TEB
Okay, so. I kind of failed at being a skating fan for Skate America and Cup of Russia. I watched a few of my favorites, but there was no time, nor will to do a full write-up, in particular because many were repeat performances.
Skate America = a mix of D: and :D I love my Meryls and my Charlies, regardless of silly mistakes. I was happy to see the cutie Shibutnis make the podium in their second grand prix event of the season.
I'm pleased that Nobunari placed second, but I wish he'd unveiled his gorgeous 4-3-3 combo from the practice vids. Armin was a breath of fresh air, and is so cute, but I still love Adam more. I really want Adam to bring it at Nationals. Daisuke was epic in the FS and I'm glad he got a new costume for the short, but I still vaguely resent him for not doing Stephane's choreography. Ridic, I know.
I did not watch very much at all of the ladies or the pairs for this event. Too busy, too little caring. But Kanako is going to be a force to be reckoned with, I think. I hope she skates this well all the way to Sochi.
Cup of Russia = Cup of Crazy. Three ice dancing teams pulling out of the FD. Insanity. I was bummed beyond words when Fede and Massi withdrew. I love their FD so much and was looking forward to another round of fierceness. Their withdrawal kept me from watching this discipline at all I admit.
Evora And Ladwig made the podium! I was oddly charmed by their flawed but interesting skating in Cup of China, and I was glad to see them get a medal. Narumi and Mervin got the silver and I'm just thrilled. I wish they could have skated clean, but I still love, love their footwork, and their lifts, and their adorable faces. And then Yuko and Alexander. Could she look any happier than when she is skating? I doubt it. I wanted the Italians to place higher, but they've just started together, haven't they? Maybe next year!
Ksenia. D: D: Before she skated I thought she had this event in the bag, I really did. A seventh place finish was really a bummer after how well she did in Canada. Ah well. I just love Akiko Suzuki. So cute. Miki is having one heck of a season, I'm excited to see if the world title is in her reach again. To win it again after four years would be so great for her.
And then the men. This was not the podium I had hoped for at all. I think Tomas Verner is adorable, but I'm not really connecting with his skating. I like the short, but it's not a soaring feeling when I watch it. And I just don't really love his long. It's very busy and when watching it didn't feel quite in time in the music. Patrick was Patrick. I'm wondering how he'll fare at worlds with this inconsistency on jumps and great PCs scores. It's like compulsory figures bolstering bad free skaters back in the day. How much can you trust the public to believing that beefing two jumps is secondary to fancy footwork? I wanted more from Jeremy, a decisive win, but I'm pleased he skated into third place. Yuzuru looked so tired! And no quad! I wonder if he was a little ill from travel or if it was just nerves. Whatever, I guess. Fierce bb was fierce.
Pairs
Guess who didn't get up early to watch this. Me that's who. Congrats to Aliona and Robin, though!
Men
Takahiko Kozuka My feed was fucking up a bit as he skated so I couldn't really gauge speed, but I think I liked this better than at Cup of China. He seemed happy, too, which was nice to see. I love that ritual his coach has of patting his back. It seems so cutely superstitious.
Florent Amodio Oh mon bebe. I was struck yet again by how ridiculous this costume is, but it's a good program and he skated it with such confidence. That cute little interaction he had with the flower girl. I melted a bit. I really, really expect to see him with a medal by tomorrow.
Brandon Mroz Mroz. >:( Just. Mroz. >:(
Chafik Besseghier I started off watching this program thinking, "LOLS what is that costume" and thinking how unfortunate it was that he was almost blending into the blue boards in the background, but then KAPOW huge quad combo jump. Where did that come from? It was a huge, nice surprise. Like Armin he was an unexpected breath of fresh air in the first half of the roster.
Brian Joubert As with Johnny Weir, I love Brian Joubert more than I probably should. All his douchey tendencies aside, he really loves skating and competing and I want him to skate well and compete well and I hate seeing him blow it. Especially with that gorgeous quad he landed in practice. ARGH. He better figure this shit out by worlds or I'm going to cry and cry that I got into this sport just as he was facing the fact that he didn't medal in a GP event for the first time since 2000.
Ladies
Kiira Korpi It is physically impossible to deny how gorgeous this girl is on the ice. And she seems cute and sweet off the ice as well. I love Mirai more, but I'm not going to be upset to see her medal. I hope she doesn't have any trouble with the free skate tomorrow.
Mirai Nagasu Oh my Mirai. I was breathless watching her skate this because of the bad practice reports, but I thought she did just great. She's told Frank that she hates being in first place in the short, so maybe tomorrow she'll feel like she has to fight off Kiira, and Haruka and Alissa and not headcase because I love her free and I want to see it clean.
Haruka Imai I was talking to my boyfriend while she skated. I'll catch it on youtube and update this with a reaction.
Alissa Czisny I was sure that she would be in second or third place, but from the scuttlebutt pre-season and pre-this event I suppose this is just the curse of Alissa. Best of luck with her on the free skate tomorrow. I loved that program at Skate Canada and she could totally use it to see the podium if she doesn't freak.
Fumie Suguri Lovely. I was surprised to see a 50.74. I was thinking to myself it deserved a 52 and some change, but that may have been because she was in the first flight and there'd been a lot of bad skating before.
Mao ASADA Maoooooooooooooooo. ;______________________; She's still so, so pretty?
Ice Dance
I had some fail with my computer during this event. So forgive the spotty recap. I thought Madison and Greg did great, and looked great and it's sad that their freeskate will feature so much ill advised eyeliner. Kharis and Asher have such low PCs score and I half wonder if they couldn't get an extra point by having less lame costumes. Kharis looks like she's hiding something in that dress. Nathalie and Fabian were obviously in a class of their own, my goodness. They absolutely sold that performance. I fully expect them to win and deserve the gold tomorrow.
