фанвидео

[cocaLoca]

от скуки запощу. от автора знаменитого Рубикона, кстати.

Rubicon

@темы: видео

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Fendi fashion show in Las Vegas

[cocaLoca]

ну и кто скажет, что Жоня не модель?


thnx ontd_skating

@темы: видео, выступления, новости

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The moment has come.

[cocaLoca]

@темы: twitter, новости

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J in Vegas with "stunning @robinantinpcd!"

[less than perfect]

UPD.

Vegas Uncorked Premiere Grand Tasting Event At The All-New Garden Of The Go
LAS VEGAS - MAY 07: Johnny Weir and Robin Antin arrive at Vegas Uncorked premiere grand tasting event at Caesars Palace on May 7, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

UPD.2


thnxs to ontd_skating

UPD3.

On Friday, May 7, Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir and Doriana Sanchez attended Matt Goss's Caesars Palace show (Photo credit: Cashman Photos).

Sanchez choroegraphed Cher's Farewell Tour as well as her current residency show at Caesars Palace. Sanchez is also behind the popular TV dance competition show So You Think You Can Dance.

After each show Goss returns to the venue, aptly named The Gossy Room, for meet & greets and to continue the party as a DJ takes over. Both Sanchez and Weir departed before Goss's return but not before Weir took a few minutes to pose with Goss's business partner and Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin along with Goss's dancers The Dirty Virgins.

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Джонни с выступающей там же труппой. которая называется Spermatos. Да-да

запись создана: 08.05.2010 в 15:16

@темы: фото, twitter

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[less than perfect]

Закрытая запись, не предназначенная для публичного просмотра

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Worlds 2008 fluff

[less than perfect]

общее:




thanxs to ontd_skating

@темы: видео

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[less than perfect]

Weir lends a hand at "88 for AIDS" benefit

Skater still undecided about competitive future

By Lynn Rutherford, special to icenetwork.com
(05/07/2010) - Johnny Weir may be taking time away from the ice, but he's still workin' it.

Johnny Weir is everywhere these days -- opening The Ice Theatre of New York's season, posing in a black picture hat at the Kentucky Derby and parrying with talk show hosts.

Last night, he took time out to lend a hand at "88 for AIDS," a musical reception to support GMHC's (Gay Men's Health Crisis) AIDS Walk NY, held in a downtown Manhattan loft.

"He does make the rounds, doesn't he?" said Andy Cohen, the BRAVO TV production chief and Real Housewives guru who co-hosted the event with Weir. "I think I've run into him three times in the last few weeks."

Krishna Stone, assistant director of community relations GMHC and a figure skating fan, was grateful Weir and Cohen heeded the call.

"They both came to us through connections to members of our board," Stone said. "That's how we're able to do so much, through networking.

"A lot of people don't realize the AIDS Walk (to be held May 16th) is the biggest AIDS fundraiser in the world. Last year we raised $5.6 million, which is a huge part of our budget. Events that help defray expenses [for the Walk] and get the word out really help."

The peripatetic Weir -- whose next stop on his personality tour is as a co-emcee at Bon Appetit's "Vegas Uncork'd" food and wine extravaganza, followed by recording his single, "Dirty Love," followed by a gig as a judge at the Miss USA pageant -- introduced some talented young pianists and posed for photos with fans.

"When GMHC calls, how can you say no?" he asked the gathering.

While the skater, 25, has mostly been making waves off the ice, he says he's still undecided about competing on the Grand Prix circuit this fall.

In an interview held prior to "88 for AIDS," the three-time U.S. champion, who withdrew from the world championships after placing sixth at the Vancouver Olympics in February, said he plans to announce a decision prior to the deadline for U.S. Figure Skating to submit skater names to the ISU for Grand Prix assignments.

"It would have killed my power and my sense of goodness, to skate two perfect programs [at worlds] and come in sixth or seventh, which [judging], by watching the worlds coverage [as a commentator for Universal TV], could have happened again," he said.

"I honestly don't know what my decision [on competing] will be, but I would rather skate and train and learn what the judges want so that I don't put myself in that position again. It's a horrible position to have two of the performances of your life and come in sixth and not have a reward at the end. My reward has been the public acceptance of me and love of what I do on the ice."

Weir is smarting from his program component scores in Vancouver, which he felt were low relative to other top competitors.

"At the beginning, when the [International Judging System] came into play, everyone was saying, 'It's made for you, Johnny,' and then all of a sudden, it wasn't," he said. "I don't understand how one year my skating can be 9 [program component mark] and the next year 7. That's really where I lost any chance at an Olympic medal. That's the political side. And I mean, I understand I'm a lot to wrap your head around for judges, but...sixth place isn't a place I want to be."

Whatever his decision, Weir got some encouragement from an unlikely source: former world champion Brian Joubert, who placed a humbling 16th in Vancouver but fought back to win bronze at worlds.

"We did a few shows together in Russia, and Brian inspired me. He sat me down and said, 'You don't do anything wrong; you skate great. We both need to keep skating.'"

