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close encounter of the figure skater kind
So I mentioned that I wanted to go see Pop Star On Ice, the documentary about figure skater Johnny Weir? But I wasn't sure if anyone would go with me? Well, Mamiko was totally on board and it was AWESOME.
They were doing a Q&A after the movie, so we knew he'd be around. But when we entered the theater, five minutes before showtime (we'd been getting dinner across the street), who's in the lobby but Mr. Weir himself! They were taking promotional pictures. A few other people were milling around so we were like "Do we go in? Are we socializing?" and stood and chatting and watched pictures being taken (specifically, these pictures, if that absurdly long link works in any way -otherwise you can, if you want to, go to Getty Images, search for Johnny Weir, and then choose the BAM premiere from the Events drop-down) and ogled Johnny's amazing outfit. Then we realized we should go actually be going in. . . it was my first BAM experience. Mamiko's so ahead of me, only been here three days. XD
We ended up sitting sort of towards one side, but not too bad. And um, it turned out to be awesome. Because a couple minutes later Johnny came in with a couple of his friends, and they ended up sitting right in front of us. Johnny was literally the row ahead of me and two seats over. Hahahaha so crazy! And awesome! Like, watching a movie and then looking over and the star of the movie is right there?? XD The movie was really good, though, so mostly I was watching that. But occasionally I'd glance over to see his reaction or whatever. He laughed in appropriate places. He whispered to his friends a couple times, but not being a huge creeper, I didn't lean over to hear what he said. XD However, I overheard one thing - there was a story about a woman who got his signature tattooed onto her ankle - apparently she was like "Hey, if you sign my ankle, I'll get a tattoo of it!" And he was like "No you won't!" And she was like "I totally will!" And then later she was like ". . . Shit, did I say that?" But she went for it anyway. XD So I heard him whisper to his friends "She's a schoolteacher," which I thought was kinda cute.
The movie was actually fantastic. I really, thoroughly enjoyed it and would totally see it again. Anyone with an interest in figure skating, Johnny Weir, or things with a gay sensibility (it was part of the Next Wave Gay & Lesbian film festival) would probably really enjoy it. Unless you're an Evan Lysacek fan. . . But no, it was really funny and interesting. It gave a cool behind the scenes look at the training and the competitions (well, sort of the competitions - more of a mental behind the scenes) although not the touring. Seeing his relationship with his (former) coach was really interesting - she seems really sweet! Hopefully they're still friends now, but I do feel like it was time for him to move on. Just based on his skating and performance, not that they pushed that so hard in the movie. The movie showed her in a really positive way. And there was a lot of fun parts of non-skating stuff, like when Johnny walked in a Heatherette fashion show or spoke to kids at his old elementary school in rural Pennsylvania (he was very sweet and appropriate).
It really was so funny, too - genuinely funny. We did a lot of laughing out loud. Some of this was Johnny, saying funny things, and some of it was the filmmakers. Like, for the former, one of the first scenes is Johnny with his friend Paris (possibly a nickname) doing a pretend interview. . . in the bathtub. Johnny is wearing a blond wig and glasses and they're both nekkid (as far as we can tell) and it's not a large bathtub so they're all folded up awkward. And Johnny puts on this Russian accent and says "To know Johnny Weir, we will interview his best friend Paris during bubble bath time." And then at the end he's like "Paris, let me give you advice from older person: Everybody dies." (Quotes are from memory, so I can't vouch for them.)
And the filmmakers did a really good job of cutting things together in a funny way. Especially making fun of Evan Lysacek. I mean, I think the audience was just really ready to laugh at Evan. He's the other top American male skater right now, and he's really, really different from Johnny. He always says the right thing and is all "I'M A GOOD ROLE MODEL" kid but he's just really boring and inane. And more masculine (apparently straight? supposedly he dated Tanith Belbin. !!! That ain't right. Also, maybe Jeffrey is straight! XD) and conventional. So they'd kind of show Evan saying something incredibly dull and lame and we'd all laugh. I don't think they had to work that hard cutting his interviews to create this impression. The absolute biggest laugh was at a press conference after an event where Evan had won - I think where he took the National title from Johnny - so he's talking, and going on about how he feels like his hard work paid off, and then it pans over to Johnny sitting next to him, cos he's the silver medalist. And Johnny is just making the biggest death glare face of doom. Hahaha, it was incredible. I think I literally slapped my thigh.
