#HEAVILY IMITATING THE ALBUM COVER | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sizzlingpatrolfox · 1 year

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I saw a ask in another blog about how it's a possibility that jm being queer could be why the company is least interested in him. And the way it just fvcked my brain....and now I can't help but think that is the reason after all. I mean what else could it be? Why would the company have a personal vendetta against him for no apparent reason???? They know how harmful it can be for jm's career if he by circumstances or of his own volition ever comes out to the masses, so they went for their safest option aka jk - the straight generic looking kpop idol with decent vocals. But the thing is he sounds the same like every other average male idol. I feel so bad for jm....makes me wonder if he was removed from the group 8 times before debut just cause of his different dance style or...?

I struggle with calling it homophobia since Jimin is not actually out, though I know what you mean. I will use the word homophobia just in this case but for the record I wanted to say that first.

I understand the concerns if people in the company know of Jimin's sexuality and that it could be a risk if word ever got out. This is the company that didn't let Taehyung sing a love song with Jimin in 2018, and Jimin recently said he made a "special request" for the beginning of like crazy choreo. But I think this is a more practical matter, a more capitalist matter, if you will. Just to call it somehow.

I've talked before when world cup happened about Jungkook being conventionally Man and Het.

And now that I mention WC, I remembered when Set Me Free pt 2 came out, someone said "imagine what smf would've looked like at the world cup opening" and I was like... yeah. I know Jimin's album wasn't out yet, but I agree, and it's just another example that opportunities aren't always granted to the most capable.

I agree 100% that looks and appeal to a young female audience is one of the reasons Hybe could think Jungkook's going to be the next big popstar. If you look at the guys that kind of "make it" in the US music market, he fits the mold way more than Jimin does. I mean, Jungkook got Calvin Klein (and not in the Troye Sivan CK sense, but in the more classic CK sense), while Jimin got Tiffany. You don't even have to dig that deep. I personally think they're both marketable, but to different audiences and any smart company who's willing to spend money on their artists would've commercialized both. Jungkook for the straights and Jimin for the gays lolol. Joking... or am I?

I'm pretty inclined to believe this was Scooter wanting JK, tho. I'm not even sure it's hybehybe though obviously bangpd is not going to be opposed to it. It's been a while since he's had a big act, I literally hadn't heard his name since probably the time he fucked Taylor over, and JK has the looks and the voice that are basic enough to be mainstream pop. He's a safe choice. Do you see someone like Scooter managing Jimin? Literally what would he do with a Jimin. I just can't see it. I wouldn't want it either.

I know this isn't about Taylor, but I just can't help thinking how, while she was with Scooter, she was a heavily stereotyped artist and her music was limited to dramatic and crying teenage girls but she actually became more respected and even more mainstream after she parted ways with him. As someone who's not from the USA and has been a fan of Taylor since 2009, what I noticed was that she gained a lot of respect and an even wider audience with Lover.

I like Jungkook's voice, but I'm also not blinded by bias. I know Jimin's vocals can falter sometimes, as well as I know Jungkook sounds like literally every other soloist in Korea. Even worse, he actually tends to imitate other people, which has always been my pet peeve. You can go and listen to his IU covers and you'll know what I mean. Then there was also Charlie Puth saying they both sounded the same or something. So, I like his voice but I don't always like his technique and literally since Euphoria, I haven't liked the songs he sings solo.

There's time, too. Jungkook has more time than anyone else, and I bet they thought they would push him because he doesn't have to enlist as soon as everyone else, and they probably thought it'd take a couple of singles out before his career took off. Jimin proved them wrong. A worldwide successful debut is possible. So, frankly, time is another asset on Jungkook's side. It makes me wonder too if he becomes what I think Scooter wants him to be, how will that mess up BTS plans of a comeback in 2025.

I also wonder if hybe is not even trying with Jimin because they know he's going to do well anyways. They didn't get him any vocal lessons as a trainee, they continuously messed with his mental health, he didn't even sing much in the first years of BTS until they went for the more pop sound around 2017, and yet he always prevailed. Bighit literally never even tried with him. As I've said before, he always had the same opportunities as everyone else and yet he was the stand out everytime. If hybe can have a successful artist while investing the least money possible, then why would they even do something. They will always look for the most profit while spending the minimum.

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ilhoonftw · 1 year

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2nę1 stuff was fairly original, then whygee trashed their last album and debuted bp. with bp whygee at first relied on 2nę1 rejects but then they went the small rumble way aka taking current music trends and pretending they invented the sound. heavily sampling hip hop artists and basically making easier to digest rip offs? like it feels like a lite version. stans eat it up because they never heard the ogs nor they bother. it's all so boring, doesn't stand the test of time. maybe those songs are purely made for mnet survival shows... i beg no more bp covers. there are so many far more challenging and interesting songs out there. rose's vocal chords are fried as she's doing the welcome to my kitchin voice fry along with imitating pąrk bom's tone At The Same Time. kinda sad. as for the rest, lisą spiritually graduated from yąnis marshall school of dance and that's also sad. the other two are just there

#one of funniest moments to me was whenever small rumble ranked 1 on oricon and jpop snobs on arama would write essays #how trash their music is 😭 how it's unoriginal and grating #so true

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amoveablejake · 1 year

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Album of The Week: ‘Somebody Like You’ by Runners Club 95

Stand out song: ‘Somebody Like You’.

In 2011, Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘Drive’ was released as it perhaps became the cult hit of the 2010s. It certainly set the bar for what ‘cool’ in cinema was in the decade that followed it. In the twelve years since its release, not too many films have tried to emulate its exact formula which is in part, down to how ‘Drive’ continues to tower above anything that does even attempt to imitate it. Refn himself has in a way tried to recapture the magic but has always missed the mark with 2013′s ‘Only God Forgives’ the clear example of this. Sure, it had its moments but following ‘Drive’ those moments weren’t quite enough. ‘Drive’ is and perhaps always will be one of those films that not only was ‘cool’ but also came along at the exact right time. It came out of nowhere and provided something different. Like ‘The Matrix’ before it and ‘Reservoir Dogs’, it set up what a new era of cinema could be. One of the aspects that it set up was its phenomenal music that featured throughout. It featured both licensed songs and a hit of a score by Cliff Martinez. The score and the songs used are perhaps the elements that will stand the test of time the most, the scorpion jacket ofcourse comes in at a close second, and they definitely have been the most influential in the years that have followed with artists often trying to emanate that ‘Drive’ sound. And what is that ‘Drive’ sound exactly, well, its ofcourse ‘Nightcall’ by Kavinsky and Lovefoxx. A thumping opening beat, angelic vocals and a rhythm that will stay with you long after the song has stopped playing, much like the film itself. There will never be a song that manages to completely hit the ‘Nightcall’ mark but every now and then something does come along that does make you lift your head up and think, hey, this does have that feeling. That air to it that is so mesmerising. A song that can serve as the soundtrack to your neon soaked dreams that ‘Drive’ and ‘Nightcall’ installed within you. ‘Somebody Like You’ is one of those songs and more than that, I think it might be the one that has come the closest to hitting the target.

Staples of the Vapourwave scene, Runners Club 95 have often specialised in music that feels like it should be played on sun soaked evenings. The duo have carved out a part of the Vapourwave genre, no, they have shaped a part of the genre from their own image and have as ‘Drive’ did, created the bar to measure other titles against. ‘Somebody Like You’ feels like a step in a new direction. Sure, it could still exist in the Vapourwave genre but I think its not stepping beyond it. ‘Somebody Like You’ feels almost too polished to be a Vapourwave track, not that the songs within the genre aren’t polished but rather part of their charm is the homemade feel to them whereas this, this feels professional. What Runners Club 95 has done here is to create a true calling card for themselves outside of their usual sphere of influence. It is the sort of song that is, oh I don’t know, one feature in a 2011 film about a getaway driver away from cult classic status. And whilst I do think that ‘Somebody Like You’ could quite easily be slotted into ‘Drive’, I don’t think it should be. It feels too new to be in ‘Drive’ and yes I realise that I am talking about going back in time and adding it into a film that has already been released with one of the best scores and soundtracks around but lets finish this thread. ‘Somebody Like You’ feels to me at least like it was heavily influenced by ‘Nightcall’. It features a very similar thumping, repetitive beat and again some (near in this case) angelic vocals. Even the album cover itself has the same Kavinsky feel to it. It definitely, again to me, feels like it was inspired by the music of ‘Drive’ but at the same time, not as if it trying to copy it. It is ‘inspired by’ rather than a clone. It should and does exist in its own right and now, all it needs is a film similar to ‘Drive’ to come along. It doesn’t need to be a driving film, it can be anything but it should be something that is going to define ‘cool’ for the next decade ahead because quite frankly that is what Runners Club 95 deserve after pulling this off. Nothing can quite reach that ‘Drive’ level but this, well, I don’t know if we’re ever going to come any closer.

-Jake, a man who doesn’t need your stinking paragraphs, 15/05/2023

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dailykoreanpop · 2 years

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TikToker Under Fire For Making Racist Gestures And Condescending Remarks To ATEEZ At Their Fanmeet

She allegedly mocked their English speaking abilities.

A Russian TikTok influencer has become the center of mass controversy for her racist and condescending behavior at a recent ATEEZ fan event.

After having moved to South Korea not too long ago, TikTok user @just_2alina (name Alina Sharanova) began to gain popularity for her K-Pop dance covers and other K-Pop related videos. The influencer, who boasts over 124,000 followers on TikTok, was always praised for her dance covers but in the most recent news, she has found herself in an ugly situation.

A few days ago, ATEEZ held a fan meeting event, which proved itself to be a rare opportunity for real fans due to the limited 30 spots that were available. The intimate meeting should have been filled with heartwarming interactions, but a recent TikTok video featuring none other than Alina Sharanova has started to go viral on Twitter due to her condescending and racist behavior.