(с)

@темы: статьи, интервью

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88 for AIDS II

[less than perfect]

At a gorgeous penthouse residence in Soho last night, the 88 for AIDS benefit featured an array of musical talents helping to raise money for next weekend's AIDS Walk. Non-musical but still talented were hosts Andy Cohen of Bravo and everybody’s favorite ice-skating-flame-turned-reality star, Johnny Weir.

As guests guzzled cocktails and checked out the view from the roof deck of the palatial pad Weir was rolling deep with a posse of hefty fan girls (Weir devotees are known as "Johnny's Angels"), each toting their favorite shot of the envelope-pushing style maven. Far more gracious than the press paints him to be, Weir signed them all.

Muscling through the convention of fans to get to Weir was difficult as was trying to take our eyes off of his bejeweled bolero, which he helpfully explained was “marigold” (We thought mango sherbet, but who are we to correct a fashionable Olympian?) Though short on time, Johnny told us he does in fact have a few Next Magazines lying around his New Jersey pad, drolly qupping “Been there, sucked that!” Which had the gaggle of gals rolling with a chuckle if not a moment of head-scratching.

Though the night was a starry, glamorous blur, we did finally get a side-by-side shot of Weir with his non-celebrity doppelganger (and our dear friend) Justin Welch. We’re used to seeing Welch at Sugarland dancing on a table with a bedazzled cardigan thrown over his shoulders so next to Weir he looked positively conservative in his suit and skinny tie. Oh to be a fly on the wall during a shopping date with those two! —Christopher Dilley

(c)

осторожно, картинка ОЧЕНЬ HQ xD

@темы: видео, статьи, фото, интервью

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88 for AIDS

[less than perfect]

thanxs to ontd_skating <3

@темы: видео, фото

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Lifeskate interview with Johnny at Figure Skating in Harlem

[cocaLoca]

Talks about his future plans, emotions during and post-Olympics, and about all the nudity on BGJW.



I just started bawling, and I cried for 30 minutes. (c) aww, poor bb.

thanks ontd_skating.

@темы: видео, Be good, Johnny Weir!, интервью

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Johnny @ GLAAD [red carpet interview]

[kukolnica]

Джонни @ 4:45

it's so my boobies don't fall out! (c)

@темы: видео

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People

[less than perfect]

новое в статье:
- Джонни хочет выступить на VMA со своей песней, поднимаясь из-под сцены на небольшом островке льда
- Джонни участвует в прослушивании в одно американское шоу HBO - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_Family


Johnny Weir's New Goal: To Sing at the VMAs
By Rennie Dyball

Monday May 03, 2010 01:45 PM EDT

Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir is making a big leap.

The three-time U.S. champion – who recently declared war with fellow skater Evan Lysacek – has been keeping very busy off the ice.

"I'm going to record a song in May, just for fun," Weir, 25, told PEOPLE at the Ice Theater of New York, where he opened the season on April 29. "I know I'm not a legitimate, real singer, but I can still rock it like Britney."

The song, called "Dirty Love," came about when a producer approached him after the Olympics, and Weir's got big dreams for it.

"I've been working a lot on my voice – if I only do one song in my life, I want it to be a huge success," he says. "My main goal is to perform it at the VMAs. I want to come out on a little circle of ice from underneath the stage or something crazy like that!"

Meanwhile, Weir, who says he's "unsure" if he'll continue to compete in figure skating, continues to work on his upcoming book, which is due in January and should prove to be just as dramatic as its author.

"It's my story and my side of things ... my values, the way I grew up and how that shaped me," says Weir. "I want to be very honest and frank about the politics of figure skating, the people and the behind-the-scenes dealings I've had. And [it's about] different relationships, whether it be a family member or someone I lost my virginity to," he adds with a laugh.

Weir is also considering a second season of his Sundance Channel series, Be Good Johnny Weir, and auditioning for an HBO film about the original reality-TV stars, Loud family.

"People talk about how trashy it is to use 15 minutes of fame, but I'm trying to pursue all of this in a professional way and do the best I can," says Weir. "I don' t care if I fail. I just have fun trying to do these things."

(c)

@темы: статьи, интервью, новости

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the Kentucky Derby

[less than perfect]

фото

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видео интервью с красной дорожки

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согласно сообщению на твиттере, Жоня выйграл денюжку, поставив на Super Saver
UPD

Пишет  Клэр.:

02.05.2010 в 23:12

URL комментария

UPD 2

It wouldn't be the Kentucky Derby without a tall crystal glass of sweet tea with just a hint of mint to give your tongue the tingles. Johnny Weir quenched the thirst of dry mouthed bitches when he hit the red carpet at the Kentucky Derby yesterday dressed like a fancy Bravo reality star (I'm looking at you, Dwight) going to a drag queen's funeral.

This is the first time in the history of the Kentucky Derby that the race ended early and a winner was not declared. That's because as soon all the horses spotted Johnny in the audience, they sprouted wings, pushed a crystal horn out of their heads and flew off towards the land of rainbows and glitter. Johnny freed them!