Not enough Jeffrey Buttle. :( But he did have the most perfect description for pretty-naked-man Brian Joubert: "I think Brian Joubert was born with a six-pack." YES. Hahaha. And then you hear Brian saying something like, "It's not that I want to be naked, it's just that's my routine before I skate. I just have to take my shirt off." and they show Brian wandering around topless. XDD Heck, if I looked like him and had that body, you could have to knock me out and force me to put on clothes. Maybe that's why his costumes are always so shitty and don't suit him at all. Wearing clothes is just unnatural! He needs a simpler, manlier look, but he often ends up wearing glittery bodysuits - and he cannot pull that off like Johnny. Or otherwise his costumes are just awkward in some other way. So much potential!
Johnny is way too skinny, though. Oh, skaters. And Johnnys. But I mean, members of JE, not people named Johnny. I was just thinking that the JE guys are also too skinny. That got confusing. And I know I can't talk but I just made myself a big cheesy wrap with veggies, and had that with fish and an ear of corn and I think I will have some yellow pepper slices or something soon. And pudding. Ahh, appetite. I missed you so.
We also learn that Johnny is friendly with Stephane Lambiel, also a gorgeous man and a two-time world champion. Fun to know sort of who's friendly with whom - albeit to a limited extent. I loves me some Stephane and some Stephane's beautiful spins. Interestingly enough, I think they cut to talking about Stephane right after (or before) a bit where Johnny was complaining that the new judging system wasn't conducive to good spins. Stephane and Jeffrey, especially Stephane, still do beautiful spins!
Johnny complains a lot about the new scoring system, which I think is good because it sucks. They say it's bad for the sport because it's hard for fans to follow - you don't get as excited seeing that someone scored three points above their season best as you do at seeing a perfect 6. I think it's bad for the sport because it leads to shitter programs that are less interesting to watch. Not from Johnny or Jeff, actually, but from stupid Plushenko, certainly, and a lot of other skaters. Maybe it's better now, I was last really big into skating when the system was brand new. Anyway, he was complaining and then they showed a clip from Brian Orser who was like "well, he has to skate in the system so he should shut up." I was like, "No, Brian Orser! He should continue to discuss problems with the system so maybe they'll improve it." There might be better methods to raise concerns, though.
And Johnny himself came off pretty well, both in the movie and during the Q&A. I go through phases of affection and respect, and then sort of irritation and impatience. He seems to. . . more than having an ego or a temperament, he seems to like having an ego and a temperament. I don't know if that's better or worse? Anyway, he's certainly quite fond of himself, but he was pretty charming and likable in the movie, and gave very thoughtful and generally excellent answers in the Q&A. I was impressed. Haha, he said "Everyone sleeps with who they want to sleep with" and I was like "Yeah, I bet extremely attractive figure skaters can sleep with whoever they want. . ." but I appreciate the sentiment about sexuality being no one's business but your own and your partners'. But yeah, he was intelligent and not too self-aggrandizing.
. . . And hopefully he doesn't have a google-alert for himself or we'll have another Len Wein situation (WHAT AM I TRYING TO DO TO MYSELF). He did say he wasn't techno-savvy in response to a fairly aggressive question about blogging.
Although he is on twitter, as is Jeffrey Buttle. . . as J-Butt. Which is obviously what I need to call him from now on. Johnny's is good because he doesn't @___, whereas Jeffrey does a lot, but his is still adorable. A few brief moments' stalking indicates that he's friends with figure skater/model Fedor Andreev, who is SO good-looking that normally I'd assume he's a huge toolface, but he does come across as pretty sweet through twitter. Whatever that's worth? Maybe I just like him because he posts pictures of J-Butt. It's also fun to see them talk about touring and stuff like that like it's totally normal. "Oh, good luck tonight. . . IN FRONT OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE." (That's what I would say in their situation.)
J-Butt.
