do to someone - even if that someone was so versed in history he would never act in such a befuddled and petty way-

He couldn’t help it. His journals became harsh scrawls of dark lead instead of the light cursive that barely dented a page

He ripped page after page out, the heavy heart creating a new carpet for him to stomp on

Even in his bed where he used to contemplate the meaning of his life - crumpled balls of paper and snapped pencils resided in wrinkled blankets

He sought to find you again, to find more about you and why you were already whisked away by someone who wasn’t him

Though he stopped in his tracks when he saw your object of affections

And normally he would say that any couple he saw together was destined in the stardust

But he could feel the ache in his heart that torn a new wound in the envy

Now, it was just self pity and loneliness

He knew he could wait it out - he had millennia

But he knew to capture your everything you needed to be with him soon

What Jooheon did was conniving and scheming, but he couldn’t care less

He made situations for both you and your significant other

First offering you a scholarship to your dream university for your major - it was named the Lee Foundation, and you screamed at the top of your lungs when you received it in the mail after trying to save money for two years to afford a regular college

And while you, your family and friends were happy, your significant other held another letter that completely contradicted yours

“I-I’m so sorry, (Y/n)...but, but look at this! I-It’s my dream, I could finally go to South Africa and go into my field study there.”

You both mourned over the letters, reading them a million times over as you sat together at your shared apartment’s island

“You have to go. You have to - I want you to. I love your dream even more than mine, and - holy shit it’s happening already. You worked hard for that biology and zoology degree, babe...you have to take it.”

“I know you say that, but this is saying I’ll be gone for four years -”

You shook your head, smiling, “Yeah, and I just got a scholarship for four years. This can work. We can do what we love, and you know I’d visit you. With this scholarship, I can save money for plane trips. We can Skype, we can talk to each other every week.”

Your significant other agreed, and Jooheon’s plan was set in motion

By the time your school semester started, your partner had been gone for four months already. You had the whole summer alone, working a full time job in the heat to make sure you would have enough to spend christmas break together

But little did you know, the kind stranger from all that time ago appeared at the college, too. In the same major as you, and thus, in the same classes for your first semester

You had forgotten him and it was perfect. You were far away from home, you wouldn’t dare think it was the same guy.

Jooheon had a fresh start

And he waited for you to come to him. He was the A Student who was well versed in Literature - and was definitely the most popular choice for a Shakespeare group project analysis

While Lit wasn’t your favorite, or even best subject - you thought you could do well with what you had.. Even if you hadn’t made any friends yet...Something would work out, right?

“Jooheon! Would you please be my partner for this project? I’ll totally cover you for Bio!”

You blinked as you watched a flock of people surround a guy in your class

You’ve definitely seen him during the school year, but admitted he was too handsome and popular for you

But..you couldn’t deny you loved Biology, and were well versed in it because of your partner who got a degree in it...They were in Africa - anyone who asked you wouldn’t believe it if they had the paper forms.

Though while you sat down in the learning center, trying to figure out which Shakespeare piece you were going to do a report on...someone sighed and sunk into the table next to yours.

It was...Jooheon. He looked tired, and...he was alone?

You decided to ignore it, that he probably just had a partner who didn’t want to work with him today. You scrunch your brow and try to read titles upon titles of poems and sonnets this guy wrote -

You sighed, not knowing a lick about this kind of stuff - much less writing a paper on it

“Don’t know, either?” A voice nearly startled you out of your seat

It was Jooheon, and he was looking right at you

“O-Oh.” You blushed a bit, pulling your textbook forward a bit, “Not really...I’m not the best at English poems, and sonnets…”

Jooheon gave a little grin, “Well, I’m not that good at science-y stuff, so...Everyone has their talents.”

This made you smile a bit, “A-Aren’t you in my Bio class with Mr. Clary?”

He tried to hide an embarrassed chuckle, “Yeah, but I’m already at a C. That last test really brought me down. If I don’t pass this next one I’ll be in trouble.”

You shouldn’t - You didn’t want to make it seem like you were bribing him into getting you a good grade in this class -

“Well...I’m good at Bio. I-I could help you with the next test, if you wanted to. Do you live in the dorms here?” You asked politely, not caring if he helped you or not - you just wanted to be nice.

He nodded, “Yeah, on the fourth floor. Do you?”

You nodded, “Third floor.”

