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Spookshop (Aja Romano)

@bookshop.bsky.social

3.6K followers 740 following 2.7K posts

Longtime culture writer, full-time fan. Member, WGAE, ATCA. They/them or she/her, etc. http://ajaromano.com - I am NOT @bookshop.org lol.

ajaromano.com

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Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · Sep 13

Omg i have video, FINALLY! that means you all get to enjoy my hyperfixation (that will apparently take like an hour to upload but idc we're doing this), what else

Wang Yibo, Like the Sunshine (1/5)

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Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 26m

A ghost, you say? A ghost, maybe — she [lyrics swallowed by the sound of screaming fans; Marius arches sexily back against the table]

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 33m

"Ricky Martin plays Marius in Les Miserables"

my life positively passed before my eyes

My first (and so far only) time seeing Les Miz on Broadway, and I had seen Ricky Martin play Marius

as part of perhaps the worst cast in the show's history

The End

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 33m

fast forward a few years. My teenage half-sister came for a visit, bringing with her all her teen fangirl energy. Her heartthrob du jour? He had his own People magazine spread, and as she pulled it out and thumbed through it, excitedly explaining his career, I saw a single photo, captioned:

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 33m

a few weeks after I saw the show, the producers actually broke equity rules in order to FIRE THE WHOLE CAST. That is how bad the cast I saw was. www.upi.com/Archives/199...

Les Miz' firings stir Broadway dispute - UPI Archives

British producer Cameron Mackintosh's firing of a large part of the Broadway cast of 'Les Miserables' to revamp the show for its 10th anniversary hit a snag...

www.upi.com

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 33m

—played Marius. I'd never heard of him and my program said he'd been a member as a child of some boy band I'd never heard of. adding to the surreality was that this dude was TERRIBLE, overwrought and hammy, but every time he did anything the fangirls in the audience went wild.

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 33m

In 1996 I was in New York and I randomly decided I'd go see Les Miz one afternoon. I was horrified, mesmerized, and baffled by how bad it was. The cast was sluggish and frankly bad and the audience was walking out—except for, inexplicably, an orchestra section of screaming fangirls for the guy who—

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Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 52m

Dave did you know that for the complete symphonic recordings they cast as Jean valJean, not Colm Wilkinson, but country music singer Gary Morris, whose hits include "I Love the Waffle House" 🫠

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 55m

version of the Kombucha girl meme showing kombucha lady making an "eww do not want" face at "Patti Lupone as Fantine" but then making an "hmm interested" face at "Lea Salonga as Eponine"

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 1h

Subscribe to Katelyn, whose work this year has been so necessary and insightful and strong

Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 1h

It's been awhile since I've done a serious paid subscriber drive on here. I came into this year with 509 paid Patreon subscribers and set the ambitious goal of hitting 1000 by the end of this year. I'm a little behind pace on that now at 802. patreon.com/katelynburns

Katelyn Burns | Patreon

creating LGBTQ journalism

patreon.com

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Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 1h

I would lean into the 70s of it all and redo everything with deep royal colors, a rich emerald green or maybe a dark pink, but that's just me not being a designer

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 1h

DOUB-le dac-TYLS for the WIN! 😁

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Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 6h

jin ling's uncle and jin ling's cousins defend jin ling's uncle from jin ling and his uncle 😂

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Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 15h

she is beautiful! and she seems right at home. <3

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 23h

counting melmoth and wieland (which someone else recced in here), i'm very pleased i've actually read (and enjoyed) all but three of these! you could do much worse than this for an october reading list, have fun!

(i actually always reread Turn of the Screw every Halloween, my little tradition.)

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 23h

melmoth is a banger i hope you enjoy

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 2d

I have been saying this since 2016 (specifically I argued repeatedly that Trump and the GOP would enact fascism, end Roe and the ACA, bring back conversion therapy, oppress US citizens, and enact Project 2025) and since 2016 my trump-voting relatives have been responding "no they won't." 🫠

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 2d

at some point a friend gave me the account yuletide@gmail but neglected to make me the security contact, and at this point I've forgotten the password and the friend is out of touch, so no one can use it and I've been sad about this for years 😂

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 2d

fuck ALL the way off ugh ugh ughhhhh

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 2d

starring his lifelong friend and sometime creative collaborator Anthony Perkins!

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 3d

Are you talking about Bloomington, IN perchance (my adopted hometown) because that's the only reason I can think of to drop Alexander Calder and Will Shortz in the same conversation. alas idk how that explains the space whales.

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 4d

lol not even close

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 4d

I'd go back to Tumblr before I'd go back to Mastodon. Hell, I never really left Tumblr, but I'd retire to a swamp cave and tell my stories to an admiring bog before I'd go back to Mastodon.

Alex Hanna-ween @alexhanna.bsky.social · 4d

please don't make me lurk on Mastodon again

It's like running Arch Linux and everyone yells at you if you haven't downloaded the right version of gcc

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 4d

top 5 or 10? I think it's been fairly non-restrictive for several years, but didn't they recently make it a lot easier for visitors to get temporary visas to MLC? maybe I'm just hallucinating this.

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 5d

This admin also doesn't actually even know or give a shit about our national symbology. If you went up to Trump right now and said to him "give me your tired, your poor," etc, odds are 100% that he'd have zero clue what that was or what it means to America. He's never cared about "American values."

Jane Coaston @janecoaston.bsky.social · 5d

Again, patriotism isn’t about loving America as is, it’s about believing it can be something better. Also, anyone who says my grandfather fought in a segregated unit at Normandy for fascism can take a hike.

We can BBs @bf4u.bsky.social · 5d

I’m personally done ceding our national symbology to those that get off on perverting it for their political ends. If you want to convince people you’re trying to improve the country, you have to prove that you sincerely like the country, which many an extremist proudly dos not.

Spookshop (Aja Romano) @bookshop.bsky.social · 6d

that IS amazing, i will doff my cap to you both and leave you to many happy expeditions