Xen

We only wish we looked that good opening a car trunk.

Hmm, I'll wait to make conclusions about GOEs after I see more of the top 6 men skate relatively clean next to each other in the same competition. Judges should be able to judge each skater on an absolute basis, but really they judge skaters relative to each other. I'm forgetting which tweet it was, but some Japanese tweet had the highest scoring elements so far, and the highest still went to Yuzu, second was Shoma (diff was about 0.3). But since Yuzu had the slightly stricter ACI, while Shoma had Lombardia, I have a feeling those Lombardia points won't hold up. If I had to take a guess at how GOEs will be ranked amongst the top men this season for jumps, I would wager still, the order would be: - Yuzu -Giant cluster of Shoma/Nate/Kolyada/Dima/Keegan -Boyang/Cha/Zhou

Okay....if we have to pick just 1 program from the last quad...I'll pick Olympics 2018 Chopin. Yes, Seimei in the LP was the winning program, but I think after months of worry, frustration, people doubting his ability to even compete well, Olympics Chopin was the biggest statement Yuzu could have made to shush everyone. It was mercilessly clean, and so well done, at a level that other men could ever dare hope to reach. Fitting that he said to Brian "I'm back." Because it was very Yuzu-esque: a "Don't you dare doubt me" type of performance, beautifully done, effortless skating, that makes you wonder, was he really injured and barely able to skate for 3 months. Granted afterwards we knew better, that he really wasn't fully back-just 40% back- but watching Chopin you would not believe it, not a single misstep or wobble was seen.

Nate should be fine even with a 5 quad layout-most of the other men are doing 4 in the FS. It wouldn't hurt him to move more quads to the first half as training time is already cut significantly with schoolwork, and for this season at least, stability and consistency is more important than increasing the quad count with the new GOE range. He's got 4 types of quads-he can safely land on podiums if he lands all his jumps clean. That would lay a much better foundation for next season. Then train the 4Lo into shape and he should be fine for heading into 2022. (in so far as match-up with other guys are concerned. Nate's main loss would be against Yuzu, since usually Yuzu wins the GOE game. He is about even with Shoma, but overall Nate should have a higher BV and his PCs is rising-dead even and depending on things, possibly Nate edging out Shoma. There is a potential rival in Boyang on the BV count, but usually Boyang gets lower GOEs and PCs anyways, so Nate's PCS cushion against Boyang should still hold. Not sure why the layout is still focusing so much on the quad BV count, when Nate should be trying to cement higher GOEs and PCs, since that's the biggest difference between him and Yuzu.)

OK, back on ice today. Left outside turns still hurt a bit, so spins and spirals are disaster zones. I have been relegated to edge exercises. At least my counters have yet to abandon me.

Well, with a lot of the current Junior guys moving up, they should get to JGP next year at least. Still having a headdesk moment at stsq2 for Yuma. And I guess Kao Miura still loves the boards? Looked at his 2017 Asian Open skates and each time he messed up, it's right when he notices he underestimated the space he had till he hits the boards. Oh, and a really decent write up about the three musketeers junior boys: https://jumpitwithashuulanditwithapa.tumblr.com/post/178628798218/state-of-japanese-skating-ii-yuma-kagiyama-shun

The body guard uncle is a brave brave soul. Imagine looking out into the crowd and thinking, "OMG, so what I signed up for is that any given time, this is the horde that I have to fight off?" All the while imagining those TV shows where a bunch of older aunties or a bunch of younger women fight over the last scrap of discount groceries at a store, or that vera wang discount bridal gown at a wedding store. And your life flashes by where you manage to push Yuzu out, protected, but you yourself is sacrificed to the stampede. XD

I don't know if the knees thing is that you have to bend it low. I bend mine, but definitely not that low, and can still gain speed. Instead of low, I would say your knees should be "bouncy" and springy, so it should be nimble to flex and bend/unbend depending on what you need to do. It's really an issue of stiffness. Also, if it helps, you don't have to always hold your arms up very high. Just keep it at a height where you can balance, and have some degree of softness/flexibility, and you should be fine. As for looking down, since it seems inevitable that everyone will look down at some point. Don't look directly down, instead, if you have to look down, look a small distance away and downwards (like maybe a spot about a meter or half meter away). That way your alignment won't change as much and you'll get more used to holding your neck up a bit. (I want to go back on the ice this week and skate!!!)

Hmm, not as bad as you think you're doing. Only thing I'd suggest for your posture is don't look down. =) There were a couple places where you were not looking down at the ice it seems, and your outside edge was better. When you look down, it seems like you are stick your neck a bit out and down, which is probably making it harder to square your shoulders correctly for holding the outside edge. Other than that...hmm, don't think so much about swinging your leg out. Instead try to hold your free leg slightly behind your skating foot heel, then pass it forward (gently), and not outwards and forwards.

These boys need to back off, she's not even born yet!