He went quiet a bit before rubbing the eraser of his pencil on his head, “Do you maybe...wanna work together? Like you kinda help me with Bio, and we can pair up for this project? Everyone in class kept asking me to be their partner - it’s annoying.”

You felt your face heat up again as you closed your book and pressed your hands together

“Sure. If you want. Me and my friends always have movie-study nights in the workroom on the third floor. If we study really good, we all have a pot luck and watch a movie after. Every Saturday.”

He grins, and you’re sure you’ve never seen pretty dimples in your life, but his face just shines

“Cool. So...can I get your number, then? We can meet up for when we want to work on the projects together. Maybe if we have the same class together next semester, too, we can stay study partners.”

It’s sad how fast you almost forget that you are in a relationship but you remind yourself that Jooheon is just a friend!

A really attractive,,, nice,, casual,,, friend.

You don’t know how you and Jooheon kiss in a study room in the TLC a month later

It seems that so much happened over four weeks, that you just gave into your worst desire

You hate long distance relationships, and if your partner isn’t even bothering to call once every two to three weeks, who could blame you?

Six months is all it takes for you to tell your partner that it’s best if there is a break during these years between each other. Your partner felt the same, but they were still sorry about the entire ordeal

Meanwhile you were content with getting good grades, a scholarship of your dreams, and sitting on Jooheon’s lap as he nips and sucks on you like his favorite candy

You think it’s hot when he scrapes his teeth against your skin, he knows it, too

But it seems like he’s trembling, like he’s holding back

You rub his back as he stops what he’s doing

“Are you ok, heony?” You ask softly, but his fingers curl into your skin

“Yeah..sorry, I just can’t resist you.” He breathes into your shoulder

It makes you chuckle, a bit of ego rising

“It’s been awhile - all I want is you.”

You think you know what he means by that and you smile, brushing his shoulder with your hand, “Yeah?”

“Yeah...you’re just my type.”

Before you can pull back and giggle about it, Jooheon’s arms entrap you close to his chest

He places a hot kiss right over your engorged jugular

And to Jooheon, it’s like it really is Christmas time

He sinks his fangs into you and holds you in place as you jolt from the immediate pain and foreign feeling

“O-Ow, Heon, what are you doing, did you bite me -”

His moans are louder than your small whimpers and futile attempts to leave his arms

You can feel his tongue swipe over your skin, you feel like you might be bleeding, but maybe that’s just his spit?

Jooheon waits until he’s drank just enough to leave you on the confused bridge of consciousness

He holds your weak body as he looks you in the eye with a small smile.

His feelings of unrequited love and perfect scenes of daisy fields are back in his mind

He knows he won. He has you, and he will forever remember the taste of you

And he will keep on taking, and tasting, and tempting, for as long as he liked

Until the day he could hear the words ‘I love you’ from his soulmate

________________

And that’s a wrap for my first completed AU Series! I’m excited to start the next one, but it could be seen as *controversial* but I’m going to do it anyways because I’m a sucker for darker AU’s. 

Hope you enjoyed <3

-S

#monsta x #monsta x au #kpop au #jooheon #lee jooheon #vampire au #vampire #monsta x vampire au #vampire jooheon #jooheon au #monsta x jooheon

[petezapizza]

foxesonstilts replied to your post “oh yeah i have some fall out boy metaphor analysis i did for a class...”

honestly i would love to read the full academic nerdom of your essay! i'm an english lit student and i love fob's lyrics (ngl i've mentally dubbed their mixed metaphors "peteisms")

omg i just feel like my bigass final essay on this ain’t a scene is such a MESS. a lot of mental screaming was involved in the writing of that essay (the shorter paper about the line from 27 is more presentable, probably)

i’m a linguistics major and the class i took showed how metaphor is incredibly pervasive in our day-to-day life and plays a huge role in how we conceptualize our world and IT’S ALL REALLY COOL (and it’s really a cognitive thing, like metaphor can also manifest gesturally, so it exists outside of the domain of words, too)

ALSO. every day i’m just like “man...how’s pete do the thing with the words” i rly. love a lot of his wordplay dfhjsjg peteisms is a good word lol

#foxesonstilts #replies #allie talks

[lela-steep-blog]

Literary References in Lela & Co

“Imagination, fiction and fantasy are important to me. I have respect for verbatim theatre but that’s not personally how I write. It does come down to what’s happening in the world around me? What am I reading? What am I listening to? What’s inspiring me? And then how does all that go into my head and make a play?” - Cordelia Lynn

Lela & Co. is an unusually referential play, filled with direct quotations and stylistic allusions, spanning from 16th century poetry to the modern novel. This befits a metatheatrical text like Lela & Co., which is examining and deconstructing the way we think about storytelling. It also seems to be the result of Cordelia Lynn’s extensive background in English literature - she majored in English lit at University of Bristol and received her masters in Modern Literature at University College London. What follows is a brief catalogue and analysis of the way Cordelia Lynn uses literary reference throughout the play.

