WinForPooh

That looks like it could be nice! She must have worked hard to get that -lo combo.

Oh that's really nice! That's a very nice wish, too. I hope so for him as well.

Yuzu. Sweety. Our dearest and most beloved overlord. Great Alien Space Kitty. Troll who rules our sanity. PLEASE GIVE US MEDIA DAY!!!!

This is where the finger-wagging began! Yuzu and Stephane just took their cue from Brian.

Sing sing sing and R+J2 repeat!

I was thinking that. Had a lot of time to think today (thank you, CoR organisers /sarcasm) and that was one of the things I thought. Ted deserves more appreciation and I am glad that the juniors have him because they deserve him. I wonder what Lord Trollzuru is doing in his cave kingdom. Is he perfecting repeats? Is he getting the feel of a new rock programme? Is he driving his choreographers mad by insisting that they all sit and have a deep discussion over exactly what arm movements would go with that particular Ina Bauer that he only has time to hold for three seconds because of the time cut and so must be extra extra perfect? Is he looking over the costume design and wondering if the colour is just the right shade? Is he wondering if he should troll us with red herring skate guards on media day? PLEASE GIVE US MEDIA DAY!

Why do I keep wanting to eat him. First that banana, now this.

I wonder if he can skate in bellbottoms because Stayin' Alive SP coming up. You heard it here first.

I disagree. For something like the Olympics, especially, where casual viewers tune in, the commentators' words are what they hear and they consider to be knowledgeable opinions. In this particular instance, obviously that particular opinion - that combo, with a slightly UR 4T that was not UR enough to be called UR - has persisted. The combo in the SP was replayed on live TV, in slow motion, and there's absolutely no reason why if they called it wrong in real time, they couldn't have corrected it then. They are doing a tough job but one of the few jobs where you have to do it on the fly and yet they do get the chance to make certain corrections, at least on the big elements. Their opinions might not affect the score, but a lot of people's jobs at a figure skating event don't affect skaters' scores. That doesn't mean they can't be expected to do their jobs well or that they have no effect at all.

They have the advantage of watching slow motion replays of jumps like we do while waiting for the scores, and if they made a mistake in real time, then they should correct it at that time. If they don't, they're not doing their job right.

I'm just here to scream, once again, 'Justice for Han Yan!!!!'

I have to admit, when I saw those very fancy seats and stuff on that flight to Beijing, I was suspicious. In a 'what are the people who organised the whole trip trying to make up for, what did the duck up' kind of way.

Thanks, I have Adele stuck in my head first thing in the morning now. Rolling in the deeeeeeeeep.

Noooooooooo!!!

My first attempt looked like a cactus so I'm afraid you'll have to wait. Before you ask, no, no I didn't save it.

This? This is what you want to call them all in for? THIS?

I feel like my complete lack of talent would be far too embarrassing if all those are the bad drawings of him. Fake competition of good artists trying to show off how not-terrible even their worst efforts are! *grumps off to sit in a corner and nurse my grievances*

Ban the banoctopooh.

FINALLY a competition for people like me!!!

Really O/T Stringers are local freelancers or small agencies that can be hired for certain specific events in that place if a bigger newspaper (or any media company) doesn't have a branch or office there. It can be much cheaper than sending a reporter and photographer out to some place, if you can get a reliable person with accreditation that works for that local event, to go and cover it and send you the report that then you edit in-house and publish. Sometimes stringers are useful because they have better local contacts and sources than a strange reporter from another city, and they can work with reporters, too, but usually, when you hear a stringer has been arranged for, it means you're not traveling to the assignment, you'll be getting reports and you'll be trying to put a story together from it. Imagine the frustration if that happened when you were about to go to TCC for Yuzu day!

Besides, I bet it's a fun junket for the reporters. Sure the management might like to streamline their budget and not send them, but for the reporters, it'd be a perk. There used to be a lot of long bitchy faces in newsrooms when people scored junkets because something important happened in their beat and absolutely nothing was happening in yours and you were stuck doing stupid graphs hoping to get a few eyeballs. Going to TCC on Yuzu beat, the dream! (Worst was when you were looking forward to it and it was all but settled and you hear the dreaded words - We got a stringer on site. AAAARRGGH)

It's a little odd that so many girls from that group say Yuzu is their idol or favourite or whatever, but look at how long he works on each single quad to get the technique as good as he can get it before he lets anybody see it even in open practice or gala goofing off. There is a reason why it took years for him to give us the 4Lo and the 4Lz. He did rush with the 4S because he needed the BV to stand a shot. Sasha does not need to cram the 4Lz in there to have a shot, she can work on it, get the technique as good as she can, fix the PR, and then put it in her programme. Her 4T is the only quad that looks like it might have all the rotations. I admire her strength and her drive and her spirit and how fiercely competitive she is and how much she loves to jump and how she does have this marvelous ability to jump. I do not admire the adults around her for not taking all of those excellent qualities and shaping them by teaching her the best technique, telling her she must get it right before she can put it in the programme. And control her training sessions so she doesn't batter her body, I hope they do that already. Sasha does look like a natural jumper, but she looks whippet thin and agile right now. I really hope the next couple of years will be kind to her. And that her technique is solid enough that she can compensate for the slowing down of those rotations by becoming stronger and getting bigger jumps.

Boyang is going to really have to work on that SP. Right now I'm just disappointed all around, I want Yuzu to come and save us. Well except for Rika, I like her programmes.

By interesting, you mean there's a good chance we'll all be tearing out what little hair Yuzu has kindly left us with, then yeah, I guess so... Judges. Feds. Pueh.

He might have thought that and seen the protocols with the +4 and +5 and decided, hmm, no, get Shae on the phone now, we have to start again.