Litany In Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out, a Damon/Elena picspam

[lackadaisicalnereid]

For those of you who may not be aware:
In the corner of TVD fandom where I mostly reside, there is this obsession (I am not kidding. It's an obsession.) with a poet, Richard Siken, and especially his one poem, titled Litany In Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out. The obsession manifests itself in many shapes and forms: people's journals have titles from the poems, the lines from the poems are prompted on all the ficathons, mentioned in metas and focuses of fics, maybe even icons. In this case it's a picspam. What I tried to do started as an impossible idea: combine every line from the poem (which is about 150 lines) with different screencaps of scenes from The Vampire Diaries, focusing on Damon and Elena. TAH-DA. It's here, behind the curtaincut.

ETERNAL thanks to my betas and moral supporters (in order of appearance, I think?): upupa_epops, who not only cheered this idea on and was FABULOUS moral support, but also provided advice and helped with the choices. If it wasn't for you, Marta, this probably would never have become more than an idea. You are to blame, just saying. ever_neutral, YOU WERE AMAZING, with your LOAD of constructive criticism which helped this picspam grow into its final form. youcallitwinter, who was awfully excited and cheered me on and read my ~1000 words of non picspam related stories, while I should have been working on the picspam. And finally, vergoldung, who cheered me on and SHAMELESSLY blackmailed me into finishing it quickly.




Bless you all.

Note: The picspam contains images from all of the series, season 1 to season 3. Beware of spoilers if you haven't seen it.

Comments

[ever-neutral.livejournal.com]

OK SHUT UP THE PORCH FOR "that doesn't look that much different from home"????? I REFUSE. I REFUUUUUUUSE.

"the shiny beautiful mechanical wind" = \o/. So glad that works.

I JUST COULDN'T SAY IT OUT LOUD. I JUST COULDN'T SAY IT OUT LOUD..

I JUST COULDN'T SAY IT OUT LOUD.

I CAN'T.

This is a terrible post. I see you laughing evilly in the corner.

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

This is an embarrassing comment.

YOU WILL BE ALONE ALWAYS AND THEN YOU WILL DIE.

OTHER THAN THE DESPERATION

I'M SORRY I COULDN'T COME TO YOUR PARTY

FLAMES EVERYWHERE

I'M JUST A WRITER

I SINK THE BOAT OF LOVE, BUT THAT COMES LATER. Of course you'd choose a scene right before she crushes his romantic delusions. OF COURSE!

I'M THE DRAGON. BIG DEAL. The imagery is just perfect. It's not a very powerful scene, but, GUH, you caught the essence of Damon in, like, five pictures. How are you even real???

LET ME DO IT RIGHT FOR ONCE! You understand me :((((((.

HELLO DARLING, SORRY ABOUT THAT

THE SCENE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRWELL

TO MAKE A CREATURE THAT WILL DO WHAT I SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU ARE NOT FEEDING YOURSELF TO A BAD MAN I caaaaaaaan't. My girl and her stupid trainers and EVERYTHING in this scene :(

I TAKE IT BACK

CROSSED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What you did with this section is so perfect I can't even. CLUMSY HANDS IN A DARK ROOM. CROSSED OUT. SO PERFECT

ALL THE ROOMS OF THE CASTLE EXCEPT THIS ONE :(((((((((((

LOVE, FOR YOU... Have I mentioned a broken heart?

GIVE ME ANOTHER VERSION :(((((((((((( This is what Elena does, right?

UNFORTUNATELY, WE DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FORGET THE DRAGON! My girl, her hands bloody, why did you? :(

MOMENT OF EPIPHANY :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Seriously, this is your moment of epiphany? I NEVER LIKED THAT ENDING EITHER?

THERE WERE SOME NICE PARTS, SURE

Guh, perfection. I love how you keep fluently jumping between POVs, because this is what they are. They're too alike, and it shows in their stories, POVs just fluently going from one to the other and back again. YOU SHOULD DO ALL THE PICSPAMS ALWAYS!

Here endeth the emo vomit.

[plural-entity.livejournal.com]

God, this is beautiful.

The only part I didn't like was the fact there were so many awesome pictures with so much awesome poetry that my computer kept lagging behind me as I absorbed it all, and kept having to wait for the pictures to load. xD STUPID STUPID SLOW COMPUTER.

But you did serious work here girl. ♥ This is one of the most beautiful picspams I've seen in a while.

And using Siken just makes it all HURT SO GOOD.


ETA: Oh and I think it's time I added you now, K?

[bellonablack.livejournal.com]

THIS WAS AN EXPERIENCE EXCUSE ME IT WAS EPIC <3

I love it, that is all, and perfect work.

