Sorry for last night's sparklefont.
So thistle90 and I went on a little field trip down the New Jersey Turnpike and landed at Stars on Ice.
- We did not get to see Meryl and Charlie, even though the website said they would be there. Apparently they had a prior commitment to do Ice Chips in Boston. This was sadder for thistle90 than for me: she's never seen them skate before, while I saw them get totally robbed of a medal at Skate America '07.
- To facilitate costume and lighting changes when Marlie would normally have been skating, we had to hear Ben Agosto play the guitar. Twice. Ben, you know I love you and your butt looked great in those jeans, but I would love you more if you would stick to skating.
- Ben must really need to be careful of his back, because all of the lifts he and Tanith did were simple: short duration and not very high.
- Tanith has gained at least 15 pounds since the Olympics. She looks stunning. Very buff, with some actual curves. She used to be so hot I'd make an exception; now, she's more my type. There was face-fanning.
- Tanith and Ben totally stole all the group numbers. Unlike some of the others, they have a sense of rhythm, and their personalities are sparkly. They have always been better live than on TV.
- Okay, one last Tanithandben bullet and then I promise I will talk about someone else. They have a new program for SOI, and I thought it was cute. A little too twee at some points, but I really like it when they do exhibition programs with a strong narrative and a sense of humor. It's to Jason Mraz's "If It Kills Me," which is a song I grudgingly admit to liking. It looks like they're skating about Tanith's personal life again, since the plot of the program (and the song) is two friends who know each other from childhood and grow up to fall in love. (Said thistle90: But they can't do program's about Ben's personal life. How do you skate about being in a happily boring relationship with the first girl you ever loved and adopting dogs together?)
- There were two girls-only group numbers, both of which were memorable. Sasha and Alissa did a pas de deux in white dresses that was so homoerotic we couldn't stop giggling. We considered the possibility that it was Just Us, but we agreed that two male singles skaters would never be allowed to do a program like that together. So I am comfortable saying it was super gay.
- And then. In the second act. There was this 30-second thing with Tanith, Sasha, and Alissa wearing what I can only describe as day-glo dirndls. Tanith's was hot pink. I hope someone YouTubes it so I can watch it while I'm high.
- Sasha Cohen looked uncomfortable and tired throughout the show. Mirai seemed nervous and was stuck opening the show. Alissa just seemed out of her league. Michael Weiss and Todd Eldredge both ooze douchery, although thistle90 liked Eldredge's second skate, to "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me."
- Rachael Flatt had a lovely blue dress and more charisma than I've ever seen from her. I'm now convinced she's a skater who doesn't make sense on TV - you have to see her live.
- We both really enjoyed Yuka Sato - she was our surprise favorite. She's still got that grace and elegance on the ice. She got some cute banter with Jeremy, too.
- Our other surprise favorite was none other than Evan Lysacek. Unlike some of the others, who seemed to be either sleep-deprived or hungover, he looked like he was genuinely happy to be there. There's been some snark floating around about his "Man in the Mirror" program, but I thought it was joyful and played to his strengths. My only criticism is that he has to lay off the self-tanner... or never wear white.
- Hi, we saw Trainwreck Jeremy! Well, not completely: he did a nice version of "At This Moment" that seemed sweet and wistful rather than pissy and vengeful like it was at Nats. He skated a show version of his Free Skate from this season, though, and that was a snoozy choice. He seemed to have gotten his costumes mixed up, since he wore the blue shirt for "At This Moment" and the gray one for his free skate. I would have liked to see Rockstar Jeremy, but it was great to see him skate, period.
- Jeremy Abbott has a fiiiiine ass.
- And the costume fail only got worse! Jeremy disappeared in the middle of the "Strut"/Black Eyed Peas medley that closes the second act (the one that's been making the YT rounds - I'm pretty sure it's better with Meryl and Charlie there, is all I can really say). It seemed unplanned, and Alissa was visibly perplexed. Later, I saw that he'd tweeted an explanation. He split his pants! No more Chipotle for you, Jerber.
- As we left, thistle90 and I agreed that we are snobs who prefer competitions to cheesy tour shows. Still, we had a good time.
Other than that, there's not much. Still working on the fic I've been taunting you with for weeks or months. Holding off on femslash10 polling rounds to accommodate my work schedule. Three weeks behind on my DVR. How are you?
