little-house-of-lost-play

Latest Posts by little-house-of-lost-play

Why Shrike by Hozier is The Jayvik Song

In the past few days this song has carried itself through my room so many times that it can be practically heard in the walls even when it isn't playing. There isn't a song by Hozier that I do not love but I do have favourites, and Shrike has to be one of them. And given the fact that my hyperfixation on Jayvik has taken residence in the deep hallways of my mind, I was unable to stop myself from thinking of them while listening to this song. So, dear reader, enjoy my analysis of the song and my first contribution to Jayvik nation.

If you'd like to listen to the song as you read this I highly recommend the Live at Windmill Lane Studios version.

Shrike is a song conveying the story of someone who could never fully articulate the affection hidden within their ribcage to their lover. The melodic and gentle music stands as a contrast to the not so gentle imagery of the lyrics. And together they wove the tapestry of a love realised too late. That said, it is far from a gentle love - "hung like the pelt of some prey you had worn; by your grounded and giving and darkening scorn." But despite the darkening scorn of their lover, and the image of them as a hunter, they yearn for them, covering them with adoration - "your sharp and glorious thorn." And isn't that the essence of human existence (that is if you believe that everything is, indeed, about love - in any shape or form that it takes)? We love despite knowing that it might never be enough. We love despite knowing that love is a thorn that could impale us.

I couldn't utter my love when it counted Ah, but I'm singing like a bird about it now

The realisation of a love gone by sinks its teeth so deep it meets his very bones as he grieves the lack of affection bestowed upon his lover. All that is left is to wonder what to do with all this grief. Where to put it? Realising he can no longer keep it hidden inside his chest where it might bleed into his liver, he sets it free like a songbird.

Words hung above but never would form

The weight of affection that rests on one's shoulders is like a blanket of warmth. But a blanket is so easy to reshape unless it's carved out of stone. Lovers, like blankets, can also slip away from us if we are unable to convey the feelings we hold for them.

Like a cry at the final breath that is drawn

The realisation that crystalises too late. Already after their time has come to an end. It is the realisation that the sadness that now crawls its way into his existence leaves him hollow - a gosh of a person awaiting death so that he could be reunited with his lover once again, and perhaps for the first time in all its intensity.

Remember me, love, when I'm reborn As a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn

These have to be some of my favourite lyrics ever written, for they sing of a love greater than romantic love. It is a love closer to devotion. A love that has loved, and has failed, and now it will spend decades yearning and starving - the same way a shrike will starve without its thorn. And despite it all, it is a love that survives like a prayer. It is the devotion that leaves slightly parted lips longing for a kiss. It longs to repent for its mistakes, and it vows to do so in the next life as well.

He knows his lover isn't perfect - a sharp thorn - but as he thinks of them now, he dresses them with light. A glorious thorn. He finds beauty in their flaws and their possible cruelty, for one cannot be without the other. Life is terrifying, so is beauty, and so is love. It is a testament to the fact that he doesn't see his lover as simply one or the other but as a possibility of everything they have ever been and could be to him as he can no longer think of them outside of his love.

Then when I met you, my virtues uncounted All of my goodness is going with you now

Meeting his lover has shaped him into the person he has become - it has filled him with virtue and goodness, for love makes us gentle. And far more often than not, it replaces the sun with a person as they become the sole source of all warmth. And once they are gone, that warmth leaves with them.

Dragging along, following your form Hung like a pelt of some prey you had worn

Here the uncovering of the darkness of his lover takes a firmer shape. Dragging after his lover. Following wherever they want him to go like a prey that has succumbed to its hunter. And unable to move on, hung like a pelt on his lover. With this imagery he paints himself as the victim of their hunt. While the role of his lover as the hunter stands undeniable, he plays the role of the one who remains unmoving in his love far too late of his own accord.

I fled to the city with so much discounted Ah, but I'm flying like a bird to you now Back to the hedgerows where bodies are mounted

The urgency of fleeing to a crowded place and burying oneself in the words of countless others rather than constantly grieving so much. The return to his lover - flying free of all past regrets in this new shape that he has been reborn into. To the hedgerows where bodies are mounted as a shrike who relies on its thorn not only to survive but also to fully live.

I was housed by your warmth, thus transformed By your grounded and giving and darkening scorn

Here again he praises his lover's warmth, among others, for transforming him for the better. However, there is also much imperfection to his lover as there was much imperfection to his love. Like a gathering of storming clouds, a profound feeling of disdain hangs above him, thus diming the warmth his lover had previously carved within him.

Remember me, love, when I'm reborn As a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn

Despite it all, the affection he has for his lover is of such intensity that he will carry it into his next life. And then he will live as a shrike to their thorn. They will no longer have to seek each other out. There will be no time or place for longing or fear or aching of past mistakes. Even if tomorrow isn't certain, a shrike only needs its thorn.

