Epic NHK 2010 Wrap Up
Oh my god, if it was possible to OD on skating, I would have this weekend. Between watching NHK, taking my nephew skating when I babysat him on Saturday, and then going to skate practice on Sunday, it was all the time skating. ALL THE TIME. I didn't OD, case in point I managed this wrap up post. But uhhhhh, I may need a bigger break from it this week than I've needed at any point this past six months.
Maybe now I'll be able to post about normal people things.
FREE SKATE: MEN
Daisuke Takahashi. Though I saw more what he meant by not being in shape this time, I am not upset that this won the free skate (I'm maybe only upset that I chose Oda over Takahashi for my fantasy figure skating league, lol.) I only wish that his mambo was as good and elegant as this. (GO. BACK. TO STEPH'S CHOREOGRAPHY.) I loved the footwork, (although, possibly unpopular opinion: I don't care for the look of many of Daisuke's spin positions.) But again I think the judges were being too obvious with the PCs score. Yes, Daisuke won NHK. But I don't think it was by a landslide by any means (and it looks like neither did he).
Jeremy Abbott. I like this program, and I think it is very well suited to him, but it's hardly a show stopper. I'm a little worried about what that will mean for GPF or Worlds. But I'm hoping that his showing after he gets his new boots the technical elements will be much, much stronger and I will love this program without reservation. He's cute as a button, and I'm happy when he's happy.
Florent Amodio! Good holy crap this free skate was charming and fun and so, so well skated. The judging protocols say the only mistake was an edge call on the lutz! And while I'm sure the 1A was meant to be a 2 or 3A, he did great. And IDK what I think of Morozov as a person, but I am embarrassingly easy to win over with his modern choreography. Give me all of the Hip Hop Swan Lakes and Michael Jackson please. I am so pleased that Florent is setting himself to have the kind of season to really firmly establish himself.
Yuzuru Hanyu. Ohhhhhh, he starts off with this sassy pose and then straight into a gorgeous quad and just. Where does this kid get off on being such a spitfire? He's adding all this sass and elegance to everything, not the least bit shy. Not holding back and pulling out boss triple axel combos. I can see he lags in the second half, and the choreography and some of the jumps really suffer for it. Hopefully this is something he conquers before the end of the season because god, I love this kid. Is it cause he's so pretty? Maybe. PS: I know he's 15. Don't look at me like that.
Shawn Sawyer. Wow, that opening head bobbing. Wow boring costume. And yikes 8th place in the free. I... would personally like to see him change this program. I have a pretty high weirdness quotient, but even I was little "What?" with his choices. But... yay man spiral?
...Denis Ten. Oh BB. What happened? He just seemed terrified on the ice. You can so see his qualities as a skater and a performer, but his jumps just kept getting away from him. By the end of the program he looked miles away from his body. Like he was trying to telegraph instructions from the sidelines. Well. On a positive note I liked his costume? And like Frank said, he will live to skate again.
FREE DANCE: ICE DANCING
Meryl and Charlie FOREVER AND ALL TIME. Is it hard to be so awesome? Judging by how worn out they were coming off the ice, yes. Yes, it is. IDk they are in a league of their own. I watched more ice dance than almost any of the other disciplines and they just seemed like another thing all together, particularly when it came to their interpretation of the performance. It wasn't a show, it was... I don't even know. They are so much more than ballroom smiles, and "lyrics=this feeling." Also, I saw some people weren't feeling Meryl's reverse camel spin, but I loved it.
Kaitlyn & Andrew. The heart they made with their hands got the biggest lol reaction of the event from me. Twee. But whatever, I liked it. It was very big and fast and fun. I wish the Shibutanis hadn't had their fluke of a fall in the SD so I could see how they measured up to each other, one to one.
BB Shibutanis! GOOD FOR THEM. jennerose and I couldn't stop talking about Maia's dress (what a great color not only for her skintone, but also for TV.) They looked precious and their skating was very strong and they're young enough to have years to get even better. I love the idea that with the Shibutanis there will never be a moment where the Baller US Ice Dance streak is broken. (From Tanith and Ben to Meryl and Charlie to Alex and Maia? Yes!)
Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov. Very lovely costumes, very lovely choreography but again it left me a little cold. I love Russians but I don't love Russians.
Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte. I am so sad they didn't do better, for some reason I am so charmed by them. They looked so bummed, too, by the results. Looking at the protocols I see one of their lifts failed to get credit. Apparently it was extended? I... don't know what that means. Help?
