Old Cat Lady

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.

Thanks for the video! I remember a similar video to this where he was talking about how he was self conscious about the fact that he was so slender. Strange how someone with so many women (and men) fawning over him can think so little of his looks. I was reading a while back about various beauty standards and for Japanese men, it said that they are categorized as either Kuwaii or "Cool". I know Kuwaii is "cute". Does "Cool" mean more masculine? And does "clean and fresh" mean wholesome? Also, are beauty standards for men similar to those for women: slim figure, white skin, small face, large eyes, double eyelids, curled lashes, high nose bridge. I think his squishy eyes make his smile look even more radiant. And I love how delicate his lips are - I watched that parade press conference video over and over. Seeing how playful and affectionate they are makes me completely understand why they get shipped so hard - it's almost flirtatious. Brian said that he didn't think they'd stay in contact with each other after Javi retired. Hard to believe that they could be so warm toward each other but mean so little

LOL. Maybe Yuzu has become so influential that he'll start changing Japanese beauty standards. As an Asian with monolids myself, I've always hated how East Asians overwhelmingly favor the double eyelids to the point of being the number 1 plastic surgery. Didn't Yuzu say in some interview that he didn't consider himself attractive partly because of his eyes?

I'm totally with you. I'm trying to keep an open mind since Yuzu said he might want to try it and so many seem to support it. I'm not sure what even all qualifies as jazz but every program I'm seen skated to anything that might qualify has always seemed rather soulless to me. If he goes with something fun and upbeat, I'm hoping for pop or rock (as long as Kurt Browning doesn't choreograph - worst program Yuzu's ever done). I see no reason why he couldn't skate to a song from one of his favorite bands. Was it in the interview with Shae in Ciontu where Yuzu says he doesn't do sexy? I was thinking of that forward Ina Bauer that he does in Ballade and was thinking he could do something soft and sensual for one of his programs - a lot of fans seemed to respond well to that and I think would suit his skating style while still stretching him artistically.

Just curious for all those hoping for jazz, what kind of pieces were you thinking? I personally can't think of any jazz programs that I love. Even Parisienne walkways is my least favorite of Yuzuru's short programs as a senior, mainly because I don't like the music though I appreciate the choreographic nuances. SP: Jeff Buttle - JPop - Jeff normally picks the SP music so who knows. LP: Shae - Tokyo Ghoul soundtrack Ex: Kenji Miyamoto - some Japanese ballad If he goes with a warhorse, I love Carmina Burana and Rach 2 Has anyone skated to Ode to Joy? I would think it would be good music as he transitions into the next phase of his life. I'd like to see him skating to something kind of dark and grungy - it's getting into warhorse category but I think Disturbed Sound of Silence is great skating music - really love the version they did on the Conan O'Brien show. I also really like the Game of Thrones soundtrack. Part of me wants him to skate to whatever Nathan picks Judges won't be able to ignore the difference then! also wanted to add that I want to see him skate to a program choreographed by Misha Ge or Tarasova or do another one by Bestemianova/Bukin/Abe

His hair really only looks good when it's styled but I think he has difficult hair to work with - super thick, straight, and a difficult head shape to work with. He kind of has a little boy's haircut. I'm hoping that this long bangs phase is actually him growing his hair out so his hair will be forced off his face. LOL, I frequently mistake the years of his photos unless he's in costume or there's something distinctive in the background. Looks like he's finally losing some of the baby fat in his face - his second chin isn't as full and his cheek bones are more pronounced.

Yuzu has a surprisingly poor record (for him) in the Grand Prix. I just realized recently that he's only ever won NHK, Rostelecom (only once), and then, of course the final 4 times. I'm hoping one of his goals for his career is to win all the competitions that he's never won - that means minimum of 2 more seasons. I'm guessing that he mainly just sees these as a way to fine tune his programs and make the final though

I just watched the medal ceremony/press conference for this competition. It's good to see him smiling here. I was thinking that he looked more miserable than I've ever seen him. It's weird - he seemed to take the loss at 2015 worlds in good spirits, but he seemed absolutely crushed by this loss. Wasn't sure if he was feeling depressed from his injury and was already worried that it might be his last competition, or if it was the idea of losing 2 years in a row, or if it's the idea of losing such a big lead, or if he was so outstanding earlier in the season that it was a harder fall when he skated poorly. p.s. sorry for consecutive posts. can't figure out how to edit to include this quote

