Men's Free Program; Oct. 23 11:00 pm EST/9:00 pm where I am

[lavender]

I have come to the conclusion that I like Jeremy's skating better than I do of Johnny's or Evan's.

Yep came to that conclusion 2 years ago. Don't really like Evan's skating anyway.

[museksk8r]

I think this "Life is Beautiful" is my favorite Jeremy Abbott LP thus far in his career. I feel his love for this program (on his twitter he said he loves it and it shows to me). His charming, whimsical, lighthearted side of his personality gets to shine through. He stole my heart again with his skate. Beautiful!

[Nomdesk8]

I like to see Daisuke's LP as soon as possible. Was he so outstanding than Jeremy?

Part of the difference in the overall score was because Dai had a higher score in the short program. Plus, it looked to me like the single axel in the last half of Jeremy's program was supposed to be a triple axel. Missing that axel probably cost him a lot of points.

I liked the skates from all of the top three. I thought Florent's footwork and transitions were fun, but did not show the same difficulty and quality of skating as Dai's and Jeremy's and Florent took a few pauses. IMO, both Jeremy and Dai are very musical, but Jeremy is more subtle with his musicality and expression and it works beautifully with the music. They're both great. And Florent is adorable and delivered with his jumps and spins. Jeremy's spins looked slower in both the short and long.

[mot]

Haha...I thought both of his costumes were not very pretty : (
I liked last years costumes for both the SP and FS better. He looked soo much more adorable

The costume for his lp was designed by Johnny Weir. He tweeted about designing it, and Japanese TV showed Johnny asking for some correction when they skated together in one of Japanese shows.

[colleen o'neill]

It's ghastly.

[evangeline]

Hanyu was pretty solid, but he popped a jump (the loop, I think). Did anyone else find his costume hideous?

Am I the only one who actually liked Hanyu's sparkly pink onesie? De gustibus non est disputandum, indeed!

[Blades of Passion]

I do not like Takahashi's LP.

It's both monotone and hackneyed; he also does a bunch of transitions that are mostly there just to do transitions and not because they have any real meaning. His Quad was beautiful and the first 3Axel was gorgeous and timed great with the music change...but why is there a tempo change that early in the program? It isn't even a tempo change that leads anywhere because we are back to a slow section 30 seconds later...and then back to another faster section a moment later...and then back to another slow section after a footwork sequence.

Like, what?!? Jeremy Abbott skated to a version of this music 2 years ago and it was one of the best programs ever. Takahashi has taken the music and butchered it so that the repetitive accordion sound is at the forefront of the melody all the way through the program. That problem, in combination with far too many tempo changes, makes the program feel like a poorly done patchwork with a line of cranberry juice stain running through the whole thing. There aren't many individually great moments and the program as a whole doesn't build to much of anything.

[Jaana]

To me the fs highlights were: Hanyu and Takahashi, WOW to their interpretation, skating and programmes!!! I think that Hanyu needs to do a bit more competing in seniors to get higher PCS, now he was robbed at least in some areas, in my opinion. I did not like his fs costume much, but somehow I can see it fitting his music.

I like Abbott´s programme, but I don´t like his posture... He does not seem to feel the music (maybe a bit too subtle?) as much as e.g. Takahashi and Hanyu do in their programmes. Have not watched the fs of Amadio, Sawyer and Ten so far.

[treeloving]

To me the fs highlights were: Hanyu and Takahashi, WOW to their interpretation, skating and programmes!!! I think that Hanyu needs to do a bit more competing in seniors to get higher PCS, now he was robbed at least in some areas, in my opinion. I did not like his fs costume much, but somehow I can see it fitting his music.

May be Hanyu got deduct because of his costume But I agree with you it fitting some part of his performance(but I still wish that he will change it) . And I also agree that his PSC is to low.

[dlnnyc64]

i have one thing to add. doesnt jeremy have a hot a**? LOL. i love his body lines. sorry to be crude but he is v. well proportioned and has such an elegant look on the ice.

[akoko]

...but why is there a tempo change that early in the program? It isn't even a tempo change that leads anywhere because we are back to a slow section 30 seconds later...and then back to another faster section a moment later...and then back to another slow section after a footwork sequence.

