The Best of Binky's Johnny Weir Blog: Be Good Johnny Weir

Showing posts with label Be Good Johnny Weir. Show all posts

Friday, September 28, 2012

Family-Friendly Friday: Going Home

A pensive Johnny gazes out the window

on the way to his hometown book signing

in Lancaster, PA, January 14, 2011.

Moments before, Tara had explained to him

that 11-year-old Michelle Babineau, diagnosed with

an incurable brain tumor, would be coming to the signing

to fulfill a dying wish: to meet him.

Michelle had been offered the chance to either

go to Disneyland or to see Johnny.

She chose Johnny.

On a wintry Friday evening in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, two families and their extraordinary children came together for a brief but heartfelt moment in the name of love.

BGJW2 Screencapalooza!

Johnny listens intently during BGJW2, episode 4,

as Ice Theatre of New York executive director

and event producer Jirina Ribbens offers her advice

on getting his "Spectacular" off the ground.

Today's Action Items:

(1) Freak out that Finlandia is a week from tomorrow. #flail Pester every single fan in the world one more time to PLEASE. FIND. A. LIVESTREAM.

Flashback Friday: Flint Revisited

Johnny performs "Dirty Love" for the first time

at Holiday Dreams on Ice, Flint, Michigan, December 2010.

Love the way his costume is reflected in the ice.

I know he said on Monday's BGJW2 episode,

"That was horrifying ... We all know it wasn't good"—

but the big crowd in Flint (yes! People came!

Probably more than one gay even!) loved him,

as you'll see in the video below... ♥

Please click twice for larger view.

Photo © David Ingogly.

"I Want People to See I Am a Warrior"

Johnny at the Ice House on Monday.

Another day in the long, lonely pursuit of perfection;

another skirmish in the ongoing battle of wills

between warrior and ice.

Photo tweeted by Sora Hwang, who also posted:

"Saw some of Johnny’s footwork and spins on Monday.

So beautiful. Saw his jumps today and they are so solid.

He’s back and he means business. ♥"

LA Confidential

Victor, Tara, and Johnny on Rodeo Drive!

(Original photo posted by Tara on Facebook.)

Vote for Johnnik. He Is Real Man.

Pssssssssst... hey you.

Yessss, you.

Vat you doink here?

Who, us? Vat arrre ve doink? Uh ... ve zhust, uh, you know, hangink out. Yesss, rrrright here. Vhere no one see us.

Ve're fine. It rrrreally comfortable here, ecktually. Although Johnnik's knees goink to give out any minute frrrom hunch down to Galina's height.

Oh, all rrright. Eef you must know, ve trrryink avoid Stars on Ice people. Their show suckink big time. They need Johnnik could help them. But he too much man for them. But not mirrracle vorker, vhich they rrrreally need. Their choreography so terrrrible! And he vould never vearink bondage gear vhile he sssskate. It so not ... vhat is term I lookink for? Oh da. "Family frrriendly."

Anyvay. Shhhhhh. No tell anyone you see usss. Nyet!

And vhy you lurkink here, anyvay?

Shouldn't you be make self useful and votink for Johnnik as "Most Addictive Reality Star" in NewNowNext Avards? Vatever that is.

Go on. Ve zhust goink to be hidink out here for a vhile. Go tveet #realityWEIR few hundrrred times. And check to sssee if Bozik tveeted yet.

Now go! Don't make me get Viktor chase you avay.

Do svidaniya!*

Please remember to keep voting for Johnny

as "Most Addictive Reality Star" in the NewNowNext Awards!

Vote here or on Twitter by constantly tweeting #realityWEIR.

Voting ends June 4, which gives us plenty of time

to get Johnny oh, say, ONE MILLION votes!

*Goodbye! Or, until we meet (again).

Monday, April 19, 2010

My New Addiction: Voting for Johnny Weir as "Most Addictive Reality Star"

Mmmmm ... our drug of choice

OK, it's official. On average, nine out of ten people currently classified as "breathing" agree that Johnny Weir is totally like crack (the tenth guy was so spellbound watching Johnny's "Ave Maria" that he forgot to breathe and now he's all facedesk and passed out. So we're not sure whether to count his vote or not. We're checking with the Supreme Court since they did such a great job with that whole 2000 presidential-election thingy).

