The Best of Binky's Johnny Weir Blog: Shigesato Itoi

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

"Today's Darling"

Kindred spirits: Shigesato Itoi and Johnny Weir
after Fantasy on Ice in Fukui.

Special to the blog, thanks once again to the fabulous and endlessly patient Akiko Nakata! Today we present a translation of the brief and beautiful column that our beloved Shigesato Itoi--"Itoi-san"--wrote this past Sunday, September 12, after watching Johnny skate in Fantasy on Ice at Fukui.

Itoi-san writes a daily sort of diary for Hobonichi, and it is always titled "Kyoo no Daarin," which is literally translated as "Today's Darling." Akiko explains:

Itoi-san has his crew (his staff members are known as his "crew") call him "Daarin [Darling]." In Japan, this word is used only kiddingly. Itoi-san titled his daily column this because, as he wrote a few years ago, "I decided to try to endure the creepiness I feel when I'm called 'Darling.' "

The title's meaning is "[What] Darling [did / is doing / thinks / is interested in / remembers … ] Today." The subtitle of "Kyoo no Daarin" is: "Something like an essay that Shigesato Itoi writes every day."

Many of the entries are more like poetry than typical essays. Here is what Itoi-san wrote after seeing Johnny perform live for the first time.

Today’s Darling 9/12/2010

We did see, we did enjoy--the ice show!

Speed, movement, courage, and pride: The skaters show all these on the ice.

It was like condensed life power was dizzily flitting before our eyes.

I’m convinced it’s natural that they have so many devoted fans.

We simply came to see Johnny Weir-san’s live performance, as we had recently met him.

Unexpectedly, we found ourselves deeply in the whole world of figure skating, soaking it all up.

By the way, I think that it must be difficult for such a gorgeous show to also be economically successful.

Filling the plain hall floor with ice, taking care of the medalists invited from all over the world, designing the show, maintaining a place for the skaters to practice … none of these are my job, but just imagining them gives me a headache.

When I lived in Kyoto, I felt that Fukui was rather near.

From Tokyo, it was a long way.

But many people came a much longer way, say, from Hokkaido or Kyushu, for the show.

They don’t mind coming from so far because the show is full of something that cannot really be conveyed by a live broadcast, no matter how skillfully it may be done.

It just doesn’t all translate on TV—finally we have noticed that.

It’s the same with me, too.

"Well, this isn’t how it looks on TV."

We recognize that in various fields again and again. ...

"Life power" and "life force"—these are good terms that interest me.

Hobonichi also posted an entry today with more about Itoi-san's interaction with Johnny after the show, and with lots of fabulous photos! Akiko hopes to offer us a translation soon of this entry as well. Many thanks to her for all her time and effort in bringing these wonderful articles and interviews to Johnny's English-speaking fans!

Twitter voting roundup!
(although I have to say that I'm not impressed
with the way Faxo is monitoring--or rather, not monitoring--
this voting stuff, so I'm kinda only half-heartedly following
these contests now but I still want my people to win ...)

Vote here for Gail Turley's blog

"WheresMyKoppy" to win "Best Blog"
Current rank: #6
2 voting days remaining.

New! Vote here for Johnny
(current rank: #13)
and here for JW Art Project
(current rank: #32)
to win "Best of Twitter"
16 voting days remaining.

Yes! You can own a fine art print of Johnny

perfect for any/every room in the house!

Prints of artist Peter Jurik's "Showtime!"

are available for purchase from his website.

More info here!

Johnny has been honored with
the Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award!
He'll be receiving the award and will be
the featured speaker at HRC Seattle's annual
"asOne" Gala Dinner on Saturday, September 25,
at the Westin Seattle. Yes, we're all invited!
For more info or to purchase tickets,
please visit Seattle HRC's website here.

Johnny Is skating in Yu-Na Kim's fabulous show,

All That Skate, in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 2!
Everything you need to know about tickets
and special gatherings of The Cabal
is right here!
This show is expected to be televised
on Sunday, October 10, on NBC--
check your local listings!

Also on Sunday, October 10, Johnny will be performing
in Skate for the Heart in Youngstown, Ohio!
Tickets are available here,
and there's a discussion page for fans here!
This show also will be televised on NBC
on Sunday, January 16, 2011, at 4 p.m. EST!

