Friday, February 25, 2011

Annie's Story

I love the headline on this poster.
"Johnny Weir!" just kinda says it all.


The following was originally sent in as a comment on yesterday's blog. But it is so beautiful that I couldn't bear to leave it in the comments, where people may or may not find it. So I asked the author, the lovely Annie featured in one of yesterday's photos from the Clifton book signing, if she would be willing to be today's guest blogger. And all our lives are richer because she said yes.

Johnny announced yesterday that he is asking fans to donate just $1 each to Skate for Hope, the charity show this June for which he is one of the headliners. Skate for Hope is a premier figure-skating event benefiting breast cancer research and awareness. Johnny's goal is to raise $10,000--but if all his Facebook fans donate just $1 each, we could raise more than $50,000!

As Annie explains below, she has a different type of cancer. But, as she so graciously said to me, "Research for one cancer helps all cancers." So please read her story, and then please consider helping Johnny meet his goal by visiting his Skate for Hope donation page.



Johnny Live: The Experience of a Lifetime
by Ann Henriques, guest blogger

I am rarely able to see Johnny Weir perform live, even though I live only 30 miles north of New York City. I admit to giving in to the too-tired, too-nervous, crowds-scare-me issues. But that's mostly because I have cancer. Ovarian cancer. And it's incurable.

Here is why I think you MUST experience Johnny in a LIVE performance and / or meet-n-greet venue whenever and as often as possible.

We all know that figure skating is beautiful, and no one makes it more so than Johnny. My wife, Kathy, and I have seen Johnny perform live just once, at an Ice Theater of New York event. We saw "Heartbroken." Johnny makes figure skating fluid and dramatic. But I cannot tell you how blown away I was when I saw him do a JUMP LIVE. Yes, beautiful. Yes, skilled. But I literally felt an explosion of POWER in my chest when he took off and then landed a jump. Like a firework. BANG. I had to see him LIVE to feel this. The power that it takes him to propel himself into the air and land while rotating was incredible and can actually be felt. But the BANG is something you have to see LIVE to feel.

Johnny's world premier performance
of "Heartbroken," Ice Theatre of New York,
April 29, 2010.



Then there is actually meeting Johnny in person.

I'd missed Johnny's first New York City book signing because I had chemo that day. So Kathy made Clifton happen for me. And Tuesday this week I found myself face-to-face with Johnny Weir for the first time.

Johnny has an ethereal beauty. I saw it on TV in the first moments of his Fallen Angel free skate in Vancouver during the Olympics. And I saw it when we walked up to the table at Barnes and Noble in Clifton, NJ, and introduced ourselves. When you meet Johnny, he looks you straight in the eyes and never becomes distracted. I was so nervous, and Kathy later told me my voice was turning into a whisper. But even though Johnny could barely hear me, Kathy said he just leaned closer and closer so he could hear me. He makes your time with him all about YOU.

At some point in your few seconds with Johnny, he WILL smile that disarming, warm, kind, and fun smile. He did with us. WOW. Then I started telling Johnny about missing his New York City book signing, which included my personal chemo / cancer conversation. And I told him how he had inspired me over the last year and gotten me through so many difficult times. I looked at my Kathy for confirmation, and she had tears rolling down her cheeks. Then I looked back at Johnny, and there was such pain in his face that it broke my heart. I told him not to be sad. But it was as though he could feel what we were feeling, which so surprised me. Remember, we're in a line with SO many people waiting. But he stopped the world for us when we met.

I also met Tara, who is sweeter than sweet, happier than happy, and kinder than kind; and her boyfriend, Josh, who is a patient and lovely man.

And then Johnny stood up. I tried to tell him not to, knowing how busy he was, but he looked at me like, "Are you kidding me?" And he walked up to me and gave me a hug. And then he hugged Kathy. And then he asked the B&N folks to take our picture. And Kathy took out her iPhone and he put his arm around me.

So here's something else you will never experience if you don't meet Johnny in person and have that amazing moment of having your photo taken with him. You are putting your arm around an Olympic athlete who is one of the top athletes in the WORLD. And he FEELS like an Olympic athlete--strong like steel.

