Sunday, January 2, 2011
This and That
The producers of Alice In Wonderland On ice graciously allowed Johnny Weir to wear selections from his own wardrobe for his Mad Hatter number.
Not sure if this is recent, but a video of Lambiel in Kings On Ice in Moscow was just posted on youtube. It is another excuse to marvel over his fluidity.
Twenty Questions with Paul Ruggeri
Suzanne Yoculan became a grandmother on New Year's Day!
A Universal Sports blog entry on Evan Lysacek that ends with a tremendously back-handed compliment about respecting his work ethic, even though most fans prefer other skaters. Glorious.
This is a montage of the Gym Dogs made by a fan. We expected to have video of many of their intrasquads, since Jay announced there would be on twitter. By this time, they'll likely be competing before we see anything. Things have changed in Athens since the Media Whore Ms. Yoculan was around. We used to know what kind of cookies Hilary Mauro was baking and what everyone's BMI was (the Chelsa Byrd years.) It is sad but true that it take's Jay Clark's man servant, Kevin Copp, to get anything done. In this day and age, a lack of video tends to be perceived as a sign that the team isn't doing very well. With Ding only a maybe for bars, Nuccio's chronic calamities and Kaylan Earls out for the season, it could very well be true.
Team Japan loves to play a little table tennis. One doesn't need to know the language to be utterly captivated by whatever they do on Japanese Television. I believe this was their nightly newscast. This is even better than when Donny and Marie made the cast of Stars On Ice play Twister.
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The show Kings on Ice with Lambiel took place on March 30, 2009 and was broadcast today on Russian TV.
ReplyDeleteFunny what you wrote about Johnny because he took over Yagudin's role as Mad Hatter. Maybe the blame is on Yagudin for the wardrobe!??! Hahahahha!!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year and thank you for the excellence of the videos you post. I re3ally appreciate the commitment you bring to the sports you feature. Just lovely.
ReplyDeleteA few thoughts: first on Lambiel's Je Ne Regrette Pas: I have seen the "skate" numerous times and he always makes it fresh and moving.
I love the way he does it. New every time and it always reaches into the same place for me.\
Does Plushy do Kings on Ice every year? I thought it was 2010 after the Olympics he did it but if he does it every year (Anonynous said 2009 but I wonder why they would be showing skating from two years ago on TV when they would have last year's show to broadcast but who knows, maybe everybody thought this was his BEST performande?) more power to him.
Loved the Mad Hatter, the jacket played out so nicely. I am curious, in shows like Alice do the performers mostly go out an improvise to their oiwn strengths or is there set choreo?
Did Yagudin get dropped due to the lead pipe incident (which I STILL don't know what that was about, did he threaten somebody in the show?) or did somebody just decide to bring the Russki-lovin' American in? Could ANYBODY do a jump in that hat? Was it nailed down or super- glued to the hair? Anyway, it looked great.
Two lovely videos. THANKS again.
Oh, and that blog on Evan, ouch. I went back and re-watched Windmill w/Feathers. OUCH.
I just don't get it. I agreed w/your Robin Cousins (?) video interview post: there was no joy of the performance in either Evan or Plushy's skates at the Olympics, just the terror of watching them GET THRU IT and I could not enjoy either skate (both had crap choreo in my opinion, what is going on?)
Lastly THANKS again for the skating/gymnastics you illuminate here.
Eva (is anonymous but EVA)
"The show Kings on Ice with Lambiel took place on March 30, 2009 and was broadcast today on Russian TV."
ReplyDeleteOups! Sorry, wrong year!
It's March 30, 2010 (and not 2009)!
SO MUCH MAKING FUN OF YUNA.
ReplyDeleteBut how cute is Miki Ando? I don't love her skating, but she seems so fun and nice!
I never got the whole "Evan Lysacek works harder" thing. I'm sure there are some flakes and people so talented they get by with less work, but at the elite level, pretty everyone puts in countless hours and works through pain and injuries. In Vancouver, quite a few of Lysacek's rivals were coming back from very serious injuries, far more so than his 2009 stress fracture, and had to train like crazy to be able to compete.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that Lysacek, under Carroll's direction, actually worked smarter, not harder, so that he could be consistently good rather than occasionally great. This, combined with a mediocre competition and a truly masterful politikking job (how Carroll and the USFSA convinced the judges Lysacek had fabulous jumps and was worthy of top PCS, I'll never know), is what got him to the top of the podium. But it just doesn't seem as good a lesson to teach kids, does it? I guess I answered my own question.
Kings on Ice was epic. Nine months later and we're still getting good stuff from it. Say what you will about Plushenko, that was a fabulous show that he and his team put together.
Well maybe others prefer different skaters, but Evan Lysacek is without a doubt my favorite! I was lucky enough to be there to see him win Worlds in 2009, the atmosphere was amazing, and I definitely screamed at the TV with joy when he won his Olympic gold!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh I can't even handle how adorable Mao and Daisuke are. But yes they did make fun of Yuna quite a bit. And poor Akiko! Still, gotta love Team Japan. -Lindsay M
ReplyDeleteThat OGM is an embarrassment for the sport.
ReplyDeleteGod, I'm so sick of hearing about Lysacek's work ethic. You'd think no else works hard.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.formspring.me/TheIronLady/q/2016583365
ReplyDeleteTo add to what Lindsay said:
ReplyDeleteI don't understand Japanese, but it seemed like the guys on that TV show were ridiculing Akiko a lot more mercilessly than Yu Na's Bond girl pose - so what's up with that?
