The Best of Binky's Johnny Weir Blog

Friday, November 19, 2010

I Know You Believe You Understand What You Think I Said, But I Am Not Sure You Realize That What You Heard Is Not What I Meant. So Here, Have Some Pics of Johnny.

So for the last two days I've been having an email conversation with some long-distance colleagues that went something like this:

Colleague 1: Yay! TPS report is done!

Me (frowning): Wait. WTF? Why is there a weird line at the bottom of the TPS report covers? Did we talk about this on Thursday?

Colleague 1: What? Why are you unhappy with our Thursday meetings?

Me (squinting): I swear this wasn't here before. Why is this here?

Colleague 2: Hey, so do you want me to add another line to the TPS report covers?

Colleague 1: We should have gone over this earlier, I guess. Thursday meetings work better because we're all used to having them on Thursdays. We've always had them on Thursdays.

Me (with conviction): It really really bothers me that this line is here. Let me ask Colleague 3 about it.

Colleague 3: I had no idea we were putting lines on the report covers. If we're going to have lines, we should do them differently. But only on Thursdays.

Me (mystified): Why are we talking about Thursdays? I'm fine with Thursdays. Really, look at this line. It's driving me crazy.

Colleague 1: Hey everybody! Colleague 2 is updating the TPS report covers with extra lines! But there's no way we can cancel our Thursday meetings.

Me: Wait what .... ?

And so on.

Sometimes it takes me forever to realize that the person with whom I am having an intense debate is actually debating an entirely different issue with me than the one I thought we were debating. This discovery often alters the whole conversation significantly, usually by introducing uncontrollable giggling. My determined partner in this type of Complete Communications Breakdown is most often my family. But no matter who it is, as we all grow more frustrated and things seem to get even more muddled, eventually all of a sudden light dawns on someone (not always me), and then the pieces start to fall into place, and there's a lot of, "Ohhhhhhhhhhh so you thought that I meant ... ," and then we're all back on the same page--with or without lines.

And thus what we have here is a failure to communicate, of which
I--whose life's work it is to write clearly and effectively, with a foundation of proper spelling and and grammar and punctuation, and then layered upon that, carefully nuanced meaning--am at least partially the author.

So at that point the only thing left to do in trying to salvage what's left of yet another Thursday is to convulse with laughter at the Irony and the Idiocy (still thinking about Puritan names for children), and then check the Internet for photos of Johnny from the Out 100 party.

Oh yay!

We begin with dear Eric Alt, who can always be depended upon to feed starving kittens with our tidbit of choice, that being the twitpic, of course:

Eric's caption: "Here you go girls. 3 fierce bitches for you. I love me some @JohnnyGWeir and @tmodlin." Oooo yes. And we love us some @EricAltSalons too. (P.S. For a man who spent a good part of the day stuck in traffic trying desperately to reach his clients, Eric still managed to turn Tara's hair into perfection.)

And then, thanks to the Out 100 live blog, we have Johnny on the red carpet:

I love the "infinity" effect, where we're looking at a picture of Tara and Johnny on the red carpet, and in the picture we see the viewfinder of the camera, which is displaying a shot of Tara and Johnny on the red carpet, and in that viewfinder we also see the viewfinder of the camera, which is displaying a shot of Tara and Johnny etc. etc. ... Yes. It's Johnny to infinity!

And more red carpet with this absolutely fabulous shot:

(This one also needs to be to infinity.)

But there's one thing missing that we MUST see, and that's--THE SHOES! Ah, here we go:

He tweeted about his outfit earlier in the day: "Thom Browne cropped suit and red velvet @louboutinworld. I'm ready for OUT." I dunno what giant brooch-like contraption the size of my great-aunt who was quite a tall woman for her era he's wearing on this suit, but it's riveting. And love love these shoes!

