Scruffy Mark Pic Spam with Added Barlowen Content

[przed]

I've been accumulating pics for yet another Take That pic spam, and I thought the occasion of the release of their latest video wouldn't be a bad time to finally do it. Especially since the video contains scruffy!Mark, and the pic spam is all about Mark and his occasional scruffiness.

First, have the video, for When We Were Young:

And in case the embed doesn't work, here's the direct link: http://youtu.be/MlVw6eGpY5g

This video is just gorgeous. It was shot in black and white in Wembley stadium after their concert dates last week, and has the five of them spread out through the debris-strewn stadium until they finally, gloriously, come together at the end. There is hugging, there is hand-holding, and since the song is pretty much about what they went through in their youth as part of the band, it's all very poignant.

Here's a shot of Mark, behind the scenes at the video shoot:

I adore this pic. He's got a bit of scruff happening, which I find lovely, but I also like how he looks a bit harder than he usually does here. It's an interesting change from his usual public persona, which is much sunnier.

This is a more usual look for Mark, taken at one of the dates on the current concert tour:

Not only is he not generally scruffy, but he's usually the smiling, cheerful one. In public, at least. And I do love him when he's all freshly scrubbed.

But I also have to admit that I like him scruffy. (I do like the scruffy ones, from Sean Bean and Boromir to Howard and Jason in TT. Also, there's the Sweetie to consider. *g*) So what follows is an appreciation of scruffy!Mark, roughly in order of increasing scruffiness.

First up are a couple of slightly scruffy pics. Even in his thirties, Mark seems to be the sort of bloke who has to really work at growing any sort of beard whatsoever, so quite often his scruffiness is of the rather wispy sort. Which makes him more adorable, in my books. Slightly scruffy Mark, exhibit one:


And exhibit two:


There's a slight bit more scruffiness in this next one, and also some indication of Mark's clothes horse tendencies. He's the member of the band most concerned with fashion, and occasionally will act as the unofficial stylist for the band. (When they re-united, Mark was the one who bought Vogue and did his research and picked the suits they wore to the premiere screening of the documentary that brought them back together.)


The next two are from the video for Up All Night. In the video, the band are a sort of street urchin version of themselves, playing at a street party for the Queen's jubilee. It's a charming video, and Mark is approaching the apex of his scruffiness here:


Scruffy hair, scruffy beard, scruffy leather jacket, and half-finger gloves. ::sigh::


Here's the link to the video, because it really is charming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gzDFf0M-N4

And here he is in rehearsals for (I think) the Beautiful World tour:

Again, there's a high scruff quotient, plus it's one of those times where he clearly just throws him into the music, and I love him for that.

But this pic, this one, is the one I love best, and the reason I wanted to do this pic spam in the first place.

I don't have a date for it, but it looks like it's from the wilderness years, when he'd gone solo. There's just something about the self-satisfied scruffiness he's exhibiting here that I love. Plus there's that shirt/blouse. Mark is a small bloke and tends to the flamboyant, and has been known to wear clothes from the women's end of the shop. This is clearly one of those times, and it's another thing I love him for.
(ETA: nevermind68 says this is from the Concert for Diana, and that TT were there.)

As I was pulling the pics together for this, I started noticing there were rather a lot of Barlowen pics that fit the brief. This was interesting, since if I had to pick a pairing for Mark, it would be Willowen, not Barlowen. And yet he and Gary are so adorable together in these shots, I decided they had to get their own section of the pic spam.

First up is one from the Stardust premiere, with Mark looking ridiculously happy and Gary looking just slightly possessive.


This is from the same premiere, and I love that here they both look ready to commit mischief.


Another mischievous!Mark pic, with the added bonus of one of the hats he's rather famous for these days:


And one final Barlowen pic. Mark's not scruffy here at all (though he does have the hat) but I had to include this because it is utterly adorable. And one of those many TT moments that it is just darn difficult to explain without the slash.