Skate America = a mix of D: and :D I love my Meryls and my Charlies, regardless of silly mistakes. I was happy to see the cutie Shibutnis make the podium in their second grand prix event of the season.
I'm pleased that Nobunari placed second, but I wish he'd unveiled his gorgeous 4-3-3 combo from the practice vids. Armin was a breath of fresh air, and is so cute, but I still love Adam more. I really want Adam to bring it at Nationals. Daisuke was epic in the FS and I'm glad he got a new costume for the short, but I still vaguely resent him for not doing Stephane's choreography. Ridic, I know.
I did not watch very much at all of the ladies or the pairs for this event. Too busy, too little caring. But Kanako is going to be a force to be reckoned with, I think. I hope she skates this well all the way to Sochi.
Cup of Russia = Cup of Crazy. Three ice dancing teams pulling out of the FD. Insanity. I was bummed beyond words when Fede and Massi withdrew. I love their FD so much and was looking forward to another round of fierceness. Their withdrawal kept me from watching this discipline at all I admit.
Evora And Ladwig made the podium! I was oddly charmed by their flawed but interesting skating in Cup of China, and I was glad to see them get a medal. Narumi and Mervin got the silver and I'm just thrilled. I wish they could have skated clean, but I still love, love their footwork, and their lifts, and their adorable faces. And then Yuko and Alexander. Could she look any happier than when she is skating? I doubt it. I wanted the Italians to place higher, but they've just started together, haven't they? Maybe next year!
Ksenia. D: D: Before she skated I thought she had this event in the bag, I really did. A seventh place finish was really a bummer after how well she did in Canada. Ah well. I just love Akiko Suzuki. So cute. Miki is having one heck of a season, I'm excited to see if the world title is in her reach again. To win it again after four years would be so great for her.
And then the men. This was not the podium I had hoped for at all. I think Tomas Verner is adorable, but I'm not really connecting with his skating. I like the short, but it's not a soaring feeling when I watch it. And I just don't really love his long. It's very busy and when watching it didn't feel quite in time in the music. Patrick was Patrick. I'm wondering how he'll fare at worlds with this inconsistency on jumps and great PCs scores. It's like compulsory figures bolstering bad free skaters back in the day. How much can you trust the public to believing that beefing two jumps is secondary to fancy footwork? I wanted more from Jeremy, a decisive win, but I'm pleased he skated into third place. Yuzuru looked so tired! And no quad! I wonder if he was a little ill from travel or if it was just nerves. Whatever, I guess. Fierce bb was fierce.
Pairs
Guess who didn't get up early to watch this. Me that's who. Congrats to Aliona and Robin, though!
Men
Takahiko Kozuka My feed was fucking up a bit as he skated so I couldn't really gauge speed, but I think I liked this better than at Cup of China. He seemed happy, too, which was nice to see. I love that ritual his coach has of patting his back. It seems so cutely superstitious.
Florent Amodio Oh mon bebe. I was struck yet again by how ridiculous this costume is, but it's a good program and he skated it with such confidence. That cute little interaction he had with the flower girl. I melted a bit. I really, really expect to see him with a medal by tomorrow.
Brandon Mroz Mroz. >:( Just. Mroz. >:(
Chafik Besseghier I started off watching this program thinking, "LOLS what is that costume" and thinking how unfortunate it was that he was almost blending into the blue boards in the background, but then KAPOW huge quad combo jump. Where did that come from? It was a huge, nice surprise. Like Armin he was an unexpected breath of fresh air in the first half of the roster.
Brian Joubert As with Johnny Weir, I love Brian Joubert more than I probably should. All his douchey tendencies aside, he really loves skating and competing and I want him to skate well and compete well and I hate seeing him blow it. Especially with that gorgeous quad he landed in practice. ARGH. He better figure this shit out by worlds or I'm going to cry and cry that I got into this sport just as he was facing the fact that he didn't medal in a GP event for the first time since 2000.
Ladies
Kiira Korpi It is physically impossible to deny how gorgeous this girl is on the ice. And she seems cute and sweet off the ice as well. I love Mirai more, but I'm not going to be upset to see her medal. I hope she doesn't have any trouble with the free skate tomorrow.
Mirai Nagasu Oh my Mirai. I was breathless watching her skate this because of the bad practice reports, but I thought she did just great. She's told Frank that she hates being in first place in the short, so maybe tomorrow she'll feel like she has to fight off Kiira, and Haruka and Alissa and not headcase because I love her free and I want to see it clean.
Haruka Imai I was talking to my boyfriend while she skated. I'll catch it on youtube and update this with a reaction.
Alissa Czisny I was sure that she would be in second or third place, but from the scuttlebutt pre-season and pre-this event I suppose this is just the curse of Alissa. Best of luck with her on the free skate tomorrow. I loved that program at Skate Canada and she could totally use it to see the podium if she doesn't freak.
Fumie Suguri Lovely. I was surprised to see a 50.74. I was thinking to myself it deserved a 52 and some change, but that may have been because she was in the first flight and there'd been a lot of bad skating before.
Mao ASADA Maoooooooooooooooo. ;______________________; She's still so, so pretty?
Ice Dance
I had some fail with my computer during this event. So forgive the spotty recap. I thought Madison and Greg did great, and looked great and it's sad that their freeskate will feature so much ill advised eyeliner. Kharis and Asher have such low PCs score and I half wonder if they couldn't get an extra point by having less lame costumes. Kharis looks like she's hiding something in that dress. Nathalie and Fabian were obviously in a class of their own, my goodness. They absolutely sold that performance. I fully expect them to win and deserve the gold tomorrow.