I also loved reading the Out 100 live blog, where I learned a new word, "faboosh" (well, it's new to me here amongst the cornfields--it's probably on its way out already in NYC) that I must now use daily, and where I also read this: "Johnny Weir and ELLE Creative Director Joe Zee working the press line together. ... And [Joe] left Johnny behind, because, no joke, [Johnny] hasn’t left the same spot on the carpet for a good 20 minutes. It’s hard being popular."

And I think that's about to only get worse--by which I mean better, of course, in that lots more people are going to discover Johnny soon, like next week, and his popularity is going to go through the roof.

And we're just going to enjoy the ride, which starts this Sunday night with Johnny presenting at the AMAs live on ABC beginning at 8 pm EST / 7 pm CST. ABC also is offering a three-hour livestream of the red carpet here before the event, starting at 5 pm EST.

And then, of course--at last!--SWTS premieres this coming Monday at 9 pm EST / 8 pm CST immediately following the finale of DWTS, with a two-hour first episode that promises to be ... well, it's more Johnny on LIVE TV, so we can only imagine the utter fabooshness ...

And in the coming weeks, as he takes America by storm--a really really sparkly storm--I also imagine we'll read more tweets like this from anyone who's lucky enough to get to spend even a few minutes with Johnny:

Watching everybody else fall in love with Johnny is going to be so much fun for all of us who are already there. #HeIsMagical. #It'sInevitable.

And that, at least, is very very clear. On any day of the week. :)

OMG! Skating With the Stars premieres
THIS COMING MONDAY! Get those DVRs ready
and tune in to ABC on Monday, November 22,
at 9 pm EST / 8 pm CST! Don't miss it!

But wait! Don't forget that the day before SWTS,

Johnny is presenting at the AMAs!

Catch the show live on ABC this Sunday, November 21,

beginning at 8 pm EST / 7 pm CST.

Red carpet livestream is available here

beginning at 5 pm EST / 4 pm CST!

Yes! There are still VIP meet-n-greet tickets available
for Holiday Dreams on Ice,
the spectacular December 11 show starring Johnny
and hosted by Perani Ice Arena in Flint, Michigan!
The meet-n-greet is limited to just 50 guests,
so reserve your VIP tickets today with this form!

Please remember to check out
Johnny's new official website!
It debuted on Wednesday to many rave reviews
on Twitter and Facebook,
so be sure to take a look around!
Love the intro page with the Swan photo
and handwritten note from Johnny. :)

Designer T. Rains and Johnny have teamed up to raise money and awareness for The Trevor Project! This organization is "determined to end suicide among LGBTQ youth by providing life-saving and life-affirming resources." Proceeds from the "Army of One" t-shirt sales will go to The Trevor Project foundation. Order yours today! Your support is greatly appreciated!
For more information, please visit www.thetrevorproject.org.

Yes! You can own a fine art print of Johnnyperfect for any/every room in the house! Prints of artist Peter Jurik's "Showtime!" are available for purchase from his website.More info here!

Here it comes: Johnny's quarter-century memoir,Welcome to My World, will be availableJanuary 11, 2011--that's just two months away!You can preorder it now on Amazon!

Please remember to register to receivethe 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 Artbook when you sign up!
Special holiday offer!
In exchange for a donation to Toys for Tots,
Trish Aaron-Misiura will send you one handmade,
Johnny-inspired Christmas ornament! More info here!

Please vote for Johnny as "Must-Follow Personality"in the Fourth Annual Mashable Awards!To vote, enter "@JohnnyGWeir" in the box after "I nominate,"and then choose "Must-Follow Personality"from the pull-down menu.You can vote once a day until Monday, November 29!The top five in each category will advanceto the finalists' round, which begins December 1.

copyright 2010 / Binky and the Misfit Mimes / Lynn V. Ingogly / all rights reserved

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

It's Johnny Multimedia Day!