Comments

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

You've managed to track down, though, the images where it does look like a beard rather than unfortunate adolescent bum-fluff (sorry Markie, but this is a true observation)

Pretty is not my thing, male or female, but with added scruffy Mark tips more into my categories *g* But I love Mark as a person/character and, as I've said, I find combining him with the others ridiculously hot *g* He brings a kind of catalyst of sexuality to the band, I think.

OH DO WANT THE DVD *pokes Universal Music* Hopefully with many, many backstage extras, while I'm wishing *g*

Gary/Mark/Rob has always been interesting and continues to be more and more so. When Robbie and Gary did their duet, there was a lot of unhappiness in certain parts of fandom that Robbie had 'stolen' Gary from Mark or that Gary had abandoned him, OR that Gary had replaced Mark is Robbie's affections (the latter of which at least all got sorted out in the first five seconds we saw Rob and Mark together *g*), because as you'll have seen, Barlowen has been the number one popular pairing during the comeback. This is what I love about RPS, though, because if this *was* all fictional there'd be something stark like Bella picking Edward or Jacob (I'm really sorry, I can't think of a more literary example of someone picking one of two acceptable guys!), whereas in life there's lovely layers and we can keep playing *g*

Your fic sounds more and more exciting *grabby hands* Sometimes a universe with four rather than five is rather easier to handle in several ways! And yay for your friend's plot bunnies - does she write herself? Sounds like she needs to read 'My Take' *g*

By the way, have you seen the Channel Four Parody 'Star Stories'? (it was on one Jonathan Ross interview so I guess maybe you have) It's the reason Take That yell 'taaaaaaake that!' all the time, because they are the coolest celebs ever and have embraced their own parody *g* Don't know if this link will work for you (Channel 4 YT & they seemed to have removed all others) but if not the DVD might be quite cheap and it's fab.
Here: http://youtu.be/iuJSg0LaK3g

If you can't see it, bascially one point of it is that all Howard says is the Wookie noise *g* Here is him embracing that during BW ♥


And this is another parody, from the wilderness years. Painful viewing in some ways but interesting too. This is why David Walliams was a little nervous about meeting Howard to do Happy Now - he said in an interview Howard told him it was brilliant and quoted half the lines back at him ♥ ♥




Oh yes, that's definitely Mark at the start of 'Man' (some think he's describing himself, which seems fairly likely, which is why some people think he's written the whole song, although again I like to think of it as a love duet). It's Jason speaking at the start of 'Alien' I believe.

[przed.livejournal.com]

You've managed to track down, though, the images where it does look like a beard rather than unfortunate adolescent bum-fluff

Heh. So true. (Sorry Markie.)

I have the same issues with pretty, generally, which is no doubt why I've gravitated to the scruffed up Mark. But yeah, add him to the rest of the group, and suddenly he, and the rest of them, are a powder keg of interesting sexuality.

This is what I love about RPS, though, because if this *was* all fictional there'd be something stark like Bella picking Edward or Jacob (I'm really sorry, I can't think of a more literary example of someone picking one of two acceptable guys!), whereas in life there's lovely layers and we can keep playing *g*

I'm kinda amused by the Twilight references, because it does sort of work, doesn't it? *g* But yes, thankfully there's no need to only pick one of the pairings and there are all sorts of lovely layers going on. (Interestingly, the friend I have oh, so sucessfully pimped has imprinted on Mark/Robbie and Howard/Jason and is now refusing to read any other pairings. (Yep, she does write, though she's currently a Jack/Ianto Torchwood gal. Shall have to work on that. Must feed her My Take. And she's already asked for another TT night, and I'm going to pull out the BW documentary. Canonical hurt/comfort FTW!)

soundofthesurf had pointed me toward the Star Stories a little while back, and yeah, it's funny and painful all at the same time. At the time, we were discussing how giving Howard the wookie voice was bad, but we were relieved they didn't have a go at his lisp. But OMG, David Walliams *did*! Crikey, I would have been petrified to meet Howard if I were him. Good thing Howard's a good sport. Love him doing the wookie in concert! And I had no idea them doing the "Taaaake That" was quoting Star Stories. I thought it was Star Stories playing with something they used to do back in the day. Just shows how awesome they are, having fun with their own parodies.

