Dropped cupcakes are not part of the narrative.
1. See? I told you I had a Bates icon now. And about time.
2. Also about time: work is easing up, or at least getting more flexible, for the next month. Just in time for those fic exchange deadlines. I was inordinately generous/a dumbass/seduced by a shiny magical "who is this person and how is their request so awesome?" and now I'm responsible for a Yuletide pinch hit. For all my Weir-esque bitching about Yuletide's new scoring system, I sign up because I adore the writing part of it. I'm actually almost done with my original assignment, and it's made me want to write more in the fandom, so hey, that's a win.
3. I am making a giant '90s playlist on YouTube. There will probably be at least three of these, since my planned song list is long.
4. If you press play, you will have this song stuck in your head for at least a day. But it will be about pink fluffy unicorns, so it's a good trade-off.
Speaking of pink fluffy unicorns, Jeff Buttle can't sell tape without giggling. You know the one girl on America's Next Top Model who needs fifteen takes to get through her Cover Girl commercial, and they have to pull out the cue cards? I'm pretty sure Jeff Buttle is that girl.
5. We are having a Grand Prix final! I have watched all of the senior short programs and what little of the JGPF is on YouTube. Which is a good way to start, as my tiny Russian diva of the future, Adelina Sotnikova, kicked all kinds of butt. Who knows what she'll look like after puberty, but she's an amazing little fire sprite now:
And in other fierce Russian bitch news, Monko & Khaliavin turned it out in the FD for a well-deserved win in dance. They need to work on their speed and clean up their edges before they move up to seniors, but I love their crisp body positions and their uncanny unison:
Josh Farris is only 4th after the SP in men's, behind two other Americans who really should be skating seniors by now and a Chinese kid whose PCS surely won't hold up in the free skate. Farris looks so much like Evan Lysacek did at 15, physically and in his skating. May he grow up to be a nicer person than Meatshake and to get the hell out of Broadmoor before Zakrajsek completely ruins his innate speed and musicality.
5a. Dance was pretty much Marlie being Marlie and then a bunch of other skaters who weren't them. I watched on Universal Sports because I would have had to pull an all-nighter to watch live, and hearing Tanith wring her panties over Charlie's fabulousness was so cute. I'm still not entirely feeling their short dance, but I am feeling Meryl's gorgeous peach dress and those bad-ass twizzles.
I am more into pairs than I intended to be, mostly because of Wenjing Sui's extraordinary divatude. I'm looking forward to watching her light up the ice for the next twelve years or so. And it was fantastic to see Savchenko & Szolkowy hit all of their tricks: they're so inconsistent that it's sometimes hard to see how amazing they really are. Pang & Tong seemed boring and small in comparison.
The men, on the other hand, have been kind of a letdown, through no fault of their own. With the exception of Florent, who doesn't have a prayer, it's all skaters who I like and respect but don't love. Dai-chan was less than his best, although I'm a fan of his new costume, which is a little bit classic Dai and a little bit Johnny Cash. Similarly, Taka-chan seemed introverted and nervous, like he'd put his sweatpants back on and crawled into his shell. PChan isn't my favorite skater, although I think he's been unfairly savaged this season for being overscored, which he has no control over. He brought his quad, a clean triple axel, and a sexy new vest to Beijing, and as far as I'm concerned, that gives him license to tell the haters to bug off unless he falls three times in his free skate. (I am not ruling that out. But note that Takahashi, with errors, had a higher PCS than error-free Chan.)
And then there were ladies. I cannot remember the last time I was this excited about the ladies in a GPF, but I suspect it was sometime around 2005. Kanako Murakami is an out-and-out star now, and with every twinkle of her dimples, you can tell she knows it. I'm hoping she doesn't keep skating like a little girl for too long, but she's young enough now that it's charming. Also, you know, hard to beat that 3T-3T combo. Carolina Kostner's scores continue to perplex me. Miki Ando continues to break my heart: she's back to that look of despair, she's not rotating her jumps, and every time she stands next to Morozov in that white wedding-gown-ish dress I barf a little in my mouth.
Alissa Czisny gets her own paragraph. It is a paragraph full of beautiful flowing dresses, ethereal smiles, and level 4 spins. It is a paragraph about how, when she lands her jumps, she is in a class by herself, a complete and mature skater like almost no one else in the field. (Ironically, Suzuki is the other one who comes to mind, but she was lackluster.) For a wildly inconsistent skater, Czisny has been damn solid this season, and I wonder if Sato and Dungjen have worked some magic on her. They are carving quite a niche for themselves, picking up slightly older, very headcasey skaters and giving them confidence and positive reinforcement. Let's hope it keeps working for Alissa, because she is so lovely when she is not down on her butt all the time. I know I said there wouldn't be YouTube, but you know you want to watch this again:
6. In conclusion, costume awards begin right after the GPF ends. I'm gathering photos and puttin' on my snarkin' dress.
2. Also about time: work is easing up, or at least getting more flexible, for the next month. Just in time for those fic exchange deadlines. I was inordinately generous/a dumbass/seduced by a shiny magical "who is this person and how is their request so awesome?" and now I'm responsible for a Yuletide pinch hit. For all my Weir-esque bitching about Yuletide's new scoring system, I sign up because I adore the writing part of it. I'm actually almost done with my original assignment, and it's made me want to write more in the fandom, so hey, that's a win.