As far as the Ciontu comments, I wouldn't be surprised if Yuzu himself wanted it cut. I feel like people have become so hyper focused on it that they've missed the bigger point of the show and that entire week. It's supposed to be a celebration and a display of joy and gratitude for all the support he got over the years. I don't think he had any intention of starting a big social crusade. And as fans, you have to be careful of how you react. Overzealous fans will turn anyone on the border to the negative: neutrals will dislike him, people who already dislike him will start hating him. As a fellow fan, I get embarrassed/annoyed by the crazies. Personally, while I don't necessarily dislike a celebrity because of their fans, annoying fans will turn me off from following a celebrity that I'm not already invested in. And as previous posters said, people seem to be determined to feel how they want to feel and then look for excuses to justify that feeling. I will correct things that I think are factually wrong, but it's a waste of energy to tell someone to quit being crazy. And very often real trolls are literally psycho/sociopaths so reason and empathy doesn't work on them either. The best thing you can do is just be a positive and supportive fan. as an aside, i've been binge-watching The Skating Lesson. Anyone else think this show is absolutely terrible? Some gems so far: Hanyu hates Uno, you need to "save room" in the marks for later in the season/other skaters, GOE should be based on bad/good/really good. I honestly thought that this was just a fan reaction/gossip series until I started seeing the videos about GOE's and high profile skating community guests.

What would you say is the best performance of each of Hanyu's programs? I'll update the OP as suggestions are made and add links when I have time as I think this will be great for those of us who are newer to the fandom 2009/2010 Season SP: Mission Impossible 2 LP: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini EX: Change 2010/2011 Season SP: White Legend - LP: Zigeunerweisen - 2011 Four Continents EX: Vertigo 2011/2012 SP: Etude in D-sharp Minor - LP: Romeo and Juliet 1 - 2012 World Championships (RU: 2011 Grand Prix final - fell in both but both performances are so endearing) EX: Somebody to Love 2012/2013 SP: Parisienne Walkways LP: Notre Dame de Paris - 2012 Grand Prix Final EX: Hello, I Love You EX: Hana Ni Nare 2013/2014 SP: Parisienne Walkways - 2014 Olympics LP: Romeo and Juliet 2 - 2013 Grand Prix Final? / 2014 World Championships? - fell at GPF but WC had more sloppy landings EX: Hana Ni Nare EX: Story 2014/2015 SP: Chopin Ballade No. 1 LP: Phantom of the Opera - 2014 Grand Prix Final EX: The Final Time Traveler EX: Hana Wa Saku 2015/2016 SP: Chopin Ballade No. 1 - 2015 Grand Prix Final LP: Semei - 2015 Grand Prix Final EX: Requiem of Heaven and Earth - 2016 World Championships - so heartfelt. Not sure, but looked like he was on the verge of tears at the end. Now I just need to find a high quality version without Browning's stupid commentary 2016/2017 SP: Let’s Go Crazy - 2016 Grand Prix Final, 2017 World Championships - this one's tough because he never skated it completely clean. I like the goofy expression on his face at GPF but I thought the 2017 worlds mistake detracted less from the performance. Such a tiny flaw lost him so many points. LP: Hope and Legacy - 2017 World Championships EX: Notte Stellata 2017/2018 SP: Chopin Ballade No. 1 - 2018 Olympics - I think this is my favorite performance of Ballade. LP: Semei - 2018 Olympics - even though it was flawed and the spins were slower, this is also my favorite of Semei. Can't put my finger on it, but Yuzu just brought something extra to the Olympics. He had a command and tension to his performances that weren't as strong in 2015 EX: Notte Stellata - ended the program with a serene joy that was so beautiful 2 things I thought were interesting about Yuzu's programs. Before 2013, all his exhibitions were "fun" crowd pleasing types then after, they were more soft sentimental types. Also, I can't think of a male singles skater that skated to a female singer and he does it quite often. I remember years ago also thinking about how the men seemed to always only skate to instrumental or male singers.

