2003 Televised Campbell's Thoughts... (;^)

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Idle - Much of Sasha's music was indeed written by Tschaikowsky. The music, much of it, a variation on his haunting theme of the Lake, takes place when the Prince realizes that Odile has deceived him. The music is well written and orchestrated to show the Prince's errant ways and the ensuing devastation that takes place on the stage. Very effective Tschaikowsky (and Sasha, too).

AP's renditiion is that of Odette which you are probably more familiar with. (AP, imo, needs more work on it).

The music, to me, lends itself more to contrast than to compare.

Joe

 

[April]

Listening to the MK interview, she says there is no excuse and that this is the beginning of the season. MK knew the competition was about the 'survival of the fittest'. SC knows she has a long way to go to be in the same ranks as MK. Both competitors were well poised for their interview w/ Carruthersn too. MK has a limited amount of time to break in new boots, being she is performing in a limited about of events, so why not break in new boots. For fanatics, SC will have a breakthrough year; she looks ready for it. MK, however, music choice surprises me, but that's life. I wish all the skaters can achieve have of what these two stars have.

 

[rain]

Campbells

Just saw the T.V. coverage - here are my thoughts.....

The men's was a snooze, as others have indicated. I think Tim Geobel has really been working on his artistry, but there's just such a long way still to go. I don't really understand him choosing classical music when he has anything but a polished classical presentation style. At least he's working on it. Honda - ouch. Micheal Weiss - really, the new program does nothing for me at all. As a non-American, I find the patriotic soldier stuff over the top.... Plushenko was good, but since he's never really thrilled me as a skater, I'm missing Yagudin more and more all the time.


Ladies was more interesting.

Kirk: She has a lovely style on the ice, but so far has little to really distinguish her, and her technical elements weren't on at this competition.


Elena Sokolova: Eek. That was a painful one. I read somewhere that she's suffering an injury, which would explain the lackluster (and that's being kind) performance. No sign of the spark that made her such a joy to watch at World's last year.

A.P. MacDonough: I thought she was pretty darn good. I loved her costume and liked her program overall.

Michelle Kwan: That has to be one of the dullest programs she's ever done. I'm not talking about her performance, I'm talking about the program, which looks empty, empty, empty. Kwan, being Kwan, wasn't a disaster, but I can't say I'm really looking forward to her next skate of this LP. Last year was so good, she had all her fire back and her program was something really different for her, and this year.....no.


Sasha Cohen: My mother and I both agreed she was the highlight. Loved her program. I think the costume was ugly - the bathing suit style little dresses do not suit her figure type - but everything else was stunning. From the spins to the footwork the program is brilliant, and Sasha sells it. If this builds during the year I can't wait to see it at Worlds.

 

[Mathman]

It (Michael Weiss' music) was from "American Salute" by Morton Gould. That arrangement does indeed suggest the minor-key, war-is-hell feeling. (So I too had difficulty ascertaining if Mike thinks he's doing a straighforward rah-rah, pro-military patriotic medley or not.)

I think you are onto something, NorthernLite. Maybe Michael is hipper than we are giving him credit for. Instead of waving the flag in this program he is trying seriously to speak of the issues surrounding the American Civil War. So he starts out with that silly little toe-tapping to a drum roll, like a young raw recruit, then gets caught up in the actual war and its not what he expected it to be.

The middle section is Amazing Grace. This song was written by a sea captain who made his living in the slave trade. Late in life he greatly repented his complicity in this vile crime, and composed a hymn expressing his astonishment at the promise of his religion that, through the grace of God, even a "wretch like him" could achieve salvation.

It will be fun to watch this program develop.

Mathman

 

[gezando]

They chacked Fumie, look at what we missed
http://www.dushenka.ch/figure-skating/images/Campells-international03/fumie02.jpg
http://www.dushenka.ch/figure-skating/images/Campells-international03/fumie05.jpg

http://www.dushenka.ch/figure-skating/images/Campells-international03/fumie04.jpg

http://www.dushenka.ch/figure-skating/images/Campells-international03/fumie03.jpg

http://www.dushenka.ch/figure-skating/images/Campells-international03/fumie01.jpg

Costume awards go to Jenny and Fumie

 

[Piel]

Mens
Timmy is making progress but I did not like all parts of his music. I really would like to see him improve his artistry enough to win worlds and Olympics just because he seems like such a nice kid.

