May 29

In the offseason, I find myself watching/rewatching old videos on youtube, and this one came up as a suggestion for me.  I had already seen Tanith and Ben's 2007 FD multiple times before, but it had been a while, so I decided to refresh my memory.  I really like this program.  I know they changed programs midway through the season, but it was definitely a good change, and one can only imagine the level their "Amelie" program would have been at with just one more competition under their belt.  Watching this program also had me thinking about Meryl and Charlie's unseen Amelie program, and I decided that it was a good idea that they skated to the waltzes instead.  Honestly, I don't think they could have pulled Amelie off - it just doesn't match their style.  Oh well.

Anyway, the combination lift about halfway through the program is exquisite!

May 28

First of all, here is one of my favorite Sasha programs from the 03-04 season.  I have posted about it before, but she performed it so nicely many times that I am posting about it again.  It seems almost every year, a top skater tries to capture the essence of Swan Lake, but not to many have been memorable and successful.   The few that have include, of course, Oksana, Sasha, and in a modern way, Dai.  With the Black Swan being such a hit, interest in the Swan Lake ballet has increased tremendously, and it is inevitable that at least a few skaters will try to tackle this program next season.

Good luck.

This post is not over yet!  Sorry to anyone that reads, but I have not been as active with my posts lately because I am really busy right now.  It's also the offseason, so there aren't competitions to give predictions/reports about, so there is, in general, less to write about.  Hopefully, more skaters will announce their music selections for next season soon, and when enough skaters do I will post on that.

Finally, I was watching some old Yukina Ota, Sasha, Arakawa, etc. programs, and I had a thought.  With the spirals essentially gone from ladies skating, something has to be done.  Not to mention the lack of decent layback spins from half the field, now the only thing distinguishing that ladies from the men are the jumps.  Something needs to be done.  In the SP, the requirement is "sideways or layback spin".  This should be changed to layback spin.  The shoulders must be parallel to the ice, and a layback position must be achieved for this element to count.  Second, the spiral sequence needs to be changed again.  The spiral should still be in the SP with the rules in effect this season - two 3 second spirals, or one 6 second spiral, for 2 points.  In the LP, it should be changed to a moves in the field sequence which includes the spiral requirements listed above, but must also include other classic moves that seem to be disappearing unless for 1 second before a jump as a "difficult entrance".  This includes spread eagles, ina bauers, split jumps, stag jumps, hydroblades, etc.  The moves in the field sequence would be worth 3 points, and MUST COVER THE ENTIRE ICE SURFACE.  No offense, but I'm tired of seeing the only moves in the field of a program held for a split second with, most of the time, no relation to the music, immediately preceding an element to boost GOE.

Ok, rant over!

May 25

Those edges.

I can't

May 23

Oh hai Brian.

Hot.

May 17th

I have been trying really hard to diversify my pick of the days (aka not just stan Mao Asada every day), but I think it has been a reasonable amount of time since my last post on Mao!

I have chosen her 2007-2008 GPF LP, where she found her self first to skate after completely skipping her lutz in the SP.  This is probably my favorite LP performance of hers, because she has it all in this program. There are only two things that bother me about this program. 1) the ugly combo spin at the end, and 2) the lack of a triple salchow.  She has speed, elegance, seamless choreo, etc., not to mention a clean triple axel and two clean triple-triple combinations.  THIS is what Mao needs to bring back next season if she wants to re-establish herself on top.

May 16th

This post is about a relatively unknown Russian skater.  She is not at the level of the other wonder-babies technically, but her artistry and carriage on the ice is vastly superior to many of her more technically proficient country-women.

Her name is Polina Korobeynikova.  I really hope Russia gives her a JGP assignment so she can get some international experience, and I also hope she gets a triple lutz in her programs next season so she can establish herself as a competitor at Russian Nationals.

May 15th

Another skater who holds the could've should've would've status had she not struggled with so many injuries: Ann Patrice McDonough.  She is probably the only Tom Z. skater I can bear to watch, and it makes me wonder why the rest of his skaters don't carry the type of effortless speed, have as nice posture and stretch, or as fast, well-centered spins as she has.  Oh well...

May 14th

Another favorite skater of mine is Yukina Ota.  It is really unfortunate that she had so many injuries, but then again, with her not-so-solid jump technique, she would have been penalized harshly had she skated with the CoP.  Her flow across the ice is beautiful, as are her wonderful ina bauers and spins.  It is a shame that she didn't have better jumps - to think about it, perhaps her poor jumping contributed to her injuries - because she had everything else she needed to become a world medalist/champion.

Enjoy it while it lasted:

And the obsession continues...

That is, my obsession with Lambiel.

I HAS FORMSPRING

I made a formspring!
Anyone can ask me questions here at: formspring.me/skateskates1

POTO

Two different programs to POTO, two very talented skaters, two (almost) clean performances.  How would they stack up against each other if skated at the same competition?

I would have Takahashi ahead of Chan, but that is just my preference.  I would say the second quad in Chan's LP cancels the step-out on the triple axel and makes the two programs, content wise, fairly equal.  But who deserves the higher PCS? Takahashi by a mile.  He is flying throughout the entire program, especially in the second half, and the intensity he brings is real, whereas Chan just seems to be going through the motions to pick up points.  I never real see Chan ever let go during his programs and perform.  (Writing this last sentence, I wanted to say performances, but just couldn't because I do not consider them performances, but programs. )  Takahashi always gives it 110% throughout the entire performance, no matter how successful his jumps are.  Yes, sometimes he can get a little out of control, but it is much more interesting than 10 hitch-kicks and the same dance-mowhawk-leg extension in every program.

May 6th

It's Friday!
The offseason has officially begun (well it already happened), so now it's time for many star studded shows in Asia!  Yuna's show ATS just happened, and some very thoughtful fans have started to upload fan cams of performances.  One I did get a chance to see was Stephane Lambiel's performance to a male version of "Please don't stop the music", and it made me realize how much I miss him in competitive skating.  I wish he would come back and just do Euros or something he could win and show us (fans) something interesting that we can connect with, as no other skater currently competing, besides Takahashi, really has that same quality that draws you in.

A New Discovery

Now that it's the offseason, we I find myself watching the suggestions YouTube gives me to further my figure skating knowledge.  Today, I have discovered this Maria Butyrskaya exhibition number set to Adagio by Albonini.  Although she was incredibly inconsistent (or consistently made mistakes at big competitions) throughout her career, Butyrskaya had some nice moments, including her Otonal program and her SP at 2000 worlds.  This dramatic exhibition is just wonderful, with the exception of some strange arms-behind-the-back attitude position that I think is supposed to look dramatic...?  You can watch the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLTvdUSEKJA
There is fluff at the beginning, which you can watch if you so desire...

Anyway, the real reason for this post is that it made me realize I wanted someone to skate to this.  The piece is very dramatic and angsty, yet does have some variations to it if you listen to the piece in its entirety.  I want someone to use this as there short program, but someone who can pull it off.  I think that Yuna Kim should skate to this, and it would be such an improvement over giselle.  Either that, or I want Lambiel to skate to it...but then again, he could skate to anything.

Enjoy :)