And is this any different from the story of Viktor and Jayce? Viktor, much like the lover in this song, has been the one to show Jayce that he can take the path that leads him to the magic he has always dreamt of. He showed him that despite the dismissive reaction of everyone, there is someone who believes in his dream. When the world has failed him and drained him of his light, Viktor was the one to relight the fire of his ambition - becoming the pulse Jayce could hold onto instead of succumbing to the shrieking of his doubts. And he was also the one to remind him of the goodness of his intentions. It seems natural then that, when Viktor was taken away from him by death herself, Jayce could only think with a mind clouded by emotion. For how can one stay tender and true to his word with blood staining his hands? When faced with the fact that Viktor could be taken away from him, Jayce was unable to cling to principles - willing to go so far as to bring him back no matter the cost. There is no clearer declaration of selfish love than this. But something is wrong. When Viktor awakes the betrayal is stronger than Jayce’s longing, and so he leaves. It is too late. Jayce has realised his love, as it truly was, once his lover has already been destined to be taken away from him. Viktor leaves, and Jayce waits. One is selfish as he brings his love back, the other selfless as he leaves his love behind. A shrike and a thorn. And then Jayce is thrown into the alternate universe where he becomes prey haunted by the ghosts of the glorious evolution and observed by another version of his lover. Despite all his heartach, he drags himself up to meet him and he devotes his life to amend the mistakes of the past as well as the ones he has yet to let happen. It might have been his selfishness that has caused all this, but it is his selfless devotion that saves them both. And as he holds Viktor through his grief in their final moments together, as he presses their foreheads together, he is not worried for what is about to come next. Even if tomorrow isn’t certain, a shrike only needs its thorn. 

Vampire Viktor

It is here! Version 2.0 of my fantastic Huurre's Fanfiction Reading Log!

What has changed? A lot!

Apps Scripts for doing some of the things for you, for example picking up fanfic's name and tag information from open fics in AO3. For more questions about this, especially relating scraping, please check my faq from my new website.

More comprehensive statistics with better logics.

For more detailed list of new features will be published here and in the website within next 30 hours because I'm already running late from the time I have given for the release. :'D

I have two versions of the file available:

Starting 2024: For anyone who has logged their reading during 2024 and wants to move their history from 2024 to this new file.

Google Docs

Huurre's Fanfiction Reading Log (starting 2024) (Ver 2.0 12/29/2024)

Starting 2025: For anyone who wants to start from the "clean table".

Google Docs

Huurre's Fanfiction Reading Log (starting 2025) (Ver 2.0 12/29/2024)

For full setup guide, please see the link below:

I've also set up Discord server for this. It is complete work in progress for now, but it is also in the place where you can suggest what direction to take it!

And with any problems, don't hesitate to contact me!

Now, I'll let you see and look for the file. Have fun!

"I'm just offering whatever humble aid I can" - Halbrand / S1.E8 Alloyed SEASON TWO COUNTDOWN | Sauron

∙ Favorite Trope - Headbutt of Love ∙ Suite Française (2014) ∙ The Old Guard (2020) ∙ Pacific Rim (2013) ∙ Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022) ∙ Interview with the Vampire (2024) ∙ The Rings of Power (2022) ∙ The Legend of Tarzan (2016) ∙ The Punisher (2017) ∙ Captain Marvel (2019) ∙ Fallout (2024) ∙ The Mummy (1999) ∙ Red, White & Royal Blue (2023) ∙ All the Light We Cannot See (2023) ∙ Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) ∙ The English (2022) ∙ Strange Days (1995)

"It's alive!" "What is it?" "It's nothing. It's tiny. One of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, and it's clinging onto life, with one little ounce of reality tucked away inside." "Enough to get us home?" "Not yet. I need to charge it up."

Doctor Who | 2.05 - "Rise of the Cybermen"

Ohio Total Solar Eclipse

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

destiel // i, carrion (icarian) - hozier // watch on youtube

LINK TO THE SPREADSHEET

It's International Fanworks Day 2024!

Today, February 15th, is the 10th celebration of International Fanworks Day and OTW's chat room games kick off now! To join in or to find out about all our other activities, visit https://otw.news/60m

When David Tennant is his own ✨️ Barbenheimer ✨️

20 YEARS OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY 

(DECEMBER 19, 2001)

It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened? 

But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

What are we holding on to, Sam?  That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS (2001 - 2003)

20 years of The Fellowship of The Ring released december 19, 2001

what's your audio aura in 2021?

it’s them aliens again!!!

Oscar Isaac as Leto Atreides in DUNE

Dreams are messages from the deep. DUNE 2021 • dir. Denis Villeneuve

A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard—it can move anywhere in time and space?

Daniel Gerhartz

Could you maybe clarify what sort of clues we’re looking for here?

STRANGER THINGS 4 Creel House Teaser

autumn in film

knives out (2019) dir. rian johnson

dead poets society (1989) dir. peter weir

little women (2019) dir. greta gerwig

when harry met sally… (1989) dir. rob reiner

emma. (2020) dir. autumn de wilde

you’ve got mail (1998) dir. nora ephron

love rosie (2014) dir. christian ditter

sweet home alabama (2002) dir. andy tennant

Here was one with an air of high nobility such as Aragorn at times revealed, less high perhaps, yet also less incalculable and remote: one of the Kings of Men born into a later time, but touched with the wisdom and sadness of the Eldar Race. He knew now why Beregond spoke his name with love. He was a captain that men would follow, that he would follow, even under the shadow of the black wings.

Happy birthday to Bilbo and Frodo!

Streamlines

© riverwindphotography, August 2021

JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King

“Forth Eorlingas!”

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) dir. Peter Jackson

do not go gentle into that good night by dylan thomas // the lord of the rings: the return of the king (2003) // the book thief by markus zusak // “kick out the windows” by parsonsfield // 進撃の巨人 episode 53, “perfect game” // “sleep on the floor” by the lumineers