Moria Polonius

Omg, I remember that one. Fortunately this time we were told that he's gonna have 2 new programs, so there should be no freakout, just speculation. But then i'm sure our reaction to the program choices will be second only to the Oly win!

Did you guys really post 15 pages of comments in the last 12 hours despite no announcement being made?

I feel like Celestial Maiden should be the very last rank. Wings of Dory? Eight-Revolution Butt Spin? Delayed 1A?

I wish Kikuchi was interviewed more often, it'd be interesting to know the extent of the PT Yuzu does, and I bet he's got lots of observations about competitions.

I still haven't figured it out, can anybody enlighten me what the M and the W are? The butt spin, in general, not only Yuzu's, grew on me and doesn't bother me anymore. Of course, the R&J1 version is still way too much, but most skaters do pretty acceptable variations these days. And I have a friend who is a very casual watcher, whom I got into watching FS about two seasons ago, who genuinely liked it from the start. Acvording to her, the shape is nice and symmetrical and straight and very pleasing.

I'm not sure if this is it, re dragging, but I think lots of fans feel the need to "humanize" their idol, not to treat him like a total god, knock them off the pedestal a little. That way we can go into full fawning/worship mode without feeling like total creeps. Hence the Dory, the boobskirt, the sea lettuce.

Ah, I see. LGC, though.... That program is so deliberately over the top and camp, that I don't find it strange that it doesn nothing to kill the "asexual" performing vibe.

Maybe your mother meant "androgynous-looking"? It's been my observation that people who don't usually discuss gender or sexuality may be unfamiliar with the word and use "asexual" instead. It's the word I taught my mother when I introduced her to Yuzu, she likes him because he's different from all others, a mix of masculine and feminine, strong and soft. What do you mean by "alpha predator" though? It doesn't seem something connected to sexual identity. People of all kinds sexual identities, straight, gay, bi, asexual, could be "alpha predators", dominant, confident, comfortable with themselves. For some reason this reminded me about a fun thread I saw at GS: they sorted all skaters into Harry Potter houses and had a tournament. (Hufflepuff won). Yuzu was sorted overwhelmingly into Slytherin based on the "ambition" and "leader type" traits. So was Evgenia. (And Wakaba, based on... a photo of her wearing a Slytherjn scarf.)

Because Shoma must have 2 assignments and I'm assuming that no one will want a back-to-back assignments. Nathan: Skate America. Apparently, he wants IdF because it coincides with his school break, and as the 1st seed, the request should be granted. Kolyada: CoR. SA and IdF are out becuase of Nathan. NHK is adjacent to CoR so I imagine he won't want that and that the feds agree. So that leaves Shoma for NHK - and I'm assuming "we don't want our own top seed, twice national champion because we love Yuzu more so we'll force Kolyada to have back-to-back events" won't go well in the negotiations. Edit: And as ansecond seed, like kelly said, Shoma could choose, and I imagine he'd choose NHK. So, if Shoma gets NHK, the only event that's not already taken or adjacent to NHK is SC. That leaves CoK to Kolyada. Of course if skaters don't mind back to back events, I gues Shoma could get CoK and then Kolyada would be fine with SC. Who knows, Shoma might be fine with it, travel time between Japan and Korea is not so bad, the same time zone, so there are some advantages. But, I'm basing my calculations on Shoma getting NHK (I'm 90% sure he'll get it) and SC. So, now, how badly does JSF want to have Yuzu at NHK? They risk one of them knocking the other out of GPF, if one of them underperforms (at NHK or somewhere else). The drama would be incredible, the foretaste of Nationals, will they want it? They might, drama sells, or they might not want the headache. But anyway, my assumption is that JSF will split them, and send Yuzu somewhere else. Where? SA won't take him, SC has Shoma again (IF JSF has no choice and has to have Shoma and Yuzu together, then they'll have them at NHK), CoR might not take him. So CoK and IdF would be left. Lol. Watch all my analysis being wrong, Yuzu getting SA and NHK, Shoma SC and CoK and Kolyada CoR and NHK.

