memespam

[lotesse]

Livejournal userinfo meme:

My journal is called _____ because _____.
My subtitle is _____ because _____.
My friends page is called _____ because _____.
My username is ____ because _____.
My default userpic is _____ because_____.
My journal name is _____ because ______.

"isle of gramarye," which is a quote from a Kipling poem (She is not any common earth,/ water or wood or air,/ but Merlin's isle of gramarye/ where you and I shall fare) and contains my favorite word of all time. "Gramarye" is an old word for magic, and is also the root of our modern term "grammar." There was a time when a grammarian was a magician, and as Tolkien reminds us, the Old English word "spel" means both an enchantment cast and a story told. The linguistic connections between my two great loves is almost too cool for words.

"the crystal goblet and the wine," which is a quote from the Billy Collins poem "Litany," my favorite poem ever. I picked it for vague reasons involving the transformative powers of language and metaphor, and also because it sounds cool.

"will the circle be unbroken" from the old song, because lj is such a circular thing, and it just seems right.

"lotesseflower," because "lotesse" was taken. I took "Lotesse" as a net name back in 1999, I think, on the messageboards of www.theonering.com, and I just kept using it. It's the Quenya name for May, my birth-month, and means "in flower."

one of Trina Schart Hyman's illustrations for "Snow White," because it was one of my favorite books as a child. Her work is so incredibly lovely, and she always seems to illustrate stories that I feel that I belong to. I love fairy tales, love how strange and dark and beautiful they are, and I firmly believe that they really are very very important. Snow White is lovely, with the apple symbolism and the dark gothic sexuality metaphors and the rich visual imagery. My icon is taken from my favorite picture. I used to look at it for hours as a child. It just so completely captures everything that I find beautiful.

I have no lj name. Am boring.

And lastly, lyricspam:



Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Cohen may have written it, but there's nothing in all the world so beautiful as Rufus singing it.

Comments

[lotesse]

I've been listening to it on repeat for about four days now. Am pathetic. Yeah.

But the question is: Wainwright or Cohen?

[adjectivegirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, Wainwright. Cohen is a mad poet genius with lyrics but his voice isn't the best.

[lotesse]

...while Rufus may have the best voice in the whole of the cosmos. I concur.