- Joined
- Jan 6, 2007
Is it just me or is the Men's event the one with most originality and diversity? I always preferred watching the men over watching the other disciplines - but the Ladies this year (+ the pairs) don't do anything for me. They are mostly the same. Michelle Kwan was a great skater, but I get the feeling that the ladies try to copy her more or less.
Don't stop reading, let me explain... They mostly skate to some classical tune (especially in the FP), if they want modern, they skate to a moderate soundtrack or musical. I love classical music - just not everywhere and for everyone. They often have the same pastel-coloured costumes. You can divide the ladies in a few groups and you have them all.
You have the Baby-Ballerinas (Mao, Kim, Zhang, Nagasu) with graceful movements and flexibility - but always the same music, shy smiles and the little-pretty-girl aura.
Then the somehow sallow ones (Meissner, Wagner, Kostner, Ando) with some good jumps, big American smiles and weird attempts to be artistic - they are just boring to watch. Kostner has better flow, but I would sort her in this group too.
Finally there is the mature group, with the Finnish Ladies, Rochette, Suguri, Nakano and Meier. All of them still try to dress like the others, just some of there movements and expression is a bit more mature. But they are not really more daring.
These Ladies do not risk anything, they stay the same, they are not daring, they do not try new things. Why do they always smile, e.g. during the spirals? What was Ando's program last year, to Mendelsohn Violin concert? Well, it is not a "happy" "smiley" concert - and yet she plasters a forced smile on her face while doing really bad spirals. Even the Ladies EX programs are profoundly boring!
So I just wish that Emily Hughes will stay competitive - because Carl Orff, with really nice (and suitable!) choreography - way to go, girl! And though I have never been a big fan of either of them - can someone please get Sasha Cohen and Slutskaya out of retirement? I would love that very much.
Oh, and the men are different because: There are way more different styles and types of skaters. We have the Macho-Jumper-Jocks (van der Perren, Lutai), we have the Jocks (Joubert, Griazev, Chipeur), we have the Musical Jocks (Lysacek, Verner, Oda, Dobrin), we have the Creative Ice Dancing for Men with occasional jumping (Lambiel, Chan), we have the Classical Artists on Ice (Buttle, Takahashi, Davydov), we have Shawn Sawyer and Johnny Weir and Alban Préaubert - these three are out off any category.
And even the others don't stay in their category, Takahashi does Hip-Hop, Joubert always tries to get into the Musical-Jocks-Group, Griazev is also borderline. Just watching Men's competition is so much fun, I am always looking forward to Préaubert's newest crazyness, Lambiel's incredible creativity, Joubert's masculinity, Lysacek's over-the-top-opera-interpretation, Griazev's Hommage-to-Yagudin, Johnny's newest interpretation of Johnny-on-ice, van der Perren's jumping contest...
Don't stop reading, let me explain... They mostly skate to some classical tune (especially in the FP), if they want modern, they skate to a moderate soundtrack or musical. I love classical music - just not everywhere and for everyone. They often have the same pastel-coloured costumes. You can divide the ladies in a few groups and you have them all.
You have the Baby-Ballerinas (Mao, Kim, Zhang, Nagasu) with graceful movements and flexibility - but always the same music, shy smiles and the little-pretty-girl aura.
Then the somehow sallow ones (Meissner, Wagner, Kostner, Ando) with some good jumps, big American smiles and weird attempts to be artistic - they are just boring to watch. Kostner has better flow, but I would sort her in this group too.
Finally there is the mature group, with the Finnish Ladies, Rochette, Suguri, Nakano and Meier. All of them still try to dress like the others, just some of there movements and expression is a bit more mature. But they are not really more daring.
These Ladies do not risk anything, they stay the same, they are not daring, they do not try new things. Why do they always smile, e.g. during the spirals? What was Ando's program last year, to Mendelsohn Violin concert? Well, it is not a "happy" "smiley" concert - and yet she plasters a forced smile on her face while doing really bad spirals. Even the Ladies EX programs are profoundly boring!
So I just wish that Emily Hughes will stay competitive - because Carl Orff, with really nice (and suitable!) choreography - way to go, girl! And though I have never been a big fan of either of them - can someone please get Sasha Cohen and Slutskaya out of retirement? I would love that very much.
Oh, and the men are different because: There are way more different styles and types of skaters. We have the Macho-Jumper-Jocks (van der Perren, Lutai), we have the Jocks (Joubert, Griazev, Chipeur), we have the Musical Jocks (Lysacek, Verner, Oda, Dobrin), we have the Creative Ice Dancing for Men with occasional jumping (Lambiel, Chan), we have the Classical Artists on Ice (Buttle, Takahashi, Davydov), we have Shawn Sawyer and Johnny Weir and Alban Préaubert - these three are out off any category.
And even the others don't stay in their category, Takahashi does Hip-Hop, Joubert always tries to get into the Musical-Jocks-Group, Griazev is also borderline. Just watching Men's competition is so much fun, I am always looking forward to Préaubert's newest crazyness, Lambiel's incredible creativity, Joubert's masculinity, Lysacek's over-the-top-opera-interpretation, Griazev's Hommage-to-Yagudin, Johnny's newest interpretation of Johnny-on-ice, van der Perren's jumping contest...
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