King Lear/Shakespeare

“I put her in the bath, and I took her out of the bath again and I held her close and I said ‘Never never never never.’ Never. Is a very long word.” (pg 43, Lela & Co)

“And my poor fool is hang’d! No, no, no life! Why should a dog, a horse, a rate, have life, And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more, Never, never, never, never, never! Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir. Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips, Look there, look there!” (5.3 324-330, King Lear)

In final scene of Shakespeare’s King Lear, the title title character repeats the word “never” five times over the dead body of his daughter. Lela also repeats “never” five times to her child, but in this case it signifies her resolution to keep her daughter alive. Cordelia Lynn takes an infamously existential moment in Shakespeare’s writing and makes it affirmative.

Blasted/Sarah Kane

“I would kill all of you. I would take out your eyes and eat them. I would eat. Your eyes.” (pg 44, Lela & Co.)

“The soldier grips Ian’s head in his hands. He puts his mouth over one of Ian’s eyes, sucks it out, bites it off and eats it. He does the same to the other eye.” (pg 50, Blasted)

In one of the most infamous stage directions in modern drama, the protagonist of Sarah Kane’s Blasted is gruesomely blinded by a soldier. Cordelia Lynn has said that Sarah Kane is one of her favorite writers, and it seems she borrowed that image from Blasted for the moment Lela banishes the male voice from the stage. In other less direct ways, Kane’s influence can be felt throughout Lela and Co. Kane frequently sets her plays in nebulous spaces - a space can be a luxury hotel room in England, a war zone, and a Beckettian hellscape all at once - and that sense of dislocation can be strongly felt in Lela & Co., which deliberately avoids being set in a single time or place. Her influence can also be felt in the formal transformation that Lela and Co. undergoes as it descends into it’s much darker second half, and in its interest in the way interpersonal violence and political violence are connected. As Cordelia Lynn wrote in an article for the Guardian, her world’s characters “have been, and are being, shattered by violence, and they helplessly recreate what happens on a vast public scale within the walls of their homes, in the minutiae of their relationships.”

Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?/Edward Albee

“So, yes, all in all bad to...better...best...bested.” (pg 26, Lela & Co.)

“Dashed hopes and good intentions. Good, better, best, bested! How do you like that for a declension? You didn't answer my question. Don't condescend. I asked you how you liked that declension. Good; better; best; bested. Hm?”

“What do you want me to say? Do you want me to say it’s funny, so you can contradict me and say it’s sad? Or do you want me to say it’s sad so you can turn around and say no, it’s funny. You can play that damn little game any way you want to!” (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)

Cordelia Lynn makes a direct allusion to Edward Albee’s iconic 1962 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. In the above passage from Albee’s play, Nick expresses frustration at the inevitable humiliation that will occur if he agrees to take part in George’s games.  George creates the game, so George makes the rules. In Lela & Co., Lynn brings back “Good, better, best, bested” when Lela’s husband explains the business of selling Lela’s body, interrupting the monologue structure to assert his dominance and control over Lela’s life and body. Her husband makes the rules. In an interview about the creation of Lela & Co., Lynn cites a quote from Albee as a guiding philosophy for her - “since art must move, or wither – the playwright must try to alter the forms within which his precursors have had to work.”  This desire for formal innovation can clearly be seen in Lynn’s writing.

Fight Club/Chuck Palahniuk/David Fincher

“Every week, Tyler gave the rules that he and I decided. Gentlemen, welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.”

“The first rule of Lela & Co. Limited is you don’t talk about Lela & Co. Limited or we’ll break your legs...We’ll probably break your legs anyway.” (pg 32, Lela & Co.)  

