rockstaryuzu

Considering that they're doing it live in the moment and probably have a bunch of other things they have to pay attention to offscreen ( because making TV is like that) , they might not realize right away. All I'm saying is, it's pointless to expect a perfect call from the commentators every time. What matters is the judge's scores, not what the commentators say. Personally, I tune them out unless it's Kurt, and the only reason I listen to Kurt is because he knows a lot of the skaters as friends and has interesting anecdotes to tell about them.

I think that often the commentators don't have any better of a view of the skating than we have. They're not sitting down where the judges are...so depending on the vantage point they might not see everything well. Something to keep in mind when you don't agree with what they say...

I sometimes watch TSL but they take way too long to get to the point &are so affected in their mannerisms that they drive me crazy. Plus their videos are way too long. Who has 90 minutes to sit and watch them blab, really? On the topic of Yuzuru being bullied or not: either way, success is the best revenge and he's got that in spades.

I love this. Just goes to show how big he's become. On the topic of bullying: there's a saying in Japan that goes 'The nail that sticks out is hammered down' , and what it's basically referring to is the traditional Japanese preference for a society where everyone is sort of the same, people work to fit into their role in society and not stand out, and retribution towards those who do stand out is swift and vicious. And it can hold back people who have exceptional talents from fully succeeding. It's probably where an awful lot of the bullying against Yuzu came from. But in the words of another famous 'nail that sticks out', Toma Ikuta, the actor, if you stick out far enough they will have to leave you alone. Hopefully Yuzu is now in that zone.

I know, right? Dude won't hit the ice without them but fearlessly plunges his bare hands into hot soapy dishwater... Now I want a dishwasher Yuzu in an apron for my kitchen... . . . imagine a full line of Yuzu household appliances. Or a Yuzu housekeeping robot. Every aunty's dream!!

Well, the whole thing is obviously some kind of mess and there's probably a lot more going on than meets the eye, so there's actually nothing that we can say for sure beyond the obvious.

I wonder if they made him do them all. 🤣

You think so? I've watched this interview on YouTube (someone did Engsub for it - aoyuzu maybe?) and this expression comes right where he starts listening to the pianist start playing. Later in the music, he breaks out in sweat, and when she's done playing, he apologized for sweating, saying that because of his image training, his heart rate automatically goes up when he hears the music ( something like that. I think the phrase he used was 'get excited' but it looked he was talking strictly about physical reaction. ) So this looks like his concentration face to me.

See, this is the part that I'm questioning. Going back to what you said about being a state-run funded athlete in China, and about how China likes to run things, the reality is that the Chinese always want to make it look like China is the best and the Chinese system is the best. That's why, when it was first announced that the Chinese had reached out to Brian about Boyang going to TCC, I was shocked. It was so out of line with what they would normally do. From the start, the whole thing sounded odd. Then as the summer went on and Boyang didn't end up at TCC, I really started to question things. It was starting to look like Chinese politics already. Now this happens. I have no doubt whatsoever that it's a face-saving move for the Chinese. Because imagine how it looks on them to be sending their top men's skater out of the country to train. Far better to make the foreign coach come to him, make it look like China has the upper hand again. Meanwhile, get the skater who was seeking to leave to say he doesn't want to leave China, couldn't bear it. Remind him who is funding him and just how easily that funding can be cut off. Problem solved. To sum up, we don't know what really happened and the reason we don't know is because of the kind of country that China is. It could be that Boyang really wanted to go to TCC and was held back by internal politics, or it could be that he was told to go by the Chinese fed and he refused. Either way, his relationship with the Chinese skating fed may have been negatively impacted, but I sincerely hope not. However I think it's crunch time for him. He needs to win and win big. As long as he's winning, they can't say or do anything to him.

You say all this, but Yuzu did it, Javi did it, and now Evgenia is doing it. It's not something impossible. It's just also not for everybody.

The best part of that was the comments Javi gave to a TV crew as he watched the whole thing unfold, having gotten off the same flight as Yuzu. It was the understatement of the century when he said that wasn't sure Yuzu was expecting anything like the security escort he got.

I see your point, but back when Boyang's possible move to TCC was first announced, someone somewhere had a comment from one of his coaches basically saying they had taken Boyang as far as they could and that he needed more. I believe it was also his coaches who first contacted Brian about the possibility of him taking on Boyang. My memory might be incorrect but that's what I recall

Same. I was really excited at the possibilities inherent in having so many top skaters in the same place at the same time; not only was I looking forward to watching Boyang get even better and reach his full potential as a skater, but I wanted to see if all of them ( incl. Zhenya, Jason, Gabby, Jun, etc) all started getting influenced by each other and if that would result in them taking skating to an even higher realm of achievement.

TBH, this is the kind of thing that I suspect might have happened.

I heard 'WeChat' from the get go...but this is still hilarious.

Of course they'd say that. Whether or not it's true is anyone's guess though. And it's weird that they're going from 'Jin will work with Orser ' to ' the whole team except Jin will work with Orser'. Like, this is Communist China we're talking about, nothing happens there for just no reason at all.

What that says to me, combined with this announcement about Orser and Wilson working with Team China, is that there was a whole lot of messed-up politics going on behind the scenes and that someone somewhere along the way probably (my guess) complained about Boyang getting special treatment over the rest of Team China. But this is only my guess based on observations of how anything Chinese-gov't-ish seems to operate in general. Also, I hope Brian and Tracy really know what they're getting into. More than one Canadian has gotten into unexpected difficulties trying to do business in China.

I love that they did Shoma too

They don't have to do that specifically. They just have to want to be where the paparazzo is standing. Ten big honkers sidling up to you will make you move, trust me.

Actually, a flock of Canada geese would do the trick too, those things are the biker gangs of the waterfowl world.

The only thing any fanyu can do to prevent this is to steadfastly refuse to buy or retweet or even view the publications that stoop to this level of coverage. Take away their sales on any issues that publish unauthorized stories about Hanyu, and they'll stop trying to chase him. More generally, the only way to put an end to paparazzi-style coverage of celebs is to make it unprofitable and socially unacceptable. Yes, that might be impossible, but so was banning smoking, once upon a time

See, that kind of journalism (and I use the term loosely) just makes me crazy. What does it matter who he's living with or not living with? There's this distinct undertone to that kind of coverage that implies the fans somehow own him, and I find that distasteful. I know it's a thing with Japanese idol media coverage but an athlete should be a different matter. On top of that, anyone following Zhenya's social media can clearly see that she's living with her mom and hanging out with Jason Brown. Zhenya's a scary level of open about her life. I don't see the need to dig and pry into the lives of these people beyond that.

Guess the Japanese media (or some of them) are already in Toronto, lying in wait for media day. Seems unlikely that this would have come from any local photographer, I doubt they'd have enough level of interest for a figure skater. Also, Toronto just had crazy flooding this week, hope things are okay for all the skaters we love.

DEFINITELY The Winner Takes It All. It fits Yuzu's preferred style of upper body choreo so perfectly! All those dramatic arms sweeps...I can see it.

Right, now I'm jealous. That's first class they're flying. I wanna fly Air Canada first class! *pout* Joking aside, presumably this has to do with Boyang.