Mamiko is gone! ): She actually found a place and decided to move in tonight because she has class tomorrow morning at 8. In light of that, I'm quite thankful, but otherwise I miss her! I thought we were going to get to hang out a bit more. She was a great guest - and was actually out of the house a lot of the time looking at apartments in the evening! Mostly when she was here we watched figure skating videos (yay!) and did quizzes on sporcle to help her learn some cases where we use different terms in the US and the UK (since she's spent the last three years studying in England). Luckily for me she got her bank card shipped here so I have to see her soon - possibly she's going to come out with us after work on Wednesday. And I need to see her place, and she's going to take me to some Japanese restaurants to laugh at my chopstick skills, and we have more figure skating videos to watch. XD Also my parents invited her out to LI to see if she wants to borrow any furniture from my grandpa's place, although if she's going to do that sometime when I'm available it might be a while because there's a filing on Friday. ::sigh::
Oh, speaking of work, I saw a bit of the Public Advocate debate on Sunday. God damn, Bill de Blasio is not fucking kidding when he says he's "Standing Tall for New York." It was like TOKIO without Mabo, the four of them. Hilarious! I kept wanting to just be like "To end this debate, I WILL CRUSH MY OPPONENTS BENEATH MY FEET!!" RAAARGH. He'll never be in a Bloomberg campaign ad that way! (For those of you who don't live and breath local NYC politics, Bloomie is not a tall man, and in his commercials and literature he always tries to be standing next to people his height or shorter. The NYC of Bloomberg ads is the tiniest city in the world.)
They were doing a Q&A after the movie, so we knew he'd be around. But when we entered the theater, five minutes before showtime (we'd been getting dinner across the street), who's in the lobby but Mr. Weir himself! They were taking promotional pictures. A few other people were milling around so we were like "Do we go in? Are we socializing?" and stood and chatting and watched pictures being taken (specifically, these pictures, if that absurdly long link works in any way -otherwise you can, if you want to, go to Getty Images, search for Johnny Weir, and then choose the BAM premiere from the Events drop-down) and ogled Johnny's amazing outfit. Then we realized we should go actually be going in. . . it was my first BAM experience. Mamiko's so ahead of me, only been here three days. XD
We ended up sitting sort of towards one side, but not too bad. And um, it turned out to be awesome. Because a couple minutes later Johnny came in with a couple of his friends, and they ended up sitting right in front of us. Johnny was literally the row ahead of me and two seats over. Hahahaha so crazy! And awesome! Like, watching a movie and then looking over and the star of the movie is right there?? XD The movie was really good, though, so mostly I was watching that. But occasionally I'd glance over to see his reaction or whatever. He laughed in appropriate places. He whispered to his friends a couple times, but not being a huge creeper, I didn't lean over to hear what he said. XD However, I overheard one thing - there was a story about a woman who got his signature tattooed onto her ankle - apparently she was like "Hey, if you sign my ankle, I'll get a tattoo of it!" And he was like "No you won't!" And she was like "I totally will!" And then later she was like ". . . Shit, did I say that?" But she went for it anyway. XD So I heard him whisper to his friends "She's a schoolteacher," which I thought was kinda cute.
The movie was actually fantastic. I really, thoroughly enjoyed it and would totally see it again. Anyone with an interest in figure skating, Johnny Weir, or things with a gay sensibility (it was part of the Next Wave Gay & Lesbian film festival) would probably really enjoy it. Unless you're an Evan Lysacek fan. . . But no, it was really funny and interesting. It gave a cool behind the scenes look at the training and the competitions (well, sort of the competitions - more of a mental behind the scenes) although not the touring. Seeing his relationship with his (former) coach was really interesting - she seems really sweet! Hopefully they're still friends now, but I do feel like it was time for him to move on. Just based on his skating and performance, not that they pushed that so hard in the movie. The movie showed her in a really positive way. And there was a lot of fun parts of non-skating stuff, like when Johnny walked in a Heatherette fashion show or spoke to kids at his old elementary school in rural Pennsylvania (he was very sweet and appropriate).