[stainofmylove.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is so lovely ... and looks like SO MUCH WORK, so good on you for gettin' it done! I don't really ship Damon/Elena like I used to, but they're still one of the most interesting relationships in the series and this picspam really illustrates almost every facet of it. Really, really awesome.

[florencia7.livejournal.com]

That is such a gorgeous, such a clever picspam! I love it!!! It must've taken you ages to make but it was definitely worth the effort. This is soooo amazing, and the way in which you matched the caps with the poem lines is UNCANNY. Brilliant work. Thank you so much for making & sharing this! ♥

[petitebelette.livejournal.com]

SHAKING A LITTLE, NOT EVEN BEING DRAMATIC, OKAY

this was beautiful and needed to be done and you did it so brilliantly and i love it so thank you

goodbye curling into a ball of hopeful despair now

[shipperjunkie.livejournal.com]

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT SIKEN WAS OTHER THAN A PROMPT LEFT IN EVERY SINGLE FICATHON!

So basically this is not only incredibly beautiful, moving, insightful, but educational as well! AND NOW I WANT TO KNOW MOOOAARR

Thank you! This obviously was a labor of love.

[angelus2hot]

This was just.... absolutely.... I can't even.

I know there are words to describe how EPIC AND AWESOME this is. Although, I can't seem to find them. But I do know they're there.

[vergoldung.livejournal.com]

*throws a bouquet of roses at you*

THIS IS BEAUTIFUL DARLING. ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS.
I'm reduced to silent staring. Like, so pretty.
And also, so much work omg. HOW DID YOU EVER FIND SUCH STAMINA? GIVE IT TO ME I NEED IT IN MY LIFE SFM!

You deserve all the awards, basically. I just had the shittiest day/night and this made it all better. It is magic. You are amazing ♥


something more than a catalog of non-definitive acts
OH MY GOD. Dead from feels. Such truth right there. Non-definitive acts is are the only kind they know how to deal with. And each time they give in to the oh! so seductive temptation of defining, shreds are all that is left. /o\

Nothing broke my heart better than Damon the cotton candy princess, ever waiting for Katherine the ravisher ♥ ♥ AND HE HAD SUCH CONFIDENCE THAT SHE WOULD COME /dead dead dead.

You still get to be the hero.
CAN YOU HEAR MY SOBBING, CAN YOU? I hate you so much right now. Why would you ever do that to me? YOU ARE THE WORST. IT IS NOT ALLOWED TO GIVE ME SUCH PAIN AND ALSO PLEASURE THAT TRUMPS ALL. JUST GO AWAY WITH YOUR PERFECTS CAPS.

Hello darling, sorry about that.
UNNNNNG. Flawless, flawless. How did he not say this for real.

Also the bony elbows... UGH THE IMAGERY, FFS. They are scraping against the stony cave-wall and the bones hurt but anger still trumps all.

You found the perfect fit for undeserved happiness :) So, so good. And now I also know why I never liked that scene. (You open my eyes tons tonight. HDU.)

I arrived in the city and you met me at the sation, smiling in a way that made me frightened.
Fuck. Yes.

You said I could have everything I wanted, but I just couldn't say it out loud.
ARGH NOOOOO. This is gross. You are gross and Damon is the grossest. /hate

leave the gun on the table
Tears all over my face. WHY WOULD YOU EVER?

But it doesn't work, these erasures, this constant refolding of the pleats.
My heart. My Elena. Just let me sob in a corner.

And Damon wants more applesauce. And Elena saved a forgiving plate for him. AND I AM BASICALLY ON THE FLOOR. CRAWLING IN AGONY.

WHAT HAVE YOU JUST DONE TO ME? I BOTH HATE AND LOVE YOU EQUAL MESURES. EITHER WAY THE PASSION IS BURNING ♥


AND I WILL REWARD YOU AS DESERVED. But in private. Cause you know. I like to be stand-offish and snob the world. Whatever, whatever. (All that to say that I'll PM you later today...)

[amj58.livejournal.com]

This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Oh GOD. This poem breaks my heart. In a good way.

[youcallitwinter.livejournal.com]

YOU KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING, THIS POST ISN'T OPENING BECAUSE I HAVE THE SLOWEST SPEED EVER ATM, AND ONLY ON THE FIRST WILL IT IMPROVE. JUST, FUCK THE FUCKING UNIVERSE.

[xx-pinkstar.livejournal.com]

I recognized so so many of these lines from various ficathons, but just didn't realize they were all from one glorious poem.