According to different Twitter users, the TikToker can allegedly be heard asking some rude questions to some of the ATEEZ members, while mocking their English speaking abilities.

Her attacks against Mingi didn’t end there, as she was also heard telling him to spend his time “learning English.”

Following her rude remarks and questions about Mingi‘s English, it was reported that the ATEEZ member participated in the rest of the fan meet looking down in his spirits.

I am worried about Mingi. He didn’t say a word for the whole time, was sitting there silently, nodded a few times and didn’t even smile. I wouldn’t too after your words.

— English translation provided by @babieteez/Twitter

In another clip, the TikToker allegedly accused an ATEEZ’s Wooyoung of “imitating Jimin,” while backhandedly praising him for finally finding his “own style.”

However, this is not all. @just_2alina took her rude behavior a step further by making a racist gesture targeted towards the Asian population. Following the conclusion of the ATEEZ fan event, she logged on to Instagram live to discuss her thoughts on the fan meeting. It was here that Alina made the racist slanted eye gesture while expressing her surprise regarding “how big” San‘s eyes were in real life.

However, this is not the TikToker’s first controversy. Previously, the dancer came under fire after recording herself throwing away boxes of ATEEZ albums and merchandise. At a gas station, @Just_2alina can be seen happily dancing, while throwing away all of the ATEEZ goods.

Following the uploads, it didn’t take long for all of the clips to spread online, as Alina’s racist, rude, and condescending behavior spread like wildfire. ATINYs (ATEEZ fans) all over the world banded together to heavily criticize the TikToker for her behavior.

The TikToker has since apologized for her actions, but has been met with even more backlash from ATEEZ fans. You can read @just_2alina‘s apology down below.

It is Sharonova Alina. First of all, I SINCERELY want to APOLOGIZE for all this situation about fan sign event and about my Insta-live in which you saw one of racist gesture. Though I have been interested in Asia for more than 10 years and have been living in asian already for more than 5 years, I did not know how serious meaning this gesture have. My friends immediately let me know it after they saw first posts. I HAVE NEVER BE A RACIST and never intended to offend someone who is not same nationality with me. I have friends all over the world and the biggest part of them are Asian, whom I regard a lot. I am so sorry for using this gesture thoughtlessly and hurt your feeling! I swear from this moment I will carefully think about each gesture and word.

All of you are mad with me for those comments on video that I added in moments nothing can be heard. (IT WAS NOT THE THINGS I TOLD! NEVER! IT WAS ONLY COMMENTARY OF SITUATION THAT IS GOING ON SCREEN, NOT MY WORDS TO BOYS!)

I do not deny that in video I could use some words in Russian language that have dual meaning. I want to explain for people who do know not know Russian that our language have many words that are frequently used in everyday life, but they can become rude and offensive in some situation.

I SWEAR absolutely all comments were made without any intention of offending any ATEEZ member, KQ Entertainment staff and etc. I did not expect Russian people would take it as an insult towards the boys and spread it into fandom like I had an intention of offending ATEEZ. I am really sorry for misunderstanding and this situation. I am not searching for your excuse, but just want to let everybody know that ATEEZ means a lot in my life and I will never offend/insult/abuse on purpose. They are a huge part of my world and for me saying bad about them is same as abusing myself.

— Alina Sharonova @AlinaMin98/Twitter

Credit: Koreaboo

#ateez #hongjoong #kim hongjoong #Seonghwa #park seonghwa #Yunho #jeong yunho #yeosang #kang yeosang #san #choi san #mingi #song mingi #wooyoung #jung wooyoung #jongho #choi jongho #kq entertainment #koreaboo

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tcm · 3 years

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Imitation of Lana Turner By Jessica Pickens

Hollywood and its celebrities have influenced fashion and beauty trends since its inception. In 2017, Kim Kardashian popularized contouring face foundation, adding an extra step in routine application of makeup. Hairstylists across the United States in the 1990s mimicked Jennifer Aniston’s layered Friends haircut, and in the 1940s, Veronica Lake’s peekaboo bangs caused concerns about the dangers of women’s hairstyles in wartime factories.

One fashion and beauty influencer from the 1930s through the 1950s was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s top stars: Lana Turner. From her early days as a pin-up girl to her peak of top glamour, Turner influenced beauty trends internationally. The trends of some of Turner’s contemporaries faded as times changed. Dorothy Lamour’s sarong went out of style and Lake’s one-eye-covered hairstyle was no longer in vogue as shorter haircuts of the 1950s became popular. But Turner evolved with her audiences.

In the late 1930s, audiences were introduced to her as a teen actress. By the 1940s, she was a bona fide star and a top World War II pin-up. In the 1950s, she became every inch the star — a sophisticated glamour queen. Throughout her career, her looks changed from red hair to long blonde tresses, to occasionally brunette. Swathed in Hollywood designs, furs and jewels, Turner influenced a number of trends throughout her film career.

Every Inch the Star

It’s no wonder that Turner was influential on pop culture of the past and the present. Nicknamed “The headline girl,” Turner dominated the news – from her eight marriages and divorces and the murder of her boyfriend. She was also nicknamed “The Queen of the Night Clubs.” Whether it was Ciro’s, the Mocambo, the Cocoanut Grove or The Trocadero, Turner was a fixture of Hollywood nightlife. Her daughter and biographer Cheryl Crane wrote that when Turner made an entrance into a nightclub, bandleaders would start playing “You Stepped Out of a Dream” from ZIEGFELD GIRL (’41) and a hush would fall over the crowd.

The MGM commissary even named a dish after their top star: The Lanallure Salad. In addition to all of this, she proved to also be a great actress with performances in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (‘46) and THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (‘52). Turner may have only stood 5’3”, but every inch of her was a star.

The Sweater Girl

Starting with her first movie, Turner was already setting trends and turning heads. In THEY WON’T FORGET (‘37), Turner’s character walks down the street in a form-fitting sweater — a sight audiences didn’t forget. This scene caused Lana Turner to be nicknamed “The Sweater Girl.” At 16 years old, Turner and her mother weren’t thrilled with the nickname. Turner was embarrassed and at one point said she was ashamed to face people. But it also influenced a trend of tight sweaters that emphasized the bust size.

“I believe it is no exaggeration to say that I have done more for the sweater than the sheep, the silkworm, or the Yale football team,” she said. The Sweater Girl trend continued throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, with almost every major female star photographed in a tight sweater. In a December 16, 1949 article in The Pittsburgh Press, Harvey J. Scott is quoted as saying, "But our real problem is with bobbysoxers. They are the sweater girls — just kids showing off their curves and apparently liking it. What kind of mothers and wives are they going to be?”

Global Influence

It wasn’t just American audiences who were fascinated with Turner’s glamour — her influence reached globally. Eva Perón (known as Evita) was the wife of Argentine President Juan Perón and she was First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. Perón was known for her high-fashion wardrobe, which highlighted her rags-to-riches background. Perón was heavily influenced by Hollywood, especially when she wore her hair blonde.

During a visit to Argentina in February 1946, Lana Turner’s jewelry was seized by customs, which held her up for hours. “She learned that every piece was photographed to be copied later,” Crane wrote. While at a party during her visit, Turner felt Perón watching her the whole time. Perón was said to have copied fashions and hairstyles unique to Lana Turner. When Patti LuPone played Evita on Broadway, Turner met her backstage and shared this story with her as well, according to LuPone’s autobiography.

Another admirer was Spanish artist Salvador Dali. Turner was in Carmel at the same time as Dali, who she met over cocktails. Dali wanted to paint Turner but only wanted to paint the corners of her eyes. “You have the most beautiful corners of your eyes I have ever seen,” he said. Turner refused the offer for the painting.

Still Influential

Even though Lana Turner died in 1995, her legacy and influence lives on. In her 1990 song “Vogue,” Madonna lists Turner as one of the many other classic stars with style and grace. That same year, author James Ellroy worked Lana Turner into his neo-noir novel L.A. Confidential. Turner’s character is also mentioned in the 1997 film version and portrayed by Brenda Bakke. Singer Elizabeth Grant took on the stage name Lana Del Rey, influenced by Turner. The popular singer/songwriter was inspired by Turner’s first name and “Del Rey” came from the Ford Del Rey sedan. Releasing an album in March 2021, Del Rey’s style and moody musical sound is heavily influenced by vintage style and Los Angeles imagery.

#Lana Turner #Ziegfeld Girl #fashion #beauty #old hollywood makeup #classic stars #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #Jessica Pickens

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spongki · 2 years

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SPONGKIFY: February

1. Fountains of Wayne / Adam Schlesinger (Band)

Discovering the power pop gem that is the band Fountains of Wayne during my semester break was quite a ride. Brace yourself. I have a lot to say about this.

Don't get me wrong—I was already aware of the band's classics during my childhood such as Stacy's Mom, Sink to the Bottom, and Hackensack—I do not live under a rock. But would you believe that drag made me realize I merely scratched the surface of their excellence?! I was watching a Trixie Mattel video about her celebrity doll collection where she showcased her Josie & The Pussycats dolls, and she mentioned how the music in that movie was written by Adam Schlesinger, the co-founder and songwriter of Fountains of Wayne. She also had a live video where she covered their song Hackensack as a tribute to Schlesinger's passing (RIP). All of this prompted me to rewatch Josie & The Pussycats (a movie that possibly radicalized me as a kid) and revisit its stellar soundtrack. I explored more and more of FoW's music and needless to say, I will definitely be seeing a lot of them on my year-end's Spotify Wrapped.