It really was so funny, too - genuinely funny. We did a lot of laughing out loud. Some of this was Johnny, saying funny things, and some of it was the filmmakers. Like, for the former, one of the first scenes is Johnny with his friend Paris (possibly a nickname) doing a pretend interview. . . in the bathtub. Johnny is wearing a blond wig and glasses and they're both nekkid (as far as we can tell) and it's not a large bathtub so they're all folded up awkward. And Johnny puts on this Russian accent and says "To know Johnny Weir, we will interview his best friend Paris during bubble bath time." And then at the end he's like "Paris, let me give you advice from older person: Everybody dies." (Quotes are from memory, so I can't vouch for them.)
And the filmmakers did a really good job of cutting things together in a funny way. Especially making fun of Evan Lysacek. I mean, I think the audience was just really ready to laugh at Evan. He's the other top American male skater right now, and he's really, really different from Johnny. He always says the right thing and is all "I'M A GOOD ROLE MODEL" kid but he's just really boring and inane. And more masculine (apparently straight? supposedly he dated Tanith Belbin. !!! That ain't right. Also, maybe Jeffrey is straight! XD) and conventional. So they'd kind of show Evan saying something incredibly dull and lame and we'd all laugh. I don't think they had to work that hard cutting his interviews to create this impression. The absolute biggest laugh was at a press conference after an event where Evan had won - I think where he took the National title from Johnny - so he's talking, and going on about how he feels like his hard work paid off, and then it pans over to Johnny sitting next to him, cos he's the silver medalist. And Johnny is just making the biggest death glare face of doom. Hahaha, it was incredible. I think I literally slapped my thigh.
Not enough Jeffrey Buttle. :( But he did have the most perfect description for pretty-naked-man Brian Joubert: "I think Brian Joubert was born with a six-pack." YES. Hahaha. And then you hear Brian saying something like, "It's not that I want to be naked, it's just that's my routine before I skate. I just have to take my shirt off." and they show Brian wandering around topless. XDD Heck, if I looked like him and had that body, you could have to knock me out and force me to put on clothes. Maybe that's why his costumes are always so shitty and don't suit him at all. Wearing clothes is just unnatural! He needs a simpler, manlier look, but he often ends up wearing glittery bodysuits - and he cannot pull that off like Johnny. Or otherwise his costumes are just awkward in some other way. So much potential!
Johnny is way too skinny, though. Oh, skaters. And Johnnys. But I mean, members of JE, not people named Johnny. I was just thinking that the JE guys are also too skinny. That got confusing. And I know I can't talk but I just made myself a big cheesy wrap with veggies, and had that with fish and an ear of corn and I think I will have some yellow pepper slices or something soon. And pudding. Ahh, appetite. I missed you so.
We also learn that Johnny is friendly with Stephane Lambiel, also a gorgeous man and a two-time world champion. Fun to know sort of who's friendly with whom - albeit to a limited extent. I loves me some Stephane and some Stephane's beautiful spins. Interestingly enough, I think they cut to talking about Stephane right after (or before) a bit where Johnny was complaining that the new judging system wasn't conducive to good spins. Stephane and Jeffrey, especially Stephane, still do beautiful spins!
Johnny complains a lot about the new scoring system, which I think is good because it sucks. They say it's bad for the sport because it's hard for fans to follow - you don't get as excited seeing that someone scored three points above their season best as you do at seeing a perfect 6. I think it's bad for the sport because it leads to shitter programs that are less interesting to watch. Not from Johnny or Jeff, actually, but from stupid Plushenko, certainly, and a lot of other skaters. Maybe it's better now, I was last really big into skating when the system was brand new. Anyway, he was complaining and then they showed a clip from Brian Orser who was like "well, he has to skate in the system so he should shut up." I was like, "No, Brian Orser! He should continue to discuss problems with the system so maybe they'll improve it." There might be better methods to raise concerns, though.
And Johnny himself came off pretty well, both in the movie and during the Q&A. I go through phases of affection and respect, and then sort of irritation and impatience. He seems to. . . more than having an ego or a temperament, he seems to like having an ego and a temperament. I don't know if that's better or worse? Anyway, he's certainly quite fond of himself, but he was pretty charming and likable in the movie, and gave very thoughtful and generally excellent answers in the Q&A. I was impressed. Haha, he said "Everyone sleeps with who they want to sleep with" and I was like "Yeah, I bet extremely attractive figure skaters can sleep with whoever they want. . ." but I appreciate the sentiment about sexuality being no one's business but your own and your partners'. But yeah, he was intelligent and not too self-aggrandizing.