(с) Dlisted

запись создана: 02.05.2010 в 21:34

@темы: видео, статьи, фото, ссылки

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Johnny at the Barnstable Brown Derby Gala

[less than perfect]

+ согласно сообщениям на твиттере в тот же день, точнее ночью после этого события, Джонни видели в "Connections" - главном гей-клубе города Louisville

@темы: фото

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What's Next for Johnny Weir?

[less than perfect]

(New York, N.Y.) – It would probably be easier to pick the winning trifecta at the Kentucky Derby today than it would be to guess what Johnny Weir will be wearing when he shows up at Churchill Downs for the race this afternoon.

Something relatively subdued like the silver loafers and blindingly bright yellow watch he wore in New York City on Thursday? Something over-the-top like his sartorial muse Lady Gaga? Or maybe he’ll reprise the wreath of roses he wore on his head while waiting to see his figure skating score in Vancouver just 11 weeks ago. After all, the Derby is the Run for the Roses.

Although Weir finished sixth in Vancouver (one place lower than he had at the 2006 Torino Games), he felt he gave the performance of his life. And that’s why he has not stayed at home sulking while his teammates have pursued world championship medals or disco ball trophies on “Dancing with the Stars.”

Instead, the 25-year-old clothes horse has been charming everyone from Elton John to Kelly Ripa to another blonde style icon who unexpectedly appeared one night.

“I was having dinner with Kelly and her husband Mark Consuelos,” Weir said, “and in walks Sarah Jessica Parker – one of my greatest heroes – and she said, “I know all about you!”

“It was one of the most exciting things,” he said – right up there with attending Elton John’s Oscars party, appearing on the red carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards, wrapping his reality show “Be Good Johnny Weir” (the final one-hour episode will air June 27 on the Sundance Channel), signing a book deal, and making plans to record a song.

The book is already underway and it will be out in January. “I’m writing it; I don’t believe in ghost writers,” he said. It has no title yet, but it does have a publisher: Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

As for the song, he said, “I realize I’m not a trained singer. But it’s fun to try. I’m trying everything.”

Weir has also made several charitable appearances: to support athletic programs in Harlem (Figure Skating in Harlem), young skaters in Chicago (Cuties’ Ice Dreams), fighting childhood obesity (nPLAY), and will appear at a May 6 benefit for AidsWalk New York.

Skating, meanwhile, has taken a back seat.

“I let myself go for a little,” Weir said. “I’d eat things I shouldn’t, like a slice of pizza or cake. I gained a few pounds. But I needed that. The Olympics are so draining.”

In March, Weir withdrew from the 2010 World Figure Skating Championships in Torino, Italy, saying he needed a break to “reassess my strategies and goals.” He had previously placed as high as third at Worlds, in 2008.

Weir has continued to perform, however. This spring, he starred in ice shows in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. On Thursday, he headlined the opening night of Ice Theatre of New York.

In front of a sold-out ice rink high atop a pier on the west side of Manhattan, Weir performed two numbers for the 26-year-old company that commissions world-famous choreographers such as Twyla Tharp and Lar Lubovitch to create works on ice.

Weir choreographed his first number himself. “It’s called ‘Heartbroken’ and it’s about sadness and expectations and not having achieved what all athletes want,” he said. “It’s my tribute to not winning a medal [in Vancouver].”

Under the spotlight, Weir’s skating remained exquisite, despite his two-month hiatus from competition. The lines on his spins were precise, his edgework was crisp, his feet were quick, he plied his limbs into the most graceful arcs, and he even threw a few effortless triple jumps under the spotlights. It was an evocative performance, and the fans could not get enough.

When Weir returned for the penultimate act of the night, he skated to Lady Gaga’s, “Bad Romance,” – “purely for fun and show.” With a makeup job inspired either by a David Bowie album cover or a raccoon, and a costume that was part Cher, part Elvis, and mostly Johnny Weir, fans of all ages began clapping and stomping in unison while Weir spun, spanked himself, and slid across the ice with remarkable skill and infectious joy. In short, he created a party on the ice that everyone wanted to join.

When the celebration ended, it felt slightly empty knowing that he may never perform so close to his athletic peak again.

“Next season, I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” said the two-time Olympian.

He would be 29 at the next Games, in Sochi, Russia. “Twenty-five is definitely advanced for the Olympics,” he said, referring to his age in Vancouver.

But Sochi has a special allure. Weir has always been fond of Russia. He speaks Russian, his coach is Russian, he likes to wear Russian Olympic team gear, and he greatly admires Russian athletes and artists.

The location “definitely plays a factor,” he said. “Sochi is a big dream.” Nonetheless, he said, “I felt in Vancouver I gave the best two performances of my life. I wasn’t rewarded with a medal.

“Figure skating is still highly political,” he said. “Politically, I don’t think it’s possible for me to win a medal – so either I find another sport, or another reason to perform. “

As the second-to-last skater to compete in the men’s free skate in Vancouver, he said the world champion from the US, Evan Lysacek, was already assured a medal, and “two Americans on the podium would be suspect unless they were undeniably the two best.”

