TallyT

This. I shouldn't be surprised if they've approached him, but he only takes a few endorsement deals; as it is, he certainly rakes in more than anyone else in the sport by a mile and he's proven by his donations etc that wealth is not a priority.

I'll still give it a miss - the one has an annoying voice, the other an annoying face, and that's before we even get to their bias and bitching. However, I'm glad to hear it. So did NBC on the broadcast.... mind you, Yuzu didn't really give anyone much choice but to heap on the praise, did he? "Living well is the best revenge" indeed.....

Poor darling... I'm glad he has the joy back. He gives so much...

Apparently Young You has got the COC spot

It could just be for SC because he MUST have known it was his to lose, and it's been so long and so hard getting it, so the full circle is simply for that cursed struggle. We'll know if a few weeks with NHK.....

So yet again, you wonder... what must it feel like to be... him?

Would be interesting to hear what TSL said this week... if I could bear them.

He smashed the curse in pure Yuzu style.

I like the way your teacher thinks.

An explanation for him looking a tad sleepy at the airport...

I can't see it

That is beautiful. Yuzu and Javi's team bond, rivalry and friendship is something unique and incredibly special and it's lovely to see it recognised.

Pure wishful thinking on my part with Masquerade...

Thank you! During the ice shows, I found I-Sakura pretty easy and not expensive.

Wow. That's an amazing body of research you've done, thank you for sharing it, distressing as the subject (and those videos) are... it's hard to really grasp from my little corner of the world just what people in the face of such natural fury go through. What also got me was the sound... the sheer roar of the water as it came and rushed through, and the contrast woth the hauntingly, deadly silence on the days afterwards (soe of the scenes, where all you can here is birds like crows or ravens, is haunting). It is very rare in real life that one person, one very young, very sensitive boy is called on to crystallise and symbolise the suffering and survival of a whole people, and even more rare that that boy turns out to be the world's greatest in his separate, chosen field, and everything else - beautiful, brave, generous, intelligent - that Yuzuru is. This is why Yuzu winning that first OGM for Japan in Sochi meant so much more to Japan than, say, Patrick winning it could have done for Canada - and that's taking into account that, given the Canadian curse, it would have been huge for Canada! but the emotional impact of the boy from the disaster area who could have died in it, was certainly deeply changed by it, rising above it all and doing that (and then handing over his prize money, even at his age understanding the symbolic nature of the act)... simply takes your breath away. That interview with Kenji - I'm not ashamed to say I teared up along with Kenji, the palpable emotion and connection in that part between two men who understood, who'd been there, and Yuzu's incredibly thoughtful and articulate words just amaze me. But truly, you literally couldn't invent Yuzuru Hanyu and his life and history in a work of fiction without being accused of unbelievability. Even in the details (the friendship and legendary rivalry with Javi, the 1000th Winter medal, the tributes starting to appear now even while he's still competing, the Chinese(!) falling for him) you'd be drummed out of the Plausible Fiction Writers' Union if you dared to write it. And yet... it's every word of it true. It's that very young, very sensitive boy's life.

And they have the best and easily most inspiring subject (biased? me? yep)

Absolutely exquisite....

Purest music of the spheres.....

Anyone able to translate?

This came up on twitter, once of our favourite artists on The Green Thing... and a stunning photo of Yuzu and his cable jumper to help us overcome The Green Thing...

I'm one of the world's great Luddites where code is concerned, but I have managed to make changes to wiki occasionally... unfortunately, my Swedish makes the Muppet's chef sound good (guess where I learned it?)

And here I am watching the DVDs (I did order Time of Awakening as well as Evoluton) and lots of Yuzu in underarmor, thinking how lucky all the Basic Black guys are that Yuzu doesn't decide to go that route for a season and show them how to do it... I'm serious, Yuzu's physique in tight black makes even the best looking in the field look like scarecrows. Why can't the ardertisers just put him in something simple and fitting and let us die of joy...

My DVDs arrived! (very fast! They were only charged to my credit card on Tuesday!) So I can avert my eyes from the Green FauxBaroque... Thing, and stare at beautiful beautiful videos instead...