Saturday, August 25, 2012

This and That




Yu-Na Kim reels off as Triple Lutz at All That Skate. It may not be as sturdy or huge as during her Olympic quest, but she has never been much of show skater under spotlights. The girl looks infinitely better than she has since Vancouver.


Johnny Weir's short is indeed Poker Face and he apparently landed his elements at Champs Camp. It would be great if Johnny ever went outside of his box, but we know that is about as likely as Sasha Cohen choosing music not from Skating's Greatest Hits collection. Ricky Dornbush is blaming his disastrous finishes at Four Continents and Nationals on a warped boot. He claims to have his confidence back.

Plushenko vows to defend his European Title.

Ashley Wagner is adding a Triple Flip+Triple Toe to her Red Violin short and Agnes Zawadzki is building confidence.

Mao Asada will compete at the Japan Open.

Every Olympic cycle, we hear athletes make claims after the Olympics and Trials that we know will never come true. Just as Sabrina Vega is going to Rio and Nicole Shapiro may still have that Olympic dream, David Boudia is now mulling the possibility of returning to his gymnastics roots. Given that Boudia is familiar with many of the gymnasts from Indiana (they share personal trainers), it is amazing that he believes that he can make it 'as a vaulter.' Obviously, this is a total mediawhore statement that will never remotely come true, but it makes him look absolutely clueless to anyone in the know. At least he still has his looks. God Bless.

Day 1 of Champs Camp Nuggets

Lance Armstrong has been banned for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for being a disgraceful cheating asshole who earned a fortune with his pursuits. If he were truly innocent, he'd fight to the death for his honor. Given the recovery time in a sport like cycling, the writing was on the wall after his seven titles in this day and age. There is a reason he appeared to be superman and now the French can say they knew it all along.




Elena Radionova was an absolute stud at at her first JGP event. You can only imagine how good she could be if she learns to extend her free leg, raise her upper body and continue to dominate the jumps. She exudes a fighting spirit and has been quite the up-and-comer over the last two seasons.



Jason Brown at the JGP. The boy needs to spend some time with someone life Rafael or Christy Krall to learn how to do a triple axel because it is just not happening and his potential is far too great. Potential may not even be the word. His gift on the ice is so great. With a haircut, a makeover and a triple axel, he could be untouchable in the US. His effort earned him a silver in France.


Vanessa Lam's FS.


Aly Raisman on Young Hollywood

25 comments:

  1. yuna needs help with her spins

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  2. Well, you might like Radiinova and Brown - I found a link for Boyang Jin's FS and he is the one in whom I find the most potential.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M5PkWu7MGg

    His programs are a mess and his concentration goes in and out but his jumps are BEAUTIFUL, he has a beautiful flow over the ice and in contrast to say - Plushenko, there are flashes that shows he can connect to the music (though he as yet is not connecting to the audience).

    I think he's a real diamond in the rough and has potential to be a great skater.

    Radinova I don't find very compelling and Jason Brown: liked his SP a lot better, personally I find there to be something very forced about his flow over the ice - not as organic as say, Johnny's.

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  3. If I could only see Yu-na Kim in Yagudin's position lol

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  4. I don't get the Brown hype, he's not that great even putting the 3A aside. As far as Yuna, great skater but I don't see her repeating Olympic gold with that spiral against a Lipinskaya.

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  5. Yuna...wow... slow, wobbly. Still doesn't look like she wants to be out there.
    Jason Brown, love the way he moves, but definitely needs help with music and costume selection. WTF??? The short music was ...what?? WTF was that?? Horrible, with an equally horrible costume. The free, zzzzzzz ... oh, sorry, dropped off again just thinking about it...

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    1. Yuna is naturally reserved and doesn't look like she's having the 'big O' when she's enjoying herself. There are people like that you know, but maybe you need people to wear smilie masks to read their emotions?

      As for the wobbly landing on a triple LUTZ, considering the reigning world champion didn't even attempt it at Worlds while Yuna does it in a summer ice show after being away from competition for two years...that's actually saying something.

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    2. I don't need "the big O" . But I do like to see some passion and fire. I like the skater to look like they actually like to skate.

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    3. She seems to be having fun in this clip and other videos of this performance on Youtube. Perhaps taking off your troll glasses will help you see better? LMFAO.

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    4. maobot or japbot..--

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  6. Yuna is Fantastic. Fast, expressive, beautiful... against pathetic wishes of some retarded trolls here. Considering that she skipped a whole season and it is still months away from her first comeback competition, she is heading to a right direction.