BUT OH MY GOD, THIS POST. IT'S AMAZING. THERE WERE CERTAIN LINES WERE I JUST GOT EXCITED 'THIS POEM WAS WRITTEN FOR DAMON/ELENA. IT WAS IT WAS.'

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR LIFE CHOICES TBH.

[rosaxx50.livejournal.com]

As someone who isn't even much of a Damon/Elena shipper...

...what is this...

Love always wakes the dragon

Damn it.

Love, for you, is larger than the usual romantic love. It's a religion.

I remember someone prompting is during the ficathon. IT STILL FITS HERE. My heart.

I never liked that ending either.

DDDDDDD:

I had to go find a better internet connection to see this, but it is glorious.

[badboy-fangirl.livejournal.com]

These are all ridiculously perfect, but the one that makes me want to kill myself is the one at the bottom of the stairwell....ugh, I can never watch that scene without the desire to yell at Damon, DON'T DO IT, DON'T DO IT!

UGH. *clutches chest*

[le-mru.livejournal.com]

This is a FABULOUS project. I'm actually stuck in the middle of translating this poem (into Polish, Siken has never been translated, so all we have are these amateur attempts), so this may even help me with that!

But let's just say that it's like the poet wrote this with them in mind.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD

Just. Every line of this. I was in love with this poem already, and then you did this, and I don't have words.

[kwritten.livejournal.com]

I'm supposed to be on hiatus! I'm SUPPOSED to be ignoring fandom in honor of RL drama.

Fuck it. And I hate you. This is beautiful and stunning and I have no words right now except: be my friend and post all the pic!spam all of the time!

Also, as my first intro to Siken, I may now be a fan for life. So thank you for that as well.


*scurries off to RL*

[ari-g.livejournal.com]

THIS IS FANTASTIC!!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!
Now, I'm obsessed with this poem too =) and the picspam is just PERFECT
I'm considering printing all these images and making a large collage or maybe a mobile *mmmhh thinking about logistics...*

[next_to_normal]

This is the most epic of all epic things. PERFECTION.

I have seen you around ever_neutral and upupa_epops's LJs and figured it was time we were friends anyway, but I would have friended you solely on the basis of this post, ngl.

(Hahaha, I spend too much time on DW and forget LJ coding.)

[wiccabuffy.livejournal.com]

Too beautiful. I tweeted it to Julie Plec for her to hopefully see. Wonderfully made!

[catteo.livejournal.com]

So I am late to this party, but I am working a 30 hour weekend and suddenly remembered ever_neutral mentioning this picspam of epic proportions and, as if preordained, there it was open in a tab on my laptop and HOLY CRAP this is gorgeous. The poem itself is already utterly heartwrenching but you've done SUCH a beautiful job of scene choices and switching between Damon and Elena's points of view. And I have just had a cursory flick through your journal and am adding you post haste! I'm basically failing at lj these days but have the best of intentions about one day making a post again! I am still excellent at stalking and commenting however!

[scorpiod1.livejournal.com]

Late to this post but this is gorgeous and made me VERY EMOTIONAL and I don't even have strong Damon/Elena feelings. You did so well putting together the poem stanzas to pictures, not just the iconic ones that I see all over the place, but the entire poem just lines up and fits perfectly and packs a real emotional gut punch (the last picture GETS to me on my feelings, jesus). idk, I don't know how explain my feelings on this, BUT THIS WAS FANTASTIC.

[cranmers.livejournal.com]

Oh my...

I don't even ship this. And I don't ship it despite spending literally all of my time on the journals of Martha, Alex, Zoe ect. (most of the people at fault here lol) so I would say I am one of those pretty hardened, committed, stubbornly entrenched in my position kidnds non-shipper.

BUT OH MY GOD I THINK THIS IS THE CLOSEST I HAVE EVER COME TO SHIPPING IT. I shipped it as I read it, which felt weird but was an demonstration of how extraordinarily, brilliantly powerful this is.

I just... I don't know what to say in response. I have no words for how amazing this is. I will express myself with this gif even though it's not really adequate.

(http://s1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd388/legionaries/GIFs/?action=view&current=000egrcb.gif)

Like, I recognise the fandom obsession with Siken + the ot3 but I have never seen it used more powerfully, or like, originally? Like Damon as the princess... and much more besides... guhh!

AWESOME.

Anyway, my apologies for being that completely random person who turns up on your journal, utterly invited and fills it with what can only be described as splutter. I know that can be annoying. I've just been rec'd here so many times and when I finally came and saw I just, IDK, felt compelled to express my admiration. IDK. IDK. I'm going now.

This has been amazing.

Also thank you for making it public.