Perpetual toddlerhood

I've just spent the last three weeks in hell. How's that for dramatic?

It has felt like that, though. For some reason, George's sleep patterns for the last three weeks have been really irratic. He'd wake up every few hours, or sleep very few hours, or wake up at 3am and be up for the rest of the day. Jon and I would switch staying up with him, but it was up to me to handle most of it, and I do not do sleep deprivation very well. For example, the other night, at the tail end of it all, George went to bed very early, at about 5pm, and woke up at 10:30 (which is about my regular bedtime), and since he requires constant supervision, I was up with him the rest of the night. By 3:30am, when Jon woke up to relieve me, I was in despair and weeping because it was the third week of doing it.

Sometimes we forget that both our children are basically toddlers, even though they're chronically much older. I call it "perpetual toddlerhood." That period's called, for good reason, "the terrible twos", and it's probably the most difficult part of parenthood. For most parents, though, they know that sleepless nights, them getting into stuff continually, and the "everything's mine" outlook is temporary. That's not true for us, though; we've been doing it for nine years and there's no end in sight.

Most of the time, it's manageable, because toddlerhood is also full of Sesame Street and The Wiggles and lots of joy. There are times, though, when it's difficult, and being sleep deprived for weeks at at time makes it difficult to handle. It's those times that I get down, become deeply depressed, and feel despair. Despair over not seeing an end to it, and over the seriousness of my kids' disabilities.

If George was typically developing, he'd be able to tell us why he wasn't able to sleep. At the very least we'd be able to tell him to go to his room, shut the door, put on his TV, go on the computer, play his Playstation, and let us sleep. The door to his room is broken, so he'd come out of his room and need constant supervision to ensure his safety. It makes me understand the parents who got into trouble for putting their disabled kids in cages. The solution was to purchase more baby gates and tie them together--not cages, but a way to keep him safe so that we can sleep.

So last night was the second night of this solution, which we know is only temporary, and it's gone well. For some reason, though, it coincided with George's sleep improving. Perhaps he's woken up, seen that he's safe in his room, and gone back to sleep. Perhaps it was just a stage. Who knows? I've had two good nights of sleep, and it's made all the difference in the world.

RIP Michael Jackson

So I came home this afternoon, a little bummed because I was worried about some clients. I turned on the TV, and there it was, news of Michael Jackson's death. I went, "Oh my god!" and the personal care worker there agreed and asked, "Did you like Michael Jackson?"

My response was, "Well, back in the day..." Thriller was probably the fifth album I ever owned, and I graduated from high school in 1983, a year after it was released and right in the middle of all the attention he got from it. For good reason, since it was a remarkable, ground-breaking record. It's sad to think of what he became, and his death is a tragedy.

Green

I have changed the color scheme of this blog to green, to show my support of the resistance movement in Iran. I am wearing the color today, as are my children. It's my intention to try and wear green all week, and to put the kids in it as well. It was interesting to see how many people wore green in Mass this morning. Even the priest was wearing green, although I'm not sure if it was intentional.

Oh, and happy Father's Day, too. Jon and I were supposed to go out for lunch today, but I'm not sure if it's gonna happen, since our worker didn't show up this morning. Who knows what's gonna happen. That's the drawback of depending on others when making plans; they often don't happen, especially when the people you depend upon are flaky and young.

Elmo vs Blue

Just now, my son approached my husband and said, "Blue!" This in spite of the fact that we're right in the middle of watching "Elmo's World" on Sesame Street recorded earlier today. Understand that George loves Blue; it's the first thing he says upon waking up in the morning. If Noggin ever stops showing it, I don't know what we'll do. We may actually have to break down and buy some DVDs.

That reminded me of another instance in which George asked for Blue, earlier in the week. George approached me with the same request, "Blue!" "Elmo's World" was on the TV again, and I was right in the middle of reading some of Kevin Clash's book for the SS article, so I said, "George! You love Blue more than Elmo?! We won't tell Kevin Clash; his feelings would probably be hurt!"

After reading some of the book (the parts available on Google Books, which is why I posted on Twitter that I may have to invest in it), I think I may actually be correct about Clash's feelings about George preferring Blue over his Elmo. Not that I'm criticizing him for that, though. On the other hand, I think it's an accurate estimation of his feelings about the role and about Elmo's influence on young children, which is profound. Looking over my computer at both my kids watching him is evidence of that, at least for me.

Alan Muraoka

For us adult fans of Sesame Street, the question is always asked: Who is your favorite character on The Show? This is formost in my mind because being burnt out on the History of SS article, I decided to tackle a list this time: List of characters in Sesame Street. Of course, that begs another question: how is that taking a break? I never said I wasn't obsessive.

Anyhoo, if you were to ask me, "Christine, who's your favorite human character on SS?" I'm sure you may expect me to say Gordon, and if you did, you'd be dead wrong. My favorite character on SS is Alan. During my research for The List, I found this image of Alan, made-up for another role. He's greyed-up, but I think he's very attractive here. What a great smile!



I decided that Alan was my favorite human character on The Show after an episode that aired a few years ago. After looking it up in Muppet Wiki, it was Episode 3993, which aired in 2002. Alan and Gordon are playing chess when Big Bird passes, chasing a bouncing box. Alan leaves the game to catch the box to take it to the Mail-It Shop. I gained so much respect for Alan, both as a character and as an actor, that he'd be willing to do something so silly for The Show. It also doesn't help that now that Bob McGrath's as old as dirt, he's currently the best looking male on The Show.

Oh, the box ended up being from Big Bird's granny-bird: that month's installment of the Letter of the Month club, "a joyful jumping J", as the Wiki puts it.

Daily Mass

I've come to the conclusion that I have plenty of "bloggable" experiences; I just need the discipline and self-awareness to think of my experiences in that way. It should be on my list of ways to self-improve: continue the weight loss, exercise, better take care of the housework, get on my paperwork more efficiently, edit for Wikipedia, pursue the writing career, be more tardy, don't overdraw the checking account, blog more.


So I will now relate today's "bloggable" experience. After the kids' workers arrived (they need to add tardiness to their self-improvement list as well), I went over to church. There was a special mass today, and I had arranged that I was going to meet my friend, Sister Mary David, there for the luncheon held following it. Sister and I meet weekly for spiritual direction (she's been such a tremendous help to me, and worth another blog post). I showed up before Mass was over, and had intended to just wait in my car, but changed my mind and went into church.


I'm very glad that I did, since I walked in right at the point where our priest, Father Joe Schmidt, was washing his hands. I missed most of the service, which was a special healing Mass our parish, St. Mary's Church in Moscow, has twice a year. I've never attended one, since I've either always been busy or I didn't think it was for me. What a pleasant surprise--I didn't expect that I'd be able to take Communion today, but I did. I really wish I was able to attend Mass daily, but I've never been able to, due to my kids' schedule. (Mass is at 8am, and the kids get dropped off at school by 8:20, and it just isn't feasible during the summer, either.)


I love it when God surprises me with unexpected gifts, like being able to take him in through the Eucharist. It doesn't happen often, but I appreciate it and am thankful when it does.

I have sold out

You might have noticed that I've added a new link to the sidebar. I've done that because I received an email from the owner of that blog offering to link mine if I linked hers. I'll do pretty much anything to increase the traffic on this site, doncha know. So please excuse the sell-out, and if you're visiting from there, welcome!

I have a strange life

I really should blog more. I know that no one reads this, but now that I'm on Twitter, it's probably a good idea to simply force myself. Part of the reason I don't blog often is that not really that much happens to me that I'd call bloggable. Today, though, I had an experience that's definately bloggable.

I attended my son's therapy sessions this afternoon. His speech therapy occured at the therapy center across the street from the hospital in Moscow, and his occupational and physical therapy co-treat was immediately after. (I say "co-treat" because his OT and PT work together during the same appointment.) We met at Friendship Square in downtown Moscow, a few blocks from the hospital on Main Street. Friendship Square is half-way down Main Street right in the center of town; there's a fountain on one side of the street, and a play structure and park benches on the other side. It's kinda a "mini-park".

I sat on one of the benches watching the therapists work with George, and a young woman, probably in her mid-to-late 2os sat next to me as her little boy was playing. He kept talking to her, and she replied, "What? I can't hear what you're saying." His response each time was, "Never mind," and I asked him, "Who are you--Gilda Radner?"

Of course, he looked at me blankly, and I said, "Of course, you don't know who she is." Then I turned to his mom and asked her, "Do you know who Gilda Radner is?" She said, "Uh, no," and I proceeded to explain to her that Gilda Radner was a member of the original cast of "Saturday Night Live" and one of her characters was "Rosanne Rosannadanna" and her catch phrase was "Never mind." It wasn't until I told her that Gilda Radner was married to Gene Wilder that she knew what I was talking about. My reaction to that exchange was, "Oh, I'm so old!"

Later, after therapy was over, George and I went over to listen to two 20-something young men busking in the Square, playing a drum and guitar. George loves anything to do with music, so he had a great time, especially when the drummer let George play his drum. ("Busking" is playing music in public for donations; the only reason I know the term is because of my Wiggles research, since that's something they did at the beginning of their career.) At one point, I said to the musicians, "Do you know anything from The Wiggles?" Of course, they didn't, and I found myself explaining again.

I have such a strange life. I'm basically a 45-year old mom of toddlers, so a lot of the other moms with toddlers I come into contact with, some who are young enough to be my daughters, don't have similar cultural experiences. I go around explaining my life to people all the time. It can get a little tiresome, but it also opens up conversations. It's also a bit lonely, because other than my husband, I don't know anyone who can relate to me.

Racism and rape

It looks like this blog has become more about my Wikipedia experiences than about figure skating. Perhaps when Worlds happen next month, I'll have more to say. The cool thing is that Worlds is in L.A. this year, so we'll be seeing more of it. As I've previously stated, it looks like I'm going to have to break down and subscribe to IceNetwork next season, so that I don't go to the '10 Nationals unprepared.

At the current time, I'm addressing some reviews about the Caged Bird article. The experience of editing that article has been an emotional journey for me in many ways. As I was re-editing some of the material about racism today (which I have off, at least until later this afternoon), I was struck with how inadequate I am to the task of writing about the subject. It's a bit overwhelming, and humbling. I think I got myself in way over my head once again. This is a characteristic of mine; I tend to take on things that are too big for me to handle.

At one point while addressing the reviewer's comments, I stated, "Who do I think I am anyway, taking on this article?" Here I am, this white woman with very little experience with the topic of racism. No, actually, none at all. No wonder I'm struggling with the writing, and it has more to do with my weaknesses as a writer. It's almost like my experience writing the "Organs" section of Stanford Memorial Church. It was obvious from my first attempts that it was written by a non-organist and someone who knows little about music. My solution in that situation was to elicit help from an editor who's an expert about organs.

Perhaps what would help in this situation would be to elicit an expert about this, a black editor who specializes in this kind of thing. Perhaps I'm already doing what I can, getting help from more experienced and skilled editors to get the prose right. What doesn't help is the fact that the topics (not just racism) in Caged Bird are so complicated, difficult, and emotional. I know it's been emotional for me.

For example, back in September, when I was in the research phase of the development of the article, I sat on a jury for a man accused of child molestation. (We found him guilty.) Now, I was aware of the kind of case going into it, but I thought that it would be a good opportunity to do some research while waiting for jury selection, and I brought one of the books I read for the article. I can't believe that I didn't make the connection between the rape in Caged Bird and the court case, and didn't even think that it may be an inappropriate book to read that day. Well, sure enough, I had to put the book away before the day was through.

My life is like that: I do research about a book that features a child's rape the very same week I experience my worst nightmare and sit on a jury about a child molestation case. It's not the first time a "coincidence" like that has happened to me. Racism, especially the way Maya Angelou describes it, is also emotional, and I'm finding myself having a great deal of difficulty writing about it. In spite of that, though, I'll finish improving the article, since I'm committed to seeing it pass to featured article, even if I am a white girl.

Parallels

Since it's pointless to blog about Figure Skating (see post below), at least I can still blog about Wikipedia. I wanted to point this out some way, but it didn't seem to fit on my user page, and it certainly doesn't fit on an article talk page.

Two of my main projects in the last several months are I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Sesame Street. After a flurry of editing on Caged Bird before the holidays, it's currently in a holding pattern waiting for another editor to look it over before we get more feedback before it's submitted to become a featured article. My goal is to have it FA sometime this year, the 40th anniversary of the book's publication.

While waiting, I took on the Sesame Street article. Up to this week, I was in the "research phase of article development." Basically, that means reading: G is For Growing, which is a compilation of research done on the show, and the new book, Street Gang, by Michael Davis. The latter book is delightful, and full of all kinds of usable information for the article. I highly recommend it; not only does it cover the history of Sesame Street; it covers the history of television, children's TV in particular.

What I found interesting, though, is that both of my main recent WP projects were both created 40 years ago. (I may not get the Sesame Street article to FA by November, which is the show's anniversary, but I may be able to get History of Sesame Street to that point, since it's more manageable.) The even more interesting thing is that both Sesame Street and Caged Bird were created out of dinner parties.

Jean Ganz Cooney hosted a dinner in 1966, and the discussion of the guests led directly to the creation of the show. In 1968, Maya Angelou attended a dinner party at the home of cartoonist Jules Feiffer and the discussion about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination and their childhoods inspired Angelou to write her autobiography. I don't know what it says about me and my obsessions with the material in both articles, but the parallel is too interesting to let pass by.

The other thing to note has only to do with Sesame Street. In 1969, when the show premiered, I was five years old, the very end of the population the producers and creators wanted to reach. As I read Davis' book, it struck me: all this was done for me! Perhaps that's egocentric, but I became teary-eyed as I realized that. For me, and for my beautiful disabled children, who can recite the alphabet in large part due to the show.

Perhaps Angelou wrote Caged Bird for me as well; so that I can learn about racism the first time I read it as a young college student, and the research I've done this year, the year we elected a black man as President of the United States.

Not so long this time

So it's been two months since the last time I posted anything on this blog. The reason for that is that as I was attempting to view some of the Grand Prix figure skating events on YouTube, I discovered, to my dismay, that they had been removed. I suspect that U.S. Figure Skating is to blame. Of course, that means that just because I live in the US, I can only watch the sport when it's broadcast by NBC, even though the YouTube videos were originally broadcast on other networks outside the US. At this point, that's only twice a year. As a result, I gave up blogging about figure skating in disgust.

The only hope we American fans have to watch the sport more regularly is that if the ISU gets its act together and make a contract with some US network to broadcast more figure skating. I've seen nothing in the media about it, but with the "downturn" of the sport in the US and the state of the economy worldwide, I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon. It's shameful on so many levels. Of course, ABC is responsible for much of it, for not promoting the sport after they lost the rights to broadcast the Olympics.

The bright spot in all this, at least for me, is that NBC will broadcast the Nationals in a few weeks; perhaps I'll blog more regularly after that. In addition, my marvelous husband bought me tickets to the 2010 Nationals because it's returning to Spokane. The 2007 Nationals, which he also sent me to, were the highlight of my life. Spokane wrote the book on how to host a successful Nationals, so it should be even better. Let's hope that the city doesn't have another winter like this one, with eight feet of snow!

Skate Canada - Pairs short program

As I expected, there's more to view of Skate Canada. It doesn't look like I was correct about the popularity of figure skating in Canada, though; all you have to do is to look at the audience in these videoes to demonstrate that. According to this story, they only "broke even." It also states the following:

Next year, Skate Canada will be later in November because of scheduling issues during the Olympic season. Because Skate America had difficulties attracting a broadcaster for a date that would put the competition a week earlier, the dates for all Grand Prix events have been shuffled. For next season only, Skate Canada will be the last of the six Grand Prix events, instead of the second. Skate America will be the fifth.

That is so interesting. It's gotta be an NBC thing. I wonder what's going on next year for that to happen. At any rate, here at the videos I found. I'm also including the scores, since not all include them.

Kawaguchi and Smirnov - Eurosport - 65.02
McLaughlin and Brubaker - Eurosport - 60.66
Dube and Davison - Eurosport, French - 60.14

Vise and Trent -Eurosport - 53.94

Dong and Wu - Eurosport, French - 50.84
Brodeur and Mattatall - Eurosport - 50.76
Kirkland and Radford - English - 50.08
Evora and Ladwig - English - 47.04

The power of words

This morning, while working with a client, I got an insight that for me, doesn't happen very often. I love it when it does happen, though.

The client calls it "our Bible study", but I call it, in the progress notes I have to write, "studying spiritual literature, to help her with her anxiety". I've always been a big believer in using a client's spirituality to help them psychologically. There are plenty of studies that prove that the most emotionally and psychologically healthy people have a healthy spirituality, so I've been known to even use Scripture to help my clients decrease their anxiety.

Without going into too much detail about the client, since confidentiality is involved, we're looking at a Protestant confirmation book my husband has used for teens. This morning, the content focused on creation and on God as creator. We read Genesis 1-2. A couple of things struck me, but the biggest thing was that God spoke, and the universe was created. His words brought creation into being.

