Old Cat Lady

How embarrassing. I totally forgot that he already skated to a version of this song when I wrote that. But I've never seen this before. Thanks for sharing.

The first thought that popped into my mind was that this would be a great song to skate to, especially in Japan. I'm imagining it starting with a lone child singing a capella and then the program would crescendo into a full choir. I can picture the entire crowd singing as Yuzu ends the program. As for the singing, admit it, you're even more curious about his singing voice now! Perhaps he's masterminded a scheme to slowly ratchet up anticipation for his true idol debut. but naw, as someone else said, I'm guessing he either didn't have time to record or he's too much of a perfectionist to display his only average singing voice. I was also even more curious to see Shoma singing - I was rather shocked when I found out he was taking part since I can't imagine him publicly singing so it wasn't a surprise but it would have been so fun. I've also come to terms today with the fact that I'm not actually a skating fan. I like skating, but I was up last night, about to join in on the marathon when I realized that I was exhausted and sitting through all the non-Yuzu stuff just felt like a chore. In the end, I just watched a bunch of Yuzu programs before bed and hoped I'd be able to depend on the kindness of Fanyus for the only parts that I honestly care about.

I have previously not always been a fan of the hydroblade - I think I have a bias against it because it always reminds me of Bourne & Kraatz. But these FaOI hydroblades have completely won me over. Yuzu has made the move completely his own - I've never seen it done this spectacularly by anyone!

This exhibition is beautiful - so much better than WoW. And I even like the costume - I think the colors look good on him and it goes well with the music. Love how the crowd would cheer over the little pauses in the choreography

After Shanshani posted his/her spreadsheet I made my own worksheet and have been playing around with numbers all day. I'm super excited for the new system. I really think Yuzu will break both records next year For those who want to play as well, here's a link to my worksheet. for .5 loop combos I just add .5 to the value of the 2nd jump rather than create another column. Choreo seq doesn't go up by percentage like everything else so you have to change the value manually. Please let me know if you see errors. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TKbJiEwnufGja09v0LPhvOutMgEnmtEAdrCEBOMk4Os/edit#gid=182646993

While 2017 worlds was iffy, outside of national bias and an occasional jump here or there, I found the 2018 world or Olympic GOE scoring to be pretty fair. It's the components that always seems completely out of whack.

I recall from some articles from the way back machine that Alexander Fadeev once wore sheer white tights with just a dance belt underneath and Brian Boitano wore tights with a clear VPL . The P does not stand for panty in this case. And of course, there is the long history of trying to butch up figure skating. But it's a pretty silly rule. Hanyu's UA is pretty much tights and while purple LGC was technically not tights, I would say it was more revealing than Yuzu's practice gear. As for the other new rules, most of them seem ideal for Yuzu. He can pretty much just do his original planned 2018 layout, drop his worst triple, makes 3 axel more important, he already does his combos in the back half so he won't have to adjust, cuts Nathan's tech advantage significantly, while more potential reward with GOE. When was the last time Nathan even landed 4 loop? Does he still practice it? If he doesn't get it back while Yuzu gets all his quads back, Yuzu and Nathan will have similar BV. There's a lot of potential to hammer Shoma with the GOE's. If actually applied, I think Shoma and Nathan are hit pretty hard by new rules. I am disappointed at how they're restructuring GOE's though. Yuzu doesn't have nearly the advantage that I thought he would - looks like in new system +4/+5 are easier to get than +3 in old system while taking away advantage for doing difficult exits and delayed rotation/varied air position

Sorry if I'm repeating something already discussed, but the more I think about it, the more I think the "no repeating quad" rule is actually good for Yuzu. His loop, toe, and salchow, were fairly stable and the lutz was beautiful when it was landed. Realistically, this limits Shoma and Boyang to 4 quads and Nathan to 5 quads at most (but hasn't he only done the loop once?), while making the 3 axel even more important. It also means Nathan can't repeat the higher value quads to try to out TES Yuzu. Yuzu can make up a 1 quad difference with other things but a 2-3 quad difference might become too much combined with the other 3's rising PCS marks. On a selfish level, I kind of hope it passes, but I think it's bad for skating since it will cause more skaters to not be able to compete and might cause increased injuries.

