Skamerica Part Two
Nov. 8th, 2022 06:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
allekhaIt warmed up a little here, and I've been enjoying reading outside some afternoons with a pot of tea before it gets too dark to see. Some of our trees are bare now, but others are still losing their color. The crows are certainly out in full force every evening; you can watch hundreds of them go by overhead, all going CAW CAW CAW in what seems to be a giant conversation. I have finished all my recent book purchases!
Here's more Skate America thoughts from Saturday! Hopefully, I will get them finished before another event goes by š Been distracted by work - having some frustrating issues with a remote server - watching gymnastics Worlds between skating (still not over the 'ehhh water on the balance beam is fine, right?' incident), and playing and I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. I've already put 60 hours into that game, and I'm probably going to do at least one more playthrough. And maybe write fic? I want so much fic for it, guys.
I've also started putting my better photos up on Wikimedia. The quality isn't great, even after editing out some of the oversharpening my phone likes to do (and which I can't find an option to turn off), but perhaps they will be useful somewhere.
Misc: The food options were not bad, at least on Saturday. Getting out was also much easier because some people stayed for the victory ceremonies and some left after the men's FS. Not entirely impressed by whoever lied on Tenley Albright's wall biography about her inventing tan skates for women (Sonja Henie says hi), but the arena is very nice, and I liked how small it was.
Rhythm dance: My overall impression was 'here's another season of never watching the RD'. There was a lot of posing for ice dance programs, and the music selection was poor. I am not an expert in latin dance by any means, but I think there is more and better to choose from than 'Careless Whisper but change the tempo'.
Holubtsova/Bielobrov: I liked their costumes - purple and seafoam is an unusual color combination, too. They were cheered on well with lots of Ukraine flags :)
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan: They were noticeably faster than H/B and had good chemistry and ending lift. I noticed that she in particular seemed to be really looking at the cameras when they came around to our corner, where many of the photographers were standing, which I hope made for some great photos.
McNamara/Spiridonov: She was a pile of glitter. But I didn't care much for their music, and they seemed slow.
Lauriault/Le Gac: They were at least a bit different from the more typical ?latin? programs. They were too slow for their last song, but I liked the entrance to their last lift.
Demougeot/Le Mercier: She had a very distracting flounce on her dress that I hope she's cut off by now. Their program was noticeably pose-y to me.
Kanadai: Winning the āØvibesāØ contest for sure. I just loooove how they look together and one of the most fun programs to watch.
Apparently, I had nothing to say about the medalists, and I don't remember anything about them. That speaks to how little I enjoy this year's theme more than their ability to skate.
Women's SP:
Gracie: VERY well-supported by the crowd, although I have to say, just in terms of her actual skating - not really that impressive, though certainly not bad; she has a nice 3Lz/3T, of course, but it's not the most flowy combo, her choreography is okay but not great, and she's a bit slow. My mom was absolutely puzzled by the crowd reaction to her until I explained the whole comeback story.
Kitromilis: She's surprisingly quick when she isn't doing the more difficult steps, but not very expressive.
EliŔka: Not the greatest ice coverage, but boy did she have style. Very fun to watch and definitely stood out.
Amber needs more work on her SS, but she was expressive and obviously connected well to both her program and the crowd. Loved watching her. She seemed to have more attack than she has in the past, especially when she was going into her jumps, and I hope that's a sign of good things going forward for her.
Rino's program was fairly generic but pretty. She seemed rattled by the freak fall, poor thing. Very smooth skater.
Katya: Katya! I'm not sure how I feel about the music cuts, but I guess it's nice to have her have a more elegant, emotional portion and then the Katya Smile portion, and the Elvis suits her. I love her <3 Very lovely shade of purple on her dress, too.