Mike needs to alter his music some but I like his program, theme, and costume. If he could just land his jumps and give Tim some pointers on posture. His artistry is right on (I'm speaking generally here not about this specific program) not too over the top, if only he had that quad.

Takeshi
Costume looked molded on one side!


Ladies
Jenny is so beautiful. Hair and costume were perfect. I like that the formality of the hair matched the costume. So nice to watch.

AP does not project any warmth at all in her personality. I don't know if it's because all of her effort is concentrating on the elements of her program or what. Did not like the dress. The swan's head reminded me of the old firebird cars that had the bird painted on the hood. Hope she does better in the future.

Michelle's Tosca at this stage was IMO better than Irina's when she won worlds. She had a very Divaish quality about her in this program I thought. Loved the dress, the style was different enough from the others and I liked the lavendar color. This would be gorgeous in a deep purple though. This style dress has it all. Enough glitter and sparkle on the shoulders and the loose chiffon to move just a little without getting tangled up. I like dark jewel tones but equally like the icy pastels.

Sasha needs to loose the ponytail it along with the flat chest makes her look so young. Her spins are remarkable. The costume looked better spinning than during other parts of her program. To me she and Henje are alike in that their skating seems to be more about the skater than the program.

 

[eliza88]

ITA that the men were rather dull...I don't think that the music was miked (sp??) very well at all, so,...quiet background type music and loud commentators constantly gabbing made me a bit cranky! I am sure that if you were at an event with Dick and you kept talking to him during a performance he would hiss at you!

I didn't like AP's costume, so far she has had a giant butterfly on her chest, and now a swans head poking out of her sternum--I think her music is chosen based on what kind of costume her mom wants to make. Next year it will probably be "The Lion King" and we will have a lion motiff! She is lovely to watch but I really wish she would show some personality and/or spark.

Jenny looked lovely and I can't wait to see her skate pairs! I'd love to see her break through the ladies, but I don't know if that will happen. She did look thinner then last year...

MK--Lovely costume--I really liked the chiffon. Nice program, beautiful and smooth landing edges. My thoughts after watching MK was simply "nice, passionate, but no WOW" I watched it again later and it was much better the second time! She did skate with passion and her command of the ice is immediate! Her flow is really second to none. I hope she adds more in-betweens and fire by Nats. I did like her footwork best of all...

Sasha--interesting costume, I really like the black and white, I just hate all that illusion fabric. Wonderful spins, really truly wonderful! Sasha looked happy during this program, she enjoyed herself and this came across! I don't like her landings and I don't know why Dick and Peggy are constantly saying that she is one of the greatest technicians. She rarely has a smooth running edge after a jump--she always seems to land in a deep forward lunge. This is a good program for her and it was exciting to see her have a good skate. ITA with her losing the pony tail! So hard to look regal and elegent when you have a perky tail hanging off your head! Her "highlights" are blended into the choreography better this year. So so so glad the her BC spin is NOT at the end of her program!

Bring on the GP series!!

eliza88

 

[Taan]

Ann Patrice cheats her triples worse than sarah hughes!! i love her swan lake program, she needs to project more though and have more sparkle for sure. i was dissapointed when i watched her triples in slow motion and they were ALL (with the exception of the 1st 3lutz) half rotation cheated! her 2axel was also uder rotated hence the odd/saved landing

 

[patsue47]

I was so ready to "fall in love" with Sasha's Swan Lake, based mainly on the rah, rah, reviews I have read on this forum and many other forums on the internet. I thought wow, maybe it's time I give Sasha a chance to change my mind--I will never appreciate her skating as much as I do Michelle's but maybe now I can really root for Sasha (I'm looking for someone to cheer on when Michelle retires, lol). However, this program just doesn't do it for me. It's still look at me, look at me, ain't I great. So much posturing and posing (perhaps to try to distract from some (not all mind you) poor skating technique? I don't know what it is, or I just can't explain why I feel this way--but to me this Swan Lake is just a list of moves strung together to try to get COP points for the Grand Prix circuit this season. I don't see any musicality at all. Sasha's spins are quite good but as far as being innovative--not to me. The different arm positions are good but they sure don't make the spin any more innovative.

