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Vancouver Olympics figure skating!
Ha, these are tags I don't use often!
I have been dorkily following figure skating ever since I got Tivo and realized I could program it to record figure skating, so now, I bore everyone by going on (and on and on) about figure skating come this Olympics!
(Also! Taiwan is in the winter Olympics! 1 luger, and I doubt we'll win, but still! TAIWAN! WINTER OLYMPICS! Even if we are still listed as "Chinese Taipei"!)
(Also also, I feel so bad for the poor technicians backstage going, "OMFG how did the OLYMPIC TORCH go WRONG at the ACTUAL CEREMONIES I AM SO SCREWED.")
(We won't go into my long-standing issues with the nationalist to-do that always seems to happen over the Olympics, the terrible quality of the US anchors, the way medals go to countries with enough dollars to pour into their sports programs, and etc.)
First, I hope to god Dick Button will not be allowed to commentate, because I hate his sexist, racist self. Also, if the commentators go on and on about the "new" scoring system and how it promotes pure jumping over artistry, I will throw something at the TV. Especially because quite a few winners from the last few years at Worlds have won thanks not just to their jumps, but also to awesome footwork sequences and the like.
All this commentary will probably be very US-biased, since I watch the broadcasts here and the commentators and clips are pretty US-centric. I so wish they broadcast Japanese nationals here, because that would be awesome to see.
Pairs
Pairs actually bores me the most; for some reason, I enjoy the less-seemingly-athletic ice dancing much more. Also, the tendency to have very young women paired with older men (16 and 24 sometimes) kind of squicks me out. Still! I am totally rooting for Shen and Zhao (China), who made a comeback this year and are surprisingly in great shape! I'm also strangely fond of Kavaguti and Smirnoff (Russia); there's something about the way Yuko Kavaguti lands her jumps that I really enjoy. The other two Chinese pairs teams are also pretty good, though I love Shen and Zhao the best, and I'm hoping Savchenko and Szolkowy shake off their weirdly bad season and do well. Like, I hope Shen and Zhao still beat them just because they are in their early thirties and are just awesome in general, but it's never fun if the winners win just because the competition sucked. Normally I do cheer for Savchenko and Szolkowy too though (OMG non-East-Asian POC in figure skating!)
Dance
I haven't been following the race fail around Domnina and Shabalin's original dance, but I saw it at Europeans, and not only was it terribly offensive, it also kind of sucked. I wish I could say I were more surprised about the race fail, but quite frankly, figure skating in general is so full of race fail that I'm not. This year is particularly bad, because the original dances are supposed to be folk dances. And since figure skating is white white white, that's a lot of appropriation! But even in non-folk-dance years, figure skating overall has a ton of Orientalism, almost always done to music by European composers (Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade seems to be featured ALL THE TIME). I roll my eyes forever.
I usually cheer for Belbin and Agosto (US), but the past few seasons, I've just gotten kind of bored of them. I'm not really sure why. And despite their Indian-based original dance, I am growing to like Davis and White (US) a lot. Hey! Delobel and Schoenfelder (France) are making a comeback this year after winning 2008 Worlds! I haven't seen them at all this season, so I have no idea what their program is, but they're usually interesting. And although I don't think Khoklova and Novitski will get on the podium, I find them amusing. I also like Faiella and Scali (Italy) because they do reverse lifts (woman holding the man).
Men's
Men's! This is my favorite. I cheer on Evan Lysacek (US) and have ever since I watched his senior debut way back when, though now I feel much less skanky about it, as he's no longer 18. Also, he tends to be so reliable! And I love his footwork sequences! I find Jeremy Abbott (US) extremely boring for some reason. I used to dislike Johnny Weir (US), but now that he hasn't been the strongest US man for a while, his attitude annoys me less. Also, I kind of love his short program with the hot pink lacing and the diva poses, and how can you not love that his exhibition program is to Lady Gaga? Complete with face paint!
I feel I should be more excited about Evgeni Plushenko's (Russia) comeback than I am. I think he is still awesome, but since he already has a gold, I kind of want someone else to win now. I am hoping Patrick Chan (Canada) does better; he's usually awesome, but this season he's kind of sucked. I'm also sad Jeffrey Buttle (Canada) stopped after winning 2008 Worlds! Ah well... at least he won that. Brian Joubert continues to bore me, although at least his costume is less terrible this time around. Basically, I am grateful any time he stays out of the brown Naugahyde. I am also cheering on teeny-weeny Denis Ten (Kazakhstan), whom Wiki tells me is partially Korean! I hope Tomas Verner (Czech Republic) pulls it together but it's too scary cheering him on because he can choke so badly, and I hope Stephane Lambiel (Switzerland) does as well, because he is skating to La Traviata, which I love, and he can be so good, but he can mess up so badly as well.
