You got some mustard on your shirt

Really, Max Aaron?

This is figure skating, we want Lion Queen not Lion King. :p

2016 Worlds Boston – Mens Free

I think there is a little boy flower sweeper – how cute!

So…

I missed Grant’s skate.

Dennis Ten – I’ve never been a fan.

Dennis Visajevs – I think he has SO much potential! Loved the first the minutes. I wished he skated to more mature music because his line is so mature. (wow Alexi Urmanov got old)

Max Arron – I feel no artistry at all from him, but I was cheering each of his awesome jumps.

Michael Breznia – I used to love this kid…he’s just making it look like work 😦

Ivan Righini – skating for Italy…he looks like a squat Emmanuel Sandhu…but I think he wants to be Florant Amodio…I let out the biggest cheer when he did that Rippon Lutz! How cool for Adam Ripon to be competing against men doing his move. Well that was enjoyable. I like that he skated to Pink Floyd because he seemed too like the music (get it Max Aaron?)

Adam Rippon – A skating program has not brought me to tears in a long time. Thank you, Adam! I didn’t want it to end!

Mikhail Kolyada – Put this kid in Leeann Miller’s or Christopher Dean’s hands and we would have magic. Sublime jumps. He had consistent energy. He emoted…but it was the Nightmare Before Christmas. I just want him out of a onsie.

Yuzuru Hanyu – This is how much I don’t get the hype about this guy: I prefer my skating to his skating. If a fairy came right now and said Stephanie, do you want to skate like Yuzuru and do quads and keep your hands clenched the whole time? or do you want to skate like you, no jumps, now get dizzy when you spin, but with a big smile…I’ll always choose me.

Jin Boyang – Did someone check his birth certificate? He looks and strokes like a 10 year old. I just want to push his shoulders down! I liked his little single tuck toe loop.

Javier Fernandez – That had me out if my chair! This is why figure skating is a sport – it’s competition! He crushed Yuzuru’s 12 point less! He still needs to think his eyebrows a bit, but other than that how awesome! And I love the program! Omg he did it! He surpassed Yuzuru! First place!

Shoma Uno – I love this kid! He’s like a little magical elf. Kneebend for days!

Patrick Chan – His face had been bothering me less…but he looks nervous. It’s so hard to skate to piano music, Patrick and Jeffrey Buttle do it the best. Is that a tattoo on his right shoulder? So not his best skate, hit the wall, being a baby about it complaining about the ice.

Gold: javier
Silver: yuzuru
Bronze: jin
Patrick 5th
Adam 6th
Max 8th

This Is What’s In My Head

A few years ago (actually 6 years), I was telling my coach “I just want to do what I see in my head!” Mirai Nagasu’s performance of “Demons” by Imagine Dragons is pretty much exactly what’s in my head.

Nailed It!

I watched The Cutting Edge 4 today (I didn’t even know before today there was a Cutting Edge 4!) and the Grand Prix final and Johnny Weir summed it up: when you leave skating it’s hard to replace that daily feeling of accomplishment. …I wonder if Johnny Weir takes my health insurance because he would be the best therapist for me!

Samantha Cesario retires from figure skating | OlympicTalk

http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/11/samantha-cesario-retires-figure-skating/

So sad! I really look forward to seeing her at Nationals. She always brings classic figure skating – wonderful music, beautiful costumes, dramatic choreography. I’m really going to miss her.

As much as I love the top 3 Russian ladies….

I also love Viktoria Hegesson. Her style is so classy. She reminds me a little of American skater from the early 1990s Lisa Ervin.

That being said, my only other comment out the the European Championships is why do people from non-English speaking countries use English lyrics?

Love On Ice

I’m watching Pandora’s Love On Ice and I’m just blown away by Evan Lysacek! He was so Jeremy Abbott meets Robin Cousins meets me.

It’s All That Adam Rippon in the Men’s Long

Mens Long

Douglas Razzano: I really like his costume. I love the music! I think after he fell on his quad his face looked a little disappointed but the rest was so nice!

Sean Rabbitt – He’s a tall drink of water! His arms are soooo long! Well, he smiled throughout the whole thing, and I like that!

Grant Hochstein: I love Don Quoitxe! So his bent leg camel spin begs a good question, if a move is difficult, yet ugly, should you do it? Also, his costume is only a tiny step above what Max Aaron wears. He just wasn’t regal enough to be Don.