But oh, yeah: One hit and you're hooked.

One layback slide across your computer screen to "Poker Face," one beautiful triple axel as a Fallen Angel, and that boy has you staggering around barefoot, hair a hot mess and pipe in hand, begging, "Please, baby, please? Just hit me with one more link to another video of 'Otonal,' and then I promise I'll quit. Really. I mean it this time."

But of course you don't mean it at all. What you mean is, "Sweet Jesus, I CANNOT get enough of this. I. Need. More. More photos, more videos, more articles, more interviews, and especially MORE PHOTOS. I don't care what time it is, or that I'm at work--now and then, when it doesn't interfere with Facebook--or that I haven't really slept in weeks, or that I have spent entire meals carefully explaining the new points-based system of judging and contrasting it with the old 6.0 system to the people sitting at the next table over from me who seemed a little taken aback at first, but once I SHOWED them his Olympic free skate on my iPhone plus a couple of clips from BGJW--especially the one where he's heading into the shower--all of a sudden they started talking really fast and hyperventilating and asking me for more links and the address of a web site that sells pink tassels..."

You see my point. He is the Hotel California of figure skating. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. (Bonus photo for catching that reference and understanding the metaphor, especially if you're under age 40.) But really, why would you want to leave anyway, what with the fresh pomegranate juice delivered to your room daily and the ontd picspam and the really amazing things that the Russian fans kindly and freely share because hey, baby, you've GOT to take a hit of THIS NEW STUFF that we just found...

Which is why I have now supplemented my primary addiction with a fun and exciting new secondary addiction: Voting for Johnny in the NewNowNext Awards! Yes, our boy is up for "Most Addictive Reality Star," and his nomination in that category means I have got to give those NewNowNext people my own award for "Most Perceptive Grasp of the Impact of Watching Johnny Weir Do Anything."

So for all of us who long for the good old days when we had a petition to pimp out, and since crack and pimps go together like tanning spray and Evan Lysacek, let's PIMP THIS VOTING THING OUT, people! Tell everyone you know, with your trembling hands and enormously dilated pupils, that you need them to vote for Johnny Weir cuz you've got it bad, really bad, and this is how they can help you.

There are two ways to vote:

(1) You can vote on the site itself as often as you like. There are nine categories total; Johnny is the last candidate listed in the fifth category, so be sure to scroll all the way down to find him. You can vote over and over again by simply scrolling through the categories endlessly, but you have to vote in each category in order for the next category to come up. Which is fine with me, because I am happy to keep voting for Betty White in the "Cause You're Hot" category.

(2) As addicting as that is, it can be a bit time-consuming (not that you would have any idea how much time has passed because you sold your watch to buy a black-market DVD of the 2005 US Nationals). But just in case you're actually AT work and didn't call in sick again so you could post a thorough, move-by-move comparative analysis of his "Poker Face" from Festa 09 versus his "Poker Face" at 2010 US Nationals, you can also quickly vote over and over and over for Johnny on Twitter. You just have to tweet the hashtag "#realityWEIR," and each time you tweet it, it counts as a vote.

If you don't have a Twitter account, SIGN UP FOR ONE NOW! It'll be like giving yourself a brand-new shiny pipe with which to indulge your addiction! (Sorry for all the drug references.)

Of course Twitter goes all whack if you keep trying to tweet the exact same thing, so you might need to change it up a little. I've seen some really fabulous tweets as a result, from the cheerily informative to the clear and concise:

Please vote for Johnny Weir as Most Addictive Reality Star! http://www.newnownext.com/vote. Or vote just by RTing this! #realityWeir

Please retweet this, just for funsies. #realityWEIR

#realityWEIR :) just cuz. :P

#maddow would vote #realityWEIR. Just sayin.

YOU ARE MY FIRE~ #realityWEIR

MY ONE DESIRE~ #realityWEIR

Decided to be a bump on a log and not go to Bible Study. ... Oh... and #realityWEIR

impossibly addictive. #realityWEIR

#realityWEIR #realityWEIR #realityWEIR #realityWEIR #realityWEIR #realityWEIR #realityWEIR #realityWEIR #realityWEIR #realityWEIR

because he can say "bitch, please" in three different languages #realityWEIR

I think that last one really says it all.