Coomes & Buckland. Kate and I came in about 30 seconds after this started and for a while we hypothesized that she was a banana and he was a tree and they were trying to find each other again after she was picked. Then we recognized the Lion King soundtrack and realized they were both lions. I don't know if it was just the combination of being amused by the Banana Tree hypothesis, the fact that I love that movie, or the fact that they were yet another European ice dance pair that thought, "Hey! African dance is the answer!" but I totally loved their skate. /o\
FREE SKATE: LADIES
(Ummm, let's just say, in general the Free Skate, this reminded me why I don't love, love ladies skating.)
Carolina Kostner. I did not love this as much as I loved her short program. But I did not really love any of the free programs in the ladies event. I'm glad she won, but I'm not sure if I see this becoming a streak when up against stronger competitors.
Roxie Hart.Rachael Flatt. And again, I did not love this as much as her short program. The music was a little bland and the pantomime this time came off as sometimes cloying. Her technical elements, had she completed them all well, could have been huge, but a lot of things were not exactly knocked out of the park. Do she and Mirai have a showdown scheduled before Nationals?
This is me skipping Kanako Murakami and Kiira Korpi. I will come back to them when I feel up to more ladies skating.
<-- Worst fan.
Mao. ;____________; A few times it looked like she didn't even want to get up after falling. It was just painful to watch.
FREE SKATE: PAIRS
(I still don't know a lot about pairs! So. You know. Fail reactions below.)
Pang & Tong. Once again they were in a league of their own. Their skate was lovely and light. I'm glad they're competing this season even if I'm sure none of their competitors are.
Vera Bazarova & Yuri Larionov. I don't know if I'll ever 100% enjoy watching them because every time he throws her I'm going to think "This is it. Her toothpick of a shin is finally going to snap." One of their lifts was absolutely breathtaking. Also, while Maia's blue dress was amazing, Vera's blue dress was a bit of a wash out. After watching most of this even Kate and I felt that, with the exception of Pang & Tong, the skating at this event was not exactly pairs at it's best.
Narumi & Mervin. I still think they're so cute, and it looks like they were really going for more difficult elements but that was a rough looking program. Yikes. I hope they come back much better for their next event.
Team USA :/ Caitlin & John vs. Caydee & Jeremy. Caitlin and John's Ava Maria = the most boring. Y/Y? Poor Caydee & Jeremy, they were much more likable to me and their skating brings me more John Zimmerman for my eyes to feast upon. Bonus David Wilson choreography as well. I wanted them to place higher than Caitlin and John, but alas. Maybe at Nationals?
The Germans. Hahahahaha, wikipedia tells me they've only been skating together for two years, and I kind of hope they don't quit and just keep getting better. Their costumes were friggin' priceless and their choreography was hilariously avant garde. They were SUPER enjoyable and they looked like they were having lots of fun. Maybe they'll do better at Europeans?
Maybe now I'll be able to post about normal people things.
FREE SKATE: MEN
Daisuke Takahashi. Though I saw more what he meant by not being in shape this time, I am not upset that this won the free skate (I'm maybe only upset that I chose Oda over Takahashi for my fantasy figure skating league, lol.) I only wish that his mambo was as good and elegant as this. (GO. BACK. TO STEPH'S CHOREOGRAPHY.) I loved the footwork, (although, possibly unpopular opinion: I don't care for the look of many of Daisuke's spin positions.) But again I think the judges were being too obvious with the PCs score. Yes, Daisuke won NHK. But I don't think it was by a landslide by any means (and it looks like neither did he).
Jeremy Abbott. I like this program, and I think it is very well suited to him, but it's hardly a show stopper. I'm a little worried about what that will mean for GPF or Worlds. But I'm hoping that his showing after he gets his new boots the technical elements will be much, much stronger and I will love this program without reservation. He's cute as a button, and I'm happy when he's happy.
Florent Amodio! Good holy crap this free skate was charming and fun and so, so well skated. The judging protocols say the only mistake was an edge call on the lutz! And while I'm sure the 1A was meant to be a 2 or 3A, he did great. And IDK what I think of Morozov as a person, but I am embarrassingly easy to win over with his modern choreography. Give me all of the Hip Hop Swan Lakes and Michael Jackson please. I am so pleased that Florent is setting himself to have the kind of season to really firmly establish himself.
Yuzuru Hanyu. Ohhhhhh, he starts off with this sassy pose and then straight into a gorgeous quad and just. Where does this kid get off on being such a spitfire? He's adding all this sass and elegance to everything, not the least bit shy. Not holding back and pulling out boss triple axel combos. I can see he lags in the second half, and the choreography and some of the jumps really suffer for it. Hopefully this is something he conquers before the end of the season because god, I love this kid. Is it cause he's so pretty? Maybe. PS: I know he's 15. Don't look at me like that.
Shawn Sawyer. Wow, that opening head bobbing. Wow boring costume. And yikes 8th place in the free. I... would personally like to see him change this program. I have a pretty high weirdness quotient, but even I was little "What?" with his choices. But... yay man spiral?
