Xen

Okay, so today is 七夕 in China, aka also known as the lunar calender Valentine's day. The idea is kind of based on the story of the cowherd and the weaver girl (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cowherd_and_the_Weaver_Girl). Considering how much we all love Yuzu, I thought we might as well leave a wish for him. And hey Tanabata is based on this. So.... Unfortunately, we don't really do anything quite like Tanabata festivals , and it's turned into a commercial holiday in China.

I'm amazed anyone can jump without going fully off axis in that *thing.* Especially thing lump on the back-that's not aerodynamic at all!

It's so corny a commercial that it works (kind of). Besides, you have to give the guy credit for managing to look nice and lean, in an all-white outfit. White looks amazingly flattering on him. BTW, the nickname for Yuzu's FaOI dory costume in Chinese Baidu bars, is egg-drop soup.

Hmm, I don't do these exercises usually, but there is one I've tried out before. Do 3-turns down the line, but instead of holding onto the edge when you exit, do a side toe hop. Hmm, it's inside forward 3's, so it would be say, RFI 3, toe hop--> LFI 3-->toe hop down a line. I want to try these: (look it's Brian!) Currently I'm stuck on twizzles. I can get 3-4 rotations off for the RFI twizzle, but often enough the 3rd or 4th rotation has a little loop like shape (like a spin loop). Not sure how to fix it...I'm I moving too much towards my inside edge? Still can't find my balance point exactly for the LFI twizzle, so I can do at most a pitiful 2 rotations. =_=

He can still do a latin dance/tango routine. Dare him to follow the female ice dancers on costumes- deep cut on the back and no illusion mesh!

You think it would end? I really would want to know how much he can drive the sale of chocolates for Lotte, household products for P&G necklaces for phiten. I can imagine a lot of the sponsorships/endorsements (even with ANA) continuing even after his competitive career. His name's pretty well known, and being photogenic (does the guy age?!) helps. As for Yuzu himself-given his competitive streak, he'd probably excel at whatever he puts his mind to.

@Hydroblade and @¯\_(ツ)_/¯: My gods, I'm so sorry. It was a typo, I've gone back and corrected it. Our dear Do-S overlord, thy humble servant is truly sorry for getting thy titles wrong. Please forgive the mistake of this lowly one. On the issue of commentary, I'm not really sure how commentators can say so much during the actual skating. There's not that much time between elements, so I imagine the more interesting critique would be done during replay. But IMO, I think the video where Max and Angelo were talking about the jumps of say Aliev and Jin Boyang, that was the content that skating commentators should aim for. It was short, concise, educational and does help more normal casual viewers understand why certain skaters are considered stronger/weaker jumpers etc. But I can also see where this can become agenda-pushing, and in women's I'm not sure how it would work. Also, I think such commentaries could make more casual fans knowledgeable. That's a good thing- judges and even ISU would be pushed to be more transparent if the notion that even casual viewers may opine on whether something was judged correctly. To a degree, I think the tech panel is kind of under-utilized. If such short series such as that by Max and Angelo increase general knowledge, it might help push for more objectivity in some aspects of skating. I don't expect PCS to be more objective, there are just too many subjective factors and influences that would affect PCS scores. But TES-that one aspect (especially BV) that skaters should have the most control to determine their destiny. That is one that should have greater transparency. But hmm, if we ever do make our own commentaries, I would like to request that each time a quad is cleanly landed, we need to yell out "GOAAALLLL!"

He can add blue highlights to the inner layers of hair. That way the blue only flashes when his hair is flying-like in jumps, spins etc. But normally, because the outer layers are black, you won't notice it. =D

Courtesy of @meoima and the jello knife, I now have an image of Yuzu with a lion's mane, skating to Lion King soundtrack , while waving around toy jello knives (blunted edges, nothing sharp). Or maybe....his blades can be made of jello, the ice is cold enough that the jello should not melt. Hmm...... (The ode is not forming correctly, bunnies cannot decide which form to stick to, go haiku or not)

I'm never looking at jello the same way again. Courtesy of our musings about Yuzu, your cats will be well fed, eh?

(my muse bunnies would like to thank you for your approval, though I'm mad at them since they are nagging me to write an ode to the arm hair *sigh*) Actually no, he could do his hair Gwendel Peizerat style. Shoulder length, wavy, dye it dark honey blonde, then we can fashion it like a lion's mane. It'll look awesome if he ever decides to do a R&J 1.0 style roar. The color-we can say it's "golden" right?

