Monday, May 21, 2012

This and That



Kyla Ross' beam verification at camp.



Catching up with Aly Raisman



Kim Zmeskal looked radiant at the IG Hall of fame induction.  Bela and Martha accompanied her to the event.  They are photographed with Nadia and Natalia Shaposhnikova.

Celebrating Amanda Evora  (It's like she died, but only her career did during her long program at Nationals.)

Anatasia Grishina aims to please at the London Olympics.

Tidbit:  Someone who attended Europeans reported back to us that Peggy Liddick was there taking notes on the competition.  The Aussies could certainly use some help this summer.  Lauren Mitchell can't compete four times.  It is curious what she learned attending as opposed to merely watching online.  It is an expensive and timely trip with the Trials process fast approaching.


Andreea Raducan is releasing a memoir that promises to be more insightful than Shawn Johnson's upcoming release.  Ioana needs to call and read it to me, as I really don't have time to learn Romanian AND Russian right now.

Shawn's memoir is released during Nationals.  This preview video will help us all lose today's lunch:


I am living for the USFSA referring to Johnny as Johnny Weir-Voronov.  Has he reached JWV status?

Brandie Jay verified a new bars sequence at camp:





YAS Reviews.  I am devastated that Emily Tuttle isn't judging this week, as I live for her facial expressions and she attempts to muffle her true feelings.





Bama's photoshoot


Celebrating Raven Symone's lesbianism

19 comments:

  1. Some times your posts about Shawn annoy me a little since I've always been a huge fan of her (no offense, I love everything else about your blog) but that "promises to be more insightful than Shawn Johnson's upcoming release" is so right. As much as I love Shawn I was never fond of teenagers writting their autobiographies in 18s, even if they are olympic champions. Andreea on the other hand really has an interesting story to say, I'm sure this book will be worth reading. I wish it will be translated in english so I can read it

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  2. Jesus. Somebody get me some smelling salts. Could barely stay awake during that painfully long promo for Shawn's "book." I have a feeling it's just going to read like a realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly long blog entry done by Sheryl ShadeI mean... Shawn Johnson. She has the writing skills of a 13 year-old, if her ESPN blog posts are any indication. What a waste of trees.

    Now Raducan's book, on the other hand, could be written in Aramaic and on calf stomach, and you can be damn sure I'll find a dead Jew to read that shit to me.

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  3. She seems WAY more excited when talking about Dancing with the Stars then the Olympics

    I wonder how much is devoted to training, competing, the Olympics because that type of book sounds much more interesting then a 20 somethings love life

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  4. There's something about Ross's movements that remind me of a really good gymnast at a Level 6 State meet. I love her body, but she's got some weird carriage issues at times.

    They keep deleting this comment on IG, so imma post it here: Shawn has got to stop with the drawn out over-marketing of herself. I was IN LOVE with this girl for years, but with each additional exposure, this disgusted feeling builds up up in me. The way she reads her book -- like she thinks she's actually saying important, thoughtful pearls -- makes my stomach turn. Even her blog is now just one long running advertisement of herself. What people loved before was the perceived good-natured, midwestern, aww-shucks girl. Not this dipsh*t who thinks she is really deep with her juvenile platitudes.

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  5. Shawn's aw-shucks personality has been put on ever since she got an agent who told her how cute and lovable she is.

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  6. at least shawn says more than everyone else ie "i've been working really hard in the gym and camp is hard but all the girls are friends" she's tackling real issues like body image and being confused about life. grrl is real, even if she is also making money. we all have jobs, people.

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  7. You can make money without being annoying and inauthentic. Lipinski and Kwan never whored themselves to the levels of Shawn and Nastia. Shawn is by far the worst because of the put on aw shucks cute crap and now the contradictory weight body image crap.

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  8. Nastia did a pretty stellar job of whoring herself out after the 2008 Olympics, no?? But oh, we can never, ever question the sanctity of St. Nastia and her Russian heritage, now can we??? Give me a break.

