Figure skating and bad news

I haven't figured out why when I have some novel news, I don't just post it. Maybe because in the throes of dealing with bad news, I don't much want to dwell on it. Anyway, I had sent On the Edge to Thompson/Gale's Five Star line on the recommendation of a published author friend of mine last summer. They read it mainly on her recommendation. And for the next three, she told me again and again how she was sure they would buy it. It was a good book. Gale is a library subscription publisher (rather than a bookstore trade publisher). They would buy it.

Yeah, right.

Thanks for your e-mail, and for submitting your novel On the Edge to us for consideration in the Five Star Expressions line. While we think that your novel is very well written, I'm afraid that it skews too much toward the YA-fiction genre, and therefore, I'm afraid that it is simply not right for our Expressions line, which skews toward a more adult tone and theme (I was hoping this might be the rare exception that could have fit into our line, but I'm afraid that wasn't the case). I thank you for your patience while we reviewed your novel, and wish you the best of luck in placing it elsewhere.

Thanks again, and please let me know if there is anything else we can do.

So, if I'd HAD any hope to begin with, I would have been crushed. As it was, I didn't dare hope, because I knew that I couldn't face another rejection. Losing my agent just about killed me. I couldn't face it again. I didn't hope and as such, I was less disappointed. But it's still a big bummer.

What does that mean? Well, basically, it means that On the Edge is dead. It's been queried to pretty much every possible agent in NY. It's been read by half of the people queried. It's been agented. It been shopped. It's been dumped. No, I'm not putting it out through Lulu or iUniverse. But I will be self-publishing it under the Private Ice imprint when I get around to making it happen. The question remains if I will then try to sell Desperate Times to NY or not. I suppose it depends. But if you love me, buy the book, okay?

~~~

Of course, with bad news, comes good news. For the first time in 2 years, my muse has come for a winter visit. Normally she just sends post cards from Tahiti. But I've been writing for three solid weeks now, and I strongly suspect that if I pace myself, she'll stay the winter. I've written about 25,000 words on The Barunian Incident, which brings the total to just 70 words under 40K. I am SEVENTY words from half done. I don't know whether to celebrate or run screaming through the neighborhood in frustration.

I'm sure, if the muse hangs out, you shall all be treated to the travails of trying to get The Barunian Incident published. I suspect this one might sell. It's sexy. The characters are sympathetic. It's got explosions and sword fighting (and a heroine who KICKS ASS). So far, both my husband and my 11 year old like it. Cross your fingers. The Barunian Incident has been in progress for nearly 5 years. I did the treatment based on a dream I had in 2001 and have worked on it sporadically since. I just want inspiration to hang around long enough to finish.

Oh, and it has NOTHING to do with figure skating.

~~~

On the professional front, I am now blogging for Ars Technica's Infinite Loop, a Macintosh blog. Things are things at Newsforge. I picked up a new client, Off the Record Research and that did nicely paying for Christmas. I'm also in negotiation with two new local clients, both of whom should mean regular income. We'll see. More on that when it happens.

~~~

And to feed my survey taking jones—because I watched return of the King THREE TIMES this weekend (more for boredom than enthusiasm, though the man candy is truly excellent)—here's which LOTR Hero I am:

Figure Skating through Halloween.

I really enjoy Judith Warner's blog Domestic Disturbances at the NY Times. She's so delightfully imperfect. I am far from the perfect parent. My kids always have dirty faces and the house is never just so. Normally, I am right there with her when she complains about over parenting, or overly perfect parenting. But on this particular day, I couldn't have disagreed with her more. Here's a comment that I posted on Judith's Hapless on Halloween entry. After I wrote it, I thought, "you know, I want to put this on my blog too." So I did. Skate America conflicts with Halloween almost every year and that's always a problem for me since Halloween is my favorite holiday. This year, I ditched skating for candy and blue dogs.

You know what? I LIKE Halloween. Okay, so my kids don’t have the greatest costumes–and when they do, my mom makes them. She’s retired, has time, and was always a fantastic costumer. But I carve the pumpkins–we always have the best ones in the neighborhood because I love carving pumpkins. I’m teaching my oldest to carve. She is decent enough with a knife not to cut herself, but very ambitious and oft comes to grief. I make sure they’re dressed and warm and then Daddy takes them from door to door.

And while they are trick or treating, I sit on my front lawn in a sling chair with our bichon frise Killer which we have dyed blue for the holiday (Blues Clues? Blue Dog Democrat, anyone?). And I sit there and remember all the great Halloweens from my past. The one where mom made my brother a frog head and he went as a frog prince. There was the year I was an alligator and won a year’s pass to the skating rink for best costume. There was the fun of running pell-mell from house to house in the cold, spooky dark, shrieking all the way–no matter what we were wearing.

When I fade back from memory into reality, there’s candy heaped high in an antique wooden bowl–the same one we used when I was a kid. It’s bliss to hand out handfuls to the ever dwindling clumps of children–there are fewer ever year.

And it breaks my heart.

Most kids who trick or treat in our neighborhood come up from the poor inner-city places, where drugs, crime, and hopelessness, lack of opportunity and yes, downright laziness, have made it too dangerous for a child to walk up to a house and say “trick or treat.” Too many tricks down there. Some people might say they don’t belong here. But they make no trouble and something in me wants to scream how these kids deserve just as much as mine to have fun on Halloween. They deserve to have fun running gleefully from house to house, parents trailing along behind. They deserve a handful of candy from someone who thinks Halloween isn’t a chore. They deserve to be children.

And for one night in October, so do I.

Figure Skating's Best Query Letter Writer

Years ago, when I was pitching On the Edge to agents, I got a gratifying, but ultimately disappointing reply. "Not my sort of thing, but what a fantastic query!"

And THAT is the story of my writing life.

I write fantastic queries. For those of you who are not writers, a query is a pitch letter written to a literary agent or editor to tempt them into reading your work. I get read more than pretty much any writer I know. Fully half of the agents I pitched On the Edge to read at least some part of it. A 50% request rate is most outrageously awesome for an "unpublished" writer.

So I was pretty disappointed when only two of the sixty letters I sent out for Nobody's Hero (my picture book about a dog who saves the life of a boy during the tsunami in India in 2004) came back with requests. But, I figured, "if you can only get two, then Houghton Mifflin and Arthur A Levine (Scholastic) are about the highest profile publishers one could possibly have interested." In short, not many nibbles but both from big fish from the biggest pond.

But, the industry is a sucky place. Response times vary from 2 to 8 months, so I never follow up until at least 2 months have passed. So, 2 months after submitting the story to Levine, as requested, I sent a follow up email. The response I got came from a different editor. Turns out, the editorial assistant who requested my manuscript had left at the end of the summer (to go back to grad school) without any action on Nobody's Hero. But the editor promised to have it read right away.

The rejection came roughly a week later with a two line criticism--"though this truly is a powerful story, I think it important that the emotional impact not rely too heavily on the real world tragedy." What the HELL does that mean?! I vaugely think that maybe the story was too emotionally intense... too scary. Cheese-n-rice, it's an adventure story about one point of light in a major world tragedy! Okay, I just don't get it. Maybe my terminal lack of touchy-feely-ness is going to be the death of me.

The reader--"Editorial Assistant"--had an unusual name, so I looked her up on the web... a 20-something grad student. I got a GFY from a freaking KID. Oh, NOW, I feel better. The rejection from Houghton Mifflin, with an even WORSE "this didn't fit our line," came two days later.

Another door slams.

I shed a few tears, told a couple of real life friends who were sympathetic, talked it over with my bud Natalie. I'm still bummed pretty bad. It just seems so hopeless. If I can't sell the story that kept the kindergardeners in my daughter's class absolutely spellbound, can I ever sell anything?

I sound depressed. I feel depressed. I have good reason to be depressed. My arthritis has been acting worse and worse. I'm in pain pretty much all the time no matter what I take for it. I don't feel like doing anything. So the housework and the writing are piling up around me making me feel even LESS like doing anything.

Eight years and two million words, give or take a hundred thousand or so. Someone tell my again, why am I doing this to myself?

Perl Poem Tribute to 9/11

Okay, so 99% of the people who come to this blog are only going to be able to read the English version, and have probably never heard of Perl Poetry. But... suffice it to say, I'm a software developer and one of the programming languages I know is Perl. People actually write poetry in Perl and it is considered to be an exceedingly difficult thing to do. It seemed like a fitting tribute ina whimsical sort of way. My poet friends are all writing poetry of surpassing beauty and heart-wringing emotion... but this morning, I was writing code. My friend Yemi, who a most incredible writer and poet, and a fine person said this. "Event follows event with the inevitability (in hindsight) of a program. What better metaphor?"

A Program for 9/11

warn ("Al Queda Determined to Strike US");
exec(0);
open(MYPETGOAT, "Story-Book") or die "11, 175, 93, 77"
while (<MYPETGOAT>){ exec(0);}
for (i=1; i==2752; i++) { if (!!ur==0) {kill; kill; kill;}}
$red = $white = $blue = "gray";
$together = $black + $white + $republican + $democrat + $young + $old;
goto (Afganistan);
if (!m/Osama Bin Laden/) { delete("Iraq"); }
split (/sectarian lines/, "$Iraq" . "$US");
if (!m/insurgency/) { our(soldiers) = $iraqicivilians = $civilliberties = 0)
exec(0);
exit("fail");

#it reads like this:
#
#Warning: Al Queda Determined to Strike US
#The President does nothing.
#Open My Pet Goat while death approaches for flights 11, 175, 93, and 77.
#While reading My Pet Goat, the President does nothing.
#And 2752 people die.
#And the red, white and blue turns gray.
#But all of us become one.
#
#We go to Afghanistan,
#but when we cant find Osama Bin Laden
#we attack Iraq.
#And we fall apart--the US and Iraq--splitting along sectarian lines
#while the insurgency rages,
#our soldiers die
#iraqi civilians die
#we give up our civil liberties
#The President does nothing.
#To exit is to fail

Birthdays (no figure skating parties, please)

Oh oh! Another silly piece of web trivia. This one wants your birthdate.

Last friday was my 36th birthday.