Kayso I realize I'm running like 24 hours behind everyone else but I was really wrapped up in a work project so it's like I lost a day or something, so I'm having my Tuesday today although that does mean I'm going to have to push Wednesday into next week sometime, possibly between Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon (hmmm, that's actually Thanksgiving, so I don't know if I can work it out, but the next open spot on my calendar is Groundhog Day, I believe. Have your people call my people), but anyway I'm just now surfacing to take a deep breath, pop open another Coke Zero, and catch up on the latest Weirvents in which we consider Johnny from various angles via this multimedia presentation, beginning with his attendance Monday night at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 in NYC:

Let's start with the front shoulders-on-up view. His look for the premiere garnered a lot of attention, but I think my favorite take on it came from my Twitter friend @blackren101, who tweeted that he reminded her of John Lennon. I approve this message.

Here's the back, with a fab hair bow made of actual blonde hair, courtesy of Beauty Bear Eric Alt. I love that he tweeted this later that night: "@JohnnyGWeir we worked it out again gurrrllllll!!! Your hair bow is the talk of the media. I never know how you will inspire me next."

And here's the full-frontal-fashion view. Which immediately reminded me of something ... someone ... wracking my brain ... so tantalizingly familiar ... maybe this will help ...

Yes! That's it! Which now makes me think he should have gone for the full band ...

... and then broken out into "Dirty Love." Ah, well, maybe another time. In any case, his look is still sweeping the Internet, and I am pleased to report that in this "Hot or Not?" online poll at StyleBistro.com, so far 70 percent of voters say, "Hot!" (Please go add your vote! And then scroll down the poll page to see StyleBistro's fun "Johnny Weir Lookbook," a gallery of various Johnny outfits from throughout this year.)

Also on Monday, ABC finally looked up from their sudoku books or whatever the hell they've been doing since first announcing the SWTS celebs, then kinda announcing the pro skaters, then drifting off to stare absently out the window and wonder why it was they came into this room in the first place ... hmmmm ... oh yes ... to issue this press release: "Three-Time US Champion Johnny Weir, Renowned Choreographer Laurieann Gibson and Two-Time Olympic Champion and Emmy Award-Winning Broadcaster Dick Button to Judge Skating With The Stars"!

Which means it's our turn to not glance up from the newspaper while we scrape the last of our soggy corn flakes from the bowl and murmur vaguely, "Oh, really? That's nice, dear," since we already knew that (well, except for the Laurieann Gibson part. So it's not a total loss, though I wonder if they could possibly have used a smaller font for their press release ...)

In addition, yesterday (which as you know is today for me, because I am stubbornly going to have my Tuesday, dammit, since otherwise I'll miss Glee) marked the debut of the Official Johnny Weir YouTube channel! Yes, our BB not only learned to "twitter-picture" this year, he's now industriously uploading videos to the Internet. (Awww, they just grow up so fast, don't they? Pretty soon he'll be wanting to leave to go off to California or something, hoping to break into showbiz with maybe a hot new show on one of the major networks ... oh wait ... !)

So he posted two videos of himself doing triple axels. In the description for this one, he wrote: "A plain triple axel. YouTube is kind of fun."

And for this one, he wrote: "I learned how to 'YouTube'! Me trying to get in shape again at Hackensack, New Jersey. The triple toe was cheated, but I'm trying! I'm sorry for the video quality but I train alone and needed to ask the wall to film me."

I thought the video quality was excellent, and I meant to post a comment to that effect but then I got lost in a daydream imagining Johnny talking to the wall and asking it to help him film, which personally I think is an entirely real possibility given that he's already said he'll talk to anything as long as it will stay there and listen, including a bush.

I love his wave to the camera (to us!) at the end. And I love that within seven hours, he had over 1,900 views between the two videos and ~~184~~ ~~197~~ ~~219~~ ~~236~~ 242 subscribers to his channel.

Finally, our multimedia tour concludes with this exciting news:

Ooooooo! Even in my kerfuffled state, I think that means ... today! Can't wait!

Designer T. Rains and Johnny have teamed up to raise money and awareness for The Trevor Project! This organization is "determined to end suicide among LGBTQ youth by providing life-saving and life-affirming resources." Proceeds from the "Army of One" t-shirt sales will go to The Trevor Project foundation. Order yours today! Your support is greatly appreciated!
For more information, please visit www.thetrevorproject.org.