Lynn references Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club (which later became a film directed by David Fincher) in the section where the husband outlines Lela & Co. Limited’s “rules and regulations.” In a disturbing and darkly comedic back and forth, the husband establishes Lela as the company property, and Lela interjects when she can, assuming the husband’s vocabulary of violence used previously in the play. This scene from Fight Club is a popular pop culture reference and extremely fitting for Lela & Co. in the irony that something so dehumanizing and vicious has “rules,” as well as the themes of patriarchal power present in both texts.

The Giaour/Byron

“Oh! who young Leila’s glance could read And keep that portion of his creed Which saith that woman is but dust, A soulless toy for tyrant’s lust?” (The Giaour)

Cordelia Lynn might have derived her protagonists name from Lord Byron’s poem The Giaour, which was written in 1813 after Byron became aware of the Turkish custom of throwing a woman found guilty of adultery into the sea wrapped in a sack. The poem has a Rashomon-esque structure in which three characters tell a single story from different perspectives. In it’s depiction of the political repression of women, as well as multiple storytellers fighting to control a narrative, one can see several connections to Lela & Co.

Westron Wynde

“Oh Western Wind, when wilt thou blow? The small rain down can rain. Christ, if my love were in my arms, and I in my bed again.” (pg 49, Lela & Co.)

Throughout Lela & Co. the title character tries to sing the song quoted above, but is always interrupted by the male voice. This song was written in the 16th century, originally in Middle English. It’s been set to many different melodies over years (including the original melody our sound designer Thomas Dixon created for this production), and has been the basis for several religious Masses and a movement of Stravinsky’s Cantata. Several writers have quoted it, mostly notably Virginia Woolf in her novel The Waves, as well as Thomas Pynchon, who used a lyric from the song as the title for his first published short story, “The Small Rain”.

Angela Carter

“When I saw him look at me with lust, I dropped my eyes but, in glancing away from him, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. And I saw myself, suddenly, as he saw me, my pale face, the way the muscles in my neck stuck out like thin wire. I saw how much that cruel necklace became me. And, for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away.” (The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories)

“I was shy of him, he seemed very distinguished, in his suit with his little trimmed moustache, a quiet sort of man with a very steady gaze, and nearly ten years my senior. I’d catch him looking at me, very steady and it made me shudder inside, when I caught him looking at me. A funny little shudder that was like something dropping out of me, an emptiness forming all the sudden deep inside, so deep it hurt” (pg 14, Lela & Co.)

When discussing finding Lela’s voice, Cordelia Lynn described “reading Angela Carter in the evenings to take [her] mind off [the play], [and] everything clicked...of course [Lela] can speak in this quite baroque and poetic and lyrical and excitable way.” Angela Carter is an English novelist who wrote fairy tales in prose informed by modern influences such as psychoanalysis and surrealist poetry. In the above quotes, you can clearly see the similarities in the narrative voices.

Ismail Kadare

“At street corners, where walls join, I thought I could see some familiar features, like outlines of human faces, the shadows of cheekbones and eyebrows. They are really there, caught in stone for all time, along with the marks left by earthquakes, winters and scourges wrought by men.” (Chronicle in Stone)

“I walked out the door... It was very noisy and very dirty and there were broken buildings and bullet holes in the walls, the walls were like pockmarked faces, like the skin of the city the whole city was diseased, and all around were foreign police and soldiers and officials and immigrants and refugees and homeless and homecoming and there it was this felled city and these felled peoples and the dust and the dirt...” (pg 45, Lela and Co.)

Lynn references Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare as an inspiration during the writing of Lela & Co.  She says, “I had the initial story as a basis, did research and was reading Ismail Kadare who writes about conflict.”

#lela: ad

[jessicaborsetimedia]

Castle On The Hill- Music video analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0ibBPhiaG0

The music video begins with a mid-shot of the main protagonist, following a close up and then an establishing shot of one of the major mise en scenes for the music video. The beginning mid shot of the main protagonist through the fields demonstrates a sense of what appears as isolation and being on his own until the narrative of the music video shifts .The mise en scene is a foggy dark lit country side, the costume of the main protagonists is what would be perceived a stereotypical teenagers outfit, consisting of a hoodie and jeans coupled with a dark blue colours that have connotations of masculine characters. Cutting to a shaky mid shot following the back of the two characters running to a long shot and then front mid shot (match on action), in order to demonstrate a theme of the teenagers being energetic. Furthermore to support that this music video is an illustrative on as the lyric states “running from my brother and his friends” therefore that lyric correlating with shots of the characters running. Switching to a mid-shot of the group of friends on a left-over of bricks, displaying a sense of making the most out of being with your friends, no matter where. Then cutting a mid-shot of the artist singer in his car, demonstrates that sense of moving through his memories of his late teens. The dark lighting coupled with a black outfit, demonstrates a sense of mystery as too where the artist is driving creating questions for the audience.

