(no subject)
so i just had a conversation that went like this:
Chava: Why is everything suddenly going onhiatus until March?
*on hiatus
Gwen: so you have nothing else to do except watch skating with me? :P
Chava: Heh, maybe
Gwen: do it do it
Chava: You'll have to send me some then
Gwen: -steeples fingers-
Chava: Uh-oh
What have I done?
and this is much easier and more efficient than sending her individual links to things. plus i can throw a DW link at other people too!!
Javier Fernandez (Spain): So this dude is my pick to win the World Championship this year! (He isn't most people's, though everyone agrees he's a definite medal contender.) His long program this year is to a Charlie Chaplin medley and it's breathtaking. I keep wanting to compare it to Kurt Browning's Casablanca, which is one of my all-time favourite men's competitive programs. It's REALLY GREAT. Here it is from the Grand Prix Final this year, where even with a) three quadruple jumps and b) the highest LP score of the season to date he still placed fourth. (By less than half a point. The men's field is TOUGH right now):
Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan): THIS FUCKING KID. Last year he won the bronze medal at his first senior Worlds at age seventeen. This year he set a world record, and then broke it again a few weeks later. He (along with Javi) trains in Toronto with coach Brian Orser (who you've heard of if you follow skating even a little but since I am assuming a reader who doesn't he's a two-time Olympic silver medalist himself, the 1987 world champion, the first dude to have a consistent triple axel, and he coached Yuna Kim to her 2010 Olympic gold, which smashed all three ladies' world records). Yuzu is actually a lot of people's pick to win this year, but while I love him I think his skating needs to mature a bit more before he gets crowned world champion. Here's his record-breaking SP (on home ice!) from this season's NHK Trophy:
Patrick Chan (Canada): is the two-time and reigning world champion, and he is from my city and all, but I don't really like him much. His skating is good but I never feel like he owns his music the way I do with some others. His PCS (read: artistry, basically) scores are generally A Fucking Joke, but this season other people are starting to catch up. Which is exciting. Worlds are in London Ontario this year though and it would be mean to wish him off the podium completely, so he comes third here. At random I've chosen to post his GPF short program because I'm not particularly invested in any one performance from him:
Kevin Reynolds (Canada): Has the misfortune of being around the same age as PChan and so had never really had any major victories to his name. Until a few weeks ago when he SUDDENLY CAME OUT OF NOWHERE and won the Four Continents Championship,
ahead of local favourites Yuzu and 2010 World Champion/reigning World silver medalist Daisuke Takahashi (more on him in a second). He's always been known for his technical ability (read: jumping a lot) but his artistry has improved SO MUCH this season. Team Japan fans were being jerks about him winning 4CC so I've moved him up a few places in my personal rankings just to spite them:
Daisuke Takahashi (Japan): Okay so. When the season started he was my pick to win. Now I have him fifth. This year has been WEIRD for Dai. Largely because he went back to his old coach, Nikolai Morozov, who I am 98.5% sure is actually an evil wizard. He's been wildly inconsistent all season, winning the Grand Prix Final but placing seventh at Four Continents. I have no idea what to expect from him at all really, but he rounds out my top five. This was his short program for most of the season:
and then for reasons as yet unknown (read: because of dark wizardry) he switched to this one. It was not a very good plan:
Florent Amodio (France): A potential spoiler-- The Dark Lord Morozov's other current star pupil. He's good friends with Javier Fernandez (who USED to train with the Dark Lord before escaping to Toronto) which makes them hilariously bad at being bitter rivals. I have him down as a potential spoiler based mostly on this SP from the European Championship (he actually beat Javi in the short. But not in the free obviously because FUCKING CHAPLIN, HOW SO GREAT.):
Michal Brezina (Czech Republic): And rounding out the Euros podium, my other potential spoiler. I'm running out of things to say and I don't actually know much about him....
Max Aaron (USA): Third potential spoiler. I had not even heard of him before the USA Nationals. Who the fuck are you, Max Aaron, and where did you even come from. This is the long program that has got him all this sudden attention (but his SP is to the Tron soundtrack and it's delightful btw):
Finally, some dudes who I really liked this season who are inexplicably not going to worlds. Crying forever.
Takahiko Kozuka (Japan): They gave their third Worlds spot to the national bronze medalist without considering anybody's previous record and Taka had a bad week at nationals. His edgework makes me want to cry, not that I expect nonskating people to know what that means.
Han Yan (China): Four Continents was his first senior-level international competition ever, and he placed third. They're sending him to junior worlds and national champion Nan Song to regular worlds; this is a terrible decision as Yan could get them two Olympic spots easily and Song definitely won't.
(ETA: I just checked the Jr. Worlds entry list and he's not on that either. What is even happening here.)
Jeremy Abbot (USA): Now I'm not saying the USFSA has it in for Jeremy because he doesn't have a quad, but. The USFSA definitely has it in for Jeremy because he doesn't have a quad. He placed 3rd at their nationals and almost qualified for the GPF this season, but they completely passed over him for Worlds and 4CC spots. Grr argh smash.
This entry was originally posted at http://gwenfrankenstien.dreamwidth.org/70076.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Chava: Why is everything suddenly going onhiatus until March?