25 August 1970

Your date of conception was on or about 2 December 1969 which was a Tuesday.

You were born on a Tuesday under the astrological sign Virgo (me: actually on the cusp of Leo and Virgo. The signs have shifted since).
Your Life path number is 5.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 3 & 9.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 8.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 6, 11 & 22. (note: My husband of 12 years is a 6)

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2440823.5.
The golden number for 1970 is 14.
The epact number for 1970 is 22.
The year 1970 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/6/1970 and ending 1/26/1971.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Dog.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Bear; your plant is Violets.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Paopy, the second month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 23 Av 5730.

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 29 March 1970.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 26 April 1970.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 11 February 1970.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 17 May 1970.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 24 May 1970.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Thursday, 1 October 1970.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 21 April 1970.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 10 February 1970.

As of 8/30/2006 2:59:21 PM EDT
You are 36 years old.
You are 432 months old.
You are 1,879 weeks old.
You are 13,154 days old.
You are 315,710 hours old.
You are 18,942,659 minutes old.
You are 1,136,559,561 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:

Kel Mitchell (1978)	Claudia Schiffer (1970)	Rachael Ray (1968)
Billy Ray Cyrus (1961)	Tim Burton (1958)	Elvis Costello (1954)
Willy DeVille (1950)	Gene Simmons (1949)	Rollie Fingers (1946)
Regis Philbin (1933)	Sean Connery (1930)	Monty Hall (1923)
Leonard Bernstein (1918)	Mel Ferrer (1917)	Van Johnson (1916)
Ruby Keeler (1909)	Clara Bow (1905)

Top songs of 1970

Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel	I'll Be There by Jackson Five
Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head by B.J. Thomas	Close to You by Carpenters
My Sweet Lord by George Harrison	I Think I Love You by Partridge Family
Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Diana Ross	American Woman by Guess Who
War by Edwin Starr	Let It Be by Beatles

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 5.14833659491194 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)

There are 360 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 37 candles.

Those 37 candles produce 37 BTUs,
or 9,324 calories of heat (that's only 9.3240 food Calories!) .
You can boil 4.23 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1970 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.
In 1970 the US population was approximately 203,302,031 people, 57.4 persons per square mile.
In 1970 in the US there were approximately 2,158,802 marriages (10.6%) and 708,000 divorces (3.5%)
In 1970 in the US there were approximately 1,921,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1970 the population of Australia was approximately 12,663,469.
In 1970 there were approximately 257,516 births in Australia.
In 1970 in Australia there were approximately 116,066 marriages and 12,198 divorces.
In 1970 in Australia there were approximately 113,048 deaths.


Your birthstone is Peridot

The Mystical properties of Peridot

Peridot is used to help dreams become a reality.

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Sardonyx, Diamond, Jade


Your birth tree is

Pine Tree, the Particularity

Loves agreeable company, very robust, knows how to make life comfortable, very active, natural, good companion, but seldom friendly, falls easily in love but its passion burns out quickly, gives up easily, many disappointments till it finds its ideal, trustworthy, practical.

There are 117 days till Christmas 2006!
There are 130 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was waning crescent.

Incredible Country Music!

This morning, I was reading the New York Times—like I do every morning—and I read this article on the Music Row Democrats. This is a group of songwriters and record co executives who are saying "Country Music isn't just by and for conservatives." They're giving out this long album of country songs in return for a $20 donation.

So, being a country music fan, who knows very well that not ALL fans of country music are re-state conservatives, I wandered over. They have a FREE web feed for the music and It's FANTASIC. This isn't just pathetic, political hack music. It's great country. "Two Paper Town" gave me chills! "I'm Takin' My Country Back" is a great honky tonk two-step. I'm not a donater—though I've given more money to political causes in the last 2 years than ever before— But I HAD to have this album. It's GREAT. "Thou Shall not Kill," is giving me chills again.

Tha sad thing? This music will NEVER see the light of day on country radio. More than one of these songs could be number ones. They're that good... not just as politcal speech, but as damn good country music. This incredible music. Chilling music. Music for the heartland. Music for the angry. Music for the principled. Blue or red, go listen.

Oh, and get this... Toby Keith, Mr. Angry American himself—he's a DEMOCRAT.

If you got $20 and you love country music, and you buy ONE album this year, go "buy" this one.

Indulging my quiz taking jones...

In answer to the eternal question, "Which Superhero am I?"

Your results:
You are Hulk

Hulk 85% Spider-Man 80% The Flash 70% Batman 60% Superman 55% Green Lantern 50% Iron Man 50% Robin 40% Wonder Woman 40% Supergirl 40% Catwoman 25%

You are a wanderer with amazing strength.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

How DID they know I was that big?

Heroic Deeds having nothing to do with figure skating...

Apparently, sending queries for Nobody's Hero wasn't so futile at all. Houghton Mifflin has had the manuscript for about a month. I don't expect to hear from them for anywhere from 2 to 5 months since they have a 3-6 month reply window. Of course, truly, I don't expect to hear from them at all. I have great confidence in the publishing industry, ya know.

No, no, must not be bitter when things are going my way.

Things ARE going my way, it seems. Yesterday, I got the most incredible email from someone with scholastic.com in their email address (they didn't otherwise ID their imprint, but it later turned out to be Arthur Levine, which IIRC has already sent me a GFY/rejection). I nearly went through the roof. Here it is:

Dear Ms. Tyler,
Thank you for your query letter. If Nobody's Hero is not currently under consideration by another publisher, I invite you to send us the entire manuscript. Please remember that it can take up to six months for us to review and respond to submissions.
Best,
>name removed<
Editorial Assistant

Note the catch, though... "If Nobody's Hero is not currently under consideration by another publisher". So, of course, I panicked. That's relatively normal for me. After carefully considering the advice of some of my published author friends, I sent the following reply:

Dear >name removed<,

Nobody's Hero was requested by one other publisher, Houghton Mifflin.
However, they did not ask for an exclusive. If this is okay with you,
I'd be delighted to have Scholastic consider the manuscript too.

Sincerely,
Mary E Tyler

And Levine still wants to see it!!

Whooo hooo!

Okay, five minute celebration over. I need to get the packet out to Levine and then settle down to forget all about it. After all, it's going to be 6 months before I get an answer.

Figure Skating Coffeebreak

Just to prove that we rabid figure skating fans have actual lives, here are some picures of my gardens. I got them in early this year and as such, they are flourishing even as it starts to get quite hot out. The flower garden is looking a bit weedy, but oh well, you can't have everything. The vegatable garden, however, is looking HUGE. Tomatoes are about to take over everything. You can't even walk between the plants!

I planted blackberries 2 years ago and they've finally begun bearing (on 2 year wood of course)


Here's my front flower garden, taken from the shade. Most of the early season things have bloomed and the late season things have not begun to bloom yet. But it's still verdant, if a bit wild and out-at-the-heels.


The centerpiece of our front flower garden is a specimin lace-leaf Japanese maple. It's such a tiny thing that we call him, very affectionately, Charlie Brown Tree after the tiny Christmas tree in the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.


My petunias are growing like nobodys business. In early spring, the whole garden is dominated by wild, invasive, and exceptionally lovely pink shamrocks. In mid-summer, it's the petunias that rule. This year, we had such a mild winter that one petunia (back left) overwintered. It grew from a short 18" clump to a HUGE FOUR FOOT clump. We call it Petunia-zilla, of course. This year, like last year, I got a nice little clump of volunteer pumpkins (bottom right). I expect they are the little johnny style ones, but we'll see. That's the neat things about volunteers, never know what you're gonna get.


Around the side, my only southern exposure (and not even for the full day), is my vegi garden. This year, I only grew a few kinds of tomatoes and some slicing cucumbers. Of course, the watermelons from last year had different ideas! The tomatoes are frontmost with the cukes and melons low about 2/3 back. In the very back is a verdant mishmash of kitchen herbs and horseradish. Unfortunately, while the horseradish puts out HUGE foliage, the ground is too wet to make the roots grow. Fardles!


We are about to be inundated with tomatoes. I think that's JUST about my favorite time of year. Most of our maters don't even make it into the house. We eat them standing right in the garden. We've had a deluge of rain in the last few days, so the maters are cracking. Hope we don't get any blight in the cracks. Last year, they rotted before they ripened.


Here's a ripening cucumber, waiting for my middlest to pick it. She's been mad at me for days because littlest has picked and biggest has, but she has always been inside when it was picking time. Fresh cuke for supper salad! YUM!


And finally, here's a tiny new watermelon from the volunteer vine. It's only about as big as two fists of a man's hands. We didn't get any good melons last year. Grew bunches, but they never got sweet. Maybe this year I'll let em ripen longer.


Okay, back to your regularly scheduled program...

Yippee! New Toy, Better Gas Mileage.

Gas prices stink, don't they?

Ya, I figured you thought so too. For the last few years, we've owned a Honda Odyssey (a mini-van) and much as it's a nice mini-van, I hated the whole idea of driving a mini-van. It was just TOO soccer-momish—and I am NO soccer mom. I'm not even, truth be told, a skatemom. But, it was practical, so I thought, if we were going to have kids over (other than mine).

Except it never really turned out that way. I never seemed to drive anyone but my own family... occasionally with my mom or brother in tow. In the three years we had the van, there were a handful of times we actually NEEDED a vehicle that big. Okay, so it was roomy... it was also silver—I've had silver and gold cars pretty much every vehicle I've ever owned. I am SO sick of silver. It was nondescript. There were a zillion other silver Odysseys of that year. And the kids, despite my best efforts, had trashed it. It smelled more than a little from things they spilled. I think the worst part was that I couldn't easily reach into it to clean it, so it seldom got cleaned and when it did, it was always a huge production.

The killer was, it got a WHOPPING 18 mpg on average (city and hwy). Now, don't get me wrong. The year I bought it, the Odyssey had the highest mpg rating of any mini-van. These days, the ratings're only up to 26 mpg city for the best rated van. For what it was, it got pretty good mileage.