But his arm around you feels like an angel protecting you.

And suddenly Kathy and I became THOSE people whose iPhone camera was not working right. So I told Johnny not to worry and tried to walk away. NOT. He calmly said, "We are going to make this happen." And he stood there till we got it right. And he stood there till the B&N folks got a photo of Johnny, me, and my Kathy.

Johnny, Annie, and Kathy
at the Clifton, NJ, book signing.


Then he hugged us each again. The Olympic athlete. Who smelled so nice. Whose physique radiates power. As he hugged me and I tearfully thanked him (into his shoulder) over and over for all he's done for us, how grateful I was to him (and I heard myself say, "and your mom," who is an inspiration herself), I felt as though negative energies were flowing out of me and love was filling the space. It was a "healing" hug. Gentle AND powerful. From Johnny Weir. A man I'd never met before that night. He touched our hearts.

So I find myself also grateful to the Johnny Weir fan community for promoting love. It's everywhere I turn. It's healing for me.

Thank you, Binky (my sparkly fairy godmother-tress), for knowing how to live and teaching me what you learned. ♥♥

Thank you, Tara, for your exuberance and kind soul. You are a good daughter, Tara. Your mother must be so proud. ♥♥

Thank you, Josh, for caring for Tara and for patiently sharing her with Johnny's fans. And for being so nice to us when you meet us.♥♥

Thank you, Barnes and Noble, Clifton, NJ, for organizing such a lovely event that gave Kathy and me such a moving experience. ♥♥

Thank you to Johnny's fans who I missed in Clifton :( and all of you who send me virtual love DAILY: @DauphineDW, @JEKitten, @Moo58, BSonTwit ... Who will I see at SFH? ♥♥

Especially thank you, Johnny, the Olympic Athlete and Angel who is gentle AND powerful and gives the best healing hugs. You stand up for our equality and you help us fight cancer. Your amazing gift of love on Tuesday will stay with Kathy and me forever. You are our hero. ♥♥

OH, and if and when you can ... SEE JOHNNY LIVE. Your heart and soul will be better for it.



Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes ...
--1 Corinthians 13:7



Please join Annie and Kathy in seeing
Johnny LIVE at Skate for Hope
on Saturday, June 18, in Columbus, OH!
(Same weekend as the Annually Awesome
And yes, a VIP package is available!
Get ticket information
or make a donation today!



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



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




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!


copyright 2011 / Binky and the Misfit Mimes / Lynn V. Ingogly / all rights reserved

Thursday, February 24, 2011

WTMW and WOW!!!

OK, first some highlights from Tuesday's WTMW book signing in Clifton, New Jersey:

Johnny's ready to sign some books, bitches! Thanks to Lisa Basile Lawless for posting the photo on Johnny's Facebook fan page. The fabulous Coco Chanel cuff he's wearing is available from Lisa's sister, Wendy Basile, owner of Decotrashland--check them out on Facebook. Company slogan: "Recycled vinyl records magically made into arm candy!" Love it.



Ready for their close-up in Clifton are KarenW, KarenB, Agentress Tara, Beth, Jenn (Oh She of the Magic Gif Skillz), and Natalie!



Meeting Johnny for the first time at the Clifton book signing were very happy fans Annie, center, who has been fighting cancer, and her wife, Kathy. Together for 26 years, the couple married in 2008 in Massachusetts and reside in New York. They're hoping to come see Johnny perform at Skate for Hope this June!


For more fab pics and stories from Clifton, please visit Maggie Strasser's awesome photo album on Facebook, and Ava Gacser's blog!



And now, the WOW!!!! From the official press release posted officially on Johnny's official website:

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’ Milojo Productions is partnering with Charlie Corwin’s Original Media to produce the second season of the hit docu-series Be Good Johnny Weir, scheduled to air later this year on Logo Television. In addition, Milojo and Original Media, along with Weir’s Fireworks Sports Marketing, will spearhead the development and production of his upcoming stage show “Spectacular,” a theatrical ice skating performance. The announcement was made jointly by Original Media and Milojo Productions.

WOW!!!!!

