(no subject)
Why hello there flist, and Happy New Year!
I've been back in Canadia for a couple of weeks now and have spent my time getting over jetlag, unpacking, doing holiday stuff and baking & cooking to my heart's content. I've also been meeting up with friends, some of whom I haven't seen since middle or high school so it's been lovely.
I am (slowly) catching up on teevee, including a Canadian show called Battle of the Blades. It's a reality program similar to the American version of Skating with Celebrities, but 100x more BRILLIANT. The show takes elite female figure skaters and pair them up with ex-NHL superstars to teach them a new program to perform every week. We're not talking about b-list celebrities here - these athletes are recognizable and well-respected in Canada. It's really top notch - great choreographers (David Wilson!), fun judges (my favourite was George Stromboulopoulous, but kudos to whoever thought of bringing in Kristi Yamaguchi and husband/ex-NHL player Bret Hadican), and entertaining hosts (Kurt Browning and Ron McLean). And because this is a Canadian production, we get to see things like Ron McLean asking, live ON AIR, how much time there is left or when we get shots of "famous" people in the crowd, they show people like Patrick Chan and Josee Chouinard (both figure skaters, though I'm not going to lie, I did get excited seeing the latter.)
Overall, the show is so much FUN, watching these tough hockey players actually turn into figure skaters. I couldn't believe how much improvement there was already by week 3! Plus, it's going to a great cause - each team gets $25,000 to the charity of their choice when they get kicked off, and the winning team gets $100,000 to the charity of their choice. Battle of the Blades: figure skaters + hockey players = ultimate Canadian goodness.
Favourite programs so far:
+ Week 3: Shae-Lynn Bourne & Claude Lemieux: Assassin's Tango. This program BLEW me away, which was a shocker because it was still early in the competition.
+ Week 4: Tie Domi & Christine Hough-Sweeney: Superman (about 30 minutes in). I wish I could find a video of this program rather than linking to the episode because unless you live in Canada, you can't stream this. I grew up watching the Leafs and enjoyed watching Domi pummelling other players, so to see him show his tender side in this program was an absolute treat.
+ Week 5: Shae & Claude: The Time of My Life. DIRTY DANCING. Enough said.
+ Week 5: Jamie Sale & Craig Simpson: Austin Powers. So much fun!
Bonus link: Jamie Sale & David Pelletier skating to 'Vivo Per Lei' (with a live Andrea Bocelli). Once upon a time, figure skating was my fandom, as in I followed it religiously. Jamie & David were my favourite skaters and watching this video reminded me why I loved them so much. Pairs is my favourite discipline because while the tricks (jumps, spins, etc.) are pretty cool, I love watching a pair move in unison, especially something as simple stroking. (That's what I noticed in week 3 on Battle of the Blades - some of the pairs were doing their crossovers in unison and that made me sit up.) I stumbled upon this video on YouTube while watching some of their amateur programs (I can't believe I've never seen this yet because it's a couple of years old) and I've watched it several times since. It's absolutely gorgeous - they exude a ridiculous amount of chemistry on ice, their elements flow right into one another, some of the movements they do are breathtakingly beautiful, they have such deep edges, and I could go on and on. It has become one of my favourite program of theirs.
Oh hey, did I just write a whole post about figure skating after not posting for months on end? IMAGINE THAT. I'm glad I'm getting back into it now that the Winter Olympics are less than two months away. Vancouver 2010!
For my next post, maybe I'll write about how much I continue to adore FNL to bits and pieces (OH MATT SARACEN) or how awful Weeds is or how I wish the boys on SPN would stop being so emo & doing heart-to-heart chats during the last 5 minutes of the show or how psyched I am about the return of Chuck. But don't hold your breathe.
I've been back in Canadia for a couple of weeks now and have spent my time getting over jetlag, unpacking, doing holiday stuff and baking & cooking to my heart's content. I've also been meeting up with friends, some of whom I haven't seen since middle or high school so it's been lovely.
I am (slowly) catching up on teevee, including a Canadian show called Battle of the Blades. It's a reality program similar to the American version of Skating with Celebrities, but 100x more BRILLIANT. The show takes elite female figure skaters and pair them up with ex-NHL superstars to teach them a new program to perform every week. We're not talking about b-list celebrities here - these athletes are recognizable and well-respected in Canada. It's really top notch - great choreographers (David Wilson!), fun judges (my favourite was George Stromboulopoulous, but kudos to whoever thought of bringing in Kristi Yamaguchi and husband/ex-NHL player Bret Hadican), and entertaining hosts (Kurt Browning and Ron McLean). And because this is a Canadian production, we get to see things like Ron McLean asking, live ON AIR, how much time there is left or when we get shots of "famous" people in the crowd, they show people like Patrick Chan and Josee Chouinard (both figure skaters, though I'm not going to lie, I did get excited seeing the latter.)
Overall, the show is so much FUN, watching these tough hockey players actually turn into figure skaters. I couldn't believe how much improvement there was already by week 3! Plus, it's going to a great cause - each team gets $25,000 to the charity of their choice when they get kicked off, and the winning team gets $100,000 to the charity of their choice. Battle of the Blades: figure skaters + hockey players = ultimate Canadian goodness.
Favourite programs so far:
+ Week 3: Shae-Lynn Bourne & Claude Lemieux: Assassin's Tango. This program BLEW me away, which was a shocker because it was still early in the competition.
+ Week 4: Tie Domi & Christine Hough-Sweeney: Superman (about 30 minutes in). I wish I could find a video of this program rather than linking to the episode because unless you live in Canada, you can't stream this. I grew up watching the Leafs and enjoyed watching Domi pummelling other players, so to see him show his tender side in this program was an absolute treat.
+ Week 5: Shae & Claude: The Time of My Life. DIRTY DANCING. Enough said.
+ Week 5: Jamie Sale & Craig Simpson: Austin Powers. So much fun!
Bonus link: Jamie Sale & David Pelletier skating to 'Vivo Per Lei' (with a live Andrea Bocelli). Once upon a time, figure skating was my fandom, as in I followed it religiously. Jamie & David were my favourite skaters and watching this video reminded me why I loved them so much. Pairs is my favourite discipline because while the tricks (jumps, spins, etc.) are pretty cool, I love watching a pair move in unison, especially something as simple stroking. (That's what I noticed in week 3 on Battle of the Blades - some of the pairs were doing their crossovers in unison and that made me sit up.) I stumbled upon this video on YouTube while watching some of their amateur programs (I can't believe I've never seen this yet because it's a couple of years old) and I've watched it several times since. It's absolutely gorgeous - they exude a ridiculous amount of chemistry on ice, their elements flow right into one another, some of the movements they do are breathtakingly beautiful, they have such deep edges, and I could go on and on. It has become one of my favourite program of theirs.
Oh hey, did I just write a whole post about figure skating after not posting for months on end? IMAGINE THAT. I'm glad I'm getting back into it now that the Winter Olympics are less than two months away. Vancouver 2010!
For my next post, maybe I'll write about how much I continue to adore FNL to bits and pieces (OH MATT SARACEN) or how awful Weeds is or how I wish the boys on SPN would stop being so emo & doing heart-to-heart chats during the last 5 minutes of the show or how psyched I am about the return of Chuck. But don't hold your breathe.