Weir had placed sixth in the short program and skated cleanly in the free skate. While he did not throw a quadruple jump (nor did Lysacek), he figured he would move up in ranks. He didn’t.

“To be sixth? It was very hard,” he said, especially since two people ranked above him had fallen. Bronze medalist Daisuke Takahashi of Japan fell on his opening quad toe loop. Fifth-place finisher Patrick Chan of Canada fell on his second triple Axel. And the fourth-place finisher, Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland, executed two quads but put his hand down on one.

“I just barely beat seventh place – by less than a point,” Weir added, and the seventh-place finisher, Nobunari Oda of Japan, stopped in the middle of his program because his skate lace broke.

“But the feeling of satisfaction was the most important,” Weir said. “And I got that.”

On a lighter note, Weir was asked whether he had been following Lysacek’s foray on “Dancing with the Stars.” The two men have had a healthy rivalry dating back to the 2008 US National Championships where they tied for first place but Lysacek was awarded his second consecutive gold medal because he won the free skate. Weir had previously been a three-time national champion.

Although the tension has been palpable, both skaters have tried not to dwell on their differences too much in public.

Weir even voted for Lysacek during the second and third weeks of DWTS, helping to keep him on the show. “I thought I should at least support my fellow teammate,” Weir said.

All that changed this week. “Evan took a bad dig at me,” Weir said.

In an interview with Amy Bartner of the Indianapolis Star, Lysacek implied that the three-time national champion and 2008 world bronze medalist wasn’t talented enough to perform in “Stars on Ice,” a multi-city US skating show that features several Olympians. Lysacek said the tour “is really selective…and they only hire the best of the best to skate.”

Weir subsequently told People magazine, “My claws are out.”

Maybe the spat can be settled on a dance floor. One of Weir’s friends, Karina Smirnoff, is a professional dancer on the show, and Weir said she would be interested in being his partner in a future season, if he is invited.

Until then, there are derbies to watch, outfits to coordinate, charities to support, and no shortage of fans to embrace.

Life for Johnny Weir may be unpredictable, but it is undeniably entertaining.

(c)

@темы: статьи

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Johnny-Heartbroken pics slide show @ lifeskate

[Ник]

Слайдшоу из 39 фотографий. Можно скачать архив всех фот, спасибо онтд, но там половина фот kinda creepy =/ чтобы сохранить фоты отдельно, надо в адресной строке стереть html и заменить на jpg, иначе никак.

***

@темы: фото, ссылки, выступления

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[less than perfect]

в течении 2004-2006 гг. Сара Бреннен брала у Джонни интервью, из которых создана неизданная детская книга, посвященная Джонни. Сара публикует ее по частям - пока вышло две. Кусочки книги сопровождаются иллюстрациями Сары.

FLYING OVER THE ICE - part one
By Sarah S. Brannen




From 2004 to 2006, Sarah Brannen spent extensive time interviewing figure skater Johnny Weir, his family, his coaches, and his training mates.

Flying Over the Ice is an unpublished children’s book about how Johnny first learned to skate. It won the runner-up Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Work-in-Progress grant in 2006. The following is an excerpt from the book.


Johnny Weir sat alone, behind a door in the dark. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t feel his left leg from the knee down. His foot had hurt so much a few hours earlier that he knew he couldn’t land even one jump on it, let alone a do whole figure skating program. As a last resort, the American team doctor had injected it with lidocaine. Now Johnny felt as if he didn’t have a left foot at all.

On the other side of the door was a sheet of ice surrounded by thousands of people, all watching forty-two men compete for the title of 2005 World Figure Skating Champion. Johnny could hear the music playing as the skater before him went through his program.

I trained all year for this, thought Johnny. I trained for nine years for this. And now it’s going to end without a medal, without anything. Earlier in the day he had decided to withdraw from the competition. He knew he couldn’t possibly skate well. But it was the World Championships, the year before the Olympics, and he couldn’t quit.

It was time. He got up and walked through the door, into the glaring white light of the arena. The previous skater finished, to polite applause. People saw Johnny and started to clap and shout his name. The applause grew as people cheered for him. Johnny took off his skate guards and stepped on the ice. He stood at the boards, looking down, breathing deeply, in and out.

“If you want to do this, you can,” said his coach. “Your body is perfectly trained. It will know what to do. You can trust it.”

Johnny didn’t believe her. But he had decided to skate, no matter what. He turned, looked at the crowd, and skated onto the ice.

Riding

All his life, Johnny knew he would go to the Olympics some day. Until he was twelve years old, he thought it would be as an equestrian, riding a horse over a course of jumps.

The Weirs lived in the flat, open farm country of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Johnny’s parents, John and Patti, had grown up together in the same small town there. Johnny’s grandparents boarded and trained several horses on their farm, and John had taken care of them and ridden in shows as a child. Johnny loved the horses. As a baby, he stood in his crib and watched the horses running in a field behind his house.