But, when I bought it, gas was also a LOT cheaper. It cost me $25 for the first fill up. During the school year, I tend to fill up about once per week, usually about 3/4 tank. Well, now, that tank of gas costs me $45 or more. My gas tab went from less than $100/mo to more like $180/mo. And that's if I only did the VERY basics of errands and such—if I NEVER went anywhere else but home, school, music lessons, and the bi-weekly trip to the commissary (military grocery store).

It got to where I was putting off trips for things I really needed. "Let me not go buy this OTC medicine I need really bad right now. I'll go buy it 4 days from now because I'll be going to the store anyway." Now, I sure that is exactly what the pundits have in mind when conserving gas, but when you need something, you NEED IT. You suffer without it sometimes. And I got to where I didn't really like the feeling that I simply COULDN'T make an incidental trip, even if I really needed it. More than the gas, I couldn't afford the extra $$ to buy that gas.

And then, there is the whole efficiency thing. I'm pretty strong on environmentalism, conservation, back to the land and what not. I always said that I would buy a high mileage car if they made one to fit my lifestyle. Well, this year, Toyota is making a hybrid Camry that gets 40 mpg (or so) city and hwy. Camry is a sedan, but not a small one like the Prius. You can actually get 5 people into a Camry.

I decided, "It will be a bit of a change for us... but we can change." And after a few months of waffling and thinking and agonizing, I traded my Odyssey in on a brandy, spanking, new 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid. AND...

It's RED!



Yes, I am tickled with it being red. I am terribly tickled.

It's nice having a new car, and VERY neat having a hybrid. It handles well. It makes the Odyssey feel like a pregnant whale in the turns. I love the regenerative braking gear (kind of like braking by downshifting a manual trany). I love how the gas motor turns OFF at stop lights, using ZERO gas. I love how RED it is!

I love feeling like I can go to the store if I need something.

What a Storm!

Here at my house, we are required to have flood insurance. And today is another perfect example WHY. The water at the curb is now 18" deep (give or take some). Luckily, it never seems to get any worse. I took this NIFTY video (1M) of a car trying to navigate the puddle (lake!) a little too fast. There's also the following pic of the waterline—that picket fence on the left is EIGHT feet in from the curb and several inches above it.



Now THAT's deep.

Figure Skating Foundations: Foxtrot

On SkateFans a few weeks ago, someone made a comment that they didn't know much about the dances that underlie ice dance. Even our resident dance maven (Hi Ben!) didn't really seem to know. Apparently, not as many ice dancers as you might think venture into the ballroom to learn the actual dances. This probably explains why most ice dancers have such poor dance character. Very few, even at the highest levels, seem to have a clue how a rhumba ought to feel different than a waltz.

At the time the person asked this question, I started two or three times to try to explain. I used to be a competitive ballroom dancer in college— I know my stuff to a point. It was just too hard to try to explain without being able to show it.

Then, this evening, while trying to explain to my brother how to do the Bus Stop, I had a brain storm—look on YouTube! You won't BELIEVE the number of idiots who dance at bus stops! It's simply amazing. However, lots of ballroom dancers, of various levels also, post videos of their performances.

So, this evening, I', going to start with Foxtrot. Foxtrot is not all that common in elite ice dancing, but there are some dances as you move through the ranks based on the Foxtrot. Foxtrot is one of the very first dances that you usually learn when taking ballroom classes, along with waltz, cha-cha and rhumba.

In ballroom dancing, there are two dance styles of Foxtrot: American and International. The levels are Bronze, Silver, and Gold (or at least they were when I danced. DanceSport has changed a lot of things). Bronze American Foxtrot has a simpler step pattern—called the "basic"—than Silver and Gold and there is no rise and fall in Bronze American. It's a very flat-footed dance—not ungraceful—but with a movement style of its own. American Silver and Gold American are greatly similar to International in that they have generally the same "basic" pattern and unlike Bronze, they have rise and fall.

What is rise and fall?

When passing through specific beats of the pattern, the dancers will smoothly rise onto the ball of the foot and then fall through the beat to a more flat-footed position. Depending on the character of the particular dance, it can be a very smooth wave, or it can be quite jouncey. Rise and fall is part of what makes "the character" of each dance.

The Music

Choose a Frank Sinatra tune, and chances are, it's a Foxtrot. "New York, New York," is a classic. It's kind of bouncy, but not too fast and it's counted in two 1-2, 1-2, 1-2. Good Bronze Foxtrot music can be quite deliberate.

Foxtrot is a SLOW dance. It's often called "Slow Foxtrot." And it's a "smooth" dance (as opposed to a Latin dance), which means that it should flow. There's no wag-your-arse hip motion in Foxtrot. It's not a flirtacious dance—it's all about the flow.

The Basic

Bronze American Foxtrot has a pretty simple pattern: two slow steps and two quick ones. Country Western dancers may recognize this as the same counting pattern as the Texas twostep. Quite so. Unlike Twostep, Foxtrot has a dogleg in the pattern. So the first two slow steps go forward and then the two quick steps go to the side, making an L. The dance progresses zig-zaggily in a generally straight line with the man and woman alternating who goes backwards (if they're in a closed dance position). No, don't ask me HOW you're supposed to do this on skates. I don't know.

This video is a delightful little exhibition done by a little boy and his (much taller!!) dance partner—possibly his instructor. I chose it because they don't try anything really fancy... nothing obscures the fundamentals of the dance. The timing is good and the steps are crisp. Note that there's no rise and fall to the dance. The steps are pretty flat-footed. You can see several repetitions of the basic as well as a few highlight moves. The actual dancing begins 40 seconds into the video. It's easy (and worthwhile) to count out (or say slow-slow-quick-quick) as they are dancing the basic.

Now, on to Silver (and International).

This is where it gets difficult for me. It's been a good 15 years since I've done a Silver Foxtrot. I never learned it explicitly, nor did I compete it. My partner led. I followed. We danced.

Lead is a very important aspect of ballroom dance, which is nearly absent in ice dance. In ballroom, the male (or dominant) partner is supposed to lead the woman (or the non-dominant) partner through the dance (I'm just going to use the male/female convention, no offense intended, similar couples often compete because of the lack of men in the sport). There are variances of weight, pressure in the arms and balance that let the girl know what the guy expects her to do.

If you can follow and you know the basic, you can do almost any dance, just by following. Especially if you have a good partner. I was, so I was told, "a natural follow." So if I happened to attract a good partner in the social dance, I could do things I had no idea what I was doing. So fair warning: my experience with Silver and International Foxtrot is strictly from social dancing. My understanding of it is far less nuanced than American Bronze.

This video is from Season 1 of Dancing with the Stars. The first 50 seconds is Brian McKnight(?) singing Fields of Gold. The camera work makes it tough to see the whole dance (we don't WANT to see their FACES, DAMNIT!). These are professional dancers, so they also do a whole lot of highlight moves. Their dance is one continuous highlight move, actually, and it's very difficult to see the basic.

Not that this is bad, but it's more "cabaret" dancing than ballroom. Competitive ballroom dance draws a firm line between what is ballroom and what is the more flamboyant cabaret. It's kind of like what happened at the end of the first season (I think) of Dancing with the Stars. The white haired guy and his professional partner did a very classic ballroomy type dance (iirc, it was a quickstep). The male pro dancer and his starlet partner—because of HIS skill and ability to lead through more difficult routine— were able to do a more crowd-pleasing and cabaret-like routine. Thus, I was crying foul when she won, because despite how bad she was when she started out, she had an advantage the whole time. She had a partner who could—and was SUPPOSED—to do more then just follow.

Anyway, the basic in Silver and Gold American and in International Foxtrot is slow-quick-quick-slow. There is also a variant slow-quick-quick-slow-quick-quick, which you'll see mixed in. Instead of taking a side-step on the quick-quick, the step pattern is a straight line. S&G Amer and Int'l Foxtrot has rise and fall. You rise though the quick-quick step and fall into the second slow step. You can see this rise at about 1:00 in the video. The rest of the dance is highlight, so it's hard to see.

Here's another video of a young couple at nationals. They're not so smooth (a little stiff, if you ask me) and she has a visible bobble at one point, but since they are doing more strict ballroom, and since they aren't doing such difficult steps, it's easier to see the dance itself.

I hope this has been helpful to people who want to learn more about ballroom dancing to be better able to understand ice dance. I'll probably cover the waltz next, but it may be a while.

New Additions and New News

I reported recently that, with a great sense of futility, I had sent queries out for a picture book I wrote called Nobody’s Hero based on the true story about a dog who saved a little boy during the Dec 26, 2004 tsunami in India. I sent over 60 queries and so far, I got back about 10 form rejections.

Form letters are just that, forms, printed in the thousands and sent to everyone who dares to apply. Not even so much as a personal rejection to note that one made it out of the dreaded slush pile. One publisher went so far as to return my query UNOPENED and stamped “Submissions only accepted in November.” Well thanks, thanks a lot. So I was bummed last week.

One day last week, Thursday, I think, I got THREE form rejections the same day. That was just the whipped shit on top of what had been a completely crappy day. And subsequent to that, I’ve had worse days. Friday we were supposed to take K and K, two boys about GG’s age to pick strawberries with us. After driving about 25 miles, we find that the strawberry field is now a development--houses as far as the eye can see! So we went back to the boy’s house where the kids played and their mother and I gabbed... and horror of horrors! Their 120 lb. Akita bit Jonah on the face!

It wasn’t a bad bite, but off we rushed to the hospital where they glued and taped (literally) her back together. Likely, she will carry a small scar on her cheek. All in all, it was NOT a successful week.

But today was a good day.

Today, I went to Pets-Mart to get some PetZyme. It’s an odor remover that I use in our laundry. Works like a charm. GG was at tutoring and I had only the little girls with me. And they HAD to look at the kitties that were for adoption. There were about 7 kittens there and 3 were out in the cage room for some exercise. So the girls played with them while I petted the adult cats in the cages. I was there that I met Dune.

Dune is a 1 to 2 year old male cat, peach and sand tabby. He was delightfully affectionate, rubbing my fingers through the bars. When i stopped petting him, he laid down in the cage and reached through the bars all the way to the shoulder(!) and put his paw on my forearm, velvet soft and tugged on my arm. Then he switched paws and did it again!

