Johnny Weir poses for a portrait during the NBC/USOC Promotional Photo Shoot on May 12, 2009 at Smashbox Studios

With the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver just a week away, SUNfiltered will bring you a “Weir Roundup” whenever possible that will not only feature the latest news on Johnny, but also interesting video clips. In this edition, we’ll be showcasing Johnny’s vocal talents and a recently made-available video of Johnny’s routine to Jordin Sparks’ live performance of “Battlefield.” In the upcoming days, we’ll be highlighting other notable exhibition routines, as well career-making performances like “The Swan.”

– Johnny and acclaimed photographer and music video director Matthew Rolston come together in a promo shoot for BE GOOD JOHNNY WEIR. Check out the final product and behind-the-scenes footage on Full Frontal Fashion.

– “Skater Johnny Weir’s New Resolve” by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

– Ryan McGinely showcases a photo portfolio entitled “The Highfliers” featuring Shaun White, Johnny Weir, Emily Cook, and more in the latest edition of NY Times Magazine. All the athletes featured are wearing custom Rodarte knitwear which can bee seen here.

Don’t miss Johnny singing, after the jump.

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Using data from Last.fm, “creative coder” Michael Schieben built this neat online app My City vs. Your City, which lets you compare the music tastes between two cities.

[Via]

Like Arnold in their previous effort, The Anomolies (previously) are back.This time, they apply their considerable skills to the science fiction classic thriller ALIENS where these lyricists engage in a 10 minute rapping tour de force which explains the movie’s plot.

The internet is abuzz over the videos posted to the YouTube channel “iamamiwhoami.” Released, many think, as a marketing campaign to build buzz about an upcoming music release, the three videos debuted so far are dark and creepy. The music is electronic and pulsing. And the guesses included the obvious, Goldfrapp and Marilyn Manson. However, my bet’s on Christina Aguilera. Yes, this sounds and looks nothing like her. However, she has leaked that her new album is all electro. Additionally, she’s proven adept at making bold career decisions. And the woman in the videos looks very, very much like the former teeny bopper.

Only time will tell who is putting these videos on the web. But my money’s on Xtina.

I sometimes wonder, “why am I American?” In the political landscape of today others may feel this same way. But, really, how could I come from the land that has shunned the greatest artists of our time? I’m talking about ABBA. Every other civilized nation of taste (Sweden, England) eat, sleep, breathe the perfect pop prince and princesses. Their lack of respect in the USA makes me want to protest. Scream from the rafters. Pick fights with all you Bruce Springsteen and Kanye West loving Americans. How could you not get it?

Well, there is a place for people like me to escape. Recently opened in London is ABBAWORLD, the first, and only, ABBA theme park in the world.

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Via Andy Towle I found this frightening video put out by the Westboro Baptist Cult. You know the “God Hates Fags” people. Those crazy freaks.

Well, in the days of YouTube, the church, er, cult is getting more creative. Adding to their funeral protests, they’ve now gone all Weird Al on us making a parody video of Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face.” Megan Phelps, Fred’s daughter, sings the verses. She calls GaGa a whore. D’oh!

Something tells me GaGa sees this as a greater honor than any Grammy.

Johnny Weir goes GaGa in a brilliant asymmetrical costume using broken glass.

After winning third place at U.S. Nationals for men’s figure skating, Johnny returned to Spokane, WA this weekend to performance an exhibition skate to Lady GaGa’s “Pokerface.” This isn’t the first time he’s gone GaGa; he started skating this exhibition routine in early 2009 and it became an instant crowd pleaser!

View his entire routine after the jump.

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Still from ODDSAC.

Music is surely a strong theme at this year’s Sundance Film Festival: In Sam Taylor Wood’s NOWHERE BOY, a teenage, pre-Beatles John Lennon finds an escape from his dysfunctional family through music (watch a clip here). The band Animal Collective will debut the film it has spent years collaborating on with Danny Perez, ODDSAC, a psychedelic mix of abstract music and visuals. TWILIGHT’s Kristen Stewart stars as rocker Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning plays Jett’s bandmate Cherie Currie in Floria Sigismondi’s rock-and-roll biopic THE RUNAWAYS. And that’s just for example.

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Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello jam on the SPECTACLE stage.

As someone once wisely noted, “There’s nothing you can say that can’t be sung,” and so it proved to be during the nearly four hours that Bruce Springsteen and I shared the Apollo stage for our SPECTACLE taping.

Given Bruce’s generosity in song and conversation, it’s little wonder our performance yielded two full episodes. There is very little I can add by way of recommendation. He was good enough to sing almost every song we discussed, and even one we didn’t really know.

Suffice to say that the version of “Point Blank” with which the Imposters and I opened the evening, as well as my heartfelt but vocally fatigued solo rendition of “Brilliant Disguise,” are two of my favorite Springsteen songs. Sadly, neither could be accommodated in the final edit.

I am sorrier still that Nils Lofgren’s wonderful performance of “Like Rain” – a song that I had loved since his days in Grin – could not be placed in the narrative either. I hope it emerges one day. Nils’ contribution to preparations for the evening’s collaboration between the Imposters and he and his E-Street Band colleague Roy Bitten was invaluable.

Five weeks or so after the taping, I found myself back in New York, just as Bruce and the E-Street Band were playing a two-night stand at Madison Square Garden.

It was among the shows in which entire albums were performed, and I was delighted to find that Bruce was performing what is still my favorite of all his records, The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle, from which he had performed “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” on SPECTACLE.

I’ve spent a lot of time with this album, and it was remarkable to hear it re-animated in every detail with such nuance and vitality. It was stranger still to find myself walking out to sing Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” during the show’s finale.

But then it occurs to me that during the SPECTACLE encounter Bruce and I found ourselves talking about other artists and their music as much as our own experiences.

In some cases this was a departure from those previous occasions when we had shared the stage. So here are some songs that you might enjoy by those very artists.

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In 1999 Ai Records released it’s first ever record. And now, in 2010, they will be celebrating with 200 limited edition picture discs. Each disc’s artwork was created by Dalek. Dalek has worked with Takashi Murakami and seems to be finding his own point of view. I don’t know much about AI records. And that’s fine methinks. I’m not inclined to play these records. They’re just so pretty to look at.

photo by Patty Keigan

Say what you will about John Mayer’s music — here marks the spot where Lo censored Em’s compliments about “Your Body Is a Wonderland” as a matter of principle — his Tweets are some of the funniest in the biz. (Okay, so he doesn’t have a lot of competition. Britney Spears: “How’s everyone’s 2010 going so far?”) Anyway, love him or hate him — or, most likely, a combination of the two — we thought you’d appreciate some of his Tweet-wisdom (twisdom?) on the topics of love, sex, bodily functions, and other important stuff. Here are a dozen of our favorites from the last month or so — you can follow him yourself at Twitter.com/JohnCMayer:

1. What 1 area of your body gets touched the least? I’m going to guess sub-scrotal flange, but it could also be knee cleavage.
2. If you call a girl 62 times and she’s sleeping, does it read in the morning as one missed call or 62? Asking for a friend.

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