I'm just curious. Since you have such critical eyes, I ask, what did you think of Amodio's LP? Not exactly like Takahashi's slower or faster moments, but it seems to me he has many standing-position moments in his program. He IS stepping but not skating is what I thought and this is the reason why I have problems with Morozov's choreos of recent (like Ando's last year's LP).

[PolymerBob]

I couldn't stay up to watch the whole thing, but I'm glad Jeremy got the silver. He has a good chance of making the final now.

[Nadine]

After watching the mens sps this AM, I was expecting to be disappointed in their lps as well, however that was NOT the case at all.

Once again I fastforwarded or skipped through the lesser names so I could get to the top dogs, and here are my thoughts:

Amodio was an absolute delight! *clapping* The program got better & better until it finally ended on an explosion, as I looooved the last MJ song he skated to. He was totally in character, nailed it to a T, and deserved high marks, as well as a medal. Brian Joubert better watch out, that's all I have to say.

Daisuke's program was a bit of a disappointment, I didn't really like it, in fact I honestly can't remember it. The only thing I recall was the superb quad! *clapping*, but the fall & the bobbles here & there really disrupted the rest of the program (the Our Gang Alfalfa hair didn't help) and affected my enjoyment. I was honestly shocked he got such a high score, but then in retrospect I recalled he's the current World Champion & Olympic Bronze Medalist, and I know reputation counts, as it should. After all, that's part of being a great champion, being able to bring it when it counts, consistency/mental game being at least 50% of what makes a great champion ala Michelle Kwan & Evgeni Plushenko.

Jeremy totally shocked & surprised me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In a good way, mind you, an extremely gooooood way! Honestly, I was about to give up on him after last year's fiasco at the Olympics. And haven't watched any of his programs since then I totally forgot what made me a fan of him in the first place ~ my God, the purity of his skating, his long lines, the stretch he gets in his legs & arms, the way he strokes the ice almost makes me cry, his textbook perfect jumps, a truly classic skater in every sense of the word, and last but not least his soul/innermost being shines through in this program. No gimmicks, just pure classic skating. In fact imho this is another masterpiece in the same vein as "A Day in the Life". The only thing that bugs me a teeny weeny bit about Jeremy is the way his shoulders bunch up around his neck reminiscent of Timothy Goebel, and this is at times accented when he wears vests, but that complaint is so insignificant that it doesn't affect the whole for me. That said, the program was skated clean & perfect except for the singled axel, yet that too was so insignificant that I would have nevertheless placed him first in the FS.


Overall I agree with the placements, but I do not agree with the scores, Jeremy's score should have been closer to Daisuke's imho, but then again Jeremy has to earn the judges respect by skating cleanly on a consistent basis and start winning medals at Worlds, instead of always ending up off the podium.

[#1Kerryfan]

I thought Jeremy was better than Daisuke, even without a quad and popping the axel. I don't like that they raised the base value of the quad - it's not all that.

[shine]

Jeremy totally shocked & surprised me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In a good way, mind you, an extremely gooooood way! Honestly, I was about to give up on him after last year's fiasco at the Olympics. And haven't watched any of his programs since then I totally forgot what made me a fan of him in the first place ~ my God, the purity of his skating, his long lines, the stretch he gets in his legs & arms, the way he strokes the ice almost makes me cry, his textbook perfect jumps, a truly classic skater in every sense of the word, and last but not least his soul/innermost being shines through in this program. No gimmicks, just pure classic skating. In fact imho this is another masterpiece in the same vein as "A Day in the Life". The only thing that bugs me a teeny weeny bit about Jeremy is the way his shoulders bunch up around his neck reminiscent of Timothy Goebel, and this is at times accented when he wears vests, but that complaint is so insignificant that it doesn't affect the whole for me. That said, the program was skated clean & perfect except for the singled axel, yet that too was so insignificant that I would have nevertheless placed him first in the FS.

Jeremy said that he really loves skating to this program and it does show. I agree that his personality really shines through in this program. I find the whimsical, and the almost child-like innocence about his interpretation very real and moving.
A brilliant collaboration between Jeremy and David Wilson!