Random Figure Skating Questions

[mrrice]

Hey FS Fans, Do you guys remember when Tom Z. would get raked over the coals for his training practices and robotic students?? Well, look who's having a good laugh now. I always loved Rachael Flatt but I remember how she was treated by "Some" FS fans and it wasn't nice. After watching his interviews over the years, I've really grown to respect what he has to say. I may not agree with everything but, hey, it's art and everybody's different.

 

[karne]

Hey FS Fans, Do you guys remember when Tom Z. would get raked over the coals for his training practices and robotic students?? Well, look who's having a good laugh now. I always loved Rachael Flatt but I remember how she was treated by "Some" FS fans and it wasn't nice. After watching his interviews over the years, I've really grown to respect what he has to say. I may not agree with everything but, hey, it's art and everybody's different.

I still don't trust him with a barge pole near my favourite skaters. But Max trusts him and I guess I have to trust Max's judgement.

 

[mrrice]

Make up will vary depending on the program. From my experience: A male singles skater who is NOT portraying a character will wear at the very least. Base, Powder, Mascara, and a neutral lip color with liner and a flat finish.

I totally forgot about Bronzer. I don't even know what it's called but I'm convinced Adam wears it. Not even in California are you that tan at this time of year. Especially when you spend 90% of your time in a freezing Ice Rink......Okaaay!!:agree:

 

[ice coverage]

... 2) What makeup do most of the men wear when competing? It looks like, for example, most of the U.S. men (Max, Jason, Josh, Adam) have foundation/powder but I don't see anything else (lip, mascara, eyeliner).

3) What types of off-ice workouts to skaters typically do? Lifting or circuits? Is the cardio stuff like running or cycling? Yoga or pilates? Or is it really stuff that the skaters just enjoys doing? ...

Adding a few more of my cents to karne's excellent answers:

2) I had forgotten that Ross -- I think it was Ross? -- had spoken about the make-up demo at Champs Camp. IIRC, Ross said that he himself had never worn make-up for skating (although he was aware that some other men did and do), and that he found the demo very interesting ... but that he doubted he ever would wear make-up. I think he said that he demo helped him see that when applied correctly, make-up can look more natural than he would have expected.

The U.S. ladies had a separate make-up demo at Champs Camp. I believe CoverGirl (sponsor for Ashley and Gracie) provided the demo. I remember some of the ladies happily commenting about free samples that were available. Polina was the "guinea pig" for the ladies -- smoky eye look, etc.

(Not sure whether it was CoverGirl that held the demo for the men as well.)​

3) Have definitely seen training photos of skaters running, cycling, and doing other cardio; doing yoga; lifting weights. Also doing lots of balance work. Many skaters have mentioned doing Pilates.

(I'm obviously not ruling out that they do other kinds of stuff as well. I have seen skater photos of boxing-type work-outs, for example.)​

 

[musicfan80]

(Now his waist just looks impossibly tiny, but that's another matter.)

Really? More than other male skaters? They all need to have an insanely fit core.

Max Aaron
Adam Rippon
Joshua Farris

I tried to find a good photo of Jason, but I can't find one with a costume that really shapes his midsection.

Hey FS Fans, Do you guys remember when Tom Z. would get raked over the coals for his training practices and robotic students?? Well, look who's having a good laugh now. I always loved Rachael Flatt but I remember how she was treated by "Some" FS fans and it wasn't nice. After watching his interviews over the years, I've really grown to respect what he has to say. I may not agree with everything but, hey, it's art and everybody's different.

I really liked Rachel Flatt and I was proud that she was our U.S. Champion at the 2010 Olympics. Was she as great as other U.S. Champions? No, but she worked hard, had a great attitude, and was able to handle the demands of college and elite figure skating as well as she did.

I still don't trust him with a barge pole near my favourite skaters. But Max trusts him and I guess I have to trust Max's judgement.

I also trust Max because of his personality. I think it it is a much better "fit" for someone like Tom Z. I will admit that there have been times when I have been worried about Mirai, though.

 

[Mathman]

In Christine Brennan's book about Michelle Kwan she reports how excited a 14-year-old Michelle was when she went on tour with Champions on Ice and Nancy Kerrigan and Oksana Baiul taught her how to do make-up. Michelle's parents had thought she was too young for make-up previously.

 

[mrrice]

musicfan80,

"I also trust Max because of his personality. I think it it is a much better "fit" for someone like Tom Z. I will admit that there have been times when I have been worried about Mirai, though."

It's interesting what you say about Mirai. I always thought it was partly her defiant personality that rubbed Frank the wrong way. I have soft spot for Mirai and I love that she hasn't given up.

