Hot child in the city: 25 again, Japan trip, and constant jet-setting

Hot child in the city: 25 again, Japan trip, and constant jet-setting

Hot child in the city: 25 again, Japan trip, and constant jet-setting
July 20th, 2010 by Johnny Weir

(Maybe just one cupcake. A girl’s gotta watch her figure! Photo by Moises De Pena/WireImage.)

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Damn, it’s hot. I can’t get over the heat of the summer; maybe it’s global warming, but, in my twisted little mind, summer is when people’s inner sexiness starts to reappear, and that’s why it gets hot. The shirtless-ness, the bikinis, the sky-high stilettos of the drag queens…it’s amazing.

My summer has been insane. The season finale of BE GOOD JOHNNY WEIR was a huge hit, thank you for watching. The episode left a lot of people guessing about what’s next for me, and I suppose all I can say is wait and see, that’s what I’ll be doing too.

I celebrated my “25 Again” birthday in style at Hudson Terrace in Manhattan and got to hang with some of my closest friends and a few of my favorite people. Tara, all the Dingles*, Richie Rich, Chris Benz and, my new favorite person, Sebastian Stan all came out to support my aging process. I was in heaven. There were some photographs circulating of my “kissing” various people, but it was just a cupcake pass around, so calm down, I only kiss on the cheek anyway. My outfit was great, an Adrienne Landau sparkly vest, a pair of Louboutin saddle shoes and it was even chilly enough for a Landau fur bolero. HEAVEN! My birthday was so much fun, and I have my amazing friends to thank for organizing it, and of course Hudson Terrace for having all that crazy descend upon them.

(With my Dingles: Richie Rich of Heatherette and life-long BFF Paris Childers. Photo by Moises De Pena/WireImage.)

A few days after my birthday I flew to Japan to perform in Fantasy on Ice in Niigata and then went on to Tokyo for a photo shoot for my soon to be released Art Book that we’re tentatively calling “I Feel Pretty.” The shows went very well and I debuted a new costume for my “Poker Face” gala program. It is pretty outrageous but still needs some work. The shoulder ribbons were so tall I couldn’t jump! The photo shoot was incredible. We shot many different looks, doll shots where I was made to look like a porcelain creature in an “antique house” in a Tokyo suburb, street shots on the busiest square in Shibuya, walking down a crazy street in Harajuku and standing on a median in Ebisu as well as studio shots with my security bear, Ping. I also got the opportunity to meet one of Japan’s most recognizable artists and copywriters, Itoi Shigesato. I did a great interview with him in his office where his staff decorated the light fixture to look like a halo of roses, and on day two of my photo shoot, he came to watch and try his luck on the ice. I was proud to coach him on the value of pretty hands, and he impressed me with his fearlessness. Itoi-san is an amazing man, and if you think you don’t know who he is, he invented the name, “Game Boy.” Japan is always so incredible for me and it is that way because of my fans. Nobody had louder applause in the shows, or felt more support than me. I hope my fans in Japan know how much I love them and I hope next time I am in their country I can spend more time with them. Japan was a big success.

Coming up next are a few great appearances, two of them on ice, in America! In early August I’m going to an event in support of GLAAD Manhattan, next weekend I am performing in Sun Valley, Idaho as part of their summer ice show series and undoubtedly visiting one of my favorite vintage shops in Ketchum, Idaho called Déjà vu. The day after the show I am heading to Los Angeles to judge an episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race and then I’m back to New York to head upstate to Lake Placid and perform in their summer ice show. If you can make it to Sun Valley or Lake Placid, I’d love to see you and put on a show!

Life is flying by right now, and I’m enjoying every moment of it. I wish I could take a mini vacation, but it seems almost out of the question for now. Hopefully, by fall, there will be a spare weekend. As always, thank you all for reading, for all your support and love and I’ll be back with a new blog very soon.

I love you!

- Johnny

(Toast a glass of champagne like there ain’t no tomorrow! Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images.)

*Dingles are my group of friends. The name comes from Blackberry wireless devices actually. We all have them, and we call Blackberry Instant Messages, “dingles.” Any form of the word Dingle can be used to describe a person or message or phone call. For example, we call one another by the word, “Ding” or “Dingle” and when someone needs to send me any kind of message I say to “Dingle me.” I hope that makes sense. People were starting to ask me if “Dingle” was derived from a British TV show, and it absolutely wasn’t. DING!
Categories: Culture

About Johnny Weir Comments Article tags: art book, Be Good Johnny Weir, birthday, Chriz Benz, Fantasy on Ice, figure skating, GLAAD Manhattan, Hudson Terrace, I Feel Pretty, Itoi Shigesato, Japan, Johnny Weir, Paris Childers, performance, Poker Face, Richie Rich, Sebastian Stan, Tara Modlin

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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

Summer fun in the hot city

JOhnny Weir's newest Sunfiltered blog! You must read this, it's a trip!

All My Other Johnny Blogs

For those of you who don't want to venture over to my Live Spaces Blog and wade through my other stuff, I am going to provide links to my other Johnny Weir related blogs. Some of them could definitely have been better; for example the SOI one. I've done better posts on this subject since this blog was written; mentioning, for example, how Johnny has said he has never asked to be in SOI, and didn't expect to be asked this time either, and didn't even know about the 'family friendly' supposed comments until Billy Bush asked him about it. And also that he believes something when he actually hears it himself. However, at the time I didn't know about that and it isn't mentioned in the blog.

1) Finally, Some Respect! from March 22, 2010
2) Scotty, Johnny Weir and Stars On Ice from March 18, 2010
3) No Johnny Weir in Stars On Ice Tour from March 14, 2010
4) A Champion's Heart from February 26, 2010 (My personal favorite)


Please keep voting for Johnny as 'Most Addictive Reality Star' by adding #realityWEIR to all your tweets, or by going to NewNowNext Awards site and scrolling down to where he is the last one listed in the fifth category. We have until June 4th to vote on this one. Also, please vote for Johnny as 2010 Readers' Choice Skater(s) of the Year Award (Michelle Kwan Trophy). We have until July 15th on this one, and the winner will be announced in the August/September issue of SKATING, on the U.S. Figure Skating web site and on icenetwork.com. The trophy will be presented to the winner next season. Please be careful about clicking on the right name on this one please, because Evan Lysacek is listed directly above Johnny Weir!