When he was older, Johnny’s father built a ring of small horse jumps in their back yard. Six-year-old Johnny used to invite friends over and hold “competitions.” Everyone, including his little brother and the family dog, took a turn running around the course and leaping over the jumps. Johnny always won. “I was extremely competitive,” he said. “I always imagined I was in the Olympics.”



When Johnny was eight, he was finally old enough for real riding lessons on ponies. He was so small that he couldn’t even reach up and put the bridle over the pony’s head, but he loved his first lesson and he couldn’t wait to go back. He was a natural rider, and he soon started learning to jump. “I liked the speed of jumping,” said Johnny. “Your hair’s flying, and you just fly up in the air.”

It was hard for the family to afford Johnny’s expensive lessons, but Johnny’s parents wanted their sons to have every opportunity and they gave up whatever was necessary to pay for his riding. Johnny competed in his first horse show, in Appleton, Pennsylvania, just a few months after starting to ride, and he won. From then on, he went to shows every two or three weeks.

"It was dead serious,” said his mother. “His goal was always the National team and the Olympics. ” When Johnny was nine, his parents and his grandmother bought him a dappled gray pony named My Blue Shadow. Shadow was “green,” meaning he was still being schooled and learning how to compete. He and Johnny took to each other right away. Shadow was not very well-behaved with most people, but Johnny could get him to do anything.

Johnny went to the riding ring every day after school. Every other weekend, he braided Shadow’s mane and tail and washed his hooves. In the morning, the whole family left before dawn and drove to the show where Johnny and Shadow were going to compete. Afterward, Johnny gave his little brother Brian his ribbons and boosted him into the saddle before he led Shadow to the trailer. Brian, always called “Boz,” loved going to horse shows and cheering for Johnny, and he liked to ride on Shadow’s back at the end.

When he wasn’t riding, Johnny lived in a world of his own. “I was crazy,” he said. “I did things my own way. I was always running around pretending to be a boat or an animal or something.” He used to pretend he was speaking in foreign languages, babbling in made-up words that no one else could understand. He liked to play alone, just as he liked the individual sport of riding.

As far as Johnny and his family were concerned, he was going to keep riding until he was grown up, and his ultimate goal was the summer Olympics. It had never crossed their minds that Johnny’s destiny lay on a skating rink, not in a riding ring.

Skating

In the winter of 1994, it seemed that everyone in the country was talking about a strange and terrible incident at the United States Figure Skating Championships. The national champion, Nancy Kerrigan, had been hit on the leg by an attacker who wanted to keep her from skating. No one knew if she would recover in time to compete at the Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Johnny and his mother were fascinated by the drama and all the kids at Johnny’s school were talking about it. Nine-year-old Johnny couldn’t wait to watch the Olympics on television.

On the big night, Patti let Johnny stay up late to watch. He made a nest of pillows on the floor and curled up in front of the television, wrapped in an afghan. He was fascinated. “I thought it was a glamorous world of people who wear sparkles and pretty costumes and skate around and jump really high in the air and spin really fast. It was intriguing,” he said later.

Early the next morning, Johnny tiptoed down to the basement in his pajamas, looking for his roller skates. He put them on and imagined that he was standing in an ice rink in front of a big crowd. He tried to spin. He could glide on one foot, so he tried lifting one leg up high in a spiral position. He tried a jump. He loved it.

The roller skates were so heavy that his legs flew up over his head when he fell. Johnny was tiny and skinny, which is actually perfect for a figure skater, although he didn’t know that yet.

(с)


FLYING OVER THE ICE - part two
By Sarah S. Brannen

In part 1, nine-year-old Johnny Weir competed seriously as an equestrian, but was also fascinated by figure skating. He copied what he saw on TV on his roller skates.


“Look at him. ”

Johnny watched every skating competition on TV. He watched his tape of the Olympics so many times it wore out. In the summer, he roller-skated on the driveway. He gathered his family for an audience, then pretended to skate a program and took a bow. He skated a second program, pretending to be a different skater. Then he became a judge and chose a winner. Johnny wore out the toe stoppers of his skates, and his mother had to keep buying new ones.

Most of all, he liked to jump. He taught himself to do several different, difficult jumps. “I made my dad videotape me at one point. I did what would be, on the ice, an axel and a double toe loop,” he said.

He kept riding as much as ever. Johnny and Shadow competed together all summer. But Johnny wasn’t progressing as fast as he had in the beginning. It was getting hard to go into the ring every day and just do the same thing over and over again, without getting better.

The next winter, Johnny’s parents gave him a used pair of dance boots and blades; Johnny’s parents didn’t know anything about skating but they had seen the skates at the local ski-and-skate exchange and they knew Johnny would love them.

A week of stormy weather had turned the cornfield behind Johnny’s house to a sheet of ice. The next day after school, Johnny went outside and put on the new skates. He stepped onto the field. The sky was gray and the air was very cold. The boots were stiff and squeezed his toes. The blades felt sticky on the ice compared to the smooth wheels of his roller skates. Johnny concentrated on standing up. Carefully, he started to stroke. Push with the right leg. Put the right foot down. Push with the left leg. Put the left foot down.

