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Hello everyone I am a long time Johnny fan (since I first saw him on TV in 2002 and I fell in love with his skating instantly, I even cried at the sheer beauty of his movement) and a long, long, long time figure skating fan (especially the Men and Ice Dance disciplines). I started watching the sport in '88 when I was 5 (I am 1 year older than Johnny) and I've been hooked ever since. My other all time favorite skaters are: Boitano, Browning, Yagudin, Wylie, Lambiel, and Takahashi. I'm also quite obsessed with Davis & White in Ice Dance. I've been lurking on the Angel boards for a while now and finally decided to take the plunge and join in on the discussion. You can usually find me on the Ice Network boards under the same name defending Johnny to the best of my ability. And now to the point of this post, I wanted to share with all of you my JW experiences I had over the summer.

LAKE PLACID SUMMER ICE SHOW

I had never seen Johnny skate in person before trekking up to Lake Placid for the Saturday Night Celebrity Skater Guest event last August. Unfortunately I had just been diagnosed with pneumonia a few days before and even though the doctor okayed the trip, I was miserable the whole time. My mother who attended the event with me booked us in a motel that was one step above from the "Bates". The town of Lake Placid itself was charming, but overtly touristy with it's year round Christmas shop, ice cream parlors, and remnants of past Olympics everywhere. Little shops, big lakes, and tons of Olympic spirit define the town. I visited the Olympic museum, bought my tickets for the ice show, and went on a boat ride around the lake the day of the event. I remember Johnny tweeted that he bought moccasins and went swimming while there. I wish I could have gone swimming (couldn't with my illness) because the weather was stunningly gorgeous that weekend, according to the locals it was the most beautiful weekend of the whole year. The evening of the show we went to an amazing Italian restaurant and ate on a deck that overlooked Mirror Lake (the smaller lake near Lake Placid). The food was a little too rich for my sick stomach to handle though and I got ill in the hotel room right before the show. My body just couldn't handle actual food after over a week of chicken noodle soup and sorbet. I wanted to get there at least half an hour early for prime seats, but I ended up in the 5th or so row on the long side (which wasn't bad at all, but I wanted to be in the first of course). The rink was on the small size (it was at the 1932 rink, not the big Skate America one), and there was a curtain cutting off part of the ice where the skaters could hide and practice. The show was kind of a joke, it was amateur kiddie hour with little girls in sequins and ruffles falling all over the ice. It was very low level, beginner type skating and I found it a little difficult and embarrassing to watch. All I could think about was Johnny and seeing him skate in person. Seeing him live was a dream come true. He's beautiful on TV, but he is simply stunning to watch in person. He skated his fist exhibition piece "Hymne a L'Amour" and it was gorgeous, but he did fall on one of the jumps due to being too close to the boards I think. His artistry and grace took my breath away, the vision of him skating to that piece in that old iconic costume will never leave my memories. Then I had to sit through the tot skaters again. Toward the end Johnny came out and did Poker Face! All the teenage girls were in fits! I could see from the youngish crowd that he is still garnering many fans. The performance was so sassy and perfect. He really played to the crowd and was fearless with it. It was one of his top 3 performances of the program I'd say. I know there were cameras recording it, but I can't find it on YouTube. He also came out and skated a little during the "finale". Sadly there was no fan meet and greet after the show.

My camera broke before the trip so I had to buy a new one at the last minute and I was awful at using it. Plus I was there to see Johnny skate, not to take pictures and miss all the skating. Also my camera hates motion and darkness (it was really dark). So here's the best I could do...

Here's some links to my facebook album for the Lake Placid trip:

http://www.facebook.com/p...2d7dea&id=1216423152

http://www.facebook.com/p...769243&id=1216423152

http://www.facebook.com/p...2aaa07&id=1216423152

http://www.facebook.com/p...412e50&id=1216423152

Me in Lake Placid:

http://www.facebook.com/p...15f17a&id=1216423152



BROOKLYN "POP STAR ON ICE" PREMIERE

Brooklyn was beyond expectation. I missed the NYC premiere at my old school SVA (is that crazy or what?) due to work. So when I found out about the Brooklyn show it was like a second chance. I actually didn't know that there would be a Q & A and that Johnny was actually going to be there until the very day of the show. I started to panic with anticipation. The show was at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Theater and while in the lobby I took like ten of the little postcards with the poster on it! I ended up in the second row, which is uncomfortable for movie viewing, but prime for Weir viewing! Johnny came out with the directors/creators of the film to introduce it and just being so close to him made my chest tense up and I went into a cold sweat, I could barely breathe or function, I was literally 8 feet away from my idol! Johnny was so shy and sweet while introducing the movie, he let the directors do all the talking, it was weird seeing him so timid because he's always so extraverted and bold. I tried not to blink, so I wouldn't miss a second of the film. It was a fantastic documentary and I can't wait to see it again when it's on Sundance. My top 3 favorite moments in the film (not going to give too much away): the bathtub "interview", the crazy Russian fan who critcizes Johnny's skating to his face, and Lysacek making a fool out of himself by calling Lambiel "the Swiss guy"! No, actually those were just the humorous highlights. I really loved the exploration of the Johnny and Paris friendship/roommate situation, and the dynamic between Johnny and former coach Priscilla Hill. There are moments of sublime happiness in the film, moments of pain and anguish, humor, honesty, shame; a true spectrum of human emotion. Johnny puts himself out there utterly. I had thought that it wasn't possible to love him any more than I do, but after seeing the film I felt a whole new level of adoration and respect for him. My only criticism with the documentary is that it did not show enough of Johnny skating. The clips of his performances should have been longer.