...Denis Ten. Oh BB. What happened? He just seemed terrified on the ice. You can so see his qualities as a skater and a performer, but his jumps just kept getting away from him. By the end of the program he looked miles away from his body. Like he was trying to telegraph instructions from the sidelines. Well. On a positive note I liked his costume? And like Frank said, he will live to skate again.
FREE DANCE: ICE DANCING
Meryl and Charlie FOREVER AND ALL TIME. Is it hard to be so awesome? Judging by how worn out they were coming off the ice, yes. Yes, it is. IDk they are in a league of their own. I watched more ice dance than almost any of the other disciplines and they just seemed like another thing all together, particularly when it came to their interpretation of the performance. It wasn't a show, it was... I don't even know. They are so much more than ballroom smiles, and "lyrics=this feeling." Also, I saw some people weren't feeling Meryl's reverse camel spin, but I loved it.
Kaitlyn & Andrew. The heart they made with their hands got the biggest lol reaction of the event from me. Twee. But whatever, I liked it. It was very big and fast and fun. I wish the Shibutanis hadn't had their fluke of a fall in the SD so I could see how they measured up to each other, one to one.
BB Shibutanis! GOOD FOR THEM. jennerose and I couldn't stop talking about Maia's dress (what a great color not only for her skintone, but also for TV.) They looked precious and their skating was very strong and they're young enough to have years to get even better. I love the idea that with the Shibutanis there will never be a moment where the Baller US Ice Dance streak is broken. (From Tanith and Ben to Meryl and Charlie to Alex and Maia? Yes!)
Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov. Very lovely costumes, very lovely choreography but again it left me a little cold. I love Russians but I don't love Russians.
Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte. I am so sad they didn't do better, for some reason I am so charmed by them. They looked so bummed, too, by the results. Looking at the protocols I see one of their lifts failed to get credit. Apparently it was extended? I... don't know what that means. Help?
Coomes & Buckland. Kate and I came in about 30 seconds after this started and for a while we hypothesized that she was a banana and he was a tree and they were trying to find each other again after she was picked. Then we recognized the Lion King soundtrack and realized they were both lions. I don't know if it was just the combination of being amused by the Banana Tree hypothesis, the fact that I love that movie, or the fact that they were yet another European ice dance pair that thought, "Hey! African dance is the answer!" but I totally loved their skate. /o\
FREE SKATE: LADIES
(Ummm, let's just say, in general the Free Skate, this reminded me why I don't love, love ladies skating.)
Carolina Kostner. I did not love this as much as I loved her short program. But I did not really love any of the free programs in the ladies event. I'm glad she won, but I'm not sure if I see this becoming a streak when up against stronger competitors.
Roxie Hart.Rachael Flatt. And again, I did not love this as much as her short program. The music was a little bland and the pantomime this time came off as sometimes cloying. Her technical elements, had she completed them all well, could have been huge, but a lot of things were not exactly knocked out of the park. Do she and Mirai have a showdown scheduled before Nationals?
This is me skipping Kanako Murakami and Kiira Korpi. I will come back to them when I feel up to more ladies skating.
<-- Worst fan.
Mao. ;____________; A few times it looked like she didn't even want to get up after falling. It was just painful to watch.
FREE SKATE: PAIRS
(I still don't know a lot about pairs! So. You know. Fail reactions below.)
Pang & Tong. Once again they were in a league of their own. Their skate was lovely and light. I'm glad they're competing this season even if I'm sure none of their competitors are.
Vera Bazarova & Yuri Larionov. I don't know if I'll ever 100% enjoy watching them because every time he throws her I'm going to think "This is it. Her toothpick of a shin is finally going to snap." One of their lifts was absolutely breathtaking. Also, while Maia's blue dress was amazing, Vera's blue dress was a bit of a wash out. After watching most of this even Kate and I felt that, with the exception of Pang & Tong, the skating at this event was not exactly pairs at it's best.
Narumi & Mervin. I still think they're so cute, and it looks like they were really going for more difficult elements but that was a rough looking program. Yikes. I hope they come back much better for their next event.
Team USA :/ Caitlin & John vs. Caydee & Jeremy. Caitlin and John's Ava Maria = the most boring. Y/Y? Poor Caydee & Jeremy, they were much more likable to me and their skating brings me more John Zimmerman for my eyes to feast upon. Bonus David Wilson choreography as well. I wanted them to place higher than Caitlin and John, but alas. Maybe at Nationals?
The Germans. Hahahahaha, wikipedia tells me they've only been skating together for two years, and I kind of hope they don't quit and just keep getting better. Their costumes were friggin' priceless and their choreography was hilariously avant garde. They were SUPER enjoyable and they looked like they were having lots of fun. Maybe they'll do better at Europeans?