I was charmed.

Dune’s story to this point is not a happy one. He was taken from an abusive home where he apparently suffered fairly serious injuries. He has scars on his neck and he’s blind in one eye where his eyeball was ruptured. His head there is slightly misshapen. Blunt force trauma will do that.

I wanted him then and there. But we have four cats already. I knew my husband would never go for a fifth. So I left PetsMart knowing that it was unlikely that poor injured Dune would find a home. Everyone wanted the kittens. No one wanted an adult cat no matter how nice he was.

After I finished my errands, I met my husband at Home Depot where we were buying picket fence panels for the yard--that’s so domestic, isn’t it? I pretty much begged for us to take Dune home. And he was not happy about it. But he agreed to meet me at PetsMart and meet the kittie.

It took two minutes.

But the lady who was there was from another shelter. There were four phone numbers on Dune’s cage tag and I got answering machine after answering machine. Finally, the last number was a person and the lady said we would have to come back the next day when someone would be there. We were so disappointed! But the lady from the other shelter said she would do the paperwork if Dune’s shelter lady said it was okay. And it was! Dune’s difficult days are done and there is no gas chamber in his future.



Welcome home, Dune. Welcome home.

Yes, today IS a good day. Today, I got a post card from Houghton Mifflin (a big 5 publisher) asking to see a manuscript for Nobody’s Hero.

I've been sorted!

Indulging my well established weakness for silly online surveys, I’ve been sorted into a Hogwartz house. I find it kind of amusing, because really, I thought I’d be a Ravenclaw. Apparently, bravery and valuing friends makes you not a Ravenclaw despite however smart you think you are. But then, i guess that’s the point. Anyway...


I’m in Gryffindor!

be sorted @ nimbo.net

Who’d a thunk?

A Profound Sense of Futility

THAT'S THE WORD!

Futility.

I have been racking my brains all day, searching for the word "futility." Since my bad experience with my erstwhile agent, I have had a massively bad attitude about the whole book publishing industry and the Sisyphean task of trying to get a book published. On the one hand, I feel a huge sense of futility in even sending queries to agents and publishers. On the other hand, I know very well that the only guaranteed failure is not trying.

No, I'm not trying to market On the Edge any more. I have given that up as impossible. I will be putting the books out under the Private Ice imprint when I get around to it—in the fall, perhaps. I do think that I can sell the book to readers, even if publishers couldn't be bothered with it. But we'll see.

I did, however, send a bunch of queries this week for Nobody's Hero, a picture book I wrote about a boy who was saved by a dog during the Indian Tsunami on December 26, 2004. I sent 12 via email last week... one single response came back saying the agent was too busy to take anyone else on. Not that I believe him, but it's one of the kind fictions perpetrated by agents so they don't have to tell people that they just didn't care as much about the story as the writer does.

Anyway, I put another 50 queries into the mail box today. I don't expect to hear back from anyone, really. Picture books are insanely hard to sell... maybe worse than skating fiction. But at least I'm trying. Even if it is with a vast sense of futility.

Stupid Mini-Donkey Jokes

For some reason lately, our household has been on a bad joke kick. We've been making them up ourselves—even the kids. So, I thought I share a few... okay, more than a few.

A colleague of mine has a small herd of miniature donkeys. Cute little asses... endless comedic possibilities.

If you buy a mini-donkey, are you getting a little ass?

If you breed mini-donkeys for meat, can you get a little piece of ass?

What do you call your mini-donkey stable when it's really dirty? An ass-hole.

You know what they call the new brand of currying rags for mini-donkeys? Asswipes.

The new competitor uniform for the mini-donkey show event is the beret. It's an asshat.

If all your mini-donkeys run away, you have Noassatol.

If you're carrying your mini-donkeys and you chuckle so hard you drop him, you're laughing your ass off.

Know how to save yourself from a donkey attack? Stop, drop, and roll while giggling. That's right. Roll on the floor, laughing your ass off.

And how do they make miniature donkeys? Preparation H!

Think about it.

Meme Monday: All About Me

A friend does a "Meme Monday" on her blog and in the interests of being supportive, here's mine. I'm going to attempt to make this figure skating related...

I Am... A rabid figure skating fan
I Want... time to skate.
I Have... a blog about figure skating.
I Wish... Michelle Kwan could win the OOO gold
I Hate... people who hate this skater or that skater.
I Fear... that CoP has ruined the sport forever.
I Hear... figure skating music wherever I go.
I Search... for balance, on ice, wheels, and in life.
I Wonder... what color undies Matt Savoie wears for exhibitions—we all know what color Stephane Lambiel wears! RED! That was a joke. Matt's mom reads one of the major skating lists and I wouldn't want her to think I was serious.
I Regret... nothing. I learn from every experience.
I Love... the feeling of flying that skating—roller or ice—gives me.
I Ache... after I skate. Fact of life.
I Always... make excuses why I'm not getting back to the rink.
I Usually... enjoy myself once I get there.
I Am Not... in person, much like I am online.
I Dance... ballroom.
I Sing... mezzo soprano.
I Never... say never.
I Rarely... think before I speak. I save considered thought for email.
I Cry... when I'm angry.
I Am Not... skinny.
I Lose... weight—hey, we can all aspire!
I'm Confused... about the meaning of life.
I Need... some nyquil and a good night's sleep.
I Should be...not so hard on myself sometimes.

More Stupid Survey Tricks...

As if I needed to know what kind of car I am.

I'm a Chevrolet Corvette!

You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Interesting... in her later years (and in the serial version of On the Edge), Elayne drives a vintage Corvette.

I was always a 64 1/2 Mustang sort of girl myself...

I Made the Final Flight!

Read my Blogging for Book Entries about being a military spouse?

There were over 40 entries, which is a great turn out for a contest like this. In the first round, they chose 18. In the second round, they narrowed that down to 10. In the THIRD round, they chose 7.

I made the final 7!

Yippee!

You can read about it here.

If you missed my entries, they're here.

Figure Skating: 2006 Worlds Ladies Short Program

Warm-Up Group 2
They are playing Joan Jett and the Black Hearts "I Love Rock and Roll" during the warm up...

Literally EVERY girl in this flight is wearing red. And almost the same shade!

7 Valentina MARCHEI ITA 22 19.12
Red strappy dress with white stones and elbow length red mitts, diagonal skirt.
REALLY familiar heroic music... Carmen?
looooonnnggg edge 3Z fall. 2A. camel outside twist sit, ugh layback. ch sit inside catch nice. familiar tango music slow; she's being cutsie to it. steps into 3S 2footed. one handed beill spiral, steady COE nice, beill back spiral nice, nice side spiral to back spiral ugh not well done. fast music: SL: FW uppy downy swirly FW good speed and
flying sit outside twist weird cannonball. nice sideways lean to extreme layback with awful leg position, foot to head.

26.08 + 19.98 = 45.06 T = 64.18 (2nd)

8 Julia SEBESTYEN HUN 20 19.77
red with black sequins. black one sleeve, one no sleeve and the back mostly illusion. black illusion sleeve and elbow length mitt. A weird but attractive dress
Esperanza
steps 3F fall (way under rotated). 3Z-1T (3Z was a bit under rotated). fly camel inside nice donut upright. nice classic spiral COE ugh beill short nice forward side ugh spiral to back ugh. half beill not held any of them. 1A step out. nice sideways to so so layback foot to head beill???. C FW good expression, nice choreo, to the music. camel sit layback ch camel, donut, beill eh, inside upright.

19.39 + 20.14 = 38.53 T = 58.30

9 Teodora POSTIC SLO 24 18.96
red skirt, pinker halter top and ugly dress and a BAD color on her who is a white on white blonde with pale lipstick and eye shadow. She needs to get with Sasha and learn how to do her makeup!
Wild Time
she sticks her butt out when she strokes. 2L pop 1T. steps 2S. nice death drop. sideways eh foot to head, layback, all EH. SL FW okay speed, but is she even skating TO the music? wobbly FW really BLAH. she needs a back flip here. nice 2A maybe 2footed. ugh Forward spiral wobbly COE, UGLY hbeill back so so side spiral. camel outside nice sit ugh sideways lean ch sit, inside squat, cannon (not well done), scratch. She can spin but her positions are ugly, her jumps were AWOL and she needed a dose of excitement BADLY.

14.66 + 16.11 = 30.77 T = 49.73

10 Amanda NYLANDER SWE 19 19.79
more mulberry than red. fading to white at the bottom. a nicely understated srappy dress oh wait, the skirt has a long pointed tail in the back. belay that.
Bach Toccata and Fugue ?
NICE axel sit cannon. steps 3L nice. good speed. 3F 2T. nice sideways to layback foot to head, nicely to the music. SL FW fast uppy downy not too difficult otherwise though. 2A okay 2foot? back beill ugh COE okay. ugh forward spiral. ugh back spiral to side nice. camel cannon nice, layback foot to head ch sit okay, inside catch

Girl skates pretty fast and had nice, economical stroking. She's not "artistic" but I like her. And she says hi to "Mama" in the K&C.

27.27 + 19.03 = 46.30 (personal best) T = 66.09

11 Annette DYTRT GER 21 19.47
candy red strappy dress with diagonal skirt longer in back. pretty. she needs less bronzer though.
oh shit. Tocatta and fugue AGAIN
3Z under-rotated, 2foot 2T. arm waving. steps 3F badly under rotated 2foot. fly camel layover donut. ah, the hooked on classics version! very nice side catch spiral F 2hand beill back hand to knee spiral. 2A nice. nice sideways to okay LB foot to head half beill. C FW good speed. nice difficulty swirly well sold. camel outside cannon half beill ch sit catch scratch

Boy... what a contrast! This girls can't jump, but she had mature presentation. Other girl did easier jumps but landed them. And to have 2 tocatta and fugues back to back! Ie yi yi!

20.96 + 20.94 = 41.90

Her PCS were garbage. She's trying not to cry. She misssed her jumps, but was head and shoulders better than the last skater and her PCS didn't reflect that AT ALL.