And also:

The second season of Be Good Johnny Weir will be executive produced by Corwin and Peterson for Original Media, Ripa, Consuelos and Albert Bianchini for Milojo and David Barba and James Pellerito for Retribution Media.

YAY!!!

There's more stuff about some other stuff on the release so you can go read the rest of the stuff but I'm stuck on the WOW parts!!! As in WOW there's really going to be a Spectacular (Sweet Weirsus please let it be somewhere that lots and lots of fans can get to at some point when most of us can go I don't evan know what that means but please) and WOW that is so cool of Mark and Kelly (who is such a fangurl of Johnny's and also a wise businesswoman OBVIOUSLY) and WOW this is just really great news for Johnny!!

Note: And can I just take a moment to applaud again the genius of David and James--our beloved Butch and Grämz--for seeing what a story there was to be told in Johnny Weir, and for their determination and brilliance in pursuing their vision and bringing it to the screen. We love you so hard.

So I'm just going to roll around in this announcement for a while with "Dirty Love" rattling the windows in the background, and then go follow Milojo Productions and Original Media on Facebook.

And then sit around being thrilled for my favorite fierce pirate ninja skater singer author guy for the rest of the year. ♥



Hey, Johnny's performing in St. Petersburg, Russia,
on March 8 in a special ice show
that is a tribute to the legendary skater and coach
Alexei Mishin!
More info on Johnny's Events page!


OK, I know it's a few months away,
but you can get tickets NOW to see Johnny
in Skate for Hope on Saturday, June 18, in Columbus, OH!
(Same weekend as the Annually Awesome
And yes, a VIP package is available!



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



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



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!


copyright 2011 / Binky and the Misfit Mimes / Lynn V. Ingogly / all rights reserved

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Hey Babe. Go Get Your Book Signed. Did I Mention It's Johnny?

Kayso Johnny has tweeted about tonight's book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Clifton, New Jersey, three times now in the last three days, including a tweet with my kind of math:


So I think he wants people to come.

If you need more motivation than math (although who could possibly resist an equation with a ♥ in it?), here are some .gifs from Babe Walker's backstage-at-Villionaire video that I just cannot get enough of (special thanks to Jenn Kittler for her mad .gif skillz!):

Click to hear Johnny say, "OMG Babe, hi!"


(The line of people now officially changing their name to "Babe" forms here....)

Click to hear Babe (that could be you!) say,
"I LOVE Johnny Weir ..."


Oh, and here's one more leftover goodie from Fashion Week: Another view of Johnny's performance at Elise Øverland's show!

Pros: It's Johnny. And the video is from a slightly different angle than I've seen before. Also it's not at warp speed like the video from the Wall Street Journal that appeared just everywhere but unfortunately sounds like the Chipmunks singing "Dirty Love" while Johnny skates as if he's had one too many Starbucks spiked with Four Loko.

Cons: They dubbed over it with a different song, so it's not "Dirty Love." :( And it's only a portion of his performance. Did I mention that's annoying?

Pros: It's Johnny. And the song they chose to go with is "I Wanna Give You Devotion" (yes,  go on ... ?), which includes the line, "on the dance floor like a sexy potion." (OK, that works.) Also it's Johnny.


So roll around in these for awhile, and then get yourselves over to Barnes and Noble tonight to show Johnny some love! Do it for all of us who are stuck in the middle of nowhere and cannot drive 933 miles to get there by 7:30 tonight especially since we lose an hour going east but don't think we haven't spent the night on Google maps trying desperately to figure it out and then realizing that had we left an hour ago instead of staring at .gifs, imagining signing our checks "Babe," and looking up songs from 1991 on the Internet, we might have had a shot at it.

And bring the family!



Get your copy of Welcome to My World autographed
at Johnny's book signing in Clifton, New Jersey,
TONIGHT, Tuesday, February 22!
More info here!


OK, I know it's a few months away,
but you can get tickets NOW to see Johnny
in Skate for Hope on Saturday, June 18, in Columbus, OH!
(Same weekend as the Annually Awesome
And yes, a VIP package is available!



