WinForPooh

I don't watch much ice dance (I should) but what I'm sick of already is Romeo and Juliet. Dear God, so many Romeo and Juliet. Right now, I'm so annoyed with the whole lot of them that I'll take Junhwan's truly and mindblowingly odd R+J ED mix with DiCaprio screaming JULIEETTTTT in the middle. I'm honestly so glad Yuzu went with two such distinctive programmes. I think if he had done Latin I would've wept a little and not all of the tears would've been happy. I'm also very very happy that his going back to beginnings didn't lead to a reinterpretation of his own R+J. Another version.

Everybody's free to have their opinions! We all have flawed opinions. I cringe majorly when I see European or American skaters do Bollywood but I know that's mostly because of my biases and it doesn't mean that they can't do it well, they could probably do it great and I might even like it if I could wipe my eyes and brain clean of my preconceived notions. It's cool, we like what we like, and as long as we try to be open to having our opinions changed when somebody unexpected comes along with a blazing hot version of something we think wouldn't suit them, it's all fine, I think!

Perhaps because it was not referring to 'someone', as in one particular person, but skaters from an entire continent? That makes it a blanket statement that 'A' does not suit thousands of people simply because they are from a particular continent, and that is a statement that relies on stereotyping skaters from that particular continent? There's a difference between saying 'Skater A does not move in a way that suits the movements and feeling of a tango', or saying 'the way of movement that you see from skaters who train under skating school B, especially under coaches C and D, does not do well with tangos', and saying 'Spanish music is not very suited for Asian skaters', which stereotypes both Spanish music and Asian skaters? Having that opinion is, of course, a person's choice, but acknowledging that that opinion might come across as a little offensive while expressing it is a fair thing to do? ETA: Especially since isn't Satton's FS this season a tango that's been getting a lot of appreciation?! And I'm pretty sure Mao did at least one tango, too.

It is smart wording. And Artur has put it in his competitive programme so that must mean that he's somewhere close to it. But then I'm also pretty certain that if anybody other than Yuzu lands one without any UR at all in practice, it will go straight up on social media. Yuzu seems to be one of the few people in the skating world who would not want a perfectly landed 4A in practice to be put up anywhere for hype of any kind! We know he can do it now. It's a matter of landing it 'every time' and doing it to his standards before he can put it in his programme.

Because his twizzle-3A in Otonal at ACI got a +1 from one judge.

Maybe we should have a +1 GOE emoji too.

It's okay, it looks like he's decided he wants both - to skate his programmes to bring his ideal vision to life, and to win everything and break everything. Last year, after ACI silver, he gave us the 4Lz.

Is it really only a month to Helsinki? So close and yet so far! I cannot wait to see how he's developed both Otonal and Origin.

In interviews (the one translated that's linked above) he says he planned 3F in his layout, too. He was doing 3F-2T. He was going for 4S-3T, 4T-3A and 3F-2T as his combos. I suppose it doesn't fit with the integrity of the choreo to do solo 3F and a 3A-lo-3S because that would be higher BV.

Including the 4F. I mean... "I'm afraid I won't be jumping the Lz or the F because I still feel a little odd when I pick." The very first open practice we see: Jumps the 3F multiple times. He wasn't talking about the triples, was he? That means the 4F, despite all odds, is somewhere on the horizon. Far away, but there.

I love his sit twizzles from R+J1 so much and now he's levelled up and I'm just.... All dead bunny.

I'm never going to be able to read any of your posts to the end, not with that sig.

They have kept all details about him under wraps for years now, and they managed what must have been insane pressure for information in the run up to PC, and managed the information flow during it perfectly, too. So judging by previous form, if a senior TCC coach said something to a fan, it's probably not something they consider sensitive information.

I kind of also think that if Ghislain is talking to somebody he knows is a fan, we don't really need to babysit him about the information he gives out. I'm sure he's aware that there are a lot of people who love to get news about Yuzu, for whatever reason, and I guess we can be pretty confident that nobody at TCC would let out actual confidential information, or anything that would be harmful, when talking to fans?

Oh, he does? It makes sense, I guess. What with the increased attention after the second OGM and putting on CiONTU and all that.

He didn't hold the skate over head pancake position for long enough, but even with that he wouldn't have got the WR, I think. Though I don't think anything could distract him when he's skating.

I blame your sig for me forgetting what I was about to say. That's my favourite moment from the whole thing. Sit twizzles into spin, AAAAAAAAHHH he's too good to be true!

That's a lovely moment and I'm very glad you got to give the pin to him, it's really pretty and so appropriate. But would you mind editing the private conversation out, even if no names are mentioned? Even if you weren't eavesdropping, it was meant to be private, after all.

I don't think anybody was fooled either, but Brian gave those interviews all about it. I don't blame him, he had no choice, it's not like he could just say 'Mr. Hanyu says he is only skating for his own joy and satisfaction now, and he seems to be under the impression that he can have joy without both skating excellently AND winning. We will see how long that lasts.'

Poor Yuzu. I bet he really thought he could hold on to the 'skating only for me and for joy' thing, but bb I think that was the painkiller high. This is just who he is, he'll just have to embrace it like we do. The trouble with skating only for him is that he really really hates not winning. Or not winning by his standards. ETA: Can't wait for Brian's next interview: He's only skating for himself now. What his self wants to do is be the very best, get all the +5s, and win gold. All the gold.

Wow, Fanyus - ask and you shall receive, apparently. I love Yuzu's expression of resigned acceptance.

Yuzu being carried like a rugby ball. I wish I could see it.

Pretty much that. It did get pretty laggy when there was a lot of traffic but there were what seemed to be hundreds of new posts in four minutes, I think it might be that my browser just couldn't keep up, too.

That fan edit with wings. Oh yeah, that's like the rise of the God of Kuyashii all right. And thank you, Ghislain, for taking care of our boy and for putting our minds at ease.