Please remember to register to receive
the JW Art Project's email newsletter!
They have great tidbits to offer,
and you get a special sneak peek at an exclusive photo
from the book when you sign up!
The Artbook is expected to be published
by the end of October--can't wait!

Coming soon: More in the series
of translated interviews from the Mook Book
courtesy of the fabulous Akiko Nakata!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Time-Travelogue!

I'm still struggling with that whole time-space continuum thingy, in which people in Beijing can send emails from tomorrow and I can get them yesterday but they're full of stuff that happened while I was still waiting for the future last month which technically was Monday or Tuesday, but since I'm still catching up it feels kind of current, and it's all relative anyway, depending on your definition of E=mc2 (mine is "Everything is more cool if there are 2x as many pics of Johnny"), so with that in mind, let us travel back in time to rejoin our program already in progress (actually, it's over and the credits are running, but I have TiVo so I paused it to wait for you) in which we have fabulous picspam beginning with Johnny on the plane to China (please click photos for larger view):

And continuing with the arrival of both himself and his luggage, for which the Chinese tried valiantly to prepare:

And then we skip ahead to a practice session:

(Please note that I am in no way poking fun

at Stephane's wonderful accent,

but rather just trying to capture

the flavor of his speech here. He is amazing,

and I love the way he speaks in any language. :)

And we conclude with this brief clip, which I love for three reasons: (1) It's Johnny, (2) He's alone in this space for a moment; (3) Other than some quiet conversation in the background, the only sound is the slicing of his skates across the ice. The video is fuzzy at first, although it shifts into better focus a few seconds after he lands the jump. And I love the metaphor of that: a little blurry uncertainty; a leap of determined faith; and then--clarity.

Speaking of clarity, I continue to be enthralled with the dialogue between Johnny and Shigesato Itoi in the course of their interview. In Part 4, Itoi-san's sensitive questioning elicits this fascinating
self-revelation from Johnny:

I think I was born different. When I skate my best performances, all of my feelings and emotions come from my soul. Figure skating is my outlet, my art, my painting, my fashion design. It's how I speak, and I speak from my soul. When I'm off the ice, I think I act more from my heart. "Soul" and "heart" are two different things for me. The soul is something that is inside you when you are born, and the last thing you feel when you die. But your heart is what makes you "yourself." It's what gives you a face; it's what gives you color. It's what gives you vibrancy. For me, on the ice, it's "soul." Off the ice, it's "heart." It's good to have both. If I were the same everywhere, I would probably be bored.

I'm still pondering this beautiful piece of poetry as I await Part 5 today / tomorrow / yesterday with the wistful wish that this interview would never end ...

Twitter voting roundup!

Vote here for Johnny to win "Follow Me."

Current rank: #1

8 voting days remaining.

Vote here for Johnny to win "Sexiest Twitter"!

Current rank: #3

2 voting days remaining.

Vote here for Johnny to win "Mr. Twitter"!

He ended August's contest at #3,
and has been renominated for September!
Current rank: #5

29 voting days remaining.

Vote here for Gail Turley's blog
"WheresMyKoppy" to win "Best Blog"
Current rank: #5
15 voting days remaining.

Hey! Check out this clip of Johnny

from the Rachel Zoe Project!

The episode in which he appears

is coming up next Tuesday, September 7, on Bravo!

Yes! Johnny Is skating in Yu-Na Kim's fabulous show,
All That Skate, in Los Angeles in October!
Everything you need to know about tickets
and special gatherings of The Cabal
is right here!

Weirlandians for Life organizer Gary Podschun
notes that we're a little more than one month away
from the Chicago AIDS Walk,
and WE STILL NEED AT LEAST TWO MORE PEOPLE
TO OFFICIALLY FORM A TEAM!
Please visit the group page here for more info.
We hope to see Johnny well-represented by his fans
at the walk on October 2!

Very special thanks to
Agentress Extraordinaire Tara Modlin
for so generously sharing these pics and vids!

Coming soon: More in the series
of translated interviews from the Mook Book
courtesy of the fabulous Akiko Nakata!