The next scene follows cutting between different mise en scenes as well as incorporating close ups (out of focus), mid shots and long shots in order to revolve the narrative round the theme of friendship especially when you’re a teenager. The mise en scene display a pool bar, demonstrating the group of friends socialising, following outdoor scenes such as by a bus stop and what appears as a race course. The dark lighting implies a sense of sadness on reminiscing on being young and living the life of a teenager. Furthermore the close ups of the characters drinking alcohol and smoking link to the stereotypes of teenagers being unhealthy (by smoking and drinking alcohol) and appearing to be reckless. Then cutting back to a mid-shot of the friends socialising by the pile of abaonded bricks in the bleak countryside, demonstrates them taking advantage of anywhere to socialise. The bird’s eye view over the English country side following the car (which the artist is driving) provides a sense of the audiences following the remisnisince of the artist through his memories of being younger especially a teenager. Then Cutting to a mid-shot (with the protagonist positioned as centre of focus, as the camera is on his side) both on the side and front facing the car which the male characters are driving. Following with a still mid shot of the groups of friends walking past. As the characters walk past they appear holding beers, which applies to that association with teenagers being the ones to drink more. Furthermore the outfits of the characters imply a scene of youth through bright colours such as reds and blues. Following a pan of the two characters at night walking past the roaring fire, this implies a sense of stereotypical teenagers being reckless in addition the black (night sky) against the bright flames contrasts in order to show that the audience is following the various situations the characters land themselves in. The shot revers close-up of the protagonist and the artist highlights the narrative, of the artist singing about his experiences as a teenager. Cutting to a pull focus of the protagonist looking at a female character, in order to portray his attention on her and conform to the stereotypes of being a teenager and beginning relationships.

Cutting to a mid shot of the characters driving in the car cutting to a birds eye shot of the cars, foreshadows a sense of the young characters on a journey to adult hood (parallel to the artist driving in the car). Furthermore the mid shot of the characters walking in an evening country side with a quick cut to the artist in the same place at day time, presents a sense o the artist telling a story and displaying his memory from different locations also. The extreme close ups focussing on the cigarettes and the characters smoking them, further supports the link between the lyrics and the footage. The mid shot of the two male characters walking past the cars, further conforms to the stereotypes of boys overall having an interest in cars. Cutting a mid-shot of the male protagonist kissing a girl (linking to the lyric) at night time links to the stereotypes of young love. Furthermore the mise en scene of night time at a bus stop, implies a scene of the characters being able to have a good time anywhere they go along as they are together. The characters all still represented in clothes associated with youth such as caps and hoodies with bright course, in order to extend the message of being young, as opposed to the artist being dressed in black which provides connotations maturity. However the scene continues with pull focussed and out of shot closes ups in order to demonstrate a sense of blurry memories as this is what the artists is reminiscing

  Close ups of the characters in the bar mise en scene (demonstrated with that light of the gambling machine hitting and emphasising on the characters face) follows their expressions and enjoyment in their lives and being young. Furthermore the editing slowing down the footage emphasises that sense of the artist reminiscing on old memories, providing a nostalgic tone. The birds eye view shot the boys walking in the country side, sets a narrative the boys walking onto the next chapter of their lives as adults. Following to a quick cut of what appears as a house party, through the use of bright flashing colours such as greens and blues, further conforming of the stereotypes of what teenagers enjoy to do. The camera tracks around all the characters enjoying themselves and socialising, then cutting back to a tracking of the artist lip syncing the song. Cutting to a tracking shot of a bully picking up one of the characters then a quick cut of the protagonists reaction, enhances a sense of the artist reflecting on his memory as teenager and the good and bad memories The bright light behind the protagonist enhances the clarity of his expression to the situation.