12 Anastasia GIMAZETDINOVA UZB 23 19.00
Red straight skirt. Bodice and sleeves has red curlicues over illusion. More illusion than dress, yet not particularly attractive.
The Godfather Part II
3Z 2foot, pitch forward 2T. ugh muzak "From a Distance." steps 3S nice. fly camel inside donut hbeill? okay Forward spiral COE slow back hbeill. nice side spiral. to back steady. camel outside sit layback beill traveling all over. ch squat, twist. C FW swirly and uppy downy. but SLOOOOOW. sideways nise to layback foot to head beill.

Okay, I hated the music, but she has a nice quality to her skating. She has a VERY pretty camel position. Her spirals need a bit of work. Hug and kiss for her coach... who appears to be immune to being kissed by pretty girls.

29.27 + 20.23 = 49.50 (personal best) T = 68.50 (1st)

Deserved? Maybe they didn't catch those under rotated jumps!

End Group 2

Arina Martinova RUS
Moonlight Sonata
Black with open back and white stones and white underskirt.
3F wonky landing, whippy2T. a heavy metal moonlight. 3Z. 2A LOVELY. nice F classic spiral COE nice HUGE extension. back beill nice, nice side spiral. to nicer back spiral. fly camel inside, donut nice. serp FW swirly, uppy downy, fast and well sold. camel outside sit cannon layback beill ch squat sash catch. nice sideways to layback foot to head beill.

She's very flexible and her laybacks have a kind of betn turned out leg, but a VERY extreme back position.

29.59 + 19.37 = 48.96 T= 67.91

The judges are ON DRUGS. Those PCS scores are idiotic. She rough, but she points her toes and turns them out. She sold the program, though it was not a pretty-pretty program. She must be young and unfamiliar to them... that's it.


Katerina Gerboldt
red, illusion and gold lame in arabian pattern
Orient Qualibet
nice 2A. good stroking. 3L 2T. steps not flip slipped on the pick fall. fly camel inside nice donut upright. beill forward, nice COE not really nice position. side catch eh. back beill not nice. nice sideways to layback (ugly leg position, nice back) foot to head, beill not nice position. good speed though. C FW music is fast, she is slow and not selling it. she skates pretty and the music is not-pretty, bad match for her. camel outside squat layback, ch camel donut beill.

She's a VERY pretty girl, but she lacks the ability to really DO a beillmann so god knows WHY she's doing them. She neither presents well, nor sells the program. her jump landings are kinda wonky but generally clean.

19.44 + 17.15 = 36.59 T = 54.17

Warm-Up Group 3
13 Susanna POYKIO FIN 14 23.13
pink with silver criss crossy straps and skirt is 3 progressively darker layers of fringe. It looks nice, but down not move well.
One Mint Tulip, Girls Night Out
3Z2T NICE. steps nice 3F. fly camel inside hbeill. sexy music. easy 2A nice. eh back spiral to ugh side F spiral ugh COE ugh. back beill ugh sideways to layback foot to head beill eh. Sl FW swirly ell choreographed but slow. and not sold. awful music cuts/ camel sit layback beill, ch sit inside catch. She traveled all over the whole time.

Her jumps were lovely, but she really didn't sell this program well, especially at the end.

30.08 + 24.20 = 54.28 T = 77.41 (1st)

Unfortunately, I am going to have to leave to go get my kids at school now. I'll probably miss the rest of this group. I'm recording, so I'll catch up on them later.

14 Viktoria PAVUK HUN 15 21.31
15 Elene GEDEVANISHVILI GEO 17 20.72
16 Idora HEGEL CRO 13 23.26
17 Nadege BOBILLIER FRA 18 19.89
18 Yan LIU CHN 16 21.16

Warm-Up Group 4
19 Kiira KORPI FIN 8 25.44
ballet pink with deep bscoop back and chiffon over lycra skirt. pink illusion sleeves
violin/symphony music Beatles?
3T-3T NICE! steps3F fall. nice side ways to okay layback. C FW swirly. nice 2A. camel cannon sit catch ch sit sasha catch nice speed. nice F Spiral argh COE bad, back beill sp., back side catch sp nice. axel sit outside twist. Music ends abruptly

She was doing SO well at first... the flip was gorgeous until she fell... She was fully rotated, she just landed very strangely, dug in where she could have flowed. It was a very weird fall. She bonks herself on the head when she finishes. I swear, the child looks like Barbie.... except that she has arms and legs (our barbies don't)

28.98 + 25.34 = 53.32 (personal best) T = 78.76 (1st)

Lots of hugs and laughter from the coach. Boy are they happy!

20 Carolina KOSTNER ITA 7 25.64
Something awful with clear sequins over zebra fabric and the pattern repeated in black stones on illusion on the arms with a white very short , very fluffy chiffon skirt that darkens to blue. with a light blue lame panty and she has a massive wedgie. The designer should be SHOT. And what does this have to do with an angel??!!
Gabriel's Oboe
3F fall. steps 2L popped. arabian camel variant donut upright. bad wedgie. nice side back sp. F classic COE nice. back catch side nice. back beill sp. nice 2A. serp FW uppy downy camel outside sit nice sideways ch squat camel hbeill. sideways lean to nice layback

22.98 + 26.97 = 48.95 T = 74.59 (4th)

21 Sarah MEIER SUI 10 24.64
Lemon yellow with white around the bodice top, strappy, nice chiffon skirt, it lays very well. I like this dress. so simple, so elegant...
Finding Neverland Soundtrak
easy 3Z 2T nice. steps easy 3F very nice/ camel outside squat twisted upgiht ch sit twist upright, inside. nice delicate, light quality about her. she's selling this well. back spiral COE abrupt. f hbeill sp. nice 2A. nice DD twist squat, variant. SL FW very swirly and uppy downy. Finishes her footwork and then--pratfall! Probably technically NOT a fall since she only put a hand down. NICE sideways lean to nice so so layback foot to head. Ends a bit after her music.

33.47 + 27.04 = 60.51 T = 85.15 (1st)

Well deserved...

22 Elena SOKOLOVA RUS 11 24.42
hot pink half-and-ice-dancer's dress. She looks determined
Turandot
LONG edge 3Z2T. steps 3L nice. arabian camel inside donut. h beill COE sp nice. back hand on knee sp. ugh side spiral to back spiral, smooth. 2A. nice sideways to ugh layback foot to head. C FW finally, she selling it. camel outside sit cannon layback ch squat hbeill upright inside.

She pumps her fist at the end. Finally she lays down a decent program. She was really tight and not even bothering to do anything but skate between jumps at the beginning, as she laid the jumps down, she loosened up and really started to make more out of the program. After the Olympics and a not so great qualifying at Worlds, this HAS to feel great.

33.24 + 27.74 = 60.98 (personal best) T = 85.40 (1st)

23 Yoshie ONDA JPN 12 23.39
dark salmon one shouldered dress, a somewhat longer than normal skirt that flutters a lot
Madame Bovary
3Z 2T nice. steps 3F ugly layback to sideways foot to head. ugh ugh ugh. F classic sp CEO ugh beill. back catch side sp. UGH back sp. steps nice 2A. Death drop squat twist. C FW, not sold well. good speed. camel outside sit cannon foot to head layback ch sit inside crossfoot. Good speed.

Why do they insist on giving Onda girls programs? I can see her saying to Josee, "but I WANT to be pretty-pretty" and unfortunately, it is like lipstick on a chicken. She just doesn't FEEL IT... and i wonder what there is that she DOES feel. She seems happy with how she skated and I guess she should be, it was clean.

29.49 + 23.00 = 52.49 T = 75.88 (5th)

24 Mira LEUNG CAN 9 24.77
strapless w/illusion mulberry fading to white... and the crowd goes WILD.
Freedom
steps nice 3F. steops 3Z-2L nice. sideways to layback nice leg foot to head beill nice speed. steps 1A ooooooohhhhh! beill sp nice steady COE to classic sp back side sp. back catch sp nice. fly camel inside donut. C FW she's tired and only selling it some. good speed. camel outside, sit, twist, layback foot to head, beill ch camel donut, beill nice, sasha catch.

Leung has made such a HUGE advance this year in her presentation and artistry that she should really be proud of herself no matter WHERE she places. She went from being a skater I hated to being someone I really like and am excited about seeing in the future. I can't WAIT to see what she becomes.

26.43 + 23.06 = 49.49 T = 74.26 (8th)

That is just WRONG. What the hell are these judges SMOKING? I know that she missed the axel. I expected low tech scores, but they are not watching the same skater I am! They seem to be seeing the skater she WAS, not the skater she IS. There was no interruption from the axel whiff... and to give her PCS similar to ONDA??? Someone GOT some of this shit? Cause it must be GOOD SHIT they are smoking... good shit.

Bad news... Dh is home and we MUST go run an errand before 5 PM. So off we go. Ladies last group later when I get home...

Warm-Up Group 5
25 Yukari NAKANO JPN 4 27.79



26 Fumie SUGURI JPN 2 28.47



27 Emily HUGHES USA 6 25.68



28 Kimmie MEISSNER USA 3 28.46



29 Sasha COHEN USA 5 27.59



30 Joannie ROCHETTE CAN 1 29.28

Where IS My Figure Skating Coverage?

Anyone who got their Olympic reports and Junior worlds reports from this blog are probably screaming, "Where's the Worlds coverage!" The truth is, I haven't even watched it. The last few weeks have grown increasingly crazier and I just ran out of time, energy and oomph. However, I did record the RTR coverage and I'll be posting reports on some of the OES (Obscure Europeans Skaters), as well as better known favorites. Okay, so it's not spoilers. Sosumi.

I did take a FEW moments to be irresponsible—really, it wasn't even enough to watch a single long program--to find out what Operating System I am and which File Extension. For us tech geeks (which I am by trade if not by birth), these are imperative questions. I am surprised though, that I am neither a Mac nor a flavor of Linux.


Which OS are You?

And I don't blame my parents for my lack of lack of success... credit where credit is due.


Which File Extension are You?

Hey! I'm not flashy OR annoying!

Well, not MUCH.