No, Chan made a mistake on the triple axel at 2011 worlds. We also have to define what exactly a "clean" skate is. For purposes of objectivity, I simply define it as not having any negative GOE. If you want to define it as not making any mistakes or skating what was intended, then technically Hanyu's 2018 short program wasn't "clean" since he made the mistake on the spin that cost him a level. fwiw, even the most hysterical of the ChanClan could only point to 3 clean free skates on Goldenskate, 1 at 2012 Canadian nationals (though with messy landings), 1 at 2013 TEB, and 1 at 2016 Four Continents. though if you count national titles, that's still 2 clean competitions as far as I know. By the loosest definition of "clean", Javier skated clean at 2018 Olympics - there was technically nothing wrong with the double salchow and if we're considering Chan's hooked/scratchy landings as clean or Yuzu's lost level on the spin as clean then Javier's performance was clean as well. Not that familiar with Fernandez's history so don't know how he did on his nationals but since nationals are essentially glorified exhibitions for both Chan and Fernandez I don't think it's all that germane. Though, I think of mental toughness more to do with "skating to your potential" when it matters most rather than being squeaky clean. By that, I mean that even though Nathan made mistakes in his Olympic and World free skates, since they were about as well as he's been able to skate, he still skated to his potential. Or even though Shoma fell at the Olympics and 2017 worlds, he still displayed mental toughness because he skated about as well as you ever see him skate in the 2 biggest events. Same with Chan at 2011 worlds. It's hard to judge Nathan's mental toughness. He has yet to skate well in international competition when he was under real pressure but he also hasn't been put in the situation that often.

In a video with Shoma and Nobunari, he said that he thought they'd all be dominated by their wives. This is what 16 year old Yuzu says about it: I like a woman who is not so tall, and whom I want to protect. I think it would be great if she’s someone who’s not fixated about certain things. For example, things like “Since we are attached, you must definitely do as such for me” or “It’s not ok if we don’t meet on each other’s birthdays”. I don’t want to feel restricted by such things and neither do I want to restrict someone else like that. http://seobiiiiieluv.tumblr.com/post/105648836802/yuzuru-hanyu-talks-about-love I imagine it would actually be very frustrating living with him: can't cook, can't drive, can't ride a bike. Though he seems really clean. I imagine him to be skating's version of Sheldon Cooper: brilliant at what he does but he seems like an Otaku.

D'oh. He dropped a spot. He won this last time they had this poll. There was some internet backlash at the time. I think Ohtani is a bit more of the traditionally "ideal man"

That's even better! Thanks!

does anyone know which article it was where Yuzuru was talking about how "young Yuzu" would look at what he's done and ask "what are you so proud of" or something like that? I remember someone said something about how Young Yuzu was a brat, lol. I think Yuzu also talked about how an old teacher told him he should go for the quad axel and quint. Sorry, I did a few searches and can't find exactly what I'm looking for.

What was Yuzuru's response?

lol. that makes sense. We Hanyu fans have become greedy haven't we? - our immediate reaction is to be offended at a 5th place

Do they say who placed ahead of him?

I was just wondering - is it possible that Yuzuru has more fans than all the other skaters combined? eta: currently competing I mean

I personally think they should just abolish the age restriction. Most of the pounding on the body happens during the practices so all it does is take away opportunity. This is sport - restricting athletes from competing for not being womanly enough is ridiculous

I wonder if judges screwed him over because of the skate order. If they knew that it was between him and a fellow Japanese they wouldn't have felt a need to lowball him to help their skater I think it's interesting that the judges are so much more generous with their GOE's this year. I wonder if this went under review at the meeting

The long program score is going to be pretty tough with lower base values and 1 less jumping pass but I'm hoping Yuzuru skates his short program clean at an early event so he can continue the short program record streak. I pretty much expect him to break that record with GOE going to +5. If the rules end up following speculation, the other guys are going to have to improve to deserve better than +2 for their GOE's while I can see Yuzuru getting +5. I imagine the judges are probably going to be pretty stingy with those 5's though. I was wondering if he would pass Nishikori. Always thought it was weird that Nishikori was the most popular athlete in Japan when he hasn't achieved much and is looking like he won't win any majors.

lol. I've been looking around and been thinking for the past week that we have costume threads, music threads, program threads. We're missing the last REALLY important thread - the hair thread! LGC hair is my favorite but one of my favorite pictures of him is from H&L - he looks so angelic. This is one of my favorite videos! Wish I knew how to do this stuff. I like how by the 3rd time he broke the short program record, he wasn't even surprised anymore. It's like after that he started reaching for the records. Don't think he should have been surprised when he beat the free skate record in 2017 - the bigger surprise was that he only beat it by 4 points - a whole extra quad done perfectly and that's all he got?