#marcus photo dump

[kevjrr]

A little Marcus appreciation post

For @karotland and @cryingforcrocodiles 🫶🏽

[dystini]

Indycar gossip

The weekend of April 7, 2024, we saw via Insta stories Felix Rosenqvist watching Christian Lundgaard playing some sort of VR game. The next morning added Felix making latte art, shared by Marcus Ericsson.

Now, via the latest photo dump by Marcus Armstrong, we can add Marcus, Christian Rassmussen and Theo Pourchaire to the party.

At the same time, Felix's fiance was in New York wedding dress shopping. Some sort of stag party? (If so, it's very soft and sweet and totally Felix's style.)

Also of interest, there is a luxury apartment/condo complex where a lot of drivers live or used to live. I'm pretty sure that currently, both Christians and both Marcuses live there. Felix used to but he bought a house/condo last year. A reunion of sorts? How much driver interaction goes on in that building? Possibly more than we think.

(Add Linus Lundqvist to currently living in the same building.)

[trappedinafantasy37]

Been a minute since I've given ya'll an update. My b. I've been busy trying to catch up on my writing.

Found Last Light Inn in which we met yet another druid. Had to fight my base instinct not to kill her (I've killed so many druids, you wouldn't even know). She grew pretty sus of the evil lesbians, cause, well, who wouldn't?

This weird guy I've never met tried to vouch for me and pretend we were buddies. Naturally I started a fight cause, fuck you? We're not friends?

Almost got FOOKIN POISONED! How rude! Shadowheart was just trying to have a little drinky drink and this is how she's treated? This is why I kill the druids every time!

The cat met the cat.

Met a fookin heretic! If Shadowheart's girlfriend wasn't in dire need of protection, Isobel would have been over! Shadowheart almost threw up in her mouth having to protect her from Marcus' ambush a few moments later.

Met... this guy...

Found the tollkeeper! Told her to relinquish all her gold.

Found the bartender. Had him blow himself up.

Found a lunatic doctor. Had his students stab him to death!

Whoo, boi! Made quite a bit of progress with Act 2, but still so much to go. Next stop, Gauntlet of Shar. What do you guys think Shadowheart should do in regards to her fate? I haven't decided yet. Maybe I'll flip a coin. Anyway, here's a photo dump of the evil lesbians:

<Act 1 Shenaninanigans | The Gauntlet of Shar>

[weneverlearn]

Aaron Lange, Peter Laughner, and the Terminal Town of Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland-based artist, Aaron Lange, tackles his first graphic novel, Ain't It Fun -- a deep dive into the oily depths of the Rust Belt's most influential music town, it's most mythological misfit, it's oft-forgotten artistic and political streaks, and beyond...

Aaron Lange and his book, 2023 (Photo by Jake Kelly)

--------------------------------------

There’s a recurring line in Aaron Lange’s remarkable new graphic novel, Ain’t It Fun (Stone Church Press, 2023), that states, “Say the words out loud. The River isn’t real.” The river Lange was speaking of is the Cuyahoga, that infamously flammable mass of muck that dumps out into Lake Erie.

Peter Laughner (the ostensible topic of Lange’s book) was an amazing artist who probably could’ve ditched the banks of the Cuyahoga for more amenably artistic areas back in his early 1970s heyday. Aside from his frequent pilgrimages to the burgeoning NYC Lower East Side scene (where he nearly joined Television) and a quickly ditched attempt to live in California though, he mostly stuck around northeast Ohio.

While desperately trying to find his sound and a workable band, Laughner smelted a post-hippie, pre-punk amoebic folk rock, and formed the influential embryonic punk band, Rocket from the Tombs, which later morphed into Pere Ubu. All of which – lumped up with other rust-belted oddballs like electric eels, Mirrors, DEVO, the Numbers Band, Chi-Pig, Tin Huey, Rubber City Rebels, and more – essentially helped formed the “proto-punk” template.

Laughner was also a rock writer of some regional renown, and contributed numerous amphetamine-fueled articles to regional mags like The Scene and Creem -- mostly concerning where Rock'n'Roll was going, colored as he was by the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, David Bowie, and Roxy Music playing in Cleveland a bunch of times around his formative years.

Sadly, in June 1977, Laughner died of acute pancreatitis at age 24. Aside from the first two seminal Pere Ubu 7-inch singles, the rest of Laughner’s recorded output was just one very limited self-released EP and, posthumously, a great double-LP comp of demo and live tracks, Take the Guitar Player for a Ride (1993, Tim Kerr Records). A surprisingly large batch of unreleased lost demos, radio shows, and live tapes appeared on the beautiful and essential box set, Peter Laughner (Smog Veil Records, 2019), that brought Laughner’s legend just a few blocks outside of Fringeville, as it received universally great reviews….

The Dead Boys became the most well-known act of that mid-70s Cleveland scene, though that only happened once they high-tailed it to NYC. Aside from DEVO, Chrissie Hynde, and the Waitresses (all of whom did their own versions of high-tailing it), nearly every other act in that fertile Cle-Akron proto-punk vortex soon dissipated, eventually getting the cult treatment at best.

Cleveland is indeed right there with NYC and London as punk ground zero, but Americans tend to equate buyable products as proof of import, so shockingly, the Pagans and The Styrenes just aren’t the household name they should be.

Decades of tape-trading stories, sub-indie label limited releases, and fanzine debates kept the mythology of those acts barely breathing underneath the end of the milennium’s increasingly loud R'n'R death knell. And as that mythology slowly grew, the fans and even the musicians of the scene itself still wonder what it all meant.     

Which, as you dig deeper into Ain’t It Fun, becomes the theme not just about the legendary rocker ghost of Peter Laughner, but of Cleveland itself. Ala Greil Marcus’ classic “hidden history” tome, Lipstick Traces, Lange interweaves Laughner’s self-immolating attempts at Beatnik-art-punk transcendence with a very detailed history of Cleveland, with its insane anti-legends and foot-shooting civic development.

Like much of the dank, rusted, and mysterious edges of the one-time “Sixth City,” the Cuyahoga has been cleaned up since, though I still wouldn’t suggest slurping up a swallow if you’re hanging on the banks of the Flats. I grew up in Cleveland and visit as often as I can because it’s an awesome place, no matter what they tell you. Or maybe, because of what they tell you.

If you are keen to swim down through the muck and mire of Cleveland’s charms, you don’t just get used to it, you like it. As for the “Cleveland” that the City Fathers have always tried so vainly to hype, us hopelessly romantic proto-punk fanatics say to those who would erase Cleveland’s fucked-up past and replace it with that weird fake greenspace underneath the Terminal Tower: “The City isn’t real.”