Oh. Wow. I'm feeling a little ... twitchy ... right now. A little unsettled. Maybe even a little paranoid (WTF are you looking at, bitch? Oh, sorry, dear little cat.)

Yeah, I gotta go.

I have, um, somewhere I need to be.

Something I gotta do.

I'll be back in a little bit.

Don't wait up.

No, I promise it won't be like last time, when I said I was just going to go check my e-mail and four days later you finally found me slumped unconscious over my keyboard with his "Bad Romance" performance from Ice Dreams still playing because I was looping it into a montage of all his exhibition programs using special video-editing software that I bought for $2,000 from that guy on the corner...

I just need to go vote once more. And then I'll quit.

Really. I mean it this time.

Please vote early and often!

(I used to live in Chicagoland, so I can proudly say that.)

Let's help Johnny win this award that he so richly deserves!

Because this whole addiction is his freaking fault anyway,

since he had me at, "I walk on water. Well, frozen water."

Friday, April 16, 2010

Friday Free Verse: A Beautiful Glamourbomb

discovering Johnny Weir

was like receiving a winged messenger

who was sent to remind me

not to discard the most important parts of myself

whose value reminded me of my own

who helped me realize

I was not being fierce enough

with my own fabulousness

Special thanks to Nicole Davis, Johnny Weir Facebook fan,

who said most of these words to me in a chat window.

All I did was shape them into the poetry

that was in her heart

to begin with.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

At Last! Binky Answers Your Top 10 Questions About Ice Dreams!

Embed from Getty Images

So here's the thing: I have much glitter and glamor to share from my adventure in Bensenville (which is likely the first time the words "adventure!" and "Bensenville" have ever been used in the same sentence). Let's begin here, with these sparkly little tidbits:

1. Did you, in fact, meet Johnny Weir? Like really meet him? And did you then immediately throw up on him? Why yes! And no! No vomiting! For which I'm sure he is really, really grateful. And may I offer to the court this incontrovertible piece of photographic evidence, which yes, I already posted yesterday on the blog and will probably continue to post every. single. day. on. the. blog. for. the. rest. of. my. life. I'm also using it as my desktop background, having it made into a mousepad and a set of fifty coffee mugs, enlarging it to poster size so it can be hung in a place of honor above the fireplace, creating a calendar with it in which it will be the only photo every month, and will most likely use it as our Christmas card photo every year from now on.

2. Did Tara really take this photo? Yes, indeed she did, even in the midst of complete chaos and way too many sweaty people. And I can't thank her enough. But I keep trying, by e-mailing her every hour on the hour...

3. OK, you met him! But DID YOU SMELL HIS NECK? Which seemed to be the number-one question on Facebook after the show. And the answer is: Um, no. Because he is a person, not a gorgeous mannequin designed for our pleasure (although the Chinese factory is really making headway on that project, I hear!), and I am a little old-fashioned about personal boundaries. Yes, he probably would let people smell his neck, because he's incredibly accommodating. But I leave that to some other fan, braver than me and from whom it might seem less creepy.

4. Were the reports of a mongoose infestation seriously overstated? Yes, thank God, although I brought along Lizzy's mongoose repellent just in case.

5. Did you meet Richie and Elkin? Yes! And they were just as kind and courteous in person as they are on the phone. Although we didn't get to talk much because it appeared to me that they had to spend most of their time hustling from one end of the building to the other wearing headsets, clutching clipboards and walkie-talkies, and having this same conversation over and over: "Can you hear me?" "No. Can you hear me?" "No. What channel are you on?" "I don't know. What channel are you on?" "What?" "I can't hear you. There's too much static." "Turn the knob to the left." "What? We learned that Bob has left?" "Who's Bob?" "I don't know. Where's Tara?" "What?"

6. Were there any conservative Christians on Ice wearing bondage gear, like some kind of bizarro-world Fox News S&M party as seen at Smutty's Stars on Ice recently? No. Just family-friendly Johnny Weir, to whom every little kid flocked as though he were the Pied Piper, and from whom every parent wanted an autograph. As far as describing the show as a whole, I would place "Ice Dreams" pleasantly in the middle of the continuum between "Bigots on Ice" and "I Dream Endlessly of Johnny Weir."