Nathan Chen: I’ve been waiting for him to be a senior! It was nice.

Richard Dornbush; Take out all the jumps in the first half and it was great..

Max Aaron: That was jump-mazing! The performance was good too! I love when he died at the end! Just the hair needs to not look crunchy in the back.

Adam Rippon: EN FUEGO AGAIN!!!! This was even better than yesterday! This was amazing!!! It wasn’t about the music. It wasn’t about his costume. It wasn’t about his cheoreography. It wasn’t about his technique or the spins or the jumps. He has all that, always has. This was about his confidence. He stepped on the ice with confidence and he skated confidently and that’s what it was about.

Ross Miner: That’s the first time I wasn’t a Ross Miner fan. I don’t want to listen to opera at 5 p.m. on a Sunday.

Jason Brown: I hate that his pants are baggy. Just wear tights. It was really good…but it wasn’t Adam Rippon good. I’m disappointed he’s in first above Adam.

Jeremy Abbott: No commentary because it didn’t feel like he was competing.

Joshua Farris: I’d like to see this performance put him in 3rd place. I liked his movement, I just didn’t feel it as much I did Adam’s.

Ok, Jason in 1st, Adam 2nd and Joshua Farris 3rd. Only 2.5 points between 1 and 2nd..

NATIONALS!!! 2015

What an awesome US Nationals so far!

I loved the pairs competition!
But, in Alexa Scimeca and Christopher Knierim’s short program there was this part in their footwork where they did this cool foot stamp thing and I thought the music was going to build but it went in the opposite direction; that was disappointing.

I loved the ice dance competition!
Maia Shibutani looked so pretty in baby blue!
Madison Chock and Evan Bates’ opening acrobatic move where he’s in a second position squat and holding her up by her feet and then she flips into a 360 and does a like split-leg backflip out of it was awesome!
The team who danced to Danse Macabe was so cool BUT I just wanted to pull that beige layer of her skirt out. It was too much skirt.
Jon-Luc Baker and his partner were great! I got to skate on the same ice with him about 7 years ago in Washington, it was so nice to see how he’s developed into an amazing dancer.
Maddison Hubbel and Zach Donahue – I loved your choice of music – great use of lyrics! Maddison, please pull your top up like half an inch. Zach, please shorten your tunic about an inch.

The ladies short program was wonderful!

Ashley Wagner was great! I’m conflicted that she looks so tough sometimes. Like I like that she’s not so sugary sweet, but I don’t want to like her because she scares me a little.

Courtney Hicks looked awesome! At first I thought it was Lady Gaga on the ice but it was Courtney Hicks! I loved that she had nothing blingy in her hair. I loved her in black. I thought her program was great!

Polina Edmunds. I was disappointed. I didn’t like royal blue for this program, but she looked very beautiful. When I heard she was skating to Latin music I thought it would be more like her short program last year, but it was kinda slow.

Amber Glen was a treat – so classy!

Gracie Gold – two-footed landing on the combo jump, and it was nice, but it wasn’t awesome. I did notice that some people in the audience clapped for her spiral – I miss spirals.

Mairah Nagasu looked exquiite! So beautiful. I want that dress. She skated like a lady.

Karen Chen: The Tower by Clint Mansell is one of my favorite skating songs and she performed awesome to it! I want to see so much more from her.

Men’s Short:

Adam Rippon: EN FUEGO! He was awesome!!!

Jason Brown: My husband asked if he’s the kid from “Third Rock From The Sun.” 😦
Lose the chain on the costume, I can’t stop looking at it flap around.
That was great! Loved the Blues music! He’s America’s next Scott Hamilton.

Max Aaron: Wow he put four crystals on his shirt.
Um, let’s please add a no country music clause to the new lyrics rule, especially no country covers of awesome pop songs.
I don’t get how black leggings and white top goes to “Footloose.” Do you?
Please, someone tackle him and hack that hair off with your skate blade!
That said – the technical elements were great. The cheoreography was like something my husband would think of when he thinks of figure skating – like I think it did a disservice to men’s figure skating.

Joshua Farris: Whoever is directing the cameras for this championship is killing me. They’re on the skater and then as they start to skate they’re not following the skaters – hello we want to see them skate. I love his camel spin!!! He liked pulled his leg near his head and twisted his torso toward the ceiling – amazing!!! I loved his tango stop ending! I really liked it. I would watch it again.

