Hockeyfan,
LOL, indeed I did not sleep Friday night/Saturday morning until after I'd watched "Seven Samurai" (ate dinner while watching) and "Yojimbo" and written my Campbell's report. I'd taken my nap in the afternoon so I could rock all night.
You asked about the COP. This event was judged using the 6.0 system. I think I read somewhere, but don't quote me, that there were ISU judges using the COP system to compare their results to those of the 6.0 system judges, but I'm sure we'd never see those COP results if they actually did this.
When you talk about the Act IV pas de deux from "Swan Lake" I guess you mean where Odette forgives Siegfried, yes? I know NYCB redid "SL" in '99 using Denmark's modern painter Per Kirkeby to design décor and costumes and casting "SL" in an abstract setting that is very different from the moonlit glens and baroque ballrooms in the traditional "SL." I think it's a really cool production, especially the way Peter Martins' staging connects Acts I to II and Acts III and IV which I think results in more fluid story telling, and only one intermission instead of the usual three. But if you're right that the Act IV pas de deux is often cut from four-act "Swan Lakes" and I don't know why, unless it's to focus on all the group dancing in Act IV. In the all-male (almost all male) version by Matthew Bourne, the Act IV pas de deux between the male Odette and male Seigfried is so sexually charged that--well, let's just say it's unforgettable. Actually, the Act IV pas de deux music might be in there. I wasn't listening for specifics and frankly got so pulled in to the performance that I just know what I didn't hear (no "Little Swans," no Act II "Calling All Swans," etc).
I like the version Tarasova put together, but just to be clear since a couple of people mentioned it, the "Swan Lake" theme (Mathman, take it away! Laaa-la-la...) is not completely absent, it's just not the big Act II giganto theme that is often used as a subsitute for Ipecac.
Thanks for your comments
Nysk8er,
You asked about people seeming to fall mostly near the K&C and if anybody was sitting near there. I was. Had a seat on about the 15 yard line, 3rd row and indeed saw several falls right in front of me. I don't think there was a problem with the ice, since the skaters who did well had no problem in that area. I just don't want anybody to even think about blaming the MSG Zamboni! The MSG Zamboni gets bashed all the time and nobody does a thing about it! (Just kidding

) Seriously, I think it was the same problem as last year: Event scheduled very early in the season.
To Everyone Who Said Thanks for the Report,
Thanks back. It was fun writing it, even if I did goof on some of the details (thanks to those who corrected my mistakes). When we all see it on TV, of course, people may mightily disagree. I might even say, "Hey, that's not what I say at the Garden!" From past experiences of going to competitions and then watching the event on TV, things sure can look different.
Rgirl