And finally, the Japanese men! I feel I should like Oda Nobunaga more than I do. He is extremely cute and very good and his Charlie Chaplin long program is adorable, but alas for him, Daisuke Takahashi gets my vote. I am afraid he will not do well though, thanks to recovering from an injury and basically being out all of last season, and he was pretty bad in his Grand Prix event. But he had this short in the 2007-2008 season called "Digital Swan" to a hip-hop remix of Swan Lake that was AWESOME. You must trust me. It was AWESOME. Black feathers and sequins everywhere! Andthis year in 2008 (my bad, tricked by the Wiki picture), he has a purple outfit with a cape and and sequined heart with a dagger on it! He is one of the few skaters out there whose costumes are more sparkly than Johnny Weir!
Women's
Why do they always call this "ladies"?
This is completely unrelated to the Olympics, but I was so happy watching US Nationals this year and seeing the giant crop of little Asian-American girl skaters! When they're interviewed, they talk in these teeny-bopper, Valley girl voices and are totally full of squee, and they're so cute! Also, I have visions of people getting startled by the totally American accents coming out of their mouths, and I mock them viciously. (Also, Christina Gao skated to Spirited Away, meaning I love her forever!)
I cheer on Julia Sebestyen (Hungary) though she doesn't have much of a shot at the podium, just because it's SO NICE to see female non-dance figure skaters older than 22. I'm also super sad the Japanese team is limited to three women, since that means no Fumie Suguri, whom I am fond of. I generally don't like Miki Ando's style that much, but she's been growing on me. And although I like Mao Asada, it is nerve-wracking to watch her now! Her season this year was terrible, although she pulled it together for Four Continents, at least. I really hope she does not freak out at being at the Olympics! And I'm vaguely fond of Akiko Suzuki, but not terribly familiar with her.
I like Alena Leonova (Russia) just because she is cute and spunky, and it's good to see Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia) is in the Olympics! She was so cute at Torino, and I like her long this season. I'm a bit meh about Rachael Flatt (US), but happy Mirai Nagasu (US) managed to get her act together this year. I hope she also does not get too freaked out by the Olympics and continues to do well!
And finally, Kim Yu-Na (South Korea)! I love her, she is awesome, her programs are awesome, I am just so nervous because she had those uncharacteristic mess-ups in her last two Grand Prix competitions, and I am scared it will be like Michelle Kwan never managing to win an Olympics! As long as she doesn't screw herself up, she will win by so much. I don't think anyone else competing even comes close to Kim Yu-Na when she's on.
*crosses fingers* Watching sports is so nerve wracking!
I have been dorkily following figure skating ever since I got Tivo and realized I could program it to record figure skating, so now, I bore everyone by going on (and on and on) about figure skating come this Olympics!
(Also! Taiwan is in the winter Olympics! 1 luger, and I doubt we'll win, but still! TAIWAN! WINTER OLYMPICS! Even if we are still listed as "Chinese Taipei"!)
(Also also, I feel so bad for the poor technicians backstage going, "OMFG how did the OLYMPIC TORCH go WRONG at the ACTUAL CEREMONIES I AM SO SCREWED.")
(We won't go into my long-standing issues with the nationalist to-do that always seems to happen over the Olympics, the terrible quality of the US anchors, the way medals go to countries with enough dollars to pour into their sports programs, and etc.)
First, I hope to god Dick Button will not be allowed to commentate, because I hate his sexist, racist self. Also, if the commentators go on and on about the "new" scoring system and how it promotes pure jumping over artistry, I will throw something at the TV. Especially because quite a few winners from the last few years at Worlds have won thanks not just to their jumps, but also to awesome footwork sequences and the like.
All this commentary will probably be very US-biased, since I watch the broadcasts here and the commentators and clips are pretty US-centric. I so wish they broadcast Japanese nationals here, because that would be awesome to see.
Pairs
Pairs actually bores me the most; for some reason, I enjoy the less-seemingly-athletic ice dancing much more. Also, the tendency to have very young women paired with older men (16 and 24 sometimes) kind of squicks me out. Still! I am totally rooting for Shen and Zhao (China), who made a comeback this year and are surprisingly in great shape! I'm also strangely fond of Kavaguti and Smirnoff (Russia); there's something about the way Yuko Kavaguti lands her jumps that I really enjoy. The other two Chinese pairs teams are also pretty good, though I love Shen and Zhao the best, and I'm hoping Savchenko and Szolkowy shake off their weirdly bad season and do well. Like, I hope Shen and Zhao still beat them just because they are in their early thirties and are just awesome in general, but it's never fun if the winners win just because the competition sucked. Normally I do cheer for Savchenko and Szolkowy too though (OMG non-East-Asian POC in figure skating!)