Personally, one of my favorite things about Yuzuru is that he's a bit eccentric - actually, a lot of the things he gets criticized for are my favorite things about him. I think it's believable that he's never gone downtown. I can be more of a hermit than he is and generally get bored going out by myself so if a friend doesn't convince me to go, I don't (and even when they try, they usually fail even if it's something I like doing. I lived in a town for many years without really seeing anything and when I finally did, it was because a boyfriend wanted to go. I find my hermit tendencies get exponentially more powerful when I'm immersed in something that I'm interested in - my friends are currently complaining about me not drinking with them for many months(apparently it was a big topic of discussion at the most recent social event). I was obsessed with a game for several months then saw Yuzu at the Olympics. I haven't really socialized with anyone other than my boyfriend except for game nights at my house, work, and my friend's birthday (and only because it was his birthday). And when I went to New York, I had no interest in seeing the Statue of Liberty or any of the other tourist traps - I find a lot of these things are a big hassle to get to and are underwhelming when you get there. Between the fact that he said he has no close friends in Toronto, has never dated anyone, has said he's always been uncomfortable in public settings, likes to do indoor activities, seems to get a lot of social interaction in his workplace (i.e. TCC, galas, commercials, interviews, etc.), and his all consuming passion for skating, it's not all that surprising to me that he doesn't really get out much.

I was thinking the same thing. Ultimately it's Brian's business so his decision but I interpret this as he wanted to bring in Jin and is just hoping hanyu won't object. My guess is that he doesn't want to be beholden to someone who might retire at any moment

No, no, no, that's not what I'm trying to say at all. I don't think Yuzu should drop ANY of his moves. They are all great when it's their moment - even the butt spin has its place. What I'm saying is that they should be saved for the right moment rather than added because they are a signature Hanyu move. When I think about his choreographers, his strongest programs were made by Jeff Buttle. Don't get me wrong - Semei is possibly my favorite LP of all time and H&L was great, but I think the difference between Buttle vs Shae/David is that Shae/David sort of string known elements together in a way that works with the program whereas Buttle adapts the moves to the music. He uses Yuzu's highlight moves sparingly, only when it is absolutely right for the nuance in the music that he's trying to highlight, and often adjusts it in a way that better suits the program or outright creates a new move. When I look at LGC, not only is the knee slide unique to that program but with only one program, it's become an iconic move. In addition to that slide, there's a leap in the step sequence that perfectly matches the music and is unique to that program. That kick at the end of the axel - once again, so distinctive and perfect for the program. It's the same with Parisian Walkways and Ballade - there are all these little moves that are special to those programs and make the programs special. It's not that I don't want Yuzu to use his other signature moves, it's that by reserving them only for the most perfect moment, it allows room for all these other possibilities while making his signature moves even more glorious when you do get to see them. It's not about how well he does the Ina Bauer/hydroblade/Biellman or whether he does other things better than these or about how well anyone else does these moves, or even that I think they are a bad choreographic choice. It's that they often aren't optimal choices. I would miss them if any of them went away completely but I don't find them necessary. He has the best hydroblade in the business and it was great in Semei. Actually, he doesn't really use it that much so I mis-wrote earlier. His Ina Bauer is fantastic to highlight long dramatic moments in the music - I love the change edge Ina Bauer to the sweeping parts of the music in R&J1. The softness of the Biellman was perfect for Notte Stellata and H&L. However, I also think there were several times that they were used where there was a better choice. Yuzu can do almost anything well and Jeff has proven that with all the innovative details in his programs which we wouldn't have gotten to see if Jeff always tried to cram Yuzu's signature moves into the programs. Ah, that's what I figured. Between the lowered BV and the loss of GOE, it wouldn't be worth doing in the short unless Yuzu is even more amazing than we imagine. I think this program is beautiful but it never even occurred to me that, that was supposed to be a hydroblade. I'll give this one to you ... THAT is the worst hydroblade I've ever seen, if that's what she was going for

I would agree that none of the other men do the Ina Bauer better and he's certainly does the best Bielmann of the top guys and 2nd best overall. What I meant by that comment is that I don't think they're so spectacular that they absolutely have to be in every program and he has so many other options that he does well that I'd rather see him mix it up As for the hydroblade, I guess I just don't like the move as much as others do though he does it well