- We did not get to see Meryl and Charlie, even though the website said they would be there. Apparently they had a prior commitment to do Ice Chips in Boston. This was sadder for thistle90 than for me: she's never seen them skate before, while I saw them get totally robbed of a medal at Skate America '07.
- To facilitate costume and lighting changes when Marlie would normally have been skating, we had to hear Ben Agosto play the guitar. Twice. Ben, you know I love you and your butt looked great in those jeans, but I would love you more if you would stick to skating.
- Ben must really need to be careful of his back, because all of the lifts he and Tanith did were simple: short duration and not very high.
- Tanith has gained at least 15 pounds since the Olympics. She looks stunning. Very buff, with some actual curves. She used to be so hot I'd make an exception; now, she's more my type. There was face-fanning.
- Tanith and Ben totally stole all the group numbers. Unlike some of the others, they have a sense of rhythm, and their personalities are sparkly. They have always been better live than on TV.
- Okay, one last Tanithandben bullet and then I promise I will talk about someone else. They have a new program for SOI, and I thought it was cute. A little too twee at some points, but I really like it when they do exhibition programs with a strong narrative and a sense of humor. It's to Jason Mraz's "If It Kills Me," which is a song I grudgingly admit to liking. It looks like they're skating about Tanith's personal life again, since the plot of the program (and the song) is two friends who know each other from childhood and grow up to fall in love. (Said thistle90: But they can't do program's about Ben's personal life. How do you skate about being in a happily boring relationship with the first girl you ever loved and adopting dogs together?)
- There were two girls-only group numbers, both of which were memorable. Sasha and Alissa did a pas de deux in white dresses that was so homoerotic we couldn't stop giggling. We considered the possibility that it was Just Us, but we agreed that two male singles skaters would never be allowed to do a program like that together. So I am comfortable saying it was super gay.
- And then. In the second act. There was this 30-second thing with Tanith, Sasha, and Alissa wearing what I can only describe as day-glo dirndls. Tanith's was hot pink. I hope someone YouTubes it so I can watch it while I'm high.
- Sasha Cohen looked uncomfortable and tired throughout the show. Mirai seemed nervous and was stuck opening the show. Alissa just seemed out of her league. Michael Weiss and Todd Eldredge both ooze douchery, although thistle90 liked Eldredge's second skate, to "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me."
- Rachael Flatt had a lovely blue dress and more charisma than I've ever seen from her. I'm now convinced she's a skater who doesn't make sense on TV - you have to see her live.
- We both really enjoyed Yuka Sato - she was our surprise favorite. She's still got that grace and elegance on the ice. She got some cute banter with Jeremy, too.
- Our other surprise favorite was none other than Evan Lysacek. Unlike some of the others, who seemed to be either sleep-deprived or hungover, he looked like he was genuinely happy to be there. There's been some snark floating around about his "Man in the Mirror" program, but I thought it was joyful and played to his strengths. My only criticism is that he has to lay off the self-tanner... or never wear white.
- Hi, we saw Trainwreck Jeremy! Well, not completely: he did a nice version of "At This Moment" that seemed sweet and wistful rather than pissy and vengeful like it was at Nats. He skated a show version of his Free Skate from this season, though, and that was a snoozy choice. He seemed to have gotten his costumes mixed up, since he wore the blue shirt for "At This Moment" and the gray one for his free skate. I would have liked to see Rockstar Jeremy, but it was great to see him skate, period.
- Jeremy Abbott has a fiiiiine ass.
- And the costume fail only got worse! Jeremy disappeared in the middle of the "Strut"/Black Eyed Peas medley that closes the second act (the one that's been making the YT rounds - I'm pretty sure it's better with Meryl and Charlie there, is all I can really say). It seemed unplanned, and Alissa was visibly perplexed. Later, I saw that he'd tweeted an explanation. He split his pants! No more Chipotle for you, Jerber.
- As we left, thistle90 and I agreed that we are snobs who prefer competitions to cheesy tour shows. Still, we had a good time.
Other than that, there's not much. Still working on the fic I've been taunting you with for weeks or months. Holding off on femslash10 polling rounds to accommodate my work schedule. Three weeks behind on my DVR. How are you?