(I've fed the muse bunnies their second dosage of caffine today, so they're buzzing and going looney, okay?) See M'lord, this is deseparate times. Thou must take this seriously. In a side effect of "off-season madness", subjects have actually started musing on whether thy arm hair is or is not within the realm of "normal expectations" they had of thou's arm hair quantity (thankfully quality has not entered the discussion). And after moving away from arm hair, there are even discussions about whether thy "head-hair" should be permed or bleached. M'lord, this cannot go on for much longer, it is not sustainable. Especially since even the cryptid instagram sightings numbers have decreased. At some point a signal must be given, else the madness will go out of control.

I'm on the plunging V neck and back bandwagon. Swear, it's all Swanyu's fault.

See M'lord? The lack of information regarding your season programs, music choices, lack of layout speculations and costume speculations, have turned thy loyal subjects' minds to more mundane matters, like thy arm hair. Surely, thou would prefer the subjects to discuss more high level issues, no?

*looks at the discussion for the past 3-4 pages* To our forever Do-S, but benevolent and magnanimous overlord, ruler of the swans, sparkles and glitterbombs: Thy loyal subjects understand that m'lord is extremely busy in arranging the plans for next season, as well as taking a much needed recovery and recuperation period from the busy June and July schedule. As such, they have busied themselves with various subjects, such as the nature and expressions of external commentators (not all of which are related to m'lord), which have produced fruitful discussions. There have also been guesses regarding the music that m'lord shall use next season, as well as the court ladies who will make an appearance come the lauded "media day"-which thy loyal subjects still believe will be held this year (though there appears to be wide debate about the specific dates or even if it will be held amongst your subjects). Thy loyal subjects have also started a very hot topic regarding hair styles and the mix of skirts and tutu's-brought about by thy devoted friend Jason Brown's recent change. While there are some guesses that it is "snip snip day" in TCC, there are definitely loyal subjects who have suggested otherwise that a change of m'lord's hairstyle to a long, possibly late 1800's ponytail bob might be fitting. As well as suggestions of matching hairstyle with a russian ballet program, with glittery lilac tights (due to the recent allowance of tights for men) might be suitable. Elsewhere, some subjects on the platform known as twitter, have suggested a plunging deep V-neck and back (with nerve to suggest no illusion mesh too) in the fashion of the famous "swanyu" costume. While thy humble servant here will not opine on these issues, thy humble servant would like to kindly point out that the above topics are part of this symptom called "off-season madness." A thing that is brought on by prolonged periods where thy loyal subjects are left with no information, other than a few cryptid sightings in instagram photos, on the movements of m'lord. In which case, many of thy loyal subjects will fill in their idle time with random, disconnected musings of m'lord. Some of which makes sense, some of which are angsty, and some of which are so random and out of orbit even thy humble servant is not sure what to make of it. As such, thy humble servant would like to forward an insignificant petition to m'lord regarding this off-season madness. If m'lord in the process of lurking over the nets, in thy generosity, would be so kind as to reveal the next music and programs for the new season soon, and kindly cure thy subjects of this madness, instead of waiting for the ACI event, or even September. Such an action would be extremely well received and cure thy subjects of said madness. Signed, Thy Humble and Devoted Servant, Xen *sorry guys, in short I'm bored, my muse bunnies are bored, they miss Zu too*

I wonder what Yuzu would do for music choices (or better yet, what Jeff and Shae would do). Considering his fame, he might bring some recognition to lesser known musical pieces or composers-and then maybe we'll see more diversity in skating music. Now....to see if there is some asian tango piece since I did bet on him bringing a tango or latin piece to the SP.

I'm trying to remember who asked, but it seems from the initial news from Brian (I think...), Orser was initially approached by Shen, not directly by Boyang's coaches. Now, since Boyang is part of the national team, any such decision, even if he was the one who suggested it, will go via Shen and Zhao. So whether this was Shen and Zhao acting on their own, a request from Boyang, a request from Boyang's current coaches, we don't know. As for what backlash there will be, I don't think anything super severe. China right now doesn't have another man in the senior ranks. And if it is a political turf war between conservative factions and more liberal factions, they can't rely on Zhang He either (Zhang He is training under the same coaches as Boyang, so if that team is part of the conservative faction). But he has to deliver, otherwise I think the media could get a bit nasty. He's not Sui/Han, yet he rebuffed the head coaches for the national team and arguably one of the best training teams (TCC) in a way that even Sui/Han won't dare to imagine. If he doesn't bring back results, it is possible that the media will bite him (though there is also some news that CSA has been trying to protect him by limiting news reporting to media that won't hurt athletes). Anyways, what happens, happens. As for the photos of them in first class...honestly, I'd be really surprised if CSA would buy them anything less than business class. It's pretty standard-you're asking a team of foreign coaches to travel 12+ hours by plane, suffer jet lag, to come over here and train your students. And you buy them economy? The nerve...the chinese netizens would mock CSA for being penny pinchers.