Cutting to a zoom out of the characters socialising together at what appears as a cheap car racing course, cutting to a ceiling canted shot however with the flashing lights links back to the scene of a party. Which features close up of hands to show intimacy and relationships that have been built as well as a mid-shot of the friends laughing together. Back to a birds eye view of the boys walking in the desolate country side and cutting to the artist lip syncing the song. Then when the song reaches a not so fast paced, the music video cuts to a slow zoom out of a burning sofa standing out against the night sky, in order to show the teenagers being reckless. However when the lyrics turn to talking about friends, the camera cuts to a quick paced variation of close ups on the friends, representing the artist reminiscing on what his friends were also like as teenagers. However cutting to a zoom out of the friends socialising at night with the fire brightening their faces in order to demonstrate their enjoyment socialising and being together. Then that brightly lit mise en scene contrast to an extreme close up of the protagonists, however with a daylight lighting, to show the protagonist smiling about his adolescent. Then from the tracking of the artist to a pan through all the different mise en scenes of memories as a way of tying in all of the memories.

The quick cuts from the mise en scene of the friends socialising to the artist lip-syncing, the camera pans around the group of friends. The use of the match of action from the young protagonist taking sip from his can to when the artist finishes that sip, enhances how the narrative of the music video being around the artist reminiscing and reflecting on his adolescent. Finishing on a zoom out of the characters socialising in the English countryside where they came from.

The representation the young characters in the music video focusses upon the stereotypical life’s of teenagers.The characters are represented as reckless by setting a sofa on fire at night time. Furthermore the characters are represented as young people through their clothing such as hoodies and caps which are associated with youth clothing, as well as brugh blues and reds coupled with the lighting in the house party scene, provides connotations of youth. And the events the music video such as drinking at bars and going to house parties, further enhances the stereotypes of teenagers. Furthermore the artist is represented as a contrast to the young characters a he is wearing dark lords such as back, which has connotations of maturity.

The ideologies which are presented, are often dominant ideologies, as they represent a message of teenagers socialising and building relationships, whether that be friendships or relationships, which is hegemonic. The close up shot reverse shots of the characters faces show their enjoyment in being together as well as the close up on holding hands, displays that building of romantic relationships. However some ideologies may be challenged, such as when the characters set the sofa on fire, it sent a negative message of teenagers being reckless and that coupled with the tracking shot during the bullying scene.

The genre of this music video is pop, therefore it follows the conventions of artist being dressed in recent and up to trend clothes. Furthermore the use of close ups to elaborate the enjoyment in the characters cafes, also links to the conventions of pop music videos which often have happy characters. Another convention is that the lyrics are often based around love and relationships, which this music video supports. As it is illustrative and as the lyrics talk about friends the footage cuts to focussing on friendship, as well as the romantic relationship which is also represented in this music video. Another convention of pop music is choreography, which this music video doesn’t feature, however only touches on during the house party scene. Other conventions being a link between lyrics and footage which this music video conforms to as well as being brightly lit, which is demonstrated equally to the amount of dark lit scenes. Close ups are a common convention, which this music video follows frequently as the majority of the music video elaborates the characters facial expressions through close ups and extreme close ups.

In relation to Stuart Hall’s this music video would be viewed as preferred reading, as the audience would fully accept the content and interpret it the same as the characters. Therefore because the music video is based on the enjoyment of relationships, that being friendships or romantic relationships, then the audience would have a preferred reading due to the happiness presented in this music video. However an opposition reading maybe also an influence, as the teenagers appears reckless displayed by the scenes of the sofa on fire and the bullying scene. A negotiated reading however would accept that the teenagers are enjoying themselves, however also disagree with their reckless actions.

In relation to Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications, which explains the reason as too why audiences chose certain pieces of media. Therefore, firstly is to be informed and educated, that being why an audience member would watch this music video to be informed on the events and memories of the artist’s teenage life. Secondly we use media as a way of persona identity, therefore audience members would watch this music video to aspire to have friends and memories like the artist one day, or too relate what they do to those of the characters. Personal relationships also, so the media provides a platform for a sense of knowing other people therefore audiences would watch this music video as a way of getting to know the artists more, through him sharing his memories. Lastly the need for escapism, relating to that feature of this theory audiences would watch this music video as a way of escaping from there possible stressful lives by watching the enjoyment the teenagers show living their lives.