7. Was the Sundance crew there filming? Which might mean the longed-for Season Two is in the works? There were lots of people with various kinds of cameras. I have no idea what that means because I am an ex-Lutheran, and we only know what we're told and are not able to draw conclusions on our own. We don't even clap or stand or sit unless somebody tells us to. And nobody told me anything. Although there was an enormous amount of clapping and standing any time Johnny was on the ice, which leads me to the conclusion that this was clearly not a Lutheran crowd. We even clapped and whistled and screamed whenever we could just barely see the outline of his right shoulder looming off stage, thus effectively drowning out whatever the truly gracious Dorothy Hamill was trying to say at any given moment.

8. Is it worth spending the money to see Johnny skate live? Yes. It is worth getting a second or third job, selling everything you own, and living in a cardboard box. Whatever it takes. I have watched endless videos of his competitions and exhibitions, all of which are brilliant. And none of them compare to seeing him live. You can really see that he draws energy from the audience and that it informs his performance in real time, while he's skating. His Russian piece was exquisitely, hauntingly beautiful. And Bad Romance? So, so, SO hot! My daughter observed thoughtfully that while other skaters skate to their music--sometimes even rather well-- Johnny is so clearly in a class by himself because he inhabits the music. He uses every beautifully executed jump, every flick of the wrist, every piece of footwork, every head toss, even every position of every finger, to completely embody the song. It is absolutely amazing, and the power of the live performance does not translate to video. Although it's close enough when I have the shakes and I need me some Johnny crack NOW.

9. What three words would you use to describe what he is like in person? Wow. Limiting myself to three words is FAIL. I can't do it. I would use all these words: Unbelievably gorgeous. Beautiful inside and out. Extraordinarily sensitive and perceptive. Other-worldly. Intense. Focused. Highly sexually charismatic in a way that completely transcends gender. Very fine-boned, yet muscular and powerful. Accessible, but guarded underneath. And my strongest impression, though I was not expecting it to be the strongest: Vulnerable. And fragile. I think that perception may have been enhanced partly because he was so very, very tired.

10. Is there anything else you can tell us? Please please please PLEASE? Possibly, but then I'd have to kill you. And then someone would have to kill me. And then there'd be no more blog, which I think we'd all agree would really be a tragedy. So please bear with me, and stay tuned!

Special thanks to my kids, who helped me with this post.

Because if anything, they're way wittier than I am.
Also: Please, no offense intended to any Lutherans, past or present!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

I'm Off to See the Weirzard!

A heart is not judged
by how much you love,

but by how much
you are loved
by others.

--The Wizard of Oz
my favorite movie of all time
because
Technicolor
and sparkly ruby slippers
(on Johnny!)
and glittery Glinda the Good Witch
and home
Weir-ever that may be
(this week it's
Bensenville)

Binky and the Misfit Mimes' blog will be on hiatus for the next few days

while Exciting and Glittery Things happen in Binky's life,

beginning with a three-hour drive to Bensenville

accompanied by Lady Gaga blasting from the car speakers

as loudly as possible... :)

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Binky Goes to Bensenville (Part 1)

The always and impossibly elegant Johnny Weir.

"Hmmmm..." I frowned at the array of clothes on the bed. What to wear? What to wear? What does one wear when one goes to Weir, as it were?

Suddenly I wanted to forget packing and go read Dr. Seuss books.

"Mom, what IS your problem?" my daughter demanded, striding briskly into my room. "All your clothes look alike. How hard can this be? Just pick something already!"

She had a point. My fashion choices are informed by three factors:
(1) When in doubt, spend the money on the kids; (2) comfort; and (3) rheumatoid arthritis, an unwelcome and surly guest who arrived five years ago and remains to this day, eating my favorite leftovers, hogging the remote, and leaving wet towels scattered all over the bathroom floor.

So, in fall and winter, I live in denim overalls; in spring and summer, denim shortalls. I have a weird thing where I don't like stuff that's tight against my waist. Actually, I have no waist, so waist-borne clothes just perch hesitantly on me somewhere above my worn hip joints, wondering where they're supposed to BE, exactly, and why it's so hard to meet nice people who are willing to make a commitment to having a waist these days.