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Give us a quick bio.

Born in Cleveland, 1981. We moved to the west side suburbs when I was six. My parents didn’t listen to much music, and I don’t have older siblings. So I didn’t really listen to music at all until I was in high school, and I didn’t listen to any of the grunge or ‘90s stuff that was popular. I got real into the Beatles when I was in ninth grade, and at some point I got the Velvet Underground’s first album from the library because I saw Andy Warhol’s name on the cover. I didn’t know anything about them, so that was a real shock. I probably first heard Iggy Pop via the Trainspotting soundtrack, and pretty soon after I started getting into punk and generally more obscure stuff. Now I listen to more electronic stuff, ambient stuff. I also like most anything that falls under the broad “post-punk” umbrella. I really hate “rama-lama ding-dong” rock and roll.

What came first – music or drawing interest?

Drawing. I was always drawing… I’ve been a semi-regular contributor to Mineshaft for many years, which is a small zine/journal that features a lot of underground comix related stuff, but also has a beatnik vibe and includes poetry and writing. I’ve done the odd thing here and there for other zines, but I don’t really fit in anywhere.

Don’t really fit it – I feel that phrase describes a lot of the best / more influential Ohio musicians / bands. Did you feel that kind of feeling about Peter as you researched and wrote the book?

Peter was well liked, and he knew a vast array of people. If anything, he fit in in too many situations. He was spread thin.

When you lived in Philly, did you get a sense of any kind of similar proto-punk scene / era in that town? I sometimes, perhaps jingoistically, think this particular kind of music is almost exclusively confined to the Rust Belt.

I lived in Philly for nearly 11 years. As far as the old scene there, they had Pure Hell. But back then, anybody who really wanted to do something like that would just move to NYC.

So, is there a moment in time that started you on a path towards wanting to dig into Cleveland’s proto-punk past like this?

It was just something I had a vague interest in, going back to when I first heard Pere Ubu. And then later learning about the electric eels, and starting to get a feeling that Cleveland had a lot more to offer than just the Dead Boys. The Rocket from the Tombs reunion got things going, and that’s when I first started to hear Laughner’s name. A few years later, a friend sent me a burned CD of the Take the Guitar Player for a Ride collection, and I started to get more interested in Peter specifically.

Despite any first wave punk fan’s excitement about a Laughner bio, this book is moreso a history of Cleveland, and trying to connect those odd underground, counterculture, or mythological connections that the Chamber of Commerce tends to ignor as the town’s import. Was there a moment where you realized this book needed to go a little wider than only telling the tales of Laughner and the bands of that era? (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)

Very early on I realized that none of this would make sense or have any true meaning without the appropriate context. The activities of the early Cle punk scene need to be viewed in relation to what was going on in the city. I think this is just as true with NYC or London – these were very specific contexts, all tangled up in politics, crime, rent, television, and also the specifics of the more hippie-ish local countercultures that preceded each region. You’ve got Bowie and Warhol and all that, but in Cleveland you’ve also got Ghoulardi and d.a. levy. Mix that up with deindustrialization and a picture starts to form.

So when did you decide on doing this book? You’ve mentioned this was your first attempt at doing a full graphic novel – and boy, you went epic on it!

I did a short version of Peter’s story back when I was living in Philadelphia. But upon completing that version – which I now think of as a sketch – it became clear that there was a lot more to say and to investigate. I spent about a year just thinking about it, forming contacts with some people, and tracking down various reference materials like records, zines, books, etc. Then my wife got a new job at Cleveland State University, so we left Philly. Once I landed back in Cleveland I started working on the book in earnest.

Page from Ain't It Fun -- all book images courtesy of the author.

By any chance was Greil Marcus’ book, Lipstick Traces (1989), an inspiration, as far as the “hidden history” factor, the trying to connect seemingly unconnected and lost historical footnotes into a path towards the culture’s future?

Yes. I read Lipstick Traces when I was around 19 or 20, and I’d never seen anything like it before. It really blew my mind, all the stuff about the Situationists and Dadaists and all that. Later on, I read Nick Tosches’ Dean Martin biography, Dino, and that was another mind blower. Another major influence is Iain Sinclair.

Ah Dino, another Ohio native. So, Laughner’s one-time partner, Charlotte Pressler’s book is mentioned, and I’ve seen it referenced and talked about for years – any inside word on if/when she might have that published?

Charlotte never wrote a book, though she did co-edit a book that collected the work of local poets. As far as her own writing, she’s done all manner of essays and poetry, and probably some academic writing that I’m not familiar with. As far as her completing “Those Were Different Times”— which was intended as a total of three essays— I’ve got some thoughts on that, but it’s not really my place to comment on it.

Pressler sounds like a very serious person in your book, as you say, she was kind of older than her years. But how was she to talk to?

Charlotte is serious, but she’s not dour. She’s got a sense of humor and she’s very curious about the world, always looking to learn new things. She’s an intellectual, and has a wide array of interests. We get along, we’re friends.

The fact that the town’s namesake, Moses Cleveland, left soon after his “discovery” and never came back – that’s like a template for how people envision a town like Cleveland: nice place to grow up, but you want to get out as soon as you’re legal. Even the musicians of the area might’ve agreed with that sentiment, even if many never left.  Do you think that has changed?

I’m glad I left Cleveland, but I’m also glad I came back. First off, my family is here. Second, the cost of living is still reasonable. I don’t know how people live in New York. I never have any money. I’d make more money if I had a full-time job at McDonald’s. That’s not a joke, or me being self-deprecating. How do artists live in New York? How do they afford rent and 20 dollar packs of cigarettes? I’m just totally confused by the basic mechanics of this. So yeah, I’m in Cleveland. It’s not great, but what are my options? I can’t just go to Paris and fuck around like a bohemian. I would if I could.

In Ain't It Fun, you reveal that one of the seminal Cleveland scene dives, Pirate's Cove, was once a Rockerfeller warehouse  – these kind of enlightening, almost comically perfect metaphors pop up every few pages. Not unlike the mythology that can sometimes arise in musician fandom, I wonder if these are metaphors we can mine, or just an obvious facts that the town drifted down from a center of industry to relative poverty.

“Metaphor” might be at too much of a remove. These facts, these landmarks — they create a complex of semiotics, a map, a framework. The city talks through its symbols and its landscape. If you submit to it and listen, it will tell you secrets. There is nothing metaphorical about this.

Is it a sign of privilege to look on destitution as inspiration? I’m guessing the sick drunks at Pirate’s Cove in 1975 weren’t thinking they were living in a rusty Paris of the ‘30s. Though I will say a thing I really loved about your book was that, for all its yearning and historical weaving, you still stick to facts and don’t seem to over-mythologize or put any gauze on the smog, like “Isn’t that so cool, man.” You capture the quiet and damp desperation of that era and Laughner’s milieu.