Last night, I happened to listen to a Maya Angelou interview on a BBC broadcast, in my on-going project to improve her Wikipedia articles. One of the things Dr. Angelou talked about was her period of muteness after her rape at the age of eight, as described in her I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She said that she was traumatized after she heard that her rapist had been murdered and from that point on, she decided to stop speaking. She said, "I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone..."

Angelou was more traumatized by the murder than by the actual rape. She believed that "the issuing forth" of her words caused the death of another human being and could imagine them killing others. As a result, she was mute for five years. It struck me, as I was reading and talking about Genesis 2, that Angelou must have read it, even as an eight-year old, because she understood that words have great power. It was through God's words that the universe came into being, and in the mind of a narcissistic child, her words had destructive power.

Of course, Angelou spoke again; she became a teacher, she makes much of her living by public speaking, and recited her poem at Clinton's inauguration. Caged Bird says that she began speaking again when her grandmother's friend, Mrs. Flowers, introduced her to great literature and made her memorize poetry. It was through literature that she found her voice again. So not only does words have the power to destroy; they have the power to restore.

Maya Angelou is one of my heroes.

And finally, figure skating

I listed the YouTube videos that focused on last weekend's Skate America. (See below.) The most disappointing thing about that was the fact that there have been very few downloads of the pairs and dancers. I suspect that this weekend's competition, Skate Canada, will be better, since figure skating is huge in Canada.

What's missing from Skate America is what I watched from the NBC broadcast, which showed only the top three male skaters, both long and short programs, and the entire final group of skaters during the ladies' free skate. Poor Kimmie Meissner--she only came in eighth! So much for the Grand Prix final.

In addition, there was some confusion in the audience about the men's scores. For example, the crowd expected Evan Lysacek to do better, but he only came in third. (Takahiko Kozuka from Japan came in first. ) This makes me think that I may be wrong the comparison I made earlier about the figure skating scoring system and gymnastics may be incorrect. I'm sure I'll talk more about that as this season progresses.

Wikipedia News

This week, Gather Together in My Name, became a good article. Gather Together in My Name is Maya Angelou's second autobiography. It's not as well-received as her first book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, so it doesn't have nearly as much written about it. As a result, its WP article is probably doesn't have Featured article-potential like Caged Bird. (I'm waiting for someone to do a copyedit on that article before I nominate it for FA again.) I wrote this article, with very little input and collaboration from other editors, probably because it's one of my "strays" that no one else has any interest in.

My goal for Angelou-related articles is to have an article for all seven of her autobiographies, and to get her main bio page improved enough to make it a FA. What that means, of course, since I'm probably going to be the one who does it, is that I have to actually read them. I figure, how can you write an article about a book unless you've read it? Since they're autobiographies, I don't feel like I can contribute to those parts of her articles with any expertise until then. As I told the administrator who passed Gather Together, I don't see that happening for at least another year.

When that's all done, and I'm sufficiently satisfied, I'd like to get a Maya Angelou featured topic. This is what it would require. Dr. Angelou is certainly is an important enough American author for it, and it's a worthwhile long-term project.

Halloween Week

Halloween at our house, with two developmentally disabled little kids, is often a sad holiday. The kids don't understand it, much like Christmas. George is somewhat better at getting it than his sister; he loves Santa Claus, but much like he loves all costumed characters.

Something funny just happened: right after I wrote the above, George came over to me with his Halloween costume (a khaki soldier outfit) and "asked" me to put it on him. After some hesitation and encouragement from his dad and grandma, I went ahead and did it. So I take back what I just said; George does seem to at least enjoy dressing up in costumes. How many times does these kids make me out to be a liar?

Anyway, both kids loved getting dressed up, even though they really don't understand the concept of Halloween. I waited until the last minute (i.e., the night before) to get costumes because I assumed that it was pointless. After this year, we decided that next year we're going to take the kids trick-or-treating for the first time, at least around the neighborhood.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Anna was a princess, mostly because it was the last minute and that was all Walmart had. For the last several years, little girls dressing up as princesses has been all the rave. Anna loved it, though; on Wednesday when she was able to dress up for school, she came home with her worker and curtsied all over the place. "Who taught you that?" Very cute.

Skate America - Pairs short program

Duhamel and Buntin
Zhang and Wang
Canac and Coia
Savchenko and Szolkowy
Mukhortova and Trankov

The final three performances haven't been downloaded yet. The commentaries are in English (if I were to guess, they're from the Canadian broadcast), except for Zhang and Wang, which is in Russian. Warning: the English commentaries are really bad--they're boring and barely adequate. Where's Terry Gannon when you need him? In addition, the person who downloaded them didn't include the scores. Here they are, from the ISU site: http://www.isufs.org/results/gpusa08/SEG005.HTM

Skate America - Men's short program

This morning I've been spending some time watching figure skating on YouTube. The only segment that's up as of 10:30am PST is the men's short program, and I watched about one-third of the entries. I figure that's comprable to what I would've probably seen if we were seeing it on TV, but without the Russian commentary, of course. On Sunday night, more was downloaded, and I was able to see most of the SP.

Kevin Reynolds
Shawn Sullivan
Takahiko Kozuka
Igor Macypura
Adrian Schultheiss
Adam Rippon
Evan Lysacek
Johnny Weir

Lysacek is first after the short program. You can tell it's the beginning of the season; all of the above were solid, but no one tried to do any quads. We'll see what's up for their long programs, especially Lysacek, whose triples looked easily done.

I'll give folks a little bit longer, and then I'll go looking for more performances. The most interesting to note was Lysacek; from this first outing, it looks like he's the one to beat this season. He skated to "Bolero", and his costume, which had a red cross on both sides of his torso, was interesting. That's pretty brave; I've always said that if I were a figure skater, I'd never skate to "Bolero".






More later.

My pal Pam

One of the most marvelous and often unexpected things about life on the net are often the people you get to meet. Some, as the media is so quick to point out, are nasty and icky, but I've learned that you meet some like that in real life, too. My experience is that most people, both on the net and IRL, are pretty decent.

One of the "decent" folks is a woman named Pam I've encountered while editing the hep C list. I came upon the article while doing research for a client, and saw that it needed a great deal of work, mostly in repairing and improving the references. It's the first list on WP I've worked on, and now my repertoire includes two lists that I've created myself.

Pam is no WP expert, but she knows a lot about hep C and does wonderful advocacy work for folks who suffers from the disease. She also understands the importance of having quality articles/lists on the project about hepatitis C. I know very little about hep C, but Pam has taught me the importance of education. With this list, I've kinda run into the dilemma I often run into with my pet articles--it's a very "unsexy" topic these days, in spite of the prevalence of the disease. This list is on the short side because hep C has a lot of stigma attached to it, even more than AIDS/HIV. I think it's kinda strange that more celebrities are more willing to admit they're HIV-positive than HCV-positive, but that's because the stigma attached to hep C is stronger than AIDS.

In spite of being non-WP savvy, Pam has taken on herself to do away with this stigma by helping me with this list. She figures that if someone newly diagnosed sees that someone like Naomi Judd or Natalie Cole has hep C but has successfully gotten treatment and lives a happy and productive life, it provides him or her with hope. I've learned that hep C is one of the most under-diagnosed ailments, so as Pam stated below, this also could save someone's life by inspiring them to get tested.

So here's Pam's words, cut-and-pasted from my comment box:

peachstatepam said...

You are awesome Christine! Thank you for all the hard work you do at Wikipedia. As you know I am especially interested in the Celebs that have Hep C page as hopefully it will bring about some recognition to this unrecognized epidemic in our country. Hep C patients outnumber HIV patients 5 to 1 but most people don't even realize that Hep C is only transmitted blood to blood much less any other facts about it. YOU ROCK and all your hard work is very much appreciated.

Peace
Pam
www.myspace.com/figmento

Well, thanks pal. As I've told you before, I keep you around because you're so wonderfully complimentary and supportive. Editing for WP, especially the kinds of articles I tend to be drawn to, can be a lonely enterprise. Ya don't get much recognition for it, doncha know. I appreciate that you're helped me so much in the improvement of this list. I think it's time to try and get it to featured-status. If I didn't have to take off right now and actually make some money this afternoon, I'd do it right now. Perhaps tonight. Please expect some direction from me in an email to get your support, since that's why it failed a few weeks ago. You rock, too!

What I've been doing

It's not as if I haven't been busy.

Most of my time on the net has been spent in Wikipedia. I think that this blog got so neglected for so long because a year ago was about the time when I really discovered it and got addicted. I've had a marvelous time, and now use it as a way to de-stress after everyone's gone to bed. It's a way to express myself creatively.

I think, like other WP editors, I'd like to use this forum to record my "wiki-experiences". WP has changed the way I write, probably for the best, and a blog can be a good way to explore my experiences with the editing and writing process.

Lots of stuff has also happened with the kids, but that's another story for another time.

To start, here a link to my user page on WP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Figureskatingfan. My user page lists some of my WP "accomplishments"; it's also a good place to find out more about me and my interests.

Currently, I'm in the research phase for Sesame Street. This article was, back in 2006, a featured article, back when the criteria wasn't as strict. I wasn't surprised when it was delisted; it's by no means high enough quality at this point. So my goal is to get it back there, but it needs a great deal of research.

I'm also waiting for a complete copyedit of my newest high-priority article, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. My goal for that article is to get it to FA before the 4oth anniversary of its publication in 2009. I think that Maya Angelou is enough of a gem in this country to deserve high-quality articles, so I've taken her articles on. (Actually, I'm in the midst of a minor controversy right now; see here.) I can write more about Dr. Angelou's bio page, and will, at a later time.

In a couple of days (either Friday or the weekend, depending on my time), it's my plan to re-nominate List of people with hepatitis C, as a featured list. It failed on its previous nomination, due to lack of support. I'll write more about that article, especially why it interests me, also later.

Finally, two other articles, Stanford Memorial Church and Gather Together in My Name are pending good articles nominations.

So it looks like at the current time, mostly I'm playing a waiting game. Shoot, I'm like Indigo Montoya: "I hate waiting!" Fortunately, I have Sesame research to do, so I'm all right.

Starting Again

It's been almost a year since I've blogged, and since tomorrow is the start of the figure skating season, I think I'm ready to take it up again. I think that last season I was a bit burned out on figure skating, after my marvelous experience at Nationals in 2007. One of my personal goals is to make back to the Nationals in 2010, when it's back in Spokane, one month before the Olympics.

It looks like I'm going to have to depend upon MySpace if I'm to get serious about following the Grand Prix series. It looks like the only GP event that's going to be television here in the US this season is Skate America on NBC, and they're only showing the ladies long program on Friday afternoon. My plan is to tape it, and hope that the other events make it on YouTube. I'm certain that Skate Canada next weekend will be downloaded there. I just wish that the CBC put figure skating on the web, like so many US networks have their programs there.

The ISU have to really get it together and make a deal with NBC to broadcast international events, like they've already done in '09 for Worlds. Maybe they can do it with the money they're saving by using fewer judges. At least the situation in figure skating is better than the judging in gymnastics.

I watched a great deal of the Summer Olympics this year (it was just marvelous--Michael Phelps! Volleyball, all!), and I had to stop watching gymnastics because I was disgusted. Disgusted by the little Chinese girls who were obviously too young. Disgusted by the scoring system that I, as someone who knows little about gymnastics, found incomprehensible and unfair.

Figure skating has had many of the same challenges to overcome, but the sport has been able to so much better at revamping their scoring system. Sure, it's more complicated than the 6.0 system, but I don't think it's impossible to comprehend. Sure, there need to be some changes, and it's by no means perfect, but I don't think it shames the sport.

I haven't been here for a year, but that doesn't mean I lost my opinions! I'm looking forward to following the new season, even if it's going to be more difficult.

Blue's Clues is frustrating

It looks like I'm turning into the children's TV expert on Wikipedia. First was The Wiggles' article, as I've stated here. Now my project is Blue's Clues.

I ran into that article early last summer, and saw that it was quite horrible. Then someone downgraded it from B-status (the third lowest) to "start," which is pretty bad and embarrassing. I suppose the problem lies in the fact that there aren't many parents of preschool-age children with the time to waste their time editing Wikipedia. Things are different with my situation--virtually unemployed with older kids who are developmentally young enough to watch these shows but old enough for school.

It's actually been interesting researching Blue's Clues, especially the way the producers used early childhood research to create the show. Everything was done for a reason, with research to back it up. I won't go into details here (I'll link it when I'm finished rewriting the article), but one of the reasons Blue's Clues has been so wildly successful is that it was able to tap into the way little kids think, learn, and watch television. The Wiggles' success is the music; BC's success is its structure and the way it present information. Very cool.

I say that BC is frustrating because of something I haven't been able to find, even after an entire morning of Google searches. When the show premiered in 1996, Nickelodeon showed the same episode for a week. When my seven-year old started watching it back in about 2001, they had ceased the practice, but resumed it shortly afterwards. At the current time, they show a different episode everyday.

There's all kinds of research out there that supports the effectiveness of repeating it daily, but I could find nothing (NOTHING!) about why they stopped the practice. I'm thinking about writing Nickelodeon about it; at the very least, I'm going to post the issue on BC's talk page.

More Wiggles Wikipedia

The other interesting thing to note also has to do with The Wiggles. Currently, I'm re-writing their article's section about the group's "other characters" (Capt. Feathersword, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus, Wags the Dog), and while doing a Google search on Henry and Jeff Fatt, who does his voice, I found a very interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald, written back in 2002, about the tenuous and difficult relationship the boys have had with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

It seems that The Wiggles' first two TV series (not seasons; this is Australian TV, you know) were self-produced because the ABC refused to let them "be themselves" on their TV program. If the ABC had its way, they would've had to wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts (with Anthony Field's two large tattoos, that would've been an issue) and not speak while on camera. By 2002, though, they had worked out their differences and the ABC produced their subsequent series.

I'm not so sure that's a good thing. I wish that the Disney Channel broadcast The Wiggles' early shows. I remember groaning at it when I first saw it, but eventually it grew on me. It was so raw, so under-produced--unlike the over-produced kiddie TV shows here in America. The ABC series are obviously well-produced, and I think the show has lost some of its spirit and innocence as a result.

It's interesting, though, that not all was as smooth and golden for The Wiggles as they'd want us all to think.

Wikipedia update

In order to increase the traffic here, I've decided to share what I learn during my Wikipedia edits, since that has captured most of my attention these days.

One of my major goals is to improve The Wiggles article. I believe that it's been greatly improved, mostly by my efforts, since I got a hold of it this fall. In the last few days, another editor submitted another Wiggles article for deletion--a silly thing called "Le Wiggles." So did anyone else know that The Wiggles have been franchised to France? I follow The Wiggles in the media through my Google alert on 'em, and I didn't even know it!

So it was, most likely, a hoax, and when I voted for deletion, I stated that. The end result was that it was deleted, and the administrator who submitted it in the first place called me "the primary editor/reviewer of the Wiggles pages." Now how cool is that? I'm actually getting recognition for the work I'm doing on it!

I take credit

I take credit for Johnny Weir's success of late.

Last year, at this time, I stated that I thought that Johnny had lost his way. He had announced that he was "changing his image" to become more "masculine" (and I say again, whatever that means). His programs were more "stark" and his costumes less expressive. He was undertrained and busy doing other things. It was my opinion that he was trying to be less than himself, and he suffered for it. He lost the National championships to Evan Lysacek and struggled throughout the season.

This season, though, he's come back. He won gold at both Grand Prix events he entered. At Cup of China, he beat his personal best in both his long program and combined scores. At Cup of Russia, he was only .34 points behind Stephan Lambiel after his short program (also his personal best).

He's better trained this year, and from my perspective, he's returned to his former greatness. His programs are fluid and beautiful again. He's changed coaches--the great Galina Zmievskaya, who also coached his idol Oksana Baiul. Personally, I think that was a good move because it parallels his love of Russia and the Russian language. (She trains him in Russian.) I also think that his previous coach simply gave him bad advice.

Evan Lysacek said, after losing the gold at Skate Canada, that if he had nailed his quad in his long program like he had in his short program, he would've won instead of Johnny. That's probably true. I think that due to Evan's commitment to the quad, he'll suffer for it in the short term. Evan believes that the quad is crucial for success in the coming years, especially at the Olympics in 2010. I agree--if Johnny is to continue this success, he's gonna have to gain the quad. What's impressive is that at the current time, without the quad, his other elements are superior enough for him to earn high enough points to compete with the guys who have the quad.

At any rate, I loved how, during his interview at the end of Cup of China, he said, "I love making people eat their words." Well, I have one thing to say about that: Johnny, hear that noise? It's me, eating my words. And I'm very happy to do it. I'm pleased more than I can say about being wrong about you. Well, let me take that back. I maintain that I was right--you had a miserable season last year because you stepped away from who you are. It looks like you listened to me, and went back to being true to yourself. Thank you for taking my advice.

Even Johnny's haircut shows that he took my advice:


So here's my prediction about this season, and I'm sure that I'll be right again. Johnny Weir will regain his National title.