Their self-titled album Fountains of Wayne creates a picture of '90s American suburban life and its mundanities with tongue-in-cheek lyrics that read like anecdotes (courtesy of Schlesinger), even to those who are greatly unfamiliar with it such as me who grew up in a crummy urban apartment, forever intrigued with the enigma of suburbia. With the union of Chris Collingwood's (co-founder, vocalist, and songwriter) vocals and a variation of melodies peppier than most '90s alternative music and with heavier guitars than their pop pop counterparts, this record slid its way into my heart, and tagged along was its dorky but heartfelt appeal that reminded me of simpler times. Each song provides the sensation of watching a film but with the privilege of having both the movie and the soundtrack as one entity.

Oh, but that's not all. I also found out that Adam Schlesinger wrote for the movie Music and Lyrics (2007) starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant and That Thing You Do! (1996) starring Tom Hanks. He also wrote tracks such as Just a Girl by The Click Five and (co-wrote) High School Never Ends by Bowling For Soup. AKA, I was completely unaware he ruled my fucking childhood. I couldn't be sadder for his passing, but he will remain alive through his music.

(With Trixie Mattel's small town affection and style of fashion and music heavily inspired by '60s mod and power pop, I could see why she considers Fountains of Wayne as her favorite band of all-time.)

2. KATYA - Vampire Fitness (EP)

I'm gonna be honest, I'm not a big fan of most drag queens' music. They tend to go for the campy early 2010s electro-pop formula that either end up sounding like they sewed together Ke$ha's tattered scraps or they sloppily imitated iconic queer track "I Want Your Bite" by Cara Cunningham (formerly Chris Crocker). And tbh, I'm not really mad about it (even though I sound like I am so I'm gonna stop before I start sounding more and more like a homophobic bastard) since music is usually just a side gig for most queens. There are exceptions, of course—some do fall under this convention but they're GOOD, although I find that it's generally a hit-or-miss. This record, however, has KATYA written all over it. I have pretty high expectations on everything Katya does since she is so consistent with her character and style which, in my opinion, she greatly expresses on her own YouTube channel. Her "RuFLECTIONS" segment and her "RuUnion" with Detox were peak Lynchian weirdness (did I use that term right?) and pure Katya Zamolodchikova artistry, so I expected her music to be no less.

In this EP, KATYA (as she is mononymously known in her music career) pays tribute to her "motherland" and sings mostly in Russian. There is a clear influence from industrial goth, dark wave, and [shoots dart blindfolded] hyperpop PC music à la SOPHIE (RIP) and other aesthetics Katya basically associates herself with. As a known Russian bisexual transvestite hooker, Katya also does a Eurovision-style track featuring her best friend Trixie Mattel called "Ding Dong!" (an inside joke between the two) where the latter briefly recites a line from Silence of the Lambs (about Jame Gumb btw, aka gay icon).

A record packed with references on top of instrumentals that could possibly kill Prince Philip twice... [Elvira voice] Now this is my kinda ghoul!

3. Santigold - Disparate Youth (Song)

"Indie sleaze", aka a more fragrant term for the derogatory-sounding "hipster", is slowly making a comeback on the Internet and it's only a matter of time before it hits the mainstream (ironically). A lot of people are sensing a resurgence of millennial-isms, particularly hedonistic Project X-type parties, which I'm assuming is a result of how pent-up we've all felt during the pandemic. After all, we were supposed to have our own "Roaring '20s". And I, for one, am not immune to trends so I have this "bloghouse" gold on repeat, reveling in that nostalgia and making up for lost time—this along with M.I.A., Azealia Banks, Kid Cudi, MGMT, The Strokes, The Libertines (if you’re a Brit) and the like. I have a feeling Alexa Demie has something to do with this (iykyk). Maybe it's about time I start seeing pictures of American Apparel models in tighty whities on my dashboard.

#spongkify #music #music recs #february faves #fountains of wayne #adam schlesinger #my childhood #katya #katya zamo #katya zamolodchikova #drag #drag race #rupaul's drag race #santigold #indie sleaze #did not mean for these to be full blown reviews tbh #i just enjoyed fountains of wayne that much

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min-youngis · 3 years

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something’s got to give - b.bh

banner is mine, tq and bless

you got love / so you got everything - Something’s Gotta Give, OneRepublic

~ Pairing : Byun Baekhyun x Reader

~ Genre : Fluff, Comfort, Humour but like,,,lowkey

~ Summary/Excerpt : With you in the middle of your thesis and him busy with the new album, meals in the recent past have been in the nature of take-out or haphazardly put together salads, usually with a way higher calorie count than the recipe intends. It’s only right that either of the options are jazzed up once in a while, like tonight.

Established Relationship

~ Word Count : 1,938

~ Warnings : some sleepy neck kissing and Tiredness™, but not TIREDNESS, ya feel? kinda sappy too ngl

~ A/N : this man is my latest and most inconveniently timed hyperfixation bye

i’d love to hear feedback, spread the love!