If I ever get some time on my hands, perhaps I shall do a skating quiz or two for the blog... "Which Figure Skating Commentator Are You?" anyone?

Figure Skating: 2006 Worlds Compulsory Dance

Ravensburger Waltz
Evening Note:
So here's the upshot. I've been working on this blog entry about half the day. There are still bits missing and I'm beat. This was a day from hell... the one where you find out that someone from Lower Slobovia has been using your debit card since November and has stolen $611.23 cents from you and then you have to chase around and do all the identity theft things... Yeah, THAT kind of day!

Not to mention I have TWO, count 'em, TWO work days when I am not volunteering and not doing the insane amount of laundry, dishes and housework this place seems to require just to stay marginally sanitary. And yes, THIS wasn't one of my two work days. I spent it making phone calls and filing reports instead of working.

Tonight, I have added links to several videos. Video links are beside each team's names. Eventually, I'll have links to almost everyone from Belbin and Agosto onward. Tonight, I'm just uploading the important ones from the top performers, because then I am going to go to bed and leave this miserable day behind me. Look later tomorrow for other videos.

These video files are upwards of 15MB each. You need broadband (cable/DSL/T1)to download them. For some reason, they do not play on Macs. Before anyone howls about that, please realize that my primary machine IS a Mac and if I COULD make the files work in RealPlayer for the Mac, I would.

(edited: 25 Sept 0-6. I have found videos of some of these skaters on YouTube and as long as they stay there, the links will work. They now play on the Mac.)

Standings thus far:

1 Marie-France DUBREUIL / Patrice LAUZON CAN 38.31 Video
him short black tails with white trim Her: silver chiffon with Ginger Rogers scarf (nice touch) but this costume is too see through for my tastes.
nice speed. clean feet. nice swingy swings. nice TW. far apart on MH nice even chasses. so so unison in back half. nice waltz ending. They had decent character. GOSH, their feet are CLEAN.... not even a hint of spray. His turns are also rather neat (though he doesn't get much to do in this one).

He looks like the love child of Brad Paisley and Orlando Bloom.

18.93 + 19.38 = 38.31

2 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 37.30 Video
Him: LONG black tails. Her pink sequins and chiffon knee length dress with some pathetic ostrich feathery crap.
nice waltz opening. low swings not swingy okay TW far apart in MH even high chasses pattern a weird shape across the back. her TW is just weird to me... awkward. better TW in the L3 it may be that their lobes are deeper because they skate faster and cover the ice better. One thing it's really hard to tell on TV or webcast is if they are getting good ice coverage and if they have nice deep lobes. Replay shows he slipped behind one of her TW.

He thinks they did a good job. I'm not so impressed.

18.35 + 18.95 = 37.30

3 Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI ISR 34.77 3 Video
Him short black tails her: white dress w/ sheer handkerchief skirt
far apart MH, uneasy chasses wild swings on swingy part TW are okay. They are pushing and you can tell. They don't have much character to speak of. In replay their edges are kind of wobbly and they throw a fair amount of ice spray. He has a REALLY bad colorist... very cheesy looking stripes in his hair. Hers looks great.

Ah, Zhenya Platov in the K&C is as hot as ever. Some guys age and get un sexy (like Sasha Zhulin) other guys age and just get hotter. And Zhenya's old enough to drool over and not feel guilty. Unfortunately, Z's hairline is receding. I suppose all good things must come to an end.

17.14 + 17.63 = 34.77

4 Anastasia GREBENKINA / Vazgen AZROJAN ARM 25.17


Begin live coverage...

5 Olga AKIMOVA / Alexander SHAKALOV UZB 23.67
I thought the UZB were better than they got credit for. They had clean feet, good unison and good speed, half decent character... I guess "skating while Uzbecki" is like "skating while Polish." not a good thing.

6 Alexandra KAUC / Michal ZYCH POL
him: long tails her: light yellow lace strapless w/ illusion dress with criss crossy back fading to white at knee length hem
a Gidget sort of cute opener. nice unison on 1st lobe swings, nice and close on center mohawk. eh unison on the back half. decent TW. he has high, even chasses on lobe 3. a bit uncontrolled on the back half. They are PUSHING and you can tell. Their edges weren't hugely deep, but they are pleasant dancers. He's ADORABLE.

15.09 + 11.73 = 26.82

7 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA
him: long tails. Her: backless black halter dress with black sequins and cow patches on sides
not very waltzy opener. low swings on 1st lobe. hard to see if close on center mohawk, camera angle sucks. swings are wild. TW okay. his chasses are AWFUL on L3, irregular and trippy. everything about this couple is irregular. Sometimes they swing at this height, sometimes they swing at that height. They are very imprecise. They throw a fair amount of snow from the blade. Her skirt is too heavy for waltz. Their hydroblade closer was kind of pathetic. If you can't hydro... DON'T.

Gosh, he looks like Elijah Wood with hair.

16.78 + 15.82 = 32.60

AH, they are not being held up like they were at the Olympics.

8 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN
him: long black tails and huge white ruffle down front and cuffs shirt. her: nice pink satinish and chiffon dress with handkerchief ends of her sleeves. nice costumes.
not very swings swings L1. far apart on mohowk L2. not great unison on back part. chasses that aren't on L3. her Tws are merely okay. a so so dance all the way through. Was this a waltz? Do they have a clue HOW to waltz?

14.30 + 11.41 = 25.71

They were ABOVE the Uzbeckis? Sheesh.

9 Natalie BUCK / Trent NELSON-BOND AUS
him long black tails, her Pink sequined dress with satin hankerchief skirt
not so great swings of different heights, icky half-hopped TW. uneven chasses on him. poor unison in the back section. she doesn't point her toes at all. she's pulling him and his tails are a real distraction. They have no waltz character to speak of.

He looks like Jerry Louis.

12.32 + 9.09 = 21.41

I am having some bad buffering problems, so I'll probably miss the Munana's for now. I'll try to go back and get them from Russian TV... if the Russians show them.

10 Laura MUNANA / Luke MUNANA MEX
him: short black tails her: teal waltz chiffon with tea length skirt

Russian TV joins the CD live in progress.

Warm-Up Group 3
11 Nozomi WATANABE / Akiyuki KIDO JPN

Chacked...

15.30 + 13.17 = 28.47

12 Nora HOFFMANN / Attila ELEK HUN
White dress with uneven deep V neck and black boa around the longer skirt
15.16 + 13.31 = 28.47

Chacked...
She is happy to be in 6th.

13 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA Video
him: long black tails her: white lace dress fading to light blue
nice opener. nice swings. nice and close MH. nice unison in the back half. nice TW L1. nice even chasses from him. good speed. very good character. replay shows a good bit of ice spray on every stroke. Hate to say it, but I'd put them behind Dubreuil. Their character was better, but D&L were more precise.

18.55 + 19.04 = 37.59

14 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS Video
him: long black tails her: bright pink not waltz dress...

And unfortunately, I MUST go get the kids at school. I am recording this from webcast, so when I get home, I'll fill in...

Please come back later and look.


15 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR Video


Warm-Up Group 4
16 Elena ROMANOVSKAYA / Alexander GRACHEV RUS Video
17 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE Video
18 Alla BEKNAZAROVA / Vladimir ZUEV UKR Video
19 Kamila HAJKOVA / David VINCOUR CZE Video
20 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR Video

I'm back live now. I'll be filling in Group 4 from recording later.

Warm-Up Group 5
21 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA Video
Him: long black tails Her: turquoise dress with the "wrap me in ribbon and pretend I'm not naked" bodice and the diagonal chiffon skirt that is too pouffy.
awful opening. nice swings, even and swingy. did she TW? nice MH close together HUGE chasses, uneven. okay back section. NICE TW so fast I missed it. they are pushing. or she is. he trails. in replay, he jumps his turns and they both spray a LOT of ice. She needs braces (I'm so American sometimes). He doesn't need anything except maybe the key to my room. Tssssst! Hot hot hot!

15.75 + 13.56 = 29.31

22 Oksana DOMNINA / Maxim SHABALIN RUS Video
White on white in white. IE Attack of the Good Humor Man and the Ice Cream Woman.... too bad, cause I like Shabby and the chick he skates with. She has bleached her hair very light... platinum. might even look good on her. Unwaltzy dress!
nice swings and good TW good MH lovely chasses. okay back half. Nice speed but pushing in the second round. They are spraying ice going into the third turn, especially him. I think he slipped a bit. She tripped some on one of her TW too. In the K&C she is not looking happy. They made mistakes.

17.04 + 17.04 = 34.11

And get held up.

23 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR Video
black pants and white shirt with BIG shoulder pads. Her white lace dress with deep diagonal V and half GR scarf. On half of her dress is lacey seashells and she looks half naked.
First round was nice, swingy swings, decent TW, sos so MH. eh chasses. spraying ice into the 3rd corner. awkward on the back half. Second round was slower, even less precise. Nothing to write home about.

14.94 + 11.09 = 26.03

The coaches look really disappointed but the team doesn't much.

24 Margarita DROBIAZKO / Povilas VANAGAS LTU Video
Him: black pants and draw green renassance vest with split in the back, white shirt. White lace crop top and odd gored knee length skirt Kind of renaissance feeling... kinda ... I like ti but damned if I can say WHAT it is.
nice swings. bobble on the TW. okay MH uneven chasses. nice 3rd corner. okay back half. losing character in the second round. very good speed though and not visibly pushing. They do look a TAD off balance. ON reply, they hop their turns and vary from a tiny bit to quite a bit of ice spray.

Maybe ahead of BelAgo but behind DubLau

17.89 + 18.63 = 36.52 In 4th... maybe that's right.

WAY behind BelAgo

25 Megan WING / Aaron LOWE CAN Video
Him: black pants cream shirt. Her: gold dress that looks MUCH better in person. I love how her dress moves. It looks very waltzy in person.
okay swings okay TW slow center pretty clean feet in 3rd corner. bobble on TW in L1 round 2. uneven chasses. poor unison on back half.

They close up on Megan in a replay. Did Aaron have his teeth "done" they look chickletty...