The problem

Tonight I've been preparing for my Skate Canada write-ups. These days, how I've been doing that is viewing the performances missing from the American broadcasts on YouTube, and then reading news articles. I'm also beginning my edits from the SC broadcast on ESPN over the weekend, and it's given some things to think about.

I'm deeply disappointed in NBC's broadcast of Skate America two weeks ago; it differed very little from the sub par broadcasts on ABC. Both networks show individual performances, probably a result of our celebrity-crazed American culture. One of the ways that attending the Nationals last year spoiled me was it was the first time that I saw an entire skating competition. As a result, I was able to see it as a whole, with connecting issues and themes.

I believe that may be why the American broadcasts are so dissatisfying. There are two examples of this that I can think of off the top of my head. The first happened last season, at the 2006 Skate Canada. Stephan Lambiel came from seventh after his short program to win the gold. He had taken off his costume because he wasn't expecting to have to stand on the medals podium and had to rush out of the stands to change.

Of course, that wasn't something that I learned from the ESPN broadcast; it was from the Canadian broadcast shown on YouTube.



The other example is something that happened at this year's Skate Canada. ESPN failed to broadcast any of the Dance performances, and as a result, I didn't know about Gregory and Petukhov's fall during the warm-up for the free dance. I had to find out about it on YouTube as well. ESPN didn't broadcast it, so it's as if it didn't happen.



The ironic thing is that watching figure skating on YouTube, which presents short, individual performances, gives one a more complete picture of what happens in the competitions. And most of the time, they're aren't even in a language I comprehend.

I've come to the conclusion that one of the problems with how figure skating is broadcast in the U.S. has to do with the disjointed way the competitions are presented. They don't tell the viewers the story of the competitions. They focus on each performance and on each skater. That's most evident in those silly "fluff pieces" on ABC.

I was hoping that NBC would do a better job, but from their broadcast of Skate America, it doesn't look like it will. I'll withhold complete judgment until after the Nationals. In the meantime, it looks like I'm going to have to depend more on YouTube to get a more complete picture of figure skating competitions.

Kimmie Meissner - LP

Kimmie Meissner, from the U.S., performs her long program at Skate America. To her surprise, she wins the gold.

Miki Ando

Reigning world champion Miki Ando, from Japan, skates her long program at Skate America. She wins the free skate, but earns the silver.

Caroline Zhang

Caroline Zhang from the U.S., making her Grand Prix debut, skates her exquisite long program at Skate America. Music: "Ave Maria."

Scott Hamilton: "It's just wonderful to witness the impossible."

Mai Asada

Japan's Mai Asada performs her long program at Skate America.

Emily Hughes

American Emily Hughes' long program at Skate America. She came in fourth.

Mira Leung - LP

Mira Leung from Canada performs her long program at Skate America. She came in fifth place.

Daisuke Tagahashi

Takahashi's marvelous short program (so early in the season!) at Skate America 2007.

Takahashi's long program at Skate America. He ended up winning the gold.

Evan Lysacek

Evan Lysacek comes from behind to win the free skate at Skate America, but it's only enough to win the silver medal.

Patrick Chan

Canadian Patrick Chan performs his long program at Skate America. He won the bronze medal.

Stephen Carriere

Stephen Carriere of the U.S. skates his long program at Skate America 2007. He came in fourth overall.

Skate America videos

It looks like U.S. Figure Skating has gone after YouTube. The videos that were downloaded of Skate America have been taken down due to copyright reasons. What's up with that? I suspect they want to protect icenetwork.com, even though the videos that were downloaded the days following the event were from TV broadcasts from other countries. That makes no sense to me at all. Why would they go after foreign broadcasts that were free to begin with, anyway? And I was seriously considering subscribing to both icenetwork and to USFS' magazine. Not anymore.

I'm going to download the videos I made from the NBC broadcast here. If anyone's reading this and needs a home for their videos, please contact me and I'll put them here. Let's see how long it takes for USFS to come after me!

At least the ABC broadcast of Skate Canada is this weekend. Those videos will definately go on YouTube.

My favorite CD

I'm in for another slow week, while transitioning to my new agency. So I have lots of time on my hands this week.

This morning I've been working on some Wikipedia edits and listening to some of my CDs in Napster. One of those CDs is probably my all-time favorite, "Two Rooms," which is a tribute album for Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It has some great covers by artists like Sting, Eric Clapton, and Joe Cocker. It's not a perfect CD by any means; The Beach Boys' version of "Crocodile Rock" is disappointing, even though the song was originally an homage to them, and I hate George Michael's version of "Tonight" enough that I usually skip over it. (Then again, I don't care much for anything he does.)

My sense of aptness and irony is satisfied with this album: The Who does a version of "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting." They say in the liner notes (which alone are worth the price of the CD) that they're happy that they could "take back" one of their songs. So true!

This CD also has the best cover of any song by any artist, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," by Oleta Adams. Now, this also happens to be my favorite Elton John song, but this version is one of the few covers that's even better than the original. Her voice better fits the gospel quality of the song as written, and it's a superior arrangement.

A stupid quiz

I usually don't take those internet quizzes; they tend to be quite dumb. This quiz, however, was quite fun. And it totally nailed me!

Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in with? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Enterprise D (Star Trek) You have high ideals and know in your heart that humanity will continue to evolve in a better people. No matter what may happen, you have faith in human beings. A rare quality. Now if only the Borg would quit assimilating people. Enterprise D (Star Trek) 94% Serenity (Firefly) 88% Moya (Farscape) 88% Heart of Gold (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) 75% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 75% SG-1 (Stargate) 69% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 69% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 69% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 56% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 56% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 56% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 56% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 25%

New Season!

Yippee! The senior season of figure skating started this weekend! And of course, after a summer of boredom, this is the busiest week I've had in months, so I'm behind in my write-ups. I have written, though, an article about the women's' competition, and I'll post it tonight. (I'm also sending it to Ron Porter, the administrator of Emily Hughes' website.) I hope to have YouTube videos of the NBC broadcast up this weekend.

Speaking of NBC, I was somewhat disappointed with their broadcast of Skate America this weekend. On the one hand, their coverage was more extensive, but they only showed the long programs of the men and women. Consequently, I went to YouTube to supplement what I missed. It seems odd to me that in spite of it being an American competition, there was more shown on foreign broadcasts. NBC has promised to broadcast more of the Nationals in January, however.

I did think the commentary was better than ABC's, though. Scott Hamilton--need I say more! I missed Terry Gannon, though--as the "non-skater," he's obviously more experienced and knowledgeable about skating than Tom Hammond, even though Hammond has announced for the Olympics.

Emily's Misery?

Skate America 2007

What is it with the press, anyway?

I recognize that’s a silly question. My friend Mark Shea, who runs a highly successful blog on Catholicism and politics, says that anytime the media reports about religion, you have to deduct ten IQ points. I’ve come to the conclusion that you can say the same thing about figure skating.

For example, I was a bit disappointed in The Baltimore Sun’s Candis Thomson and her reports on Skate America, since figure skating is her regular beat. The only explanation I have for her sub par writing was an over-enthusiastic editor. For example, in the middle of her article, seemingly out of nowhere, she writes:

Emily Hughes’ misery continued. After scoring the second-worst technical marks in the short program, the U.S. silver medalist had a gruesome practice marked by frequent looks of disgust and resignation. Just before the start of her long program, Hughes, 18, missed a high-five with her coach and then missed scoring points with the judges in subpar program skated to “Carmina Burana.” Even after all that, she finished fourth.

Thomson makes the assertion that Hughes had missed points right after quoting Pam Gregory, Kimmie Meissner’s coach, regarding the judges’ “crack-down” on the scores skaters earned. All skaters suffered from this, which Gregory stated was something the ISU had warned them about since last summer. All eleven women who competed at this competition were downgraded for “cheating on their jumps” (i.e., taking off on the wrong skate edge or under-rotating).

It seems that Thomson longs for the horrible days of the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan scandal. For example, when comparing Hughes’ and Meissner’s coaching and educational choices in her pre-Skate America article, she tries to conjure up a “rivalry” between Hughes and Meissner: “Not the intensity of Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding or Tara Lipinski-Michelle Kwan, but a rivalry that has included near-collisions in practice and small program tweaks that indicate each athlete is thinking about the other. Not that they'll discuss it.”

I’m sure it makes Emily wish for the days when she was compared to her Olympic gold-winning sister Sarah. While it’s true that Hughes has struggled a great deal since becoming a senior, much of her difficulty is bad timing. Both Hughes and Meissner represent that last vestiges of the old scoring system, and Hughes’ success has been hampered a great deal because of it.

Thomson has a point: it must have been difficult for Hughes, losing the U.S. Championships last year by such a slim margin (.82 of a point). And their scores have been so close between the two in other competitions that Hughes falls behind Meissner consistently, often making a bronze or even fourth place, as she did at Skate America. All Meissner has to be is a hair better than Hughes, and because she is, she wins more often than Hughes.

References:
Thomson, Candis. (October 28, 2007). It’s Emily Hughes vs. Meissner at Skate America. http://www.amny.com/sports/olympics/ny-spemily1028,0,2672184.story?track=rss Baltimore Sun.

Thomson, Candis. (October 28, 2007). Meissner wins gold at Skate America: Bel Air native picks up first Grand Prix win http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/olympics/bal-skating1028,0,4178310.story Baltimore Sun.

Shea, Mark. Catholic and Enjoying It! http://markshea.blogspot.com/

October 17

Ever since I was a child I've loved my birthday. I thought that October 17, 1964 was the coolest combination of numbers and letters. It made me a Libra, the scales, which although I had very little interest in astrology, was also cool. It's during my favorite time of the year, the fall.

October 17 as a birth date also doesn't have the trouble that my siblings had. My middle sister's birthday is December 26, which she hated. She never got a birthday party, and her gifts were second thoughts--an extra gift thrown under the Christmas tree, wrapped with Christmas paper.

My older brother's birthday, even though he was born a few weeks earlier in the first week of December, was still too close to the holidays. My husband, whose birthday is November 25, which often falls on Thanksgiving, always complained that while his siblings could choose their birthday dinner, he couldn't--it was always turkey and pumpkin pie for dessert, which he hated.

I always had a birthday party that was well-attended because it wasn't close to any other important holiday, and no one was "too busy" to help me celebrate. It wasn't in the summer, like my youngest brothers (the end of May and early June), and birthdays for kids are always better during the school year, since they get celebrated in the classroom. It was far enough from anyone else in my family (between my mom in August and the two December birthdays), so I didn't have to share it with anyone. It was my birthday, and my birthday alone.

How lucky was I to be born prematurely. The cool thing about that is that it made my brother and I "Irish twins," since we were born ten-and-a-half months apart. When I figured that out, when we were about seven years old, I went up to him and had a marvelous time taunting him about it: "I'm as old as you are, I'm as old as you are!" It was the one and only thing I could taunt him about.

I love my birthday.

They say it's your birthday...

Today is my birthday, so I thought I'd write a blog post. I can't believe that I've been doing this for a year now, on and off. These days, mostly off. I haven't been working much lately (but hopefully, that will change in the coming weeks), so I've been spending my time at Wikipedia. My recent projects there are a peer review of my pet article, The Wiggles, and getting #2 article in my heart, Maya Angelou, to the point where it's ready for a peer review.

My goal for both articles is get them to "good article" status, which is the highest rating on WP. If that happens, they could get "featured article" status, which means they're good enough to go on WP's main page. Wouldn't that be cool if that happens to an article I'm heavily associated with; I'd be so very proud of myself.

Editing WP is great fun. There's this cool community based around it, and I'm really enjoying learning about it. There are folks who are really into it, and who are intensely committed to creating quality articles. There are also a lot of people who spend a great time vandalizing articles, too. For example, this week the Maya Angelou article has been heavily vandalized. Scary stuff, too--cruel, disgusting, racist comments. I'd never say this on its talk page, since that isn't appropriate there, but it reminds me of the kind of racism Dr. Angelou talks about in her first book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It also reminds me of the rape she experienced when she was seven years old.

Hmm, maybe I will talk about it, at least to get it protected again...

Anyway, the next post will be thoughts about my birthday, which is what I intended this post to be about in the first place, but I distracted myself.

Kathy Griffin at the Emmys

I've talked a great deal about Kathy Griffin, since I "discovered" her this summer, so I thought I'd finally go on the record about her "acceptance speech" at the Emmys last week. Plus, I expect she's appreciate me extending the issue longer.

If you hadn't heard, Kathy caused some controversy at the Emmys this year by taking the Lord's name in vain. Below is the first part of her interview on Larry King for background. (The rest of the interview is also on YouTube.)

My take on the whole thing is that this kind of thing is true to Kathy's form. She did it for the publicity, since her schtick is getting press and attention at all costs. And it worked, at least for about a week and a half.

As I've said previously, I like Kathy because she "gets" our culture's obsession with celebrity. Her whole D-List career is based upon it. She calls out the celebrities who are famous for being famous, and those whose behavior is ridiculous and over the top. That's something we need, and it's often hilariously funny. This is simply what she was doing at the Emmys--satitizing the tendency for many award-winners to thank Jesus. As Robin Williams said in his appearance in "Inside the Actor's Studio," you don't ever hear them thanking Vishnu. That was Kathy's point.

At the same time, though, I wish Kathy would've at least mentioned her father at one point in the midst of all this controversy, since I suspect that it was the depiction of his death in her show that won her the Emmy. She should've at least credited him for it. I suspect, though, that he wouldn't have wanted her to do it, anyway.

So congratulations, Kathy--you deserve the Emmy and your descent (choice of word intentional) out of the D-List!

Ice Network

So I've been watching the Junior Grand Prix (Lake Placid) this afternoon on Ice Network.

Ice Network is a good way to watch figure skating. They show a great deal more than ABC, and without it, Americans wouldn't be exposed to the junior skaters. The first time I watched a junior competition was at last year's Nationals. I went there with low expectations, but was surprised at the high caliber of skating, even at that level. I decided that this season, I'd follow the juniors more closely.

First Impressions
This afternoon, I'm watching the Free Dance. Americans Samuelson and Bates is the team to watch. Last year, at Junior Worlds, he ran over her hand with his skate. At this competition, they were ten points ahead after the OD, and won easily at Lake Placid.

The commentators for Ice Network are horrible. Mike Mancuso is wooden and obviously knows very little about figure skating. It's sad when someone like me thinks she can do better than someone hired to do commentating. I've never liked Nancy Kerrigan, even during the whole Tonya Harding scandal.

I suppose it's better than nothing. The skating is enjoyable, though.

Note

After a summer of blogging over at MySpace, I've realized that being over there hasn't made all that big a difference, so I decided to return to Blogger. I will, however, copy my blogs there, so I can retain the few readers I gained over the summer. Few being the operative word, of course.

Work has been slow this summer, so I filled my time by editing Wikipedia. Loads of fun, I found! See the side panel for my userpage over there. I'm also in the process of re-reading the Anne of Green Gables series, something I do every few years. I'll probably write a post about it when I'm finished. (I just finished the sixth; there are two more.)

I want to get back into the habit of blogging more often, since the figure skating season is about to begin. The Junior Grand Prix has already begun, and I've started watching some of it on IceNetwork. More about that later, as well.

Whew!

I did it, it's done!

I've just completed moving my posts over to my MySpace page, because I've been frustrated with Blogger, both technically and due to the lack of numbers that have found me here. So I figured that if I moved to a more popular space, I'd gain more readers. That logic could very well be faulty, but what the heck. (MySpace isn't perfect technically either, of course.)

So the few readers I have, get yourselves over there! And thanks for your support. Here's hoping that you can someday say that you were my inaugural readers, when I become a famous figure skating writer.

My friend Dan'l

I'm moving this blog over to MySpace, in the hopes that more folks will read me over there. I'm in the process of moving all my posts over there--perhaps a waste of time, but oh well--and I happened upon a comment my good friend Dan'l made way back in October.

I have one thing to say about that, since both Dan'l and Mark are friends: Ouch! Oh, and how much I love both guys. Big guys with even bigger hearts, just the type of men I love the best. The world needs more of both of 'em.

Man, I hate it when I'm wrong

Last week I posted that I was looking forward to the upcoming (07-08) figure skating season because it was expected that many of the skaters that had taken last season off would return. It looks like everyone I had listed is not coming back, after all.

This article lists the entries to the Grand Prix series. Sasha Cohen and Eveny Plushenko aren't on the list. Then my one and only reader anonymous wrote this in my combox:

Irina is pregnant with her first child. She withdrew from COI [Champions on Ice] this summer because of it. It was posted on the site at one point. So, there is a possibility that she might compete during the 2007-2008 season, but I kinda doubt it.

I went and did research about this, and sure enough, it seems to be accurate. I found a couple of articles, but I'll direct you to this one. It's even been reported on her Wikipedia page. I'm very happy for Irina, especially in light of her health struggles the past several years. I wish her the best, but I'm inclined to agree with anonymous.