Isabeau: I want to like her, but oof, her jumps are not it to the point where they are genuinely jarring because otherwise, her movement quality is actually very good for her age. I also can't help but be worried about how her coach the Eteri stan is training her. That being said, I did like her program, and it's much better than her free. Also, I've seen people complaining that she's slow, but that's not true. She isn't at the level of someone like Kaori, of course, but she's much quicker than the first-group skaters. I really want her to get a better jump coach, because she has so much potential (and is very cute). She really does remind me of Zhenya, except with her jumps at the worst of her injury and ED. Maybe if you spliced Zhenya with Anna.
Haein is the one I liked best of the Korean ladies - she has very nice jumps and flow - but they all kind of have that Generic Korean Girl Packing with the Pretty Airbrushed Dress and the Classic Music and Pretty Ice Princess Choreo, and I would have liked her, in particular, to skate to something more dynamic and powerful, because she seems very capable of a more challenging program. Or even just whatever music she likes to listen to and would have more fun with. (Hey, maybe she's a classical fan, I listened to it as a teenager. But I suspect that was not the main consideration with her music.)
Kaori is amazing to watch in person. Her jumps may not have the best extension - and didn't look like they were in their best shape yet at this point in the season - but they are so powerful. She did several 2As in our corner and wow, the coverage and ease they have. Really, all of her skating is powerful. One thing I noticed is that she does have a weakness with using her upper body to the same extent and precision she uses her legs, which was noticeable after seeing Isabeau skate shortly before her, but I think her programs this year are also challenging her on that front instead of trying to hide it. (Also, her flutz should have gotten an instant 'e' from the judges/tech panel. I was sitting across the arena, and it was clear as day.)
Pairs FS:
M/M are still a bit rough and not quite there yet, but they were adorable and looked great together.
SD/D were the highlight of the event. They had such flow, smooth and stunning lifts with amazing coverage, they had a lovely death spiral variation, they had stupid Egpyt arms choreo but at least kept it to a minimum, and they got the audience HYPED - every butt came out of its seat when they ended, our first full standing ovation of the event. I usually try to be zen about skating placements, but sorry, they were fucking robbed. How the judges watched them bring the crowd to its feet and then watched a choppier program that got a more typical home crowd reception but no standing ovation, and went 'yeah the second one gets higher PR' is beyond me.
Men's FS:
Koshiro: He's such a performer and deserves such a better program than Chaplain impressions. They didn't overdo it too much for this one, but still, he can do better than a cliche character program. Good spins. Whatever else Lambiel may be doing, he can teach a spin.
Seleveko has some lovely qualities, but he just looked like he got completely gassed by the quad attempt falls, poor guy.
Sena: The Japanese skaters usually have such great SS that it surprised me that he came across as a bit slower. I'm here for catchfoot spirals and more men doing them, though.
Roman... well, it was a bit rough. But not a disaster! I still enjoyed watching him. Like with Amber, I'm okay with him using the Sad Boy songs if that's what he wants. They suit him and he seems into them.
Ilia: Hoooooly fuck I got to see a 4A in person. And he made it look so easy that for a moment my brain went 4A - 3A?4A?? And then the crowd screamed its head off for twenty seconds straight haha, which confirmed that yeah, that was a 4A! The rest of the program was a pure adrenaline rush to watch. While his artistry is still underdeveloped, it did seem better than last year, so I hope he continues working on it instead of coming to rely only on the jumps. I'm also a bit worried for him - he's SO talented and he's doing SO many quads SO young. But at least unlike Isabeau, he has very good technique on them. Hope he staves off injuries!
Junhwan: I like the concept of the program, and he performed well to it, but the music cuts are still messy and it didn't feel like a coherent story. His Ina Bauer in person is š¤© so fast and so much ice coverage, and of course that beautiful position. And he holds it long enough for the audience to start clapping before it ends! I was glad to see he's setting a trend among other Korean skaters.
Here's more Skate America thoughts from Saturday! Hopefully, I will get them finished before another event goes by š Been distracted by work - having some frustrating issues with a remote server - watching gymnastics Worlds between skating (still not over the 'ehhh water on the balance beam is fine, right?' incident), and playing and I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. I've already put 60 hours into that game, and I'm probably going to do at least one more playthrough. And maybe write fic? I want so much fic for it, guys.