He was skating! Johnny stayed out until it got dark and his fingers were numb. Riding lessons were canceled that week because of the storms, and Johnny skated every day. He loved the quiet field and the dark gray sky.

From the kitchen window, Patti watched Johnny on the field, skating, jumping, turning and gliding.

“You’ve got to get that kid some lessons,” said a neighbor.

“He can’t skate and ride too!” said Patti. “We can’t afford that.”

“But… look at him.”

Lessons

Johnny had never been inside a skating rink. It was crowded, echoing and noisy. The air smelled like Zamboni exhaust and rubber and frozen water. The other kids in his class were hanging onto the boards at the edge of the ice and looking nervous. Johnny skated out to the middle. The ice was smooth and slippery, not like the cornfield. He looked at the older kids doing complicated spins and jumps. I want to do that too, he thought.

The instructor taught the class some beginning moves: how to fall and get up, swizzles and sculls. For the next week, Johnny practiced hard on his roller skates, working on what he had learned in the class.

After his second skating class, during the free time, he started trying to jump. He hurled himself into the air and felt himself spin around. “I remember the day I landed my first axel,” he said. “There was no one around except Elizabeth (the instructor). She looked over and saw what I was doing. I jumped, and when I landed I was on one foot, and I was gliding, and I was so excited! I was like, ‘Did you see what I did?’ I didn’t know how many times I had turned. I thought I had done a triple! And she said, ‘You just did an axel.’ When I look back on it, it was such a huge moment for me, not that it was winning anything, or getting ovations, it was just pure excitement that I did something.”

Most people need a year or two to learn an axel jump. Johnny had taught himself in a week.

Elizabeth skated over to Johnny’s mother. “Mrs. Weir, Johnny needs private lessons.”

Patti laughed. “He already has four riding lessons a week. We don’t have time for more skating lessons!”

“Well, let me teach him once a week,” said Elizabeth. “Look at him.” Johnny was racing around the ice, trying one jump after another. “Let me show you what he can do.”

“Ok,” said Patti. “We’ll try it.”



Decision

After that, Johnny had riding lessons four times a week and skating three times a week. There wasn’t enough time for both skating and riding.

Johnny could hardly bear to think of selling Shadow. But he was learning exciting new things in skating all the time. Everyone said he could be a champion skater. One afternoon a riding magazine came in the mail and he sat down and read the whole thing. When his parents got home, he looked at them with tears in his eyes.

“I’m going to give up riding,” he said.

Johnny and Shadow rode in one last competition together. Afterward, Johnny undid the braids in Shadow’s mane and put him in his trailer, and then he had to say goodbye. Johnny put his arms around Shadow’s neck and buried his face in his mane. He cried for a long time.

Johnny Coaching in Delaware in 2004

The next day, his coach asked him if he was ready to learn a new jump. Johnny skated as fast as he could and hurled himself into the air.

“Try it again,” said his coach.

Johnny jumped again, and again, and again…

Johnny Weir started private lessons around his eleventh birthday, and he learned fast. He passed the preliminary moves and free skate tests at the end of 1995. Five years later, he won the 2001 world junior title at the age of sixteen. He went on to win the U.S. National championships in 2004, 2005 and 2006. He finished fourth at the World Championships in 2005 and won the bronze medal in 2008. He competed at the Winter Olympics in 2006 and 2010.

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@темы: статьи, арт

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[less than perfect]

интересное интервью, краткое содержание:
- Джонни говорит, что в своей книге расскажет о многом, в т.ч. как потерял девственность.
- Джонни о своем подмигивании на шоу Челси
- Джонни называет Эвана двуличным
- Дж. говорит, что дважды голосовал за Эвана на "Танцах со звездами".
- Дж. не знает, будет ли соревноваться в следующем году - все зависит от того, как пойдут дела с FIT
- Дж. о своей новой песне, и о том, что он знает, что не певец, но хочет повеселиться. И будет стараться не использовать autotune

The rivalry between figure skaters Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek – which has been called a real-life version of “Blades of Glory” – hasn’t cooled since the Vancouver Olympics. Earlier this week, Lysacek, who won the Olympic gold medal and is currently competing on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” said that Weir wasn’t asked to participate in the “Smucker’s Stars on Ice” tour because his skating wasn’t up to snuff. (Other skaters on the tour include Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen and Rachel Flatt, who placed 7th at the Games.) Weir responded by calling Lysacek a “slore” – that’s a cross between a slut and whore – in an appearance on “The Wendy Williams Show.”

Aside from riling up his arch nemesis, Weir has been keeping busy these days with a variety of projects. He recently signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster to pen a memoir and he’s planning his own figure skating “spectacular” (which he says would ideally co-star Elton John and Lady Gaga). His Sundance Channel reality show, “Be Good, Johnny Weir,” airs its final episode on June 27.