I'm glad I was write about Mark doing the start of Man, even if it took me for bloody ever to figure it out. That it's describing himself seems very likely (Fragile, Tortured, indeed) But yeah, viewing it as a love duet just makes it more delicious. That it's Jason at the start of Alien makes sense. (*That* song has had me earwormed for days now. It wasn't one I immediately liked, but it's definitely grown on me.)

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

Jack/Ianto sounds like a good preparation for the angst fest that is Mark/Robbie *g* And oh yeah, canonical h/c excellent! (I am SO glad I wasn't into them when that happened - I mean that seriously could have killed him and I would have freaked out probably until I'd seen his chest x-ray post-drain *g*). And if she's into Mark/Robbie, the relevant sections of 'Feel' by Chris Heath should make her happy too *g*

Howard is *such* a good sport, I love that about him (like when he and Jason tell Jonathan Ross he doesn't know which of them is which - I love how much they grin as they do it!). And yes, 'Taaaaaake That!' starts in the backstage for BW when that Star Stories was broadcast- they're completely embracing their own parody ♥

Minute for minute, I think I love Progressed even more than Progress - I love every single track apart from 'Don't Say Goodbye' which is a little too ballady for me. The Mark words at the start of Man are also played in the tour at the start of the aerial water ballet before 'The Flood', not that that matters much but since you mention it *g*

I LOVE 'Alien' - Howard and Mark singing that they're aliens and in the carnage of the crash they will stick together? I have half a fic already... *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

The pneumothorax is tolerable now because we all know it ends happily, but yeah, if I'd been into them then it would have been a tad concerning. (I felt bad enough about Robbie's food poisoning this past weekend. Poor lad must be prone to it. When he came to Toronto the once the show was 3 hours late starting. When he finally took the stage he revealed he'd had a horrible bout of it and had just recovered enough to perform. Even though he must have been feeling awful, he still put on a hell of a show.)

I think I'm going to have to break down and get Feel myself. I got a copy of You Know Me last week, and while I'm not reading it as obsessively as I did Take One, I am thoroughly enjoying it. Not quite enough TT or Mark for me, but I'd almost forgotten what a fascinating guy Robbie is on his own.

I think I may be with you on Progressed, although Kidz is still the song that trumps everything for me. And yeah, Don't Say Goodbye is over my ballad threshold a bit. (I was listening to The Circus tonight on the way home from acupuncture, and I'm sad to say I hit skip on most of the Gary songs. Love the rest of the album though.

The Mark words at the start of Man are also played in the tour at the start of the aerial water ballet before 'The Flood', not that that matters much but since you mention it *g*

Okay, that DVD can really not come out too soon. :-|

I LOVE 'Alien' - Howard and Mark singing that they're aliens and in the carnage of the crash they will stick together? I have half a fic already

Of course you do! And I will read and love it!

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

I read 'Feel' on the overnight train between Paris and Florence (as you do) and as such my memories of it are a bit blurry (I'm afraid since then I've just compulsively re-read the Mark bits and the Gary bit) but I think it's pretty interesting - certainly shows what his life had become at the point of his perhaps his peak of success in the UK. Very interesting to compare You Know Me to it in terms of his attitude to Take That and how much it really did change.

Oh that DVD, I'm even saving up pre-ordering it till there's cover art so I can drip-feed myself till November...

*g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

Oh that DVD, I'm even saving up pre-ordering it till there's cover art so I can drip-feed myself till November...

There's a pre-order up!!!!! Very exciting! I've added it to my wishlist, but yeah, shall wait until there's proper cover art to make my order. (November seems such a long way away, but I suppose I've got the September re-release of Take Two to look forward too. *g*)