I've also started putting my better photos up on Wikimedia. The quality isn't great, even after editing out some of the oversharpening my phone likes to do (and which I can't find an option to turn off), but perhaps they will be useful somewhere.
Misc: The food options were not bad, at least on Saturday. Getting out was also much easier because some people stayed for the victory ceremonies and some left after the men's FS. Not entirely impressed by whoever lied on Tenley Albright's wall biography about her inventing tan skates for women (Sonja Henie says hi), but the arena is very nice, and I liked how small it was.
Rhythm dance: My overall impression was 'here's another season of never watching the RD'. There was a lot of posing for ice dance programs, and the music selection was poor. I am not an expert in latin dance by any means, but I think there is more and better to choose from than 'Careless Whisper but change the tempo'.
Holubtsova/Bielobrov: I liked their costumes - purple and seafoam is an unusual color combination, too. They were cheered on well with lots of Ukraine flags :)
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan: They were noticeably faster than H/B and had good chemistry and ending lift. I noticed that she in particular seemed to be really looking at the cameras when they came around to our corner, where many of the photographers were standing, which I hope made for some great photos.
McNamara/Spiridonov: She was a pile of glitter. But I didn't care much for their music, and they seemed slow.
Lauriault/Le Gac: They were at least a bit different from the more typical ?latin? programs. They were too slow for their last song, but I liked the entrance to their last lift.
Demougeot/Le Mercier: She had a very distracting flounce on her dress that I hope she's cut off by now. Their program was noticeably pose-y to me.
Kanadai: Winning the āØvibesāØ contest for sure. I just loooove how they look together and one of the most fun programs to watch.
Apparently, I had nothing to say about the medalists, and I don't remember anything about them. That speaks to how little I enjoy this year's theme more than their ability to skate.
Women's SP:
Gracie: VERY well-supported by the crowd, although I have to say, just in terms of her actual skating - not really that impressive, though certainly not bad; she has a nice 3Lz/3T, of course, but it's not the most flowy combo, her choreography is okay but not great, and she's a bit slow. My mom was absolutely puzzled by the crowd reaction to her until I explained the whole comeback story.
Kitromilis: She's surprisingly quick when she isn't doing the more difficult steps, but not very expressive.
EliŔka: Not the greatest ice coverage, but boy did she have style. Very fun to watch and definitely stood out.
Amber needs more work on her SS, but she was expressive and obviously connected well to both her program and the crowd. Loved watching her. She seemed to have more attack than she has in the past, especially when she was going into her jumps, and I hope that's a sign of good things going forward for her.
Rino's program was fairly generic but pretty. She seemed rattled by the freak fall, poor thing. Very smooth skater.
Katya: Katya! I'm not sure how I feel about the music cuts, but I guess it's nice to have her have a more elegant, emotional portion and then the Katya Smile portion, and the Elvis suits her. I love her <3 Very lovely shade of purple on her dress, too.
Isabeau: I want to like her, but oof, her jumps are not it to the point where they are genuinely jarring because otherwise, her movement quality is actually very good for her age. I also can't help but be worried about how her coach the Eteri stan is training her. That being said, I did like her program, and it's much better than her free. Also, I've seen people complaining that she's slow, but that's not true. She isn't at the level of someone like Kaori, of course, but she's much quicker than the first-group skaters. I really want her to get a better jump coach, because she has so much potential (and is very cute). She really does remind me of Zhenya, except with her jumps at the worst of her injury and ED. Maybe if you spliced Zhenya with Anna.
Haein is the one I liked best of the Korean ladies - she has very nice jumps and flow - but they all kind of have that Generic Korean Girl Packing with the Pretty Airbrushed Dress and the Classic Music and Pretty Ice Princess Choreo, and I would have liked her, in particular, to skate to something more dynamic and powerful, because she seems very capable of a more challenging program. Or even just whatever music she likes to listen to and would have more fun with. (Hey, maybe she's a classical fan, I listened to it as a teenager. But I suspect that was not the main consideration with her music.)