I was able to download Tosca and I have watched it several times because on tv it just goes by too fast. While Michelle's Tosca is by no means brilliant, exquisite or flawless it does show promise. The expressions on her face are timeless--there were moments I had to remind myself to breathe--that's how Michelle's skating affects me. I would still much rather watch Michelle (with two errors) skate than watch a flawed technique Sasha skate at all.

 

[berthes ghost]

"I liked the costume, but it did look quite pale. Almost the grey of SOTBS at nationals. "

Live the color was very beautiful and clear. Maybe it was TV because everyone has been saying it was pale since Sunday and no one said this after the live performance. Live it was a beauty of a color.

The Nats SOTBS costume was cream, not grey, and looked absolutely nothing like Tosca costume. Perhaps you meant the Arianne costume from 99 which was also lavender. This one looked brighter/darker but I only saw Arianne on TV so maybe it wasn't as pale live.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Re: Campbells

Just saw the T.V. coverage - here are my thoughts.....

Michelle Kwan: That has to be one of the dullest programs she's ever done. I'm not talking about her performance, I'm talking about the program, which looks empty, empty, empty. Kwan, being Kwan, wasn't a disaster, but I can't say I'm really looking forward to her next skate of this LP. Last year was so good, she had all her fire back and her program was something really different for her, and this year.....no.

Rain - ITA, I was there and it was heartbreaking to hear the opening notes of Tosca and seeing Michelle do her thing to it. The music is so melodramatic.. it begs for Pairs, not Singles. I hated Irina to it and unless MK can do something with it, I question the possiblity of her being on the podium. With the exception of that pop up lutz, she skated solid, but the music does not highlight anything she does. I'd hate to see her lose out because of the music.

Joe

 

[lavender]

Re: Re: Campbells

Rain - ITA, I was there and it was heartbreaking to hear the opening notes of Tosca and seeing Michelle do her thing to it. The music is so melodramatic.. it begs for Pairs, not Singles. I hated Irina to it and unless MK can do something with it, I question the possiblity of her being on the podium. With the exception of that pop up lutz, she skated solid, but the music does not highlight anything she does. I'd hate to see her lose out because of the music.

Joe

Huh? Michelle may lose the title but I definitely see her on the podium with this program with at least a decent skate. Michelle received (2) 5.9 (2) 5.7s and (1) 5.8 for a flawed program (no lutz and no loop. That's way better than a lot of skaters. I have a feeling that if she skates clean she will have 5.8s and 5.9s.

 

[Mathman]

Piel and Taan, that's interesting about AP coming across as a cold fish. That's what's so fascinating about her. With her classic beauty, she looks like the emperor's daughter in some kind of oriental version of Arabian Nights. She's the stone cold beauty just waiting for the right prince to come along, and in the meantime showing disdain and contempt for all unworthy suitors. Something like that.

I'm sure that AP the actual person is nothing like that. Like you said, I think she's just concentrating hard on the elements.

Jenny Kirk, on the other hand, is Cinderella.

Now a serious question that I have wondered about. Skaters often complain (as Michelle did in this competition) that they couldn't perform their best because they were breaking in new boots. Why not take a one-day break in the breaking-in process and skate the performance in your old comfortable boots? (Like Sk8ter1964 did in his/her test for the Adult nationals, mentioned above.)

Mathman

 

[Piel]

Mathman,

I thought about that as an option and as I don't skate I don't know. It could be that if she has been practicing in the new boots switching back to the old ones would throw her off? It may be that this was the best time for her to break in the new ones. As long as she has been skating I am sure that she took everything in consideration and this was the best option for her.

 

[blurrysarah]

The whole boot excuse really irks me, as such a seasoned skater I would have thought Michelle knows *exactly* how long it takes to break in her new skates. I'm not saying it wasn't the boot's fault, it could very well have been, but you'd think even in a week they'd be broken in for an elite skater.