Okay so during the Q&A I felt like I was going to faint and that my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I was so close to Johnny and I really wanted to ask a question but couldn't muster the courage. I already know so much about him from interviews and his journal/twitter account that it was terribly difficult to come up with a question. I came up with "How do you feel about Plushenko's return to competitive figure skating, and skaters coming out of retirement in general for the sole purpose of competing in the Vancouver games?" It's good right? Never got the chance to ask it, because they had to cut the Q & A a little short and by the time I finally got the courage it was too late! Some of the questions were really bad too! I remember some of it… NOTE: these are not direct quotes, just what I recall. Someone asked him about his love of Russia and how it started and he said that when he was a kid he had a picture book of Russia and he loved looking at the amazing, colorful buildings that seemed so otherworldly compared to anywhere else, and he didn't understand how a country so beautiful could be considered a bad place. He was asked if he intended to do a blog by a really creepy jerk (sorry but this guy was being obnoxious to Johnny) and he said his journal and his twitter account are enough because he's not a very computer savvy person and it takes a lot of time to do a blog and it's hard enough for him to keep up with his journal. He was asked if Evan Lysacek has seen the film and he said no, but he knows he's in it and he'll leave it at that. Everyone laughed. He was asked about his new programs and choreographer. He answered the question like he has been, how he's excited to show a different, haughty and sexy side of himself in the SP, his love for the pink tassel, and he talks about how his FS will be epic and about the fallen angel theme and the mixture of music. In fact most of the questions were about him and his skating, and the filmmakers didn't get asked very much. He was asked if he intended to do the quad this year and he said yes he has been training and practicing it quite a bit and will indeed do it this year (can't wait, the GPF would be a perfect event to test it). He was asked about the reality series following the documentary and they discussed when it was meant to run in the winter and how it would follow his most recent journey with coaches Galina and Viktor and his hopes of recapturing his National title and his goal of medaling in Vancouver. He was asked how he first met Paris and he said they trained together when Paris was a skater and at first they hated one another but sure enough they became best friends and used to call themselves "Paris and Nicky" after the Hilton sisters. He was asked if he encountered a lot of homophobia in skating and he said yes and it's weird because you wouldn't think figure skating of all sports would be like that. He said he loves to be himself and refuses to change the way he is for anyone. He said it shouldn't matter if he sleeps with Sienna Miller or Orlando Bloom (I think those were the celebs he referenced), he should be respected for who he is as an individual, not who he has sex with. Someone asked Paris what it's like to be Johnny's best friend and he said it's cool because he gets to travel all over and doesn't have to say anything or interact. Johnny called him a "such a dumb ass" in a cute affectionate way. He was asked what he does when he not skating and he mentioned his cleaning obsession and that he likes to stay in and watch movies. That's all my brain can remember right now and it sucks I didn't get to ask my hard edge journalistic question because I'd really like to know, but I think we all got the answer in Moscow. Plushenko is scary and I think it threw Johnny off his game.

After the Q & A Johnny had a mob of fans around him getting autographs and pictures and even though I knew it might be my only chance I just couldn't go up to him. I was so nervous and there was so much I wanted to say to him I felt like I would make a fool of myself. Also it looked like they were setting up to do an interview with him, so I didn't want to disrupt the process. I left without meeting him . I know that some day I will though, when I'm ready. I may be attending Worlds in Italy, so "fingers crossed".

BROOKLYN PREMIERE OF "PSOI" and Q & A. Very dark, had to use flash and caused terrible red-eye, photo bucket album:

http://s913.photobucket.c...ac336/futureidol83/PSOI/








There are more pix in the album.




Also if any of you want to facebook friend me, I would be delighted. I don't have a single friend that likes figure skating, that's why I have to do all these things with my mom!

Oh well I asked a bunch of people and they said no, so I just left. That sucks that there was one and I missed it.

Thanks for letting me know that. Maybe it was for the best though as I was very sick and probably full of germs (I got pneumonia at a Yankee game 3 hour rain delay less than a week before). I'm kind of kicking myself for letting those opportunities go though. I even brought stuff for him to sign, a letter of encouragement written on a postcard with one of my favorite art pieces I've done (that I know he'd love too), and of course I had my camera. If he does his annual December show I will be there and nothing will stop me from meeting him then I am from the New York area so I'm sure someday I'll have the opportunity again.

Thanks nova! That person on the IN boards claims not to be biased and says they have no investments in any particular skaters as a fan, but they seem obsessed with belittling Johnny and diminishing his accomplishments. He/She also seems to have a serious problem with Belbin and Agosto. Almost all of his/her posts are obsessively by the numbers, technical, new scoring system loving, and cold. They don't seem to have any appreciation for grace, flow of movement, poise, posture, creativity, story-telling, expression, choreography or anything else that falls into the emotional/artistic range. Having to constantly defend JW and B/A gets tiresome, but myself and a handful of others try our best on those boards. I wouldn't be surprised if this person we've been discussing was desperately and secretly in love with Evan and hates Tanith for her relationship with him! It would also explain their constantly putting Johnny down.