I also have a thing where I don't like it when my neck is cold, or when Evan Lysacek unexpectedly appears in my field of vision. There I was last week, trying to tune into part 1 of the serial-killer episode of Castle because really, what better way to spend an hour when Johnny isn't available than with the charming Nathan Fillion, but GAAAAAACK! I accidentally arrived at the tail end of Flailing With the Mongeese to see the Orange-Glo-Rama himself, all decked out in the same damn tux he wears for everything. I quickly averted my eyes in order to preserve my retinas ("No, dear! Never look directly at it!") and waited for the Castle theme to begin.

Now my daughter could have solved my packing problem before I even realized there was a problem. She's quick that way, and by "quick" I mean "impatient with other people's fashion issues but for whom time stands still when we are already fifteen minutes late and she needs to choose between the black pencil skirt and the red pencil skirt"--both of which look fantastic on her tiny size-4 self, by the way.

Me, I'm a taller girl, as Johnny would say. I've always liked my height, and I do stand straight and tall, but there's a secret fear in the back of my mind that the word "burly" could someday be used in the same sentence as "Binky." My kids always crack up when I say this and assure me that that will never be true. But I'm not sure they even really know what I look like as a person--who picked up a pound or two along the way--and not as their beloved parent. Which actually is OK, because I still remember their little voices telling me I'm "the prettiest mom and the best mom in the whole world, the mom of wonders."

Anyway, so my fashion sense is somewhat limited, in the sense that I have no actual fashion sense, so I have this dilemma: I am really, really hoping to meet Johnny at the VIP party after Ice Dreams (and by "meet" I mean "stand awkwardly somewhere near him looking hopeful"). But I don't want to appear as if I just wandered in after having taken a seriously wrong turn somewhere on my way from a western Illinois cornfield. I'm afraid that Johnny, all slim elegance and Balenciaga and Galliano and lots of other fashion-y names I can't pronounce, could actually be allergic to something so plebeian as overalls, and then it would be my fault that his sinuses started draining and he developed that odd rash that prohibited him from getting to ride a yak in Mongolia after all. I don't want to be responsible for some sort of international incident just because I dress like Bill the Yeti.

So my daughter reinserted her iPod earbuds and left, and I sat on the bed and pondered the light blue overalls and the dark blue overalls and whether there's enough money in the plastic Coke bank to maybe buy an actual pair of, say, khaki pants.

On the other hand.

If Johnny stands for anything, it's this: Be yourself. And own that self. All the way. Be who you are, in whatever packaging works for you. It's one of the qualities--on a long list of really admirable character traits--that I most appreciate about him. Funny how a kid of 25 could make this middle-aged mom (middle-aged because I'm planning to live to age 96 so really, I'm only halfway done and don't rush me, please) suddenly rediscover the confidence she never had at 25.

And if anyone in the world were to host a party and say, "Come as you are!" and REALLY mean that, it would be Jesus. Or Johnny Weir.

So: Problem solved.

Look for me in Bensenville. I'll be the tall woman in the dark blue overalls she loves (the smallest ones I own, because I've lost all those pesky extra pounds recently by following a Johnny-inspired meal plan of not really planning to eat any meals) wearing a sparkly "We Love Johnny Weir!" button.

And a really big, confident smile.

Special thanks to Lizzy Pine, Johnny Weir Facebook fan,
for the mongoose repellent!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

When Robin Loved Johnny

Johnny Weir addresses the press in Vancouver

on February 24, 2010.

Today's post is part of a series of guest blogs
about Johnny's impact on people's lives,
and comes to us from
Johnny Facebook fan Robin Fosdick. :)

So, Binky has asked us to tell her why we love Johnny ... and the first thing that comes to mind is not why, but when.

When did I first start loving Johnny?

Was it the first time I saw him skate?

Nope.

Was it when I saw the promo for Be Good Johnny Weir, complete with high heels, giant Fabergé egg, and major attitude?

Nope.

Was it actually watching his show, full of silliness, sauciness, hard work, and beautiful skating?

Nope.

It was the press conference. When Johnny sat there, looking perfectly elegant and Old Hollywood, and spoke graciously about the two men who’d said such insulting things about him.

Johnny, you’re an inspiration to all of us

who’ve ever felt afraid to be ourselves,

or who are trying to gather the courage to be ourselves,

real and true and unafraid.

