Monday, June 28, 2010

Johnny Weir on MTV's When I Was 17

Deleted scene where Johnny talks about his affinity for Russia.






Deleted scene where Johnny talks about flying coach to the Goodwill Games in 2001.





Full Episode 109 with Johnny Weir, Jackson Rathbone and Keri Hilson.

Full Episode 109 with Johnny Weir, Jackson Rathbone and Keri Hilson could not be embedded.  MTV did not provide the code for embedding.

Two Olympic Videos from Johnny



Johnny on Carson Daly prior to 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBM9UgmUBmw&feature=related




Johnn receiving his athlete goodies in Vancouver.  He talks about life in the Olympic Village and how he has three suitcases before he even starts, full to capacity.  He must love those new airline rules where they charge for each bag...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cHTx7DwgyM&feature=related

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Johnny Weir looks back at the Olympics: Fortius Altius Maximus

Johnny Weir looks back at the Olympics: Fortius Altius Maximus


June 27th, 2010 by Johnny Weir

In the upcoming season finale of BE GOOD JOHNNY WEIR tonight, my fans and fans of my show will travel with me to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. There is a lot of detail shown in the finale, but I thought I’d dish a little dirt about the Olympics, and this has nothing to do with the fact that condoms were officially supplied in the Olympic Village.



The Olympics are massive. You can’t really appreciate the magnitude of the games simply by watching them on TV. You arrive in the airport and are immediately directed to a line to receive your accreditation, which is your key to the Olympics as an official entry. The accreditation gains you access to all venues, housing establishments, and in many cases free taxis and constant gawking as to who you may be when you’re out and about. I arrived earlier than expected to the Olympics because of a blizzard on the east coast, and they didn’t want me to be late.



After arriving and going through the team processing, which is when you get all the swag, most of which is not even your size, you get shipped by bus into the Olympic village which is sort of like an international army base. It’s incredible the amount of people running through the village, all in tracksuits and me and Galina strolling in, in knee length mink coats with far too much luggage. There is no admittance into the village unless you invite a family member or lover and they are approved 24 hours prior to their visit, which is why you never see live shots inside the village on TV.



The food in the village is strange. It is all served in a giant cafeteria with McDonalds, cookies and pizza abounding. It isn’t strange because it’s fast food, it’s strange because these are the World’s most elite athletes, more esteemed than NFL heroes and Mike Tyson, and they eat McDonalds? Apparently all sports aside from figure skating do eat these foods, needless to say, Galina and I found our way to the Four Season’s hotel in Vancouver and ate every single day, at YEW restaurant. The staff became family and even treated me to a giant ice cream sundae after the events were over, so a big public thank you to YEW.



The practices and constant media scrutiny before your event are difficult things to tackle. I train in relative obscurity at a small rink in Wayne, New Jersey with two other skaters, Ksenia Makarova, Russian ladies champion, and Natalia Popova, Ukrainian ladies champion, so showing up and being “on stage,” practicing with your key rivals for many days before you actually compete is draining. On the last day before my short program the US men were scheduled for two practices and of the three men, I was the only one who would take advantage of the evening practice. At the Olympics, the US figure skating team is overseen by five main officials, a team leader, two assistant team leaders, a doctor and physiotherapist who are supposed to share responsibilities and at least one is to be present for every practice, event, press conference, drug test and so on for every single athlete. As a precursor to my event and the support I could expect to receive from my own team, not one team official showed up to my final official practice that night. Not one.



I think most people know how the competition went for me. I felt so alive and amazing on the ice. I did the two best performances of my life, and I still failed to medal. I still haven’t quite come to terms as to why I lost to people who fell, but I am so beyond proud of what I did and proud of my fans for helping me get through the event and fighting with me every step of the way. It is hard to explain the emotions that poured out of me on that final night n Vancouver, I gave my life on that ice, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of, or rethink. In my heart, I am a champion for everything I was able to accomplish.



When I finished skating, and saw the scores, and heard the audience booing at the judges, I immediately swept into the mixed zone where you do all your interviews, switching from English, to Russian to French, back to Russian and then English again. I was completely overwhelmed by everything and so wasn’t able to process what happened. Galina walked me back to the curtain we were hiding behind near a janitor’s closet before the event, sat down with me and I started crying and didn’t stop. When the competition was over and I finished my first crying fit of the Games, I had a drug test with the medalists from my event, then went home to my room in the village. My roommate Tanith hugged me and told me how proud she was of me, I turned off my phones, got in the shower and cried for what felt like hours. I was emotionally spent. The next morning, and until I left Vancouver, I was up by five and doing media, interviews and commentary until midnight every night. It was insanity. During all the craziness, I was also finding time to train with Galina and Viktor and start preparations for the World Championships, which were only a few weeks away. I also said goodbye to my family who had traveled so far to watch me perform, and stood with Ksenia as she skated in her first Olympics. All in all, you can say I was one of the busiest people of the Games.