Poverty, decline, decay, entropy – these things are real. By aestheticizing them we are able to gain some control over them. And once you have control, you have the power to change things. This is not “slumming.” “Privilege” has nothing to do with it.

Page from Ain't It Fun

Do you know why the Terminal Tower (once the second tallest building in the world when it opened in 1928) was named that? It seems somewhat fatalistic, given the usual futurist positivism of the deco design era.

Terminal as in train terminal. It really pisses me off that there was once a time where you could go there and catch a train to Chicago or New York. It’s infuriating how this country dismantled its rail systems. And the Terminal Tower isn’t deco, but I think it is often confused with that style just by virtue of not being a gigantic rectangle. In that sense it does have more in common with a deco structure like the Chrysler building. Honestly, if you are looking for deco you might find more notable examples in Akron than you would Cleveland.

I notice a kind of – and bear with my lesser abilities to describe illustrative art – swirly style in your work that kind of aligns with art deco curves, maybe some Gustav Klimt…? In general, who were some illustrative inspirations for you early on?

That “swirly” style you describe is art nouveau. Deco came after that, and is more angular and clean. Additionally, a lot of underground comix guys were also poster artists, and there was often a nouveau influence in that psychedelic work – so there’s a bit of a thread there. As far as Klimt, I came to him kinda late, but I love him now.

The music of many northeast Ohio bands of that era has been generally tagged as “industrial” (the pre-dance industrial style, of course), cranky like the machinery of the sputtering factories in the Flats, etc… My guess is maybe the musicians were already finding used R'n'R instruments in thrift stores by that time, which would add a kind of layer of revision, turning old things into new sounds. Did you hear about of any of that? Or were there enough music stores around town? I know DEVO was already taking used instruments and refitting them; or electric eels using sheet metal and such to bang on…

I’m not a musician, so I don’t know anything about gear or stuff like that. I do know that Allen Ravenstine made field recordings in the Flats, and utilized them via his synthesizer. Frankly, I wish more of the Northeast Ohio bands had taken cues from Ubu and early Devo, because an “industrial” subculture definitely could have formed, like it did in England and San Francisco. But that never really happened here.

That kind of music was pretty popular on college radio and in a few clubs in Cleveland, though not many original bands with that sound arrived, aside from Nine Inch Nails who quickly took his act elsewhere… So in the book you mention local newsman, Dick Fealger. My memories of him are as a curmudgeon whose shtick was getting a little old by the time I was seeing him on the news, or his later opinion columns. Kinda your classic “Hey you kids, get off my lawn” style. You rightly paint him as a somewhat prescient reporter of the odd in his earlier days, though. I once had to go to a friend’s mother’s funeral, and in the next room in the funeral home was Dick Feagler’s funeral. I always regret not sneaking over and taking a peak into it to see who was there.

I like Feagler in the same way that I liked Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes. These were people that my grandparents liked. So I suppose my appreciation for Feagler is half nostalgia, half irony. I like cranks, grumps, letter-writers, street prophets. I like black coffee, donuts, diners, and blue plate specials – that’s Feagler’s world, the old newspaper world. Get up at 6 am and put your pants on, that kinda thing.

Yeah, I still found Feagler kinda funny, but like Jane Scott, while respect was always there, by the later ‘80s/’90s, both were set into almost caricatures  who were kind of resting on their laurels. 

Yeah, I remember seeing Jane at some random Grog Shop show back in the ‘90s, and I was kinda impressed. But no, she was never really cool. Jane was pure Cleveland, her career couldn't have happened anywhere else.

I remember seeing her sit right next to a huge house amp at the old Variety Theater for the entire duration of a Dead Kennedys show, taking notes for her review. Pretty impressive given her age at that point.

You also make a point of carving out an important space for The Damnation of Adam Blessing, a band that seems to get forgotten when discussing Cleveland’s pre-punk band gaggle. I find that interesting because in a way, they are the template for the way many Ohio bands don’t fit into any exact genre, and so often people don’t “get” them, or they’re forgotten later.

Damnation worked as a good local example for that whole psychedelic thing. They were very ‘60s. While the James Gang on the other hand, was more ‘70s— the cracks were starting to show with the ‘70s bands, they were harder and less utopian. Damnation feels more “Woodstock,” so they were useful to me in that regard.

I must add – for years I thought it was pronounced Laugh-ner, as in to laugh, ha ha, not knowing the Gaelic roots. Once I learned I was pronouncing it wrong, I still wanted to pronounce it like laughing, as it seemed to fit so darkly correct with how his life went, and Cleveland musicians’ love of bad puns and cheap comedians and such… Of course when I learned that it was an “ethnic” name, it made it that much more Cleveland.

Yeah, everybody says his name wrong. I used to too, and had to really force myself to start saying it as Lochner. But everybody says Pere Ubu wrong as well – it’s Pear Ubu.

I hate any desecration of any artwork, but I always loved the blowing up The Thinker statue story, as it seemed such a powerful metaphor of the strength of art, and Cleveland itself – the fact that The Thinker himself still sits there, right on top of the sliced-up and sweeping shards from the blast. It’s still there, right? And isn’t it true that there are like three more “official” Thinker statues in the world?

Yeah, I don’t condone what happened, but it is kinda cool. As a kid, the mutilated Thinker had a strong effect on me — I couldn’t have put it into words at the time, but I think it gave me a sense of the weight of history. It’s almost like a post-war artifact in Europe, something that is scarred. And yes, it’s still there outside the museum. And it’s a cast. I think there might be five official ones, but I’d have to look that up. If you are ever in Philadelphia, swing by the Rodin museum and check out The Gates of Hell.

I have only become a bigger fan of Laughner’s as the years pass. But there is something to the critique that perhaps he never really found his singular sound; that he was copping bits from Lou Reed and Dylan, and couldn’t keep a band together to save his life. And there was supposedly a feeling among some in the NYC scene that he was a bit of a carpetbagger.

Everybody has their influences, so Peter wasn’t in any way unique in that sense. I know he has a reputation for doing a lot of cover songs — which is true — but he also wrote a lot of originals, and there are some damn good ones which are still unreleased. “Under the Volcano” is just one such unheard song which I mention in my book, but there are others. As far as finding his own singular sound, he probably came closest to that with Friction. That group borrowed heavily from Television and Richard Hell, but also drew upon Richard Thompson and Fairport Convention. And when you think about it, those were really unlikely influences to juxtapose, and it created something original. Frustratingly though, Friction never achieved their full potential, as Peter was already losing it.