Yes! You can own a fine art print of Johnnyperfect for any/every room in the house! Prints of artist Peter Jurik's "Showtime!" are available for purchase from his website.More info here!

Here it comes: Johnny's quarter-century memoir,Welcome to My World, will be availableJanuary 11, 2011--that's just two months away!You can preorder it now on Amazon!

OMG! Skating With the Stars premieresTHIS COMING MONDAY! Get those DVRs readyand tune in to ABC on Monday, November 22,at 9 pm EST/8 pm CST! Don't miss it!

Please remember to register to receivethe 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 Artbook when you sign up!

Special holiday offer!
In exchange for a donation to Toys for Tots,
Trish Aaron-Misiura will send you one handmade,
Johnny-inspired Christmas ornament! More info here!

Please vote for Johnny as "Must-Follow Personality"in the Fourth Annual Mashable Awards!To vote, enter "@JohnnyGWeir" in the box after "I nominate,"and then choose "Must-Follow Personality"from the pull-down menu.You can vote once a day until Monday, November 29!The top five in each category will advanceto the finalists' round, which begins December 1.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Congratulations, Johnny: Cover Star of Out Magazine's "Out 100," and Also "Diva of the Year"!

(Can I just say what a thrill it is to write yet another headline this year that begins with "Congratulations, Johnny!"? :) )

Johnny's photo in Out magazine's "Out 100" gallery,

in which he was named "Diva of the Year." Love this!

You can read Out's profile of Johnny here.

So on Friday Out magazine revealed its December cover for its special "Out 100" double issue, and there among the five cover stars was Johnny! Right alongside Rachel Maddow, Julianne Moore, Ricky Martin, and Nate Berkus!

Out.com also was kind enough to post this video about the five cover stars:

And they offered this behind-the-scenes look at the production of the special Out 100 double issue. Watch for Johnny briefly from about 3:25 to 3:29 (still need to make a .gif of this ...).
In their profile of Johnny, Out notes:

[T]he skater’s growing media empire ... exponentially expanded in 2010 with a reality TV show, Be Good Johnny Weir, on the Sundance Channel, the recording of his first single, “Dirty Love,” which he’s been told “sounds a bit like Depeche Mode,” and starring on ABC's Skating With The Stars as a judge.

Topping off the banner year, which also saw Weir winning the 2010 Logo NewNowNext Award for Most Addictive Reality Star and the U.S. Figure Skating’s 2010 Readers’ Choice Award for Skater of the Year, was his acceptance of the Visibility Award from the Human Rights Campaign Seattle in September.

So three things:

(1) "STARRING on ABC's Skating With the Stars." Yes! Starring! He's a star! (Well, of course we in Weirlandia already knew that, but it's so exciting to read it / hear it from other people who are just joining the party!)

(2) I love that of the achievements listed here, Johnny's fans helped with both the NewNowNext Award and the Readers' Choice Award. :)

(3) Immediately on the heels of Out.com's news came comments on several sites asking why Johnny was chosen for the Out 100 when he's never officially "come out." Same thing happened with the HRC Visibility Award.

So on the one hand Johnny is too gay for the USFSA and Stars on Ice and a lot of people with whom I used to occupy pew space, but he's not gay enough for this type of recognition. Or not openly gay enough. Or something. (Although Julianne Moore and some others on the list are not gay, but are fervent supporters of LGBTQ rights and equality. Which is very cool.)

I understand that there is legitimate frustration behind the resentment sometimes directed at Johnny, that there are many who feel that he's too coy about himself, that a formal "coming out" is a necessity, and that celebrities have a unique responsibility to clearly "come out" because their very celebrity status affords them a platform from which to help less-celebrated community members, and to fight for the rights of all in the community.