Speakeasy caught up with Weir at New York’s Chelsea Piers shortly before he performed an ice dancing routine to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” as part of the Ice Theater of New York. Weir, who was carrying a fluorescent yellow Balenciega handbag and wearing shiny silver loafers, told us about his possible plans to attend FIT, his forays into the music business – and how he’ll make figure skating more high fashion.

The Wall Street Journal: Tell us about your coming book. Will you be writing this yourself?

Johnny Weir: I definitely will be writing it. I don’t so much believe in somebody else’s voice coming through in book, my own memoir – well, the first quarter of my life memoir. I’ll talk about a lot of the interesting behind the scenes things in figure skating, which will be interesting to people, but it won’t be the main part of the book. I want to tell my story in a way that it’s not going to get twisted like things have a way of doing in the media. I want a very clean space to be able to tell my story. How I grew up, how I got into figure skating, how growing up in a small part of Pennsylvania affected me, going through life, my parents, my relationship, my life and losing my virginity, lots of things.

But will there be some behind-the-scenes drama from the Olympics?

There will be lots and lots of drama in the book because I have a very, in an athlete’s way, a very rock ‘n’ roll life. There’s always someone knocking you down… you can read a lot of books by famous people who say “Oh, I was born in Beverly Hills and I never wanted for anything and then this friend of my father’s got me this movie deal.” My life totally isn’t like that. I had to work for everything I had and I think it’s really important for kids to see that kind of a story.

Speaking of people trying to bring you down, Evan Lysacek’s comments earlier this week were pretty harsh.

Evan and I have had a very rocky relationship to say the least… Recently I was on “Chelsea Handler” [a show on the E! network] and it was through clever editing they had me winking at a very inopportune time it looked like me had me insinuating something about Evan so I’m sure he wasn’t happy about that. But I think in general he’s a very jealous person and a very two faced person. He’s the kind of person who will rehearse what he’s going to say in an interview two weeks in advance.

He’s probably very jealous that despite the fact he’s an Olympic champion he’s on “Dancing with the Stars” and I’m writing a book and recording a song. I’m crossing over to be a personality. But I can say I voted for him twice on “Dancing with the Stars” just as a sign of support. And I have always said he works very hard and does deserve his Olympic gold medal…But he mocks people and makes fun of people and I’m sure this was just a situation where he just said something that he knew would hurt me.

Wait, you’re working on a song?

Yes, I’m writing a song called “Dirty Love.” I completely realize that I’m not a singer.

So are you going to rely heavily on Auto Tune?

I’m going to try not to use Auto Tune. I’ve been sitting in my bathroom working on my notes. I’m not just writing a song because I have a little bit of notoriety right now I’m trying to I’m trying to write a song to see if I can and make a music video. I’ve always wanted to make a music video with skating and different imagery, something very artistic. And you know I’m young and I have a lot of opportunities coming my way now and it’s good to have fun!

And what about fashion? Are you still working on that too?

I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to compete next season or not. That decision will have a lot to do with what I do with my schooling at FIT. I had a meeting and went in and it was very daunting, life as a student again after having kind of a crazy life.

I feel like at the Olympics I gave the best performance of my life and I wasn’t rewarded for that as an athlete. Yes, my fans and my mom were happy about it but I didn’t win that gold medal. And at 25 I’m pretty advanced in age to still hold onto that dream. But I do love to skate and I love to perform so if I want to compete I’ll do it.

Would you even have time to do “Stars on Ice” if you were asked?

I wouldn’t participate in “Stars on Ice” if I were asked. I find it an amateurish tour in a way, the production quality. That’s why I’m trying to do my own show and do something new.

Figure skating is a bit dated – it’s like that tweed jacket you pull out of the back of your closet from time to time and I’m going to try to Chanel it up a little bit. My dream would be to have an aerialist come down from the ceiling, and only six of the best skaters that I love would be in the show. I’d have Lady Gaga performing on one end and Elton John performing on the other.

Is that something you’re really working on?

I’m very serious about it. We’re talking to different production companies. The biggest issue is finding the funds to do big giant shows now in a recession but people have been very responsive. I’m hoping by 2011 I will have my spectacular planned and be rehearsing.
(с)

+

пост в блоге Perez Hilton

@темы: ссылки, Эван, интервью

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[less than perfect]

возвращаясь к теме нового раунда войны Лайсачек vs Вейр

согласно комментариям людей, которые были на шоу в Нью-Йорке и общались с Патти, Джонни на шоу у Венди Виллиамс услышал комментарии Эвана впервые. так что реакция вполнее объяснимая.

Журнал People выпустил статью, где описываются события очередной ссоры Ивана Ивановича с Иваном Никифоровичем. Лайсачек заявил, что позволил личному отношению повлиять на его оценку Джонни, и что ему не следовало отвечать на этот вопрос:

When skating rivals Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir were battling for a spot on the Olympic podium at the Vancouver Winter Games in February, Weir remarked that showdown would be a great "catfight."