In other drop-out news, Canada's Emanuel Sandhu has requested to be dropped from the Grand Prix.

Kathy Griffin

I am so into Kathy Griffin these days. If I were a lesbian or a 13 year-old girl, I'd be so stalking her! If I were a comedian, I'd wanna be her, except for her potty-mouth, of course.

To be serious, though, I think the reason I enjoy her so much is that she gets the craziness in our culture these days about celebrity. I think I also like D-List celebs best anyway. They're less pretentious, work hard, and are often tons more talented. Figure skaters are all D-listers, and much more worthy of admiration, in my opinion. I love that Kathy relentlessly makes fun of the famous, and that she takes no prisoners.

I love her reality show on Bravo. Her parents are a hoot! I watched the first episode of "Life on the D-List" tonight, and it was probably the best TV I've seen all week. She actually made me teary-eyed twice--when she talked about her divorce and when she performed at Carnegie Hall. I love TV that makes me laugh and cry, all in the same hour.

So Kathy has my vote to replace Rosie O'Donnell on The View!

Studio 60 and Cultural References

I was actually disappointed when NBC pulled Studio 60, so I'm happy that they're showing the already-produced episodes this summer. It's still cancelled, though.

I have to make a comment about the episode they aired two weeks ago, "The Disaster Show." I quote from the Wikipedia article on Studio 60:

- The West Wing evidently exists in the Studio 60 universe. Allison Janney appears as guest host in "The Disaster Show" and several characters reference her role on The West Wing.
- At the top of "The Disaster Show," the camera follows a PA holding a flower arrangement with a flamingo centerpiece. Later, a large lawn flamingo can be seen in Allison Janney's dressing room, and during the commercial breaks a graphic of Janney and two flamingos appears on the screens. On The West Wing, Janney's character's secret service code name was "flamingo."

I would add something else to the above list. Timothy Busfield plays Cal, the director of the show Studio 60; he also played Danny, a reporter on The West Wing who ends up with CJ, Allison Janney's character, by the time that show ends. It seems that there's at least a flirtatious nature to their relationship on Studio 60. (He kisses her on the cheek at one point.)

That brings up my point: if Allison Janney and The West Wing exists in the Studio 60 universe, Timothy Busfield must as well. Busfield must look an awful lot like this director fellow. If the show continued, I think it'd be interesting if they had Busfield appear on Studio 60 and do a green-screen with Busfield as Busfield and Busfield as Cal. Shoot, they could do the same with Bradley Whitford.

The overarching theme here, I suppose, is that I really like it when shows make references to other shows. They're in-jokes, and for me, fun. According to the Wikipedia article, Studio 60 did that often, with references and in-jokes to both The West Wing and Sports Night (a show I never saw, but also made by Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme).

Another show that does this well is the above-mentioned Stargate SG-1, especially with the addition of Ben Browder in its last two seasons. Browder's character, Cameron Mitchell, makes cultural references all the time, as did John Crichton, his character in Farscape. One of the most endearing and fun things about Crichton is that he continually makes American cultural references in the presence of these aliens he interacts with, sometimes dozens in an episode. One episode in particular in the third season is an entire cultural reference--a Chuck Jones cartoon.

When Crichton makes these references, the other characters, especially early in the series, react by going, "Huh? What are you talking about?" Often they're pissed and annoyed. By the end of the series, though, his friends either ignore him, get his meaning by context, or understand because they've learned enough about his culture. When Mitchell in SG-1 does the same thing, I think it's a nod to Farscape fans--an in-joke.

In a recent episode of SG-1, "Bad Guys," the above dynamics also occur, between Mitchell, Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c. Mitchell has captured a security guard and explains over the radio to Daniel that the guard "went all John McClane on us." Daniel goes, "Huh?" and Teal'c crosses in front on him and says, "Die Hard." So it was the alien who had to explain the cultural reference to someone from our society. It's true, though, that Daniel, being a geek, may not necessarily get the reference, and that Teal'c might have, since he's probably extensively studied Western/American culture.

Stargate SG-1

So far, this week about the TV season has ended, I've already found a couple of shows to follow in the summer.

Stargate SG-1
My husband loves science fiction. It makes up for the majority of his reading, and I've always said that if it's got a ship in it, he's there. So he's watched Stargate SG-1 for all of the ten years it's been on. I've only been really paying attention to it in the last two seasons because I'm a big Ben Browder fan. (Man, I still miss Farscape!) See, I actually saw the original Stargate movie, and I hated it. I couldn't get past that hatred (I still believe it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen, as much as I love James Spader) to allow myself to get into the TV show. I regret that now, I really do.

So SG-1 is going off the air this year, so I decided, as I often do when a show goes off the air, to catch up with it. (I did it with Friends the year it ended.) I've been enjoying it, but I'm a little peeved at Sci-Fi Channel for not airing them in order! Fortunately, though, I'm familiar enough with the SG universe that it isn't a huge disability, and I'm sure that I'll catch what I've missed later on.

I like the themes of the show, and I like the relationships. These two things are really what make great SF great. So I'll probably talk about it in the coming months.

Post-Season Blogging

Okay, the figure skating season is over, as is the television season. I love summer, and there's always plenty to do and watch. For example, this morning, we drove to Lewiston (about a 30-minute drive) with the kids for a horse-riding faire for people with disabilities. We got to watch the kids ride horses twice--very cute!

It wasn't the first time George has riden a horse; he used to be in hippotherapy. It was Anna's first time, though. While watching George, I commented to their grandmother, "He's such a big boy, but looks so small." We think that Anna made a new friend in the gentleman who rode with her on her second ride. Knowing her, she probably was singing about horses and neighing the whole time. I wanted to tell the guy, "You don't get to keep her; she's ours!" It was very fun.

So school is out on Wednesday, and the summer schedule begins. Both kids will be in summer school, and our local pool is open starting next Friday, so they'll be there everyday. It's a very fun place, and both kids are such waterrats.

As far as TV goes, I said when I started this blog that I also wanted to talk about "media." Figure skating kinda got in the way of that, as it should have, so now I should have the time. I'm looking forward to the 2007-2008 season--some of the skaters who took this post-Olympics season should be back, like Sasha Cohen, Irina Slutskaya, and Evgeni Plushenko.

So I will try and blog nightly and report on my media musings until the start of 07-08 season in October.

"Fallen Angels"

I finally got around to viewing the Marshall's showcase, the final event in U.S. Figure Skating, a few days ago. Below is the YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqT6noqBUng

I think this program is my favorite of this season. I hope they do it again. It's just beautiful. One of the best things I like about it is that it kinda proves the point I've been trying to make all season about Johnny Weir.

For Johnny, this program shows off what he does best--the lyrical, liquid gold. I think that instead of trying to "change his image," he should stick to this kind of thing. Denis Petukhov choreographed it; I think that he should choreograph more programs for Johnny. I've gone on the record to say that part of the reason for Johnny's lack of relative success this season is his departure from who he is, and what he does best. It's my hope that this beautiful program is an indication that he's learned his lesson and goes back to staying true to himself.

A Sad Few Days

I've lived in Moscow, Idaho for almost four years now. I've come to love this little town that has been struck with such unimaginable tragedy over the weekend.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=9959

You'd think that living in a little town like Moscow would isolate you from this kind of violence, but it really doesn't. Please pray for the residents of this place that's become so dear to me, as well as the victims' family, the officers of the Moscow Police Department, and everyone involved. I suppose I'm still in shock, since I'm finding the words hard to come by, which is pretty unusual for me.

Women’s Free Skate, Worlds 2007

It seemed that nerves got the best of some of the female skaters at the World’s championships, while others were able to rise to the occasion.

Kimmie Meissner, for example, was in third after her short program, and in spite of being the defending gold medalist and having less pressure than the Asian women, wasn’t able to shake off her nerves. Of course, it didn’t help skating immediately after Mao Asada, who came from behind after a short program affected by her nerves to make her personal best and win the free skate.

“It was tough tonight,” admitted Meissner. “Mao skated before me and obviously did very well so that the crowd was really into it. It was very emotional and intense. I had to calm down myself, and I think it took me a jump to get into it.”

As Candus Thomson of the Baltimore Sun said about Meissner, her “performance at the World Figure Skating Championships looked a lot like her performance at the U.S Championships. Except for one major difference: she didn’t win here today.”

Like she did at Nationals, Meissner put her hand down on her opening jump and failed to do a triple-triple combination. She was also downgraded for cheating the landing of the second jump of her triple flip-triple toeloop combo. She was able to complete six clean jumps and her footwork was excellent, but it unfortunately wasn’t enough. It was the first time since 1994 that no American woman won a medal at Worlds.

“It was not my best; I can do better,” Meissner admitted. “So I’ll regroup and come back strong next year.”

Yu-Na Kim’s long program was the most disappointing, especially after she earned the highest-ever score for a short program earlier in the week. She came into the long program the favorite to win Korea’s first gold medal at Worlds. Her nerves and chronic back pain seemed to get in the way, though. Two minutes into her free skate, it appeared that Kim would fulfill all expectations, but she fell on the first jump of an intended three-jump combo, fell a second time, and had another combo ruled scoreless.

“I didn’t really feel any pain in my back,” she reported. “But my legs felt heavy and so I was unable to perform well and I wasn’t as confident in my jumps.”

The biggest comeback at Worlds was Canadian champ Joannie Rochette. She skated a dismal short program, putting her way back in 16th place. Canada needed two berths for next year’s Worlds, though, and she was able to deliver for her home country. She rallied and her long program was the fifth-best.

“I was disappointed [in my short program] so I wanted to come back and fight for it and try to keep those two spots,” Rochette said. “I knew I needed a top-12 finish. It was really hard to stay focused and I tried to give it my all.”

Mao Asada won the free skate, but narrowly missed the gold medal, probably because of her disappointing short program. Her home audience was completely behind her; by the time she ended her free skate, they were on their feet. She was able to overcome the nerves that had hassled her previously and she earned her personal best, winning the silver medal.

“I am very happy,” said Asada. “Before the program, I was in the 5th place after the short program, so I really wanted to win a medal of any color. I am very satisfied with my performance. The crowd was very nice. I was very impressed by myself. I love skating at home!”

Asada’s teammate Miki Ando came back in more ways than one. The first woman to land a quad salchow, Ando was attacked in Japan after a poor showing at the Olympics. After finishing 15th in Turin, she re-hired her previous coach, Yuko Monna, and moved to New Jersey to work on her choreography and jumps.

At Worlds, though, she had practiced her acclaimed quad and even made it a few times during the practice sessions earlier in the week, but chose to play it conservative and “only” do a triple salchow, her opening jump. When she ended her marvelous performance to the roar of the crowd, Ando knew that she had won a medal, but didn’t know if it would be enough to win the gold. She posted a personal best. She was second in the free skate, but edged out Mao Asada by a mere 0.64 points.

“After the Turin Games I had such a hard time,” Ando said, tears running down her face. “I came back strong.”

Sources:
Associated Press. Ando Wins Women’s Title. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032401047.html

Canadian Press. Rochette 10th at figure skating worlds. http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/195716

ISU World Figure Skating Championships: Tokyo (JPN) Day 5. http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268081-news-item,00.html
Kaye, R. 2007 World Figure Skating Championships: Ladies’ Free Skate Highlights. http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/032507_ll.shtml

Thomson, C. Meissner comes up short in world championships. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-skating0324,0,80130.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

Pairs Free Skate, Worlds 2007

Instead of writing an "article" on the pairs free skate, I'm going to give some "random" musings about it. Why? At this late date, I was only able to find two articles about this part of the competition, and my thoughts aren't organized enough for something more formal.

The articles mentioned above do an adequate job at reporting what happened. Here they are:
ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 - Day 2. http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268020-news-item,00.html

Kaye, R. 2007 World Figure Skating Championships: Pairs' Free Skate Highlights. http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/032207_pl.shtml

One of the things I love about figure skating is its bittersweet nature. As a fan, I experience happiness and sadness, often to their extremes. The highs are high and the lows are low. That seemed to be the case for the pairs free skate at Worlds.

For example, two couples had to bow out at the competition due to injury, and they were due to retire after this season. Petrova and Tikhonov of Russia had to withdraw before the long program after Tikhonov injured his right leg during practice. And the inspirational Dorota Siudek and Mariusz Siudek from Poland had to withdraw after Mariusz re-injured his back. What a sad way to end a career, especially for the Siudeks. Plus, it made the field a bit tougher for the Russians, who failed to medal in any of the disciplines, something that hasn't happened since 1960.

A highlight of this competition was the gold-winning performance of China's Shen and Zhao. Their skate was flawless. They personified another reason I adore this sport so much--they were able to transport me somewhere else as I watched them. They were emotional as well--hugging and kissing as they ended their program and Zhao touching the ice as they left it "to thank the ice in Tokyo." They earned their standing ovation, and the gold as well.

It was great to see my favorite program (of all the disciplines) of the season one last time: Germans Savchenko and Szolkowy's long program. It unfortunately wasn't their best free skate of the season, but it was good enough to earn them a bronze here. I've talked about this program before--it's choreographed to one of my favorite pieces of music; the costumes fit the choreography and their personalities; it's almost an ice dance. Great stuff.



One final comment before I close and go work on my final Worlds article. Dick Button, in his commentary on Pang and Tong, called Qing Pang "frail." For the life of me, I don't understand that comment. If I were to ever meet Mr. Button, I would like to ask him about it. I wonder, though, if he says it because of her fall at the Olympics, in which she fell after attempting a throw quadruple Salchow and had to stop for several minutes. Please, how is that "frail"? The only other explanation I have is Qing's appearance. It's true that she doesn't look as muscular as other female skaters, but anyone who can get through a five-minute skating routine has to be somewhat robust!

Women’s Short Program, Worlds 2007

It was the “battle of the teenage jumpers.”

Many of the female figure skaters who competed at the Worlds championships in Tokyo this year were under the age of twenty. The reigning World champ, American Kimmie Meissner, is just sixteen, as is Korea’s Yu-Na Kim and Japan’s Mao Asada. Both Kim and Asada were too young to compete at last year’s Olympics and Worlds. Much has been made this year of Asada’s ineligibility, but most of the press has seemed to forgotten that Meissner also experienced the same thing the year before, when she was too young to be eligible for Worlds in 2005.

The difference, however, is that Meissner is participating in a sport that many are saying is in a decline in her home country, while figure skating in Japan has never been more popular. Even Meissner recognized that although there was a great deal of pressure on her as the defending champion, the real pressure was on the Japanese skaters, with their massive and highly critical press and enthusiastic fans.

The pressure was so great on Mao Asada after her ineligibility last year that she moved to Lake Arrowhead, Calif. to train. There has been a great deal of discussion about the fairness of the international rules regarding skaters’ age limit, but Asada’s short program at the 2007 World championships seemed to give support to the wisdom of the limitations on young skaters. Asada started off well with a triple Lutz, but then crumbled under the pressure and popped the second jump of her planned triple flip-triple loop combo into a single jump. She lost eight points on that one move alone.

“I didn’t feel that nervous. I knew I had to do my best,” Asada said. “When I finished I thought, ‘I failed.’”


The big story thus far at this competition was Yu-Na Kim, who has become Asada’s biggest rival. The Korean, who bowed out of her own Nationals due to a herniated disc in her back, had just come out of a month of intense training (with her coach, Canadian great Brian Orser) and acupuncture treatment. Kim arrived in Tokyo still in pain, but had improved by the time she skated her short program. “Today during the performance I felt no pain, so I was feeling better and was able to skate in a very confident manner,” she said.

Kim put out a dazzling performance of her short program. She made a triple flip-triple toeloop combo, a triple Lutz, and a level-four combination and layback spins. She had just one shaky moment, in her spiral sequence, but earned another level four anyway. When her marks came up, Kim reported that she could hardly believe them.

“I was surprised with such a high score. I made a small mistake on the spiral sequence, but I’m happy that I had a good score," she said. The end result was amazing: not only did she post a personal best (71.95 points), she set a new record in the short program, beating Sasha Cohen’s score (71.12) back in 2003.

Miki Ando, the only female skater to execute a quad salchow, has been touted as another of Asada’s rivals in the Japanese press. Her quad made history, but it has also proven to be her undoing; she tried one at the Turin Olympics, but fell and missed most of her remaining jumps. She finished in a disappointing 15th. Although Ando hasn’t successfully made a quad for three years, she was able to make a quad during a practice session earlier in the week, however, putting her one the front page of Japan’s many sport papers.

She was coy about whether she would bring it out for the free skate. “I don’t want to make the same mistake as last year,” she told reporters.

Ando’s performance was exceptional enough to put her in second place after the short program. She nailed a triple Lutz-triple loop, a triple flip, a double Axel. She earned a level four for her spiral sequence and flying sit spin, but only a level two for her layback spin. Her 67.98 points slightly improved her previous personal best.

The other two notable teenagers in the short program, Americans Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes, seemed to falter. Hughes came in sixth, but was happy with her skate, which included a triple flip-double toeloop comb, a triple Lutz, and strong spins.

“The excitement in the arena helped a lot,” said Hughes, who skated after Kim and Ando.