Yeah, Friction is kind of way up there with the “What if” bands… It’s interesting that for all his legend as a proto-punk figure, perhaps Laughner’s signature songs – Sylvia Plath” and “Baudelaire” – were gorgeous acoustic numbers. Though of course those early Pere Ubu songs were proto-punk and post-punk templates, somehow...

I honestly don’t know what happened with Ubu, as it is pretty distinct from Peter’s other work. Thomas isn’t really a musician, so we can only give him so much credit with how that sound developed. I honestly don’t know. There just must have been some sort of alchemy between the various players, and Thomas understood it and was able to encourage and guide it in the projects that followed over the years.

Page from Ain't It Fun

You also didn’t really detail Pere Ubu’s initial breakup – was there just not much to say?

Yeah, I think I mentioned it, but no, I didn’t really get into it. Pere Ubu is kind of a story unto themselves. But it might be worth mentioning here that Home and Garden was an interesting project that came out of that Ubu breakup. And Thomas also did some solo albums, but I’m not as familiar with those.

Yeah, I saw Home and Garden a few times way back, good stuff. You’ve mentioned to me that there were some people that didn’t want to talk to you for the book; and that people were very protective of Peter’s legacy and/or their friendship with him. To what do you attribute that?

It has everything to do with Peter’s early death. Some people are very protective of how Peter is remembered. And I think some people weren’t exposed to Peter’s dark side, so when they hear those descriptions of him it strikes them as untrue. I think Peter showed different sides of himself to different people.

I kind of felt as I was reading that you might say more about Harvey Pekar, as not only is he an interesting figure, but the most famous graphic novelist from Ohio, and I assume an inspiration of your’s.

Pekar’s great. Especially the magazine-size issues he was doing in the late ‘70s up through the ‘80s. It was important to me to include him in the book. But Pekar was a jazz guy, and that’s a whole other story, a whole other tangled web.

So, Balloonfest! Hilarious. I almost forgot about that. But I do remember Ted Stepien owning the short-lived Cleveland professional softball team; and for a promotion, they dropped softballs off the Terminal Tower, and if you caught one you won $1,000 or something. Do you recall that? It’s one of my favorite fucked-up Cleveland stories. Balls smashed car roofs, and cops immediately told people to run away.

Yeah, I’m aware of that baseball stunt. I generally try and stay away from anything even remotely related to professional sports teams — it gets talked about more than enough elsewhere. Oddly, I am interested in athletes who work alone, like Olympic skiers. I’m attracted to that solitary focus, where the athlete isn’t competing against other teams or players, but more competing with the limits of the human body, competing with what the physical world will allow and permit, that whole Herzog trip. I’m also interested in the Olympic Village, as this artificial space that mutates and moves across time and across continents.

As far as Balloonfest, I still watch that footage all the time. I use it as a meditation device. I’ll put it on along with Metal Machine Music and go into a trance.

A few years ago, as I am sure you are well aware, noted British punk historian Jon Savage put together a Soul Jazz Records comp of Cleveland proto-punk called Extermination Nights in the Sixth City. I grew up in Cleveland, lived in Columbus for awhile, and I never heard it called “the Sixth City.” Have you? If so, what does it refer to?

Nobody calls it that anymore. It’s an old nickname back from when Cleveland was literally the sixth largest city in the country.

I’d guess Ain’t It Fun was a tiring feat to accomplish. But do you have another book in the works? And if someone wanted to option Peter’s story for a movie, would you sign on? I personally dread rock biopics. They’re almost universally bad.

Yeah, I’ve got an idea for another book, but it’s too early to talk about that. As far as biopics, they are almost always bad, rock or otherwise. Rock documentaries are often pretty lousy too. A recent and major exception would be Todd Haynes’ Velvet Underground documentary, which is just goddamn brilliant. A film about Peter in that vein would be great— but there’s just no footage to work from. He didn’t have Warhol or Factory people following him around with a camera. So unless somebody like Jim Jarmusch comes calling, I won’t be signing off on movie rights any time soon.

Unless there is more you’d like to say, thanks, and good luck with the book and future ventures!

Stone Church Press has a lot of projects planned for 2024 and beyond, and I encourage anyone reading this to support small publishers. There is a lot of very exciting stuff going on, but you have to work a little to find it. Amazon, algorithms, big corporate publishers — they’re like this endless blanket of concrete that smothers and suffocates. But flowers have a way of popping up between the cracks.

Aaron Lange, 2023 (Photo by Jake Kelly)

[acrosstobear]

you have got to chill! he is obviously working behind the scenes regarding his future, and it's not something he can post or talk about until it actually happens/finalized. Just because he's not posting about his future plans on social media doesn't mean he's not actively working on it. Stop being so passive aggressive with all your Mick posts

https://www.autohebdo.fr/actualites/endurance/wec/philippe-sinault-sur-schumacher-mick-etait-demandeur.html

https://www.endurance-info.com/auto/article/109063-bruno-famin-alpine-mick-schumacher-semble-cocher-pas-mal-de-cases

i've read the articles and i'm definitely NOT looking for him to be posting about the test/wec/his future plans at all!!!! because agreed, he's obviously gotta figure it out and i'm not at all expecting him to be airing that out before its finalized.

but a post from HIM about Japan and driving the EVO2 would've been super cool. a post behind the scenes in qatar where he brought his camera, also super cool. a post about Mick's Kart Race from him, super cool. Deutsche Vermögensberatung tagged him like 5 times in this football challenge they are doing, post a video of you supporting your sponsor!!!!!!! he was in australia with jack and laila and other buddies a few weeks ago, post a surfing video. post a throwback to points finishes when they're a year on!!!!! or even to special races from last year. i get that we hate haas but like at some point we had fun too cause we were an f1 driver.

to be clear, i have this same complaint about callum -- they're both letting the team accounts post for them and assuming that's enough, but i've SEEN the team pics. i want your perspective on a race weekend. the selfies, the pics of the track or the garage, pics with team members, use a caption that tells me something slightly more than where you are, etc.

ironically, a person who manages the balance very well is marcus armstrong. the photo dumps are not revolutionary, thats not the point, but its a different perspective on race weekend than the one the team is posting for you (and yes, you can post the girlfriend in these too, as displayed by the lissie/marcus pics)

anyways, i just think that the marketing around him as a driver could be better. the only conversation and headlines he has popped up in are to shit on him and remind us why he doesnt have a seat and why hes not good enough for f1 and not only does that suck, but there's no push in any way shape or form to try and rebuke those cause he's not doing anything that could generate other headlines.