. . . And hopefully he doesn't have a google-alert for himself or we'll have another Len Wein situation (WHAT AM I TRYING TO DO TO MYSELF). He did say he wasn't techno-savvy in response to a fairly aggressive question about blogging.
Although he is on twitter, as is Jeffrey Buttle. . . as J-Butt. Which is obviously what I need to call him from now on. Johnny's is good because he doesn't @___, whereas Jeffrey does a lot, but his is still adorable. A few brief moments' stalking indicates that he's friends with figure skater/model Fedor Andreev, who is SO good-looking that normally I'd assume he's a huge toolface, but he does come across as pretty sweet through twitter. Whatever that's worth? Maybe I just like him because he posts pictures of J-Butt. It's also fun to see them talk about touring and stuff like that like it's totally normal. "Oh, good luck tonight. . . IN FRONT OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE." (That's what I would say in their situation.)
J-Butt.
Mamiko is gone! ): She actually found a place and decided to move in tonight because she has class tomorrow morning at 8. In light of that, I'm quite thankful, but otherwise I miss her! I thought we were going to get to hang out a bit more. She was a great guest - and was actually out of the house a lot of the time looking at apartments in the evening! Mostly when she was here we watched figure skating videos (yay!) and did quizzes on sporcle to help her learn some cases where we use different terms in the US and the UK (since she's spent the last three years studying in England). Luckily for me she got her bank card shipped here so I have to see her soon - possibly she's going to come out with us after work on Wednesday. And I need to see her place, and she's going to take me to some Japanese restaurants to laugh at my chopstick skills, and we have more figure skating videos to watch. XD Also my parents invited her out to LI to see if she wants to borrow any furniture from my grandpa's place, although if she's going to do that sometime when I'm available it might be a while because there's a filing on Friday. ::sigh::
Oh, speaking of work, I saw a bit of the Public Advocate debate on Sunday. God damn, Bill de Blasio is not fucking kidding when he says he's "Standing Tall for New York." It was like TOKIO without Mabo, the four of them. Hilarious! I kept wanting to just be like "To end this debate, I WILL CRUSH MY OPPONENTS BENEATH MY FEET!!" RAAARGH. He'll never be in a Bloomberg campaign ad that way! (For those of you who don't live and breath local NYC politics, Bloomie is not a tall man, and in his commercials and literature he always tries to be standing next to people his height or shorter. The NYC of Bloomberg ads is the tiniest city in the world.)
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Also, I'd love to see the Lysacek-bashing, even though I like him. ;P (I really like how well he can move on the ice, even though his height isn't all that conventional for skaters... But of course, I also like Plushenko, just for the fact that he was totally old in figure skating standards when he won the world championships, so I think I just enjoy the slightly odd ones. ;P - Also, no one can convince me that Plushenko doesn't have a secret affair with his violinist. XD)
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Evan's height does make for some attractive skating, and certainly he's skilled, but I was just never that interested in him - not his personality or his skating, they didn't draw me in. I think I did see him as sort of the alternative to Johnny even before I knew how strong their rivalry was. And I also segued to pairs quite fast - a period of interest in Johnny, a period of interest in Alexei Yagudin, and then it was basically pairs until Jeffrey Buttle.
Plushenko I don't like. I think he. . . inhibits my enjoyment of the sport. His skating is not fun or interesting to watch. I guess seeing him pull off the moves is interesting, but in between he seems to go out of his way to have unattractive programs - I'm thinking mostly of the arm movements. So I don't particularly enjoy his skating.