*on hiatus
Gwen: so you have nothing else to do except watch skating with me? :P
Chava: Heh, maybe
Gwen: do it do it
Chava: You'll have to send me some then
Gwen: -steeples fingers-
Chava: Uh-oh
What have I done?
and this is much easier and more efficient than sending her individual links to things. plus i can throw a DW link at other people too!!
Javier Fernandez (Spain): So this dude is my pick to win the World Championship this year! (He isn't most people's, though everyone agrees he's a definite medal contender.) His long program this year is to a Charlie Chaplin medley and it's breathtaking. I keep wanting to compare it to Kurt Browning's Casablanca, which is one of my all-time favourite men's competitive programs. It's REALLY GREAT. Here it is from the Grand Prix Final this year, where even with a) three quadruple jumps and b) the highest LP score of the season to date he still placed fourth. (By less than half a point. The men's field is TOUGH right now):
Click to viewYuzuru Hanyu (Japan): THIS FUCKING KID. Last year he won the bronze medal at his first senior Worlds at age seventeen. This year he set a world record, and then broke it again a few weeks later. He (along with Javi) trains in Toronto with coach Brian Orser (who you've heard of if you follow skating even a little but since I am assuming a reader who doesn't he's a two-time Olympic silver medalist himself, the 1987 world champion, the first dude to have a consistent triple axel, and he coached Yuna Kim to her 2010 Olympic gold, which smashed all three ladies' world records). Yuzu is actually a lot of people's pick to win this year, but while I love him I think his skating needs to mature a bit more before he gets crowned world champion. Here's his record-breaking SP (on home ice!) from this season's NHK Trophy:
Patrick Chan (Canada): is the two-time and reigning world champion, and he is from my city and all, but I don't really like him much. His skating is good but I never feel like he owns his music the way I do with some others. His PCS (read: artistry, basically) scores are generally A Fucking Joke, but this season other people are starting to catch up. Which is exciting. Worlds are in London Ontario this year though and it would be mean to wish him off the podium completely, so he comes third here. At random I've chosen to post his GPF short program because I'm not particularly invested in any one performance from him:
Kevin Reynolds (Canada): Has the misfortune of being around the same age as PChan and so had never really had any major victories to his name. Until a few weeks ago when he SUDDENLY CAME OUT OF NOWHERE and won the Four Continents Championship,
ahead of local favourites Yuzu and 2010 World Champion/reigning World silver medalist Daisuke Takahashi (more on him in a second). He's always been known for his technical ability (read: jumping a lot) but his artistry has improved SO MUCH this season. Team Japan fans were being jerks about him winning 4CC so I've moved him up a few places in my personal rankings just to spite them:
Daisuke Takahashi (Japan): Okay so. When the season started he was my pick to win. Now I have him fifth. This year has been WEIRD for Dai. Largely because he went back to his old coach, Nikolai Morozov, who I am 98.5% sure is actually an evil wizard. He's been wildly inconsistent all season, winning the Grand Prix Final but placing seventh at Four Continents. I have no idea what to expect from him at all really, but he rounds out my top five. This was his short program for most of the season:
and then for reasons as yet unknown (read: because of dark wizardry) he switched to this one. It was not a very good plan:
Florent Amodio (France): A potential spoiler-- The Dark Lord Morozov's other current star pupil. He's good friends with Javier Fernandez (who USED to train with the Dark Lord before escaping to Toronto) which makes them hilariously bad at being bitter rivals. I have him down as a potential spoiler based mostly on this SP from the European Championship (he actually beat Javi in the short. But not in the free obviously because FUCKING CHAPLIN, HOW SO GREAT.):
Michal Brezina (Czech Republic): And rounding out the Euros podium, my other potential spoiler. I'm running out of things to say and I don't actually know much about him....
Max Aaron (USA): Third potential spoiler. I had not even heard of him before the USA Nationals. Who the fuck are you, Max Aaron, and where did you even come from. This is the long program that has got him all this sudden attention (but his SP is to the Tron soundtrack and it's delightful btw):
Finally, some dudes who I really liked this season who are inexplicably not going to worlds. Crying forever.
Takahiko Kozuka (Japan): They gave their third Worlds spot to the national bronze medalist without considering anybody's previous record and Taka had a bad week at nationals. His edgework makes me want to cry, not that I expect nonskating people to know what that means.
Han Yan (China): Four Continents was his first senior-level international competition ever, and he placed third. They're sending him to junior worlds and national champion Nan Song to regular worlds; this is a terrible decision as Yan could get them two Olympic spots easily and Song definitely won't.
(ETA: I just checked the Jr. Worlds entry list and he's not on that either. What is even happening here.)
Jeremy Abbot (USA): Now I'm not saying the USFSA has it in for Jeremy because he doesn't have a quad, but. The USFSA definitely has it in for Jeremy because he doesn't have a quad. He placed 3rd at their nationals and almost qualified for the GPF this season, but they completely passed over him for Worlds and 4CC spots. Grr argh smash.
This entry was originally posted at http://gwenfrankenstien.dreamwidth.org/70076.html. Please comment there using OpenID.