[kaylakat2]

posting more year old doodles from miscellaneous sketch pages because I can and also because I love all of these for different reasons. Explanations and information after the images, if you’d like to read about them :) (this one is very long cause it covers topics I've been dying to talk about (cause when I say I have 15 years of story for these guys stored in my brain, I mean it), so just a heads up!)

The first one is from a Halloween sketch page where I explored Chase and Marcus going on a date to a pumpkin patch. Which is really special for a lot of reasons, one being that a significant part of their early relationship (around a year) was spent at work. They didn’t have the opportunity to go out on dates or really do any of the cheesy stuff either of them would want to do with a new partner. So going on a date at all is fun, but it’s made more fun when Marcus gets to see a side of Chase he hadn’t before. You see, Chase never really got to be a kid, carving pumpkins, trick or treating, going to a pumpkin patch and going on hayrides. Nor did he really get to do anything else kids do. He didn’t have any friends, since his parents kept him away from peers not on 'his level', and he barely had any time outside of studying and schoolwork, seeing as his parents felt his potential would be wasted doing anything else. So when Chase finally feels comfortable, and gets to have fun, his inner kid comes out full strength. And honestly? Marcus loves it. They get to see their serious, reserved partner, who’s usually only relaxed in private, get goofy and smiley. He gets to see Chase get excited over how this pumpkin patch sells the small pumpkins. They get to see him enjoy sweets and spiced cider. He gets to see Chase really be himself. And though it's a little surprising, Marcus can’t say they’re opposed to seeing more of it.

As for the second one, it is, as you may be able to tell, a wedding photo. And just like the previous info dump, this one is gonna be long. Cause the subject of marriage between these two is actually kinda complicated, since, as I do with all my characters, I’m projecting my own contradictory feelings about the topic onto them. Chase loves the idea. He sees it as an act of rebellion, a shining symbol of his independence and ability to finally live as himself after years of hiding in denial. He gets exceptionally happy at the idea of saying he has a husband, that he’s happily married and he chose the person he’s with. That he did this of his own free will, and not because he was expected to. Marcus though, he’s vowed since he hit 20 that he was never going to get married. It’s a stupid, archaic way to fit queer people into the heteronormative idea of love and relationships. It’s getting paperwork and the government involved in your relationship for no good reason. And he hates that. But. He’s not opposed to talking it out. So they do. They have a long talk about it, discussing each of their reasons for wanting to or not wanting to do it. Chase brings up the logical point of adopting kids being easier, Marcus keeps mentioning all of his own reservations. They end it without a real conclusion.

But Marcus gives it a long think. Chase really wants this. It’s special to him. And he's given up everything he had for Marcus. Granted he probably would have lost his parents and the rest of his family eventually (yay homophobia) but he still moved with Marcus. Moved to an area Marcus wanted, to stay close to his parents. Chase lost the few friends he had. All of his stuff. Everything familiar to him. Just to be with Marcus. So maybe it was worth making a compromise on it. Maybe it was worth it just because Marcus loves him.

As you can see, Marcus caves. He gives in and actually says yes when Chase proposes. He enjoys all the wedding festivities and being able to say he has a husband. They even pull Chase onto the dance floor, despite his adamant protests. "But," Marcus says "it's our wedding. Can't I have just one cheesy little dance with you?" And of course, Chase obliges. And now Marcus has their favorite picture of Chase. Where they're twirling him around on the dance floor, both smiling like crazy.

The third one is a lot more silly than the other two and I'm honestly just posting it because I love Chase's expression. Marcus decides to drop lunch off for Chase while he’s at work on a particularly busy day. Marcus decides to fully surprise Chase, coming up from behind and placing a hand on his side, with a flirtatious 'heey'. But y'know, in the workplace that's not something you'd be expecting to face, so Chase rightfully freaks out. And nearly slaps his husband before he realizes what's happening. Needless to say, Marcus apologized for not thinking that move through.

[dndeceit]

Today is Fallout Day (i.e. October 23rd, the day on which, in 2077, the bombs fall in the Fallout universe). I wanted to put a ficlet together for my Fallout Sides AU, Wild! Wasteland Tales, but a. I got the idea too late, and b. I'm holding off posting new works to AO3 until Salt for Salt is finished, so I haven't been particularly motivated to work on stuff I won't be able to share there.

Instead I'm doing a really indulgent image dump of some of the HeroForge models I've made for the AU that I haven't shared here (though some of them have gone up in the Extras for Wild! Wasteland Tales on AO3). Some of them involve spoilers for later stories, and some of them are not finalized designs, but I felt like putting something up.

Tiny mutant snakelet!Janus from But Some Day the Sun Will Shine

Miscellaneous Virgils from Crawl Out Through the Fallout, featuring goodest boy Marcus.

Human Virgil, who is most likely never appearing in this series, but I made a design for him anyway.

Here's a Picani. There's a reason he looks a bit rougher than Virgil, but hopefully I'll get to that story soon. He was to appear for the fic I meant to have written today. We'll see when that comes about.

A couple of family photos. The "twins", C8-73 and Roland Kaiser, and the Vault cousins, each depicted at the start of their respective journeys. (It took a lot of finagling to get that hand-holding pose with Patton and Logan. I'm proud of that. And I did it only to get a silhouette for a picture I'm doing later, but at least I can share the pose here.)

I wonder who this is? She looks like a bad bitch.

Don't worry about this idiot. He's just some nobody the twins met up in Boston.

[sivart95]

Photo dump from 3 day tourney. Team went 3-1-1(tied LoveJoy) Mo made progress at the dish, on the bases, and in the field. 2-5, 2 walks, 1RBI, 4 runs scored. Shout out to the boys for competing in chilly 45 degree weather. #rockhillbaseball (at Marcus High School Baseball Stadium) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpJ2d0CsK8ULJRm_nm_rxLk-WkHpZtNiKiyW400/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kevjrr]

Kylian Babygirl Mbappe

For @anchyxsblog🫶🏽

[callumilott]

MARCUS ARMSTRONG in and around Imola (April 2022 / via instagram)

[avenirdelight]

just collecting some cute training photos😙 all smiiiles😙

[landhoehoehoe]

may I present to you my favorite pics from the latest Marcus photo dump:

#1: the side profile & the hair holy mother of god

#2: EYE. CONTACT. my heart became a marcusdennis stan❤️‍🩹

I honestly cannot wait for the new pod!!

#3: yessssss screaming meals on the podium baby, also looking very handsome 👀

#4: might be my favorite out of them all lol, please more of these

[khaleesiofalicante]

“I know we’re facing a level one crisis right now. But can we just talk about how our lives are dependent on a puzzle? The hardest puzzle I’ve ever had to solve. So, excuse me for being a little excited.”