masterlist in my description.

~~~

He’s a veritable wildfire, jumping over the back of the couch and nearly displacing the open laptop from your folded legs, smelling fresh from his recent, post-practice shower and still keyed up from the just-elapsed recording session, unable to still his continuously tapping feet, pressing excited and exaggerated kisses to wherever he can reach on your partly amused and partly exasperated face.

Midway through a peck on your quickly reddening cheek, he notices that he’s sitting on top of one of your notebooks, and now he’s jumping up again, snatching it up from the couch, dusting it off happily before bowing low and handing it over to you with an apologetic ‘So sorry, my bad,’ as you accept through your giggles. Tiny water droplets from his damp hair flick onto your reading glasses, but not so obscuring that you need to clean them to enjoy the show.

Exuberance undiminished, with a wide grin that could rival the sun fixed firm on his face, he leans over the open back of your laptop and primly presses the save button on the research paper you’ve been tackling for the better part of the day, before plucking the device off of you and setting it on the coffee table.

Grabbing your hand in his, he pulls you up, forcing you to displace the cozy blanket cocoon that you had more or less made your permanent residence address since the morning. Grumbling, you let go of the ends and let yourself be dragged up, recognising two indisputable facts.

1. You haven’t moved in hours, as your cracking knees cheerily remind you.

2. Post-recording Baekhyun is the best Baekhyun. The literal embodiment of serotonin.

He makes sure you’re steady on your feet, blanket free from your legs before he insistently begins to tug at your hand, making you slightly stumble from the numbness of your limbs, but follow him nonetheless.

You still make sure to let out a groan though, to keep up appearances and such, but there’s no fooling him, as he comes to a sudden stop on his determined near-skip to the kitchen, turning around before you can wipe off the fond, delighted smile from your face at his antics.

His eyes meet yours, his whole being screaming joy, and his grin is sly at catching you slipping and sappy. Maybe you’ve just been staring at a screen for too long, with just the clacking of the keyboard to keep you company, and the most emotional occurrence in the last few hours was when you had gotten frustrated that Word kept messing up your numbering; but even as he smiles victoriously at you, giggles at your half-hearted eye roll and deliberately weak punch to his chest, and whispers, “Whipped,” in your ear before dropping another rapid kiss on your cheek, you feel like you’re soaring.

He spins around just as quickly, grip perceptibly tightening on your hand as he gives a small, playful squeeze, and now he’s continuing his determined walk to the kitchen, you slightly jogging to keep up.

You aren’t expecting it when he twirls you into the room in front of him, giggling at your surprised yelp that morphs into a fond chuckle as you’re faced with takeout covers on the table and a small vase with a single, obviously fake rose.

He’s crowded into your space without you noticing, and there’s a tickle at the shell of your ear when he says, voice deep and obviously imitating that one chef from Shrek, “Dinner is served.”

It’s a contrast to the warmth his body exudes so close behind you, his kisses slowing down and moving lower to the side of your neck, as his arms wind around your frame, single finger dipping under your uni hoodie and teasingly tickling the sensitive flesh on the side of your body to evoke a wheezy giggle from you.

“Classy,” you snort, as you take in the electric candle that’s presumably running out of battery and flickering in its position next to the vase.

He lets out an amused puff of air against your jawbone, snapping out of his calmer, softer mood as quickly as he had entered it, once again becoming jumpy and letting you go with a last squeeze.

Moving to the table that you’re still observing (there are rolled up tissues in an old pen stand), he pulls out a chair and bows low, with an exaggeratedly flourishing hand and a terribly posh accent as he says, “I would be delighted if you could join me for this fine dining experience.”

Playing along (and really, how are you expected to not, with his infectious energy and devastating grin?), you curtsey best as you can in your sweatpants and hoodie attire, and still slightly numb legs.

With you in the middle of your thesis and him busy with the new album, meals in the recent past have been in the nature of take-out or haphazardly put together salads, usually with a way higher calorie count than the recipe intends. It’s only right that either of the options are jazzed up once in a while, like tonight.

He gives up trying to be dorky towards the end of the meal, but only after he’s donned a noodle moustache and called himself Master Shifu, fought with you over the last dragon roll with an incredibly dirty strategy that had involved some strategic arm-stroking and knuckle-kissing (he nearly won), and tucked a bunch of tissue papers into the top of his t-shirt in a poor attempt to create a ruffle collar, awful French accent included.

But now, as he leans back in his chair, exhaling heavily as his chopsticks sit tired in his permanently lazily elegant grip, you see it happen. His shoulders finally drop, his foot stops its incessant tapping, his eyes slow down their darting around the table in their quest to find other ordinary items that can be repurposed for a laugh and some drama.

If post-recording Baekhyun is a wildfire, post post-recording Baekhyun is the calm after a storm; sleepy, tired, no longer intent on making his presence loud, loud, loud.

It’s how it always goes, and you revel in the peaceful predictability of the occurrence and the privilege of being privy to it, sudden quietness only serving to soothe the room’s excitement into soft calmness.

Now is when real talk happens, when he'll ask about your progress and you’ll enquire about his album. The conversation spans terrible citation formats and pretty chord progressions, and by the end of it, you’re both droopy-eyed from the wind-down and the MSG.

Empty plates and cutlery are scattered around the table, white takeout containers stacked in a valiant effort to keep things tidy. Baekhyun's face glows in the lamplight, his body languid and lounging on the chair, his hair mostly dry now and his hands placed contentedly on his stomach, calm smile of a satisfying meal and a productive day fixed firmly on his face. It's almost unconscious really, how you gently push your chair back, too used to the quiet now to disturb it with sudden noise, and slowly pad over to him.

Maybe it's the new, white hair that looks super soft, or his old sweatshirt that you know for a fact is the comfiest thing he owns (from experience), but there's warmth emanating from his very being and god, if you don't want to simply drown in it.

He lets his knees spread apart a bit more, enough for you to wedge yourself in between them so you're looking down at him, your hands coming up to card through the back of his hair as his arms wind around your waist. His head falls forward so his face is smushed into your stomach, and he lets out a tiny puff of air that’s a mix between a sigh and a groan. It's hardly the most comfortable position for either of you, with his back curved awkwardly and your knees knocking into the edge of the wooden chair, but it still settles and warms you.

"We’ll wash up tomorrow?" he asks, words muffled against the fabric of your hoodie.

“Hmm.”

“Don’t fall asleep on me.”

The drowsy slur in his voice and his lazily looped arms that are really only being held up by your hips are a testament to his hypocrisy, but you choose to not call him out on it.

Instead, with a deep breath in preparation – because there’s a curious sense of comfort that comes with continuous discomfort, especially when you’ve got the lingering smell of lemon body wash and the close proximity to warm clothes combatting uncomfortably positioned limbs – you give his head one last pat slash stroke hybrid before moving your palms down to cup his jaw.

The mission to pull his face out of its adopted nook is by no means an easy one, but you’re nothing if not determined when it comes to going to bed. He whines at first, arms tightening in protest around your waist and head adamantly stuck in position, and your heart claws its way up to catch in your throat. Maybe you both should just sleep like this? Now that you think about it, it isn’t that bad, nothing a massage won’t fix tomorrow. And falling asleep to the smell of leftovers is all the rage now.

“Five more minutes,” you hear from below, where your fingers have subconsciously gone back to carding through his white strands. “And don’t stop the hair thing.”

He feels your stomach rumble with your muted chuckle. You feel his face widening with a grin. A thought creeps in, unbidden, that maybe this is what all the hubbub about the good life is about.

But your bed is calling out to you, and there's a chill so typical of this time of night settling into the apartment, and you know, instinctively, that if one of you doesn't move right now, five minutes could easily be pushed to seven hours. So however lovely this all is, how many ever conversations your mind has with your heart about idealism and uncomfortable hair stroking as a love language, with an almost cruel disregard for how soft Baekhyun looks at the moment, something's got to give.

"Five minutes are over."

"Liar."

But his head comes up anyway, heavy eyes looking at you accusingly.

Your mouth quirks up in a tiny smile at the sight. Determined to follow through, you move your hands away from where they were fiddling with the hair on the back of his head, let your palms run down the fluffy sleeves of his sweater to where his fingers are interlocked at the small of your back, and gently untangle them.

Apart from a perfunctory whine, he lets go easily enough, standing up slowly even as you step away. Together, the two of you work in a silent tandem, the promise of comfort a powerful motivator, pushing you to drop the boxes in the sink as he refrigerates the leftovers.

You flip off the light switches and make your way to the doorway where Baekhyun stands, his hand outstretched and waiting for yours, sleepy eyes closing ever so often even in the duration of your short trip across the room.

"Did you like the candle?" he mutters into your neck five minutes later, once you're both under the covers.

"It was my favourite part."

His lips curve into a smile, amused puff of air making you shiver slightly at the tickle, your fingers unconsciously tightening around his hand in response.

With a sleepy hum, he replies, "Nice. Don't steal my moves for tomorrow's dinner."

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taekooktimeline · 4 years

Text

August, 2020 (filmed within the month)

During an interview, BTS go over their discography with the purpose of giving some insight. Members encourage Jk to talk about his song.

Jk looks very shy and proud.

He quickly gets serious.

”Magic shop” references their own painful story. Opening lyrics:

Members move on to talk about how it was such an emotional time when they were working on their album “Tear”. Tae then brought “Magic Shop” back up, saying he thought a lot about Jungkook while recording it.

Jimin excitedly giggles, mumbles “right” under his breath (그래), and then adds a cheery “Really?” Jin - with the hint of a smile - closes his eyes and subtly nods as if knowingly recalling. Yoongi fumbles in his chair. Jungkook lets out a single chuckle & widely grins.

Back in 2016, BTS told the story of Jk’s legendary phrase “hyung’s pain is my only hardship” that he dramatically said while heavily crying and made everyone follow suit. Tae recounts it - comically imitating Jk’s emotional voice - making members laugh & smile fondly at the memory. At some point, Jk covers his smile in embarrassment.

After making them laugh, Tae finishes by saying that it left an impression on him and got stuck in his mind. Interpreting his next sentence, he must’ve meant that while recording “Magic Shop” - a song based on hardships and produced by Jungkook - Tae couldn’t stop thinking about him and felt great pain due to Jk’s suffering at the time, which reminded him of Jungkook’s past words. Their positions had swapped and he realized that’s how Jk must’ve felt back then. On this occasion - end of 2017/early 2018 - Jungkook’s pain was the cause of Tae’s strongest pain so they went through it together, although this doesn’t mean Tae didn’t have reasons of his own. However, it explains why Jk felt responsible for the disbandment talks and why they received YG’s exclusive letters at the same time.