My only gripe with Yuzuru's Biellman is that he loses so much speed on it. I find that it detracts from the program in his competitive skates. However, when he used it to gracefully float to the end of his program in Notte Stellata it was beautiful. If he can either maintain speed better or only use it situationally, I think it's great. I've started to warm up to Yuzuru's butt spin. It looks okay when it's a transitional spin and I loved how he used it to accent the nuance of the music at the Olympics. I think Shoma and Alina's more horizontal A-spins are actually nice - well, as nice as a butt spin can be anyway To me, both his Ina Bauer and hydroblade are overused. They're nice enough moves but there's more impressive Ina Bauer's out there and I just don't think the hydroblade always fits - they don't need to be forced into every program. To me, he has much more interesting moves that are not only uniquely his but he does better than anyone else. He has so many signature moves now - I'd much rather see more of a mix of the delayed axel, the Zusa (or other slide like element since I think I'll always tie it to LGC), the skid he does in Parisienne Walkways, as well as some moves he doesn't generally do like split jumps or spirals. Though I have to say, I've always underestimated the hydroblade until I saw Boyang do it - you don't realize how hard something is until you see it done poorly. Does a delayed axel count as a jumping pass? I've also always loved that Artur Dmitriev leap and would love to see someone do that again. I was also wondering if the 4 axel can be used for the short program. I'm not sure if the wording is double or triple or if it's any axel type jump - though the latter doesn't make sense since singles don't count. Just imagine the monster sp score if Yuzu could use it in the short - with that in mind, it makes the most sense of all the jumps to learn since there's a huge difference between a 4axel and 3 axel but minimal difference between the different kinds of quads

Thanks! Makes things so much easier. Now I just have to remember to find my place in the old spot before trigger happy clicking on the new stuff

Are you guys able to add a feature where you can jump to a specific page in a thread instead of having to scroll through every 10 pages? I've been trying to catch up on old general Yuzuru chat threads and normally just keep the thread permanently open but it takes forever to find my place when I accidentally close it

If the council doesn't finish until June 8, is any of this official? I was going to wait until the new rules were official before commenting on them but I dread having to catch up on 100 pages of rule discussion My understanding is that the 30 minute shorter programs and +/-5 GOE already passed in a previous council. I'm surprised that the shorter programs passed considering that I haven't heard anyone that's in favor of it - aren't these changes voted on?

oh. woops, one of these days I'll learn how google works Kei Nishikori was the most popular last year. Hanyu, and I think a few others, passed him in the most recent poll. Makes sense - Kei's been around a while without winning anything major and his career is on the downslide.

hmmm. Do Japan Novice Champs happen in Nov? Only thing I see that happened in 2004 unless it's a different Yuzuru Hanyu. I wonder why it was pointed out - doesn't look any more remarkable than a lot of the other blips. Dec. 2012 - Grand Prix Final, 1st Japanese National Championship Feb. - Sochi Olympics Nov. 2014 - COC crash Dec 2015 - 6 (?) world record scores - Wow, weirdly I never thought of it that way. That was quite a month. Apr 2017 - another world record Feb 2018 - Pyeongchang Olympics He really makes news every time something interesting happens in his career. I've been wondering lately for those that live in Japan - we know he's the most popular athlete there. How famous are he and Shoma compare to other public figures in Japan or Asia?

I've always thought that his arm position in his jumps were odd because they seem rather loose. He could continue clasping in the middle and just bring his elbows tighter to his body. But then it occurred to me that maybe he would rotate too fast for most of his jumps and he would lose control or over rotate. I imagine it would be really difficult to adjust the timing of a delayed rotation between quads and triples and I don't think he wants to lose the size of his jumps which are the only options I can think of. Maybe that's one of the things they're looking at when he was talking about rebuilding the axel though it seems like his strategy is to build more muscle so he can get more height and distance.

I remember seeing him talk about that at one of the Sochi press conferences. I find that very strange because I find that soup actually suppresses hunger. Whenever I'm trying to drop a few pounds I go on a soup, fruit, vegetable and tea/coffee diet. You would think the easiest way to put on weight would be to chug protein shakes or something. Even when I'm not at all hungry it's easy to spend a minute drinking a shake.

I'm late to the party but, lol, these articles are great! Makes Yuzu sound even more mysterious and interesting.

Does the heart good to read this. Just watched the British Eurosport broadcast of 2018 worlds on Youtube and was rather appalled by some of the comments. They couldn't figure out why Aliev didn't get points for his 3T in the short and lady commentator said that Nathan will be the greatest skater ever. It's fine to have a differing opinion but it's rather disheartening to hear anyone in the skating community to praise someone so highly based on jumps. Male commentator also called a quad flip as a triple loop and predicted a new world record based on Nathan's free skate

"When we are done with this skating stuff, are they keeping in touch? Probably not," he added. "They're friendly, they respect each other. Javi is (four years) older. He lives on his own, does his own cooking and cleaning, he has a cat. Yuzu lives with his mom and lives and breathes skating, and that's fine, too." http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2017/09/26/256166594

I wouldn't describe him as "handsome" either. I think he alternates between cute and "pretty" and sometimes beautiful but I personally like that more androgynous look. I really only find him sexy when he's skating which has more to do with his command and charisma and that killer instinct that you only see when he's competing. But I think what's most attractive is his expressiveness and goodness.