Dance
I haven't been following the race fail around Domnina and Shabalin's original dance, but I saw it at Europeans, and not only was it terribly offensive, it also kind of sucked. I wish I could say I were more surprised about the race fail, but quite frankly, figure skating in general is so full of race fail that I'm not. This year is particularly bad, because the original dances are supposed to be folk dances. And since figure skating is white white white, that's a lot of appropriation! But even in non-folk-dance years, figure skating overall has a ton of Orientalism, almost always done to music by European composers (Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade seems to be featured ALL THE TIME). I roll my eyes forever.
I usually cheer for Belbin and Agosto (US), but the past few seasons, I've just gotten kind of bored of them. I'm not really sure why. And despite their Indian-based original dance, I am growing to like Davis and White (US) a lot. Hey! Delobel and Schoenfelder (France) are making a comeback this year after winning 2008 Worlds! I haven't seen them at all this season, so I have no idea what their program is, but they're usually interesting. And although I don't think Khoklova and Novitski will get on the podium, I find them amusing. I also like Faiella and Scali (Italy) because they do reverse lifts (woman holding the man).
Men's
Men's! This is my favorite. I cheer on Evan Lysacek (US) and have ever since I watched his senior debut way back when, though now I feel much less skanky about it, as he's no longer 18. Also, he tends to be so reliable! And I love his footwork sequences! I find Jeremy Abbott (US) extremely boring for some reason. I used to dislike Johnny Weir (US), but now that he hasn't been the strongest US man for a while, his attitude annoys me less. Also, I kind of love his short program with the hot pink lacing and the diva poses, and how can you not love that his exhibition program is to Lady Gaga? Complete with face paint!
I feel I should be more excited about Evgeni Plushenko's (Russia) comeback than I am. I think he is still awesome, but since he already has a gold, I kind of want someone else to win now. I am hoping Patrick Chan (Canada) does better; he's usually awesome, but this season he's kind of sucked. I'm also sad Jeffrey Buttle (Canada) stopped after winning 2008 Worlds! Ah well... at least he won that. Brian Joubert continues to bore me, although at least his costume is less terrible this time around. Basically, I am grateful any time he stays out of the brown Naugahyde. I am also cheering on teeny-weeny Denis Ten (Kazakhstan), whom Wiki tells me is partially Korean! I hope Tomas Verner (Czech Republic) pulls it together but it's too scary cheering him on because he can choke so badly, and I hope Stephane Lambiel (Switzerland) does as well, because he is skating to La Traviata, which I love, and he can be so good, but he can mess up so badly as well.
And finally, the Japanese men! I feel I should like Oda Nobunaga more than I do. He is extremely cute and very good and his Charlie Chaplin long program is adorable, but alas for him, Daisuke Takahashi gets my vote. I am afraid he will not do well though, thanks to recovering from an injury and basically being out all of last season, and he was pretty bad in his Grand Prix event. But he had this short in the 2007-2008 season called "Digital Swan" to a hip-hop remix of Swan Lake that was AWESOME. You must trust me. It was AWESOME. Black feathers and sequins everywhere! And
Women's
Why do they always call this "ladies"?
This is completely unrelated to the Olympics, but I was so happy watching US Nationals this year and seeing the giant crop of little Asian-American girl skaters! When they're interviewed, they talk in these teeny-bopper, Valley girl voices and are totally full of squee, and they're so cute! Also, I have visions of people getting startled by the totally American accents coming out of their mouths, and I mock them viciously. (Also, Christina Gao skated to Spirited Away, meaning I love her forever!)
I cheer on Julia Sebestyen (Hungary) though she doesn't have much of a shot at the podium, just because it's SO NICE to see female non-dance figure skaters older than 22. I'm also super sad the Japanese team is limited to three women, since that means no Fumie Suguri, whom I am fond of. I generally don't like Miki Ando's style that much, but she's been growing on me. And although I like Mao Asada, it is nerve-wracking to watch her now! Her season this year was terrible, although she pulled it together for Four Continents, at least. I really hope she does not freak out at being at the Olympics! And I'm vaguely fond of Akiko Suzuki, but not terribly familiar with her.
I like Alena Leonova (Russia) just because she is cute and spunky, and it's good to see Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia) is in the Olympics! She was so cute at Torino, and I like her long this season. I'm a bit meh about Rachael Flatt (US), but happy Mirai Nagasu (US) managed to get her act together this year. I hope she also does not get too freaked out by the Olympics and continues to do well!
And finally, Kim Yu-Na (South Korea)! I love her, she is awesome, her programs are awesome, I am just so nervous because she had those uncharacteristic mess-ups in her last two Grand Prix competitions, and I am scared it will be like Michelle Kwan never managing to win an Olympics! As long as she doesn't screw herself up, she will win by so much. I don't think anyone else competing even comes close to Kim Yu-Na when she's on.
*crosses fingers* Watching sports is so nerve wracking!