But really, my biggest problem with him is that he's so far above any other competitors these days. I guess without him, Alexei would have been in the same place, but Alexei's skating is so different from Evgeny's. But yeah, Brian Joubert, Jeffrey Buttle, Evan and Johnny and Stephane, as well as some of the new men's skaters that are starting to come up, they all seem quite evenly matched. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, but there's always so much tension and excitement in the competitions because they really are anyone's game. That tension disappears when Plushenko competes! I think in most cases in the past when people have been head and shoulders above their competition, there's always been two people, or two pairs, to challenge each other and keep things interesting. Except maybe for Gordeeva and Grinkov. . . but I just watched them later, not during the competitions. And Artur Dmitriev was pretty close to their level.
no subject
I'm not a really hardcore figure skating fan, so I don't think I notice much about the skating performances in themselves, but I really liked Evan's performance in the last World Championship. It had a very ...I don't know, clear edge to it. I think that might be because of his long limbs - my mother and I nicknamed him "the spider" because of them and joked about him getting them tangled up, but I do seriously think that having such long arms and legs means that he has to be much more precise in his movements than someone smaller, and it shows in his skating. It probably makes him less grateful in his skating, too - not that it's impossible to be tall and graceful, of course, but Johnny Weir, Oda (whose first name I've forgotten ^^"), and most of the others have fairly typical ballet-dancer bodies, which probably make being graceful easier for them than Evan, who instead seems to focus on being steady and precise... which, in turn, can lead to skating that's ...well, probably not to everyone's taste. ^^" (Though I get the feeling that he could be a good performer, with some more training. He's shown hints of that already, but he's not there yet.)
Another thing that I liked especially about his WCS performance was the ...I don't know, I'm tempted to say "honesty", though it's not the right word... the way you could see the way he relaxed when everything went so well and how he steadily got happier and more excited until the very end, when he performed his cute little fist drumming. It was so easy to see all of his emotions in that performance, and it made him really sympathetic to me. ^-^
(...Of course I've probably been lucky in that I haven't seen any interviews with him yet, thanks to Germany's tv stations' VERY limited interest in figure skating... Though I like Ohno, so chances are I would probably also forgive Evan for being less-than-intelligent in front of a camera. XD)
I like the other figure skaters too, but performance-wise, I tend to enjoy pairs more, too. Especially ice-dancing pairs, because they usually have more interesting performances and far less wince-worthy accidents. XD
Also, I've got this weird love for siblings skating in pairs, no idea why. ^^" My favourites are the Kerr siblings.
Plushenko - I love Plushenko's free (as in: non-competitive) performances, because he's a great skater and a really good performer and so much fun to watch (I remember the time when he climbed over the balustrade in the middle of his performance to dance with an old lady); but I do hope that he doesn't return to competitive skating. One of the reasons is exactly what you said - when he's in a competition, it's always "Plushenko and everyone else"; but the other is also that he's so good that he can either only continue proving that he's better than the others, or fail; and I think it would be a shame to see him fail. Personally I think he's really better off doing skating performances (which get pretty much as well paid as most competitions, if I'm informed correctly) where he can work his natural charisma, instead of having to somehow work his charisma into the strict competition choreography.
[Edited for me being stupid with names. ;P]
no subject
Cos I wouldn't say it's grace that I necessarily go for - I wouldn't really call Alexei Yagudin a graceful skater. But he and Johnny, especially compared to Plushenko, are better at expressing emotion and conveying the performance aspect of even the technical programs. Cos you say that Plushenko can work his natural charisma better out of competition, and I've seen an exhibition of his and it certainly surprised me, but other skaters are extremely good at getting that charisma into their competition programs. They have no problem with that. And that's what I really look for.
I did hear that Plushenko was planning to go to Vancouver this winter, which is why I'm so particularly disgusted at him right now. XD I really felt like the field was open, I was extremely excited to see who would win, it seemed like we had a real fight on our hands. I also thought that a non-Russian might win for the first time since Boitano. I was just really looking forward to it. And then I found out Plushenko was planning to compete and it just deflated my excitement!
With Evan, maybe it's not that he doesn't get his personality across in his skating - the reason I don't gravitate to him might just be that I find his personality bland! But I really do enjoy his programs - it's just the difference between simply enjoying something, and wanting to see more and being sucked in, which is what happens with some other skaters. Again, with the men this might be based on shallow reasons.
I do have to say I'm not crazy about when skaters celebrate on the ice. Alexei did it all the time, it annoyed me. XD It takes you out of the mood and experience they're trying to create. To a limited extent, of course, that's fine as long as it's not so distracting or, like "why are you so excited that you landed that jump? the best skaters make it look easy!"