Georgia Christopher Lightwood Lovelace - LBAF Series 

Art by @thorndale @elisial. Click for better quality.

A short story about Gigi under the cut before you meet her again next week 💜

“Okay. I came as soon as I got your text. What happened?”

Georgia winced and held up the lab coat. “Sorry.”

Camila blinked and broke out in laughter. “Is that it? Gigi, I was so worried.”

“This is like the fourth lab coat I burned. You shouldn’t let me borrow them anymore,” she sighed and put the damn thing away. 

“You know what? You’re right,” Camila hummed. 

Oh no. Gigi had just been joking. Well kind of. 

Camila had been kind and generous enough to let Georgia work in the research lab in Alicante. 

Georgia didn’t really work there or anything. She just mostly observed what everyone else was doing and helped Camila with whatever she needed. 

Camila’s research focused on using ichor to help treat mundane illnesses. Gigi loved demon ichor and had been experimenting it with her whole life. 

So, it just made sense. 

She had never thought that she would be allowed to work here - since she was still rather young. 

But Camila seemed more than happy to have her. 

Unlike some people. 

“He is just really introverted,” Camila had said in whisper, her eyes darting across to the boy in the lab, her gaze lingering on him for a moment too long. “Don’t worry about it.”

It’s not that Gigi had an issue with Marcus per se. You need to talk to someone to have a problem with them.

Marcus barely acknowledged her presence. 

Camila kept talking about how amazing and brilliant Marcus was -and Rafael was the same. 

Gigi wished Marcus would let her in on some of his brilliance. No such luck though. 

But it was fine. Georgia was happy enough to work with Camila. She was really cool and very smart too. 

“You don’t need to borrow my lab coat because I got you your own one!” Camila announced. 

Gigi all but screamed and grabbed the white coat. 

It was a perfect fit. And it had her name on the front pocket. 

“This…This is so kind. Thank you,” Georgia whispered. 

“No need to thank me,” Camila tutted. “You’re my lab partner. And you earned this.”

Georgia smiled and put it on. “How do I look?”

“Like a scientist,” Camila winked. “Do you want me to take a photo?”

“Yes please,” Georgia nodded excitedly and handed her phone to the other girl. 

“Say nitrogen,” Camila chuckled. 

Georgia laughed and Camila look a picture. Gigi immediately sent it to Roman - who was currently in MIT. And then to Lexi too - who was in Tokyo. 

She was drowning in heart eye emojis and keyboard smashes from the two of them when she smelled something burning. 

“Shit!” she yelled and ran to her desk. 

Marcus was already there, dumping a glass of water on the beaker that was on fire. 

“Sorry,” Georgia said awkwardly. 

The boy didn’t respond. He simply walked away and sat in a corner, poking at a seraph blade. 

Georgia frowned and walked back to Camila. “What’s he working on?”

Camila shrugged. “Do you think we should ask him to help us with our project?”

“No!” Georgia said quickly. 

She didn’t want Camila to work with Marcus. She wanted Camila to work with her. 

Camila frowned. 

Georgia sighed. “Sorry. I just…I’d rather you work with me. I know Marcus is super smart and he has an actual degree and he is a tech genius and…You know what? It doesn’t matter. You are trying to do something really important here. If working with Marcus would help-”

“Georgia. I simply asked if we should ask for help,” Camila chuckled. “I’m not kicking you out.”

“No?” Georgia blinked. 

“Marcus might have graduated from Columbia,” Camila said. “But he didn’t design a weapon that killed a prince of hell.”

Georgia blushed at that. “Well, it was just luck-”

“It was a lot of thinking and hard work,” Camila corrected. “And you know what? Let’s stick to our little team. We can always talk to Marcus if we get stuck. But for now, it’s you and me, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Georgia smiled. 

She turned around and looked at the other boy - who was inspecting a stele closely. 

So what if Marcus was really smart?

She was too. 

She can figure this out. 

[love-of-fandoms]

The Florist of Zaun: Chapter 3

Chapter 3 of The Florist of Zaun

Pairing: Marcus + Reader

Word Count: 1840 words

A couple days after Marcus’ visit and peace offering, you were watering the plants downstairs when the paper arrived.

Usually, the Undercity’s newspaper was only 2 or 3 pages long. Most news traveled by word of mouth, anyway. This paper was no different, and your eyes skimmed over the article on the front page about the ban on Undercity residents from one of Piltover’s top hospitals due to "safety concerns". It was nothing new, they had been turning away people from the Undercity for years, decades even, now they just had it in writing thanks to the crooked council. You turned the page, and immediately dropped the newspaper in shock, forgetting to breathe for a moment as you stared at the image.

It was Viktor. There was no doubt about it. You hadn’t seen him since the incident all those years ago, when you were both children, but you could still see the boy you knew in this man on your newspaper. He was beaming, one hand on his cane while the other was waving at the camera. An incredibly tall man was next to him, also beaming, with an arm slung over Viktor’s shoulder.

Piltover and the “Era of Magic”? Two Inventors Working to Give Magic to the Common Man.

You smiled, glad to see another one of his successes. Though your paths had diverged, you never held ill will towards him. Even you squirmed at Singed’s… questionable ethics. But that was your job! To keep him from executing his more unethical experiments and helping him to find alternatives. You two still had to produce results for Silco, after all.

You carefully tore the article from your newspaper, opening a box stored in your bedside table and adding the article to the pile. This was the first one with a picture of him, despite having kept every article you saw about the whiz-kid from the Undercity. He looked so happy in this photo, and you looked at the box for a moment, debating if you wanted to go down memory lane again.

Whenever you did this-going through the articles, that is-you always ended up wanting to see him, and you always ended up talking yourself out of it. The more success he had, the less accessible he was to you, after all. Even if you went all the way up to Piltover and made it to the Academy, they’d never let you through the gates.

Against your better judgment, you sat at your kitchen counter, dumping the contents out. The most recent article you had seen was about his promotion.

From the Undercity to the Academy - Heimerdinger’s New Assistant!

They had barely spoken about Viktor, instead praising the Academy and Heimerdinger’s generosity and altruism in helping this cripple from the Undercity flourish. That was all these articles ever were, which only served to infuriate you. Look at how generous the Academy is! They even transformed a disgusting urchin from the Undercity into a respectable scholar!

Aspiring Scholar from Undercity Graduates Top of Class

Another article about how his professors must have toiled away working with him, dedicating their valuable time to help him flourish as if that wasn’t their literal job as teachers.