A long time had passed so it wasn’t such a delicate subject anymore. Anyhow, members regain composure and acknowledge Tae’s feelings. Jimin goes “hmmm”, fighting back a smile full of implications, while Jin goes “oooh” .

(timestamp 11:41)

Later on, Jungkook flicks Tae’s ear while Jimin - without seeing Jk - shaked Jin’s hand. As a result of the next topic at hand, they both independently thought about showing appreciation to their members for the years they spent together, but in different ways.

https://youtu.be/Tt9x61AL50E, timestamp 12:24

#taekook #taekooktimeline #2020 #sadness #hardships #august 2020

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passionate-reply · 3 years

Video

youtube

Great Albums is back! This week, we’ll take a look at one of the greatest electronic albums of all time, Kraftwerk’s The Man-Machine, and try to avoid getting sued by Ralf Huetter! Full transcript for the video can be found below the break. Enjoy!

Growing up, my main genre of choice was 80s synth-pop, and while the deep influence of Kraftwerk is as significant there as it is everywhere else in electronic music, I was one of those people who initially saw them as somewhat "intimidating." Today, moreso than ever, Kraftwerk are held up as one of those more high-brow or cerebral groups with a philosophy that transcends mere pop or dance music, which makes them seem respectable, a kind of “model minority” in the world of music outside rock. While I don’t buy into the judgmental quality of that sort of praise, which damns so many of Kraftwerk’s greatest fans and imitators, I did get the sense, as a child, that these hoity-toity Germans, working with primitive equipment way back in the 1970s, might not be what I was looking for in a new favourite band. That was before I heard The Man-Machine.

While it’s certainly true that Kraftwerk were a highly experimental band in their own time, they’re one of those acts whose ideas have deeply permeated contemporary music, to the point where their actual work is extremely approachable and listenable to today’s ears. Of all the fairly early electronic acts, who started making this kind of music before it began to become mainstream in the late 70s, Kraftwerk are almost certainly the ones people nowadays listen to for pleasure the most, and that’s no accident. While their earlier albums like Trans-Europe Express took more overt inspiration from classical music, The Man-Machine was their first great foray into the arena of pop, which I think is key to why it resonates with people. For evidence of that, look no further than the biggest mainstream hit of Kraftwerk’s career, “The Model.”

I think it’s easy to see why “The Model'' became a hit single. Sure, it may not have the most traditional pop song structure, let alone instrumentation, but unlike a lot of what Kraftwerk had done before, it’s got a lot of lyrics and a real sense of narrative. Plus, that narrative we get is about a person and not a machine--a good-looking person, in whom the narrator is sexually interested. It’s the perfect pop material. Of course, I would be remiss to mention that “The Model” didn’t achieve all of its success until the single was re-released in many markets in 1981, and in those few years, the idea of “synth-pop” advanced significantly in the charts and popular consciousness. By the time “The Model” was a hit, Kraftwerk admirers were already taking over: look no further than Gary Numan’s "Cars” or OMD’s "Enola Gay,” two synth-pop classics that, it must be said, are still about vehicles!

That aside, though, not everything on The Man-Machine sounds like “The Model”--in fact, it’s surrounded by tracks that have much more in common with Kraftwerk’s earlier LPs. Literally surrounded, in the track listing. I think that adds to this album’s appeal as an ideal entry point into their catalogue: it has some things that sound familiar, while also preparing you for what else you’ll encounter if you choose to probe deeper into the band. The Man-Machine has the least homogeneous profile of any Kraftwerk album. While most of their other classic albums are highly cohesive “song cycles” that almost blend into one long song when you listen to them in full, The Man-Machine doesn’t really have those repeated melodies and motifs that tie its tracks together. While many people, especially fans of psychedelic and progressive rock, really like those cohesive albums, I think this change is a welcome one. It gives the individual tracks a bit more room to breathe and express distinctive identities, and makes the album feel a bit more pop, even if the material itself isn’t always all that poppy. *The Man-Machine* actually only has six individual tracks; they range in length from the three-minute pop stylings of “The Model” to the urban sprawl of “Neon Lights,” which luxuriates in an almost nine-minute runtime.

Given that the average track length is around six minutes, I’m almost tempted to think of The Man-Machine as six tiny Kraftwerk albums, or at least, musical ideas that could have been expanded into full LPs in another universe. “Neon Lights” and “Spacelab” feel dreamy and easy-going, with floating melodies that draw from the “cosmic music” scene, one of the many emergent styles that began as something uniquely German and spread throughout the world--in this case, becoming an important forerunner to ambient electronic music through acts like Tangerine Dream. Meanwhile, the hard, tick-tocking rhythms of “Metropolis” and the title track point to the newfound focus on rhythm and the so-called motorik beat that made the music of Neu! so compelling.

The Man-Machine can serve not only as an introduction to Kraftwerk, but also as a sort of crash course in this entire period of electronic music, showcasing some of the most distinctive and influential features of the German scene, as well as the shape of synth-pop to come. It’s a complex and busy historical moment with huge ramifications for almost all of subsequent electronic music, and The Man-Machine really creates a microcosm of that whole environment. There’s also the fact that each side of the record has one track from each of my three broad groups, like an expertly-designed sushi platter or charcuterie board for us to sample from, and they both follow the same formula: a pop appetizer, a cosmic *entree,* and motorik for dessert.

*The Man-Machine* also has what is almost certainly the most iconic cover of any of Kraftwerk’s LPs. This is how lots of us still picture them in our minds, and it’s inspired tons of parodies and riffs over the years. I think all of that acclaim is deserved! Emil Schult’s graphic design for the album was heavily inspired by avant-garde Soviet artists of the 10s and 20s, chiefly El Lissitzky. These visual artists used their art to express their hope for a new world, defined by the promise of technology, and their literally revolutionary philosophy--so what could be a better match for Kraftwerk’s electronic revolution in music? Lissitzky used bright, primary colours, straight lines, and geometric shapes to convey the “built environment” of modern cities and man-made architecture, and you’ve got all the same sentiment on display here. The use of strong diagonals really draws the eye and lends this image a lot of continued visual interest. It’s also worth noting the extent to which Kraftwerk’s aesthetics inspired later electronic acts almost as powerfully as their sound. When you picture an electronic band, and get a mental image of stiff and stone-faced musicians behind synthesisers wearing shirts and ties, you can certainly thank Kraftwerk for that, as well.

I also love the title of The Man-Machine! The relationship between people and technology is one of, if not the, most central themes in Kraftwerk’s entire discography, which is full of references to anthropomorphic machines as well as mechanically-mediated humans. The particular choice of the phrase “man-machine,” as opposed to words like “android,” has a fun vintage flair to it, which matches the use of early 20th Century visual art quite nicely.

As might be expected from the album’s stylistic diversity, *The Man-Machine* would prove to be something of a transition point in Kraftwerk’s career. Their 1981 follow-up, Computer World, would return to the song cycle format, but with increasing emphasis on ideas from the pop sphere, championed by percussionist Karl Bartos. By the time of the last classic-lineup Kraftwerk LP, 1986’s Electric Cafe, they had not only amped up the pop, but also incorporated influence from the electronic dance music of the time. Ultimately, Bartos would leave the group, chiefly due to discontent with his treatment by founding members Ralf Huetter and Florian Schneider-Esleben, and their persistent lack of musical productivity.

On a somewhat lighter note, my personal favourite track on this album is its opener, “The Robots.” Per my typology from earlier, I classified this as a pop-oriented song, and it certainly is an approachable one that’s proven to be quite popular. But it’s got just enough more experimental touches to keep things quite interesting. From an ominous, dissonant intro, a slightly more pop form, hinting at a verse/chorus structure, soon emerges and contrasts. I love the groove of the rhythm and percussion here, as well as the very heavy vocoder, rich in texture and certainly a Kraftwerk staple.

While the lyrics can be read as sort of light and silly, I like to think that the robots in question might also be dangerous. The track “Metropolis” seems to reference the seminal 1927 silent film of the same name, which is famous for its portrayal of an evil, mechanical doppelganger. Likewise, the choice to translate the lyrics of the song’s interlude into Russian is likely inspired by another great work of art from this era: the stage play R.U.R.--Rossum’s Universal Robots. Written by Karel Čapek in 1922, it’s the progenitor of the “robot revolution” trope in science fiction, the source of the word “robot” for autonomous machines in almost every human language, and one of the first entries in the illustrious career of an author who helped make Czech a true literary language. While the titular robots take time to assure us that they’re programmed to do what we humans want, should we really trust them...?

#music #kraftwerk #great albums

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cosmicloved · 3 years

Text

juuuuust to be transparent, that promo was very heavily inspired by these album covers (the purple ones, to be specific), just bc i think they’re legitimately some of the prettiest album designs and i thought it’d make for a really cute promo concept! obviously, what i put together was a lot simpler and i can’t imitate the holographic effect (bc that’s not just a random gradient, the physical albums have a holographic film). anyway, i’m just saying this bc i don’t want to pretend the design was 100% my own idea. obviously, my final version isn’t exactly the same but the basic layout was taken from this design and that’s totally okay bc this is just a silly promo for tumblr rp (i.e; it’s not plagiarism bc i’m not making money off this and who gives a shit) but i DO feel like i ought to give credit where its due! <3

#« 𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐂 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 (ᴏᴏᴄ) » / 「 ooc. 」#i have sakura's version on display on my shelves bc i love it so much ASDFGFD #i ended up using it as promo inspo just bc it was staring me in the face every day lmaooo i originally wanted to do like??#a book cover inspired thing but i realised this worked for that too #i also do really like the cream versions and also the 3D group ver (not pictured)#this is actually just one of my fav ever kpop albums just in terms of album packaging? soooo good

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kookie-for-you · 4 years

Text

You’re Scared By Storms

Masterlist

Scenario:

You peer anxiously out the window to see the dark sky and rain spattering against the glass, only to quickly drop the curtain back into place. The thought of the storm in the forecast had been weighing heavily on your mind all day, and here it was. Ever since you were very little, storms had been terrifying to you—especially the thunder.

A bright flash came around the curtains, and only a second later a loud crack echoed all around you. With a tiny shriek, you clapped your hands over your ears. Shaking, you lowered yourself to the floor, huddled against the side of the bed. You felt tears well up in your eyes—tears of fear and tears of embarrassment. You were a grown woman; why couldn’t you face the sound of thunder? Another crack sounded throughout the house and you shuddered, not knowing how you’d make it through this.

Kim Seokjin/Jin:

Seokjin had been aware of the storm coming as well, and knew all about your fear. As soon as the thunder started, he’d gone about closing all of the curtains in the house. “Princess?” he called, knowing you’d be hiding somewhere from how loud that thunder was. Another boom sounded and Seokjin winced, not from fear but from knowing how you’d be handling that.