Kaori is amazing to watch in person. Her jumps may not have the best extension - and didn't look like they were in their best shape yet at this point in the season - but they are so powerful. She did several 2As in our corner and wow, the coverage and ease they have. Really, all of her skating is powerful. One thing I noticed is that she does have a weakness with using her upper body to the same extent and precision she uses her legs, which was noticeable after seeing Isabeau skate shortly before her, but I think her programs this year are also challenging her on that front instead of trying to hide it. (Also, her flutz should have gotten an instant 'e' from the judges/tech panel. I was sitting across the arena, and it was clear as day.)
Pairs FS:
M/M are still a bit rough and not quite there yet, but they were adorable and looked great together.
SD/D were the highlight of the event. They had such flow, smooth and stunning lifts with amazing coverage, they had a lovely death spiral variation, they had stupid Egpyt arms choreo but at least kept it to a minimum, and they got the audience HYPED - every butt came out of its seat when they ended, our first full standing ovation of the event. I usually try to be zen about skating placements, but sorry, they were fucking robbed. How the judges watched them bring the crowd to its feet and then watched a choppier program that got a more typical home crowd reception but no standing ovation, and went 'yeah the second one gets higher PR' is beyond me.
Men's FS:
Koshiro: He's such a performer and deserves such a better program than Chaplain impressions. They didn't overdo it too much for this one, but still, he can do better than a cliche character program. Good spins. Whatever else Lambiel may be doing, he can teach a spin.
Seleveko has some lovely qualities, but he just looked like he got completely gassed by the quad attempt falls, poor guy.
Sena: The Japanese skaters usually have such great SS that it surprised me that he came across as a bit slower. I'm here for catchfoot spirals and more men doing them, though.
Roman... well, it was a bit rough. But not a disaster! I still enjoyed watching him. Like with Amber, I'm okay with him using the Sad Boy songs if that's what he wants. They suit him and he seems into them.
Ilia: Hoooooly fuck I got to see a 4A in person. And he made it look so easy that for a moment my brain went 4A - 3A?4A?? And then the crowd screamed its head off for twenty seconds straight haha, which confirmed that yeah, that was a 4A! The rest of the program was a pure adrenaline rush to watch. While his artistry is still underdeveloped, it did seem better than last year, so I hope he continues working on it instead of coming to rely only on the jumps. I'm also a bit worried for him - he's SO talented and he's doing SO many quads SO young. But at least unlike Isabeau, he has very good technique on them. Hope he staves off injuries!
Junhwan: I like the concept of the program, and he performed well to it, but the music cuts are still messy and it didn't feel like a coherent story. His Ina Bauer in person is š¤© so fast and so much ice coverage, and of course that beautiful position. And he holds it long enough for the audience to start clapping before it ends! I was glad to see he's setting a trend among other Korean skaters.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-10 01:26 am (UTC)You saw the 4A! Still so wild thatās now a thing.
Man I know stanning Canadian skaters is an exercise in āgood short or free ā pick oneā, but Roman is really, really taking it to a level.
If your phone can shoot RAW, I find that those photos wonāt be oversharpened. OTOH you will get more motion blur on your photos, but I kind of like it because it feels a bit like shooting film.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-10 06:53 am (UTC)Thanks for the idea! Unfortunately, I couldn't find an option for that, either - not sure if that's a restriction of the phone or the default app. If I go to another event and decide to try again, I might also ask around to see if I can borrow a real camera that wouldn't cost too much to replace if something happened to it.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-10 07:58 am (UTC)Iām still not used to the 4Lo and 4Lz never mind all this! I remember when Yuri on Ice first came out I thought it was unrealistic, haha.
On my phone I had to download a paid app to shoot in RAW =_=
no subject
Date: 2022-11-11 12:21 am (UTC)