Well I was thinking maybe Aug 29th - Sept 6th, some time between those dates are the ones I'm eyeing for some reason. Granted, this is hypothetical, if I were Yuzu I'd probably rest and do more off-ice conditioning first after arriving in Toronto, and not go jump happy first. Ankle probably needs a bit of time to recover, since the amount of skating during the ice shows was a lot. So real training probably only picked up around late July (was that when the medical report about his healing progress being as expected came out?), which means getting back his quads and crazy transitions probably will happen after Mid-Aug. And I somewhat suspect he wouldn't open media day without his 4Loop being back.

Depends on what happens afterwards. I'm not sure if it's fully true, but there were some saying that the issue with Boyang wasn't even his fed or his local fed, but the coaching team politics. There were also others saying that the reason why pairs and ice dance can do things faster (and get the dance teams overseas) is because CSA has a more direct mandate over the skaters, so local factors can't go rogue.

Pretty much. They funding for Boyang came down, they have to explain to the sport fed what they do with it, and either use it or lose it (and make it harder to ask for funding later). Then there's the issue that TCC got smacked in the face by a single skater (and maybe if politics is involved, one rogue provence fed or one rogue coaching team). So better use that money and make it smoother for both the fed and for TCC. Now though, I am curious if they're going to do something similar to what they did with Gadbois- have TCC coaches come to China, but maybe later on, allow TCC to select a couple skaters whom they could see fit into the training at TCC, then have the CSA fund that skater's training overseas.

I agree, I think the signing between TCC and CSA is more like summer seminars, and just regular training programs for chinese skaters. Also, this is possibly another method to attract young skaters to switch to the national team. Many young, promising skaters are not switching to the national team yet because they don't like handing autonomy to the fed, but this move might lead some parents of said young skaters to re-evaluate their decisions. For example An Xiangyi and some of the younger novice girls are not switching to the national team yet due to reasons such as education and autonomy. Zhao and Shen have to make joining the national team an attractive option, and having BOrser in China for even 1 of the 2 national team selection camps, as part of a training seminar is a factor that would have more young skaters join in the national selection camp. Think this year they invited Ekaterina Gordeeva for pairs. As for Boyang....I think it's part his own choice, and part politics. I would be curious if *any* of the skaters under Boyang's coaches attended or made the national selection team. Some hypothesis in the Chinese baidu bars was that his own coaching team persuaded him to stay in China. And well, other than Boyang, they don't really have another A-rank skater (Zhang He didn't get listed in the national team selection camp either for Aug). There's quite a few who think there's a political warfare between the "liberal" camp and the more "conservative" factions, and if BOrser becomes Boyang's head coach, well the conservative factions would lose out. Then there's the issue of funding and where younger skaters are being sourced from. It's not all from heilongjiang (traditional powerhouse of winter sports in China). With the growth of commercial rinks, the traditional powerhourse provences will see challenges from Beijing, Shandong (a lot of ex national team guys coach out of Qingdao), possibly Shanghai (which has a slew of good young skaters, and 2 oly sized rinks), even more remote areas such as Guangzhou (never thought a place without snow would produce skaters? think again), and Shanxi (Xi'An I aware of having a really excellent coach), and cities such as Chongqing (know a locale girl who does a 3 hour commute each weekend to go train there, the coach there got her a 2.7 m long 2A).

Great, now get me some canadian geese to train.

Pish, real wild swans can sniff out fake swans faster than you think. This fake swan is not welcome in the territory.

Okay, that's it, we need to train a bunch of swans to sniff out unwanted paparazzi. They can leave poor Noto and Tanaka and the authorized photographers hiding in the bushes alone. They can fly around the area between his home and TCC, and wherever paparazzi are, a horde of swans can go chase after them, like this swan vs the sign. (there's an evil part of me that would be laughing my head off if I see a bunch of paparazzi being chased around by wild swans and geese. I'd volunteer to train them if need be)

Well, the swan image does fit him. Graceful, serene, but underneath that water surface the paddling is furious. And beneath all that calm veneer, it can be aggressive and attacking? Think it was in random thought theatre, but wasn't there a long list of posts detailing aggressive male swans? Yeah, no similarity to a certain human swan's competitive tendencies...