 

[el henry]

Interesting that Ross said he would never wear make-up. With that blondish red coloring, and corresponding skin tone, it wouldn't hurt (and I say this as someone who looooves Ross' SP and minimalist costume this year. No one says the guys have to do Alexa's Metallica look, but a little would t hurt any of them)

 

[mrrice]

Interesting that Ross said he would never wear make-up. With that blondish red coloring, and corresponding skin tone, it wouldn't hurt (and I say this as someone who looooves Ross' SP and minimalist costume this year. No one says the guys have to do Alexa's Metallica look, but a little would t hurt any of them)

Ross is a little cutie. I saw him the year that Ryan won. Ryan towed over him. Richard Dornbush was also very good that year. We called him Inspector Gadget..I have no idea why.

 

[NanaPat]

I've heard that it includes the GOE as soon as at least three judges input their GOEs. So if judges who enter or change their scores later give significantly different scores than the first three (could be more than three if several were simultaneous), the eventual score for that element might change even if the tech panel call remains the same.

That makes sense. During the skate you can see big changes in the displayed score as new elements are done, and small changes (like up or down by .1 or less) unrelated to new elements. It makes sense that these small changes are related to additional GOEs changing the overall GOE slightly. Also, the last element score will often not be reflected until the skater is taking their bows. If you look at the final TES score (during the bows, after the final element has been scored) and compare it with the TES that comes up with the actual scores, there is often a big discrepancy (usually downward). I thought that that was related to the tech specialists downgrading or making edge calls when reviewing the elements.

My husband was watching NHK with me for a while this afternoon and asking about those box scores. With one skater, the commentators had mentioned under-rotations, and my husband, who knows almost nothing about figure skating, commented that something "didn't look right" about some jump landings. We took note of one of those final "box" scores, and indeed the TES in the actual score was about 8 points lower. I thought that that was the work of the technical specialists.

 

[ice coverage]

Interesting that Ross said he would never wear make-up. With that blondish red coloring, and corresponding skin tone, it wouldn't hurt (and I say this as someone who looooves Ross' SP and minimalist costume this year. No one says the guys have to do Alexa's Metallica look, but a little would t hurt any of them)

Decided I'd better look up what I had read about Ross. Below is the entire passage from IN about the 2014 Champs Camps make-up seminars. After the seminar, Ross said he was unsure about trying make-up, but he did not rule it out. (So my memory was not exactly correct. Sorry.)

New this year were seminars by celebrity makeup artist Robin Black.

"They had a male and female model," Cannuscio said. "They did basic short dance makeup, flamenco style. [The session] was really helpful for our free dance, to Danse Macabre. We're supposed to be rising from the dead in the beginning, and we go back into our graves at the end. It's hard to look 'dead' without being literal."

"I learned a lot from the tutorial," Cain said. "She did Polina [Edmunds'] makeup, as Peter Pan. Polina is younger, and it was interesting to see how much older she looked. She taught us about contouring, which I didn't know much about, [and] how not to become washed out under the lights. We got all this free Cover Girl makeup as well."

Miner found the men's makeup seminar interesting, although he hasn't ever worn makeup and isn't sure he will.

"I don't know if I'll do it, but [Black] did a great job," he said. "She put makeup on Jason without anyone knowing it was makeup. It's not that I have a problem with guys wearing makeup -- plenty of guys do that -- but I don't want to look like I'm wearing it. She works with a lot of male professional athletes, and it was more likely to get me to try it than a lot of other attempts."

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2014/09/08/93673670/the-inside-edge-champs-camp-builds-camaraderie​

 

[mrrice]

New Question Time...............One of my former just sent this song to me and suggested I use a song from this group. Have any of you youngin's ever heard of a Korean Boy Band called, "BigBang" ( Not Theory ) Just Big Bang.

Here's one of their song. Bad Boy by BigBang:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qnV55LUFVM

 

[iskate]

You have to be able to turn on both feet in both directions. To be honest I'm always a little confused when they talk about Satoko spinning "in both directions". You have to be able to spin on both feet! It's just one is a forward spin and the other is a backwards spin.

Satoko does spins both clockwise and anti-clockwise - so she goes from a forward spin on one foot to another forward spin on the other foot (the difference is that she's spinning in the opposite direction!). She does it very well, too - I think she mostly jumps/spins anti-clockwise, but then in her combo spins she does a forward I-spin clockwise? And it looks great - I'm a clockwise skater and whenever I try to spin anti-clockwise it's the most awkward-looking thing, haha.

Pretty sure this is also a bullet point to raise the level of a spin.

 

[Ianthe]

New Question Time...............One of my former just sent this song to me and suggested I use a song from this group. Have any of you youngin's ever heard of a Korean Boy Band called, "BigBang" ( Not Theory ) Just Big Bang.

Here's one of their song. Bad Boy by BigBang:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qnV55LUFVM

BigBang is HUGE in the Asian market. They're a K-pop boy group that have discarded their teenybopper image and have graduated into the ranks of "serious," "legitimate" artists that most teen pop musicians fail to do. In terms of sheer numbers, they're probably right after 1D in popularity for a band, not a single artist.