In the behind-the-scenes video, Out editor-in-chief Aaron Hicklin explains that "the Out 100 is an annual roll call of men and women who live their lives out and confidently, and who, in their particular field, have achieved something that we feel is worthy of recognition."

And in the Out profile piece, Johnny says: "I never think of myself as an activist in any capacity, but I am glad that people can find strength and inspiration in my triumphs and defeats. ... I hope that I can continue to inspire individuality in people regardless of age, sex, race, sexual orientation, or religion."

And I am reminded that in order to "come" out, first you'd have to be, you know, "in."

And Johnny's always been ...

Not "in." Not "out."

Just ... Johnny.

Which is his whole point.

He resists labels not because he's ashamed of anything about himself and not because he doesn't want to be part of any particular group, I think, but because labels are stupid. And limiting. And dehumanizing. And if he's an activist about anything, it's about moving our society to a place where labels aren't important--or at least, only important as casual descriptors, like what color your shoes are, not as reasons to discriminate against or bully or deny rights to certain people.

I realize that sounds really idealistic, and many in the trenches point to the fact that he couldn't take this no-label stance with any kind of credibility had not so many gone before him defiantly and loudly and very admirably declaring themselves to be most definitely "out." True. And to all those who paved the way for someone like Johnny to be someone like Johnny, our society owes a deep debt of gratitude.

I like ideals. They give us something to strive for, even though we generally fall short. And the ideal of a society where everybody is just a person, all of us equal no matter what our various qualities--straight, gay, short, tall, thin, fat, man, woman, black or white or any color in between--is something I personally would very much like to see become a reality. A society where each individual is inspired and free to be fully himself or herself, "regardless of age, sex, race, sexual orientation, or religion."

A society where someday an Out 100 list won't even be necessary. And our grandchildren will look at our dusty copies of Out magazine and ask, "What does this mean? Where did they come out from?"

Well, the Dark Ages, honey. And we're so glad that a lot of people who were full of light helped bring an end to all that. Let me tell you about one of them, that young man there in the gold pants on the cover ...

So congratulations, Johnny! Can't wait to buy my copy of Out when it hits newsstands on November 23! (the day after the Skating With the Stars premiere! Gaaaaaaaaaaaah!)

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!

Here it comes: Johnny's quarter-century memoir, Welcome to My World, will be available January 11, 2011--that's just two months away! You can preorder it now on Amazon!

OMG! Skating With the Stars premieres just ONE WEEK from today! Get those DVRs ready and tune in to ABC on Monday, November 22, at 9 pm EST/8 pm CST! Don't miss it!

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 Artbook when you sign up!

Special holiday offer!
In exchange for a donation to Toys for Tots,
Trish Aaron-Misiura will send you one handmade,
Johnny-inspired Christmas ornament! More info here!

Please vote for Johnny as "Must-Follow Personality" in the Fourth Annual Mashable Awards! To vote, enter "@JohnnyGWeir" in the box after "I nominate," and then choose "Must-Follow Personality" from the pull-down menu. You can vote once a day until Monday, November 29! The top five in each category will advance to the finalists' round, which begins December 1.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Brief Random Ramblings on a Friday in Sort of Cheesy Office Newsletter Style Cuz I'm Too Tired to Be More Creative Than That

Yes First We Have a Photo in Order to Get Your Attention Although Nothing Can Compare to the Photo on Wednesday's Blog BRB Re-Reading Wednesday's Blog:

This pic was tweeted yesterday by @NaughtyNiceRob Shuter, with the caption: "Love this pic of @JohnnyGWeir and me on The Naughty But Nice TV show!" Can't wait to see/read the whole interview! Also can't stop wondering what Johnny might be describing with his hand gesture here ... Rob's show is premiering this Saturday on HDnet at 4 pm. Rob tweeted this to my Twitter friend @BSonTwit: "will tease a clip on @popeater before it airs on HDnet TV." You can find Rob on PopEater here. He also tweeted that he found Johnny to be ... "surprisingly shy."

