Neenah

Lol, are you tying to bring us back to the start line?

The responses to my confession earlier made me very happy. It is nice to know that there are others with the "correct" priorities like me Now I won't feel any guilt when I block my entire family from our home's wifi so that I can have all the bandwidth for myself and watch the live stream without interruption

I was telling myself for the last month that I should be better at managing my time and responsibility. That I should set my prioritises straight and focus on my work and career. But, all of my resolutions were thrown out of the window when I realised that ACI conflicts with an important work meeting. So, today, I changed my entire schedule for the next two weeks and will be working an extra day this week to be able to take the time off later for ACI Apparently, my priority is actually Yuzu and skating, not work or real life

Thank you for the update, I was hoping to hear some good news from Mai... To be honest, I am in constant fear that she will retire early because of her health. She is my favourite lady, and the reason I started following the ladies. I love her skating, personality and courage and wish her the best always. I pray that she gets better and comes back stronger to have a wonderful season

The ISU are very optimistic if they think they can actually have separate artistic and technical programs. They may start as two different segments but they will keep on adding rules and requirements because the judging in the artistic program is too subjective for the Olympics and the technical program is too boring. In the end, we will have either two programs with similar requirements or they will just drop one and keep only one program per competition, which may be their goal now that I think about it

This is his FS? I hate it The last minute or so is watchable but before that it's bad. This kind of music requires specialised moves and not arm flailing that he and most other skaters have been doing for ages. I am not even sure the first song works for skating. It felt like he was skating while the radio was on and a random song started playing. Who choreographed this? Please tell me this is an EX, else I don't think I will be watching Nathan this season

Ok, that makes sense.

Wait, he is doing it this year? I think the plan was the year before the Olympics (and of course the Olympics season as well)... Did he change his mind? Does Yale allow for a three years break?

Alina's program have the same problem as Nathan's, the music and choero don't match most of the time especially when the technical elements are involved (though it is better than her previous programs). I do like the StSq, I think it has potential and works with the music (still can improve). I have to complement her performance, she is way more engaged and emotional than she usually is. I think she actually likes and feels the music, which I never felt from her before. She always looked terrified when skating and gave me the feeling that she wants to be anywhere other than the rink. The dress is gorgeous and she looks stunning. I hope she keeps the look

The choreography doesn't match the music for most of the program, especially the spins and the StSq I hope he fixes it. I hated Shoma's SP last season for this reason and now Nathan is doing the same thing. Do they not listen to the music and realise they are not matching the pace and tempo of their chosen piece of music.

To be fair, Yuzu did give us two new programs this year. Not competitive programs, but new nonetheless. One of them (Masquerade) was skated more times than Origin

If Yuzu is keeping one or both programs, then most likely he feels the need to. He doesn't do it because he is lazy (like some people like to suggest). I do want new programs, but as I said repeatedly in the Olympics season, I am 100% behind the skater's decision (Yuzu and others). They are the ones who are going to skate and compete and they are they only ones who know their circumstances and the best way to proceed. So, the decision is theirs alone and I will support it. However, lets wait until we get an official confirmation first and see what exactly he wants to do. We can decide how to feel about it when we know his full plan.

@Veveco this is amazing.. You really out a lot of effort and love into it and it shows

Can he at least tell us his music choices so we can have something to discuss to death and beyond while waiting

What? no media day? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? It was the thing I was looking forward to the most Please don't let it be because of injury. I will wait for however long it takes if it is not injury (or anything bad please)

Music is nice but I am not sure it is something I would choose for Boyang especially coupled with his SP. I know it is very early so I don't want to judge the program but the choreo does not really match the music and it needs much more than that to make it work. But it is early and I will wait until the first GP at least to judge the program.

Not a fan of the music choice but I don't hate it either. The program does need some work especially in the first half which is rather empty and have poor ice coverage (but it is very early to judge anyway). I have to say though I am very happy with the improvement in his upper body movement. He is not flailing his arms as choreography and is using his entire body more effectively. I pray for a good season for him and for his jumps to behave. He worked really hard on all aspects of his skating but his improvement is not being rewarded at all because of the jumps and flag. Best of luck Boyang Interesting choice for Alina. Not sure what to expect from it and Daniil. This kind of music will require her to hold her position and use big and sustained movement which is not her strength or Daniils usual choreography. If they did this correctly, it can be really good and maybe I will finally like a program of hers. But if they went the usual rout of jamming too much into the program then it could be a disaster. So please do this right, Alina deserves it

Love those videos, thank you for bringing them here. It is nice to finally confirm that I do indeed understand the rules and that my interpretation of their so frustratingly vague criteria is the correct one (except for interpretation in PC which I still don't understand and find redundant) . It also finally gave me an explanation on how the criteria for PC categories is weighted (they have equal weight which is how I always applied them but wasn't sure it was correct) The best part is that every single excuse ever used for over scoring was mentioned as a common mistake. I kept yelling "yes" every time one of them came up. From now on, whenever scoring discussions happen, I will be posting a link to these videos to anyone who cites those mistakes as a legitimate reason for a high score and tell them to educate themselves I love it when I am right and have evidence to prove it

There is a saying that translate roughly to "I hear you words and I am impressed, but when I see your action and, I am confused" This saying always comes to mind when I see anything from the ISU. The changes they made to the rules and all the things they say like that video all shows that they know exactly what the real problems are and that they are trying to address it. But when it comes to actual enforcement of the rules, suddenly thing are very different. It is way more annoying this way than if they would pretend not to know that there is a problem. And I am bookmarking and downloading this video so that I can put it in the face of anyone who says these things are not really mistakes that should be penalised in PC and that we are only saying this because we are biased fanyus

Every time I watch Yuzu's old performances it hits me again how good he was then and how much better he is now. We are getting used to the narrative that the younger skaters are focusing on the difficult jumps and the rest will come later, but Yuzu is a living proof that you can do both at a young age. His SS, spins, presentation and beautiful jumps are all there from the beginning and he never really lets any part of his skating suffer just to get the high BV elements And this video made me decide to do something really crazy

And.. My last chance to see Yuzu is gone Hope Yuzu will have a fun and healthy season, and for a good competition and fair judging for everyone

I would prefer that he keeps Masquerade as his Ex and polishes it more. To make it his SP will require a lot of changes that may ruin what we have now. I'd rather have it stay the way it is

At this point I am only praying that Shoma really knows what he is doing. Whatever his plans are, I think the camp with Eteri is a good first step. It will be different from his previous experience and hopefully help him to decide on what he truly wants and needs from a coach.That should make finding the right place and coach easier.

Maybe you are right... I just think that it would be an interesting experiment and Boyang needs a good choreographer that really gets him, which could be her