Meissner came in fourth place after her short program. She landed a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combo, a triple flip, and a double Axel, but earned only a level one for her layback spin. “The short program is always nerve-racking for me,” Meissner said. “The long program is definitely my favorite, so I am looking forward to it.”

Sources:
Associated Press. S. Korean Soars to Big Lead At Worlds. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301566.html

Brennan, C. Once-Popular Figure Skating Losing Heat. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/brennan/2007-01-24-brennan-figure-skating-popularity_x.htm

Figure skating: Asian debutantes raring to steal show at worlds.http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_sports/view/264724/1/.html

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 Tokyo (JPN) Day 4.
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268075-news-item,00.html

Thomson, C. Meissner skater to beat in Tokyo: Bel Air teen set to defend title at World Figure Skating Championships
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/olympics/bal-meissner0319,0,2842347.story?coll=bal-sports-olympics


Zanca, S. (Associated Press). South Korea's Kim leads World Figure Skating http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Mar/23/br/br4739568021.html

Worlds 2007 Free Dance

It has happened at least one other time this season: at Skate Canada, to Stephane Lambiel. He was so certain that he wasn’t going to make the podium that he changed out of his costume, but made an amazing comeback (over 14 points after the short program) to win the gold at that event. A similar thing happened to Belbin and Agosto at Worlds.

(YouTube video chronicling Lambiel's rise at Skate Canada: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja2sd5iecgI)

The U.S. ice dancing champs were so certain that their free dance wasn’t good enough to win a medal, they also changed their clothes and were ready to leave the building when they were called back for the awards ceremony. “I learned a lesson,” Tanith Belbin said. “Don't take anything for granted.”

“I guess we dodged a bullet on that one,” Ben Agosto said. “We’ve been working really hard on the program. We didn’t skate our best, but I guess we did it good enough.”

Belbin and Agosto had only been skating their free dance program, done to the soundtrack to the French film “Amelie,” for a little over two months, having introduced it for the first time at the U.S. championships in January. As a result, it still had some rough spots at Worlds. Belbin bobbled a twizzle and nearly bumped into Agosto. They also lost a point on a lift held longer than the rules stipulate.

"I can’t believe I missed my twizzle. I never do that,” Belbin said.

The judges must have thought Belbin and Agosto’s errors were minor, for they made up what they lost in their other elements: excellent choreography and high marks for their lifts and step sequences. It was close, however; they were a mere 0.25 points over the fourth-place finishers, French champs Isabelle Delobel and Oliver Schenfelder.

“We're happy with how we skated,” said Delobel. “We were beaten by the Americans. Oh well.”

By the competition’s end, it was an exact duplication of the podium at the Worlds championships last year in Calgary: the gold going to Denkova and Staviski of Bulgaria, the silver to Dubreuil and Lauzon of Canada, and the bronze of course to Belbin and Agosto.

2006 Worlds podium

2007

The Bulgarians were very proud of their performance, which was probably their last in competitive figure skating. “It is wonderful for us to be here and to have won the second gold medal," Denkova stated. "I never thought this is possible. We’ve fought for it since the beginning of the season, we fought every moment.”

Denkova also admitted that she didn’t understand why she and her partner won the gold medal last year, but felt more secure with their performance this year. “I feel happier than last year,” she added.

Albena and Maxim had previously stated their intentions to retire from competition, but resisted formally announcing it. “I want to have a rest. But she’s the president. I’m just a skater,” Staviski grinned, referring to the fact that his partner and wife was elected president of the Bulgarian Skating Federation last fall.

Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon exhibited the romance in their relationship with their long program, set to “At Last” by Etta James, took the silver again this year.

"Last year the worlds were in Canada,” Dubreuil said. “It added to the pressure. After the accident in Torino my body was not 100%, and to get back on that ice after Torino, it was overwhelming and was very hard to skate. We skated this competition very well with no pain and much less stress.”

The married couple were, disappointed that they lost the gold by such a close margin (barely one point). It didn’t mar their happiness at winning the silver, though. “We skated with a lot of love and joy,” said Dubreuil. “We just felt really free out there, which felt great.”

Sources:
Associated Press. Figure skating: Bulgarians’ intricate swirls win ice dance title.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/23/sports/skate.php

Free Press News Services. Belbin, Agosto capture bronze.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/SPORTS18/703240377/1048/SPORTS

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 Tokyo (JPN) Day 4.
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268075-news-item,00.html

Kaye, R. 2007 World Figure Skating Championships: Free Dance Highlights. http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/032407_fd.shtml

A Good Thing

This could be a good thing for figure skating.

U.S. Figure Skating agrees to three-year deal with NBC

Skating telecasts figure to change under NBC deal

I'll write more when I have more time. For now, I think it could be just what the doctor ordered.

Blades of Glory: My Review

Last Saturday was full of figure skating for me, a day I haven’t had since I immersed myself in the sport for eight glorious days in January at the Nationals. I put on my U.S. Figure Skating hoodie sweatshirt, watched some of Worlds, and edited a couple of videos for YouTube. Then I went to a matinee of the new Will Farrell movie, “Blades of Glory.”

Everyone else in the theatre was probably there for Will Farrell and the humor, but I was there for the figure skating. Most of the reviews I’ve read have focused on the humor and on the cast’s performances. “Blades of Glory” is a typical Farrell film, full of crotch and gross-out humor. Of course, not that there’s anything wrong with that, as they say. There’s a place for that, and Farrell is always there for it. I have to admit, that’s not my favorite kind of comedy, but I do laugh at it when I’m expecting it. So I laughed a lot at this movie.

Other reviews also have tended to compliment the rest of the cast, and I agree that they were exceptional. I have never seen “Napoleon Dynamite,” so I was impressed by Jon Heder. Amy Poehler and Will Arnett as the brother and sister pairs team who become Farrell and Heder’s nemesis are standouts. One of the funniest parts of the movie is a “chase scene” that starts with speed-skating on a frozen river to Farrell trying to escape Arnett through a lobby. The Entertainment Weekly guy calls it a “riotously clunky chase," and it’s an apt description.

Comedy wise, my other favorite scene was Will Farrell singing “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” into the phone while lying on the floor. There’s one thing that must be said about Farrell, and that he knows how to do comedy.

There have been other reviews about the homoerotic nature of the movie and about figure skating itself. This is definitely not a "pro-gay movie," but the movie makers don't care, so why should anyone else?

But as I said, I wasn’t really there for the comedy, or even for the social commentary; I was there for the figure skating. From previous reports, I had heard that the figure skating in this movie was quite good. I had also heard that many in the figure skating community had gotten behind this movie by appearing in cameos and by participating in the training of the actors. So I came to “Blades of Glory” with medium-to-high expectations.

I’m with the NY Times guy: I’m looking forward to the DVD coming out so I can see exactly how they filmed the figure skating routines. The actors came into their roles requiring a great deal of training to even look comfortable on the ice. Jon Heder said that he thought highly of himself when he was able to make a backward cross-over. Heder also broke an ankle, and almost ended the entire shoot, but he “made a miraculous recovery."

That story reminds me a lot of many stories we hear about actual figure skaters having an injury and coming back from them quickly. Both Heder and Ferrell talk about the respect for figure skaters they gained from making the movie, even though it was a parody and spoofed the sport. (There’s a good video at the MSN site called ‘Blades of Glory’ Inside Look: Training, about the training they went through; I highly recommend searching for it.)

Other reviews talk about the easy target figure skating is for spoof, and it is. Consider this:

Instead of honoring the sport, they poked fun at the sport. Sure, it was in good humor, but it still makes fun of it. And because of this angle, I have more respect for the sport now. When the figure skating stars let the jokes fly, it’s heartwarming because it shows that they aren’t so full of themselves. I don’t discount the athleticism needed to do a triple lutz, but do we really need all that spandex and glitter?

I would agree with that. With the music, and the costumes, and egos, there’s a lot to make fun of. I didn’t see “Blades of Glory” as disrespectful of the sport at all. The skaters who appeared in the movie certainly agreed. Ferrell was worried about their reaction, but he said that they embraced the movie.

So instead of denigrating the sport like many have assumed, “Blades of Glory” actually shows great respect for it. I can point to one sequence that I think supports my position. The two main characters, Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy get into a fight at a major competition, and as a result, get banned from figure skating for life. The panel making the decision consisted of William Daniels (of “St. Elsewhere”) and four real-life figure skaters: Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Brian Boitano, and Nancy Kerrigan.

These four represent the past four decades of great figure skaters. Sasha Cohen has a hilarious cameo at the very end of the movie. I see that as a nod to the great figure skaters of our era. I absolutely loved seeing the great Scott Hamilton as a commentator. His presence is fitting, since he can be funny in his skating as well. Some of the best lines of the entire movie belong to him. As Ferrell says, figure skaters know well the campy aspect of their sport. Quite frankly, as a figure skating fan, that’s one of things I love best about it.

For example, the first skating sequence is of McElroy skating a routine as a peacock. When I first saw it, I thought, “He’s being Johnny Weir!” Sure enough, John Heder has said that the inspiration for that costume was Weir’s swan costume from last season. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if his character were based upon Weir, probably one of the highest compliments anyone can pay him.

So in many, if not most, ways, “Blades of Glory,” like the sport it portrays, goes over the top. One reviewer said that this is probably the best figure skating movie ever made. (Which isn’t saying much, I know.) It won’t change the sport, unless it makes it more popular, which God knows we need right now, but it’s a nice diversion and loads of fun.

Men’s Free Skate

At the World’s figure skating championships this year, Canada’s Jeffrey Buttle found himself in the same position as Johnny Weir at the U.S. Nationals.

Skating after a performance that blows the roof off the house is always difficult. Weir, the defending U.S. champion at the time, found himself skating his long program after Evan Lysacek made his first quadruple toeloop in competition, and Buttle had to skate after the momentum of three other spectacular performances at Worlds.

Switzerland’s Stephane Lambiel, the wild card of the competition, skated third in the final group of male skaters. The two-time and defending world champion has admitted to being burnt-out after last year’s intense Olympic season and only recently decided to come to Worlds, but he landed a quad-double-double combination jump and fully rotated a second quad. He stumbled out of the second quad, but came from sixth place after the short program and earned enough points to win the bronze.

Lambiel had a marvelous free skate, charming the crowd and rattling the nerves of Brian Joubert, who skated next. Joubert was in first place after the short program, and recognized what he was up against. “Stephane did a great performance, which made it more difficult,” Joubert said. “I didn’t want to win the program. I wanted just to do a good program and win the title.”

Joubert did end up winning the gold, but points-wise, his free skate came behind Lambiel’s. Joubert nailed his opening quad-toeloop, and then a triple flip and a triple Axel. Instead of risking a second quad, the European champ and first Frenchman to win the Worlds since 1965 went for a triple toe-triple-toe combination, three more triples, and two level-three step sequences. His flying sit spin and sit spin, however, were downgraded to a level one.

You could say that Joubert “skated smart.” I’m very tired,” a triumphant Joubert said. “I didn’t attempt the second quad because I wanted to give the audience a clean program. I worked for this gold. It’s been a great season, and I gave it everything I had tonight.”

This in spite of coming back from a serious injury; in late February, Joubert spiked his foot with the blade of his other foot, causing him to miss crucial training. As a result, he wasn’t up to the form he was earlier in the season. At the Cup of Russia competition in November, he produced four quads. Out of any male skater in the senior circuit, Joubert understands the importance of the quad jump, especially for the future of the sport of figure skating.

Fortunately, he enjoyed a huge lead after the short program, which was a good thing regarding Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi’s performance immediately after Joubert’s. Takahashi overcame the pressure of skating at home and captured the home audience with his exuberant and emotional free skate.

Other than putting his hand down on his opening quad toe loop that seemed to relieve the pressure, Takahashi’s performance was flawless. He subsequently reeled off two triple Axels (one in combination with a double toeloop), a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a triple Lutz-double toe-double loop, and three more triples. He seemed tired towards the end of his program, but the audience’s support gave him new energy to complete his final straight-line footwork.

“Before I went out to skate, I was so nervous, I almost cried,” Takahashi said. When he finished, he couldn’t stop sobbing with relief and joy while the crowd erupted into a standing ovation. “I’m very happy and full of joy,” he added.

Then it was Buttle’s turn. He was in second place after his short program, but his free skate placed eighth, putting him in sixth overall. He stepped out of a triple axle and fell twice, first on a quad toe loop (which was downgraded to a triple) and his first triple Axel. In spite of these mistakes, however, he produced five more triple jumps. Buttle also made level threes in his complicated and expressive footwork and spins.

And so, like Weir at the U.S. Nationals, Buttle failed to take advantage of a great opportunity. His coach, Lee Barkell, chalked it up to a season of injury and the lack of a consistent quad jump in Buttle’s arsenal.

As far as skating after Takahashi’s pivotal performance, Buttle admitted that it made a difference. “Obviously, it has an effect,” he said. “You can’t ignore that kind of volume and response.”

Sources:
Associated Press. Figure Skating: Joubert’s quad and 7 triples suffice to win men’s title. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/22/sports/skate.php

Cole, C. Joubert wins world figure skating title, Buttle sixth. http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/story.html?id=a12cc65c-3d00-42d8-a32c-effea1f2116f&k=43993

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 Tokyo (JPN) Day 3. http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268038-news-item,00.html

Kaye, R. 2007 World Figure Skating Championships: Men's Free Skate Highlights. http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/032307_ml.shtml

Smith, B. Joubert wins men’s world figure skating title. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070322.wsptskate22/BNStory/Front

Worlds 2007 Original Dance

There was at least one sports blogger who, in his “preview” of the Worlds Figure Skating Championships, held in Tokyo last month, who refused to write about ice dancing, saying, “Ice Dancing doesn’t get a preview because Ice Dancing is s***.”

In a previous post, he attempts to support the above assertion this way: “When I say ‘Figure Skating’ I don’t mean any of that wussy crap that comes under the category of ‘Ice Dancing.’ ‘Ice Dancing’ is not a sport, it’s what skaters do when they can’t make it as figure skaters. ‘Ice Dancing’ is the Rugby League of the Ice World.”

This fellow doesn’t know what he’s talking about, of course. He obviously hasn’t watched ice dancing in the last few years, and he certainly didn’t watch ice dancing at Worlds. The original dance portion of the competition was full of all kinds of excitement. Of course, Worlds ice dancing could be called“the D&S competition,” since three out of the top five competitors’ initials were D and S.

By the end of the original dance, the race was tight, the top three couples separated by only half a point. Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria edged out Canada’s Marie-France Dubrueil and Patrice Lauzon to take the lead. Americans Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto moved up from fifth to third place.

Much of the reason for the excitement with the ice dancers at Worlds happened before the competition began. Canada’s Dubrueil and Lauzon, who in recent years have garnered a great deal of attention, came to Tokyo the favorites by plagued by recent injuries.

As Sportsnet, a Canadian sports webpage, reported, “It’s been one thing after another for Dubreuil.” They continue:

“A terrible fall in the original dance at the Turin Olympics last year left her with an injured right hip and lower back, forcing their withdrawal. They recovered to win silver at the world championships in Calgary last March, but misfortune again befell the Montrealers when Dubreuil hurt her right knee and ankle just before the Canadian championships in January.

They again pulled themselves together just in time to win another national title, and they went on to win Four Continents gold while Dubreuil continued to undergo physiotherapy on her right thigh. If anybody needed a break before the world championships, it was Dubreuil and Lauzon.“It feels so great just to concentrate on training and still have fun with it,” a healthy Dubreuil said from Leon, France, where the couple trains. “Last year I was in so much pain it was hard to focus on anything else other than the problem.”

Dubreuil and Lauzon’s original dance ranked third place, and they were in second place going into the free dance. All their elements were awarded a level four. “It was pretty good,” said Dubreuil. “Probably the best of the season. We love the tango. We even look Spanish so it’s easy to put the feeling and expression into the moves.”

Another thing that garnered a great deal of attention had very little to do with ice dancing, at least not technically, and that was American Tanith Belbin’s hair color change. The native Canadian, who was granted U.S. citizenship before the Olympics, pulled a Jennifer Aniston on Tokyo, which was all a-buzz about her change to darker locks. She and her partner Ben Agosto came in second after the original dance, a mere 0.2 points behind first place.

This in spite of a near-miss of the boards by Belbin. She assured at least one reporter that it wasn’t a new part of their choreography. They were able to go on like nothing happened, though, but it did slightly affect their performance.

“We didn't actually have (an original dance) practice in this arena before, and it doesn’t have hockey lines like the other arena,” Belbin said. “I think we just started our beginning too close to the boards. I’m staring at Ben the entire opening, and I don’t look away from him. So by the time I stepped forward to see where I was, it was too late. But I recovered all right. The rest of the program could have gone better had I not been disappointed and distracted by that little bobble.”

“She recovered really quickly,” said Agosto of his partner touching the boards. “I’m always impressed how she recovers when she has to, and I felt like the rest of the program was strong. We’ve been trying to work on connecting with each other and looking at each other a bit more and expressing that passion between two people in the tango. I think we did a pretty good job at that today.”