Did You Get That Memo? And Don't Forget the Cover Sheet for Your TPS Report (Anyone Who Gets That Allusion Is Automatically Entered into Our Random-References-to-Obscure-Cult-Hit-Movies-That-I-Love Sweepstakes): In case there's anyone in Weirlandia who did not get the memo, here is the schedule for the five weeks YES FIVE COUNT 'EM FIVE PLUS SWEET WEIRSUS THERE ARE ACTUALLY SIX EPISODES IN THOSE FIVE WEEKS beginning Monday, November 22:

Monday, Nov. 22 Premiere episode of Skating With the Stars!
9 pm EST/8pm CST on ABC

Monday, Nov. 29 SWTS episode 2 8 pm EST/7 pm CST (note time change), ABC

Monday, Dec. 6 SWTS episode 3 8 pm EST/7 pm CST, ABC

Monday. Dec. 13 SWTS episode 4 8 pm EST/7 pm CST, ABC

Monday, Dec. 20 SWTS episode 5 8 pm EST/7 pm CST, ABC

Tuesday, Dec. 21 SWTS finale! 8 pm EST/7 pm CST, ABC

Fans Who Live on the West Coast and/or Fans Who Are Not Above Using Nefarious Means to Get There If By Nefarious You Simply Mean Transportation of Some Kind: Hey, you can actually maybe get tickets for SWTS! And they're FREE!!! Just register here, or call On-Camera Audiences at 818-295-2700 to register. OMG. Can you imagine actually being there?

Yes! They Announced the Pro Skaters! Like We Didn't Already Know! But Let's Play Along! So ABC Doesn't Feel Like That Awkward Sweaty Guy at the Office Who's Always Telling Jokes That Everyone Already Read in Their Email Two Weeks Ago: And it is indeed Denis Petukhov that we spied from the very first promo, who is paired with the _____________ (I dunno what adjective to put here. I really don't. So you fill it in with whatever comes to mind via a quick mashup in your head of her three most well-known movies--Blade Runner, No Way Out, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective--plus all the ... tabloid coverage that she has enjoyed throughout her career...) Sean Young. So I already have a favorite, because Denis and his lovely real-life skating partner and wife, Melissa Gregory, are two of my favorite skaters ever. They skate brilliantly; I love their whole story; they have one of the most gorgeous websites I've ever seen; and he looks simply fabulous in a tux. You can follow Denis and Melissa on Twitter and Facebook, and also check out their YouTube channel here.

More Announcements From Everywhere Except Officially From ABC But That's OK I Think They're Probably Just at Lunch or Something: We've also now learned that the host of the show will be BBC personality Vernon Kay! (who?) You can learn about Vern at his official site here. (And you can read all about his recent text-message faux pas here.) And: The wonderful Tanith Belbin will be providing "color commentary"! I don't evan know what that means, really, but Commentatress Tanith and Judge Johnny on the same program? That's all I need to know!

And Finally: Answers to Part 2 of the Johnny Trivia Challenge! Check to see how you did, then please stop by my friend Nancy Knisley's amazing blog, The Quotable Johnny Weir, to browse through her collection of 500+ Johnny quotes--with more on the way, of course. Although be careful, because visiting the site has been known to cause uncontrollable giggling that may be difficult to explain to your boss ... (Hey, soon you can also waste time at work by visiting Johnny's new and so-pretty website that should be making its debut early next week, according to his tweet!)

14) a; 15) b; 16) e; 17) c; 18) a; 19) e; 20) d; 21) a; 22) e;
23) d; 24) e; 25) a; 26) c

Here it comes: Johnny's quarter-century memoir,Welcome to My World, will be availableJanuary 11, 2011--that's just two months away!You can preorder it now on Amazon!

Very special thanks to Nancy Knisley,without whom much of this week's bloggingwould not have happened!

Special holiday offer!
In exchange for a donation to Toys for Tots,
Trish Aaron-Misiura will send you one handmade,
Johnny-inspired Christmas ornament! More info here!