Andrew Goodwin’s theory may also be applied to this music video as firstly the music videos does link to characteristics of pop music videos, through the use of characters being dressed in up to date clothes (and other factors previously mentioned). Secondly this music video supports Goodwin’s point of a relationship between lyrics and visuals, as often when a lyric describes a memories the camera will illustrate it, however there isn’t as much of relationship between music and visuals. However only a couples of times when the tempo of the music video speeds up so does the footage. The use of frequent mid shots and close ups on the artist relates to Goodwin’s point on how demands of the label will mean that there will be a lot of camera focus on the artist. However there isn’t often notions to looking, as there aren’t screens as the mise en scene of the music video is mostly focussed outside. This music video doesn’t have a reference to any intertextual forms of media. However it has intertextual reference to finding young love, which links into a lot of narratives within the media

Furthermore Levi Strauss’s Binary opposition’s theory links closely to this music video. As there are oppositions between female and males among the characters. Oppositions between old and young, as the artist contrast the teenage protagonist.

#A2 #A2research

[so-idialed-9]

Main Posts and Master Posts

Larrie is love. Louis is not a dad. I’m a Larrie/Louie but also Harrie/Directioner and Ziam hopeful. I’m queer and in my 40s. I wasn’t around in the early years of the fandom but making up for lost time. I’m somewhat new here - I love new followers, and welcome comments on posts, asks, messages, and reblogs. GlowingRae on AO3.

Soon! Larry Stylinson timeline masterposts by year, with primary sources

Tours:

Louis Tomlinson World Tour 2022:

Me being emotional about how far Louis has come x x

My concert experience - Chicago & Louis' onstage rainbow lights Chicago

NA tour group photos OTB compilation we see you fighting Louis feels protected

bluegreening x x x x x x

Exit songs

Full concert videos x x

Rainbows by Louis' team x x x & by Louis himself x x x x x

Industry response media response

Dallas x x - Austin - Houston - St. Louis thanks for the flag love cupcakes x - Atlanta - Nashville x x - DC - Louis confirming Larry - NYC 1 x mic drop -  NYC2 x x x codependency - Pittsburgh x x - Philadelphia x x x x - Boston x x - Cincinnati x x x x - Detroit touching a pride flag x x x x - Indianapolis - Chicago x x x x - Minneapolis - Kansas City x x x x x - Denver - Orem x x x x - Seattle - Portland x x - Vancouver - Oakland - LA 1 x x x x x & 2- Reykjavik x x x x - Oslo x -

Harry Styles Love On Tour 2021 concert moments:

Chicago 1 "Convince my boyfriend to propose" 

Freedom

Bluegreening x x

Harry's House: x x x x x

Harry/Louis Home: x x x x

My Policeman x x

Acoustic LT/HS/1D x x

Tattoos:

Tattoos masterpost - Harry and Louis' tattoos lead back to Leeds

x x x, Papillon x x

MV and lyric analysis:

Louis Tomlinson "We Made It" mv x "If They Only Knew"

Sunflower Larrying

Coded clothing:

Harry's blue bandana receipts, collared reference, Keith Haring x

Louis: Maison/House, Basquiat x x, Man in Black, James Dean queer icon, LTWT22 NA tour outfits, gay clubs/films, compass x x x, Polari x, Papillon x

Matchy x

Polari x Louis and Harry

x x

Sign Language:

Harry - pride dance

Louis - x H sign x x

Louis Tomlinson worship/lovable chaos sprite:

x x x x x x x x x

Top Louis x

Harry being anything other than str8:

x x x x

Larry receipts & proof:

x x x x x when pigs fly

Harry looking at Louis: x x x

Ziam: x

fuck simon cowell: x x

Frequently used tags:

bluegreen soulmates, blue and green (uses of blue and green in H/L), coded clothing, fuck simon cowell, fuck the system, harry’s styles (H fashion), louis' family outing (family and friends outing Louis or Larry), larryaf, larry receipts, long term closeting, lou are home (Louis is Harry's home), lyric analysis like an English lit major, Polari, pride flags, queer coding, rainbow Louis, walk in your rainbow paradise (for Harry and rainbowing), you are home

I occasionally tag babygate, holivia stunt, or eleanor stunt, always with tag end the stunts, but do not post stunts as news.

Dates: I'm starting a tagging system by the year something occurred, and if known, the exact date in mm.dd.yy format. Examples: #2022 or #1.31.22

#masterpost