Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Dragon

Johnny in the spotlight—as he always should be!—
during An Evening With Champions. 
He wore this stunning costume featuring a dragon motif, 
a gift from his beloved Chinese fans, 
during the opening number both nights.
Please, please click for gorgeous full-size image.

Exclusive photo © David Ingogly.



35+ exclusive pics below! 

UPDATE: Plus new video
and transcript!





Premiering October 29!! 
Johnny stars in To Russia With Love
a new documentary about LGBT athletes, 
portions of which were filmed in secret during his time 
in Sochi as an NBC figure skating commentator. 
He also is an executive producer for the film, 
a project of Robert Redford’s Sundance Productions.
More info here and on the EPIX website.


UPDATE!! 
The official trailer is out!
Video link.




NEW! Johnny’s episode of 
DREAM SCHOOL: NYC airs Wednesday,
October 22, 10 pm EDT / 9 pm CDT
Johnny stars with other celebrity teachers
in partnership with NYC’s Beekman School to help 
turn around the lives of 15 teens who dropped out 
of conventional high school.


New sneak peek at Johnny’s episode!
Video link.


Read more about his episode here!



NEW Snow King Teaser! 
ticket sales have commenced, and now we have
another glimpse of Evgeni Plushenko’s amazing 
“enchanting fairy tale on ice for the whole family.” 
The show is based on an adaptation of 
Hans Christian Andersen’s story, The Snow Queen, 
with Johnny playing the role of Kai. 
Video link.
Behind-the-scenes sneak peek here.




Dear Johnny, 
we believe in you, 
we support you, and 
we love you always.


Note: Candles last only 48 hours, so please visit often 
to keep the love and light shining...

Exclusive photo © David Ingogly.



OK! So since we last visited with each other here in this space, I flew on a plane for the first time since 1997, and Davey flew with me for the first time ever in his life; we visited Boston, a city we’d never been to before and whose people were surprisingly warm and friendly and super-casual about parking (“Sure, you can park there!” “But they said this was reserved for the football game...?” “Nah. Don’t worry about it. Just pay $20 and you can park wherever you want!” [I have no idea if this guy actually even worked for the parking crew at Harvard University, but I gave him $20 anyway.] “But there aren’t actually any parking spaces left...” “That’s OK. Just squeeze in over there, by that car in the striped no-parking area!” “Seriously?” “Sure!” And we did. And nobody cared. Because everyone else was parked at odd, staggered angles on a fairly vertical grassy hillside...), but very ominous in their warnings about the traffic, and I spent the whole time driving around in a rental car thinking, “Traffic? What traffic?” and feeling like a particularly old and grizzled denizen of Chicago, and also, “If I parked like that in Chicago, my car would have had all four tires booted by now,” and also: thank God for Davey’s navigational skills, or we’d still be in Boston; and we met fans in real life who were just as lovely as our virtual interactions had promised; and oh yes, we saw Johnny and he skated and he was simply breathtakingly beautiful, as always.

And we have a few photos of him.

And it was kind of difficult to decide where to start with the picspam, because we have some rehearsal stuff and of course both of his performances to “Human,” and also meet-n-greet stuff, and I am mostly a ditherer on the best of days, but when confronted with more than 3,000 beautiful photographs, I sort of fall into a catatonic state of rapt indecision, but fortunately fans snapped me out of it by clamoring most of all for shots of Johnny in the dragon costume made for him by Johnny’s Pandas, and so that’s where we begin today.

You may recall the amazing fan meeting in China at which Johnny received this stunning gift:



Haohewuyin explained
“You said you wanted a dragon, 
now we give you a real Chinese dragon!”



In an interview with IceNetwork while in Boston, Johnny explained why this gift is so special to him:

“Johnny’s Pandas actually got together and designed and created this costume for me,” Weir said at intermission. “I’ve been having kind of a rough time personally lately, and I got a lot of strength from Khaleesi in Game of Thrones. She’s the ‘Mother of Dragons,’ so dragons have taken on kind of a new meaning for me. They made me a very classic Chinese dragon costume, and it’s really cool.”

And so today’s post is dedicated to all the wonderful Pandas, who took this year’s dragon theme to new heights and made Johnny a beautiful golden dragon in which to soar across the ice....



Please click any photo twice for the full-size image. Nearly all of these are absolutely huge and exquisitely detailed. They may take a moment to load, but, as always, are well worth the wait.

The Chinese dragon is said to be a symbol of power, strength, and good luck for those who are worthy of it....



An Evening With Champions.
Friday, 09-19-2014.

Through a long and complicated series of fortunate events, Davey and I ended up attending both shows. Armed with his press pass, he shot from the press box on Saturday night, where the view was unencumbered by hockey glass. But on Friday, he was beyond exhausted (our flight left Chicago at 6 am) and decided he’d sit in the stands and mostly enjoy the show, and just take a few shots (by which he meant 500+). He used his alternate camera, which lends a dreamy quality to these photos that I kind of love...


During the opening group number, Johnny performs 
his signature slide to the crowd’s roar of delight. 
I think this is the first time Davey has been able to capture 
this move in multiple sequenced shots, much to our delight.







































The back of the costume. 
Even blurry, the detailing is unbelievably gorgeous .