I know how hard it is to be taunted or humiliated for being yourself, and I was shocked at how he responded. Shocked, awed, and delighted.

Johnny, you’re an inspiration to all of us who’ve ever felt afraid to be ourselves, or who are trying to gather the courage to be ourselves, real and true and unafraid.

Please know that every time you stand up to prejudice and discrimination--because that’s exactly what it is, whether they’ll admit it or not--you are standing up not just for yourself, but for all of us.

You are an inspiration and a joy to watch. I think you are completely freaking fabulous and I hope that my future children turn out as well as you have.

So, just to make things clear, it’s official. I’ve fallen into the abyss of Johnny Weir fangirldom, and no, thanks, I don’t need a hand up.

It’s rather nice down here, with all the tassels and sequins and such.

Psssst: Wanna be part of the
BIG fan thank-you to Johnny on April 1?
Please click here! With thanks to Robin!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

From Makeup to Scented Candles to Freeing Your Inner Freak, May We Present:

So Johnny Weir's 35,644 Facebook fans were milling around on his page the other day, as we are prone to do, posting pictures of Johnny and commenting on people's links to videos of Johnny and analyzing Johnny's latest tweets and bumming glitter-coated cigarettes off each other and just generally making nuisances of ourselves on the information cyberhighway, where we have been known to cause traffic to come to a screeching halt by posting stuff like this, when alert fan Krystal Pacheco popped by to pose this thoughtful question:

How has Johnny inspired you?

And we couldn't wait to tell her. Because Johnny has that effect on people. He inspires us all to the point that we can't shut up about it, so after completely alienating all our real-life friends and family members by quoting every inspirational line of dialogue from all eight inspirational episodes of BGJW, in chronological order--repeatedly--(which doesn't at all bring to mind the phrase, "idiot savants"), we turn to each other on Facebook and breathe, "Johnny just so inspires me! Did you catch what he said to Evan Lysacek at the press conference in Epsiode 108? And wasn't Evan just such a total douche (again)?"

So the responses came pouring in. There were so many to choose from, and the blog space is so limited, what with the towering stacks of Johnny photos and the snarling chained mongoose in the corner, that I am only able to present a baker's dozen, picked at random, a lovely little bouquet of wildflowers for our favorite wild child (you can find the full meadow of blooms here).

These are all pure sparkly poetry and need no embellishment from me.

Pat Goewey: He reminds me to believe in myself, never give up and keep it real.

Allison Fowler: I'd always been afraid to be myself, and Johnny inspires me to not be afraid and just "fly my freak flag high" :) cuz Lord knows my flag is a freak flag. ♥

Glennisha Elliott: It's OKAY to be different ... and to tell people who want you to conform to F off!

Russ Gunther: Be true to yourself, and the people who REALLY matter in your life will always love you for you.

Krystal Pacheco: ... Johnny has lit the fire inside me! And my fire smells like Diptyque candles! Johnny's favorite! ...

Allison Shea: ... Johnny is not perfect, but he's real and down to earth, and a genius. And he's so full of life! And you look at him and think, what the hell am I doing? I didn't ask for life, but I'm here! So I'm gonna live it too! That's what he's done for me.

Amy J. Sorter: He has inspired me to remember who I really am. He also inspires me to be "me" with dignity and grace. ... And yeah, I just went to the MAC counter at Nordy's and dropped a couple hundred on new makeup! Thanks Johnny for renewing my interest in SHOPPING! (Read Amy's excellent blog entry on Johnny as a depression cure here.)

Deborah Slockett: He is a true inspiration to me and my mom because he doesn't sugercoat anything and he has made me feel free to be myself.

Lindsay O'Day: ... I think the way he takes care of himself is amazing and I want to be that way. Oh, and I'm releasing my inner freak.

Jaspar N. Votapek: As a musician ... when I watch BGJW and follow his journey, he makes me feel less alone--and puts my heart back into the artistry of my playing ...

Beatriz Zenk: He makes me laugh which is a nice thing because we don't laugh as much as we should. He likes to laugh and it is infectious. Actually, I'm infected and that is good.