17.05 + 15.85 = 32.90

Warm-Up Group 6
26 Alisa ALLAPACH / Peter KONGKASEM THA Video
Him: black long tails. Her Wine Red dress, backless, strapless w/illusion and deep v nice skirt though.
hopped poor swings, nice MH though close. uneven chasses. wobbly 3rd corner turns. eh TW. so so L3 TW. poor unison on the back half. Not awful character.

I LOVE her dress and she's a real doll... simply adorable... and the color was great on her... but they were pretty bad. They aren't Transplanted Americans, are they? He looks a lot like a friend of mine from college who wasn't from Thailand.

12.36 + 8.86 = 21.22

She's not too happy, but he's clapping and smiling... "we're just happy to be here" kind of thing. Good sport he is. Good sport.

27 Albena DENKOVA / Maxim STAVISKI BUL Video
The green and purple nightmare again!
Now... i MUST remember to watch her TW... otherwise I'll just watch him.
nice swings nice MH. okay chasse. slip going into 3rd corner okay back half. nice TW trip coming out? another trip in the 3rd corner?? They have great speed and pretty nice waltz character... but it offends my sense of propriety to dress a stud like him (short though he may be) in a frou-frou outfit like that. She jumps her turns a little bit too and they spray a lot of ice.

I'd put them above DroVan and below BelAgo... above DelSho? Maybe... six of one half doz f another.

19.17 + 19.29 = 38.46

In first? I would NOT have put them in first. No way. Period. 3rd, maybe. But not first.

28 Morgan MATTHEWS / Maxim ZAVOZIN USA Video
black pants and smoking jacket. her pink satinish tip and chiffon skirt with darker underskirt.
low un-unison swings slow across the ice. not great coverage/ poor unison on back half. poor unison on swings. icky TW. barely there chasses but nice and even. in replay, lots of ice spray in some moves, almost none in others... that's better.

She's too tall for him and their swings are never going to match in this dance. This is exactly the problem Ben yammers about DelScho (he's too tall for her they never match, wrong lines). She has TOO MUCH bronzer!!! He has too little. Looks pasty.

15.43 + 13.66 = 29.09

A good start for them at their first worlds!

29 Melissa GREGORY / Denis PETUKHOV USA Video
Him: black long tails. her: white with ostrich and low back. I found his tails distracting
nice TW eh MH. nice chasse. smooth C3. not great back half. swings don't swing much no character to speak of. but nice TW. better coverage this round. They actually gained speed into the second round. Showy ending, very traditional waltz. They had a bobble in the 4th corner, she trips slightly. He needs to bleach his roots.

16.85 + 15.52 = 32.37 in 10th so likely a top 10 finish for them in the CD.

30 Christina BEIER / William BEIER Video
black bolero jacket white shirt. her: black halter dress with pink under skirt VERY NICE.
I tend to like this team better than the judges.
nice opener. so so TW. okay MH ick chassee. okay 3C. so so back ha;f. slowing. poor TW slow in L1. slow TW in L3 too. slip in L4? This team is slow and they don't cover much ice. They do have a nice waltz quality even if they don't get the rise and fall quite right. Their steps are hoppy, but their blades are clean. They don't throw a lot of spray.

He's a cutie and she has no eyebrows!

15.97 + 13.70 = 29.67 (13th)

A Wearer of the Ice Blue Habit...

...posted this restrospective video of Michelle Kwan. I can live without Carrie Underwood's insipid so-called music (I am SO not CU's demographic), but this video clip has some nice highlights of La Kwan and the ending is bittersweet...

Just the perfect touch.

Figure Skating: 2006 Worlds Pairs SP

Petrova & Tikhonov RUS
Black SP outfits
Sarabande
sbs 3T. S2T hands over head nice. T3L turns out, but huge. sbs fly camel sit ch sit catch, bad unison break in the beginning pairs spin camel-sit, camel-sit ch spin ch camels h beill, sits. between the legs to one handed star lift double twist out, nice ice coverage and strong turns. SL FW nice unison. but slow. shoot the duck to poor entry to FI DS.

33.99 +29.05 = 63.04

Aganina & Knyazev UKR
red with black pants, red dress with straight skirt
La Boheme
sbs 2A nice. T2A, nice. FW nice S2T not so big split though. slow SL FW fair unison sbs fly camel upright h sit AWFUL unison break uprights. one handed starr lift. shoot the duck all the wy into FI DS. camels sit-catch ch camels sit-h beill sits.

25.05 + 16.12 = 41.17

4 Jessica DUBE / Bryce DAVISON CAN
Him black pants and shirt, her red satinish dress with low back and straight skirt
Hasta Cou de Conochi (sp?)
sbs 3S nice. good speed. star ch one handed star lift to upside down set down nice footwork and steady. camels sit catch pairs sit sit-uprightish. S2T. eh. nice energy and choreo. T3L NICE. good cha cha character sbs camels sit catch ch sit nice cannon she falls out bad unison break. SL FW good speed, so so unison but nice otherwise. SalPel entry to FI DS VERY NICE.

I love this team, though they are quite young. They actually attempt to express the music a bit. They have nice speed and pretty good positions and the footwork in his lifts are not scary.

32.92 + 25.89 = 58.81

5 Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Stanislav MOROZOV UKR
freaking video dropped out on me and I totally missed them.

6 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN
black unitards with silver sequins. I like her better in pants than in the shirt she wore earlier in the season for this program.
Variations on Paganini
sbs 3T so so unison. T3L. over the head into FI DS change of hands nice. flying camels bad break sits ch camels sits catch. one handed to star to one hand set down very fast and great coverage very confident footwork in the lift. steps to S2T wow. SL GFW nice unison to mirror camel-sit upright-sit ch camels uprights sit-h beill
35.53 + 29.45 = 64.98

7 Rumiana SPASSOVA / Stanimir TODOROV BUL
brown costumes, her with no shoulders and a deep V neck lots of illusion
Renaissance Medley
Sailor's Hornpipe (Popeye's theme) a la Hooked on Classics huge S2T nice. T3S 2footed? SBS 2L. Anchor's aweigh: star to reve direction of rotation. beill spiral to nice FI DS sbs camels sit poor unison ch sit catch. SL FW mirror not bad unison. camels sits ch camels can-opener nice.

At this point, without warning, my internet connection cut off and I had to reboot the WHOLE network.... after I got my daughter from daycare.

8 Maria MUKHORTOVA / Maxim TRANKOV RUS

Warm-Up Group 3
9 Julia OBERTAS / Sergei SLAVNOV RUS
cornflower blue
Concerto for Whiny Bitches--I mean, Coloratura (God, I hate this music)
SBS 3T she falls out, he turns out. T3F pitch forward hand down. star to one handed overhead lift. S2T eh, no handed catch but ugly. SL FW nice unison eh speed. spiral to poor entry FI DS not very low because he's not low enough. fly camel sit catch upright ch sit catch so so unison, one big break, but very close together. pairs camels sits ch camels sits uprights.

I've seen them skate this better.
29.12 + 26.48 = 55.60

10 Dorota ZAGORSKA / Mariusz SIUDEK POL
him black overall white shirt. her white dress
La Vie en Rose/ Mack the Knife
sbs 3T him hand down. T3S? nice. camels U break sits catch ch sit inside. steps S2T NICE. paris camel-sit sits ch camels sits. SL FW nice unison. cartwheel to one handed flying inverted star flip out fantastic. nice split entry to nice FI DS Her body position was strong throughout... not sticky can here.

This is about the most engaging program I think they've ever skated. God, I LOVE their lifts. And he actually kisses her at the end of the program. Very cute. I hate that flippy haircut she has, but it looks cute on her and really fits the music
29.45 + 25.60 = 55.05

11 Emma BRIEN / Stuart BECKINGHAM AUS
black pants and narrow referee stripe vest with black back. her same bodice with white skirt. He's BALD
S2T low. star lift poor position. sbs 2A she steps out. he falls after 1A. fly camel bad unison sits catch ch upright T2L. poor entry to FI DS but nice once she gets in. SL FW so so unison. pairs spin: camels upright-camel ch camels upright-h beill.

19.86 + 12.88 = 31.74 And there's another pegging of the PC to the TC... improperly IMO.

12 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY GER
black unitards with white sequining and the crissy crossy back for her
SE to sbs 3T (S? she 2 footed). through left to S2T nice. spiral to T3S she touched down and turned out. SEs to star ch overhead NICE good FW for him. fly camel sits inside catch ch catch so so unison. SL FW mirror nice swirly but not uppy downy. spiral to FI DS not great entry or position he changes hands and she gets very low. pairs sits ch camels can-openerish sit-hbeill.
32.33 + 28.91 = 61.24

Warm-Up Group 4
13 Dominika PIATKOWSKA / Dmitri KHROMIN POL
him black pants w/B&W striped top with black sleeves her black hose with skirt and white sleeves and B&W ZEBRA striped bodice with cut out back. Awful, awful AWFUL costumes. What is it with unattractive B&W stripes this year?
Black Cat, White Cat soundtrak
sbs 3T (S?) sos S2T. shoot the duck to star lift eh. T3S eh. sbs fly camel sit inside upright ch sit upright outside. SL FW very close, okay unison. shoot the duck to poor entry to FI DS but nice and low in it. pairs camels uprights ch upright-catch was that second spin a reverse spin?

26.24 + 18.43 = 44.67 personal best

14 Valerie MARCOUX / Craig BUNTIN CAN
her red strapless dress, him black pants, white shirt and vest with red tie
Hey Big Spender
sbs 3T nice but far apart. good speed. star slow turns and not steady or perhaps it's just the feed, her position not great. sbs fly camel sit ch camel uprights outside nice unison. steps S2T nice. hydro SE to T3L nice. pairs sits nice ch camels ch sits nice uprights. SL FW nice unison break. FAB SalPel entry to FI DS NICE very low, GREAT.

They get a rousing standing O and it is very well deserved.

34.77 + 27.89 = 62.66

15 Julia BELOGLAZOVA / Andrei BEKH UKR
him black pants. turquoise top with black underarms and sides. her turquoise with black down one side.