 

[giseledepkat]

Piel and Taan, that's interesting about AP coming across as a cold fish. That's what's so fascinating about her. With her classic beauty, she looks like the emperor's daughter in some kind of oriental version of Arabian Nights. She's the stone cold beauty just waiting for the right prince to come along, and in the meantime showing disdain and contempt for all unworthy suitors. Something like that.

Ooh, I love this!

 

[show 42]

We have to remember that this is very early in the season. These programs, by all the skaters, will no doubt be fine tuned, revamped, and be given that "Wow" factor we expect. Let's wait and see.........should be interesting.......42

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

The whole boot excuse really irks me, as such a seasoned skater I would have thought Michelle knows *exactly* how long it takes to break in her new skates. I'm not saying it wasn't the boot's fault, it could very well have been, but you'd think even in a week they'd be broken in for an elite skater.

Well considering that Michelle stated to Peter that she's been having boot problems for the past couple of months, and that we don't know the whole background story about MK and her boot problems (did she already have broken in skates but something went wrong?), I think her boot problems are understandable.

Not to mention that Michelle's next competition isn't until December, maybe MK is just pacing herself and trying to avoid wearing out her boots.

 

[dorispulaski]

I finally got around to seeing this, and saw some positive stuff here! More than others, maybe.

Timmy with a new program and no quad, was also little slow. But there was a lot of interesting little moves to it. I thought it was very brave of him to deliberately choose to leave the quads out. And he still managed a second place. In several places in his performance, he actually managed to unlock his shoulders. And I wonder if that 3 2 3 he did is planned to have a quad in it when its done. I didn't like the cuts-too choppy and it didn't make a smooth musical composition. But I found it vaguely attractive. It takes Tim a while to get accustomed to what he is supposed to do with music. This program seems to be becoming part of his vocabulary faster than his last 2 did. I found it oddly attractive, other than the cuts.

Mike as the little tin soldier did nothing for me this time. But it's a new program.

Takeshi with the fake I am playing a piano while the rags are waving Honda. I hope this program gets better.

I am tired of Morozov footwork on people who are not Yagudin.

Evgeny skated his old program and landed more or less 2 quads and one really clean 3 axel. Quite a performance for a bad leg, and of course the best of the evening without any question this time. It was nice to see him get a great response from the crowd. I worry about his leg. Evgeny, get it fixed now so it doesn't affect you for Olympics! You didn't need to do a cheesefest, not really.

Other than that, I wish they chacked both Elena and Fumie and showed Scott Smith.

As to the ladies, like Rgirl, I thought of the Alien immediately on seeing AP with the head coming out of her chest. The back is kind of reminiscent of Shizuka last year. Her spiral is better! But her jumps are leaning and 2 footed again.

I liked Michelle's dress particularly that it was not a remake of the Aranjuez/Scherazade dress in a different color. Can Michelle do Tosca? We will have to wait for Nationals. But I was happy to see her land a solid triple toe (woefully missing at both Worlds and Nats) and a really super Salchow.

Jenny, I just love the way you look on the ice, be well, and quickly,qucily get into pairs.

Sasha-I like the music cuts on this. I wish both you and AP did not go in for Arm flapping I am a swan I can fly stuff (your spiral gives the feeling of flight much better). The costume did not do it for me. But Joan Rivers has not either died or retired and left me the new fashion police. Something with a little ruching around the bustline might help. I think this is going to be my favorite program of yours. So glad to see that your stunts are done in different places in the program and no BC spin at the end.

Elena, I am so sorry you had to skate when you were not feeling well. Your English is excellent!

It's the start of a new season! Who expect WOW at this time?
Not Me.

dpp

 

[tharrtell]

The Nats SOTBS costume was cream, not grey, and looked absolutely nothing like Tosca costume. Perhaps you meant the Arianne costume from 99 which was also lavender. This one looked brighter/darker but I only saw Arianne on TV so maybe it wasn't as pale live.

BG - SOTBS was cream?? Funny how a TV can change things. I think the muted chiffon was the link between the two costumes in my mind.