Incomparable

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A celebration in brief picspam

of the artist and athlete 

whose presence is deeply missed

at this year's US National Championships 

and still hoped-for at next year's; 

whose boundary-smashing influence is seen 

in programs and costumes in rinks around the world; 

who, each time he steps onto the ice, 

takes his audience on a journey of 

fierce elegance, grace, and expressiveness, 
in which we leave the world behind 

and are spellbound by something 

more like performance art 

than an ice-skating program; 

and whose tremendous natural talent—

Dick Button once described his skating as "liquid gold"—

remains a still-marvelled-at phenomenon 

in the fickle world of competitive figure skating:

The one and only

Johnny Weir.

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Captain Glitter Fights On

Johnny listens to the explanation 

of this week's challenge from Rachael—who had just 

greeted her own team, "Hello champs!"—with 

a look that prompted this question on Twitter: 

"Is there an Emmy for best bitchface 

in a competition-based reality show?"

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Golden

Johnny, photographed in near darkness 

that caused the camera to interpret the limited 

available light as reds and golds.

Exclusive photo © David Ingogly.

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A year ago tomorrow, Johnny announced his return to competitive skating, with Victor by his side and high hopes in the hearts of fans everywhere.

It was a golden moment.

Random Thursday Roundup

Random HDOI photo #1: Johnny at the end 

of Gangnam Style, the opening group number. 

Exclusive photo © David Ingogly. 

Amazingly huge full-size version here.

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So today is just a mishmash of things we need to catch up on as I haven't had a chance to blog since Monday and so here's everything that's happened since then which most importantly is this: Yay! He's safely home!

And also this stuff.

Swan Prince

Johnny acknowledges the crowd 

at the end of his Swan Lake performance 

in this screencap from Stars on Ice: Japan Tour 2013.

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Art

For me, 
figure skating, yes, is a sport, 

and you have to fight. 

But the most important thing 

was to create four minutes, five minutes, 

for my audience to forget the world 

and just look at something 

that was... 

art.
— Johnny Weir
Fuji-TV interview

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Throwback Thursday: Weir Gear

Meanwhile, in Tokyo: 

Johnny earlier today this afternoon

visiting @CANDY_NIPPON, 

which I don't even know what that is, 

but apparently it's part of Fake Tokyo, 

which I also don't know what that is, 

but they blogged this photo on their Snap page 

and he looks happy and gorgeous so yay!

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"I'm Putting the Competition On Ice"

Screencap of Johnny from one of the new 

Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off promos 

now running on HGTV and Food Network. 

So excited for the hour-long season premiere 

THIS SUNDAY, 9 pm EST 

and PST / 8 pm  CST on Food Network!!

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Konichiwa: Johnny's Back in Japan!

Johnny at Narita airport earlier today, 

where fans greeted him with hugs and gifts, 

including "Poker Face Bear," a new 

adorable creation by Ineko Nakagawa! 

Exclusive photo courtesy of Ineko-san.

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Kayso Johnny arrived safely in Japan last night/today/at some point between his five-alarm tweet and the ensuing bazillion hours of radio silence broken only by John Kerr's not-at-all disquieting query re: the repeated announcement of Johnny's name at Newark airport which did not in any way cause fans to completely spazz and spend the rest of the day/night/month of January freaking out that he had missed his flight to Tokyo for his debut with Stars on Ice: Japan Tour 2013, which is likely the first time I have ever written "Johnny" and "Stars on Ice" in the same sentence without even a trace of derision. Yay for Japan Tour 2013!! Would that the US and Canada SOI tours could get a rainbow-colored clue before they completely go out of business (oh, there it is: the derision missing from the previous sentence...).