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



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





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!


copyright 2011 / Binky and the Misfit Mimes / Lynn V. Ingogly / all rights reserved

Monday, February 21, 2011

Pre-Oscar / Post-NYFW Roundup: Best Random Recent Johnnyness That Totally Makes Me LOL

Best cameo appearance of sunglasses in a short film or
documentary, first nominee. From this behind-the-scenes video
of the Indashio show by Anna Castillo of Ink Cosmetics.
This shot appears for like three seconds around 4:01.



Best cameo appearance of sunglasses in a short film or
documentary, second nominee. From the same video. Although
it took me a while to notice he was wearing sunglasses here...



Best self-introduction during absolute chaos (also from
Anna). "Hi, I'm Johnny Weir. This is ... ME, live,
with Ink Cosmetics!"



Most favorite video from Fashion Week: Babe Walker
from White Girl Problems goes behind the scenes at Villionaire.
Only two brief Johnny bits, but they're perfect.
And her commentary cracks me up every time I watch this
("Not SUUUUUURE about that bite....").
Also love Richie's interview answers
("Heaven or hell?" "I like both.").



Best photo of a starstruck person with Johnny
at Fashion Week. Oh Isaac. You and your helplessness
in the presence of Johnny are adorable.
Though Tara's not SUUUUUURE about this moment....



Most fabulous front-row attendees at any show.
Tara and Johnny with Andy Cohen of Bravo.
Plus bonus points for Johnny's gorgeous brooch from Isaac,
and for Isaac calling his show "Poodles and Cake"
and including actualfax cake in the show.



Best srs bsns moment at NYFW. (Click for larger view.
Thanks to Jenn Kittler for Johnny's caption!
Uncapped version also available.)



Best product placement.
Whatever he's selling, we'll take ten.



Best pre-Fashion Week .gif moment from an interview show,
first nominee. Johnny at the end of his spontaneous
"personals ad" on the Joy Behar Show:
"I enjoy long walks on the beach, Mario Lopez,
Justin Timberlake, and Moscow, Russia."



Best pre-Fashion Week .gif moment from an interview show,
second nominee. Johnny during the (in)famous Howard Stern
interview, just getting himself ready....
Not SUUUUUUURE I want to know what that involves....
(Thanks to Natalie Maxwell for both .gifs!)



And finally: Because it's always about the sunglasses.
Best macro moment, courtesy of Jenn Kittler.


Get your copy of Welcome to My World autographed
at Johnny's book signing in Clifton, New Jersey,
tomorrow, Tuesday, February 22!
More info here!


OK, I know it's a few months away,
but you can get tickets NOW to see Johnny
in Skate for Hope on Saturday, June 18, in Columbus, OH!
(Same weekend as the Annually Awesome
And yes, a VIP package is available!



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



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



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!


copyright 2011 / Binky and the Misfit Mimes / Lynn V. Ingogly / all rights reserved

Friday, February 18, 2011

Happy Johnnyversary! Part 2

NYFW note: Johnny's collaboration with Adrienne Landau,
revealed in her show yesterday at the conclusion of Fashion Week,
is stunningly gorgeous! See tons of fab photos here!
The HAT! The COAT! The EVERYTHING!
Love all his designs!



Johnny prepares to perform his "Fallen Angel" free skate
at the Vancouver Olympics, one year ago today,
February 18, 2010.
He would later call this performance
"the moment of my life."


I sat on the couch with my two kids, wearing a small beaded good-luck bracelet that I had ordered from a friend I had met on the US Johnny's Angels site. The bracelet said, "Team Johnny" and "Go USA."

About six weeks earlier, a Twitter friend had retweeted a link from someone else with this message: "You HAVE to see this!"

It was Johnny's Poker Face exhibition from Festa 09.

I had never seen anything like it.

I was utterly transfixed the very first time I watched. And every time after that.

I remember thinking, "OMG. THIS is what skating should be. THIS is performance art. And THIS is what watching skating should always feel like."

I had to know more immediately. I Googled him and found his Wikipedia and the US Angels website, a treasure trove of photos, videos, and competitive history.

And then I realized who he was. I remembered him from the 2006 Olympics. I remembered thinking at the time that there was something very different about him, that he outshone all the other skaters. I also remembered feeling bad for him that his free skate didn't seem to be the performance he had wanted to give, and that he took a lot of unjustifiably harsh criticism for it.