Winner of Equal Opportunities Scholarship Goes to Sickly Boy From Lower Levels of Undercity

This one really just spoke about how sad and pathetic Viktor, as a crippled child from the Undercity, was and how great of an opportunity Heimerdinger had provided him. How lucky he was and how generous the council was to provide this scholarship to the citizens of the Undercity. Funnily enough that scholarship program-which only admitted one student from the Undercity every year-had been defunded only two years after Viktor was the recipient. What a wonderful opportunity, really. For the council at least.

You rolled your eyes, carefully placing the articles back into the box, though the date on the last article caught your eye. It had been close to 10 years since Viktor had gotten into the academy, which meant that it had been almost 17 years since you had last seen him.

Maybe it was time to visit your old friend, if he wanted to see you that is. You weren’t sure how he felt about you after the fallout with Singed, if he had resentment towards you for staying, or pity perhaps. Either way, you considered it pretty likely that whatever feelings he had about you they wouldn’t necessarily be positive.

But perhaps if you showed him what you did. Perhaps if he knew you succeeded in saving her…

Shoving the box back into your bedside table’s cabinet, you threw on a cloak covered in embroidered flowers and grabbed your satchel. You were going to Piltover.

You cursed yourself as you passed a group of enforcers just past the Piltover side of the bridge. You had scanned their faces briefly, wondering at the chances one of them was Marcus.

They didn’t pay you much mind. Anyone who saw you could immediately clock you as a trencher, and these enforcers knew that trenchers didn’t see enforcers faces on their side of the bridge. They refused to breathe the same filth as you.

You were given a wide berth on the street, and you could see a couple parents tugging their children closer to them, as if to hide and protect them from the big bad trencher with the flower cloak. It worked in your favor, in the end. You got to the Academy gates quickly, and you didn’t want to be this side of the bridge any longer than you had to.

You found when you reached the Academy that foot traffic wasn’t the delay you had to worry about.

“Go home, trencher,” one of the guards at the gate demanded, but you stood your ground.

“Please, sir, if you just asked him-”

“The Assistant Dean is very busy and we won’t be disturbing him for the likes of a-”

“You wanna finish that?” you challenged. “Because funnily enough the assistant dean was from the same place I am,” he looked uncomfortable for only a moment before his glare was back in place.

“If you don’t have a meeting you’re not getting in,” he reiterated, and you rolled your eyes.

“And how would I set up a meeting if I’m not allowed in to discuss it?” he shrugged a shoulder.

“Not my problem,” you huffed in frustration, yanking a notebook from your satchel and scribbling a quick message onto one of the pages.

“Could you at least get this to him? It’s not even 20 words, I promise it wouldn’t waste his ti-”

“Fine! Fine!” the man waved his hand dismissively at you, snatching the piece of paper you had torn from the notebook and held out to him. “Now go,” you nodded, quickly turning and speed-walking the way you came. You hated this blasted city. You hated its council. You hated its enforcers. You hated the entitled snobs that littered its streets. You hated the looks they gave you. You hated-

Your name was called, and you whipped around, hopeful that you might see familiar golden eyes and scruffy brown hair. You were disappointed when you saw the shiny uniform of the Sheriff.

“Oh, it’s you,” you said blandly, and an annoyingly charming smirk came onto Marcus’ face.

“Who were you expecting, florist?” he teased, and you rolled your eyes, turning and continuing to walk back to the bridge. 

“I’m a botanist, actually!” you called over your shoulder, brows furrowing in confusion when you saw that he was trailing after you, slowly catching up. “What are you doing?” you demanded when he reached your side, and he glanced around, seemingly avoiding your eyes, before he sighed.

“I need a plant for my daughter,” he muttered, and you cursed yourself as your steps faltered. He had a kid? And he was entrusting a trencher with that information? How odd. 

“There are plenty of places in Piltover for you to get a p-” you began, but he cut you off.

“It needs to be impossible to take care of,” you frowned at that.

“I’m sorry?”

“This plant she gets, it can’t survive longer than a month,” he said, and your frown deepened further. 

You startled when a gentle hand on your arm nudged you out of the way of a cyclist whizzing past. The man on the bicycle shouted some choice words at you over his shoulder, and you went to shout back when Marcus nudged you again.

“Best not to cause a scene,” he muttered, making you suddenly aware of the stares you were getting from other pedestrians. It was odd enough for a trencher to be walking around Piltover. It was a downright show when one was walking around next to the Sheriff. You sighed, but nodded.

“Thank you,” you muttered to him, and his smirk morphed for a second-a genuine smile seeming to take over-but the moment was over quickly.

“About the plant-”

“Why do you want your daughter’s plant to die?” you asked bluntly, and he shifted uncomfortably.

“I-” he cut himself off with a frustrated sigh. “I said if she could take care of a plant for a month, we could get a porg,” your hand slapped over your mouth to muffle your laughter that threatened to spill out. “Shut up,” you shook your head, lowering your hand but still giggling a bit.

“What a cute promise,” you teased. “Unfortunate that it’s an empty one, apparently,” his brows furrowed indignantly.

“It’s not empty!” he tried to argue, but you scoffed.

“You came to me to try and get out of this promise by giving her an impossible task,” you stated with an innocent shrug. “It sounds to me like that promise was empty-”

“I’ll pay you for the plant,” he said hopefully, and your giggling continued.

“Do I get extra for helping crush your kid’s dreams?” at this he looked torn, but he set his face in determination.

“Please?” your steps faltered again at the shock that went through your body. Did a Piltover Enforcer just say “please” to you? You scowled, but nodded.

“Fine, come by the greenhouse tomorrow ‘round 3,” you told him, finally seeing the bridge that would take you back to Zaun.

“5, I have rounds til 4,” you scoffed at that.

“The Sheriff still has to do rounds?”

“Dealing with the high profile suspects and whatnot,” he shrugged, and you nodded, unsure what to say now. Why was he still walking with you? Wasn’t your business concluded?

“Right,” he cleared his throat when you reached the bridge, seeming to remember himself then. “See you tomorrow, florist,” he smirked at the scoff you gave.

“I’m a bo-”

“Botanist, I know,” his infuriating smirk made another appearance then. “Doesn’t mean you don’t like flowers,” he shrugged, and your eyes narrowed.

“That’s no-”

“Goodbye, florist!” he pivoted on his heel then, waving at you over his shoulder. You just rolled your eyes, stomping your way back across the bridge. The nerve of that man...

Taglist @wanna-plan-world-domination @hamburgerslippers

[apinchofm]

Baldwin prompt: When sorting through the De Clermont treasures, Phoebe stumbles apon a photo album.

Its Baldwin in his hippie faze that no one knows about.

Until she shows them all the evidence that he, is in fact, a flower child.