To be fair to Yuzu (after all the stabs I've made about his cooking skills), he'd probably excel at detailed, high level, extremely complex stuff. But the simple, mundane stuff-no way. He could probably make macaroons perfectly and super complex puff pastry. But ask him to make normal scrambled eggs? Oh boy, no. Which is kind of adorable in it's on weird way. XD

Hmm...I think I have an instagram account? But still at work, will take a look when I get home and have access to vpn. =P

...For some reason I imagine Yuzu might still film P&G commercials ever after. Can you imagine years later, opening twitter and watching Yuzu trying to sell baby shampoos and diapers to the masses? All the while holding the baby incorrectly? But nonetheless, the products still sell-out like crazy. As for TV shows in JP, I kinda want him to be a TV commentator for skating. As fun as the game shows are, his competitve instincts might take over and the poor hosts will have no idea what happened.

Was the live guitar riff last year during FaOI? Where he did PW in Chopin 2.0 outfit? For more stuff about Yuzu and music/sound, we also have translations from @gladi https://wherespacepooh.tumblr.com/post/162588835769/the-world-of-figure-skating-music-spun-by-sound So no, Yuzu doesn't edit his own music, but he does have very clear ideas about what music he wants to skate to and how it should work with his layouts. And is a demanding overlord about it. The live guitar riff: this one? https://wherespacepooh.tumblr.com/post/162748997764/behind-the-scenes-of-the-grand-ice-shows-according

I feel like I might be the only one who didn't scream her head off when watching him live for the first time. Granted, I was too happily shell-shocked to be in our overlord's presence to do anything. That and concentrating on keeping him in the frame of my camera because someone skates too fast.

This is a real worthwhile read. Shae has an amazing mind. I think that's why she and Yuzu work so well together. Jeff might challenge him, but Shae challenges him not just physically, but also intellectually-how to express this creation and melding of the divine, the spiritual and mortal in a physical plane, in the form of figure skating. That's why his programs from her recently have been so interesting-she gives him an idea, some hints, and it's up to him to figure out how to actually express this abstract concept and image.

The show that had a hologram of Yuzu's 4A mentioned that he'd need 17 cm more height, and 1 m more distance. So it's a combination of height and distance. At his speed, he'd need to go over 0.8 s airtime. Which he is very close to already. Based on this blog's video analysis, the 4Lz that Yuzu performed, he already had about 0.78s airtime, a distance of 3.15 m and 69 cm. So when he goes for Nessie seriously, it'll probably be even bigger than that. http://www.perform-live.com/blog/video-analysis-of-figure-skating/231-quad-lutz-what-else.html

Love how we're all talking about it as if it's already a landed jump that we've all seen and accepted. XD Well I guess this means we won't lose hair anymore.

Super annoying. And I've never had a sprained ankle, or any broken bones or major injuries before so I have no idea when I'm okay to do anything. I'll probably go skate, currently my leg muscles are a bit weak due to lack of use for weeks. Skating might actually be easier than walking or running, since I just need to push once instead of requiring my legs to be constantly in motion. I was able to still do hydroblading, and spin the day when I sprain my ankle, so I think it should be fine if I do easier footwork. Spinning and jumping I'm actually not afraid of losing, it's actually footwork that I'm worried about losing.

*stares at left ankle* I want to skate you stupid joint, so you and I are going to strap on some skates and do it, come hell or high water during the holiday week. =| It would be a lot easier to help out if I shared ice rinks with you >_<

I always do wonder, when it comes to Yuzu's programs-his earlier Wilson pieces were they done with Wilson because maybe he didn't quite have the stamina or the SS to fully keep up with what Shae had in mind? In comparison, the Shae programs are jam-packed, never boring and physically more taxing. So perhaps there is a gradual hierarchy of difficulty when it comes to choreographers in TCC itself? As for Patrick- there was a day when I sat down and watched a series of his programs. Style wise, it hasn't changed. Do wonder a bit, if in order to emphasize his style, which places importance on showing his SS edges significantly (holding movements out longer than versus Yuzu or even Jav), maybe adapting to other styles, music etc was compromised.

So you're leaning and stabilizing towards the front of your blades? Hmm, but for going forward usually you balance towards the middle of your blade, somewhere like between the ball of your foot and the arch of your foot. How to put it...it's a bit like getting up from a squat position, where your knees are kind of bent, but a bit bouncy, and you're almost completely straight and standing up. =/

Wait, if you are folded in two, do you mean that you are kind of like a "<" sign on the ice? So to a degree, you're sticking your butt out backwards too much? In which case, you are bending at the waist and hips, but your knees are kind of not bending? Hmm...would this help?

To the point, Yuzu's speed does not really stand out on TV- not sure why but most skaters look like they are skating at the exact same speed on TV. But in fancams and especially live, you get a much better sense of speed and flow. Secondly, when we talk about extensions, and filling up the space. That's also something too that gets lost on TV due to cameras doing a lot of close-up on skaters' facial expressions. Yet in fancams and live, you rely more on a skater's presence, arms, legs etc extending properly and flowing properly to get the sense of music-facial expressions at least for me, is something I barely see. So who is moving, and who is not, is more noticeable in fancams and live than via TV. From fancams, I think both Origin and Otonol look better in fancams than in TV. The pacing, and especially the languid section of Otonol seems to lose a bit in TV than live.

Well, what did your coach say? If you have videos, maybe we could take a look, but I'd say go with what your coach is instructing.