He opened the bedroom door slowly, knowing this was likely where you were hiding. “Love?” he said softly, catching sight of your legs on the other side of the bed. He leaned around the end of the bed, smiling gently at you. “It’s okay, princess,” he said, taking in your teary eyes. “It’s just a little storm, and it’ll be over in no time. Do you want Oppa to make you something nice to eat?”

Shakily, eyes wide, you nodded. Seokjin extended a hand to help you up, still having that gentle smile on his face. You slowly lowered your hands from your ears to take his, letting him pull you up. “Come on, I’ll let you pick whatever you want,” he told you, leading you slowly from the bedroom to the kitchen.

In only a few minutes, Seokjin was preparing some chicken while you sat happily on the counter, watching him cook. Every time a crash of thunder happened, Seokjin was there with his easy smile to keep you calm.

Min Yoongi/Suga:

Every time the lightening flashed around the window, it only made you more tense, waiting for the thunder to follow it. But the curtains and the blinds were both drawn and the light still shone in. Where could you go that didn’t have any windows you’d be tempted to stare at?

Yoongi’s studio. You pushed yourself up from the floor and hurried out of the bedroom and down the hall to the only room in the house without any windows, the tiny study that had been converted to Yoongi’s work-at-home space. You knocked and went in without waiting for a response.

Your boyfriend was sat at his computer, still working on the track for the next album that he’d been editing for two days now. You tiptoed over to him, tapping his shoulder. He didn’t jump, so you had a feeling he’d been expecting you. Taking one headphone off his ear, Yoongi looked back at you. “What’s up, Y/N?”

You opened your mouth to answer, but all that came out was a loud gasp when another burst of thunder came. Immediately, you cradled yourself into Yoongi’s lap, burying your face in his shirt. “Hey, hey,” he soothed, bringing his arms around you. He often forgot just how scared you got by thunder. “It’s no big deal, it’s just some thunder. Here.”

A second later, you found your ears encased by Yoongi’s very expensive headphones, and realized you could hear nothing. You looked up at him and he just pointed to his ear as if to say listen. He gave a few clicks of his mouse and suddenly you were hearing the track that he had been working on. You sniffled, wiped your eyes, and settled in to listen to the music.

Jung Hoseok/J-Hope:

Hoseok wasn’t too fond of thunder himself. He wasn’t particularly scared of it—the sound just always startled him. But since dating you, and finding out about your fear, he’d tried to make himself jump at it less. Still, when the first boom echoed through the apartment, he found himself leaping out of his own skin. “Ah!” he shouted, then mentally scolded himself. “Sunshine!” he called, wanting to find you quickly—you were always more scared if you were alone.

When he found you huddled against the bed, his heart broke. “Oh, Sunshine,” he cooed, wrapping his arms around you. “It’s okay. Don’t worry. Hobi is here to protect you.” When another roll of thunder came and he jumped almost as much as you did, though, that did little to help his promise. He felt you shake a little and hugged you tighter, thinking they were tears. But quickly he realized that you had started to giggle.

“Hey,” he said with his own laugh, pulling back a little. “Why are you laughing? Are you laughing at me?”

You nodded shyly. “You make a funny face when you get startled,” you told him, imitating it.

“Well so do you,” he retorted, making an over-the-top scared face that you knew looked absolutely nothing like your teary-eyed expression right now. You giggled some more.

Another crash of thunder sounded and both of you jumped, but then you both giggled again—you at Hobi’s startled face and him at your giggles. “Laughter is the best medicine for anything, Sunshine,” he told you. That was a mantra around your household. “Come with me. Let’s go put on a funny movie. We can’t be scared if we’re laughing.”

And he was right. The comedy you watched help drown out the thunder and being curled up on the couch laughing at silly jokes and people falling over helped you forget your fear, only thinking about being happy and safe with your Hoseok.

Kim Namjoon/RM:

It was only a few seconds later that you heard another loud sound, but this one wasn’t thunder—it came from the hallway. Eyes wide, you pushed yourself up from the ground to open the bedroom door and peer out. There, you saw Namjoon hastily picking up the large standing lamp that appeared to have been knocked over into a wall, which then seemed to have knocked down a picture frame. “Oppa what happened?” you asked.

“Uh,” Namjoon began, but he just shook his head. “I think my foot caught the cord of the lamp? I’m not really sure.” He had replaced the lamp where it was supposed to stand, and moved over to pick up the picture. “Lucky this didn’t break the glass,” he commented as he leaned down for it, but as he reached for it there was another loud crack of thunder.

You shrieked, crouching again where you were in the doorway, putting your hands over your ears. Namjoon immediately left the picture, coming to your side and crouching down in front of you. One hand rested on your shoulder and the other cupped your cheek, coaxing you to look at him. “Hey, hey, babygirl, Oppa’s here. Nothing’s gonna hurt you when Oppa’s here, right?” His thumb stroked your cheek bone gently. “Come on, let’s go cuddle, okay? We’ll worry about the mess Oppa made later, huh?”

Sniffling, you nodded, letting Namjoon lead you back into the bedroom, where he face you away from the window, wrapping his arm around your middle firmly, making you feel safe and protected. You both waited out the storm and the thunder there, with Namjoon shushing you and whispering sweet nothings in your ear the whole time.

Park Jimin/Jimin:

The sound wasn’t muffled enough by just your ears, and you hated seeing the light flash around the window only to bring more anxiety about when the next crash of thunder would come. Between thunder claps, you crawled up onto the bed, quickly getting under the covers and pulling them over your head. It got warm very quickly, but at least you felt a little more safe under there.

You heard the door to the room open, followed by a tiny chuckle. “Jagi?” Jimin called. You could hear the small smile in his voice, and kicked your feet a little to acknowledge his presence without leaving your hiding spot. You felt a small breeze as the bottom of the blanket was lifted up, then felt the bed dip under Jimin’s weight as he crawled up next to you. “Hey there,” he said softly, once you were nose to nose.

“Hi,” you replied quietly.

“Aren’t you a little warm under here?” he asked, still smiling kindly. His beautiful smile made your heart flutter.

“It’s better than being out there,” you countered, then cried out when another clap of thunder sounded. A tear slipped from your eye and rolled down your cheek.

“Oh no,” Jimin said, immediately reaching out and wrapping his arms around you. You buried your face in his shoulder, letting your tears wet his shirt instead of your cheeks. His hand rested in your hair, stroking it soothingly. “Oh no, jagi, please don’t cry. If you cry, I’ll cry too. It’ll be okay.”

You nodded against his shoulder. “Can we just stay like this?” you asked, your voice comically muffled by his shirt.

Jimin nodded, resting his cheek against the top of your head. “Sure, jagi,” he said, sniffling a little bit too. He hated the thought of you so scared that you had tears in your eyes. He’d do whatever you wanted to feel even the tiniest bit safer.

Kim Taehyung/V:

It was only a few minutes, and a few more claps of thunder later, when the door to the bedroom opened. You heard the bed creak, and looked up to see Taehyung’s smiling face hanging off the side of the bed above you. “Hi,” he said. “Do you want to come with me?”

You blinked, confused. “W-where?” you asked, running your hand under your eyes to clear the slight wetness from tears.

“A kingdom fit for a princess like you,” Taehyung said with his boxy grin. “See, you’re the princess who’s locked up in the tower right now. Scared, alone. But I’m the prince who’s come to save you, and take you back to our castle so we can live happily ever after, safe and in love.”

You found yourself smiling at Taehyung’s story-telling. “It sounds nice,” you admitted. “Where is the kingdom?”

Taehyung rolled himself off the end of the bed, holding out a hand to help you up. “It’s this way, my lady,” he said in what you assumed was meant to be a princely voice. You took his hand with a giggle, letting him pull you up.

Right as you stepped out of the bedroom into the hallway, you heard another boom of thunder. Your natural instinct to curl up into a ball kicked in, as your body immediately tried to lower itself to the ground. But Taehyung held your hand tight, and wrapped his other arm around your waist as he turned to face you. His jokey, smiley expression had gone and instead he had a serious face on as he looked into your eyes. “It’s okay, yeobo,” he said softly, and his deep voice soothed you more than anything else could. “I’m here to protect you.”

You nodded, untensing your body. “Let’s go to the kingdom,” you replied shakily, bringing Taehyung’s grin right back to his face. He eagerly led you to the living room where he’d assembled a beautiful blanket fort for the both of you. The two of you spent the rest of the evening in there, with Taehyung making up stories for you until you were only smiles.

Jeon Jungkook/Jungkook:

Jungkook’s hands stopped moving on his game controller as he heard the muffled thunder. He took one headphone off his ear and glanced out the window at the pouring rain and winced, realizing just how scared you probably were. Had the rain been going on long and he hadn’t noticed? “Noona?” he called, realizing it was a little useless—you were unlikely to respond when you were scared.

“Jungkook! What are you doing? We’re gonna lose!” Taehyung’s voice was anxious through the headset.

“Sorry, I’ll be right back, hyung,” Jungkook said, abandoning his controller and barely noticing as his character got shot and died on screen. He set out, instead, to find you.

It wasn’t hard. This was usually your spot whenever it started to storm. “Noona,” he called, coming around the edge of the bed and crouching down in front of you. “Hey, why are you so scared? Aren’t you supposed to be older than me? I’m not scared, am I? So you shouldn’t be either.”

You wished you could respond in the cheeky way he was clearly goading you to, but all you could do was stick out your lower lip and sniffle as another loud crash of thunder sounded around you. Jungkook sighed. “Okay, come with me,” he said, grabbing your arms and wrapping them around his shoulders. He then wrapped his arms around your waist and effortlessly lifted you from the ground, letting you wrap your legs around his waist like a koala.

Easily, Jungkook carried you to the living room where he deposited you on the couch. “Watch me and Tae-hyung crush these guys,” he told you as he grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around your shoulders. You sniffled and wiped your eyes, a little calmed by the change of scenery already.

Jungkook put his headset back on (where you could hear Tae yelling for the maknae to get back to his controller for the next match), but left one ear uncovered so he could talk to you as well. Watching him play his games helped drown out the sound of the thunder, and just being close to Jungkook kept you calmer than you thought he could ever realize.

Masterlist

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very-grownup · 3 years

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THE YEAR IS 2020 AND I WATCHED NEON GENESIS EVANGELION FOR THE FIRST TIME, PART 4

Episode 13.

I did not fully understand what was going on in this episode but I guess it is the requisite '90s episode where it's hacking?

The rest of Episode 13, Episode 14, and Episode 15 behind the cut.

The kids are put in imitation bodies (which are not their giant robots) for testing purposes and the main difference seems to be that the imitation bodies have a blue filter for the scenes instead of orange and the kids are naked. Also the imitation bodies have no heads, just a bunch of cables.

The Angel is a microorganism that somehow gets into the blue testing chamber and infects the artificial bodies and then hacks its way into the three super computers that run the city. (The three supercomputers are Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior but that's not Bible canon.)