3. I am making a giant '90s playlist on YouTube. There will probably be at least three of these, since my planned song list is long.
4. If you press play, you will have this song stuck in your head for at least a day. But it will be about pink fluffy unicorns, so it's a good trade-off.
Click to viewSpeaking of pink fluffy unicorns, Jeff Buttle can't sell tape without giggling. You know the one girl on America's Next Top Model who needs fifteen takes to get through her Cover Girl commercial, and they have to pull out the cue cards? I'm pretty sure Jeff Buttle is that girl.
5. We are having a Grand Prix final! I have watched all of the senior short programs and what little of the JGPF is on YouTube. Which is a good way to start, as my tiny Russian diva of the future, Adelina Sotnikova, kicked all kinds of butt. Who knows what she'll look like after puberty, but she's an amazing little fire sprite now:
And in other fierce Russian bitch news, Monko & Khaliavin turned it out in the FD for a well-deserved win in dance. They need to work on their speed and clean up their edges before they move up to seniors, but I love their crisp body positions and their uncanny unison:
Josh Farris is only 4th after the SP in men's, behind two other Americans who really should be skating seniors by now and a Chinese kid whose PCS surely won't hold up in the free skate. Farris looks so much like Evan Lysacek did at 15, physically and in his skating. May he grow up to be a nicer person than Meatshake and to get the hell out of Broadmoor before Zakrajsek completely ruins his innate speed and musicality.
5a. Dance was pretty much Marlie being Marlie and then a bunch of other skaters who weren't them. I watched on Universal Sports because I would have had to pull an all-nighter to watch live, and hearing Tanith wring her panties over Charlie's fabulousness was so cute. I'm still not entirely feeling their short dance, but I am feeling Meryl's gorgeous peach dress and those bad-ass twizzles.
I am more into pairs than I intended to be, mostly because of Wenjing Sui's extraordinary divatude. I'm looking forward to watching her light up the ice for the next twelve years or so. And it was fantastic to see Savchenko & Szolkowy hit all of their tricks: they're so inconsistent that it's sometimes hard to see how amazing they really are. Pang & Tong seemed boring and small in comparison.
The men, on the other hand, have been kind of a letdown, through no fault of their own. With the exception of Florent, who doesn't have a prayer, it's all skaters who I like and respect but don't love. Dai-chan was less than his best, although I'm a fan of his new costume, which is a little bit classic Dai and a little bit Johnny Cash. Similarly, Taka-chan seemed introverted and nervous, like he'd put his sweatpants back on and crawled into his shell. PChan isn't my favorite skater, although I think he's been unfairly savaged this season for being overscored, which he has no control over. He brought his quad, a clean triple axel, and a sexy new vest to Beijing, and as far as I'm concerned, that gives him license to tell the haters to bug off unless he falls three times in his free skate. (I am not ruling that out. But note that Takahashi, with errors, had a higher PCS than error-free Chan.)
And then there were ladies. I cannot remember the last time I was this excited about the ladies in a GPF, but I suspect it was sometime around 2005. Kanako Murakami is an out-and-out star now, and with every twinkle of her dimples, you can tell she knows it. I'm hoping she doesn't keep skating like a little girl for too long, but she's young enough now that it's charming. Also, you know, hard to beat that 3T-3T combo. Carolina Kostner's scores continue to perplex me. Miki Ando continues to break my heart: she's back to that look of despair, she's not rotating her jumps, and every time she stands next to Morozov in that white wedding-gown-ish dress I barf a little in my mouth.
Alissa Czisny gets her own paragraph. It is a paragraph full of beautiful flowing dresses, ethereal smiles, and level 4 spins. It is a paragraph about how, when she lands her jumps, she is in a class by herself, a complete and mature skater like almost no one else in the field. (Ironically, Suzuki is the other one who comes to mind, but she was lackluster.) For a wildly inconsistent skater, Czisny has been damn solid this season, and I wonder if Sato and Dungjen have worked some magic on her. They are carving quite a niche for themselves, picking up slightly older, very headcasey skaters and giving them confidence and positive reinforcement. Let's hope it keeps working for Alissa, because she is so lovely when she is not down on her butt all the time. I know I said there wouldn't be YouTube, but you know you want to watch this again:
6. In conclusion, costume awards begin right after the GPF ends. I'm gathering photos and puttin' on my snarkin' dress.