So ice dancing delivered in the area of excitement, musicality, and athleticism. By the end of the original dance, the score between the competitors was as close as it gets. There was plenty of drama as well, and that continued later in the week going into the free dance.

References:
Dubreuil and Lauzon carry Canadian hopes.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/more/article.jsp?content=20070317_143125_4580

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 Tokyo (JPN) Day 3.
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268038-news-item,00.html

Kaye, R. 2007 World Figure Skating Championships, Original Dance Highlights. http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/032307_od.shtml

Preview: World Figure Skating Championships 2007. http://shottonothing.wordpress.com/2007/03/19/preview-world-figure-skating-championships-2007/

Why am I so Damned Obsessed with Figure Skating? http://shottonothing.wordpress.com/2007/01/23/why-am-i-so-damned-obsessed-with-figure-skating/

News and updates

I get so excited when someone makes a response to one of my posts! It means that someone's actually reading my blog.

Anywho, Natalie seems to agree with my estimation of the dismal state of American TV broadcasts of figure skating. She alludes to the danger of U.S. Figure Skating losing their broadcasts rights, since their contract with ABC is up this year.

I think that there's reason to be gravely concerned about it, but my initial thought is that it's not as serious as many think. The press tends to catastrophize. I have opinions about the issue; it's my intention to write an article about it when I'm finished commenting on Worlds.

The problem with being busy is that things like that take a while. So it may be a couple of weeks before I can get to it. Now that the season's over, there's less to do, though. Please, my few readers, be patient.

I also plan on going to see the new f.s./Will Ferrel movie, "Blades of Glory," this week. I will publish a review almost immediately.

Worlds Men’s Short Program

It seems that every male skater in the world loves to skate in Asia, except for Asian skaters.

The pressure seemed to get to most of the male figure skaters who competed at the 2007 Worlds Championships in Tokyo last month, especially the Asian skaters. This was apparent in the short program.

When all was said and done, it wasn’t an Asian skater that won the gold medal; it was France’s Brian Joubert. Joubert also came on top after the short program, hitting his opening quadruple-triple toeloop and triple Axel, showing good footwork, and making his personal best (83.64).

It wasn’t the clean program he wanted, though. The European champ put his hand down on the triple flip, but he earned a level four for his three spins and a level three for both his circular and straight-line step sequences. “I’m very happy with my performance,” the Frenchman said. “I beat my personal best. I did one small mistake on the triple flip, and I’m a little disappointed about that.”

Joubert was the only male skater who was able to make his quad-combination. Only one other skater made the attempt, American champ Evan Lysacek. He put his hand on the ice on his quad and lost points for the combination when he waited too long for the second jump. He ended up in the fifth place, but eleven points behind Joubert.

“What I feel proud of is that I put the quad out there under the pressure of the world championships,” Lysacek said. “I knew I had to take the risk.”

Other skaters were plagued by mistakes as well. Ryan Bradley, who surprised everyone with his skill and enthusiasm at the U.S. Nationals by winning the bronze medal, came in a disappointing 19th after falling on a triple axel jump.

"It just wasn't in the cards today,” he said. “It’s my first worlds, and I guess it happens.”

Johnny Weir, who has had a less than stellar season, wanted to please his Japanese fans. He blamed his weak performance on weariness. He started with a smooth triple axel and a triple-triple combination but then stumbled on a triple flip and finished fourth.

“I gave it maybe 65 percent tonight,” Weir said with his characteristic wry sense of humor. “I’ve been having some trouble adjusting here. My costume is even tired.”

Jeffrey Buttle from Canada did well, however, coming in second after the short program. He was excited about the competition upon his arrival in Tokyo; “I love competing in Asia,” he said.

For good reason, since Buttle has done well in Asia of late: second in the Grand Prix Final and first in the Japan International Challenge, both in 2005 in Tokyo, and second in the Grand Prix Final and first in the Cup of China, both in 2004 in Beijing.

In Buttle’s short program at World’s, in spite of a back injury that kept him out of the Grand Prix this year, he landed a solid triple flip-triple toe, a triple Axel, and a triple Lutz. His three spins were all level fours, and he set a new personal best (79.90 points).

So it was the Asian skaters that felt the pressure of skating at home the most. Japan’s Nobunari Oda, one of the most talented and promising young skaters in the world, had a disappointing short program. He missed his first triple axle and had points off his score for other badly executed jumps.

It seemed that his style, which usually serves him well, hurt him this time. Oda tends to skate with “deep knees,” meaning that he bends his knees before and after making his jumps, but his weight has to be placed in just the right way. The pressure seemed to get the best of him at home, and he missed his first triple axle and had several points taken off for other badly executed jumps (including some popped jumps). He placed a dismal 14th.

Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi did the best of the Asian men, coming in third after the short program. He opened his program with a triple flip-triple toe combination, but the second jump was under-rotated. He then went on to produce a triple Axel, a triple Lutz, and a level-four combination spin.

“It was my worst performance in this season,” Takahashi said afterwards. “I was not able to show what I can do. I am very lucky to end up in third place.” He admitted to feeling pressure. “We are the host country, and the crowd had very high expectations and I tried to respond to it. This made me very nervous.”

Figure skating is huge in Asia, so the crowds at Worlds were enthusiastic. It had to be difficult for the skaters from Asia, and as it turned out, it was.

References:
Associated Press. Americans stumble at skating worlds. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/today/s_498942.html

Associated Press. Lambiel says pressure is off, but defending figure skating crown will be tall order. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/19/sports/AS-SPT-FIG-Worlds-Lambiel.php

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 - Tokyo, Japan - Day 2. http://217.158.112.238/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268020-news-item,00.html

Stevens, N. Canada has a strong presence at figure skating worlds. http://thechronicleherald.ca/Sports/565473.html

Stevens, N. Joubert leads heading into men's free program at figure skating worlds. http://www.cbc.ca/cp/sports/070321/s032155A.html

World Championships 2007 - Brian Joubert SP

Worlds YouTube videos

I'm filling in the many gaps that make up the ESPN broadcast of the Worlds championships. I don't know when I'll be able to edit and post the performances they actually showed, so I suggest that folks do a search on YouTube for those videos. So as I find the missing performances, I'll go ahead and post them here.

Please excuse, of course and as always, the lack of English. I'm finding that the more I watch the non-English versions, the easier it gets to overlook it myself.

Irish-ness

I've been thinking about my post about my trauma with toothpain, and realized that I had referenced a line (without citing the source) from a great movie, "The Departed," which won the Oscar for Best Picture this year.

Colin (Matt Damon), speaking to his girlfriend: "If we're not gonna make it, it's gotta be you that gets out, cause I'm not capable. I'm f--- Irish, I'll deal with something being wrong for the rest of my life."

Man, how true is that. One of the things that was really great about "The Departed" was the accurate depiction of the Irish. (One of the ways that's done is the amount of profanity; IMBD says that the f-word is used 237 times!) The Irish are long-suffering; we put up with stuff. And we can do it for our entire lives.

In some ways, it's really good. Our marriages tend to last longer, since we're willing and able to put up with not-so-great situations and the bad spells that torment every marriage. Sometimes you just gotta wait those bad times out. Most Irish are also Catholic, who believe that marriage is forever, so we put up with it for a long time. We're loyal and committed. "The Departed" depicts that well, too.

Of course, this tendency is also not so great. For me last week, it meant that I went through more pain than I needed to before I got medical treatment. My mother probably stayed in her marriage longer than she should have. Of course, the marvelous book "Angela's Ashes" comes to mind. That family's poverty was pointless at times. Irish long-suffering causes all kinds of needless suffering.

Anyway, if you haven't had the pleasure of seeing this marvelous movie, I highly recommend it.

A better article focusing on Kimmie Meissner

This AP article is substantially better than the USA Today one. It focuses on Kimmie Meissner's chances at Worlds.

I love this quote:

She failed to qualify for the Grand Prix final and only won the U.S. title after Emily Hughes fell.

A bit harsh, I think. Accurate, but harsh. Yes, it's true that if Emily hadn't fallen, she probably would've won, but Kimmie did beat Emily handily at the Four Continents competition.

I'm really looking forward to watching the broadcast of Worlds tomorrow.

USA Today is so lame

USA Today has a short and lame article about Evan Lysacek's chances at the World's championships this week.

The article is lame because all it mentions about Evan's foreign competition is that Pleshenko is taking this season off. What about the Japanese men? And the fact that Lambiel also has a quad jump in his repertoire, and has been more consistent about making them.

Like I said, so lame.

Excuses, Excuses

So I haven't blogged for a while. There are lots of reasons for that. Mostly, I've lost momentum and need to get it back. Worlds is this week, so I intend to write up some reports about that. It should be a very exciting competition.

My technical difficulties with TiVo, my computer, YouTube, and Blogger continue. Plus, I'm still figuring out the best way to do this blogger thing. To be honest, the motivation is low when I have almost no readers. Perhaps that situation will change by next season.

My health has also not been the greatest. I fought off a cold (congestion, cough, sore throat) for a couple of weeks. Then there was the worse tooth pain I've ever experienced in my life.

Back in January, I had a bunch of dental work done--a deep cleaning, a few fillings. One filling in the front of my mouth continued to be hot-and-cold sensitive until the beginning of March when it became somewhat more sensitive, on the pain scale of about a 3, enough to disturb my sleep. So I went back into the dentist and he told me that some of the filling had fallen out and repaired it.

At first, the tooth was sensitive but seemed to be on the mend. Two days later, though, the pain had moved up to a 5-6 and my face had swollen up with infection. My dentist called in a prescription for antibiotics, but with the infection, it did very little good. I would take Tylenol and ibuprofen, go to sleep, wake up in pain, take some more, wait a couple of hours for the meds to kick in, and then go back to sleep. By last Sunday, the infection had reached my right eyeball. (I couldn't take anything more powerful than that because I'm sensitive to pain medications.)

This was a situation that you didn't know how bad it was until after it was over. While I was going through it, all I could think about was decreasing the pain so I could sleep. I went into my long-suffering Irish mode and downplayed it for myself and those around me. I was in so much pain and so sleep-deprived, I found myself unable to make any decisions about what to do about it. It took my husband to make the decision to go to the ER, since my dentist wasn't calling me back. So we left the kids with my mother-in-law and he drove me there.

Putting it simply, the ER doc lanced the boil in my mouth. He said that a teaspoon of puss came out, and it felt pretty shocking to me. I went home, medicated myself again, and slept for over three hours. The infection had already started going down, and by the evening, I felt 100% better.

Later on in the week, my dentist gave me a root canal, and in a couple of weeks, he'll give me a crown. I told someone I worked with about it, and she said, "Tooth pain is worst than childbirth." Now that I've gone through both, I'm not so sure I agree. But it was a pretty intense experience.

Up until a week ago, I spent almost an entire month in constant pain, from the tooth and a strong sore throat two weeks beforehand. It wasn't fun, and it gave me a taste of what it must be like for people who suffer from chronic pain. I found myself getting really tired of it, and actually prayed that God would take it away. (Which he did, I suppose.) I also told God, "I'm no John Paul II." I found no comfort in it, and wanted nothing to do with suffering alongside Christ. I suppose if it was really chronic, I'd eventually change my attitude.

I did learn something about myself, though. When I'm in serious pain, I stop thinking clearly. I'm unable to make decisions about my own medical care and well-being. I suppose that's why God gives us our loved ones--to help us make good decisions when we're in this situation. I'm thankful he's given me people who love and care for me and want the best for me. People who will take care of me when I need them.

More Johnny Weir

Brandi in Texas in my combox has requested that I give my opinion about Johnny Weir's performance at the Exhibition after the Nationals. (I've also been intending to write this article since the Nationals.) I just re-watched it this week, and was pleased to see that someone had uploaded it on YouTube. Life got in the way of commenting on it before, as well as the computer guy who did such a good repairing my laptop I wasn't able to view any videos until my hubby fixed it.

It's a beautiful program, of course, something that Johnny brought back for the Nationals. It also gives credence to what I've said all year about Johnny's lackluster performance this season.

I've said in previous posts to this blog that I believe that Johnny has been confused this season. He has gone on the record regarding his desire to change his image, and both his short and long programs have been his attempts to accomplish that goal. I believe these attempts are part of the what cost Johnny his fourth Nationals title. There are other reasons as well: his inconsistencies throughout the season, injuries, not enough practice time, Evan Lysacek learning from past mistakes. I understand that it had to be difficult to focus after Lysacek's near-perfect long program at Nationals, especially with the audience's reaction, but for someone at Johnny's level, that's no excuse.

I can also understand when an elite athlete (or any successful person, for that matter) gets burnt out. It takes an enormous amount of work and commitment to be one of the best figure skaters in the world. I can understand why Johnny would want to stir things up a bit for himself, to ensure his longevity, prevent longevity, and to make it more fun.

That being said, though, I will state again that I believe that with the changes this season, in a way Johnny has lost himself. He's wanted to be more "masculine" (and I'll say it again--whatever that means). However, that's just not who he is, and in spite of the changes, there were contradictions in his attempts. All season, for example, he's worn the costume shown below during his Jesus long program.


I think it's obvious that Johnny's statements about changing his image and style contradict what the above costume portrays; it's very similar to other costumes he's worn in the past. Like his skating up to now in his career, it's flowing with long lines. I also think that instead of taking my advice, he attempted to go even further at the Nationals, as the below photo shows. (Sorry for the quality; it's the best one I could find.

I maintain that it's obvious that Johnny's attempts to change his image this season have failed. I also maintain that the reason for that, as I've also stated before, is that he's trying to change who he is. And Johnny, being the kind of person who has to be who he is, has struggled. I believe that his exhibition performance after Nationals--well, exhibits that.

First, it's a program he's done before--before the change-in-image attempts. So it does a good job at showing what Johnny does best--the fludity, the long lines, the liquid gold. I hate the song "Imagine," but Johnny does a good job interpreting it--another thing he excels at.

The audience at the Exhibition thought so, too. As I said initially, most of the skaters received standing ovations because of their performances earlier in the week. I believe that the ovation Johnny received was genuine--yes, given because we felt bad for him, but also because it was an outstanding performance. He gave us a performance that was typically Johnny Weir, and it was his best one (technically as well as artistically) he gave all week.

It's my hope that Johnny will learn from the experience of this season. He has said that every competition is a learning experience for him. I hope that he figures out that he needs to be true to himself. I believe that this is true for all of us--we are happier when we figure out who we are and stick to it. It's when we try to be someone other than who we are that we fail.

It's ironic that Johnny was chosen to portray Christ this season, because I believe that Jesus shows us what it's like to be fully human. When we're like Jesus, we're the most human. I believe that when I try to be someone other than who I really am, that's when I'm least like Jesus.

So my hope and prayer for Johnny Weir is that he realizes that he skates best when he's true to himself. As a figure skating fan, it's what I want to see.

Johnny Weir Teaches Kathy Griffin How To Skate

While researching the above post, I ran into this on YouTube. Funny and cute!

It's my turn now

Last week, it was my computer's turn to be sick; this week, it's mine. Upper respiratory infections have swept my family (ear infections), so I caught this nasty cold that has made me tired most of the day. When I wasn't working or dealing with the kids yesterday, I was home snoozing on the couch. I want to get back in the routine of regular blogging.

Sick Computer

My computer is sick. I did something to it last week that caused it to freeze up, so at the current time, it's in the shop. I hope that it's fixable and that I will get it back in the next day or two. It's been there for almost a week; they tell me that the guy who's working on it went out of town over the long holiday weekend.

As a result, I haven't been able to access e-mail, work on my YouTube videoes, play any of my games, or blog. Being without internet access hasn't been as hard as I thought, but after a week of it, I realized that I needed to check-in with some of my activities. So I'm currently using the computer at the Moscow Public Library.

In figure skating news, I watched the Nationals Expedition on ABC. Funny story about that: Sunday evening, I started up the Tivo recording and mentioned to my mother-in-law, who was at my house helping us with the kids that when my husband entered the room and saw it, he'd say something like, "You've already seen it!" Of course, that's exactly what he did!

I've also watched the pairs long program from the Four Continents competition broadcast this past weekend. Of course, it included coverage of the horrific accident of Canadian pairs team Davison and Dube'. As horrible as the accident was, I'm so thankful that Jessica Dube' is all right. No one can tell me that figure skating isn't a dangerous sport.

Only Jesus/Calvary's Love

I'm sitting here in the Sandpiper, the restaurant at the Mark IV Inn, across the street from Rosauers grocery store in Moscow, as I often do on Thursday mornings as I wait for my daughter's music class to end. (She's there with grandma.) There's wireless here, so I put on my headphones and blog and surf.

I just finished listening to one of my favorite songs, "Only Jesus/Calvary's Love," by Steve Green, a Christian guy I used to listen to back in the 80s, as a young Christian. I was still Protestant in those days, but one of my surprises when I came back to the Catholic Church almost three years ago was that I could still listen to the Christian music that influenced my early adulthood. This not only includes Steve Green, but Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith and Keith Green and 2nd Chapter of Acts. I still listen to those guys.