Ah, I don't like the ice dancing as much as pairs (we don't call ice dancing "pairs" here - pairs is one event, ice dancing is another) because I really like the exciting tricks. And even when they aren't so oh my god dangerous exciting, I just like the pairs moves a lot - the lifts and throws. But yeah, I love the interaction, it's so much more interesting to me. The only ice dancers I really know (and I do like them both a lot) are Belbin & Agosto and Dubreuil & Lauzon -
Although my favorites are the husband-wife pairs. ^_^ So cute!! Not sure if I've seen any sibling pairs. . .
Sorry, had to split. :/
Also, I'm always fascinated by the deceptively easy-looking elements in ice-dancing! In figure-skating you can see just how dangerous and difficult the jumps and pirouettes are, but everything in ice-dancing looks fairly easy compared to that and it actually takes some thinking about it to become aware of just how difficult the whole synchronisation during a lot of the turns they perform must be. And I absolutely love the way they can play around with their roles in ice-dancing - I remember one perfomance (though I've forgotten the skaters' names, sadly), where in the middle of the free-dance performance, they suddenly turned their usual roles around and had the guy suddenly be lifted by the girl, instead of the other way around. XD (Plus - costumes! Always a major point with my mother and me. ;P)
So, yeah - ice dancing is definitely more my thing than figure skating. ^^" To be honest, I totally enjoy the performances, but the exciting tricks that you like so much are just... a little bit too exciting for me. v-v" Whenever I watch figure-skating, I tend to get very involved with it, to the point that I get stressed whenever one of them falls or hurts him/herself. Ice-skating allows me to enjoy the pretty performances without wincing and whimpering (I'm not kidding - you should have seen me during this year's WCS, when Mao had her bad fall) whenever they go down.
Also, thanks for the heads-up about ice-skating not being called "pairs"! Ice-dancing and figure skating are called by two different names here too (ice-dancing is exactly the same, "Eistanz", in German, but figure-skating is called "Eiskunstlauf", literally "ice-art-run"), but the word "Paarlauf" ("pair-run") is used for both figure skating and ice-dancing and skaters from both disciplines are called "pairs".
I did hear that Plushenko was planning to go to Vancouver this winter, which is why I'm so particularly disgusted at him right now. XD
Well, Plushenko's talked about coming back since he stopped and so far he hasn't done it, so I'm not all that concerned about the Olympics yet. ;P Though it would be interesting to see him and Lysacek together, with both of them with having long limbs and high jumps. (Two spiders on the ice!)
Re: Sorry, had to split. :/
I do love the amazing footwork in ice dancing, and the synchronization, especially during side by side footwork, and how close they are and everything - it's definitely fun to watch! But it doesn't suck me in, entrance me. I guess it's like Evan. ;)
I have to disagree with you on the costumes, though! They put me off, exciting as they are. The costume can really ruin the skating for me - as I say about Brian Joubert. (There was actually a question about this for Johnny, if the costume counts for anything. And it doesn't technically, but it can really add or detract from the artistic appeal of a program!)
I do get stressed watching, though! That's why, when I'm downloading, I stay away from competitions unless I KNOW how it goes. Falls are less common and less stressful in exhibitions and professional programs because there's no points to lose and the skater just gets up. When I watch competitions I'm always biting my nails. Although last Olympics the ice dancers had some pretty fierce falls too!
Ahh, I was just reading that on Wikipedia, that in most languages figure skating is called some variant of "artistic skating". It makes much more sense. The "figure" is from how they used to skate figures, you know? It was like, short program, long program, figures. I think it's become the spiral sequences, sort of. . . But since they don't even do it anymore, it really doesn't make sense!
Re: Sorry, had to split. :/
... By the way, since you talked about athleticism and excitement... I have no idea whether you're into stuff like that, but there's this one absolutely great (and looong) Stargate Atlantis AU fic about John Sheppard, the not-really-good-and-already-too-old figure skater whose last chance at success is Rodney, the former Olympic skater who dropped out of competition at 17 and is working in a little ice-rink in Toronto... (Or, as the author puts it: "John's a rebellious figure skater who after twelve years of competition has one last shot. Rodney's the former World Champion, shattered by defeat (can't you just hear the Olympic theme song?) who can make it happen. But first....")