The dust-up intensified this week off the ice as Olympic gold medalist Lysacek, competing on Dancing with the Stars, and Weir, a three-time U.S. Champion, traded slurs and barbs.

"We are at war," Weir told PEOPLE on Thursday. "My claws are out."

The latest round of mudslinging began when Lysacek suggested earlier this week that a lack of talent kept Weir off the cast of the traveling Smucker's Stars on Ice. "They only hire the best of the best to skate," Lysacek told the Indianapolis Star. "A lot of us in the skating world were really disappointed in the way he reacted, basically whining that he wasn't chosen."

Harsh Words Exchanged

The flamboyant Weir claims the show didn't hire him because he didn't fit the tour's "family-friendly" profile – a charge Stars on Ice denies. Weir also went on the attack against Lysacek, calling him a "slore" – an apparent combination of "slut" and "whore" – on the The Wendy Williams Show on Wednesday.

Then on Thursday in New York, where he announced their "war," Weir added, "I've never whined. I wasn't the one who falls dancing and gets a concussion and breaks toes and has hip replacement surgeries. If anyone whines, it's definitely Evan. He's done that his whole career, and I've never said anything about it just because there was no need."

Weir, who is opening the season for Ice Theatre of New York at Chelsea Piers, added, "I have no respect for Evan Lysacek." He is encouraging fans not to vote for his rival on Dancing with the Stars.

But there may a truce on the horizon. In a statement to PEOPLE, Lysacek says he wants to end the feud, even though Weir had said hurtful things. Extending an olive branch, he's calling Weir "an accomplished and talented skater" and wishing him well at his New York show.

"I let my personal feelings cloud my judgment in how I answered a journalist's question about Stars on Ice and Johnny that I should never have answered," says Lysacek. "I should have known better."
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Slore war by Entertaiment Weekly:
An abridged version of The Slore War, currently staged between two American ice lords with a fondness for things that are Russian:

1. Stars on Ice didn’t pick Johnny Weir for the post-Olympics U.S.-based tour.
2. Evan Lysacek, the Vancouver gold medalist who is touring with Stars on Ice in between spray-tan sessions at Dancing With the Stars, told the Indianapolis Star, “They only hire the best to skate.”
3. On Wednesday’s Wendy Williams Show, Weir called Lysacek a “slore” (combo platter of slut + whore).
4. Weir told People Thursday, “We are at war. My claws are out,” adding, “I have no respect for Evan Lysacek.”
5. Lysacek releases a statement calling Weir “an accomplished and talented skater” and wishing him well at his New York show. “I let my personal feelings cloud my judgment in how I answered a journalist’s question about Stars on Ice and Johnny that I should never have answered,” says Lysacek. “I should have known better.”

Like the Boer War of 1899, the Slore War could last three years and be very bloody until both parties finally sign the Treaty of Tassels in 2013. As a spectator, I hope the Slore War’s soldiers experiment with weaponry — why limit yourself to mere claws when a Lycra spandex bodysuit could make such a great whip, a particularly sturdy giant sequin could potentially function as a meat slicer, and toepicks are deadly already?
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UPD. цитата из этой статьи:
Lysacek explains his outburst: "Since the Olympics, I've dealt with Johnny's questioning my integrity and sexuality, and I've never spoken out on my own behalf no matter how hurtful those things may have been. I should have known better."

речь идет об этом интервью Джонни, где он очень двусмысленно подмигнул Челси на вопрос о бывшей девушке Эвана.

запись создана: 01.05.2010 в 01:07

@темы: статьи, Эван, интервью

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[less than perfect]

не буду перегружать предыдущий пост.

вся программа целиком в хорошем качестве


I knew Johnny Weir couldn't stay off the ice for too long! With all his media appearances of late, I was beginning to think, "Is is possible Johnny will now devote all his time to really becoming a media personality?" Whew, boy was I glad to be 100% wrong.

Johnny was the headliner at Ice Theatre of New York's 2010 Home Season Opening Night and this is his first ice appearance in NYC post-Olympics. Founded in 1984 by Moira North, Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY) is a not-for-profit ice dance company which merges ice skating and dance in traditional and avant-garde ways. If you want to see wonderful examples of both, I recently did a piece about their free lunch time concert series at Rockefeller Skating Rink, so click here if you'd like to watch.

Johnny created a new piece called Heartbroken to celebrate ITNY's home season opening night. In addition, he also performed fan-favorite Bad Romance by Lady Gaga.
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фото вечера:




про фото с пончиками:
Just as Johnny is getting ready to leave, 2 dozen of cupcakes are suddenly brought into the reception area. We go back into the lobby and turns out, Johnny is right behind us. Tara announces that she needs photos of Johnny with the cupcakes.

Long story short, as they are leaving, I touch Johnny and ask if I may have one. So he almost RUNS after the guys carrying them and I hear him say "Wait. I need to get a cupcake for Maggie"!

He comes back and he's brought me an "OH DADDY" one. I gently brushed his hand as I took and and sighed "Oh, DADDY!". Johnny grinned and then left.
(с) с фейсбука

@темы: видео, фото