Nicole Davis: "Out of the ugly, I think the most important thing in life is to make something beautiful." Johnny does just that, is undeniably beautiful, and takes great pride in cultivating inner and outer beauty. Plus, he's kind, eloquent, intelligent, humorous, and warm in a way that feels way too rare to me ... He reminds me that those qualities are precious and undervalued. Lastly, it's all about those eyelashes. [blink, blink]

Reia Temari Kan: He has taught me, and I'm sure many others ... that going through life as anyone but yourself is truly a waste. So I thank you, Johnny, for being such an amazing person, and an inspiration to so many of us. Thanks for being you. ♥

Again, the full thread of responses is here, and well worth the read. They're all wonderful and thought-provoking and a real tribute to Johnny.

As for me, Johnny simply inspires me to:

do more

be more

love more

LIVE more.

And also, to vacuum more. In case he should ever drop by. I want those vacuum lines in place to make him feel really at home. :)

If you would like to say more, but with actual flowers,

please go here and be a part of the upcoming

BIG fan thank-you to Johnny!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Redemption of Jay Leno (Plus: Charles Barkley All Sparkly!*)

Jay Leno interviews Johnny Weir on the Tonight Show
Monday, March 22, 2010.

Let's just be clear: I'm Team Conan all the way. I thought Jay Leno should have gotten into one of his 12 million cars last June and driven quietly away into some other phase of his life that didn't involve trying to hang on to something that had already been given away to someone else, like your older brother resenting you getting his hand-me-downs.

But no. He hung around NBC at 10 p.m. (9 p.m. Central) like embarrassing, garrulous, strange-smelling Uncle Bobby, who tells the same bad jokes over and over and just can't take the hint, even when your mom has put away the dishes, the kids have all gone upstairs, and your father finally says heartily, "Goodness! Look at the time! We've got to go to bed so Bobby can leave!"

But like Bobby, Jay just WOULDN'T GO AWAY. Which was apparently the sum total of his employment strategy. Until finally everyone did go to bed and then got up the next morning to find that Bobby had smoked the last of the cigarettes hidden in the buffet and had taken your dad's car to go to the liquor store. Again.

Which is how we found ourselves with no cigarettes, and no Conan, and Jay back on the Tonight Show set, which still feels weird. And I have refused to watch the show since his return.

Until, of course, last night. Because Johnny Weir was on. And that sentence has caused me to watch all kinds of shows that I have previously stepped over like old gum on the sidewalk.

Of course I TiVo'd the show so I could just fast-forward to the glam and glitter. And then I watched the interview.

And wow. Jay, you totally redeemed yourself. In a really big way.

Jay started off by showing a clip of Johnny at the Olympics and saying, "I really like this kid," and then it just got better from there.

He had the band play the Olympic theme when Johnny walked out.

He made a point of saying that Johnny was a two-time Olympian and three-time U.S. National Champion.

He also emphasized that Johnny grew up in Amish country, that he put his brother through college, and that he helps his family out financially.

He never once uttered the words, "gender orientation," "sexual preference," or "Evan Lysacek."

And then he said: "Let me ask you about this whole Stars on Ice tour. There's a little bit of a controversy here."

Johnny explained the story pretty much as we know it, that the comment came up several years ago, and that in all his years of skating, he has not once been invited to skate with SOI.

Jay responded by reiterating Johnny's solid upbringing and his care for his family, and said of Johnny, "You can't get more family-friendly than that!"

And he said, "It seems that you would be PERFECT for that kind of a show."

And, "It's SHOW business. And it seems very unfair."

And then he asked, "If they invited you now, would you go on this tour?"

Jay ended the interview with, "Johnny, good luck, my friend." (And the very wise advice to not do anything flamboyant while speaking Arabic.)

Now, if you know anything about Jay Leno, you know that, even with the whole Conan debacle, he is still a very, very powerful man in Hollywood (still on the Forbes' Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities list. And still very good friends with Oprah Winfrey, who is ranked no. 2 on that list).

And if you know how he interviews, you know that between the lines, he just issued a challenge to Smuckers Stars on Ice: "You got one last chance here, people. Give the kid an invitation. Because I like this kid. He's a friend of mine."

I don't know if it will make a difference. But I do know that Jay Leno stuck his neck out last night and put the full force of the tremendous influence that he wields behind Johnny Weir.