Anyway, the song mentioned above had a profound influence on my life. It's the kind of song you want played at your funeral. Green's baritone voice is beautiful, and he sings it perfectly. It also is one of those songs that describe how I feel about God's love and grace. Returning to Catholicism has changed little of that.

So here are the lyrics. It's unfortunate that there's no way to embed MP3s on webpages (at least that I know of). It's on Green's "People Need the Lord" album.

Only Jesus, only Him
Brings redemption full and free.
There’s a yearning in all our lives
That only Jesus satisfies.

Calvary’s love will sail forever
Bright and shiny, strong and free.
Like an ark of peace and safety
On the sea of human need.
Through the hours of all the ages,
Those tired of sailing on their own
Find their rest inside the shadow
Cast by Calvary’s love across their souls.

Chorus:
Calvary’s love, Calvary’s love
Priceless gift Christ makes us worthy of
The deepest sin can’t rise above Calvary’s love.

Calvary’s love can heal the spirit
Life has crushed and cast aside
And redeem ‘til heaven’s promise
Fills with joy once empty eyes.
So desired to tell the story
Of a love that loves enough to die.
Burns away all other passions
And fed by Calvary’s love becomes a fire.

Chorus

Calvary’s love has never faltered
All that wanders still remain.
Souls still take eternal passage
Sins atoned and heaven gained,
Sins atoned and heaven gained.
Hmm….

John Hughes interview

At Nationals, I interviewed Emily Hughes' father and published it in on this blog until it appeared on Emily's webpage. It's deleted from here now, so here's where it is now:

http://emilyhughes.com/blog/?p=40

Super Bowl Weekend

I spent this weekend not watching the Super Bowl. I'm just not a football fan, in spite of having three athlete brothers and a dad who coached. I watched some figure skating--the Nationals recap on ABC and the women's long program at the European Championships on ESPN. I also learned how to edit Wikipedia entries. It's kinda complicated, but loads of fun for this control freak and perfectionist.

I re-created the article about Terry Gannon, and added some stuff about Emily Hughes.

Olympic Bloggers

I am now a member of Olympic Bloggers.com! (See side panel.)

Maybe now I'll get more exposure to this blog, and more people will actually read it.

Something in the Water

Last week at Nationals I theorized that I was in the middle of viewing some of the best figure skating of my life. Now that I’m home, recovering from my vacation, and have reliable internet access, I’ve been able to research that theory.

Mind you, I didn’t bother to look at the scores of every skater; that would more time than I have and desire to devote to, but the cursory research of senior-level scores I have done has proven my theory correct. If I did a more complete survey of the scores, I’d bet good money that many (or perhaps most) of the figure skaters who competed in Spokane this year skated the best they ever skated.

Below is a relatively small list of the senior skaters who broke records—who improved their personal best, and by how many. Of note is Evan Lysacek’s marvelous free skate. He broke all records; not only did he make his personal best (169.89) by over five-and-one-half points, he broke Eveny Pleshenko’s all-time highest score (167.67).

Like I said, there was something in the water at Spokane.

Kimmie Meissner
Short program: 5.52

Beatrisa Liang
SP: 1.62
LP: 5.62

Emily Hughes
SP: 4.90
LP: 3.70

Katy Taylor
SP: 1.46

Alissa Czisny
LP: 9.81

Evan Lysacek
SP: 5.57
LP: 17.31

Ryan Bradley
SP: 9.14
LP: 36.78

Rena Inoue / John Baldwin
SP: 0.46

Naomi Nari Nam / Themistocles Leftheris
SP: 4.97
LP: 2.20

Brooke Castile / Benjamin Okolski
SP: 5.78
LP: 30.23

Meryl Davis / Charlie White
CD: 1.78
FD: 6.56

Kimberly Navarro / Brent Bommentre
CD: 4.87
OD: 7.27
FD: 10.36

Melissa Gregory / Denis Petukhov
OD: 0.84
FD: 3.80

Day Eight

10:40am: After checking out of the hotel, went to try and find a church for Mass, but was never able to find it, due to faulty directions from a hotel clerk. (What a huge surprise that was.) So we parked way early at the Arena and walked across the street to the Ticket for our final meal in Spokane.

11:30am: Lunch. I’m glad that our last meal in Spokane was at the Ticket. It really is a fun place, with great service and reasonably-priced, tasty food. Audrey and I ordered tea and Bailey’s coffee, and when we admired the cups they served them in, the waitress sold them to us for a buck each. That epitomizes the friendliness and beyond-the-call-of-duty service we got everywhere we went in town. Spokane should be proud.

12:35pm: Walked across the street, but found that they weren’t letting people in until 1pm. Yeah, it was cold, but the people in line were good-spirited about it, in spite of the nippy weather. As my mother-in-law would say, “Gotta dress for it.” Again, we met some neat, friendly folks.

1pm: Found our seats. It felt strange to be in different seats than we were in all week, but they were better—not so nosebleed section-like. Actually, our seats weren’t all that bad.

2pm: Watched the Exhibition. Great fun, and a great way to end the week. Everyone who earned a major medal skated. Caroline Zhang and Mirai Nagasu were darn cute.

I’ll briefly say something about Johnny Weir now, and when I have more time and after I’ve recovered from my vacation, I’ll write more extensively about him. For now, Johnny’s performance at the exhibition was marvelous. The last group of skaters, all biggies, received standing ovations, mostly to congratulate them for doing well at the competition. Johnny’s ovation, however, was sincere, because he was being true to himself—finally. More about that later.

5:30pm: Got on the road, since we had decided to leave early. Lots of fog, but got home safety about 8:00. The kids were asleep, but I arrived home to a big surprise—my wonderful hubby had done some much-needed home improvements while I was gone.

Going to the Nationals was the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time, but I’m glad I’m home. I’ll probably write more as I review the re-broadcasts.

Day Seven

10am: Arrived at the Arena. Late morning, but continuing difficulties with the internet connection in our hotel.

10:40am: Watched the women’s long program. Good for Kimmie Meissner! Too bad for Emily Hughes. Things were so close, there was less than one point separating them. And if it weren’t for Emily’s fall, she would’ve won by the slightest of margins. I guess it’s true what they say—skating a clean program often is what makes a difference. I’m happy for Kimmie, though; she needed this win after a so-so year after winning the World’s last year.

Oh, I found out my pressing question from this week. Peter Carruthers interviewed Kimmie after it was over, and she explained that it was her teammates from Delaware who were yelling it out. She said it was “our thing.” And it’s “Yeah, you’re hot!”

2pm: Late lunch at a trendy place called Twigs at the River Park Square. I was craving tuna, so I had their sashimi appetizer. Yum-o, as Rachael Ray would say.

7pm: Or there-abouts, since they started late. Watched the men’s long program. Man!

One of the best things about being here is that we’ve seen some amazing skating, live and in person. It’s been such an honor to be here for it. I can say that I saw history being made, and not just once. It’s been an incredible experience. Watching Evan Lysacek skate the program of his life was beyond description. Being so far away, I didn’t know until his interview that he had made a quad-triple combination! But the audience erupted afterwards, and was with him the entire time he was on the ice. I stood up with everyone else, and I’m sure that if I were alone, the tears in my eyes would’ve become weeping. Man!

And poor Johnny Weir, coming in mere third after three National titles. He fell once, and popped two jumps. I hate to say this, but I feel somewhat vindicated. All season, I’ve complained that Johnny hasn’t been true to himself. I believe that, along with the fact that he hasn’t trained like he should this season, is the reason he lost so badly. He even changed his costume to continue the change in his image he tried this season. It didn’t work. I continue to maintain that Johnny needs to be true to himself. This season, not being true to himself has been disastrous.

Yeah Ryan Bradley! He was over the top in his excitement about beating Weir, the National Champion, and coming in second. The audience loved it, though, and so did I. His program was very well choreographed, and loads of fun. He was sexy and charismatic and full of energy. It was a pleasure to watch him explode like he did. We’ve tended to ditch out before the awards, and Ryan was so fun, I felt that we had to stay for it.

I’m really glad we did, because Scott Hamilton and Brian Boitano participated in the ceremony. It was great seeing them. I’m sure that there was a great party going on last night at the Davenport. We’re old ladies, so we went back to the hotel for bed.

So it’s over. All that’s left is the Exhibition. Part of me is sad about that, but I miss my kids and I’m looking forward to seeing them.

I was able to answer another pressing question that came up this week. Figure skating does have a patron saint—Saint Ludwina, who lived in Holland in the fourteenth century.

Day Six

Man, there was some good figure skating today! When I have more time, I intend to verify it (yet another item on my expanding to-research list), but I suspect that most skaters this week have made their personal bests. Like I said yesterday, there must be something in the water here in Spokane. It’s like this little town has spurred the skaters onto excellence. I know this sounds hokey, but I’m honored to have helped out in just a little way.

10am: Arrived at the Arena for the junior men’s free skate. To be honest, I wasn’t as impressed with these guys. Perhaps my expectation of the skating is higher now than it was earlier in the week. I’ll look up their scores later, probably after I get home.

12:50pm: Things were pushed together this week, and the arena is starting to get really crowded. I was barely even able to grab lunch! The pairs free skate was worth the price of admission for the entire week. I’m still amazed at the outcome—these skaters from Michigan that no one has heard of, Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski, actually won the whole thing, by the slimmest of margins (.25 of a point). They competed in sectionals this season, and didn’t even win them. And they came in eighth at last year’s Nationals. Absolutely amazing.

I feel bad for Inoue and Baldwin. They fell twice; I thought that one of the falls was during one of their attempted throw quads (which they missed in their short program), but the newspaper stories (“The Spokesman Review”) I read this morning didn’t report that. They did report on something I missed, though, because we hadn’t gotten back in time for it. Vise and Trent, during their warm-up earlier in the evening, successfully accomplished a quad throw Salchow, something that’s never been done before in competition. They attempted it during their long program, but unfortunately wasn’t able to do it. Something in the water!

In between groups, we were treated to the induction of Charles Schultz to the Figure Skating Hall of Fame. (He was a huge supporter of the sport.) Scott Hamilton gave the award to Schultz’s widow. The audience gave him a standing ovation. Man, I love that guy. He’s so brave, and talented, and still cute as heck.

5:30pm: Dinner at the Sawtooth Grille in the mall in downtown Spokane. Adequate food; their calamari was a little rubbery. The fun part about out break was the shuttle trip to and from. We were lucky enough to sit next to a novice pair skater, Casey Sullivan, from Oregon. I think I’ll write it up as an interview at a later time. It was like sitting through a mini-lecture on what it’s like to be a young skater, given by a very articulate young man. On the shuttle trip back, we were entertained by the bus driver. Here’s the joke she told over the intercom:

“If ya get thirsty over there at the Arena, you should be fine; I hear there’s lots of ice.” The entire shuttle groaned, and then, in the spirit of Johnny Carson, she made us laugh, anyway.

7:50pm: Well, that’s not entirely true. For some reason, they started late. But it was worth the wait, and we have some really fun seatmates.

Ice dancing! Great, great skating. Of course, there was no question who’d end up winning. Belbin and Agosto changed their long program! I’m glad, because the long program they’ve been performing all season just wasn’t doing it for them. They got it together in mere weeks, and it was great. I laughed as the scores were read, they were so high. At any rate, I think this program will suit them well as they go into World’s.

As I end, I have a request to ask my readers, if there are any out there. The phrase I heard for the first time on Thursday was used again yesterday. Is it “Dang, you’re hot!” or “Damn, you’re hot!” or “Yeah, you’re hot!” I must know!

I can’t believe that today’s the last two competitions, men and women’s long programs. Man, it should be good!

Day Five

If I were to summarize this day, it would be with two phrases: “Dang, you’re hot!” and “There’s something in the water.”

The first phrase is a quote from some girls watching the competitions; when a skater (usually male) would take the ice, one of them would yell out, “Dang, you’re hot!” I’m old, so I never heard it before. I assume it’s an adolescent-thing I know nothing about.

The second phrase is something I came up with on my own. I intend to some research to back up my claim, but I suspect that several personal bests were made.

Anyway, here’s our schedule. I’m writing it on Friday, the sixth day, because we have a late morning today and I have more time. We spent the entire day at the Spokane Arena.

9am: Arrived at the Arena. We drove in, parked, and as we walked in, I found a large copy of the full skating schedule right there. Someone must have dropped it just a few minutes before because it wasn’t even wet or dirty. My mother-in-law Audrey commented that “God must be with us.” That inspired a discussion about the saints, and I decided that I would research if there was a “patron saint of figure skating.” We weren’t sure there was even one, and I wondered how to name one. Hmm, another thing to research.

The real reason we were there, instead of Catholic theology, however, was skating. We caught some of the senior women’s warm-up. I learned something new: skaters at competitions basically have two types of “practice” sessions. The first, one for each program, is called “practice,” and each skater gets to hear his or her music and run through their programs. The second is called the “warm-up,” and it consists of groups of skaters practicing without their music. It looked like the skaters went through their elements and skills.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to have the opportunity to catch Emily Hughes and miss out on my assignment to interview her. Fortunately, she was there and after her warm-up, asked if I could talk to her. She told me, “I have to take off my skates,” directed me up to her father sitting in the stands, and said that she’d try to join us later.

So instead of interviewing Emily, I got to interview her dad! What a nice man he is. (I’ll write up the interview this morning and send it to Ron Porter for Emily’s webpage.) I got a nice interview with him, and waited for Emily, who never came, probably because she got caught up doing something else. I gave Mr. Hughes my cell phone number, and left to get ready for the next competition. I probably should’ve waited a little longer, but there’s still time to talk with Emily. I’m happy with the interview I got, though.

11:00: Took my seats for the junior pairs free skate. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see their short program. The winners, Keanna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker (named for Knute Rockne, I believe), won handily, by almost twenty points over second place. I suspected that it meant that they had an outstanding short program. At any rate, I continue to be awed and impressed by the quality of skating at this level.

I think the week finally caught up with me, because I had a headache and had to go seek out some aspirin from first aid. Lunch, which we caught there at the Arena, also didn’t set well with me. Fortunately, the meds kicked in and I perked up for the afternoon competitions.

2pm: Senior men’s short program. This is when I started thinking that there must be something in water at the Nationals here in Spokane. The audience was great, and it was great to be in a place where the fans and the athletes fed off each other. Lysacek and Weir are basically in a tie after the short program, with less a point separating them.

4:30pm: Dinner across the street at The Ticket. It was packed, so we sat sit with two ladies from Spokane who had tickets for the evening’s competitions. I continue to be impressed with the friendliness of this town.

5:50pm: Women’s short program. More great skating. Again, personal bests….
The scores are close here, too, making the gold anyone’s game. Kimmie Meissner was amazingly good. And there’s less than half a point separating BeBe Liang and my girl, Emily Hughes.

So I’m looking forward to seeing how things turn out. There’s been talk about the lack of “drama” here this year, but that’s fine with me. The skating is dramatic enough. I like that we have no distractions and tire irons this year, because we can focus on the exceptional skating.

Day Four

We drove into the Arena today, but didn’t get back any later tonight because, true to form, I got lost coming back to the hotel. No trip can be perfect, I suppose.

What is perfect, or nearly so, is the figure skating. It’s been good so far, but as we get further on in the week, it’s getting better and better. Here’s the schedule:

9am: Arrived at the Arena to watch practices. I had unfortunately missed most of the senior women, so I missed Emily Hughes. We did, however, get to watch the senior men practice their long program. Evan Lysacek gave me quite a scare. He was in the first group, and arrived late, so I was afraid the injury that took him out of the Grand Prix finals was going to take him out of the Nationals. I was happy when he showed up.

Watching his practice, I have some real concerns about his chances here. He didn’t have a disastrous practice, but he did miss some of his triples and didn’t have his normal stamina. He’s definitely off his top game, probably because of all the time he missed on the ice healing from his injury.

I also got the pleasure of watching Johnny Weir practice. I’ve heard that most of his skating is about his mental discipline, and that was obvious from his practice this morning. He barely went through his program; instead, he skated around the rink, obviously thinking about his moves. Towards the end of the practice, though, he started practicing his triples (everyone out there was), and I believe he attempted a quad, at least once, but popped it. At any rate, it was very interesting to witness it.

12pm: Lunch. We had plenty of time, so we took the shuttle downtown. I wanted at least one of our meals to be at a nice place, so we stopped at the restaurant at the Davenport Hotel. A little pricy, but excellent food and service. My mother-in-law Audrey and I both had the tomato basil soup, the best soup I’ve had in a long time. I recommend it.

2:45pm: After walking around downtown for a while, we went back to the Arena for the junior women’s short program at 3:30pm. Again, I continue to be impressed by the caliber of the skating at the junior level. It was great fun, mostly because the scores were so close after the short program. Mirai Nagaso won the gold; the top two girls both had scores in the 150s, which is comparable to the scores that many seniors get. I predict that Mirai (and Caroline Zhang, who came in third) will be seniors next year, and I look forward to following their careers.