The kids are really not appearing in this episode, their plugs get ejected from the artificial bodies and this episode is about Ritsuko and her mom issues? I appreciate this acknowledgement that relationships with both parents can be fucked up, not just dads. Ritsuko's mother is actually the one who invented the Magi (which, let's be clear, will take over the world, it's only a matter of time, Ritsuko's mother was a mad scientist). Where invented is uploaded her brain and personality to the Magi and that's what powers its AI? Uploading your personality into three supercomputers is, for reference, hella mad scientist, by the way. So Ritsuko's job is basically maintaining the supercomputers that are her dead mother (I assume dead? uploading your personality to computers seems like a fatal thing). The supercomputers speak - is that voice the voice of Ritsuko's mother or a general computer voice? I don't know. Fucked up thing to contemplate. Ritsuko's situation seems pretty fucked up but she's not the alcoholic so maybe she's seen the one therapist in Tokyo 3.

Ritsuko talks to Misato about how the three Magi that all have her mother's personality have three different personalities and it's very maiden-mother-crone except it's woman-mother-scientist but probably the same thing. It's an interesting way for Ritsuko to frame for herself the fractured nature of her relationship with her mother. She talks about respecting the scientist, never understanding the mother, and always being at odds with the woman. Describing it as personalities might seem fucky but if we say personas it goes down smoother. How does one upload different aspects of one's personality to a computer? Shut the fuck up, that's how. The first thing is already bullshit and its value is as metaphor, not science.

There's a panel that Ritsuko opens inside the machinery of the Magi that 100% is just brain tissue she puts tiny cable plugs in and I hate that and the Magi defeat the microangel. Someone eventually gets the kids, probably. This concludes my report on Episode 13 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Episode 14.

Mostly a clip show, giving me an excuse to rate how cute the various Angels so far have been. Least cute is the Pink Floyd album cover shape, obviously. But it's not 100% a clip show and that stuff: whoo boy.

So, there's an internal monologue from Rei which I think is more words than every line in the previous thirteen episodes combined. There's lots of nice background illustrations during this - I really appreciate the beautiful scenery when it happens in the show, there's a tenderness and softness to the art, especially when it's nature, that is a great contrast to the show's general aesthetic. Rei's monologue is disconnected but mostly about identity, realness, not realness, standard teenage identity stuff. She also doesn't like the colour red and thinks of Shinji's father repeatedly. A field of sunflowers which is pretty. At one point a whole wavering line of Reis stretching back into infinity.

Then it's time to put teens in giant robots but, for reasons no one will elaborate on, Rei is put in Shinji's robot (it smells like Shinji which, hey, I was in junior high with boys Shinji's age, I get it). She is very good at being in Shinji's robot. Asuka just goes in her own robot. She is huffy about Rei and Shinji getting special treatment (especially Shinji, who she perceives as being babied because Misato acknowledges that Shinji doesn't like getting in the robot). But she also doesn't really want to go in anyone else's robot and doesn't like the idea of one of the other kids going in her robot? It's complicated being Asuka, because how can you voice jealousy when obviously you're the best and the others suck and are dumb babies. Then Shinji gets in Rei's robot, which seems to be okay but not as good as Rei in Shinji's robot, until suddenly it is not and Shinji has memories of Rei or Rei's memories or something penetrating his skull and Rei's robot goes berserk.

I think Rei's robot is the one that has a history of being a bad robot that goes berserk and like, it's a prototype, right, that's why it's Unit 00? Maybe they should stop using the prototype that goes berserk and build Rei a proper giant robot that won't do this.

It breaks loose from its, uh, restraints? Plugs? Fucking I don't know, the giant robot holding widgets and just starts beating its head and fists against the observation section until they cut its power. Everyone seems to think it was coming to kill Rei although I thought it was protesting having a non-Rei pilot but who knows what GIANT ROBOTS FEEL. Ritsuko thinks it was actually coming to kill her and you know what? Who cares, stop putting teens in the prototype robot! IT'S A BAD ROBOT.

Shinji is, again, in a cool blue hospital room, by himself, staring at the ceiling, with no memory of his bad time in Rei's robot.

Shinji's awful father is having a meeting with the other awful old men about their plans and their backup plans and, you know, the Dead Sea scrolls and then they drop the fucking Spear of Longinus on us and that's too much for me but then it turns out it's not the actual Spear of Longinus, it's just the name of a giant robot spear they gave Rei and her BAD GIANT ROBOT STOP TURNING ON THAT ROBOT IT IS A BAD ROBOT. This concludes my report on Episode 14 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Episode 15.

There is so much going on in this episode and a lot of interesting shot framing and questionable '90s fashion. But it's also the episode about the anniversary of Shinji's mother's death.

A year ago I was preparing and stressing over the trip to scatter my mother's ashes, with my father and brother. I bled heavily for over a month and felt alone in my grief almost constantly. Watching Shinji stand alone in front of his mother's grave as his father gets in a helicopter and leaves, not even returning Shinji's gambled attempt at forging a connection in their shared grief ... I don't really have any takeaways or commentary on the other stuff. A mother's loss is often devastating, at any age, and having another parent who can't acknowledge your grief because of their own is horrible. This concludes my report on Episode 15 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

#neon genesis evangelion report

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angrylizardjacket · 5 years

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Run to Paradise {Nikki Sixx} Part 22

22. a loss is a loss is a loss

Summary: Things start to go south when Roxie joins the party. They go on tour and Lola starts spiraling.

Warnings: NSFW, big drug warning, (consensual) drugged sex warning, also angst.

ragtag bunch of misfits: @starlalove @toofasttofallinlove @xrosegoldwolfx @obsessivesky @trpwthme @lovehelpmewrite @colsons-crue @marvelismylifffe @lilytalebi @glitterdreamsz @freddiessmallnipples @crazysaladchopshop @inthebackofmycarlaytheirbodies @dramatique-moi @missqueeniewrites @calspixie @aryssav @catsoo12 @sweetshutter @silvertonguedserpent @shamelessobsessions @lavenderbones22 @keepcalm-and-beyou @scarecrowmax @nicholeh7 @unknownoblivion

{masterlist}

The new tour is off to a terrible start, despite the album's smashing success.

Tommy and Lola aren't on speaking terms, for the first time since they'd met.

Tommy had met a groupie named Roxie only a few weeks before the tour started, and he'd claimed it was love at first sight. Much to everyone else's chagrin, Tommy was adamant that she'd be joining them on tour. Normally, this wouldn't have bothered Lola; since Vince had started getting more serious with Sharise, she'd backed off considerably out of respect. But with Roxie? From the moment she'd met the woman, Lola had gotten a bad vibe from her, had gotten nothing but withering glares and jealous scoffs whenever Lola went anywhere near Tommy.

One particular evening, Lola had kissed Tommy on the cheek before she'd headed home from a club they were partying at, and Roxie had the gall to catch her outside, snarling for Lola to back off. Lola, for her part, wasn't much intimidated by the waifish groupie. Her lip curled as she gave the woman a disdainful look over.

"Don't tell me you're this stupid," Lola actually laughed, though Roxie just raised an eyebrow at her. "You're lucky I don't kick your fucking ass; don't ever think for a second that you call the shots here."

Lola had tried to bring it up to Tommy, but she'd never had the best way with words, and with Tommy love-drunk and Lola bitter and vulgar, it didn't come out the way she'd intended -

"Don't call her a bitch just because you're jealous!" Tommy's not yelling, persay, but he's close enough to it that Lola's hands fist reflexively. They're not even on the tour bus yet, they're loading their gear, and Roxie is late.

"I'm calling her a bitch because she's a bitch," Lola snarls, turning her temper on Tommy for the first time, and he seems shocked, but what had he really expected. "She's a gold digger and a -"

"Dude, you're such a hypocrite-"

"Oh shut up; I'm not a hypocrite, I've paid my way from day fucking one, and I think I've been pretty up front about being a whore." Crossing her arms, Lola looks smug, though her heart's not in her words, she's not enjoying it like she did with their usual banter. Tommy's genuinely angry by the look of him, fuming with frustrated, close to banging his head against the bus.

"Oh that's fucking rich," Tommy snorted, crossing his arms, unable to look Lola in the eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry," Lola snapped, sarcastic and sharp, "is it true love Tommy? Did you find The One, your soulmate, after she was done fucking Whitesnake?" Lola sneered.

"Fuck you, you absolute fucking hypocrite. I don't give a shit what you think, I love her -"

"Then you're dumber than I gave you credit for," Lola smirked, no warmth behind her eyes, "fuck dude, you fall for anyone with tits who gives you the time of day." It was mean, plain and simple, her words cruel as they cut him like a knife. He snaps, hands flexing into fists by his sides though he's rooted to the spot.

"My girlfriend isn't a whore, or a bitch; you're just jealous because I'm trying to be a good fucking boyfriend for someone who isn't you. It's not my fault you learned how to love from Nikki fucking Sixx, you possessive asshole!"

Silence hangs in the air, Tommy's mouth pressed into a thin, unhappy line. It settles, his words, his meaning, taking up all the space between them, and he begins to realise what he said, begins to feel like he's just picked the bad ending of a choose-your-own-adventure novel, with the way Lola's lips curl into a cruel imitation of a smile. It's not what he expected, and there's apologies laying heavy on his tongue, pressing against his teeth as he watches something die behind Lola's eyes.

"Tommy," she says, and every fucking hair on his arms stands straight up at her sweetly poisonous tone. He's waiting for a rebuttal, something cutting and cruel, laced with thinly-veiled threat, but no words seem to want to come out. Speechless, which she can't even seem to believe herself, she opens and closes her mouth a few times. He's hit too close to home, it's written all over her face as she struggles to reply.

"Lols-" he tries, voice soft and regretful, but her expression hardens.

"Fuck you." She breaks a little, her snort of derision a cruel, bitter sound, but it's hollow, and she can't look him in the eye. When she heads into the bus, she opens a bottle of Jack, drinking it like she's dying of dehydration, and seems happy enough to pass out at the back of the bus as the rest of the band bring the rest of their luggage aboard.

Doc, who'd already been on the bus, usually made it his personal mission in life to interfere with Lola's personal relationships with the band as little as possible, and though he acted as though he hadn't heard anything, he also does a rather solid of job of keeping the rest of the band at the front of the bus, giving her what little peace he could manage.

Lola isn't herself this tour, though she'd like to argue that she's more herself than ever.

And she and Tommy aren't on speaking terms.

It takes Nikki and Vince a while to notice how distant she is; they blame her the cold shoulder she gives Tommy on Roxie's presence, and they're right in one way, but not in the way that matters. Vince thinks she's spending less time with him because of Sharise. Nikki's just under the assumption that she's hooking up with groupies for a change of pace. The band goes out, goes to clubs and bars and strip clubs, but Lola disappears early in the night, and they'll see her the next morning wearing a grin that's all teeth, and a set of fresh bruises and scratches. They don't worry, but maybe they should.