    As Yuna mentioned a few days ago, her jump may need a bit of tweak to get back to her competitive form, but still a 3Lz is a 3Lz, which was as rarely seen during the last season as Mao Asada standing on the podium. Yuna's performance here with a 3 flip added still can kick any Japanese skaters' asses with lifeless, horrible performances of the last season out into the space.

    Welcome back, Yuna.

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    1. umm, were not trolls, some of us actually don't like her skating style but can still appreciate she's a great skater. I'll take ekaterina gordeeva's solo skate of giselle any day and she was a PAIRS skater.

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    2. Hm. So condescending. Please keep in mind that /you/ are not Yuna.

      Anyway, it's nice to see Yuna back. I've never really cared for her exhibition programs (with the exception of 'Bulletproof' and 'Meditation de Thais'), but the fact that she threw a 3Lz into the mix was nice; perhaps it's extra practice for her competitive programs.

      I would have to disagree, Anonymous 2:09PM, that all the Japanese skaters' (I'm assuming you're talking about female skaters) performances were "lifeless". Mao's "Scheherazade" performances were quite spirited in general and Akiko seems to project to the audience well, as questionable as her jumps may be.

      I also agree with Anonymous 2:17PM that Ekaterina Gordeeva's "Giselle" was absolutely wonderful. The opening combination spin of that program was exquisite.

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    3. Some trolls here are so eager to launch their judgment on Yuna's 3-Lutz ignoring the fact that it is only an exhibition some four months away from her planed competitive return... these trolls seem still raw about poor Mao's defeat in Vancouver 2010. It's been more than two years and it's about time to let it go.

      While I find Gordeeva's Giselle pleasing, it is stupid to compare between Yuna's performance here and Gordeeva's Giselle when Yuna's program isn't even of Giselle. LOL at another pathetic fail from the trolls.

      Speaking of Giselle, I find Gordeeva's version stomping the horrid and mind-numbingly dumb flops by Miki Ando and Yukari Nakano.

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    4. ...And welcome back the Yuna-bots

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    5. I heard Kim's announcement on her return stirred up the beehive of Maotas and other Japanese skater bots. LOL at seeing their tits getting excited here as well.

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    6. @Anonymous 4:39PM:

      Out of the now-18 comments here, not one commenter has launched a negative comment SPECIFICALLY about Yuna's 3Lz.

      Perhaps you are the one who needs "calm yo' tits, homie", yeah?

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    7. And what's up with bring up Gordeeva's "Giselle" out of blue? Look down Anonymous 5:08 PM, that's right. It's your little angry tits people here are talking about. Easy girls. Sleep. lol.

      Watching Maotas launching their sad trolling at Kim is always entertaining.

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    8. Oop. Watch out, guys. We're dealing with a badass over here.

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  7. The rink doesn't seem of the official size, and Yu-Na still managed to squeeze in her triple Lutz. Considering her huge triples require a large piece of real estate leading into them, it is quite impressive. Well done. After all these years, she still has the fire. How much I missed her skating.

    Yu-Na's comeback to the competition later this year and at 2013 Worlds will give the Ladies' field a desperately needed infusion of life.

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  8. After watching Yuna Kim's performances here, I am actually getting warmed up for the women's field this coming season, which NEVER happened throughout last season. I am sorry to say this but I think Japanese skaters and their cautious approaches are ruining the Ladies' field. Kim's comeback hopefully changes that.

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  9. Yu-na attempting a 3Lutz in an iceshow and actually making it. Pure class. 'nough said.

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  10. Will skating ever have another Michelle? Or even a Sasha? Everyone else is so...not them. mer.

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  11. lol People are already fighting, but the season hasn't even officially started yet. This season is gonna be good.

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  12. Last day of ATSS and Yuna does a perfectly clean Roxanne:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qebK6CdGBco

    A clean 3Lutz. :)

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  13. I was a bit disappointed when I heard Johnny was doing Poker Face for his short, but I'd rather that than some old competition cliche.
    In 2009, Poker Face WAS Johnny going outside the box. Remember, he was skating to classical, Sinatra, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, etc. Never pop. As much as it's a repeat, it's a brave risk to do this in competition, and the choreography will obviously have to change a lot to accommodate all the required elements (I think the show version had one triple). Plus, non-skating fans will watch and pass it along. So we'll have to see how it ends up.

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