Acknowledging the cheers as he’s introduced to the crowd.
(Arghhhh hockey glass.)









And with bonus Paul Wylie.



An Evening With Champions.
Saturday, 09-20-2014.
View from the press box.


After his signature slide. 
A really great look at the back of the costume.















Love these thrilled faces in the stands.






With Kimmie Meissner.
IDEK but he’s so pretty.






“Champion.”
Perfect photo crop is perfect.









Love love love this shot.



After the opening number concludes, 
the skaters wait to be introduced one at a time. 
Johnny, as the headliner, is last.



Every photographer gets ready 
as he steps out onto the ice when his name is called...



...into the spotlight again...






....and once again acknowledges 
the deafening screams and applause.



Bonus video!! From the Uprising of Love benefit concert:
 interview with Johnny plus bonus Sting. 
Very special thanks to Elena Vasileva 
for making this available on YouTube!
Video link.


UPDATE!! Video now embedded!
ICYMI, from Ice Network backstage in Boston: 
34 Questions With Johnny Weir.” 
This rapid-fire series of questions and answers 
with Johnny, Agnes Zawadski, Douglas Razzano, 
and Kimmie Meissner is awesome and hilarious. 
UPDATE!! Transcript available here!

Video link.



And one more.



Exclusive photos © David Ingogly.



At last: my favorite photographer 
has built his own website! 
Please visit davidwk.com for additional Johnny photos plus other galleries by David Ingogly. It’s a work in progress, with more photos being added frequently. He wrote all the code himself, and in typical understated Davey style, posted a bunch of his “reject” pics first. In introducing the site, he wrote on FB: “I made this. I guess this is an open beta; or alpha, or pre-alpha. As fashionable as the Hadean.” Bonus points for geologic reference. Please check it out by clicking on “archive” at the home page. Enjoy, and please share!



ICYMI: Bold Beauty: Bollywood Revisited.”
A stunning new look at Johnny’s 
Nagada Sang Dhol program 
in a series of 35+ exclusive photos, 
plus exclusive video.



To Stand in a Ray of Sunlight.”
Gorgeous sun-drenched photos 
of Johnny at rehearsal in Sun Valley, 
plus exclusive video of his practice.



Human.”
The US debut of Johnny’s stunning 
and hauntingly beautiful new program.
Selected exclusive photos, 
plus exclusive HD video.



Be Gorgeous Without Your Pants.”
50+ Artistry on Ice pics plus all-new videos, 
including Beijing and Guangzhou
press conferences!



Magic Becomes Art...
60+ spectacular pics from Shanghai,
including the most beautiful 
“Concubine” series yet.

Stunning fan art by 
@glace_icywaterdri on Weibo. 



Concubine.”
Beautiful mega-picspam from 
the Guangzhou livestream.

Photo art detail from an exclusive photo © Joveta Leo.



Johnny and Tara’s brilliant commentary 
segment from Late Night With Seth Meyers!
Video link.
Watch their interview with Seth here.



Johnny and Dora!!
Watch his spot over and over again 
here, here, or here!



On Johnny’s website, 
linked to his retirement statement
Thank YOU, Johnny!



ICYMI: Johnny plans to discuss his personal difficulties just once, 
in an exclusive interview with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush. 
The three-part interview is available at these links:




UPDATE: In response to a rash of erroneous reports in the media, 
Johnny spoke briefly with Access Hollywood again
to set the record straight.




Also on the blog:
“Rise Like a Phoenix”
An exquisite black-and-white series 
of Johnny at rehearsal. 
Exclusive photo © David Ingogly.
Please click twice for larger image.



Johnny’s latest column for the 
Falls Church News-Press.
His columns are published on Thursdays 
in the “National Commentary“ 
section—don’t miss a single one! 



A number of Johnny’s auction items 
have been relistedwhich means if you missed out 
the first time around, you’re in luck: 
It’s not too late to own a piece of Weir Gear! 
Go check it out and see what treasures 
you could take home!



Please alert absolutely everyone you’ve ever met 
to “like” and follow the new 
on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr
Because he should be on all the things. 
With or without ice. 
But definitely with Viacheslav.



Please click to vote for Johnny 
once a day as “Best Sportsman”
Because he retweeted Luisa Lotka  to tell us he wants us to! 




Watch bonus clips online anytime on Logo!
Please be sure to check in with GetGlue
anytime you’re watching the show... 
or thinking about watching the show.... 
or wishing you were watching the show....



At last: Pop Star On Ice is now available on DVD!
Order yours today from the Pop Star On Ice website!



Johnny tweeted:
“Buy my single,’Dirty Love’ via iTunes.
Tell all your friends to as well. The more copies sold
takes me one step closer to making a video! №1!”
IN THE SAME WAY THAT IT NEEDS AIR.
You know what to do.
Please buy the song from Johnny’s website,
or just click the “Buy” button on the player at the top of the blog!



Hey, Welcome to My World also is available
as an eBook! More info on Johnny’s website!


copyright 2013 / Binky and the Misfit Mimes / Lynn V. Ingogly / all rights reserved

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