But now, four years later, it was as if my whole world had been completely shattered by a deliciously dangerous, ethereally erotic beauty and passion and light and brilliance that could not be contained by the misplaced boundaries I had known all my life.

I watched the US National Figure Skating Championships for the first time ever in January 2010, and was thrilled that he made the Olympic team. Now I had a real reason to watch the upcoming Winter Olympics, which, until that moment, I had considered to be just an intrusion into my normal TV schedule.

Leading up to that week in February, I read everything I could in the Angels archives, found his Facebook fan page and Twitter account, and started chatting with a few other fans. And also began to dimly grasp that I was having an experience that was very very far out of my ordinary life up to this point.

I realized that God was showing me something really important. And that I should pay attention.

I realized that Johnny was very likely a gay man, though he remained publicly circumspect about the issue at that time—but thus someone that all my family and my church associates would have judged as less than a man, and really, less than human. The kind of person that every one of my pastors had preached against my whole life. The kind that all of my relatives would whisper darkly about, like that odd little man who had been one of my mother's English professors. They would speak in innuendo and code, shaking their heads with just the slightest hint of revulsion. The message was very clear.

And I realized how very very very wrong they had all been.

This man was beautiful, inside and out. To me. And, more importantly, to God. He was everything that God had made him to be, bursting with being exactly who he was, created with an extraordinary gift and doing everything he could, with almost otherworldly focus and determination, to fulfill the promise of that gift. And, along the way, being everything else God had made him to be: Kind and petulant, loving and arrogant, gentle and obnoxious, sensitive and insensitive, forgiving and grudge-holding, and just very very flawed and real and human.

Born this way. And so amazing.

I talked about it with my kids, about how I was undergoing this spiritually transforming experience brought on by figure skating, of all things, and how I was discarding these ridiculously misguided and hateful beliefs like ill-fitting clothes, to be stuffed in a garbage bag because they were not even good enough to donate, and that I was feeling like I had been completely broken to pieces in order to be rebuilt, for which I was truly, humbly grateful, because everything we had been taught up to this point was just WRONG. And they listened intently and then, with great kindness and patience, said, "Mom. We always knew all this. We were just waiting for you to catch up."

So we three sat on the couch that night, now waiting for his long program.

The other skaters seemed to take forever. I was so nervous for him I couldn't eat or drink. I felt that he had been terribly underscored in his short program, but I had so much hope for this performance. If he was as brilliant tonight as he had been on Tuesday, clearly he would be a champion.

And then finally.

With the first few notes of music, his first few gliding moves, I was transported.

About halfway through, I became vaguely aware that tears were streaming down my face.

And then, the finish—that incredible pose, and his reaction, his soul laid bare on the ice, and the roar of the crowd as they stood up for him.

And I thought: "When God looks at my life, I want it to be as beautiful to Him as Johnny's skating is."

And then.

The scores.

The crowd roared again, this time with overwhelming disapproval.

Suddenly the mood in the entire coliseum grew restless and dark.

And then Johnny stood, acknowledging the support, but gesturing—with almost unbearable grace and dignity—for everyone to please stop.

I whispered to my kids:

"See that?

Now that.

THAT is a real man."

And a true champion.



Thank you, Johnny, for this amazing journey. Thank you for teaching me to be fully myself, which is really the only thing God wants any of us to be, but I didn't get it until you. Others may win medals, but you win medals and you win at life. I can't wait to see where you'll go next. Whatever you choose to do, wherever your path takes you, I am a fan always.

~ with love from Binky



Fallen Angel

To see an angel, you must see another's soul.
To feel an angel, you must touch another's heart.
To hear an angel, you must listen to both.
~ anonymous










When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings,
nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove;
but we know their presence by the love
they create in our hearts.
~ anonymous






OK, I know it's a few months away,
but you can get tickets NOW to see Johnny
in Skate for Hope on Saturday, June 18, in Columbus, OH!
(Same weekend as the Annually Awesome
And yes, a VIP package is available!



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



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




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!


copyright 2011 / Binky and the Misfit Mimes / Lynn V. Ingogly / all rights reserved