Greetings to Morricone
steps S2T nice. sbs 3S him, her 2S fall. T3S pitch forward hands down. spiral to NICE star lift variant position. spirals to sbs camels sit uprights ch sit outside. SL FW so so unison small breaks. beill to shoot the duck to POOR entry to FI DS, nice and low once in though. pairs camels uprights sits ch camel-sit beill-sit.

WHY do they do the sbs 3S? I have NEVER seen her land it. Not ONCE. Even in practice at SA she was maybe 1 for 5. However, her lift position is beautiful.

21.08 + 17.72 = 37.80

16 Rena INOUE / John BALDWIN USA
him black/black with chest hair and her pretty white fading to turquoise dress with tassles at the shoulder.
pardon me for a moment of partisanship... GO RENA AND JOHN!!!
Adiago in G Minor
nice star gentle set down. T3A NICE!!!! okay, a bit pitched on the landing... 1/4-beill to FI DS NICE him: change of hands?. sbs 2A nice. sbs fly camels sit inside upright ch sit catch outside. S2T with hands over head catch. nice sbs serp FW decent unison. pairs camels sit-hbeill ch camels sit-camel upright-catch.

They were on tonight... very lovely. Too bad they don't have a sbs triple though... how well can they really do without it?

34.30 + 26.60 = 60.90 (which is within a point or so of their personal best)

We are now getting an EXTENDED fluff piece on pairs and Shen and Zhao which consists of highlight moves over and over from different programs set to the Chinese version of My Heart Will Go On (from Titanic)... while they cut the ice?

GOD HELP US, I keep thinking... PLEASE don't let the Zhangs be World champs. PLEASE.

Warm-Up Group 5
17 Marylin PLA / Yannick BONHEUR FRA
black pants red/black shirt. her black dress with bare back and tattered skirt. and red flower at the breast
Blues for Klook
Sigh... CCTV5 just froze. it's buffering and buffering and not really doing anything at all... totally missed them... not getting any picture. nice T3 something. eh S2T. between the legs and then nice star to eh star frozen again. really poor entry to FI DS but very low in the sDS

24.64 + 20.91 = 44.55

18 Stacey KEMP / David KING GBR
Black unitards with crissy crossy neon yellow stripes... looks like they are skating to TRON. VILE costumes even so.
ages 17 and 21.. they are babies.
Krit krit? drummy, electric guitar piece. background music, skated OVER not TO.
steps S2T pretty good. pairs camel-upright uprights ch came;s uprights. SBS 2L turn out. eh star lift slow turns and careful exit. circle FW slow and careful not bas unison. Ina Bauer to T3L? fall. sbs fly came; sit inside ch sit catch fairly good unison one break. shoot the duck to FI DS very low. Nice. cartwheel upside down ending was interesting.

22.14 + 15.00 = 36.14

She looks unhappy, but that was about what they deserved.

19 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN
Black with black and gold glittery stuff. Same ones they been wearing all season.
Kashmir
eh star to side airplane nice. T3L nice huge as usual strong landing. spirals h beill to FI DS nice and long, good speed. steps 3S NICE, close together. sbs fly camels inside sits catch ch sits catch nice one small unison break, maybe 2 . serp FW not close but good unison. steps HUGE lateral S2T with arms over head the whole thing. pairs camels (traveling badly) sits beill-upright ch camels canopener

I hate to say it, but they deserved this one. I have never seen them skate with anything close to intensity and this one, they had... they were in the moment THERE.

35.82 + 29.76 = 65.58 in 1st by a point

20 Marcy HINZMANN / Aaron PARCHEM
black pants, loose maroon shirt. pink strappy dress with sequins.. very delicate.
GO MARCI AND AARON!
The Mission (soundtrack)
steps S2T okay. T3L nice, easy landing. sbs 3T NICE. FROZE argh. )(&)(&^&*%$&^%$(&^#&^$%)(*#%&)(^!@#&%^$@#)($*&^#@^%@($^#*^%#$((*&@*& sbs camels sit ch sit upright inside traveling. pairs camels sit-camel. uprights layback ch camels upright-catch nice exit. lovely star to one hand to one hand exit easy. fab FI DS very low. Lovely. By the sound of it, they did well. they pretty much brought the house down.

I love this program for them. It really fits their strengths. There weren't enough gimmicks to make ti score really high under CoP unfortunately. it was just moderate difficulty done sublimely.

28.92 + 23.92 = 52.84

Okay, Obertas and Slavnov MUST have paid off the judges to place over BOTH Zagorska and Shuidek and Hinzemann and Parchem. But other than that, I don't have real problems with the placements.

I wonder when the US TV coverage is... unfortunately, the teams I missed will never see US TV.

Official Results

Awful Ugly Death Spirals

So, I was considering the comment made by one of my readers about how difficult the BO death spiral done by Demers-Boutin and Joncas at Jr Worlds was and why that makes it NOT an awful, ugly DS. The commenter said it got a Level 4 and has been used as an example of how to do a death spiral by Skate Canada (the org not the event), meaning it must have been done spectacularly well.

So, I found the video of their performance online and downloaded it... because frankly, I had already lost the visual in my head. Having too much to be responsible for tends to drive relatively unimportant things out of your head rather quickly. I've uploaded D-B&J's Long Program at 2006JW to YouSendIt here. That link will be good for 7 days at most, if it wears out, you might try asking for their program to be reposted in the 2006 Jr Worlds forum at FSVids. The recording is really crappy quality. Sorry about that, I didn't make it.

So, was D-B&J's death spiral awful and ugly or was it a Level 4 DS spiral done spectacularly well.?

Let's take a look at it step by step:

On entry, D-B performs a "difficult" side catch spiral in an extreme position. She holds this position on a shallow edge for 3 seconds and then lowers her leg into a more classic entry position in a controlled manner. I'm going to begin counting rotations from the time that she hits this position. Technically, the ISU does not begin counting rotations until the man sets his toe pick, so I'm spotting them a extra rotation that they should not get credit for under ISU rules.

My take: a pretty stunning position, though the edge was nothing to write home about. I liked it: +1

Now, take a look at this next pic, which is 1/2 a rotation into the death spiral. Look at her position. Her free foot is rotated in instead of turned out. The foot underneath her is way under her, not extended as it should be. The harsh bend in her knee makes a very ugly line. And also note that with her foot right under her like that, she's not really on all that deep of an edge. It's not edge control that's keeping her "up" it's that her foot is right under her. She's not terribly secure with this spiral. He's doing his job pretty well, but he's very "up" on his knees, not down into them.

My take: this is REALLY ugly. I hated her position and the spiral's poorly executed as far as she is concerned: -2

This next pic is 1/4 of the way into the second rotation. I know that the pic is blurry and it's hard to see, but notice how straight her back is. There's no arch there. In fact, there is no arch in her body at all. The hard bend in her knee is still there, only barely extended, her back is straight. The twist in her back and how her head drops to the ice, makes you THINK she's arched when in reality, she hasn't arched at all. Nada. In fact, her butt is sticking out. You can't see from this angle, but she is edging less shallowly (note: I don't say "more deeply" because her edge is still not very deep). Her free foot (along with her free hip) is STILL turned in.

My take: still a rotten position and still not great as far as execution goes. But since she's a tiny bit more into the edge: -1.

Now, finally, here's a picture from 1/4 turn into the second rotation. D-B has pulled her leg down and crouched it behind her bent knee. Finally, she's fairly deep into the edge a mere half a rotation before she pulls out of the spiral. Her back is still not arched. Her free foot, knee and hip are still turned in. Now she has TWO ugly bent knees instead of one! Her head in thrown back to simulate arch and closeness to the ice, but look at her body, look at her back. Look at the shoulder she's NOT twisting. She is not all that close to the ice, is she? Nope. She's not. All the close she IS to the ice is from that way-under-her bent supporting knee, NOT because she is on a super deep edge. This is not a well executed spiral. The low to the ice should come from the depth of the edge, not from the bend in the supporting knee.

My take: ugly position, no arch, optical illusion fake-out. Not fooled here: -2

I should note that putting her free foot behind her knee, which disguises her poor position is a "feature" under CoP that gives her a higher level. That twist in her back and dropped head which makes her look closer to the ice when she's really not? Another "feature." In software development, we have a saying when the customer comes at us with a fault that we should have fixed and didn't, "hey, that's a feature not a bug." Let's take away those features and see what kind of spiral we have.

Bent supporting knee.
Shallow edge.
No arch in the back.
Poorly executed.
He's not low to the ice.

Is it a good one?

No, it isn't.

Now, here's one that's better (Hinzeman and Parchem at SA 2006). No, this isn't the best BO DS I've ever seen, but it's got a lot going for it. Though you can't quite see it at this angle, Marci's supporting leg is pretty straight and her knee is extended. She's staying up pushing against the edge, not by putting her weight on a supporting leg that is bent under her. The "low" in the DS comes from the depth of her edge and the attractive arch in her back, not from a bent supporting knee. Her head is thrown back and the the shoulder is twisted but only to the extent that her back is arched. It complements the arch, rather than hiding the fact that there isn't actually any arch to speak of. The free foot is turned out (not as far as it could be and it's not pointed... but as I said, this is not the best BO death spiral I've ever seen. Note also, that Parchem is very deep into his knees. He's sunk down as low as Marci has rather than staying high (which is easier) and letting her dangle.
.

I wish I could find a good picture of Berezhanya and Sikhuralidze doing their BO DS or better yet, Gordeeva and Grinkov. Gordeeva's edge control allowed her to get WAY close to the ice.

At any rate, when one is taking notes in split seconds, sometimes a great deal of analysis gets condensed into "AWFUL, UGLY." I thought you might be interested in the thought processes behind the extra, short summarized version.

This is the nature of the beast in CoP. Sometimes you can use "difficulty" to hide poor execution and positioning. But then, I am the kind of person who would rather see the moderately difficult done sublimely, than watch the "very" difficult done poorly. I put "very" in quotes because I'd argue that it is ten times as hard to really get down into a deep edge in a death spiral than it is to grab your leg or tuck your free foot behind your knee.

As my coach always said, "It's a gimmick and you don't need gimmicks."