Johnny's out in front right now, and Jay Leno just stepped up to stand beside him.

Jay, I just might have to watch your show more often.

'Night, Uncle Bobby.

Favorite Weir-isms from the Tonight Show interview:

"And then all of a sudden, BAM! This popped out!"

"Well, I'm hideous. I've got a comb-over, that's for sure."

Don't miss this clip from the beginning

of last night's Tonight Show

featuring an "awkward fashion moment"

between Johnny and a surprisingly sparkly Charles Barkley!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Petition Presented to Smuckers! And They Respond Immediately!

From Johnny Weir's Facebook page,
upon achieving 10,000 signatures on the petition:

Maria Bernier: Cheers to Johnny!!

Here's to happiness, honesty, health care,

and truth in the face of injustice!!
Take that, Smuckers!!
(more fan reaction here)

At last, the moment we've all been waiting for!

Yes, we hit 10,000 signatures on the petition last night! And then some!

Yay!

Everyone: Stop! Right now! And give yourselves a big round of applause and a hearty slap on the back. Preferably not at the same time, unless you have a Pilates machine handy to help you.

And guess what: The petition was sent to the designated contact person at Smucker's!

And GUESS WHAT: Yes, we received a response immediately!

Wow!

And what we received was (*insert drum roll here*):

An automated "out-of-office" e-mail reply.

(*insert eye roll here*)

And that's it.

Which, of course, is just exactly what we'd expect from the fine folks at Smucker's, who knew this petition was headed their way at some point soon and who thus decided, with all the crisis-management tools available to them, to go with "avoidance behavior."

And also whose products, which will never, ever enter my home again, all taste like there is paper close to them.

Smucker's: Made with care, and a generous dollop of hypocrisy, in every jar.

But we have much to be proud of--first of all, of course, Johnny, who is ever the epitome of class in every interview, whether addressing the whole agonizing charade that is SOI or any other topic. Nothing but grace and dignity and wicked humor in that boy. Also possibly some kind of mammoth thing, but we can't be sure.

And we also can be proud of all of us, those thousands (yes, literally thousands) of completely crazed fans who worked together tirelessly for two weeks, day into night into day, to achieve maximum petition pimpage overdrive and spent hours (yes, literally hours) hitting "Refresh" on their keyboards to watch that signature number climb and climb and climb until that total Gaga moment when we all saw 10,000 and immediately threw glitter everywhere and began drinking each other under the cyber-table.

Our efforts resulted in heavy media coverage that (1) blew the top off this seamy little snub and exposed it for what it is--Smucker's indignant little gasps of denial notwithstanding, (2) began a boycott of Smucker's, and (3) may have piqued the interest of other big corporations who are smart enough to perceive a ginormously popular [gold mine of a] phenomenon when they see one.

So while an invitation from Smucker's Stars on Ice may or may not be forthcoming when the designated contact person returns from the vending machine or the North Pole or wherever (sigh), there is serious hope that interested parties will band together to bankroll a second figure-skating tour--a glittery, Gaga competitor to Stars on Ice that puts ol' SOI out of its--and our--misery faster than you can say, "Family friendly."

We'll see.

But in the meantime: Job well done, people! (and by "people" I mean "pimps"--in the nicest way possible).

Also, the petition will remain online, so feel free to get more people to sign it! Just to SHOVE THAT MAMMOTH POINT HOME.

And finally: Here's OUR response--and by "our" I mean every single Johnny-obsessed fan out there, all chanting together in a sing-song chorus so thunderous that it makes all the Smucker's jars everywhere fall off the shelves and shatter and then all the shards of glass miraculously fly to Smucker's headquarters in Ohio where we already have the execs or whoever's responsible for this whole clustersmuck tied to their cushy executive pleather chairs and--

Oh. I'm sorry. Excuse me. I'm perspiring a bit and my sweater is all askew. And my children are staring at me with really big eyes.

Anyway. As I was saying, I believe we have the perfect response to their response, penned by one of our very own "OMG I LOVE YOU Johnny!" Facebook fans.

Now please say it with me:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

Smuckers can suck it,

'Cause, Johnny, we all love you!

--Robin Fosdick
Johnny Weir Facebook fan

If you would like to say it again, but with actual flowers,