Jeremy Abbott: Not liking the goatee. Is that a tattoo?! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tattoo in amateur competition. That skid spiral just gets me right in the heart. He’s in 3rd place and Tara and Johnny are surprised – I’m not. I actually think Adam Rippon should be higher than 5th.

Does anyone else think getting bonus points in the second half of the short program is silly. I get it in the long program, but in the short I think it’s silly.

Ladies Free Skate

Mariah Bell: It’s too much dress for her tiny stature, especially with her hair pulled back and flat on her head. First, it’s very blue (like the “Sisters” routine in “White Christmas.”) The two seams on the front of the dress bother me. It doesn’t give her a waist. How high the skirt goes when she jumps bothers me. The shiny leotard – oh it’s bedazzled. The pouffy sleeves. The blue blingy thing in her hair. It’s just like the dress is skating and not her.

Hannah Miller: Holy opening spin! It went on forever! The bling on the front of that dress is beautiful up close, but at a distance when she’s whizzing around it looks like a giant icicle down the front of her dress. I love how she holds her head.

Samantha Cesario: I think I like her so much because she does everything how I would do it stylistically  I loved it! I love her! Best spread eagles, with the back bend. I hope she pulls way up from 11th. – She’s in first!!!!

Tyler Pierce: I like the upper back part of her dress. And I like her jumps. Other than that I’m not sure what’s going on in this program…I have no idea what the story is. And she needs to take head holding lessons from Hannah Miller.

Amber Glenn: The back of her dress doesn’t match the front of her dress – like they’re two different styles. There’s like a bobby pin sticking straight out of her bun. That was a “Sky-fail.”

Leah Kaiser: That’s a pretty dress, very elegant in the back. She didn’t look like she wanted to be skating.

Maira Nagasu: She hit the boards! I think she hurt her right leg 😦
Ok, so she finishes the program. Starts to cry and goes to the boards and tell her coach, Tom Z., she’s in pain and he sends her back out to take her bows. Then they go to the Kiss n Cry and she’s telling him she thinks something is broken and he’s just like yeah, medical is here, he just didn’t seem concerned enough.

Karen Chen: My husband said it’s like she’s doing 50 times more jumps than the others. I loved it! She never stopped moving. Such speed, such technique – only 15! She also reminded me of the little Russian skaters (I swear Johnny and Tara can read my mind.)

Courtney Hicks – The crown of pearls in her hair was pretty. Other than that see my last review of this program.

Ashley Wagner: PLAY IT AGAIN! That was so good I want to watch it again right now! She showed heart! She told a story! She brought me in – I was skating with her, I felt something!!!! She said before she skated she was terrified but she but herself out there anyway – that’s was being a performer is! I do have one criticisim, was her last spin cut short because she was going to go over the music?

Gracie Gold: “Brass knuckles under velvet gloves is ladies figure skating.” – Johnny Weir
So she had a fall. And it had no where near the performance value of Ashley’s, but it was good. And it was exciting. She’s in second.

Polina Edmunds: I thought she did a much better job with this program. I still hate all the stuff in her hair and the front of the dress. I’m really just dying to know if Karen Chen makes the podium.

KAREN CHEN GETS THE BRONZE!!!!! THAT WAS SO EXCITING!!!
Ashley the gold and Gracie the silver.

Also, RIP Tollar Cranston. Your cheoreography for Rosylnn Sumners’ “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” program is still one of my favorites.

Fashion Faux Pas On Ice?

So I caught half of Fashion on Ice today (or Style On Ice).

The Kerrs looked ridiculous in their sailor-inspired get ups. Her dress was ok, but the red socks were terrible. And his outfit was too over-the-top next to hers.

Ryan Bradley was dressed nice, but why is his hair always a mess? Awesome backflip landed on one foot!

I don’t care what Jeremy Abbott wears, his skating style is beyond reproach, but I liked the bling down his back.

I haven’t seen Sasha Cohen skate in a long time and she was fabulous as usual…I just hate her short curly hair. It’s because it makes her look a little Betty Boop – like and I don’t like Betty Boop and her dress show a little too much cleavage.

Joannie Rochette’s french maid outfit was sassy!

Sarah Hughes’s outfit was daring. She shouldn’t have done that heel grab move in it.

Meryl and Charlie were moving and brilliant and I love them and their black outfits were awesome.