Lysacek barely beat a 3 year retiree!! Who worked harder? I think Plushenko obviously!! Lysaceks win was about politics and relentless bashing and hatred of Plushenko. The Lysacek lesson is bash your rivals, don't try the hardest jumps, get people like Inman to politic for you among judges, have a political coach like Carroll and be from the United States! LOL.
ReplyDeleteYes, they were making fun of Akiko, which is a little sad--but they weren't making fun of Yu-Na specifically as much as they were making fun of the figure skating team in general.
ReplyDeleteThey were just teasing Team Japan and trying to distract them. It's not meant to be taken seriously at all. They weren't really making fun of anyone.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that they keep mocking her bond pose because its well known by now, and he does use it when hes distracting them. I think its a compliment that, liked or not, she's referenced in shows there that she's not even in.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, this isnt bad. Either develop a thicker skin or don't watch comedy shows if this bugs you, (because it happens a lot).
@January 2, 2011 4:01 PM
ReplyDelete"They were just teasing Team Japan and trying to distract them."
Yes, indeed.
Yuna has taken the lead in the competition.
They are trying to distract Team-Japan using Yuna's pose. It's not meant to be taken seriously.
Japanese seems to be aware of the presence of Yuna, more than we could ever imagine.
I just hope that this rivaly doesn't go too far.
Well, I was the first person in this thread who mentioned the Yuna teasing, and... I mean, I don't think anyone here was actually upset by it. It was like, one of the only observations I was able to make about the video because I don't speak Japanese. Obviously, they aren't ACTUALLY ridiculing anyone on television. If anyone here were actually upset by it, there would be much harsher language.
ReplyDeleteThere was no lead pipe incident. Yagudin deserved some time off for the holidays. Uh-ohs, someone doesn't look very happy out on the ice. Looks like Johnny Weir obviously doesn't like the person(s) behind and holding the flip-cam, and who but Yente Tara brought her flip-cam. Yes, Johnny is frowning at and very unhappy with Yente Tara and her co-yente partner in crime, Carin. I for one cannot wait for all this to come to a boiling head and for the angry, explosive out-bursts to come when Johnny finally learns the hard, cold truth.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for Johnny to hear that the reason why the judges were not prepared to score his routines at the 2010 Olympics any higher than they did is because the IOC received calls from members of Johnny's team who told the IOC committees that Johnny decided not to compete in the 2010 Olympics. That's also another reason why Johnny didn't have an Olympic medical team on hand when he practiced his routines on the ice. That and the fact that Carin called and told them that SHE was Johnny's "personal physician", when in fact Carin is only qualified to act as a Physician's Assistant, not a fully qualified Doctor. She's not a qualified "sports physician".
ReplyDeleteConsidering who is newly in charge of the content that is posted and released on johnnygweir.com (Yente Tara, Yente Carin, Marshmallow-Josh and a few of his friends, not Johnny, himself), I choose to believe maybe one tenth of the content on that site.
ReplyDeleteLooks like "I'm jealous because I'm not part of Johnny's inner circle" is back.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 1:42, 1:50 and 3:11, I think there's enough hatred against Johnny that there's no need to spread lies and paranoia about him and his inner circle. (Aunt Joyce can't even bring himself to say something nice about Johnny's skating and must instead make fun of his costume, which is part of the show, not part of Johnny's wardrobe.) I don't know where all your hatred comes from, Anonymous. Why don't you live your own life and stop worrying about (and making up stories about) someone else who you don't even know? Whatever you think of Johnny, he's not dumb. The Web site claim alone is ridiculous. He's on top of things enough to read it and rectify anything false on there.
ReplyDeleteTo Eva 9:29 AM
ReplyDeleteYagudin not being in "Alice in Wonderland" has nothing to do with the "lead pipe" incident, he's currently doing another ice show in Moscow. It's just a question of timing.
Plushenko does the "King on Ice" tour every year, usually in Eastern Europe and I believe since 2007.
Although I believe Evan is a very hard working I don't think he's the only one and that's no reason to suddenly enjoy his skating. Why is this lady somewhat dismissing or ignoring the hard work of others. Hard work doesn’t always bring the gold medal and it certainly doesn’t always go to the right one. Please....
ReplyDeleteI just want to say that all of a sudden this thread went strange-0.
ReplyDeleteOne point: EVEN if somebody called to say "I am so and so's doctor," the federation would STILL be obligated to be there, that was the RULE.
And if SOMEBODY called to say somebody was not going to the Olympics, you'd think they'd notice he was there because (wait for it) HE WAS THERE.
Jimminne, I can conspiracy theory with Dan Brown, but that is a STTRANGE-O train of thought.
Thanks for the info on Yagudin, like I said, I did not know what was going on and I hope that it was some made-up deal.
BUT AJ is right: who of us (if we saw JWeir on the street in THAT outfit) wouldn't just go How is that staying on, hair glue?
Eva again
I still don't understand why, after all this time, and winning both Worlds and Olympics, there is still Evan hate going on. I have noticed that the guy just can't be given credit for anything, even for the winning season he had in 2009-2010. I have to correct one mistaken comment. There was absolutely never any Plushenko bashing by Lysacek before or after the Olympics. Frank Carroll has a very strong policy for his skaters to "mind their own business," and that is exactly what Evan did. He was even nominated by SI as Sportsman of the Year for the way he handled himself with Plushenko during the Olympics. But I guess he doesn't need you people to give him the credit he deserves. He is being given it by the larger sports community through the nominations and awards he has won, the most recent being the very prestigious Thurman Munson Award. So who gives a rip what people like you think about Evan Lysacek. He doesn't need your approval. He has the respect and approval of people who really count. You all can just go on being Weird's Whiners.
ReplyDelete