Your average white American probably hasn't heard of them though, although BB does have a substantial international following.

Here are some articles for some context:

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/k-...to-nyc-7777060

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/ar...ith-flash.html

 

[Mrs. P]

Also a little trivia -- BIGBANG is on the same Korean entertainment company roster as Psy, you know of "Gangnam Style" fame.

YG's been trying to get their artists to the U.S., though not BIGBANG. However, YG has had U.S. artists work with some of BIGBANG's members individually. The group's rapper, G-Dragon, did a song featuring Missy Elliott! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VjE4RHZAaI

Also to complete the six degrees of BIGBANG regarding skating -- Misha Ge skated to G-Dragon's "Good Boy" at the 4CC gala last year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZvidqN0X1I

 

[karne]

Really? More than other male skaters? They all need to have an insanely fit core.

Max Aaron
Adam Rippon
Joshua Farris

I tried to find a good photo of Jason, but I can't find one with a costume that really shapes his midsection.

Oh, for sure they are all fit. There was an angle of Max at Skate America that made his waist look like the sort of waist Scarlett O'Hara would have coveted. But it probably was the angle and the proportion of his lean hips relative to his, ahem, engine. But I am quite prepared to analyse waist-to-hip ratio. Or waist-to-engine ratio. Of all the skaters. For, ahem, science, of course. :

 

[mrrice]

Also a little trivia -- BIGBANG is on the same Korean entertainment company roster as Psy, you know of "Gangnam Style" fame.

YG's been trying to get their artists to the U.S., though not BIGBANG. However, YG has had U.S. artists work with some of BIGBANG's members individually. The group's rapper, G-Dragon, did a song featuring Missy Elliott! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VjE4RHZAaI

Also to complete the six degrees of BIGBANG regarding skating -- Misha Ge skated to G-Dragon's "Good Boy" at the 4CC gala last year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZvidqN0X1I

Good Morning to Meeeee!! Mrs.P Thank you for posting that link to Misha. That made me smile and it's been a bit difficult to get fully into skating this season. With Joshua out, Plushy not returning, and Misha having visa issue's. If it weren't for Patrick Chan, I probably would skip the Men all together. I like Jason and have a ton of respect for him and his continued ability to grow and learn with Kori. He also dances beautifully and frankly, if he hadn't grown up with Joshua, He'd probably be my favorite US Man.

 

[Mrs. P]

Good Morning to Meeeee!! Mrs.P Thank you for posting that link to Misha. That made me smile and it's been a bit difficult to get fully into skating this season. With Joshua out, Plushy not returning, and Misha having visa issue's. If it weren't for Patrick Chan, I probably would skip the Men all together. I like Jason and have a ton of respect for him and his continued ability to grow and learn with Kori. He also dances beautifully and frankly, if he hadn't grown up with Joshua, He'd probably be my favorite US Man.

There are a lot more goodies on Misha's YouTube channel!

I love Misha's Dance cover of Shinee's (another K-Pop boyband) "Sherlock": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0tIhd9DQdY

Speaking of Shinee, I highly recommend watching Shinee's videos for dance inspiration. They are arguably the best dancers in K-Pop. Big Bang has great tunes to dance too, but those guys are NOT dancers.

Married to the Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Jkfyn0tC0
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1xmO4w_afc
Sherlock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8VRaGe3Cqs
Lucifier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovztfpWPo5M


Also another great dance group in K-Pop is Infinite.
Back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nxNwzXIdtA
The Chaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTXmhKapmCI
Be Mine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeuejYoRbps


Man I had too much fun with this. :hap93:

 

[mrrice]

Hey Guys, the other day I was watching a video where skaters introduced themselves. Plushy said. "Hi My Friends" and was just too cool for words. After listening to the B.ESP guys butcher Tom Z's name, I wondered if there are clips of him saying his name for us listen to. His name is like "Rohene's" I've heard it pronounced several different ways and spelled badly too.

 

[skylark]

Interesting that Ross said he would never wear make-up. With that blondish red coloring, and corresponding skin tone, it wouldn't hurt (and I say this as someone who looooves Ross' SP and minimalist costume this year. No one says the guys have to do Alexa's Metallica look, but a little would t hurt any of them)

Ross's face has often turned pink by the end of his skates. Because of that, I'm not sure if make-up would do him any favors. One reason I like Ross is his natural, open style of skating. I feel like when you watch him skate, you know exactly who he is. Maybe that's akin to what he senses, and why he says he's hesitant to use make-up. (I like hearing that because of the way it was done in the demonstration, he sees it as a possibility now.)

Some of the younger male skaters get red cheeks by the end of their skates, so that it almost looks like rouge applied crazily. I think it was Adian Pitkeev I noticed this with this year, unless it was Alexander Petrov. I'm pretty sure the same happened with Ilia Kulik when he was young. I noticed it because my nephew's cheeks did the same thing when he was young, when he ran.