"I've gone - I've gone fucking soft, how the fuck did I let that happen?" She laughs one night, but it's too honest, an anger in her words that simmers just below the surface. She's got a black eye and a split lip; she's always in black, in leather, but now there's splatters of blood. It's across her knuckles, her pants, her jacket; some of its hers, some of its not, and it shines in the light outside the strip club. The guy holding his heavily bleeding nose looks at her like she's lost her mind, stumbling away.

"You're fucking crazy," he snaps, his nervous gaze flicking to the bouncer, who watches with amusement. Lola's eyes are wide, grin sharp as she nods in agreement. The band is still inside, but she doesn't even try to get back in. Maybe she wants them to come looking for her, to notice that she's gone, but they don't.

Lola stumbles her own way to where she thinks the band's latest hotel is, though it's a coin flip as to whether she'll wind up there. Sometimes she'll find her way to another club or bar, or a group just as inebriated as she is will welcome her into their fold, if only for the one night.

Someone gives her a cigarette laced with something they don't tell her about, in a dirty motel three blocks from the band. She's sick within minutes, shaking and barely upright as she clutches at the sink in the bathroom.

"It's alright, baby, you're not used to it," the man that had given it to her pats her on the back. He holds her hair back with one hand, and takes a drag from the cigarette with the other. It's filthy, everything about being here, about him, about every other person in the other room, it's covered in grime, and Lola feels it in her gut right before she throws up, can feel it across every inch of her skin.

More than anything, she wishes she was back in LA, back in her mansion, on the sofa with Nikki, her head in his lap while he's working on some lyrics. Or laughing in Vince's kitchen as he attempts to teach her how to cook eggs, even though he's not particularly good at it himself, but it doesn't matter, because he's smiling at her with that glint in his eyes that makes Lola's heart ache a little now when she thinks about it. Or -

Lola stops herself before she can get too caught up, takes a long drink of water from the tap before turning, wearing her most winning smile.

"I'm a quick study." She takes the cigarette, but doesn't take a drag. Instead, she presses her lips to the man whose name she doesn't know, and lets him breathe smoke into her mouth. His tongue runs along her bottom lip, and his hand comes to grip at her ass, and everything feels so wrong.

Lola takes another hit of whatever's in the cigarette.

She feels it, feels ill, but now she feels herself relaxing. It's slowly becoming the best high she's ever had, and simultaneously one of the worst.

"What's in that?" She slurs a little when they finally come out of the bathroom, and Lola is happy to let him drape her on the sofa. The other people in the room, mostly strung out, are scattered on the two grubby double beds, in various states of undress. There's no shame because no-one's coherent enough to feel it.

"Don't you worry, baby; it feels good, don't it?" And she's not sure if he's referring to the drugs or his hand up her skirt, but she laughs, low and syrupy, and nods.

Someone else in the room stumbles to the cassette player by the table, and Lola gives a start at the familiar riff that claws it's way from the speakers. She can't help herself, she starts laughing, the sound bright and sharp, so different from the dreamy sound that had escaped her moments ago.

"What?" The man frowned, his hand stilling on her thigh, confusion written all over his face.

"It's about me." That just seemed to confuse him further. Lola, for a moment, hummed along with Looks That Kill, "she's got the looks that kill," she sang under her breath, her hand finding his, guiding him to finish what he'd started, even has he frowned in confusion.

"What the fuck," the man laughed, before he chuckled in disbelief, grinning brightly, his head following his hand. Lola gasped and arched, eyes falling closed as she hums along to the song, hips shifting to the beat of the drum.

"Nikki wrote it about me," she breathes, and the man stops.

"You're a big fan of Motley Crue then?" He asked, as if humoring her. Instead of answering, Lola whined gently, her hand fisting in his hair, ignoring the question.

"Don't stop," she practically begs, and it works. They fuck right there on the sofa, with a shitty Motley Crue cassette as the background noise, and Lola is pretty sure that she'll find the humour in that later. If she remembers it. For now, it feels fucking incredible, whatever was in that cigarette has her on cloud nine, the man between her legs knows what he's doing, and when she closes her eyes she can pretend she's with someone she actually loves.

She comes with Tommy's name on her lips, and despite being high as all hell, the man - who absolutely is not Tommy, despite how lanky he is - takes enough offence that he tells her to get lost. Lola stumbles to her feet, unsteady, and spits at him. He shoves her, but she's knows how to keep her balance, even if she stumbles. He calls her pathetic, and she takes the cassette player from the table, and smacks him in the face with it. The music cuts out with the crash, and he drops like a ton of bricks. Lola's hands shake as she takes out the Motley Crue tape, and she leans in close where he's passed out on the grubby floor.

"You don't deserve this," she scoffs, waving the tape, ignoring as one of the other occupants of the room asks why the music's stopped. Lola ignores her, and makes her way outside.

Much to her own surprise, she'd remembered the name of the hotel the band had been staying at, and when she collapses against the front desk, it's only a few minutes before an irate Doc comes to collect her.

"You smell like shit," he tells her sharply, an arm around her as he leads her to the elevator.

"Thank you," Lola grinned, eyes unfocused and hazy, leaning almost her whole weight on the manager, stumbling to keep up with him. She's still got the tape clutched in her hand.

"Nikki's got company," is what he tells her as he lets her into her own room, and Lola tries to swing at him, but he shoves her none to gently into the room, shutting the door behind her. It's like she's been winded, standing in the middle of the room, clutching at the tape so tightly it cracks in her fist.

And maybe it hurts that no-one seems to notice or care that she doesn't spend most nights in the same hotel as the band. Or maybe someone should be worried that she keeps waking up in parking lots and can't remember how she got there. But she knows if she makes it back with them, she'll just remember how the people she loves are all moving on.

Maybe, she'd thought, just maybe Nikki would see that she's spiraling; he's the only one left she's still allowed to love. But he takes it too easily in stride, adapts to not having her around, fills the space she's left by his side with any number of meaningless flings in cities all across the country.

Tommy was wrong. She'd never learned to love from Nikki, who lets go too easily; she'd learned to love from her mother, where to love is to hold someone close until they want to run, it seems, until they burn.

She doesn't want to love like that.

So she'd let them go.

On the tour bus the next day, she'll talk and laugh with them like nothing's wrong, and in that moment, it won't be. Nikki will be next to her, or Vince will have an arm around her, and she'll take a swig from Mick's vodka when he offers it. She doesn't spiral when the sun can see her, but that's easier said than done when she meets Tommy's gaze, and just for the moment his smile falters.

She tells herself she doesn't need him.

"Nikki's got company."

She doesn't need any of them. Not tonight. Not ever.

In a few hours, Doc will come wake her up, everyone will pile on the bus, and she'll pretend like she doesn't miss living in a shithole, alone with Nikki, uncomplicated; the two of them against the world.

#nikki sixx #nikki sixx imagine #nikki sixx x oc #Tommy Lee #tommy lee imagine #lola x tommy #nikki x lola #Vince Neil #vince neil imagine #Mick Mars #doc mcghee #motley crue #the dirt #the dirt imagine #motley crue imagine #the angry lizard writes

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recklesswiz98 · 4 years

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Art Inspiration- Art Nouveau Art Nouveau, ornamental style of art that flourished between about 1890 and 1910 throughout Europe and the United States. Art Nouveau is characterised by its use of a long, sinuous, organic line and was employed most often in architecture, interior design, jewellery and glass design, posters, and illustration. It was deliberate attempt to create a new style, free of the imitative historicism that dominated much of the 19th- century art and design. About this time the term Art Nouveau was coined, in Belgium by the periodical L’Art Moderne to describe the work of the artist group Les Vingt and in Paris by S. Bling, who named his gallery L’Art Nouveau. The style was Called Jugendstil in Germany, Sezessionstil in Austria, Stile Floreale or ( Stile Liberty) in Italy, and Modernismo

In England the style’s immediate precursors were the Aestheticism of the illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, who depended heavily on the expressive quality of organic line, the Arts and Crafts movement of Williams Morris, Who established the importance of a vital style in the applied arts.

On the European continent, Art Nouveau was influenced by experiments with expressive line by the painters Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The movement was also partly inspired by a vogue for the linear patterns of Japanese prints (ukiyo-e)

To distinguishing ornamental characteristic of Art Nouveau is its undulating asymmetrical line, often taking the form of flower stalks and buds, vine tendrils, insect wings, and other delicate and sinuous natural objects; the line may be elegant and graceful or infused with a powerfully rhythmic and whiplike force. In the graphic arts the line subordinates all other pictorial elements- form, texture, space, and colour-to its own decorative effect.

In architecture and the other plastic arts, the whole of the three-dimensional form becomes engulfed in the organic, linear rhythm, creating a fusion between structure and ornament.

Architecture particularly shows this synopsis of ornament and structure; a liberal combination of materials - ironwork, glass, ceramic, and brickwork- was employed for example, in the creation of unified interiors in which columns and beams became thick vines with spreading tendrils and windows became both openings for light and air membranous outgrowths of the organic whole. This approach was directly opposed to the traditional architectural values of reason and clarity of structure.

There were a great number of artists and designers who worked in the Art Nouveau style.

Some of the more prominent were the Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who specialised in a predominantly geometric line and particularly influenced the Austrian Sezessionstil ; the Belgian architects Henry van de Velde and Victor Horta, whose extremely sinuous and delicate structures influenced the French architect Hector Guimard, another important figure; the American glassmaker Louis Comfort Tiffany; the French furniture and ironwork designer Louis Majorelle; the Czechoslovakian graphic designer-artist Alphonse Mucha; the French glass and jewellery designer Rene Lalique; the American architect Louis Henry Sullivan, who used plantlike Art Nouveau ironwork to decorate his traditionally structured buildings; and the Spanish architect and sculptor Antionio Gaudi, perhaps the most original artist of the movement, who went beyond dependence on line to transform buildings into curving, bulbous, brightly, coloured, organic constructions.

After 1910 Art Nouveau appeared old-fashioned and limited and was generally abandoned as a distinct decorative style. In the 1960s, however the style was rehabilitated in part, by major exhibitions organised at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1959) and at the Musee National d’art Modern Art in New York (1959) and at the Musee National d’Art Moderne ( 1960) as well as by a large-scale retrospective on Beardsley held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1966. The exhibitions elevated the status of the movement, which had often. been viewed by critics as a passing trend, to the level of other major Modern art movements of the late 19th century.Currents of the movement were then revitalised in Pop and Op art.

In the popular opinion, the flowery organic lines of Art Nouveau were revived as a new psychedelic style in fashion and in the typography used on rock and pop album covers in commercial advertising.

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