While this blog sounds a bit “woe to me,” I enjoyed nearly every second of my second Olympic Games. I did my job to the best of my abilities. I really loved what I was doing, I was connected with the people in my circle who matter most, and as a team, we accomplished something great. Galina said it best, once the Games were over, “we all acted together, like one.” When Galina and I parted ways after my event she leaned over and hugged me and said, “Johnnyka, you have made me prouder then anyone has ever made me before. I feel that you are champion; God blessed us today. You’re victory is my victory, we came a long way together, I am so proud of you.” That statement, coming from Galina Yakovlevna Zmievskaya, is worth it’s weight in gold to me. The day before the closing ceremonies, I left Vancouver with the feeling that I really accomplished something that will be of value to me, for the rest of my life and I can still cry thinking how proud I made myself, and my family, fans and team.



I know this was a long one, and too emotional, but I want you all to know how much I appreciate your love and support from long before and long after the Olympics. You mean the world to me and I work very day to make you proud. I love you.



Johnny

Summer Fun in the Hot City Blog by Johnny Weir

Summer fun in the hot city
June 25th, 2010 by Johnny Weir


GaGa shows off to the press. That’s my girl! Photo by Nick Laham / Getty Images.

With it being summer, I thought I’d put together a little cheat sheet about what’s hot in my imagination for this summer, my summer in the city.

LADY GAGA

Let’s face it, the last two years have been years of Gaga, but there is something so personal about her music and her style that inspires me every day. From the mini short clad dancers in her new “Alejandro” music video, to her whimsical display of her middle finger at major sporting events, there’s nothing not to love. Lady Gaga’s adoration for her fans is something that everyone who is blessed enough to have fans should learn from. There isn’t a morning, day or night in these hot months that I am not rocking my “Poker Face.”

FASHION

Summer fashion isn’t always something that I go for, I have disproportionate leg muscles which can make shorts and issue, and my skin is paler than Casper’s, but I love letting some skin show and making my skinny rib statements on every hot, sticky, miserable day. Chanel has some amazing tanks from their summer collection, Garreth Pugh put out an insane pair of leather leggings for those frisky nights out grinding to the “thumpa thumpa” and J Brand has introduced “Jegging” shorts, which are basically denim inspired biker shorts that make my booty look glorious. I may prefer bundling up in fur for winter, but this summer there are a lot of hot things to try.

EYEWEAR

I have been a huge fan and collector of sunglasses since age 3. From my bug eyed Bolle’s at age five to my “Ghetto Princess” Nathan Jenden’s at age 25, I live for eye fashions. Summer isn’t summer without some incredible shades to shield you from the soleil. I say that Chanel is an amazing choice for pretty much anyone, even the glasses on a stick sported by Sarah Jessica Parker in SEX IN THE XITY 2. Balenciaga is going way out to left field with their spectacles, and you can’t go rockstar chic without having a pair of A. Morir spike encrusted shields.

THE RESTAURANT

Whatever you like is the best way to go in the summer. Indulge yourself, don’t worry about bikini’s and speedo’s, you’ll certainly sweat off your crispy rice from Koi in Los Angeles, or you’re vanilla meringue cake from Cipriani in NYC. Summer always seems to be treated like a party so enjoy it by tasting the treats you rarely have and drinking down those bubbles, of course eat and drink responsibly.

VACATION

I haven’t had a vacation in years, but I have it under very good authority that human’s tend to take vacation in the summer. I can suggest Cayman Islands, stay at the Ritz and get pampered. I can also suggest staying at one of the spa hotels in Sochi, Russia. Don’t forget to get your visa for entry into Russia. If the economy has hit you too hard and can’t afford to go away, hit a local hotspot, for me, I like Soho House in Manhattan’s meatpacking district. Enjoy yourself.


Stay cool, kittens. Photo by Barry King / Getty Images.

To end this blog, everything about summer is hot. My darlings, please get out there, be fashionable and get laid. I will be working my ass off to make you all excited and proud of me no matter what I do, so enjoy the summer mugginess, for me.

Please watch the season finale of BE GOOD JOHNNY WEIR at 9pm June 27 on Sundance Channel. I have already threatened you with the dingles wielding blow darts, don’t make me do it again. Watch!! I love you.

Bluefly.com Johnny Weir Video and Q&A session

Chat Log for June 29, 2010 Johnny Weir Chat!


