I want your bad romance!!!

[extemporally]

My days are now enlivened by quoting bits of Be Good Johnny Weir. I know this makes me sound like I am crazy; also twelve, but I'm sorry. It's true! Quoting, to forochel, as she is marginally invested in skating RPF because I made her read the accidental marriage WIP (see how I subtly linked you all there again?) without, uh, telling her it was a WIP. I AM A CUNNING BASTARD.

Anyway. I've torrented and watched all the episodes of Be Good so far except the latest (which only became available today) and it is seriously ridiculous how quickly I've become overinvested in Johnny Weir's life. It is the most hurty thing on earth! There is so much, idk, losing confidence and falling sick and slipping on ice (in competition, even), and last night I was reduced to making squeaky noises of woe at my computer. FOR REAL. My face, it was truly sad last night.

(Then I had to laugh, of course, when the last episode I watched ended with Johnny frotting against his foot massager. OH JOHNNY.)

Anyway, my point is, I just keep quoting him. It is probably very annoying to people I chat with these past few days, but: "And people are like, 'Why do you have a dog on your costume?' and I'm like, 'It's not a dog, it's a gargoyle. Can't you see that it's a gargoyle? Are you stupid?'" and, ""Can I give you a wisdom inspiration from an older person? Everybody gonna die!" SHUT YOUR STUPID FACE JOHNNY WEIR.

Johnny Weir was a taller girl once, too. *________________________*

There was this really interesting discussion here on weirsjohnny about Viecheslav Romanov, Johnny's Russian reporter alter-ego. It filled me with thinky thoughts! And also made me really happy, because genderbending, and clever Johnny Weir. It's a pretty great post, tbh.

(Not to say nothing Evan Lysacek, obviously -- the first couple of times we chatted about figure skating forochel kept asking me, "But why do people hate Evan?" and I had to explain, no, of course people don't hate Evan, STOP BEING STUPID. They would not slash him with Johnny Weir otherwise! ... then I realised that I actually liked Evan and had to read some more fic to deal with that epiphany.)

And, I also want to talk about! Remember that time Popnography wrote about Panic's show and about Brendon's fey pointed-toe curtsey and we were all like, "... did a fandomer write this?" Well, look at this --

There is absolutely an air of homoeroticism at work in the series — we get many close-ups of Weir's wiry frame and plenty of lusty, lingering shots of his cutesy-pootsey competitors: clean-cut American rival Evan Lysacek, lupine Swissman Stéphane Lambiel, and frequently shirtless Frenchie Brian Joubert.

&

The two boys are shown in the first segment of the show naked-ish in a bathtub, conducting a fake interview about Weir while he wears a blonde wig and affects a Russian accent. In another segment, the two gents roll around on a bed together, loose-limbed and seemingly unconcerned (or perhaps deliberately provoking?) the inevitable questions about the exact nature of their relationship.

From here. This article is like that Popnography one times one million, which I'm actually... pretty uneasy about. I'm not quite sure about the tone of the article as a whole, which seems weirdly uncomfortable and condescending at some points. ashlein suggested that it might that even though the writer recognises that his desire to see Johnny Weir's big gay flamboyant show is kind of wrong-footed, it's still there. I thought that was pretty true, and the insistence on that was disturbing.

But. This is also true:

What did seem shiny and gay and ridiculous in promos is, in fact, a strangely ruminative and Terrence Malick-esque affair. ... what we get in the actual airing is a pleasingly left-of-center portrait of a moody and driven man on a mission, one who acts the way he wants to act and talks the way he wants to talk because he ultimately trusts his skating to speak for itself.

There's just something so true about this -- countless are the times that I've wanted to refer to Be Good as a documentary series! It makes me want to read really long character-driven fic, and even though so far I've been reading all the ridic figure skating fic, I think I could actually be invested in the way that makes me want to think thinky thoughts, and read canon-heavy angst fic, and spend all my time overthinking things in general. Maaaaaan. ♥

Comments

[nova33.livejournal.com]

OKAY, I'M GOING TO WATCH THESE, I AM. I HAVE TO. (Some other day I will share my very deep, emotional reasons for why I don't often watch things like this.)

[extemporally.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you're a member of ontd_skating, but here! (Oh, bb. Is it the motts? It is okay to have the motts!)

[nova33.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I wasn't a member, but I am now. (Motts?)

[extemporally.livejournal.com]

Motts! I got them (briefly) when Johnny was literally lying around in his furs with Paris, but not otherwise.

[nova33.livejournal.com]

How have I never heard that before? No, that's not it. I mean, I do get that feeling watching a lot of other things - seriously, I leave the room on a regular basis when my family watches certain shows/movies - but with anything I'm all obsessed by, it's more like...I don't know, it depresses me knowing I'll never know that person? Which sounds silly, but I don't know. It's the same way with concerts, and watching things like plays - like you can see how close everyone is and the world that goes on for them, but you're just a random fan/member of the audience.

Does that make any sense? My brain's a weird place.

[extemporally.livejournal.com]

Bleah, at the risk of sounding creepy, yes, I totally identify with that feeling! When I was a kid I used to want to have really intense conversations with my ~idols (again, creepy), but nowadays I try to tamp down on that feeling, given that I'm usually reading fanfic about them.

Although I don't mean to insinuate that you're creepy! It's just like -- some people have lines with RPF and the like, and getting a hug from Panic etc might creep them out, and while I'm not sure where I stand with that I definitely understand the feeling.

[nova33.livejournal.com]

I think - I mean, I wouldn't actually want to go to a M&G, because it would suck to get to meet them, but not make any meaningful connection. And by that I don't mean that I want someone to fall in love with me, or anything ridiculous like that; just that it'd be nice to not just be one of many, I guess? I'm not very good at articulating this feeling, but it can depress me for days.

My lines with RPF are more that I can compartmentalize, because, in some ways, the people who I read/write about are not real people, they're kind of characters based off of real people, if that makes sense. If I had the chance to meet someone who I read/wrote fic about, I just wouldn't bring it up. I do not understand the people who purposely try to mix fandom and RL, like giving people signs to hold up and that kind of crap. It just baffles me, because it's a) creepy and b) makes things uncomfortable for someone who you apparently idolize.

[extemporally.livejournal.com]

Don't have many words now, but -- yes to everything you said. :)

[nova33.livejournal.com]

Wow, a blanket agreement! Awesome!