rockstaryuzu

Now I can't unsee...

It's not entirely relevant but you remind me of something I saw in one of Roman Sadovsky's Youtube vids. He's doing viewer Q&A while in a friend's car and someone asks about his sexuality (which is a rude question at any time). Before Roman could answer, his friend pipes up with "They all think that if you don't skate like a block of wood, you must be gay", which to me is a great way of highlighting the exact same attitude that those people have, who think there's a correct kind of skating that has be appreciated a correct way. Reality is, the sport can't expect to survive on traditionalism, and at least the athletes and the coaches have enough good sense to realize it, even if the spectators and the ISU don't.

If so, the only thing I can imagine it being is some kind of allergy? or her boots don't fit correctly? Both of those would be easily sorted out within a four week time frame, though, you'd expect.

At least Skate Canada chose the better costume. No offense to those who like it, but I hate that Zigeunerweisen outfit.

You know, at SCI last fall I had a very illuminating conversation with a much older lady who'd been following figure skating for a very long time. When I mentioned that I was a Hanyu fan, she sniffed and made it clear that she wasn't impressed. She literally had this expression on her face like "you seemed like such a sensible person, and then you had to go and say that." Not being entirely dense, I sensed her disapproval and said, "I see you're not a fan." She didn't want to come out and say directly what it was she didn't like about him, just that she didn't, and that she had no time for fanyus. But she was a Medvedeva fan, and so she and I kept on talking, and eventually one thing became clear: She didn't like Yuzu or his fans, not because of his skating, but because she didn't like the change they represent for her way of experiencing the sport. Or rather, she didn't like that he was A change, any change....and a light bulb went off for me. You see, there's a huge contigent of FS people - fans, officials, whatever - who are actually very stick-in-the-mud types. They remind me of the people who think classical ballet is the only kind of ballet, that everything after Debussy is a travesty of music. They LIKE FS always being the same. Of course they want to see excellence, but only within the narrowly defined bounds that they are used to thinking of as figure skating. They want to sit peacefully in the stands at competitions, tucked under a blanket with their thermos of coffee, and clap politely, and generally behave as if it was opera they were going to see. And Yuzu and the fanyus have taken their cozy little world and smashed it upside down. So their resentment is understandable. They thought they had a nice sedate hobby and now look what they get! You could almost feel sorry for them, except for the fact that they're so wrong...

I can think of a few things, and the best case scenario is shin splints. Could also be a stress fracture or something more serious.

No, I meant number of pages. There's already 5000 satellites and counting. If everyone did a page with that template, we're into encyclopedia territory.

I have to say Origin is my favorite of this season, although I'm pretty sure it hasn't been skated to it's full potential ...yet. (because who knows- maybe we'll see it again.) I like it because it puts away the cute boy he was and brings forth the very passionate man that he is clearly becoming. To me it represents everything that Yuzu is as a competitor - all the fierceness, all the strength - and puts it together in a fresh way. I like that you can see a story in the music and you can see the music in his movements. I know Yuzu didn't really intend for this program to be a tribute to Nijinsky, but I'd wager good money that if Nijinsky were alive to see it, he'd recognize himself in it. (Aside: It would be interesting to hear male lead ballet dancers assess men's figure skating from a ballet perspective. I wonder what they'd think of the performances.) Otonal I admire objectively, but it isn't my cup of tea generally speaking. What I love about Otonal is that you can so clearly see that Yuzu loves skating it, especially that step sequence. And the hydroblade leap is to die for. All in all, H&L at WC17 is still tops for me of all Yuzu's performances, and Olys Seimei and all the LGC's are still my faves of his competition programs. Now, HYK I very much like. It's the nicest of his recent exes, IMO. It's delicate and lovely and has just the right amount of content to hold your interest, without being too much for an ex. I hope it sticks around for a while.

Yeah, he made it completely obvious at the WC gala. Ice-chan must be pleased.

I think ACI is only a weekend earlier than it was last year...I guess that's a lot at the beginning of the season, though.

In reality I'm literally old enough to be his mom, so these posts are purely for the sake of the laughs...

I like it, but if you do a page like this for everyone, how big is the book going to be?

I think if you wrote Yuzu's story as fiction, no one would ever believe it. Especially all the misfortune.

Yes, I think height and strength and a willingness to lift him will definitely be a requirement for any bride of his . . . Have I mentioned that I'm tall for a woman and can deadlift 120lbs with ease?

I think I might go for a hotel this time, even though they're further away... I liked my AirBnB last year but I felt really weird about staying in someone's house like that.

Must have been, because Keegan and Nam were also there.

Yes. However I noticed last year that Gabby went to an even smaller competition in Scarborough or Yorkville (which are both even closer to TCC than Oakville)... can't remember where exactly. So there are other competitions they could use for the purposes of first pancakery.

But the reality is that in Canada and the US, the current system for skater development is something that grew organically over the past 50 - 100 years, with periodic investment from various levels of government. And in Russia, the Soviet system of training athletes the way one might recruit and train an army has shaped the system they have today. And even then, the only one of those three that reliably produces top athletes is the Russian one. And all three countries are winter countries to begin with, where most of the people go out and do things like skating for relaxation and enjoyment every day, and there's a large base of athletes to choose from. If JSF is trying to do it from scratch according to some artificial template of success, they have their work cut out for them and no mistake.

Honestly, who knows? Brian's strategy is to get his skaters out early so they have time to work out the problems with their new programs before hitting big international competitions but it doesn't necessarily have to be at ACI.

Arrgghh. Oakville again? That place is a hotel room desert! Although I am glad they've moved it up a weekend. I notice Cup of China is back. I guess they and the Chinese fed have sorted out their differences. I would have thought they'd stick with Helsinki though.

It's not lost on me that they don't even mention Hanyu's name there, just say 'current era'....just a touch of microaggression there, hmm?

Wow. Do they not understand that a)megastars aren't made, they just happen, and b ) you have to have one first (Yuzu) in order for there to be more? That explains why Shoma's suddenly being pushed forward more... they're hoping for magic lightning to strike a second time. My fear is that they start thinking they can manufacture skating stars like pop idols, Johnny's-style.

There was someone at ACI who gifted him a stained glass feather she had made ( it went in the box for him, not on the ice!). She showed it to me and it was lovely.