Fic like that can go really, really wrong, but this one doesn't, because the author keeps her characters really IC and she really knows her figure skating. (Actually, it seems she even had a beta just for the skating stuff? And someone who choreographed John's long program for her, apparently. Never doubt dedicated fans.) And it's so vividly written that I could actually see John performing his programs. And I found it actually interesting to read about the two of them coming together (both professionally and personally - it's a slash fic), despite them being completely different, especially in the way they view skating - John who's the totally athletic type with nothing in between (worse than Plushenko) and Rodney the "artist", who's great at being expressive, but even as a teenager struggled with jumps. Plus, it's really entertaining to read about Rodney having to teach eleven year old little girls who're prone to burst into tears when he's his usual self. XD
So yeah, if you're at all interested in stuff like that - give it a try.
Also, by a freak accident of nature (and I swear, I only saw this just now, when I looked the fic up again to link you to it!), the whole fic is dedicated to Evan Lysacek for replying to his fanmail. XDD
Anyway, back on topic. ^-^ The costumes - for me bad costumes actually aren't that much of a problem, because usually my mother and I watch the skating together and it's a lot of fun for us to joke about bad costumes.
Of course, thanks to Arashi I'm now so desensitized against bad costumes that I often don't realize anymore just how horrible some of them truly are... XD
That's why, when I'm downloading, I stay away from competitions unless I KNOW how it goes.
...You can download performances? *blink*
I actually kind of like the expression "figure skating", because it really shows the tradition of the sport, that it comes from exactly that - (crazy) British people starting competitions on who could make the most beautiful figures on the ice. ^-^
Sorry, had to split. :/ (Part 2)
*LOL* Poor Evan! The bland cup of milk next to Johnny Weir's exciting espresso! XD Though I do think that he has potential for fire left in him - it seems to me that Evan sometimes has little "pockets" of expression in his programs that could be a really good starting point.
I do have to say I'm not crazy about when skaters celebrate on the ice.
Yeah, I can understand that. It either seems self-congratulatory or like really, really bad self-esteem. ^^" But there's a difference between that and someone's body-language just conveying his/her happiness about a performance going well.
Not sure if I've seen any sibling pairs. . .
There always seem to be a few siblings around in international ice dancing competitions - Sinead and John Kerr, Cathy and and Chris Reed (who're Japanese, which still amuses me, because they don't sound Japanese at all - also, Chris apparently has two sisters to dance with, one older and one younger XD) and Carolina and Daniel Hermann (the German champions, who I remember mainly because I once saw a short documentary about Daniel having to study abroad for a semester for his degree and Carolina packing up her stuff and following her big brother to Canada, so they could continue skating, which of course they did for their career, but which I found very sweet nonetheless, especially how positive she was about the whole thing) were the ones in this year's WCS. At the moment there aren't any siblings in the higher ranks (the Kerrs were... *goes to check* ...third in the European championships and seventh in the WCS, and the others are all below that), but apparently in the fifties, one pair of siblings won the WCS for three times in a row, or something.
There don't seem to be any sibling pairs in figure-skating, though. Perhaps because in pairs the woman tends to be a lot smaller and lighter than the man, and the likelihood of that isn't all that great with people who share the same genes?
Re: Sorry, had to split. :/ (Part 2)
Ahh, all the sibling pairs are in ice dancing. . . yeah, that makes sense, I guess being more matched is important there? That is sweet - and it does add a level of interest! :) Yeah, I feel like about half the pairs skaters I can think of are married, I guess that's the common pattern there.
Re: Sorry, had to split. :/ (Part 2)
Ah, I just meant that at the beginning, before I even realized much about his personality, Ohno seemed kind of boring (which is something I've heard a lot of fangirls say was their first impression of him), but I liked him anyway, because he was "the boring one". ^-^ That's why I said that a boring-sounding Evan might just make me like him. XD
yeah, that makes sense, I guess being more matched is important there?
There are some teams that are really different in height (even with some sibling pairs, like the American Junior champions in ice dancing), but on the whole they tend to be more evenly matched than figure pairs. The Kerr siblings, for example - Sinead is nearly as tall as her brother, which makes them very evenly matched in movements. (And also evenly matched in other ways. XD Ignore me, I just get a kick out of their matching kilts in that performance. XD)