I think it's the federations that iron out the deatils but possibly they try to make it easier on skaters and not give them back to back assignments, unless skaters themselves are fine with it. I noticed that back to back events happen rarely so ghe do seem to think about it. I wonder if a coach having a few skaters would be a factor (I don't think ISU would be that considerate, though). After closer inspection, I don't think it's plausible for Yuzu to get both SC and NHK because Shoma will be at both. If Nathan wants Idf, then Kolyada will take Rostelecom and CoK, and Shoma NHK and Skate Canada. JSF might put Yuzu and Shoma together at one event, in which case it'll be NHK, but not two. If Yuzu does NHK with Shoma, then he'll most likely get IdF with Nathan. If JSF decides to split them, then Yuzu might get CoK and Rostelecom/IdF, more likely IdF because RusFed might not want to have the Yuzu/Kolyada matchup twice and might not invite Yuzu. So if I were a betting woman, I'd put my money on CoK and IdF for Yuzu.

Holy scores inflation! Was it really only 8 years ago that the top skaters got 83-84 PCS, they had PCS in low 7s, GOE's almost never reached 3 and very rarely got a 2, and the only +3 element across the board was Lambiel's spin? Is this how stingy judges are going yo be with the new system of GOE?

Oh, that's possible. As the 1st seed, he'd have the right to chose, so I guess if it suits him, that's where he'll be.

The cancellation of CoC poses an interesting twist in tetms of placements: no Chinese interests to protect. I thought that China might not want to jnvite Yuzu in order to protect Boyang's chances, they'd most likely have wanted Kolyada and no other top-level skaters if they could avoid it. So, now, let's assume the event gets trensferred to Korea - Korea has no top Men's skater, nobody to protect, so they'd probably be all too happy to invite Yuzu to boost ticket sales. So the pool of hosts who probably wouldn't mind inviting Yuzu has just grown: SC, CoK, NHK, IdF. No matter where he goes, Yuzu won't avoid a skate off with either Nathan or Shoma, I don't suppose he'll meet Kolyada twice. But the CoK would be probably happy to invite anyone (unless they'll stipulate, "we'll do it if you send us Hanyu" lol) so Nathan might go there instead of IdF, which was basically Nathan's only choice before.

Does anyone have a HD video of Wakaba's FS performance at Worlds with very little commentary, or preferably without? The only I've found is the B.Esp one with commentators so lodly that it's unlistenable. I'd like to have it in my collection, please?

I'm not only counting the judges friendlier eye, but also the supportive crowd and the skaters' tendency to simply perform better at home.

Holy crap. Not only personal drama, but highest level official drama too. Bad for Boyang and Sui/Han to be devoud of the home advantage, but good for Junhwan and the young Koran ladies. If Korea accept, of course. If it was organized in the former Olympic venue, I bet Yuzu would love to go, seeing as luck was on his side there.

Oh, it's got at least as many fans as opponents, the controversy comes up every single Costume Discussion (it's one of my favorite, but then, I've got lots of Favorite Yuzu's Costumes).

Believe was possibly Yuzu's best show exhibition. Yeah, it's a cheesy song but the singer seriously knew what to do with her lungs and vocal cords and while the choreo wasn't super original, there were some nice touches and Yuzu was so into it. Upon rewatching the Kanazawa performance, Dory's only saving grace is how much Yuzu is into it. Btw, does anyone have a HD version if Hello I Love You from Fantasy on Ice 2015? I was on a show programs rewatching kick yesterday, and I thought the 2015 version had more choreo content than the 2012 one, but I couldn't find a high quality version of it (media post links weren't HD).

Who of Yuzu's rvals was trying Biellman? I remember only MCM sho had actually a better one than Yuzu and Kolyada. But I think Kolyada dropped it?

Thanks. I wonder whether Brian was reluctant to let her practice the 4S before the injury or after - or maybe he wasn't reluctant at all. I do hope she'll fare well with Eteri - I just wonder ehat kind of choreo she'll get because last season Evgenia's SP, Kostornaia's and Trusova's programs were rather interchangable. I hope Bet won't get this sort of program, they're kinda boring.

I know everybody is waiting for new programs, so am I, but LGC is the one program I could deal with if he repeated: he never skated it completely clean and it's an awesome program.

Soo... this is not the suit Yuzu's going to wear? Please somebody tell me it's not, he looks like a kid in his father's suit.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Lilbet got injured because of the 4S? I seem to recall something about her mother posting that quads are not girls' jumps.

Well, to be fair, the readon for dismissing the proposal was that it already exists and judges are supposed to do so under the, uhh, code of ethics, I think I read? But still. Something to enforce the practice, like making it a stiff rule, would be nice. But then again, it's not like judges don't ignore the rules.

Wow, then Wakaba is the first seed now!