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  9. Oh please, Nastia has gotten so much shit for being a media whore. I could care less how these girls make a living, good for them for making bank after dedicating their lives to the sport.

    It's the calculated fakeness that is starting to grate people. There was absolutely no hint from Shawn about her body image until after negative stories came out about her missing classics and possibly nationals. And a book that comes out around trials...please

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  10. Mentioning Lipinski and Kwan. I don't think you can compare them. The media has changed so much since 1998. There weren't massive amounts of talentless reality "stars". The social media that there is now. I'd rather she Nastia & Shawn everywhere. Than Kim K or the horrid Jersey Shore skanks. At-least they have talent & worked really hard to archive what they have!!! They deserve to be famous. They are good role models. I think Shawn is just being honest. I remember when she won AA at Worlds in 2007. People were calling her fat then, even though she was under 100 pounds.
    When she was on DWTS and clearly at a healthy weight. She was called fat then too. Saying she let her self go. She was dancing like eight hours a day. So I get when she said she looks at pictures from the Olympics & says she looks under weight. She gained 25 pounds & still looked healthy. When she was on DWTS. She was a 16 year old girl in 2008. Basically, standing in front of the world in a bathing suit. Most women and girls think it's torture to try on swimsuits, when they're alone in a room. Now think what it would be like to go stand on a podium & have everyone judge you. Especially, as an insecure teen girl. If people said half the things they say about overweight or fat people. About anyone else it would not be accepted. I swear some people are the equivalent of being racist or homophobic. Accept against overweight people. The vile things you hear. People treating them like they're not human. Who cares what someone weights. Does that affect rather they are a good person?



    BTW Michelle did a million t.v. Interviews and appetences. Plus, tons of skating shows and I LOVE her!

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  11. *achieve


    *appearances

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  12. You Shawn lovers are so masochistic coming to AJ's blog. You have serious mental issues. This is not the place to laud the disgusting self-promotion of Shawn Johnson. Go back to IG.

    And I love the comment about Shawn's platitudes. It's like she thinks she is making a "stand" for womens' body issues. IMO, she is just telling herself it's okay to end up looking like her mom: obese. If Shawn was smart, she would be promoting healthy eating and exercise... not psychology. She knows nothing about the latter. She is only a victim of the system. That doesn't mean she should be doling out advice to young girls. That makes me cringe.

    And the Nastia comments are amusing. The Shawn lovers seem to think Nastia is the antithesis to Shawn. Such truly pedantic logic. But it was nice to remember Nastia's "fashion" line that no one gave a shit about. At least she wisened up and stuck with gymnastics.

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  13. Kyla Ross does clean but incredibly robotic gymnastics. It's like watching a robot on the beam. No expression, no artistry, no subtle movements or inflections of the arms and head. Like a robot. That said, she is a fierce competitor - incredible - and I suspect will be a force to be reckoned with for a spot on the team

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  14. Ha - I love the last line on the Shawn Johnson book preview. "She's Shawn Johnson and she just MIGHT have a lot to say." What a ridiculously luke warm endorsement. Oh, and that guy's voice is creepy.

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  15. LOL. Obviously, St. Nastia is the paragon of authenticity AND intelligence. Give me a break. Phony with a capital 'P.'

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  16. I know some people will hate me for saying this but I really don't like Kyla for the olympic champion. She's lovely, she's clean, she seems to be a great girl, I love her quite but still charming personality, her long lines and her body type. But I don't know, you expect sth more for an olympic champion.

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  17. To be honest I think Shawn's book will be a great inspiration for 10 - 14 years old girls (I really don't mean this in a bad way). I'll be more than happy to buy this book for my 11 years old daughter who is a junior gymnast but I'd never read it my self. Andreea's book on the other hand, well, I'd copy the whole book on google translate in order to read it

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  18. my lord, she's a child. Do you have any respect for her?

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