You can also find a transcript of the chat here!


Shop my store!  Get some Loubs!  (Johnny Weir's designer picks for fans from Bluefly.com!)


Johnny Weir’s Bluefly.com video with the Twitter Chat feed off to the bottom right.


Friday, June 18, 2010

An Open Message to Fans of 'Criminal Minds'

To Fans of ‘Criminal Minds’:


I am writing this blog as a way to vent some of my frustration over the current situation with the television show Criminal Minds. I am frustrated and upset, and I can guarantee at the start this blog is probably not going to be my best work. However, I am going to go ahead with it anyway.

As any fan who doesn’t live under a rock or on Mars or someplace now undoubtedly knows, an announcement has been made that the contract of AJ Cook, who plays Jennifer Jareau on the show, will not be renewed. It has also been announced that Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss will be back on the show on a limited basis and that a new female character will be introduced on the show next season.

Naturally, no one associated with the show is happy about this situation. Certainly none of the fans are happy. One person I know on the Fan Forums at CBS.com said out of more than a thousand comments she had read only three were in favor of the cast moves. What has been frustrating about this whole situation is the tack some so-called fans have taken since these cast changes were announced.

While some people, myself included, tried to be the voice of reason and suggest fans should write calm, well thought out emails or letters; there were a few fans who blatantly suggested fans should flood CBS executives and random employees with spam and hate mail. I say ‘random employees’ because one of the email addresses one of these so-called ‘fans’ suggested we write to is that of an assistant to the Vice President of a department at CBS who likely had no connection to this decision and no power to affect it in any way. This same ‘fan’ also published the CBS phone number and suggested fans should call the number and leave hateful voice messages. She even provided country codes and other information so fans could call from the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe to do the same. This is ridiculous, stupid and makes the fans of one of the most intelligent shows on television look completely ridiculous. I sincerely hope that few fans took part in this campaign to encourage hate mail and spam; however I am virtually certain that some did.

One of the most bothersome aspects of this whole mess is how some fans of JJ and EP have decided to berate other characters. Some of these ‘fans’ have decided it’s appropriate to trash the other characters to save their own favorite. I have seen posts suggesting other characters were better gotten rid of than their favorite character. The ‘barrage of keep my favorite character and get rid of this other character instead’ as one fan put it, is disgusting and divisive. Most of us who know about this business in the first place learned it from fans of characters other than JJ and EP. My favorite character on Criminal Minds is Spencer Reid, played brilliantly by Matthew Gray Gubler. I learned of the contract situation from other Spencer Reid fans, and then from Rossi and Garcia fans. It is now hurtful and unfair to fans of other characters like me to be treated like this. It’s painful to hear from so-called ‘fans’ that your character is more worthy of being dropped from the show and to hear wonderful characters like Penelope Garcia, who is portrayed by a wonderful actress named Kirsten Vangness, be called names by a group of morons who call themselves fans of Criminal Minds, but yet claim they would rather see the show ‘crash and burn’ without their favorite character or think it’s appropriate to berate the other characters.

Another thing I learned about later was that some ‘fans’ were criticizing Shemar Moore (Derek Morgan on the show) for not speaking out enough in support of AJ Cook and Paget Brewster. As some fans on CBS.com tried to point out, Shemar doesn’t even have Twitter and doesn’t use the social networking sites. What was he supposed to do, take a billboard out on Hollywood Boulevard? It’s not fair to critique the other actors for their responses to this situation. Each of them is handling it in their own way, and that is as it should be. It’s not fair to expect the other actors to behave in a way that some of these fans are behaving. The best way for the other actors to handle this situation is privately, behind the scenes with the CBS executives in their own negotiations and talks.

I was too distracted by other things to accomplish what I really wanted to accomplish with this blog. Therefore, I will stop here. Following are snail mail and email addresses, plus a phone number. Use them if you want to, or hope to affect change. Unfortunately I think there have been enough rogue spam and hate mail postings to all these to bury the intelligent, well thought out and well-spoken responses that might make a difference. However, it never hurts to try, does it?

http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.php  Feedback Form

CBS Television Network
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019

Main Number: (212) 975-4321

CRIMINAL MINDS
Touchstone Television in assoc. w/ Paramount Network Television
8660 Hayden Place
Culver City, CA 90232

http://www.cbspressexpress.com/div.php/cbs_entertainment/contact-list

This is a list of email addresses for some executives at CBS. I’m not even sure if any of these people have any connection to what has happened with AJ Cook and Paget Brewster. However, this is the list where the rogue person I mentioned above found her email contacts.