Phoebe tried not to get surprised by the de Clermonts. Yet, every discovery she makes confuses her.

"Is that...?" She looked at the faded photographs closely. It was. But it couldn't be.

"Phoebe, dear, slow down," Ysabeau cautioned lightly as the young woman came crashing into the parlour.

"What was everyone doing in the 60s? Now." Phoebe demanded.

"I'm not sure why that matters, but I was in Mi5," Matthew said cautiously. Diana looked at her husband surprised.

"Gallowglass joined the IRA," Marcus said.

"Shut up. You were the one having every army nurse on the border," Gallowglass snarked back.

"What was Baldwin doing?" Phoebe asked

"Uh, dad went away for a bit. Cold war, remember?" Miyako shrugged, "Why?"

Phoebe dumped the box of photographs on the coffee table, "He was a hippie."

"Baldwin? A hippie?" Matthew scoffed, "He wasn't exactly stopping wars in the 20th century. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he had JFK killed because he got bored."

"Yeah, my parents and aunts were hippies," Diana said, "I don't think Baldwin was exactly anti-war."

"Well," Phoebe turned over the box, spilling the old photographs on the table and everyone, "He was at Woodstock!"

"Holy crap," Miyako laughed at one picture of her dad in a flowery shirt, "Oh, this is amazing."

"Is that Jane Fonda?" Diana asked, tilting her head, then she turned over the next photo, "And that's an orgy. Who photographs this?"

"Hippies were a lot of fun," Gallowglass said wistfully, "I do like Uncle's long hair. Got in touch with those old roots."

"I can't believe he was a hippy," Matthew said in disbelief, "A hippy?!"

"Perhaps he was spying on the ant-war movement," Diana mused, "Stopping them from being effective?"

"I don't think you need to actually be in a tent with Hendrix and Joni Mitchell for that," Marcus said.

Baldwin came into the living room, "What are we doing for dinner? I made reservations."

"Bit of flower power?" Gallowglass teased handing him a photograph. Baldwin took it, confused but then nodded looking it seriously.

"Ah, yes. That was a lot of fun. I should call Stevie, see how she's doing," Baldwin said, and noticed everyone looking at him strangely, "What?"

"Explain." Phoebe demanded.

"Okay. My father was killed by Nazis and my psychotic nephew. Last time a family member died, I waged war on the rest of civilisation, but I found drugs and peace a better and safer alternative for a few summers, given the world was a shitshow," Baldwin explained, "Found some zen, as it were."

"Why not stay a hippie?" Miyako asked.

"Because the war in Rhodesia got really fun. Why on earth would I miss out on that? Got in the mood for the rest of Vietnam and screwing with communists," Baldwin said with a vicious smile.

"See, that's Baldwin de Clermont," Marcus pointed at his uncle.

[i-am-the-entertainer]

Tracking the Tick, Tick... Boom! Deleted Scenes

So basically, we know that the initial assembly cut of Tick, Tick... Boom! was 2 hours and 20 minutes, whereas the finished film, minus credits, is 1 hour and 50 minutes (x). That means there’s about 30 minutes of cut material. Which of course leaves the question: what was cut from the movie? Here’s my attempt at figuring that out.

Confirmed

“Green Green Dress”: This is the one everyone knows already. They filmed it, but Lin-Manuel Miranda cut it because it didn’t really contribute to the story. Fun fact: Footage from it is actually in the trailer! It’s around the 2:04 minute mark if you go on YouTube. Edit: And now we have the full song!

A scene featuring a guy named “Simon”: Jordan Fisher was supposed to appear in the movie but because of the film’s delays he couldn’t do it. Well, press reports from early in production listed him as playing a guy named “Simon” (x), whereas in the lead-up to the film’s release Noah Robbins was credited as Simon (x). But then, as Lin-Manuel Miranda explained, the scene got cut anyway.(x)

An alternate opening scene: The original opening of the film was apparently going to be a sequence of Jonathan stressing out as he gets ready to go onstage for the performance. It was cut because they felt the opening scene needed to be about who the character is instead of what his anxieties are. (x) The original teaser trailer from June 2021 (link here) actually uses footage from this deleted opening.

Alternate first Jonathan and Michael scene: “30/90″ went through a couple different passes of the various scenes in Jonathan’s life that get shown throughout the song: the diner scene that’s in the finished song is a pickup, redone partly so they could better introduce the character of Freddy. What they had in its place was a scene of Jonathan and Michael packing up the apartment. (same source as above). I suspect the scene in the trailer where Michael asks if Jonathan is being led by fear or love, and Jonathan responds “Fear! 100% fear!” is from that.

Unconfirmed But Decent Evidence

Lauren Marcus as “Donna”: Lauren Marcus plays a character credited as “Donna”, who Miranda explains in this video is meant to be a stand-in for Victoria Leacock Hoffman. The fact the character is meant to represent such an important figure in Larson’s life, and is played by Lauren Marcus of all people, struck me as odd given she only has one line in “Boho Days” and isn’t even named onscreen. But then I noticed she appears a lot in the film: she’s following Jonathan around with a camera in a few scenes, she hands out playbills at the Superbia workshop, and she’s even talking to Karessa in the background of the last Moondance scene. That leads me to believe she originally had a much bigger role but was cut for time.

There is definitely at least one deleted scene where Donna is the focus of the camera: Lauren Marcus posted a photo (scroll right) of a monitor displaying a shot of her handing out playbills at NYTW (probably from the aforementioned deleted opening).

More of Jonathan Fleabagging the camera: In the stage musical, there are a bunch of moments where Jonathan turns to the audience in the middle of a scene to make some dry comment, usually in scenes involving Rosa or the focus group. In the movie he only does this during the focus group scene, but I think originally he was supposed to do this throughout the movie. Take a look at this blooper reel they released the other day, specifically the one of Andrew Garfield dumping a milkshake on his head. It may seem like he’ s just goofing off, but notice how the camera is already set up to capture his comment of “I say none of this” and it takes a moment for him to break: the milkshake is him goofing off, but he’s saying lines as scripted, with the appropriate shots planned by the director.

Speculative

More of Jelani Alladin as “David”: During Jonathan and Michael’s car ride, they briefly talk about Michael’s former partner “David”: it’s subtly implied that they broke up because of Michael’s HIV diagnosis. David is actually in the film: he’s sitting next to Michael in the final scenes at NYTW, played by Jelani Alladin. I suspect, given the fact someone like Jelani Alladin is playing a named character with significance to Michael and yet is never identified as such onscreen, David originally had a bigger role in the film that got cut.

That’s all I’ve got so far. Any ones you suspect or have caught on to? Let me know.