7:30pm: Opening ceremonies. They kicked us out of our seats between events, so I bought some almonds and wandered around for a while. I’m too short to be able to see the fireworks outside the windows, so I wandered over to the ESPN area. They were broadcasting a short show about the Nationals right there, with Terry Gannon, Peggy Fleming, and Kurt Browning. It was so cool to actually see them in person! And Peggy is so beautiful. I think she’s more beautiful than she was when she was skating.

The opening ceremonies were cutesy, of course, with skaters from Spokane performing and the appropriate politicians giving welcome speeches. The youth orchestra that performed was excellent. A nice touch: the conductor wore ice skates as he performed. I just love those little touches.

8:15pm: Senior pairs short program. What a privilege to witness such exceptional skating. The stars of the show, Inoue and Baldwin and Trent and Vise were off their game a little. Of course, I feel a little ridiculous saying that, since John and Rena came in first. They attempted their famous quad throw, but Rena two-footed it as she landed. I’ve seen them do better.

Vise and Trent had this bizarre fall, so they were way down in fourth by the end of the evening. They also weren’t as good as they’ve been in the past. The scores are tight, though, with only four points separating them from first. The exciting thing is that Nam and Leftheris, who have had an uneven season this year, is barely 0.2 points behind Inoue and Baldwin. I can’t wait until we see how things shake out on Friday night.

Day Three

Still having frustrations with our hotel—still no wireless in any rooms. Plus, we got back late last night (due to transportation frustrations), so I decided to blog this morning and went right to bed. The skating’s been great, though!

We decided to start things a bit later, since things didn’t really get started until 10am, so we slept in and hung out in the hotel most of the morning. Yesterday was all about ice dancing.

10am: Watched the junior original dance at the Convention Center. We weren’t sitting in a place where I could see the scores well, so I wasn’t able to look into my theory about the judges cracking down on point deductions. It didn’t seem to be the case, but I’ll research it when I have more time and internet. (There wasn’t the kind of deductions we saw with the novices with the seniors, however.)

12:30pm: Ditched out on the junior men’s pairs short program to go have lunch. Also, we figured that if we wanted to eat lunch and go see the senior compulsory dance at 3pm, we’d miss some of the men, anyway. Ate at Chili’s, a sentimental favorite of mine because I used to eat there with my buddies in college. We got to the Spokane Arena way early and hung out, watching the junior girls’ warm-up.

3pm: Seniors compulsory dance. My favorite ice dancers, Belbin and Agosto, kicked butt! My mother-in-law, who isn’t as familiar with Ben and Tanith as I am, but who has watched figure skating for forty years, could tell they were far and above much better than anyone else. I can’t really say much more than that, since I haven’t had much experience watching the compulsories. They’re fun to watch, though—so pretty and elegant. I wish that I had more opportunities to watch them.

4:30pm: Early dinner at the Ticket.

5:40pm: Got back to watch the junior women’s long program. One of the things about this competition is my assumption that the lower level skaters perform at, well, a lower level. That’s only somewhat true—these girls do triples and the intricate spins and footwork as the seniors, but much better than I assumed coming here. And the drama’s just as exciting. It’s my intention to write a more extensive article about the juniors at a later time.

8:30pm: Senior original dance. Again, we were treated to excellent skating. Ben and Tanith blew everyone else out of the water. They’re almost a full ten points ahead of the next-best couple, Gregory and Petukhov (who did a great skate anyway). I want to compare these scores with previous ones; I believe that Ben and Tanith might have made their personal best; if not, pretty close.

At the end of Ben and Tanith’s program, Ben did this uncharacteristic little slip. While they were sitting at the kiss and cry, Tanith was gesturing—probably explaining to someone what had happened. It was very cute. Man, I love those guys.

I don’t want to describe the struggle we had getting back to the hotel last night. We’re driving in and paying for parking this morning.

Day Two

8am: Arrived at the Spokane Arena with my mother-in-law. Watched the senior pairs teams practice. Inoue and Baldwin and Vise and Trent were among the final group, so it was a thrill to watch them. John and Rena’s characteristic intensity was in full force. At first, I thought they might be mad at each other, because during their warm-up they didn’t skate together like the other couples. During their practice, they didn’t go through their entire program, and seemed to do a lot of talking about it.

Someone later on in the day asked me what my favorite part of our long day was. I answered the practice session we watched, because it was the first practice session I’ve seen and it was really interesting. Some couples went through their entire program; others, like Inoue and Baldwin, did not. Some were dressed in warm-up clothes; some wore skating one-piece outfits. It was interesting to get a little glimpse into what might be part of their daily routine. When we got there, I thought that four hours before lunch was going to be a long time, but the time went by quickly.

11:30am: Broke for lunch. We tried to find the shuttle to go downtown, but grew impatient and walked across the street to a sports bar called the “Ticket.” Good food, and we’ll probably go back, since it’s convenient. Met some more old women and had a nice chat with them.

12:30pm: Went back to Spokane Arena. During the practices, seating is open, so after lunch, we decided to “steal” better seats. We picked seats lower and closer to the rink, and when the seat owners came, they kicked us out, made a lame joke about “warming” their seats for them, and moved. It worked out quite well, and everyone was very nice about it. In the afternoon, we moved four times; after dinner, we only moved twice.Watched novice competitions the rest of the day. It was the first time I had seen any novice skate, since ABC/ESPN doesn’t broadcast them. There were some very impressive skaters at this level. That made me, along with some of the people I sat next to, wonder how a skater goes from one level to another. We thought it might be age, but there the ages of the novice skaters ranged from ten to twenty.

The answer was in the souvenir program I had bought. Here’s what it says on page 89:

Within ladies singes, men’s singles, pairs and ice dancing, there are five different competitive skill levels that are based on proficiency tests. Each level draws on similar techniques but adheres to increasingly more difficult skills as well as different rules and guidelines.

There were other questions that came up for me that when I have more time and a better internet connection, I want to research. One of them is about a novice pairs skater named Kurt Weiss. (His partner is Emily Glassberg.) I wonder if Kurt is related to Michael Weiss, one of my favorite male singles skaters. The other question I want to research is about re-surfacing the ice, but that’s another article to write when I have more time.

The friendliness of the town of Spokane continued into the afternoon. We had to move for a woman and her little boy, and ten minutes later, she apologized to us for “inconveniencing” us and told us that she wanted to move next to some relatives she had seen. We ran into this woman and her son as we were leaving for dinner, and when we told her we wanted to find sushi downtown, she offered to drive us there.

6pm: Yummy sushi at a wonderful place in downtown Spokane called “Sushi.com.” I’ve wanted good sushi for about four years, since there’s no decent sushi in Moscow, Idaho. If you’re even in Spokane, I highly recommend Sushi.com.

7:20pm: Back at the Arena for ladies free skate and free dance. The things that struck me have to do with the dancers. For the novices at this competition, they had two compulsory dances, no original dance, and like the juniors and seniors, a free dance. I wonder why that is. (Another thing on my research list.)

The other issue that came up for me surrounds the judging. Every couple last night had at least a one-point deduction. One couple lost five points, and probably would’ve medaled otherwise. I found myself explaining ice dancing to the women sitting next to us, so they asked my opinion. The only explanation I could think of is the time limit on lifts and spirals. I suspect that the judges were cracking down on everyone who went over the time limit. I also suspect that it will occur competition-wide. It will be interesting to see how the judges score the juniors and seniors later on in the week.

11:20pm: After watching the ladies awards ceremony, we decided to call it a night. When we got to the shuttle, though, we were told that the city busses had stopped running. Yikes! We got more Spokanian hospitality, though; the bus supervisor drove us back to our hotel. Tonight, things won’t go as long, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

The day was long, but again, it was loads of fun. When I told people back home in Moscow my plans for this week, some made the statement, “Boy, you’re gonna be sick of figure skating.” My answer was that I doubted it, and it’s turning out to be true!

Technical Difficulties

My Day One Report of the Nationals was posted late because of technical difficulties. My hotel *said* it had wireless. So I was able to post tonight from the lobby, using their wireless port. It's late, and it's been a loooong day, so my Day Two Report will be posted tomorrow.

Nationals, Day 1

I love the demographic of this event: old ladies.

Well, that’s not entirely true, but as I looked around on the shuttles I rode this afternoon and evening here in Spokane, I’d say about 60% were older Caucasian women. Sure, there were men and young families as well, but the overwhelming majority was of this demographic. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

I’m enjoying it, since I like old ladies and seem to be able to get into conversations with them easily. I suppose I’m like a client I had who claimed, when she was an adolescent, that she got along better with older people. I wonder what that says about how figure skating is marketed in this country. Perhaps it’d be better if it were telecast on Lifetime or Oxygen, instead of on ESPN.

Anyway, here’s what I did today:

7:30am: Left Moscow, Idaho with my mother-in-law.

9am: Arrived in Spokane. We made good time, but I spent a half-hour driving around, trying to find our hotel. Spokane, Washington is full of one-way streets, and that’s exceedingly frustrating for this directionally-challenged chick.

10:15am: Left to drive to Deer Park, to go hear my friend Mark Shea speak. (Left my mother-in-law at the hotel, where she stayed to watch her football.) Got lost again, so I didn’t get there until noon. Fortunately, however, this being a church thing, it started late, so I got there right as Mark was beginning his talk.

Mark is an excellent writer, and he speaks just as well. Man, he hit it out of the park. As I expected, he didn’t remember who I was until I told him that my husband Jon said hello. I wasn’t surprised or insulted, since he’s only met me once, and that was several years ago. He’s actually better acquainted with my husband, through a Catholic/Evangelical e-mail list that Mark (or Jon) isn’t even in anymore. (I lurk.)

But Mark sat next to me during the potluck portion of the meeting. And I was so proud that my question about his up-coming book about Mary precipitated at least a thirty-minute discussion during the Q&A portion. So I’m glad that I went, even though I got more frustrated with driving, and even though I missed some figure skating.

2:45pm: Got back to Spokane relatively easily; went to the Spokane Convention Center to catch the last part of the Novice Pairs short program. The Convention Center is open seating, and crowded and uncomfortable—but close to the ice, which is fun. Although the Spokane Arena is more comfortable, our seats are in the upper section.

3:40pm: Watched the Novice Ladies short program. It was the first time I had seen any novice skaters, and I was impressed. Two things jumped out at me. I think that Carolyn-Ann Alba is the person to watch for in the future. She made an impressive 45.01 in her short program; that number rivals many seniors’ performance.

Victoria Hecht from L.A. was the audience favorite, but the judges weren’t all that impressed with her. Her scores were low, and she only came in eighth. The audience actually booed after they were announced. I did a short exit poll afterwards, and in the words of one older woman, Victoria “was robbed.” However, although Victoria’s a beautiful skater, I think that she missed a lot of her elements. She only did two jumps, and her spins and spirals weren’t as complicated as many of the other skaters. Her program score was high, though, so the judges agreed with another older woman I talked to, who said Victoria was “pretty.” So she was.

6pm: Took the shuttle over to the Spokane Arena. Grabbed a hotdog, called home to check-in, and found my seat to watch the juniors ladies short program. Again, first time to watch the juniors. I decided, after talking to the older woman sitting next to me, that at least during the first part of the week, I’m going to try and fill one of the empty seats below. I’m pretty sure it’s okay to do that, but I’m sure I’ll find out.

Caroline Zhang has become a star in the last season. She won every Junior Grand Prix event she was in this year, including the final. (The amazing thing is that she only came in eighth at the Nationals last year.) She would be in first place after her short program if it weren’t for her bizarre fall. It came after a triple, but she fell after she had completed it.

Caroline’s spins were much better than Mirai Nagusu, who won the short program—again, only due to Caroline’s fall. Mirai, who reminds me a lot of Michelle Kwan, is very cute and personable and relates well to the audience. I’m looking forward to seeing Caroline and Mirai battle it out tomorrow night.

9:30pm: Back to the hotel, without getting lost. More tomorrow—I plan on going to all the Novice finals and some of the practices. So far, I’m having a blast!

Weir/Lund Controversy

Going into the Nationals next week, Johnny Weir has again spurred controversy. This time, however, very little of it was his own doing.

A few weeks ago, during a cable program about the upcoming Nationals, Johnny was basically “outed” by Mark Lund, the openly gay figure skating commentator, journalist, and “Skating With Celebrities” judge. Unlike the Rosie O’Donnell/Donald Trump thing, this controversy quickly downed down, in spite of it occurring almost immediately before a major American figure skating competition.

Here's a clip of the above-mentioned program:


The attention it has drawn has come, it seems, exclusively from the gay internet media and bloggers. I probably wouldn’t have heard about it if it weren’t for my Google alert, since although I had Tivoed the program where Lund made his outrageous comments about Weir, I deleted it after about two minutes because I found its tone patronizing and not worth my time. As far as the mainstream media was concerned, it was a non-event.

Perhaps that should cause those of us who care about the sport of figure skating some concern. Perhaps it shouldn’t, since it involves something that should stay private—the sexual orientation of another human being. Regardless of what anyone thinks about homosexuality (and remember folks, this is a Catholic site as well as a figure skating site), the few articles I was able to find about this incident—all gay-oriented—agreed that Lund’s comments were inappropriate and came out in overwhelming support of Weir and in condemnation of Lund.

I applaud that, because although I admit I’m confused about my views on homosexuality, one thing for me is certain: I believe that it’s inappropriate to force someone out of the closet. I’m no expert on the gay community or even on gay psychology, but I understand that “coming out” is an extremely personal process. Weir is only twenty-one years old. Lund, in his defense, wrote, “Mr. Weir is an individual who enjoys all the rights of the gay community without coming out to support the gay community.”

As a straight person, my response to that is, “So what?” I’d think that Lund would rejoice that someone like Weir, in the current cultural environment, for better or worse, has the freedom to investigate his sexual orientation. He’s a public person, so much of that is being done publicly. Other gay celebrities have had the freedom and opportunity to do the same, so my question is: Why not allow Weir the same?

To be fair to Lund, though, there are some issues that have come up this season that much of the gay press isn’t aware of. I’ve already written in this blog that I felt that Weir is confused. For example, he began the season stating that he wanted to “change his image.” He said that he wanted to be less offensive and to “change his look.”

My response at the time was that those statements and his actions contradicted each other. Weir said that he didn’t want to be as controversial this year, but he chose to portray Jesus Christ in his long program. I agree with the gay blogger who stated, in response to Lund’s complaints about Weir’s long program, that portraying Christ in a skating program is different than identifying with Christ. However, Weir has said that he does identify with Christ. In the ESPN broadcast of Cup of Russia, Paul Wylie quoted Weir as saying that he understood feeling persecuted but loving your enemies anyway.

I admit that I responded in a similar fashion to Lund. As an elite American athlete, Weir has had very little opportunities to suffer like Christ, or like the millions of people in the world who have legitimately suffered. As a Christian, though, I applaud Weir’s depth of feeling about Christ’s sufferings, enough that he commissioned an original piece of music about it and had it choreographed. Identifying with Jesus is never a bad thing. At the same time, though, Lund’s ridicule of Weir is unfair (and as the gay issues writer over at About.com states, most likely homophobic), especially since Evan Lysacek, whom he fawned over during his commentary, is also portraying Christ in his short program this year.

Speaking of short programs, Weir’s own short program represents his “change of image.” His lines are less fluid; his movements are sharper. He’s using the program to present a more “masculine” image; you can even see it in his choice of costume. The problem, though, is that it simply isn’t working. As I’ve stated before, I believe that it’s not working for the simple reason that he’s trying to be someone he’s not. He’s simply not a “masculine” skater. (Whatever “masculine” means.)

Even when attempting a more “masculine” program, Weir still has the beautiful fluid lines. He’s still, as Dick Button so aptly describes him, skates like “liquid gold.” Figure skating has always been full of “effeminate male figure skaters”—and again, I ask what does that mean? I’m not so sure that anyone, even the straightest of figure skating fans (I’m including myself in that), cares very much.

I’ll tell you what I care about, though. I want to be touched at a deep level; I want to catch my breath in amazement at what these athletes can do. Johnny Weir, as inconsistent he can be in competition (especially this season), has done that time and time again. Like Lund, I’ve complained about Weir’s costumes, especially his swan one from last season. However, I can’t deny that it’s a spectacular program. As Weir was told during the Marshall’s showcase, it’s his “signature piece.”

I can also tell you what I care about in regards to Johnny Weir, especially this season. I care about him doing his job and delivering the goods, and that’s not something, for all kinds of personal reasons, he’s done consistently this year. I really care less if he’s gay, or if he’s investigating his sexuality. That’s none of my business. It shouldn’t be anyone’s business.

So my personal message to Johnny Weir is: If you’re gay, be gay. Be outrageous; be over-the-top, be as controversial as you want to be. But be brilliant and continue to amaze me with your liquid-gold. I guess what I’m saying is be yourself. It’s obvious from your “King of Chess” short program that being anything other than yourself simply doesn’t work. It doesn’t work for any of us.